With its gorgeous beaches, quaint fish shacks, and breathtaking sunsets, Cape Ann can often inspire one's inner romantic. Poets have written, artists have painted, and relationships have flowered under the influence of our area's natural beauty. During his second visit to Cape Ann in 1923, Edward Hopper courted his future wife, the young artist Josephine Nivison. In 1924 Milton Avery met art student Sally Michel in Gloucester, and the two married soon after. It was also in Gloucester that poet Gerrit Lansing fell in love with his partner of almost 35 years, sailor and yacht captain Deryk Burton. 

With the spirit of love that is shared during the Valentine’s Day season, in this issue of CAM Connects we look at some historical valentines from the Museum’s collection, explore how artist couples have influenced one another’s work, and learn about a unique art collecting couple. ■

The CAM Archives boast a rich collection of cards dating from 1849-1910. Valentines, which constitute the largest part of the collection, are joined by Christmas and Birthday cards, bookmarks, and place cards. Perhaps the most interesting are the cards that aren’t cards at all.

During this period, some apparently felt that a two-dimensional card just wasn’t enough to hold all of their affection, so they leveled up with Valentine’s Day Boxes. These intricate, collaged boxes were made with found materials including lace, photographs, cut outs, and more. With so many of us still stuck at home and, let's be honest, doing a fair bit of online ordering that arrives in boxes, the CAM staff thought it was the perfect time to let our love notes go a little deeper.

This Valentine’s Day, we encourage you to join us by grabbing an old box and filling it with love. Write a poem, cut out a heart, or do a little drawing and set it out for yourself or those you live with as a bit of sculptural joy during the coldest month of the year. Don’t forget to share your pictures on social media and tag us at @CapeAnnMuseum! ■

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then perhaps it also makes the tokens of love more elaborate! Sailors' valentines, traditionally set with hundreds of tiny colorful shells glued to a cloth and cotton backing inside a hinged octagonal framework, were formerly perceived by some to be the handiwork of bored and lonely sailors, whiling away the hours aboard their ships as they pined for their loved ones. Although a romantic image, these exquisitely crafted souvenirs that often feature the shapes of flowers, hearts, and maritime objects, were more likely the work of a resident of an island port specifically for sale to visiting sailors. Many sailor’s valentines have been traced back to a curiosities shop in Barbados. This mid-19th century valentine, on display in the Museum’s Captain Elias Davis House, came to the Cape Ann Museum collection from the family of Captain Oliver G. Lane of Annisquam. ■

History has shown that it is not unusual for two artists (or appreciators of art) to fall in love. A fair share of artist couples have either passed through Cape Ann, or called it home. Included on the list are Virginia Lee Burton and George Demetrios, Edward Hopper and Josephine Nivison Hopper, Alice Beach Winter and Charles Allan Winter, Bernard Chaet and Ninon Lacey, Judith and Gordon Goetemann, Martha Hale Harvey and George Wainwright Harvey, and finally Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz, who may hold the record for the longest tenured love story among Cape Ann’s artist couples.

Martha Hale Rogers and George Wainwright Harvey were married in Gloucester in 1884. Over the next half a century, they shared life together in their Annisquam home and worked side by side as artists in adjoining studios on River Road. Martha specialized in photography, working at a time when glass plate negatives (some as large as 8 x 10” in size) were standard operating equipment—and women photographers were the exception. George's media included etchings, watercolors, and oils; he often used Martha's photographs as the basis of his compositions. History tells us that the pair had a truly collaborative relationship with each artist sharing their work with the other and building on their individual talents. Examples of the collaborative spirit that existed between the Harveys can be readily found in CAM's archives. 

Here we have a photograph that Martha took of a model of the fishing schooner Manchester set up in George’s Annisquam studio, posed to look as though it was pitching in heavy seas. Alongside that image is a second one (also taken by Martha) showing an oil painting George did from his wife’s photo.

A second pairing shows a photo Martha took of the façade of the Universalist Church on Middle Street in Gloucester, and the etching George created from it.  Numerous other examples exist in CAM’s archives and tell us that the Harveys (who made their livings as artists) worked together frequently and successfully; the duration of their marriage – nearly 50 years—also tells us that this artistic arrangement was pleasing to both. ■

Click here to learn more about Martha Hale Harvey

“He sang, she swooned, and shortly after they were married.”

This succinct summary comes from a talk by Carol Troyen, Curator Emerita of American Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on the prolific art collectors Martha and Maxim Karolik given at the Cape Ann Museum in 2007. When the Karolik's gifted their collection of American fine and decorative art to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, over a series of decades beginning in the 1930s, they raised awareness that these artists, including Fitz Henry Lane, had historical merit. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was soon after their donating began that Alfred Mansfield Brooks (former President of the Cape Ann Museum) began to assemble the large body of Lane's work that would establish CAM as the primary repository for his art.

The Karoliks met in 1927 when Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), an opera singer, performed at one of Martha Codman’s (1858-1948) dinner parties. Martha was 70 at the time and one of the richest women in Boston. Maxim, a recent emigree from Russia, was 35. The difference in their ages and social status meant that their marriage was viewed as “an outrageous prank of cupid,” as one biographer recalled.

Despite the scandal, the Karolik's commitment to each other and to their art collections made a significant impact on American Art. Together, they created three collections of over 2,000 objects and raised notable American painters including Fitz Henry Lane, Martin Johnson Heade, Frederic Church, and Thomas Cole into prominence. ■