Upcoming & Current Events

Miniatures, and Daguerreotypes, 1760-1860
Anne Verplanck

The APS Anne Verplanck program has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at the same time.  5:30pm reception followed by program.

A lecture and reception co-sponsored by The American Philosophical Society

Friday, February 5, 2010 Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Reception: 5:30 p.m., Program: 6:00 p.m.

Benjamin Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street

Anne Verplanck is an independent scholar and curator based in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, working with museums and individuals on their collections. She was formerly the Curator of Prints and Paintings at Winterthur Museum, and has worked in the museum field since 1980. She has taught graduate courses, lectured widely on the topic of portraiture, and has curated exhibitions on the subject. A graduate of Connecticut College, Dr. Verplanck earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the College of William and Mary. Throughout its history, Philadelphia has had a rich artistic tradition and active art markets. Between 1760 and 1860, discrete segments of the city’s population commissioned specific types of small-scale portraits ― silhouettes, miniatures, and daguerreotypes (early photographic images). Some went to specific artists, such as Charles Willson Peale and John Henry Brown. Quakers gravitated towards silhouettes and, later, daguerreotypes. Philadelphians then used these portraits in particular ways, adapting widely available forms to their specific needs. Through their commission and use of portraits, Philadelphians simultaneously crafted their identities and shaped art markets. Silhouettes, daguerreotypes, and ambrotypes from the American Philosophical Society and the Library Company will be highlighted in this talk.

RSVP: sduffy@amphilsoc.org or call (215) 440-3400

Save the Date!

New Exhibition opens to the public Thursday, March 18

Philadelphia on Stone: The First Fifty Years of Commercial Lithography, 1828-1878

This exhibition explores the history of 19th-century Philadelphia lithography and its impact on contemporary visual culture. Philadelphia on Stone explicates the history and process of lithography, documents the professional and personal lives of premier and journeymen lithographers, and includes lithographs from the collections of the Library Company and several other institutions whose collections were surveyed. In addition, the work of contemporary lithographers Kip Deeds and Roberta Delaney will be on display to represent the continuing influence of this trade on the printed arts.

Join us for the exhibition opening reception on Thursday, March 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. featuring a talk at 6:00 by Nancy Finlay, editor of Picturing Victorian America: Prints bythe Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, 1830-1880 and Curator of Graphics at the Connecticut HistoricalSociety. Please RSVP to this event by emailing lpropst@librarycompany.org or calling 215-546-3181. 

The Library Company is pleased to acknowledge generous funding of the Philadelphia on Stone project from the William Penn Foundation.

Philadelphia on Stone is an Independent Project of Philagrafika 2010, Philadelphia’s international festival celebrating print in contemporary art.

Above image: Christian Schussele, Chromo lithography (Philadelphia: P.S. Duval, 1850). Chromolithograph. Library Company of Philadelphia

LECTURE: March 2, 2010

Reception at 5:30 p.m., Program at 6:00

Anne Norton Greene, Lecturer and Administrator in History and Sociology of Science at University of Pennsylvania, will speak about her new book Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America.  This event is co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science (PACHS).

CONFERENCE:
March 18-20, 2010