New acquisition

Stebbins Collection: The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, has received a monumental gift of extraordinary American art from the collection of Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. and Susan Cragg Stebbins, made in honor of Mrs. Stebbins’s parents, Evelyn and Henry Cragg, longtime residents of Winter Park.Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Barnard Castle, 1862. Watercolor and gouache on blue-green paper, 125/8 x 185/8 in. Gift of Theodore E. and Susan Cragg Stebbins (2019-009:14). Courtesy The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida.

The gift comprises 65 historic works of art, as well as an additional three future gifts and two long-term loans. In the collection are late 19th-century and early 20th-century sculpture, watercolors, drawings and paintings by major American artists like Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Worthington Whittredge, Fidelia Bridges, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Thomas Birch, Martin Johnson Heade and John LaFarge, among many others. Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), Castle of Chillon, 1859. Oil on canvas, 12 x 20 in. Gift of Theodore E. and Susan Cragg Stebbins (2020-008). Courtesy The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida.

“The Stebbins Collection represents a wonderful group of 19th-century artists at the height of their abilities,” says Dr. Regina Palm, Morse Curator of American Painting. “From the collection’s inception in the 1960s, the Stebbins have continuously pursued works of art purely on the basis of quality regardless of whether a particular artist was renowned or even completely unknown.” Palm is also the author of the upcoming scholarly catalog about the Stebbins Collection.Thomas Birch (1779-1851), Long Island Sound View, ca. 1827-35. Oil on wood panel, 9¾ x 13½ in. Gift of Theodore E. and Susan Cragg Stebbins (2020-004:4). Courtesy The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida.

Susan Cragg Stebbins is a scholar in literature and romance languages, and her husband Theodore Stebbins, a professor of art history and a curator at the Yale University Art Gallery (1968-77), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1977-2000) and the Harvard Art Museums (2001-14). Each with a discerning eye for art, the couple built an extraordinary collection together. George Cochran Lambdin (1830-1896, Calla Lilies, 1874. Oil on panel, 20 x 117/8 in. Gift of Theodore E. and Susan Cragg Stebbins (2020-004:28). Courtesy The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida.

“Susan and I are deeply honored that our collection will find a home at the Morse, a crown jewel among smaller American art museums,” says Theodore Stebbins. “We are especially pleased to make this gift in honor of Susan’s parents, Henry and Evelyn Cragg, who brought their family up in Winter Park, and who loved everything about the town.” —