COLLECTIONS
DAYWOOD COLLECTION
United StatesLincoln's Birthday Flags, 1918
Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. Arthur S. DaytonThe Daywood Collection was a gift from Ruth Woods Dayton to the Huntington Museum of Art in 1967. Assembled by Arthur Spencer Dayton, and Mrs. Dayton, this rich group of paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and glass reveals their emotional and intellectual response to art. Collecting from 1920 to the early 1960s, the couple collected the best artworks that fit within their modest budget.
A native of Philippi, Arthur S. Dayton (1887-1948) became a distinguished attorney practicing in Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. Dayton was especially fond of American art, purchasing works from New York Galleries, group shows such as the Carnegie International, and from artist’s studios. Ruth Woods Dayton (1894-1978), also of Philippi shared a love of literature and art with her husband, and supported a variety of cultural programs in the state. She wrote several books and articles about the history of West Virginia pioneers and homes.
Following Mr. Dayton’s death in 1948, his wife established a non-profit art gallery in Lewisburg, West Virgin
United States
On the Porch
Oil on canvas
Gift of Mrs. Arthur S. Daytonia, where the collection was displayed from 1951-1967. An expansion at the Huntington Museum of Art (then known as the Huntington Galleries), and Mrs. Dayton’s search for a permanent home for The Daywood Collection coincided. . It was her decision to donate The Daywood Collection to the Museum in 1967 “to be able to keep the collection intact, and appropriately housed where others can enjoy it…”
The Daywood Collection contains important American artists from the mid-19th century up to 1940. Some of the artists represented are Frank W. Benson, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Maurice Prendergast, John Singer Sargent, Julian Alden Weir, James McNeil Whistler, Alexander Wyant, Robert Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, Ernest Lawson, and A.B. Davies.
Another facet of the collection is the interest in female sculptors, including Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Grace Helen Talbot, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Edith Parsons, and Bessie Potter Vonnoh. Also included are 165 American and European prints, mostly from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century (including examples by artists that were both painters and printmakers, such as Childe Hassam and Frank Benson); some fine and important old master prints; a few important French and British paintings; and 93 glass objects, mostly examples of early pressed glass from the Lacy period manufactured by Boston and Sandwich Glass Company.
