I was utterly
amazed when I found this collection. There were excellent canvases by
Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, George Bellows, and other living American
painters whose work, while it is becoming more and more widely
appreciated each year, is still beyond all but the most advanced and
discriminating buyers of paintings. I went into ecstasies over this
collection, and I said to myself: "Away down here in Savannah there is
some one buying better paintings for a little museum than the heads of
many of the big museums in the country have had sense enough or courage
enough to buy. This man ought to be 'discovered' and taken to some big
museum where his appreciation will be put to the greatest use." With
that I rushed downstairs, sought out the curator, and asked who had
purchased the modern American pictures. And then my bubble was pricked,
for who had they had, down there, buying their pictures for them, but
Gari Melchers! Naturally the pictures were good!
In one room of the building, on the ground floor, is a collection of
fine old furniture, etc., which belonged to the Telfair family,
including two beautiful mantelpieces of black and white marble, some
cabinets, and a very curious and fascinating extension dining-table,
built of mahogany. The table is perfectly round, and the leaves, instead
of being added in the middle, are curved pieces, fitting around the
outer edge in two series, so that when extended to its full capacity the
table is still round.
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