The National Museum of American Illustration for Louis XIV at Versailles. The adjacent property....

Hastings, the architects of the NewYork City Public library the U.S.Senate Office Building, Alfred L. duPonts house Nemours in Wilmington,Delaware, and the Henry MorrisonFlager house in Palm Beach, Florida,now a museum Carrere and Hastingsused the plan of Vernon Court for the1913 Frick Mansion on Fifth Avenuethat now houses the Frick Collectionand Art Reference library.

The formal gardens designed bynoted New York garden designers andflorists Wadley & Smvthe, wereinspired by the Pond Garden atHampton Court built by Henry VIIIfor Anne Boleyn. The design of thegarden houses was inspired thosebuilt for Louis XIV at Versailles. Theadjacent property. Stoneacre, laid outin 1884 by the first American land-scape architect. Frederick LawOlmsted. will be restored as a parkdedicated to Olmsted and honoringarchitects whose work can he found

There is a new museum, theNational Museum of AmericanIllustration in Newport, Rhode

Island, and its architecture, garden,state-of-the-art restoration, and paint-ings are dazzling. This private muse-um at Vernon Court, 492 BellevueAvenue requires reservations. Ticketsare $25 each and worth every nickel.

It is the creation of Judy GoffmanCutler and her husband LaurenceCutler. Judy is the New York Citydealer who made the market forAmerica illustration art over the last35 years. Laurence, an architect andcity planner, saw Vernon Court as anarchitectural masterpiece and, actingas general contractor, mastermindedthe conservation of this Beaux Artsadaptation of a 17th-century Frenchchateau while creating a state-of-the-art museum environment.

The house was designed in 1898for Mrs. Richard Gambrill by theNew York firm of Carrere and

in Newport, including Peter Harrison,H.H. Richardson, Richard MorrisHunt, Stanford White, HoraceTrumbauer and, of course, Carrereand Hastings. It will also include areplica of an arch designed by LouisKahn for the Indian Institute ofManagement at Ahmedabad, theHarvard Business School of Asia.Laurence thinks Kahn was the great-est architect of the second half of the20th century.

"People involved in museumsoften become art dealers when theyretire. Judy went in the reverse direc-tion. She was a dealer first, and nowshe is a museum director," saidLaurence.

Judy has not closed her New YorkCity gallery, her daughter Jennifer isrunning the day-to-day operations.Judy has had a good deal of experi-ence putting on art shows. In theearly 1990’s she was the first to takeillustration art on world tours organiz-ing exhibitions in Paris, Rome, andTokyo. Her Norman Rockwell show,a Maxfield Parrish show, and a ‘GreatAmerican Illustrators" show eachtraveled to several cities in Japan.When Parrish’s masterpieceDaybreak returned from its tour inJapan, she advised it be sold at auc-tion and an American collectorbought it for a record $4.29 million atSotheby’s in May 1996.

After graduating from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1963with a major in art history andAmerican civilization and completinga master’s program in education in1964, Judy began buying illustrationart at a time when few people paidany attention to it. She restored thepaintings, framed them, and soldthem first at Sanford Smith’s Fall An-tiques Show’s at the Pier, and fromher house near Philadelphia. In 1978she opened her American IllustratorsGallery at 18 East 77th Street in NewYork City. Over the years she has puttogether collections for StevenSpielberg, George Lucas, andWhoopi Goldberg, and advised RossPerot and Malcolm Forbes, amongothers.

In the 1980’s she was paid re- cord prices: $75,000 for a J.C.Leyendecker, $250,000 for aRockwell, and more recently$660,000 for N.C. Wyeth’s TheDoryman (Evening), which nowhangs in the grand salon at Ver-nonCourt. She was the first to collect

Howard Chandler Christy, and shehas kept together Maxfield Parrish’smasterpiece A Florentine Fete, whichonce decorated a dimming room ontime top floor of the Curtis PublishingCompany. It is now installed in theloggia at Vernon Court.

"It was in the Jack Merriam estate,and for years I’d been looking for amuseum to house it. When we foundVernon Court, I knew it would fit inthe loggia. Judy said, ‘It tells a story,and it should stay together. It wasParrishs’s greatest commission; forfive years he worked on the eighteenpaintings."

In 1994 the Cutlers foundedARTShows and Products (ASaP) toproduce exhibits and to representartists’ estates in licensing images forcards, calendars gift products, andlimited-edition art prints. The estatesof Maxfield Parrish and Paul-Cézanne are just two estates forwhich ASaP generates income, and intime the products will stock the muse-

um shop at the National Museum ofAmerican Illustration.

One of the unwritten rules of artdealing is never collect what you sell,but Judy collected before she becamea dealer and can’t seem to stop. Toget some idea of the breadth of thecollection log on to the museum’sWebsite (www.americanillustration.org) and take a virtual tour.

The collection inclues over 2000works by American illustrators, allcreated for reproduction in books,magazines, and advertising. There are124 Norman Rockwells, only the col-lection of 400 at the NormanRockwell Museum in Stockbridge,Massachusetts, is larger. It includesthe largest collection of MaxfieldParrish works, 68 in all, and thelargest holding of the work of J.C.Leyendecker, illustrator of 322Saturday Evening Post covers andbest known for his Arrow Collar man.

There are many works by N.C.Wyeth, the greatest of book

illustrators, and masterpieces byHoward Pyle, who is known as thefather of American illustration.There ace major works by HowardChandler Christy, creator of theChristy girl, which set the criteria offeminine beauty for the Miss AmericaPageant. The companion piece toJames Montgomery Flagg’s WorldWar I Uncle Sam poster "I Want You"depicts Columbia embracing a sol-dier and sailor it hangs in the grandmarble entrance hall. There arepaintings for World War I and WorldWar II posters by Charles DanaGibson of Gibson girl fame andpaintings by Jessie Willcox Smith,the first successful female illustratorof children’s books. The books arealso there, and lots more.

Judy likes to call these artists whocaptured the national persona “theAmerican imagists,” and the years1860 to 1960 “the golden age ofAmerican illustration.” Leyendeckercreated the image of the baby thatrings in the new year, Thomas Nastcreated the image of Santa Claus aswe know him, and JamesMontgomery Flagg created ourimage of Uncle Sam, she points out.“This is a movement with a history,hut until it has a name, it doesn’texist,” she said.

She emphasizes that the artistswho created these images weretrained at academies in the UnitedStates and at ateliers abroad. Theycreated some fine paintings, thoughoften under deadline and commis-sioned for a specific purpose. This isnot art for art’s sake, but the paintingsare of high quality.

Once disparaged by art histo-rians,American illustration is getting a sec-ond look from scholars and curators.A traveling Maxfield Parrish showopened at the Pennsylvania Academyof the Fine Arts last fall and recentlyclosed at the Brooklyn Museum. In2001 an exhibition of NormanRockwell’s paintings now on tourwill arrive at the Guggenheim in NewYork City, founded as the bastion ofabstract art! The Norman RockwellMuseum reports a growing audienceof several hundred thousand visitorseach year.

Before establishing their mu-seum,the Cutlers formed an alli-ance withthe National Arts Club in New YorkCity to sponsor edu-cational pro-grams in Newport and New York.Laurence and Judy are both mem-bers. “The National Arts Club is aneducational institution founded in the

same year Vernon Court was built.The architect Thomas Hastings was amember, along with CorneliusVanderbilt,who built The Breakers around thecorner, Stanford White, whodesigned the house next door, andGeorge Wetmore, who built Chateauxsur Mer, which can be seen from theloggia. Artists Louis ComfortTiffany and Howards ChandlerChristy were also members,”Laurence pointed out.

The Cutlers have also assembledan impressive group of trustees. Thehonorary trustees include J. CarterBrown, director emeritus, theNational Gallery of Art; MartinMeyerson, president emeritus,University of Pennsylvania (bothCutlers went to school there); retiredSenator Claiborne Pell; and VincentScully, professor emeritus, YaleUniversity. There are 21 members onthe national council of the boards ofdirectors, including movie producerGeorge Lucas, author Tom Wolfe,entertainer Whoopi Goldberg, andtelevision host Matt Lauer. On theNew England council are RalphEmerson Carpenter, HughAuchincloss III, and others involvedin art museums. restoration and con-servation.

For the operation and administra-tion of the museum, the Cutlersestablished the American CivilizationFoundation, a 501 (c)(3) organiza-tion. “We are going to raise thirty-five million dollars for an endowmentso the museum can last forever.” saidLaurence. The Cutlers volunteertheir time now, but they know thatone day they may need to hire a paid

director. Another foundation has already set up a pur-chase fund for the museum, and a collector has given agroup of Stevan Dohanos paintings.

As remarkable as the finished product is the speedswith which the museum was put together. After seeingthe house in April 1998, the Cutlers had purchased it byAugust. Laurence gave up other business interests inarchitecture and advertising to direct the restoration.With unsolicited help front distinguished Newport resi-dents who believed in their project, they won a zoningfight brought by neighbors who testified that theyshouldn’t have their residence in the museum. Using theprecedent of English country houses, which are open tothe public and lived in by the owners amid the fact thatsome family members also stay at other Newport “cot-tages” the zoning board approved the museum. Knowingthat Newport is the fifth-poorest city in Rhode Island,the real estate is owned by a corporation called theAlliance for Art and Architecture so we pay real estatetaxes,” Cutler volunteered.

It had taken the Cutlers seven years to find the rightplace for their museum “We had put a bid on theWedding Cake house in Kennebunk [Maine], but itwouldn’t have worked,” said Judy. “We were at a sale atChristie’s in the spring of 1998 when we saw a flyer foran Ogden Codman house in Newport and decided to goup to look at it. It was not right, but the realtor saidVernon Court was for sale. When I found out that Peterde Savary owned it, and I knew him from my days work-

Judy and Laurence Cntler were childhood sweethearts in Woodbridge,Connecticut. Laurence took Judy to his senior prom, and she followed himto the University of Pennsylvania. Larry wasn t ready to get married, soI married Alan Goffman and had two children, a girl and a boy, saidJudy. Larry married an architect and city planner he met at Harvard andhad two boys. We both divorced and married each other five years ago onthe fortieth anniversary of our first date.

In 1966 Laurence Cutler founded ECODESIGN International Inc.,Architects/Engineers/Planners, as an interdisciplinary ecology based con-sultancy. He subsequently formed subsidiary companies in Europe, Africa,Latin America, and the Middle East. In 1972 ECODESIGN was acquiredby Combustion Engineering Inc., and as president of CE Tec InternationalInc., Cutler built the division into a 1750-person professional servicesgroup with 37 offices in seven countries. In 1980 he reacquired ECODE-SIGN to regain its independent status in order to undertake private ven-tures. He walked away from his architectural business in 1990 and in 1994founded ARTShows and Products, exhibition coordinators, fine art pub-lishers, licensors, and derivative art product developers. He is nowcofounder, CEO, and chairperson of the National Museum of AmericanIllustration, Judy is co-founder and museum director.

The three-and-a-half-acre sunken garden once had pond. Now there isa swimming pool and two tennis courts.

One of two giant fern beech tres that flank the loggias.

Maine Antiue Digest, November, 2000 Maine Antiue Digest, November, 2000

Newport, Rhode Island

by Lita Solis-Cohen

The National Museum of American Illustration

Most of the 18 panels of Maxfield Parrish s A Florentine Fete, which once decorateda dining room on the top floor of the Curtis Publishing Company, are now installedin the loggia at Vernon Court. Other panels will he hung on the staircase in theentrance hall.

Build to Kill, a painting for a World War I U.S.Shipping Board poster by J.O. Todahl, hangs inthe library, which is off-limits to tours, but thepainting can be seen from the salon. The power-ful image shows a U.S. ship ramming a Germansubmarine. Norman Rockwell s Miss Liberty was painted for the

September 4, 1943, Saturday Evening Post cover. The42" x 32" oil painting depicting a woman going off to doa man s job during World War II hangs in the marbleentrance hall.

The plans for the house and gardens and the three-and-a-half-acre parkacross Victoria Avenue from Vernon Court were drawn by LaurenceCutler for the zoning hearing. This plan shows the Circle of Architects and benches near the center of

Olmsted Park. The footprint of the Louis Kahn arch is shows at thebottom of the plan.

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THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION

M A I N E AN T I Q U E D I G E S TNOVEMBER 1999

ing in London, I called him and learnedhe also owned the next block, whichhad been the parking lot when thehouse was a junior college. He wantedto sell it all.”

Finding themselves with a 52-roomNewport cottage with slate tiles miss-ing from the roof, glass missing from61 windows, and in need of heating, airconditioning, weatherproofing, UVprotection on the windows, humiditycontrol, plaster, and paint, the Cutlersemployed 50 to 60 local artisans everyday for two years to make the houselook as if they did nothing at all to it.The interiors, designed by Jules Allardet ses Fils, decorators who worked in anumber of Newport cottages, include a

marble entrance hall and Italian walnutpaneling in the salon. Allard commis-sioned James Wall Finn, an associate ofLouis Comfort Tiffany, to paint vasesof flowering vines on the walls andceiling of the loggias. In the south log-gia this painting remains in fine condi-tion, but the painting was gone in thenorth loggia where the Cutlers haveinstalled most of Parrish’s A FlorentineFete. “When I walked in and saw atonce A Florentine Fete would fit, Iknew this was the right place for themuseum.” said Judy.

For reservations, call (401) 851-8949 ext. 16 now, or the dates you wantmight not be available.

The garden statuary are reproductions ofClassical and 18th-century statuary. Inthe Gilded Age much of the garden statu-ry was reproduction. We had period pho-tographs, so we went to Italy aod boughtreplacements, Laurence said.

In December 1998 LaurenceCutler bought Hiram Powers sAmerica at Sotheby s for the nichein the entrance hall at VernonCourt. I have always called JudyJudy America. When that bust

came up for sale, I had to have it,said Laurence. She has Judy snose and her curly hair and starsin her tiara. We always sayAmerican illustrators are the

stars on our flag.

The entrance to the National Museum of American Illustration atVernon Court on Bellevue and Victoria Avenues, Newport, RhodeIsland.

The Disabled Veteran by Norman Rockwell, oil on canvas, 43"x 34", traveled with The Four Freedoms to raise money forwar bonds and was used as a Saturday Evening Post cover forthe July 1, 1944 issue. It hangs in the grand salon againstItalian walnut paneling installed by Allard et ses Fits in 1898.

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