John Singleton Copley in England
October 11, 1995 – January 7, 1996
THIS EXHIBITION IS NO LONGER ON VIEW AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY.
Overview: 27 portraits and history paintings and 17 related drawings were on view, created by American-born artist John Singleton Copley after he immigrated to England in 1774. The works in the exhibition were from the Gallery's collection and from other American and British institutions, including the Tate Gallery, London, which loaned The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781.
Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curators were Nicolai Cikovsky Jr. and Franklin Kelly, curators of American and British paintings at the National Gallery, and Emily Ballew Neff, assistant curator of American painting and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. William Pressly, expert in 18th-century British painting and professor at the University of Maryland, served as advisor. A traveling exhibition of Copley's American portraits was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, concurrent with the National Gallery show. Both exhibitions moved on to Houston.
Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by Republic National Bank of New York, Safra Republic Holdings, S.A., and Banco Safra, S.A., Brazil. Additional support was provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Catalog: John Singleton Copley in England, by Emily Ballew Neff with William L. Pressly. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1995.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 4–April 28, 1996