Hunter Museum of American Art

Recently, the Hunter Museum was lucky enough to become the repository for the George Cress estate.

George was a well-known and beloved artist in Chattanooga. He passed away in January and in his will left the Hunter all of his artwork. I had no idea that George had this in mind and was very touched that he would entrust the Hunter with his legacy. Or part of his legacy; his spirit will certainly live on in all the students he taught and mentored.

We went to George’s house and studio a few weeks after he died. The group included our two registrars, Elizabeth Le and Theresa Slowikowski, preparator John Thornbury and Bill Loveless, George’s good friend and executor. We went through the studio and gathered up all the paintings, watercolors and drawings. We took every scrap, scribble and sketchbook with us. The estate included his last painting that was unglazed and still on his easel; very poignant. In all, there were over 500 pieces.

Now we are in the midst of the laborious process of accessioning the work into the collection. Every single piece of paper, no matter how small, is given a number. So, for example, a painting might be numbered 2008.5.22. That means we got the piece in 2008. We designated all the paintings in this group as 5, and this is the 22nd painting in the group. This accession number is written lightly in pencil on the back of the piece. Each work is photographed along with the accession number for documentation purposes. And the photos and data are then put into our digital inventory of the collection. We also create an object card for each piece and a large file for the whole estate.

The estate is a revelation, really, to those of us who know his mature work best. It consists of a lot of his early work and so has a number of surprisingly realistic paintings and sketches. I put together a small show drawn from the estate that is currently on view in the mansion. I hope you’ll visit to learn more about this remarkable artist and Chattanoogan.

—Ellen Simak, Chief Curator

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