Williams College Museum of Art Receives
NEH Grant

Williamstown, MA—The National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) Division of Public Programs has awarded the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) a $40,000 planning grant for its upcoming exhibition and publication, “Muses of the Avant-Garde: Gerald and Sara Murphy and their Circle.”  The planning grant will be used to refine the content and interpretive approach of the exhibition prior to its opening at WCMA in the summer of 2007.

“Muses of the Avant Garde,”  organized by Deborah Rothschild, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, will be the first exhibition to explore the pivotal contribution of the American couple Gerald and Sara Murphy to the transatlantic exchange of ideas about modern art in the 1920s and 1930s. The interdisciplinary exhibition will convey the Murphy’s gift for weaving brilliant innovators of diverse backgrounds and talents into the fabric of their everyday life, promoting one of the most important Euro-American dialogues in modern culture.  Works by F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Dorothy Parker, and Gerald Murphy will be viewed through the nexus of the Murphy’s artistically adventurous yet gracious milieu. 

During the planning year, WCMA will convene a team of advisors, including noted scholars, museum educators, and an exhibition designer to help shape the concepts into a compelling interpretive approach.

“NEH grants are extremely prestigious but rarely awarded to mid-sized art museums,” says interim director Marion Goethals. “This honor underlines the commitment WCMA  has to research and recognizes the importance of Deborah Rothschild’s premise. It will be an exhibition everyone interested in twentieth century art, music, and literature will enjoy.”

NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.

The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the museum is wheelchair accessible. Contact: Suzanne Augugliaro, Public Relations Coordinator 413.597.3178; WCMA@williams.edu; www.wcma.org.