Beatrice Cuming Connecticut Precisionist
by Tanya Pohrt, Ph.D., curator, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut
Hosted by HLFM director Pierce Rafferty
Based in New London, Connecticut for much of her career, Beatrice Cuming celebrated industry and progress in her art, painting urban views and local maritime landscapes in the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. On a special six-month WPA assignment in 1941, she documented Harbor Defenses on Long Island Sound, painting key military sites such as Fort H.G. Wright on Fishers Island. She subsequently painted scenes of industry in commissions for General Dynamics Electric Boat and Standard Oil.
In this recorded illustrated talk, presented virtually April 28, 2024, Tanya Pohrt discusses the dynamic art and vision of artist Beatrice Cuming (American, 1903-1974), in conjunction with an exhibition on view at the Lyman Allyn through May 26, 2024.
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- Beatrice Cuming circa 1946
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- Beatrice Cuming, Impact of White, ca. 1951, oil on canvas. Painting of MV Mystic Isle.
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- Beatrice Cuming, Chubb, 1944, oil on canvas. Gift of General Dynamics Electric Boat Division, Lyman Allyn Art Museum
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- Beatrice Cuming, The Architecture of Light, 1960s. Oil on canvas. Florence Griswold Museum
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- Beatrice Cuming, Untitled (Gun, Coastal Defense), 1941. Oil on Canvas Collection of Bagley Reid. Thought to be gun emplacement at Fort H. G. Wright, Fishers Island, NY.
To learn more about the exhibition that runs through May 26th, please visit the Lyman Allyn Museum website:
Tanya Pohrt is curator of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut. She has curated a range of exhibitions at the Lyman Allyn, including Barkley L. Hendricks in New London, 2023, The Way Sisters: Miniaturists of the Early Republic (Exh. Cat., 2021), The Prismatic Palette: Frank Vincent DuMond and His Students, 2021, and Louis Comfort Tiffany in New London, a permanent collections gallery. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Delaware, specializing in American art, and was previously a Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow in American Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery.
