From Hassam to Wyeth: Gifts from Doris and Shouky Shaheen

The Norton Museum of Art will open From Hassam to Wyeth: Gifts from Doris and Shouky Shaheen (December 10, 2021 – May 1, 2022), featuring major oil and watercolors from American artists in the late 19th- to mid 20th-centuries, gifted to the Norton in 2020. The exhibition is the first in a series highlighting private collections that will open at the Norton this winter, illustrating the depth of its community of art collectors. The works from the Shaheen gift will be shown alongside the Norton's exhibition, Jane Peterson: Impressions of Light and Water (December 18, 2021 – June 12, 2022). With the works already on view in the museum's American galleries, these shows demonstrate the museum's deep holdings of American Impressionist painting.

"From Hassam to Wyeth celebrates the remarkable generosity of Doris and Shouky Shaheen to the Norton Museum of Art," said Ghislain d'Humières, Director and CEO of the Norton Museum of Art.  "Their gift of incomparable American paintings by some of the most well-known artists of the time deepens and strengthens the Norton's holding of American art. We are pleased to place this gift on view at the Norton which, together with our Jane Peterson exhibition, will provide visitors with an exploration of the American landscape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."

From Hassam to Wyeth: Gifts from Doris and Shouky Shaheen showcases the couple's gift of 12 American works to the Norton. In addition to Childe Hassam and Andrew Wyeth, artists represented include William Glackens, Jane Peterson, Edward Henry Potthast, John Henry Twachtman, Guy Wiggins, and Wyeth's son, Jamie. Ranging in style from impressionism to realism, the works demonstrate how American painters continued to focus on landscapes that demonstrated the continuities between past and present, even in this era of major social change.

Shouky Shaheen and his late wife, Doris, began to amass their remarkable collection in the early 1970s. Over the course of 50 years, the collection has grown to include paintings by some of the most recognized American and European artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Seasonal residents of Palm Beach, the couple have a long history of philanthropic support for organizations across the Southeast, particularly tied to the arts, healthcare access, and education. "We are so grateful to the Shaheens for these important gifts," said Ellen Roberts, the Norton's Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Curator of American Art. "They expand the museum's American collection in exciting ways, allowing the us to introduce new artists and new themes into our galleries."