A selection of paintings from the collection of Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont are on loan to the Jepson Center of the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia. The paintings are featured in the Telfair’s exhibition One Hundred Years of Harmony: Paintings by Gari Melchers through Sunday, Dec. 11.
One Hundred Years of Harmony commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Telfair’s first acquisition of a Gari Melchers painting. The exhibition showcases seven canvases that demonstrate Melchers’ ability to capture serene images of domestic life, including four of his most popular examples from Belmont’s collection: Young Woman Sewing, The Open Door, The China Closet and The Sun Porch.
Having served as the Telfair’s fine arts advisor from 1906 to 1916, Gari Melchers played an invaluable role in shaping the collection of Telfair Museums, facilitating the purchase of over 70 works in the permanent collection. When Melchers stepped down from his official role in 1916, the Telfair still had not acquired a single work by him. To commemorate that occasion, Telfair’s board arranged for the purchase of Melchers’ The Unpretentious Garden, today one of the best known works in the museum’s collection.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark, is located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. Public hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1-5 p.m.
For directions and more information, call 540-654-1015, or visit the museum website at www.GariMelchers.org.