Curator's Choice: N.C. Wyeth’s Mr. Alcott in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston (1936)
with Christina Michelon
Join assistant curator Christina Michelon in taking a closer look at N.C. Wyeth’s Mr. Alcott in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston (1936). Serving as an illustration for Men of Concord and Some Others (1936, based on Henry David Thoreau’s journal), the painting pictures the historic burying ground just outside the Athenaeum’s walls. Dr. Michelon will consider the painting, the publication, and the burying ground as sites of memory and artistic legacy.
Christina Michelon, PhD is Assistant Curator of Special Collections at the Boston Athenæum. She specializes in nineteenth-century American visual and material culture and received her PhD in Art History from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the Athenaeum, she completed a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Her research has also been supported by the Smithsonian Institution, Henry Luce Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies, the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, the Chipstone Foundation, and the Library Company of Philadelphia.
This event is part of our three-part series, "Curator's Choice." Join an Athenæum curator for a casual conversation about their current projects and the special collections items that inspire them, spark their curiousity, and generate discussion.
