Wednesday, August 25, 2010

What in the Sam Hill....?


Vineyards at Maryill... on the Colombia river.


On our travels back to Spokane, we stopped at the Maryhill Museum in Goldendale, WA for a picnic and some art. Samuel Hill was a wealthy business man who built the Colombia river Highway... and collected art. He had a mansion built, perched above the Colombia river, thinking it would grow into a nice farming community someday. It never really happened and he never even lived in the house. His famous dancer friend, Loie Fuller, convinced him to turn it into a museum.
There's a nice collection of Rodin sculptures, a collection of gems, paintings, furniture etc. from Marie, Queen of Romania... a fashion display from the 40's-50's, as well as a stellar chess set collection. Currently, William Morris - a glass artist - has a beautiful show inspired by the northwest and walks in the wilderness. (I believe he's a teacher at the Pilchuck Glass School).

6 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

Who knew Sam Hill was a real guy?

artslice said...

:) Yup... I'm assuming this is the Sam Hill they've been talking about all this time.

M.A. Wakeley said...

What a diverse collector. The images are beautiful. It must have been a very inspiring visit. Great title to the post too :)

artslice said...

Hi Mary Ann -
He was quite a character with lots of arty friends. Sounds like fun to me :)

Paula Villanova said...

wish I could drop everything and fly to the West Coast to see this fabulous place...love the painting of the cello player and I'm not usually drawn to hyper realist paintings. There's something about the sense of space in that one...

artslice said...

Hi Paula,
It's a great place... we try to stop every time we go to Portland. They are closed in the winter. Thanks for stopping by!