|
|
|
Norfolk The village of Norfolk was made accessible to urban travelers from Hartford or Albany by way of the Greenwoods Turnpike (now roughly Rt. 44) or the Connecticut Western Railroad, completed after 1871 to connect the iron operations in Canaan with national markets. Later in the 19th century, the train brought wealthy summer residents, who built handsome estates and sponsored musical and cultural events in town. A New York physician sponsored summer residencies at his estate in Norfolk for two New York artists during the Depression. Dr. Quintard invited Ernest Lawson, an impressionist painter and member of “The Eight”, a group of leading American painters, to paint in his barn studio during the summers of 1932-1935. Together, they organized annual art exhibitions that included the work of other artists in the area. Quintard also sponsored an art school run by Guy Pène du Bois, like Lawson, an artist who had exhibited at the Armory Show which introduced modernism to New York. Du Bois operated his seasonal art school in a barn at the Buckley estate from 1932 until 1935, and completed a number of portrait commissions in the area. |
|