CURRENT EXHIBITION

For most of human history, the work of portraitists like Gilbert Stuart was essential to capture the likeness of loved ones and public figures in order to present themselves, project an image and preserve their memory.  Stuart’s famously incisive eye and skilled brushwork combined to capture the appearance, character and personality of his subjects.  As the tradition of American portraiture has grown and changed since Stuart’s time, he was among the last generation whose work provided an essential documentary function.

Stuart’s own death in 1828 coincided with the first successful experiments in photography.  Just over a decade later the daguerreotype, the first commercially viable and publicly accessible method of photography, would be invented.  Since its earliest days, portraiture has been the primary use of photography, from studio portraits to candid snapshots to the “selfie.”

This exhibition highlights more than 70 photographs from the collection of the South County History Center, capturing a wide variety of personalities and figures both public and private.  Wealthy sitters appear, some alongside painted portraits, as do immigrants and an opera singer.  Conventions that solidified in the era of painted portraiture persist – formal poses, neutral faces and the subtle inclusion of status symbols – all in pursuit of capturing and preserving the stories of the individuals depicted.  Their stories survive to be told, whether captured in oil or silver.

The last US president to be painted by Stuart was the first to be photographed: John Quincy Adams.