FOCUS IN/ON

Esther Williams, Art and Music

The following text was written collaboratively by David Fienen, Edgar F. and Ethel Johnson Professor of Fine Arts and Cantor and Organist of Christ Chapel, and Donald Myers, Director, Hillstrom Museum of Art. It was produced as part of a recurring exhibit program of the Hillstrom Museum of Art titled FOCUS IN/ON, in which individual works in the Hillstrom Collection are explored in depth in a collaborative process that engages the expertise of College community members across the curriculum. The text was featured in the Museum’s exhibition Selections from the Hillstrom Museum of Art Collection, on view from September 10 through November 4 2006, in which was displayed an oil painting from about 1940 by American artist Esther Williams (1907-1969) titled Mozartiana, an work that reflects Williams’ deep love of the piano—of which she was an avid amateur player—and her respect for composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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