Michele & Donald D'Amour Museum of shows Currier & Ives Animal Exhibition

Written by rubin Sunday, 28 June 2009 22:20

SPRINGFIELD, MA  - Currier & Ives  are known for  their idealized images of rural life in America. In keeping with this theme, the firm created many “parlor” prints of  young children interacting with household pets and barnyard companions. A selection of these prints will be displayed in the exhibition Feathers and Fur: Animal Companions in Currier & Ives Prints,  in the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition will be on view in the museum’s Lenore B. and Sidney A. Alpert Currier & Ives Gallery, the country’s only permanent museum gallery devoted to Currier & Ives prints. On view from June 30, 2009, through Jan. 24, 2010.

Puppies, kittens, rabbits, chickens and sparrows were part of the bucolic imagery associated with youth and the happy life in the country. Some of the images were “puzzle pictures” with hidden figures drawn into the background of the print. Children and parents would make a game of searching for the hidden images together. One of these, The Puzzled Fox, is one of only a few Currier & Ives prints that includes an image of the now-extinct passenger pigeon.

Other prints honored working household pets, such as dogs which rid the home and yard of rats, while others celebrated favorite farm animals.

The D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts is located on the Quadrangle at 21 Edwards Street in downtown Springfield. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors and college students, $5 for children 3-17, and free for children under three and museum members. Springfield residents are free with proof of address. The fee provides admission to all four Springfield Museums. Parking is free in the Edwards Street parking lots.

The Springfield Museums, located in the heart of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, is comprised of four world-class museums; the Michele & Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts., the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The Museums Association is proud to be home to the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, a series of full–scale bronze sculptures of Dr. Seuss's whimsical creations, honoring the birthplace of Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss.

For information, call 413-263-6800 or visit  www.springfieldmuseums.org .