Biggs Museum of American Art (3/17/2022)

Thursday, March 17, 2022
We met Erich for lunch at a Diners, Drive-ins & Dives location of Boulevard Diner in Dundalk, MD

Boulevard Diner in Dundalk, MD

This is the regular size of sour beef and dumplings,
of which all three of us could have shared; it had a thickened
sauce (as if with cornstarch) that was more sweet than sour,
 and the large dumplings were pretty solid

We also had Yia Yia/Grandma Anastasia's stuffed grape leaves that were covered with a lemony sauce, and a thick spinach pie that came with a Greek salad (plenty of feta cheese) and rice with a red sauce.

Afterwards we headed to Dover, DE.

Biggs Museum of American Art with an outdoor-indoor
sculpture, Aloft (2015, by Erica Loustau) inspired by
flocks of Agelaius phoeniceus/Red-winged Blackbirds

A closeup shows the wing markings

The flock spirals through the window into the museum

The main exhibition was Guild Hall: An Adventure in the Arts: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Guild Hall Museum (East Hampton, New York). No photos were allowed.

The Children's Abstract Art Exhibition was
inspired by the Guild Hall exhibition

The Children's Abstract Art Exhibition whiteboard
proclaimed a different subtitle: Horror Vacui -
an art term meaning "fear of empty spaces"

Dreams (2022, by Rome Kpakima, age 16)

Value Shell Composition (2021) one of the student works
from the 2020-2021 Adopt-An Art-Work Program

Value Shell Composition closeup

The museum was established in 1993 by Sewell C Biggs, a Delaware art lover, philanthropist and art collector, with a particular interest in the fine and decorative arts of Delaware and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic region.

American Rococo Gallery (c 1750s-1785):
Dressing table (1755-1780, from the Delaware Valley)

Silver Study Center: Sugar bowl (by Thomas McConnell)

Federal Gallery (c 1785-1815): Armchair
( 1800-1815, Philadelphia)

Folk Art Gallery (c 1790-1900):
Sand art (1884, by Andrew Clemens of
McGregor, Iowa); Clemens was self-taught
and hearing-impaired

Folk Art Gallery: Tea table (1865-1900,
by "Big Tom" Burton, and African-American
from Cedar Neck, DE)

American Empire Gallery (c 1810-1835):
Staircase (1850s in Philadelphia) was the
first "fire-proof" cast-iron stair in DE

Greek Revival Gallery (c 1815-1850): The Bride of Abydos
(1842, by Thomas Crawford who studied classical sculpture
in Rome in 1835) and reproduction wallpaper (design 1815
by Josef Ramée and printed by Henry Virchaux)

Hudson River School Gallery (c 1835-1860):
Niagara Falls (c 1869, by Albert Bierstadt)

Visions & Voices Exhibition (juried exhibition of works by African-American artists from the Mid-Atlantic region):

Zebruh (2022, by Alim Smith, an Afro-surrealist)

Hey Lady, Do You Know Where A Church Is?
(2022, by Carol Vieira, fabric artist)

Porcupine Zip Tie (2022, by Theda Sandiford)

Porcupine Zip Tie detail

Reparations: What Happens to a Dream Deferred
(2022, by James Terrell)

Gallery of American History & Genre Scenes
(c 1840-1890): The Elder's Daughter
(copy of 1886 original by John Rogers)

American Gilded Age (1860-1900):
Upholstered armchair (c 1880,
by Allen Brothers, Philadelphia) after
the "Morris chair" (an early reclining chair),
of the British Arts & Crafts Movement

American Impressionism (c 1880-1910): Haystacks
(c 1881, by William Merritt Chase, painted en plein-aire)

Since we were in Dover, DE, we checked out a couple sites of the First State National Historical Park:

Legislative Hall, home of the Delaware General Assembly,
is the state capitol (1931-1933, by E William Martin and
Norman M Isham in Colonial Revival style,
wings added in 1965-1970)

Old State House (1787-1791 as the Kent County Court House)

Old Kent County Court House (1874-1875)

The Old State House and Old County Court House are
situated on Dover Green that was laid out in 1717
according to plans by William Penn)

Also on the Green is the site of the Golden
Fleece Tavern, where 30 Delaware delegates
met to ratify the United States Consitution
on December 7, 1787, giving Delaware
the place of honor as the "First State"

Parke-Ridgely House (1728) where Quaker abolitionist
Lucretia Mott was given refuge in 1841 when she
was scheduled to give a lecture but instead
a conservative mob made it too dangerous

Other events on the Dover Green include the trail of Samuel Burris, a free Black man who was arrested in 1847 for assisting a woman to escape slavery. He was forced to await trial for 14 months in the Dover jail, and was found guilty and sentenced to be sold into slavery. Abolitionists in the north sent a man to pose as a buyer and purchase Burris at the auction block, and then set him free.

In 1920, Delaware had the opportunity to be the 36th and final state needed to ratify the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote. Women and citizens gathered in the Green, where those in favor of the vote carried yellow roses, and those against had red roses. After a fierce debate in the Old State House, the Delaware legislators declined to vote, which meant Tennessee made the final ratifying vote.