Isabella Stewart Gardner had a very personal aesthetic vision for her museum and traveled widely collecting decorative objects. The galleries and the courtyard feature a variety of furnishings, textiles, curios, lacquare, ceramics and tiles, that Gardner layered and juxtaposed with other works of art. She also incorporated sculptural elements into the architecture of the Palace. Sculptor and visual artist Nicole Cherubini shared Gardner’s deep appreciation for the decorative arts and their historical significance. Cherubini too has traveled extensively studying their primary functions in a wide range of cultures.
Cherubini grew up in Boston and has fond memories of visiting the museum and attending concerts with her father. During her February 2019 residency, she researched how Isabella conceptualized Fenway Court. Isabella purchased sculptures and works of art and combined them in ways she found aesthetically pleasing. Cherubini was delighted by Isabella’s use of hybridity and related this hybridity to her own practice. Cherubini’s work often involves some variation of a clay vessel adorned and layered with unexpected materials and incorporates pedestals or support structures. She spent many mornings in the galleries taking reference photographs.
In the archives Cherubini studied Isabella’s lists, guidebooks, and the building’s construction plans. She also looked through the collection of photographs taken by Thomas Marr & Son during the construction of the building (1902-1926) and in the years that followed as Gardner rearranged objects, artwork and furniture. Cherubini also looked at Marr photographs of the Gardners summer home, Green Hill, in Brookline and of their Beacon Street residence that initially housed their collection.
At the time of Cherubini’s residency the museum was renovating the Titian Room and the Vatichino, a small room adjacent to Isabella’s office where she kept art, books, mementos and her travel scrapbooks and guest books. During her visit to the Conservation Labs Cherubini had the opportunity to closely look at Titian’s Rape of Europa, which was being cleaned. In textile conservation labs she learned about the restoration of the room and its fabric wall coverings and was able to have a close look at the original textiles that are in storage.
Cherubini also took advantage of the museum’s concert and lecture series and attended the opening of the Botticelli: Heroines + Heros exhibition.
Nicole Cherubini (b. 1970, US) received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI), and MFA from New York University (New York, NY). Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA), the Jersey City Museum (Jersey City, NJ), the Nassau County Museum of Art (Roslyn Harbor, NY), the Pérez Art Museum Miami (Miami, FL), the Santa Monica Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), and University Art Museum (Albany, NY). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections. Cherubini lives and works in Hudson, NY.