The Arthur Ross Gallery’s fall exhibition, At Liberty: Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic, asks visitors to consider the role of visual culture in creating collective conceptions of Philadelphia and its residents, including America’s first international celebrity Benjamin Franklin, in the decades just before and after the nation’s founding. The objects in the exhibition are on loan from several cultural institutions, including the University’s Penn Art Collection and Pennsylvania Hospital, as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Winterthur Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 41works on view — including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture — portray notable figures alongside depictions of daily life in Philadelphia.
In addition to historical pictures and objects from the 18th and 19th centuries, the exhibition will include images of the era made to celebrate important national anniversaries, such as the marking of America’s 150th in 1926, through to the present moment, inviting exploration of Philadelphia, the birthplace of the nation and its first capital.
The artworks include a recently restored portrait of British abolitionist Samuel Romilly by artist Gilbert Stuart that hung for many years in Penn’s Houston Hall. Two rarely seen works by the American-born, English-trained painter Benjamin West, given to Pennsylvania Hospital in the 18th century, also have received special conservation work to prepare them for exhibition. A suite of drawings by the German-born painter John Lewis Krimmel depicting typical street scenes from around 1813 complements selected plates from William Birch’s “Views of Philadelphia” published a decade earlier.
Other highlights include several portraits of Penn’s founder Benjamin Franklin, painted by artists who were active in the era of the Revolution, including Charles Willson Peale. The exhibition includes works by three members of Philadelphia’s famous Peale family of artists. Student-created videos from Drexel University’s Digital Peale Project present a fresh, contemporary take on the historical material, aided by digital visualization tools and artificial intelligence.
On view Aug. 28 through Dec. 13, the exhibition is curated by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Inaugural Faculty Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and the James and Nan Farquhar Professor of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
Image caption: Attributed to John Lewis Krimmel (1786–1821), Nightlife in Philadelphia—an Oyster Barrow in front of the Chestnut Street Theater (1811–ca. 1813). Watercolor and Graphite on white laid paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Events
All events are free and open to the public.
Opening Reception: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Remarks by exhibition curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw and Emma Hart, Professor of History and the Richard S. Dunn Director, The McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Also featuring themed refreshments inspired by the Revolutionary era, and a live performance by the Penn Shabbatones student a capella group. Register here.
Tours with Penn student Gallery Guides: Penn students will be available in the Gallery for tours on most Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00-3:00 p.m., and Wednesdays from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Penn Lifelong Learning Lecture: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 12:00-1:00 p.m. online. Join exhibition curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw and Lynn Smith Dolby, Director of the Penn Art Collection, for a virtual exhibition tour, followed by a Q&A. Register here.
Artist Talk: Thursday, Oct. 22, 5:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Conceptual artist Eileen Neff will preview a photographic installation, Through That Which Is Seen, in a lecture. This project explores the history of dioramas from Peale’s Museum to the current renovations being undertaken at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Register here.
Curators’ Conversation and Homecoming Weekend in-person tour: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Gallery. Join curator Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw for a conversation about exhibiting early American art and history during “America 250,” with Penn School of Arts & Sciences alumnae Sylvia Yount, G’90 and GR’95, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Jill Vaum Rothschild, G’14, GR’21, Associate Curator of Fine and Decorative Art at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. The panel will be followed by a tour of the exhibition as part of Penn’s Homecoming Weekend activities. Register here.
At Liberty: Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic is curated by Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Inaugural Faculty Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and the James and Nan Farquhar Professor of the History of Art. The exhibition is supported by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
