As a corrective to histories that define slavery and anti-Black racism as a largely Southern issue, this exhibition offers a new window onto Black representation in a region that is often overlooked in narratives of early African American history.

Vermont Furniture from the Alley Collection features an impressive array of 18th and 19th-century Vermont furniture recently donated to Historic Deerfield by collectors William and Patricia Passmore Alley. The exhibition highlights both published and unpublished material from the Alleys’ collection, showing how these objects reveal varied techniques and ornament as well as the characteristics of the environment in which they were made. Many examples in the exhibit retain their vibrant, original surfaces and are organized according to their decoration: solid and highly figured native wood, painted wood, ornamental painting on metal and glass, and veneer and inlay.

Image: James Wells Champney, Young Woman in Red, ca. 1890, pastel (63.366).

Through an array of paintings, pastels, photographs, and material culture, In Pursuit of the Picturesque takes a fresh perspective on the New England artist, James Wells Champney (1843-1903) and how he created a romanticized vision of the 19th century. This exhibition explores how Champney drew upon different themes within American art, including sentimental genre scenes, paintings of Colonial Revival motifs, and pastels of idealized female models.