{"id":252670,"date":"2026-09-14T07:28:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=252670"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:11:28","slug":"the-benton-celebrates-60-years-with-special-exhibition-silent-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/09\/the-benton-celebrates-60-years-with-special-exhibition-silent-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benton Celebrates 60 Years with Special Exhibition, Silent Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

No birthday is complete without gifts (and cake), and this fall the William Benton Museum of Art<\/a> marks its 60th with both – an exhibition-sized thank you to the friends who\u2019ve given gifts over the last decade and a celebration that closes an online silent auction (and also includes cake).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis museum is part of UConn\u2019s history,\u201d curator and academic liaison Amanda Douberley says. \u201cWe help UConn tell its story, in part through all these amazing gifts from faculty, alumni, and friends of the museum. They\u2019re like a wish for the future, to say, \u2018I\u2019m giving this to you, so it can be part of this institution\u2019s story.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Benton\u2019s own story starts in 1933, when former UConn President Charles Lewis Beach bequeathed his art collection to the University and left a trust fund to allow for the continued acquisition of more.<\/p>\n

A hundred years ago, Douberley says, it was even more difficult than today to get to big museums in Boston and New York; back then because travel was slow, and today because life is fast. Places like the Benton, which formally opened in 1966 as simply the Museum of Art before taking the name of the U.S. senator in 1972, offer people a similar experience, only closer to home.<\/p>\n

\"A
“Between Known and Unknown” by Vibha Galhotra sits on display in the “With Gratitude: Highlights from a Decade of Gifts” exhibition in the William Benton Museum of Art on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a place now where people can see work from French neo-impressionist Maximilien Luce, whose \u201cPortrait of the Sculptor Albert Marque\u201d is on display; art professor Ray DiCapua, whose recently donated work \u201cMarie\u201d also is on display; and various pieces of African art, also on display, thanks to donations from sociology Professor Emeritus Josef Gugler and his wife Janine Gugler.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all part of the museum\u2019s latest exhibition, \u201cWith Gratitude: Highlights from a Decade of Gifts.\u201d<\/a> With more than 7,500 objects in its full collection, the museum is featuring a fraction of the more recent acquisitions but aims to show visitors the breadth of its holdings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have very limited funds to make purchases, so we rely on gifts, like a lot of museums do, to build our collection,\u201d says Douberley, who curated the show. \u201cWe have 17th century altarpiece sculptures from Austria, 18th century illustrated manuscript leaves from India, and 19th century American portraits from Coventry, Connecticut. Across time, across space, and across media, there are so many different kinds of things that come into the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collecting Stories \u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Those altarpieces from Austria come from Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus Richard D. Brown and his wife, retired human development and family sciences associate professor Irene Quenzler Brown.<\/p>\n

The two were in France in the mid-1960s as Fulbright Scholars when they discovered the two statues of St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena from the early 1600s in an antique store in Germany during Christmas break. But they didn\u2019t buy them at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned their price and returned to France. But they stayed in our minds and several weeks later we decided to take the plunge,\u201d Richard Brown writes in a \u201cCollecting Story\u201d wall label next to the sculptures by Erasmus Kern.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Douberley says, the Browns donated them to the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe oftentimes don\u2019t have these stories behind the objects in our files,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re not an archive, where you would keep everything together from a single donor in one collection. Here in the museum, we categorize objects by the artist\u2019s nationality, size, and medium, so collections get taken apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we did for this show to highlight our donors and the really interesting stories about the objects was to invite a handful of donors to share the story behind the art,\u201d she continues. \u201cFor these two altarpieces, knowing a little more about the life these objects had with these faculty members, from their early career all the way through, is very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 and Sharing Stories<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Three circa-1830s paintings from artist Erastus Salisbury Field are enjoying their first time on display at the Benton after having just been restored following their acquisition from donor Pamela Dewey in 2022.<\/p>\n

Benton Director Nancy Stula says the three, depicting Anna and Roderick Dimock and their daughter Sophia Ann Dimock, were stored in a private residence in Coventry and were in rough condition, one with a tear in it, when a local antiques dealer working on behalf of the family brokered their donation.<\/p>\n

\""Marie"
“Marie” by Ray DiCapua reflects off the glass of the frame containing “La Robe de Chambre Rouge [The Red Dressing Gown]” by Henri Manguin in the “With Gratitude: Highlights from a Decade of Gifts” exhibition in the William Benton Museum of Art on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cThey\u2019re very typical of limner works, itinerant artists who went from place to place,\u201d Stula says of the portraits. \u201cThis particular artist stopped in Coventry and painted six portraits of this family – the father, mother, and daughter, as well as a servant and two sons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cCollecting Story\u201d label says Field came to town and sought a room at the Brigham Tavern, where George Washington once stopped for a meal in 1789, albeit some 40 years earlier. To pay for his room and board, Field made the paintings, paying off his debt to Anna Brigham Dimock, who owned and operated the tavern, and Roderick Dimock, who ran the farm.<\/p>\n

Dewey, a descendant of the family, owned the three portraits of Anna, Roderick, and Sophia, while another relative owned then later sold the portraits of the sons. The portrait of the servant girl once was on display at the Nathan Hale Homestead, the story label goes on to say.<\/p>\n

Another \u201cCollecting Story\u201d label shares details of an exchange program started by printmaking Professor Emeritus Gus Mazzocca with the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland. The program brought 12 artists from Poland to UConn and sent eight UConn faculty members to Poland. The program also included UConn students who studied in Krakow.<\/p>\n

Douberley says she chose \u201cA Dream About Rock Beach and Big Fish\u201d by Stanislaw Wejman and \u201cBajka\u201d by Anna Sobol-Wejman for the latest exhibition, etchings that depict a fairytale and a dreamscape and provide a look at Polish art when it was a communist country.<\/p>\n

Silent Auction and Celebration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the neighboring gallery at the museum, where the exhibition \u201cColors in the Dark: Ellen Carey\u201d<\/a> shows off the artwork of the abstract photographer who creates her pieces in pitch black darkrooms, Stula says Carey has been particularly generous to the Benton in her donation of a large photo to the museum\u2019s online silent auction. She\u2019s offered her 2026 piece \u201cDings & Shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have gift certificates to a number of restaurants from Max Downtown to Tree House Brewing, Michael Jordan\u2019s Steakhouse, and Dog Lane Caf\u00e9,\u201d Stula says. \u201cWe have paintings and works of art from some of our donors, like Douglas Hyland from the New Britain Museum of American Art. We have items from artists who are on faculty, like Janet Pritchard and Kathryn Myers. We have 70 items total, and there\u2019s something for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Pieces of artwork sit on display in the “Colors in the Dark: Ellen Carey” exhibition in the William Benton Museum of Art on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there are two items that have Benton staff particularly abuzz: a pair of one-of-a-kind paintings by Jonathan XV, who smeared primary colors onto paper with his nose and tongue, then signed each with his pawprint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are going to be a real hit because people just love Jonathan,\u201d Stula says.<\/p>\n

Other items include: a private violin concert with UConn strings professor and acclaimed musician Solomiya Ivakhiv, a full set of hardcover \u201cI Spy\u201d books signed by author Walter Wick, tickets to the Hartford Stage production of \u201cDracula,\u201d tickets to The Boston Pops Holiday Concert at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, hand-carved wooden bowls by artist and Benton preparator Kerry Smith, along with many other items.<\/p>\n

The online auction is now open and closes at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27, with a birthday party at the museum (that, of course, includes cake). Details on how to register for the auction are available on the museum\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cProceeds from the auction help us to expand the possibilities for education and to fulfill our mission,\u201d Douberley says. \u201cMany of our donors give generously just so students can interact with art. People often ask us after a show where it all goes, because they think it\u2019s in here all the time. It goes into storage, but you can always see it in our database online<\/a>. Even when it\u2019s not on display, it\u2019s still part of our story.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Gratitude: Highlights from a Decade of Gifts\u201d and \u201cColors in the Dark: Ellen Carey\u201d are open until Dec. 20.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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