No Class: October 9

So friendly and generous in spirit were the original members of the Cornish Art Colony that there is almost more lore than substance in much of what has been written about them, now over 125 years since the summer community began.

In this course, we will dig into the accounts written by the residents themselves to develop a deeper understanding of what their lives were like up here in “Little New York,” as they themselves called it. We’ll peel away the later tendency of many to romanticize what their artistic, social, and family lives were by our study of the artwork, gardens, and many first-person, contemporary accounts and correspondence from 1880-1916.

Much of the material we will study has never been published, as the unpretentious but erudite “Colonists” were lively writers who enjoyed the contemporary practice of keeping journals and written records.