September 27, 2025–January 4, 2026

Inside Out: Contexts for American Art

  • The Museum and Café will be closed Friday, July 4.

  • Alice Mather (1762–1842), Sampler (Norwich, CT), 1774. Silk on linen with printed chintz border, 13 x ¾ x 11 ½ in.  Florence Griswold Museum, Purchase with additional funds provided by Jane Rapport, Barbara and Wayne Harms, Anonymous, Sally and Larry Lawrence, Julie and James Alexandre, The Paul Foundation, Lee and John Pritchard in memory of Paul Holt, Elizabeth Webster, David W. Dangremond, Kay Knight Clarke, Jeb and Dianne Embree in memory of Robert Webster and Paul Holt, John Noyes, Stephen and Susan Bates, Deborah Butler, Jeff and Betsey Cooley, and Elizabeth Frame 

  • Lydia Longacre, The Blue Kimono, 1914. Watercolor on ivory, 5 ¼ x 3 ¼ in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Mrs. Eleanor DelMar Revill, 1996.6.4

  • Charles Ethan Porter (1847–1923), Strawberries, 1888. Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, 2002.1.109

  • John Rogers (1829–1904), The Town Pump, 1862, Painted plaster, 13 ½ x 10 ¾ x 7 ½ in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Hilda Regier & Wayne and Barbara Harms, 2023.18

  • Irving N. Leveton (1916–1997), Millinery Shop, 1938. Egg tempera on Masonite, 38 x 32 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Purchase, 2024.39

The Florence Griswold Museum is a unique institution rooted in the context of its site-specific environment. Visitors to FloGris immerse themselves in history by exploring the Griswold Boardinghouse for Artists. They walk the halls and stand in the rooms where Lyme Art Colony artists dined, played games and made music, debated about art, and painted directly on the walls and door panels. Many scenes depicted in the paintings can be viewed just outside. Audiences enjoy views of the river, smell the fragrances of the garden, and hear the music of songbirds—the same sights, scents, and sounds that the Lyme artists appreciated some 120 years ago.

Inspired by the multi-sensory setting that contributes to the FloGris experience, Inside Out: Contexts for American Art investigates the power of context for selected artworks from the Museum’s collection, turning them “inside out” for viewers to engage with paintings, sculpture, prints, textiles, and photographs in creative new ways. Works of art will be placed in conversation with archival materials, period music, artmaking tools, and interactive activities such as materials to smell, feel, play with, or manipulate. Oversized graphics, films and additional pieces from the Museum’s collection will help recreate the artwork’s context and flesh out historic and contemporary narratives.

While traditional exhibitions use text labels to communicate information, Inside Out aims to experiment by considering the varied ways people learn. In addition to reading interpretative materials, audiences will be encouraged to use their five senses—see, hear, smell, taste, or touch—to understand art more holistically. The interpretative goal is not just to tell the viewer about the context of the artwork, but to show them by engaging on a more personal, experiential level that brings art to life.

 

This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of HSB, Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, as well as donors to the Exhibition Fund and the Annual Fund.