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Electra Havemeyer Webb

Shelburne Museum

“A collection of collections.”

– Mrs. Webb

helburne Museum, in Shelburne, she filled every available space in her
Vermont, is the manifestation of households with them. “The rooms
Sone woman’s enduring passion and were over-furnished. … Then the
unwavering commitment to a distinctive closets and the attics were filled,” she
vision. Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888- said. “I just couldn’t let good pieces
1960), a visionary and trailblazer founded go by – china, porcelain, pottery,
John Engstead, Portrait of Shelburne Museum in 1947, aiming to pewter, glass, dolls, quilts, cigar store
Electra Havemeyer Webb,
date unknown. Gelatin silver print, share an extensive collection encompassing Indians, eagles, folk art. They all
9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. Collection of American art, design, and decorative seemed to appeal to me.”
Shelburne Museum Archives. arts. Today, Shelburne Museum stands Throughout her life, she pursued
as a testament to her groundbreaking objects that affected her aesthetically
innovation in art collecting and museum experiences. and emotionally. She was,
Born into privilege in 1888 to therefore, just as passionate about
Henry Osborne Havemeyer (1847- collecting American folk art Unidentified photographer,
1907) and Louisine Waldron Elder paintings and sculptures as she was Electra Havemeyer Webb and
Havemeyer (1855-1929), Electra about amassing an extraordinary J. Watson Webb at their Westbury
Havemeyer was raised in New York holding of quilts, carousel figures, House, 1946. Gelatin silver print,
City, where her family’s wealth— carriages, or a 220-foot steamboat. 10 x 8 in. Collection of Shelburne
derived from the sugar industry— During the last decade of her life, Museum Archives.
facilitated a life of opulence and Mrs. Webb expanded the Museum’s holdings to embrace fine art,
an acumen for collecting. The acquiring over 400 American paintings and finalizing plans for exhibiting
Have-meyers were influential Impressionist works she inherited from her parents, including Edgar
collectors who assembled a renowned Degas (1834-1917), Édouard Manet (1832-1883), Claude Monet
art collection of the finest master- (1840-1926), and, of course, Cassatt.
pieces in Asian and European fine and There are few collectors whose collections grew to be quite as large
decorative arts. Most notably, the and diverse as Mrs. Webb’s. In 1947, at the time she realized her dream
Havemeyers were among the first to create a museum in which to share her collections with the public,
American collectors to acquire French Unidentified photographer, Portrait she had amassed over 150,000 objects. However, while Mrs. Webb’s
Impressionist artworks, which they of H.O. & Louisine Havemeyer taste was visionary, her collection is also a tribute to her wisdom in
purchased on the advice of their art with their Children, Horace, seeking guidance from others, often leaning on the insights of other
advisor and friend, artist Mary Cassatt Electra, and Adaline, ca. 1888. remarkable women, such as one of her first hires for Shelburne
(1844-1926). Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. Museum, Lillian Baker Carlisle (1912-2006). A particularly fruitful
Deviating from her parents’ Collection of partnership emerged with Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970), a
interest in European art, Mrs. Webb’s Shelburne Museum Archives. prominent New York City art dealer, leading to a lifelong bond built
foray into collecting began at the age on shared passion and hard work. For both women, the act of collecting
of 19 with the acquisition of an American folk-art piece, a was an art form, and when collaborating, they created a masterpiece.
tobacconist figure she named “Mary O’Connor,” which she procured Seeking Halpert’s counsel and heeding her advice, over several decades,
for 15 dollars. Undeterred by conflicting opinions on what constituted Mrs. Webb purchased over
art, Mrs. Webb became an early collector of this then-little- one hundred objects from
understood vernacular and body of work, defying conventional her for her new museum.
preferences for fine art at the time. From Mrs. Webb’s perspective, she For shaping the Museum’s
was one of a few collectors who saw value in “the beauty of everyday esteemed folk-art collection,
things,” and through her focus on pieces created by ordinary craftspeople, and, as Mrs. Webb wrote,
she preserved and elevated facets acting as “the fairy
of every-day life into a uniquely god-mother to the Museum,”
American aesthetic. in 1953 she appointed
From her initial art purchase Halpert as a member of the
to her final acquisition, Mrs. Museum’s Board of Trustees.
Webb’s collecting is marked by By the time of Mrs.
Unidentified photographer,
the unexpected. Throughout her Webb’s death in 1960, Electra Havemeyer Webb at the Champlain
life, she pursued objects that Shelburne Museum had Valley Fair, 1947. Gelatin silver print,
affected her aesthetically established itself as a reputable 8 x 10 in. Collection of
and emotionally. Progressively museum. Mrs. Webb referred Shelburne Museum Archives.
undeterred by hierarchies long to her unique Museum as “a
established within the arts, she collection of collections” that acts as an “educational project, varied and
valued all objects with the same alive.” As one of the nation’s first female museum founders, Mrs. Webb
reverence, such as hanging and crafted a unique tapestry: extraordinary collections set amidst historic
displaying antique quilts on the New England buildings, creating an inviting space for visitors to relish
wall like paintings and the pleasure of looking at and learning about various art objects, just as
Unidentified photographer, Weathervanes, approaching weathervanes like she did. Today, Shelburne Museum continues to be a place like no
February 23, 1955. Contact sheet. LOOK modern sculptures. Her appetite other, which reflects and honors Mrs. Webb’s collecting whimsy while
Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of
Congress, Prints & Photographs Division. for antiques was insatiable, and also evolving and embracing the past, present, and future.
The Shelburne Museum is located at 6000 Shelburne Road, Shelburne,
18 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles Vermont. For hours, directions, and more information on this museum and
its exhibitions, visit www.shelburnemuseum.org.