Emerson Gallery Presents Two Summer Exhibitions

Untitled (from Country Fairs series) - Saunders

Hamilton's Emerson Gallery will host two exhibitions this summer selected from the permanent collection. Opening Thursday, June 21, and continuing through Sunday, September 9, "Photographs by Silvia Saunders" and "The Beinecke Collection – Prints, Watercolors and Drawings of the Lesser Antilles" will be on display.

Silvia Saunders (American, 1901-1994) was a part of the Hamilton community for more than 60 years. The daughter of Percy Saunders, professor of chemistry, she is remembered by many for operating her father's hybrid peony nursery and for her scholarship on architect Isaac Williams. Fewer know her work as a professional photographer. 

Saunders began taking photographs after returning to Clinton during the Depression. In a short period of time, she had published a series of photographs in Hound and Horn magazine. Later, she traveled across the United States and Europe photographing houses and gardens for magazines such as House and Garden, and her work appeared twice in the U.S. Camera Annual. In 1951, Saunders returned to Clinton where she dedicated the rest of her life to managing her father's peony business. 

Today, her photographs can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Emerson Gallery has more than 100 of her photographs that were donated to the college by Mrs. Edward (Grace) Root and Silvia Saunders. The collection includes botanical studies that are reminiscent of the work of Karl Blossfeldt, documentary photographs and the photographs that she took while on assignment with photographer Walker Evans for Hound and Horn.  

Port of Spain, 1839? - unknown artist

The Beinecke Collection is the preeminent collection of materials on the Lesser Antilles, the small islands that form the eastern chain in the Caribbean. Given to Hamilton in 1971 by Mary Ann and Walter Beinecke, Jr., it includes more than 2,000 books, maps, paintings, drawings and prints from the 16^th to the 20^th centuries. Jointly managed by the library and the Emerson Gallery, it is an important resource for Latin American and Africana studies.

Many of the exhibited prints, drawings and watercolors were created by members of the British Navy and document the culture, architecture and landscape of the Lesser Antilles during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. 

The Emerson Gallery is located in the Christian A. Johnson Hall, directly behind the Chapel. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. For further information, including information on parking and wheelchair accessibility, please contact the gallery at 315-859-4396 or consult our website http://www.hamilton.edu/gallery.