Boston Flora

Tag: Polly Thayer Starr

  • Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm – About Art, Nature, and Spiritual Life: Polly Thayer Starr and the Religious Society of Friends, Online

    Polly Thayer Starr was an artist who lived beyond tidy definitions. Classically trained and well-spoken, she bounded onto the 1930s art scene, gaining fame for her formal portraits of Boston’s elite. With eyes and hands in constant motion, she recorded what she saw in sketches, collected and annotated poems torn from magazines, and wrote prolific letters and lectures. “I want to see with my whole being,” she declared, and “I seek what the form will reveal of essence, what the visible will tell me of the invisible.”

    The act of meditative discovery was at the heart of Starr’s approach to life and art. Over time, she came to see deep observation of nature and people around her as an act of prayer, and her art as a spiritual discipline. Not particularly religious in her early years, Starr became a Quaker in her 30s,as her artistic career was taking shape. For more than 60 years, this relationship unified her aesthetic and spiritual experience and shaped the pictures she shared with the public while in turn she contributed to a new wave of interest in art among Friends.

    Join Annie Storr for a virtual talk exploring these connections of Art, Nature, and Spiritual Life of Polly Thayer Starr.

    Please pre-register online for virtual access to this Zoom program. This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Polly Thayer Starr: Nearer the Essence” which will open at Fruitlands Museum in September 2020 with generous support of the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust. Program is free to Trustees members, $5 for nonmembers. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/58421/

  • Tuesday, September 8, 2020 – Monday, March 8, 2021 – Polly Thayer Starr: Nearer The Essence

    Polly Thayer Starr was an artist who lived beyond tidy definitions. Classically trained and well-spoken, she bounded onto the 1930s art scene, gaining fame for her formal portraits of Boston’s elite. With eyes and hands in constant motion, she recorded what she saw in sketches, collected and annotated poems torn from magazines, and wrote prolific letters and lectures. “I want to see with my whole being,” she declared, and “I seek what the form will reveal of essence, what the visible will tell me of the invisible.” As a result, her works beautifully present reality while also suggesting a world beyond. She invited viewers to look beyond the immediate to discover the pure magic in those uncertain realms outside of what we expect to see.

    This Fruitlands Museum exhibition, opening Tuesday, September 8, contains not only her paintings of nature and portraits, but also many studies and sketchbooks to reveal the artist’s search for beauty and truth. In addition to never-before exhibited archival materials, personal effects, such as a spectacularly carved desk from her studio, will be on display.

    Please note: dates are subject to change. Fruitlands is located at 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard, Massachusetts, and is a property of The Trustees of Reservations,

    Special thanks to the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust for their support of this exhibition.