March 5, 2018

The outcome of what may be the most revolutionary Super Bowl bet ever made will be presented in the hometown of the victorious Philadelphia Eagles beginning March 7, when one of Boston’s most distinctive patriots makes a striking appearance in the American Galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

At 12:30 p.m., the Museum will “unveil” a painting from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: John Singleton Copley’s Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis), which portrays one of New England’s most ardent advocates for independence in the decade before the Revolutionary War.

This special loan was triggered by the Philadelphia Eagles’ spectacular win over the New England Patriots, before which Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, had made a friendly wager with Matthew Teitelbaum, The Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, about the outcome of the game.

Timothy Rub stated: “With the Eagles facing the Patriots in the Super Bowl, we decided to have a bit of fun by putting some skin in the game. I offered to send our wonderful painting by Benjamin West, Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816), to Boston should the Eagles lose, and asked my colleague to send us an equally important work from his collection if the Eagles triumphed. I am delighted to say that a portrait of one of New England’s most fascinating patriots will be arriving soon, and I expect her to stand very tall under the circumstances. This superb painting will remain on view in Gallery 102 for the next three months where Eagles fans from around the world can enjoy it. “

MFA Director Matthew Teitelbaum commented: “While I was very much looking forward to seeing Benjamin West’s painting of Benjamin Franklin in our galleries, I am happy to share this magnificent portrait with new audiences in Philadelphia. Mercy Otis was a revolutionary woman who truly embodied the spirit of patriotism.”

“Not only does Mercy personify the spirit of revolution and liberation, she is arriving just in time for Women’s History Month,” said Kathleen Adair Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art, and Director, Center for American Art. “She’s the perfect prize for Philadelphia after the Eagles’ victory, representing one of Boston’s finest artists and one of its most accomplished women. She will be given a place of honor here in our galleries.”

Copley’s portrait of Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis) will remain on view in the American Galleries until June 3, 2018 on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Bequest of Winslow Warren

Poet, playwright, political satirist, and historian, Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814) was a true American patriot and one of the best-educated women of her generation. Raised in a family of Massachusetts politicians who spoke out against British colonial rule, she initially published political plays and parodies anonymously, to cloak her identity as a woman. Later in life, she published under her own name a massive three-volume history of the American Revolution.

Copley depicts Mrs. Warren in her more conventional feminine role as wife and mother, demonstrating her nurturing skills by tending nasturtiums. She wears a fashionable silk dress and lace-trimmed stole that display her wealth, stylishness, and matronly modesty as well as Copley’s remarkable abilities. The finest painter in the colonies, the self-taught Copley not only brilliantly evokes the textures of skin, satin, and silver embroidery but also captures the grace and determination of this champion of women’s participation in the political life of the nation.

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“Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating,” wrote British critic and artist John Ruskin. Nearly one hundred years later, Brandywine Valley artist Andrew Wyeth advised artists to simply, “hold a mirror up to nature. Don’t overdo it, don’t underdo it.” Even though Ruskin came of age during the Industrial Revolution, and Wyeth after the World Wars, the two artists shared a life-long obsession with the close observation of nature. The exhibition Eye on Nature: Andrew Wyeth and John Ruskin, on view March 10 – May 27, 2018, explores how both artists portrayed nature and the environment during tumultuous eras in human history.

Eye on Nature, organized by Margaretta S. Frederick, the Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Collection at the Delaware Art Museum, presents approximately 30 rare watercolors by John Ruskin between 1838 and 1883, the largest number of Ruskin drawings seen in the United States for 25 years. The exhibition will also include 28 watercolors and dry brush by Andrew Wyeth between 1940 and 2008. Eye on Nature will be accompanied by a full range of public programs, including tours, lectures, and family and school programs.

This major exhibition will shed new light on both artists’ longstanding legacies. Both worked through periods of great upheaval and doubt: Ruskin during the Industrial Revolution and Wyeth during the Great Depression, World War II, and Cold War. Despite living during times of turmoil, both Ruskin and Wyeth devoted their lives to the pursuit of capturing the world around them, including studies of rocks, plants, and trees. Ruskin was after what he referred to as the “pure transcript” of nature whereas Wyeth looked to elevate his interpretation of nature through imagination.

“If we look at the history of art we can’t help but notice the recurrence of certain themes, interests, styles that link the work of the artists of one period or nationality with another,” explains Frederick. “Sometimes these links are not terribly clear. By taking two artists who worked at such vastly different times and places and looking at their work together, viewers will walk away with a deeper understanding how each artist turned to nature as subject matter to better understand our world.”

Artwork by John Ruskin is on loan from the Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University). Works by Andrew Wyeth are from the Museum’s permanent collection as well as from private collections. This will be the largest loan ever from the Ruskin Library collection to the U.S., and the largest number of Ruskin drawings seen in the U.S. for 25 years. Several of the Wyeth drawings have never been exhibited before.

According to Frederick, both artists sought in nature some universal truth. For Ruskin, the act of drawing brought him closer to understanding a thing, while the drawing itself was of little importance. Most of his drawings are unfinished, for once he had captured the essence of an thing or place he had no desire to carry on with unnecessary compositional repetitions and refinements. For Wyeth, the untimely death of his father introduced elements of loneliness and psychological tension to his realist rural imagery. “It’s a moment that I’m after,” he once said. “I must put my foot in a bit of truth; and then I can fly free.”

“Both artists were inspired by and curious about, even obsessed with, understanding the world around them. Understanding was achieved through capturing it on paper,” says Frederick. “For Wyeth, the drawing of these things represented a process of discovery. And similarly, Ruskin believes that to draw it, was to know it.”

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