Walter Hinchman (1845-1920) was an artist and a Quaker.  His bio states that he was a member of the American Federation of Arts and worked in machine shops as a draftsman and surveyor; he was also the author of the book Sketches and Poems. But more to the point, he was a fine artist, and Haverford owns an album of his drawings and sketches. Not to minimize his talents, he also had a sense of humor.  Depicted here from this same album are “William M. Spackman and Walter Hinchman posing as Raphael Cherubs.”  Raphael’s well-known painting entitled “Sistine Madonna” with the two cherubs at the bottom, which was created in 1512-1513, seems to be their reference.  Serious scholars have written important works on the meaning of the painting, including  the two cherubs or putti, who are seen either as  part of the overall significance of the painting or just as marginal or decorative.  Hinchman’s entire album is available for inspection.

Flight print by Joan Miro

When the Nazis occupied Paris in June 1940, thousands of European refugees fled to the south of France. In August of that year, the young American journalist Varian Fry arrived in Marseilles with a list of imperiled refugees taped to his leg. Over the course of the next year Fry, on behalf of the Emergency Rescue Committee, arranged for the escape of over 1,200 artists, politicians and intellectuals, most to the United States. His work was secretive and dangerous, and ultimately he was expelled from France for protecting Jews and anti-Nazis.

In the mid-1960s, in order to raise funds for what by then had become known as the International Rescue Committee, Fry began assembling a collection of prints on the subject of refugee flight. Twelve artists contributed to the project including several whom Fry had saved during the war: Eugene Berman, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Viera da Silva, Adolph Gottlieb, Wifredo Lam, Jacques Lipchitz, André Masson, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Edouard Pignon, and Fritz Wotruba. 300 copies of the portfolio were produced in 1971 before the artists destroyed the plates.

From time to time, we plan to write about some of the extraordinary prints in the fine art print collection presented to the college in the 1980s by Hugh Chapman. The print shown here is by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), considered one of the finest of the Baroque period in Western art. “Sancte Roche Ora Pro Nobis” (”Saint Roch Pray for Us”) is an engraving produced in 1626 by Paulus Pontius from Rubens’ drawing. Famous even during his lifetime, Rubens was supported by wealthy patrons including Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. He also received many commissions from other wealthy members of the nobility. Pontius was an engraver who worked closely with Rubens and was especially known for his portrait engravings. The artwork depicts the sick and other supplicants upon a sheaf of wheat, symbol of prosperity and plenty, seen below an altar, while above, and seemingly accessible by stairs, are Saint Roch, patron saint of dogs who was known for assisting those afflicted by the plague and other diseases, with hat, staff and dog, surrounded by Christ and an angel bearing the sign: “Eris in Peste Patronus” (”You will be a defender of those suffering from pestilence”).

Epidemics arose regularly in Europe in the early modern period during which Rubens flourished. Therefore, it would not have been unusual for him to produce a work combining disease and religion as salvation. Although there is not much in this artwork representative of architecture beyond the altar and a building with windows, the baroque period of architecture was characterized by sensuality, curving lines, emotional and decorative elements, all visible in this work. These forms were favored by the popes, monarchs and the wealthy nobility of Europe, including those who commissioned Rubens.

At the bottom right is the dedicatory phrase “”Cum privilegijs Regis Christianissimi, Serenissimae Infantis et Ordinum Confederatorum,” which translates “With privileges of the Most Christian King and of the Most Serene Infanta and allied orders.” Bret Mulligan, Assistant Professor of Classics, who confirmed the translation, added these most interesting notes: “‘Most Christian King’ is a title reserved for the King of France and ‘Most Serene Infanta’ is a title reserved for daughters of the Portuguese House of Braganza. (They continued using the Latin Infans as a cover for the older gender neutral Infante, but after the 16th century the girls were styled Infanta in the vernacular.) And it turns out ‘With privilege’ and ‘With privileges’ are legal technical terms from before the French Revolution.”

"Blinking Sam, ‘Johnson’s Grimly Ghost’ and the Haverford Portrait of Samuel Johnson"

Talk by Robert Folkenflik, Distinguished Visitor in the English Department

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 — 4:30 pm; Tea at 4:15 pm

Magill Library, Quaker & Special Collections

Robert Folkenflik is Professor of English/Comparative Literature, UC-Irvine. His books include Samuel Johnson, Biographer; The Culture of Autobiography: Constructions of Self-Representation; and The English Hero: 1660-1800. Folkenflik’s research interests include: Eighteenth-Century; Renaissance; Novel; Autobiography; Biography; History of Literary Theory; Literature and Other Arts; Cultural Studies.

For more information please contact Laura McGrane (610-896-1155) lmcgrane@haverford.edu

When the organizers of “A Few Well Selected Books,” the current exhibition in Magill Library, chose an 1865 photograph of the library to use in the promotion of the exhibit, they had no idea it would lead to the rediscovery of two very old plaster-caste Greek busts.  This iconic photograph of the library in Alumni Hall features (from left to right) professors Thomas Chase and Paul Swift, superintendent William Wetherald, seniors James A. Chase and Allen C. Thomas, assistant professor and librarian Clement L. Smith, sophomore Samuel Collins, and president Samuel J. Gummere.  Peering down from high atop the wooden bookcases are several Ancient Greek busts, including (from left to right) Socrates, Aristotle, Diana, and Cicero.

After our exhibit announcements went out, we were informed by Haverford professor Darin Hayton that the bust of Diana could be found in the faculty lounge of Hall Building.  Scuffed up, embellished with magic marker, and appearing to have suffered a neck fracture, Diana has clearly been through some rough patches over the past century and a half!

A few weeks after the discovery of Diana, as librarians Christa Williford and David Conners were preparing to record an exhibit narrative with Classics professors Deborah Roberts and Bret Mulligan, Roberts revealed that she and husband professor emeritus Aryeh Kosman had another of the busts—that of Aristotle—in their home on College Avenue.  Kosman reports having rescued Aristotle from a trash pile in the 1970s.

Archival photographs from 1865 to 1895 reveal an array of Ancient Greek mythological and philosophical characters to have been part of the collection, as well as a couple of Quaker luminaries and some mystery busts yet to be identified.  Librarians have long wondered what had become of these venerable figures as they are not part of the extensive online inventory of college-owned art maintained by College Archivist Diana Franzusoff Peterson.

Both busts have been returned to Special Collections and now they will be undergoing restoration and repair courtesy of Haverford sculpture professor Marianne Weil and her teaching assistant Whitney Ale BMC ‘08.  Over the course of the next few weeks, we will provide updates on their progress and will also report on more of the missing busts which have been identified in photographs from the College Archives.