With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
James Thrall Soby
Education/Curation, Patronage
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Modern art patron, advisor and curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum, author of scholarly art exhibit catalogs, and art critic.
- Biography/Description of Work
James Thrall Soby was born into a wealthy Connecticut family and became an early collector of modern art. A friend of Chick Austen, Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, he worked as an unpaid curator there from 1928 to 1938 and collaborated with Austin on exhibitions, often lending pieces from his own collection. In the 1940s he was also a curator at MoMA, and served over the years through 1967 as a trustee and advisor. Soby lived in the historic Hooker House in Farmington from 1935 to c.1954. He hired Henry-Russell Hitchcock to design an International style gallery addition to the house, and installed a large mobile created by his friend Alexander Calder on the grounds.
- Sources view
- Rachel Carley context p. 14
http://www.farmingtonhistoricalsociety-ct.org/farmingtonartists2.html
Weber, Nicholas Fox, Patron Saints - lots about Soby. - Associated Resource(s)