Historic Home Tour and Exhibit at Museum of Darien Highlight Artists

A new exhibit is on view at Museum of Darien, inspired in part, by the bus tour of historic Darien homes, taking place on May 19th. The exhibit features works by prominent members of the Guild of the Seven Arts, including award-winning artist Dorothea Warren O’Hara, John C. Huffington and photographer Margaret Bourke-White, among others. The Bus Tour of Historic Homes of Artists, Authors and Actors in Darien is offered by the Museum in partnership with HisTOURY, a non-profit organization, and visits the homes of Dorothea Warren O’Hara, actor Frank Latimore and acclaimed author Erskine Caldwell in addition to several others. The exhibit is open to the public from Tuesday through Thursday from 11am-4pm for a $5 admission, and included as part of the Historic Bus Tour.

Exhibit curators Lynn Sheppard and Dave Polett, long term volunteers and board members of the museum, look forward to greeting visitors to answer questions and discuss artist’s works on display. The Darien Guild of the Seven Arts, established in 1927 to promote local artists and their craft, attracted nationally acclaimed artists who lived in and around Darien. Dorothea Warren O’Hara, one of the original founders of the Guild, was a watercolor artist and a pioneer of the studio pottery movement in the early years of the 20th century. She made a 10-acre farm on Appletree Lane her home in 1918.

John C. Huffington’s work is arguably the most highly-regarded today of any of the Guild artists. A watercolor and oil paint artist, he developed his impressionist style as a result of a temporary impairment of his eyesight. Another founder of the Guild, he came to Darien in 1889 from his native Brooklyn and moved from his home in Cedar Gate to a houseboat near the White Bridge on Five Mile River.

Margaret Bourke-White a close friend of Robert Fatherley, founder of the Darien Historical Society, through whom many of her works were obtained, was one of the most prominent photographers of the 20th century. Bourke-White first gained national attention when Time, Inc. founder Henry Luce hired her as chief photographer for Fortune. She went on to work as one of only four staff photographers on his 1936 start-up Life magazine, taking the photo that appeared on its first issue. For the next 30-plus years, her work at Life defined photojournalism. She had a house on Point-O-Woods Road South and was briefly married to novelist Erskine Caldwell (Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre).

Tickets are available at museumofdarien.org for the Bus Tour of Historic Homes of Artists, Authors and Actors in Darien that takes place on Sunday, May 19th from 1-5pm. Participants will meet at the Museum to see the exhibit prior to the tour. Admission is $75 for adults, $49 for students. A 10% discount coupon is available when registering from MoD’s website.

Find out more at museumofdarien.org. The Museum of Darien is located at 45 Old King’s Highway in Darien, CT. For questions, call (203) 655-9233.

Established in 1953 as the Darien Historical Society, the Museum of Darien welcomes all ages to celebrate the town’s history and to experience and discover the crafted objects, narratives and works of art that have shaped the community of Darien. The museum tells Darien’s story, from its earliest beginnings as Middlesex Parish to the prosperous community it is today. To learn more about supporting the town’s history, visit museumofdarien.org or call 203.655.9233