We had not been to the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, NH since their most recent expansion project. A watercolor show was about to end, so that was the impetus.
A fine small museum, with a collection focusing on American art, including decorative arts, the expansion has provided them with a new winter garden/cafe, and has allowed much of the art to be installed more effectively. One gallery has paintings hung in a "salon installation", in the manner of the nineteenth century. In the center of the gallery is "Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii" from 1863, by Randolph Rogers. While I am not that fond of sculpture, especially such sentimental pieces, I found it engaging (perhaps because of the installation).
Probably my favorite painting in the collection is "Carnation and Black , 1892, an oil on canvas by Joseph Rodefer DeCamp. The pose and coloring are so striking, that it feels contemporary more than one hundred years after it was painted.
Visit http://www.currier.org/ for more about this museum.
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