Greenwich Collects: Wyeth, Italian Renaissance Drawings, Chinese Antiquities at Bruce Museum

Jacopo Ligozzi (Italian, 1547–1627), Head of a Woman with Elaborate Headdress. From the collection of Helen-Mae and Seymour Askin.

Greenwich, CT - Greenwich is fortunate to be the one of the most active centers for the private collecting of art in the country, indeed in the world. This show serves to illustrate the diversity of three local collections. Although only a selection of a portion of their holdings, the works on view speak to the remarkable level of quality achieved and the connoisseurship their owners brought to bear on the assembly of their collections.

One of these collections is comprised of splendid and exceedingly rare Italian Renaissance and Baroque drawings.

Gaetano Gandolfi (Italian, 1734-1802), Pluto, Prosperpina, and Charon by the River Styx, 1798; 340 x 397 mm; Collection of Helen-Mae and Seymour Askin; Photograph by Paul Mutino.

A second has a focus on American art with special strengths in Andrew Wyeth's art – a perennial favorite with modern museum-goers.

Finally, the third collection offers an excellent array of ancient Chinese ceramics, primarily from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It seems fitting to have these antiquities on view when we are featuring the exhibition of Chinese and American contemporary artists' works in Tale of Two Cities: New York & Beijing.

As heterodox as the three collections are, they reflect the passion and discernment of their owners. We are grateful to them for permitting the public to share in the enjoyment of their art for a brief period this summer.

Lokapala, Tang Dynasty, AD 618-907, 40 x 16 x 12 in.; Promised gift of Fred and Jane Brooks.; Photograph by Paul Mutino

Lokapala, Tang Dynasty, AD 618-907, 40 x 16 x 12 in.; Promised gift of Fred and Jane Brooks.; Photograph by Paul Mutino.