WCMA: Feeding my history need
WILLIAMSTOWN — As a former high school social studies teacher, I seem to invariably be drawn to places that “feed my history need.” That need is what drew me recently to Williams College Museum of Art’s “Manifestos: American Dreams and Their Founding Documents” exhibit.
Having never been to WCMA before, the first challenge was parking. The fates were on my side the day of my late-afternoon visit, because I was able to find a spot right on the circular drive by the building. There aren’t many spots there, though; a sign proclaimed there was additional parking across the street.
I grabbed a brochure and a white piece of paper that listed the exhibits and their accompanying exhibit halls and floors on the way in, but was momentarily stumped by the extremely discreet signage. Turning the paper over, I discovered a map on the back.
However, what you have to know about me is that I have something I have always jokingly referred to as a “geographic visual spatial disability.” For all I know, it could be a real thing. What this means to me is that with the exception of road maps, I have trouble figuring out schematics, particularly assembly instructions for kids’ toys.
I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the map of the galleries. What I did ascertain, from the front (which was in list form — phew!) was that the gallery I was looking for was upstairs.
Up I went, and then tried the map again. Baffled. OK, so I decided I’d just walk into the nearest gallery, figure out what was in there, and then try and use that to orient myself. Using this method, I stumbled into, lo and behold, the right gallery (seeing as how it is called the Large Prendergast Gallery, I think my chances were pretty good of finding it, but then again, I’ve been called “Wrong Way Conway” when I couldn’t figure out a sea of construction cones placed by old men with too much time on their hands at a small town recycling center).
The exhibit is a mix of American art as well as astounding documents relating to the founding of our country. I wasn’t familiar with many of the artists, but perused the hangings briefly. What I was floored by, though, was the breadth of the documents on view.
Some of the documents, among others, included are one of the 26 known copies of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, which preceded by a full month the ceremonial signed copy; a House of Representatives version of the Bill of Rights, one of only four known to exist, printed in 1789; the Definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship ending the Revolutionary War signed in Paris on Sept. 3, 1783; the Constitution, a committee of style draft, one of only 14 surviving copies from an original 60 from the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which includes “Objections to This Constitution of Government” on the reverse by George Mason, a senior member of the Virginia delegation to the convention; and the British reply to the Declaration of Independence written by King George III’s official representatives in North America, Viscount Admr. Richard Howe and Gen. William Howe, one of only six copies known to survive.
Amazing. Incredible. Mind-boggling. My heart actually pounded (what a history geek I am) to think that these documents are available, free to anyone who wants to take the time to visit, right in Williamstown. Normally housed in the college’s Chapin Library, they are now at WCMA while the library undergoes renovations. And I had no idea.
I was drawn from there into the Small Prendergast Gallery, which also had some fascinating items, from World War I recruitment posters to a photo by Matthew Brady of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, taken circa 1865. Brady was the famous Civil War photographer I had taught my U.S. history students about, and here was one of his actual photographs. Wow. Perhaps the most intriguing item there, though, was a video, made in 1894 (yes, that’s the right date) by Edison Manufacturing Co. of a strong man posing.
From there, I spied what I learned was a polychromed wood Egyptian head, circa 954-525 B.C., in another gallery. I whipped through the Class of 1935 gallery, without pausing, to enter the small Stoddard Gallery and its “Specimens of a Higher Art Ancient Art from the Collection.” Of course that lured me — I also taught ancient and medieval history to freshmen, one of my favorite subjects. The collection there is very small, but the pieces, like the massive Assyrian reliefs, were incredible to behold.
My time was running short, so I made a quick zip around to the other side of the upstairs, where I stumbled upon what is the current featured exhibit — “Julie Mehretu: City Sitings” in the Class of 1954 Gallery. The 11 pieces are massive. According to the WCMA brochure, Mehretu “employs a dynamic visual vocabulary that combines maps, urban grids, and architectural renderings to articulate complex social and geopolitical structures.”
I am firmly in the realist camp when it comes to my taste in art, yet I could have parked myself on one of the benches in that vast space and looked at just one of the pieces for hours. They were fascinating in color and design and really urged me to sit and view each one for an extended time.
Because I had only a limited amount of time, I had to leave before I had the chance to visit the museum shop (a good thing for my pocketbook) or see the three exhibits on the ground floor (a bad thing for my “feeding my history need”). Those include a Sol LeWitt exhibit, the “Nick Zammuto: Laser Show Six Perspectives on a Chaotic Resonator,” and, sadly for me, “Masterpieces Ancient to Modern.” There’s that “ancient” word again.
It is astounding to remember that WCMA is, after all, a college museum with an institution like the Clark Art Institute right down the road, yet it filled my history need admirably, even if I had to leave without seeing that last ancient exhibit. But isn’t it always better to leave the table a little bit hungry? That, in itself, ensures for me a not-too-distant return.
The Williams College Museum of Art, free and open to the public, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday. It is located at 15 Lawrence Hall Drive on the Williams College campus. Info: 413-597-2429 or wcma.org.