| The 1349th meeting of the Connecticut
Academy of Arts and Sciences was held on Thursday, February 12,
2004 at 5.30p.m. at Wesleyan University in Middletown. Some 50
members and their guests gathered at the Davison Art Center.
Professor Peter Frenzel, Vice President of CAAS for Wesleyan,
welcomed the audience and recognized the officers of the Academy.
He introduced the speaker for the evening, Dr. Stephanie Wiles,
Curator of the Davison Art Center. Dr. Wiles gave a brief history
of the Center, which now holds more than 18,000 works. She described
Mr. Davison as a graduate of Wesleyan, a banker and an art collector.
He modeled himself on Mr. Wiggin, the director of the New York
Reserve Bank who was also a philanthropic art collector. Mr.
Wiggin loved to travel to Paris and enjoy the art and the art
world there and rather than give up his trips he resigned from
his position as Director of the Reserve Bank! Mr. Davison himself
gave Wesleyan some 1,500 prints that included works by Durer
and Rembrandt, thus establishing a firm base for the collection
of the Center. Ms. Wiles showed slides of both representative
prints given by Mr. Davison as well as magnificent prints from
Jasper Johns to de Kooning, from Munch to Miro. The audience
was then invited to the print room where several of the prints
mentioned in the presentation were exhibited and could be examined
more closely. The evening was an intellectual and visual feast. The group then adjourned for cocktails and dinner. Thirty members and their guests attended. The President, Ernest Kohorn, welcomed the group and thanked Professor Frenzel for his hospitality and Dr. Wiles for her excellent presentation. Ms. Sandra Rux gave an up date on the status of the two volumes "Voices of the New Republic". Sales are going well and many libraries and colleges are purchasing the volumes. Dr. Kohorn announced the election of the new members: Frederick Biggs, Professor of English, University of Connecticut, Leonard Engel, Professor of English, Quinnipiac University and Alan Haesche, Principal, Leetes Island Enterprises, Guilford. |