About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith

 About Face: Copley’s Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith explores the lives and work of two artists within colonial Boston prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. John Singleton Copley was the most popular portrait painter in colonial America. In addition to painting some of the leading patriots of the time, such as Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere, Copley also painted the portrait of a silversmith named Nathaniel Hurd. In fact, Copley appears to have painted Nathaniel Hurd three times. The MAG’s mysteriously unfinished portrait of Hurd, the centerpiece of this exhibit, is contrasted with the completed portrait owned by the Cleveland Museum of Art. (The third version, a miniature, is in a private collection.) Nathaniel Hurd was a talented engraver whose skill and craftsmanship made him one of the most sought after silversmiths in Boston.

In addition to focusing upon paintings by Copley and silver pieces by Hurd, this exhibit aims to contextualize these works and other objects within the daily life of colonial Boston. This interactive exhibit and accompanying teaching packet will:

• make primary source documents (art works, objects, and written texts) central to providing students with a view of the experiences of men and women who were alive around the time of the American Revolution.
• develop students' critical looking and thinking skills as they gain experience in interpreting historical documents.
• analyze different interpretations of a key political turning point in American history through the study of visual and written documents of the Boston Massacre.
• explore important social issues through portraiture.
• evaluate the colonial American economy through primary source documents, like Nathaniel Hurd’s Table of Conversions and a colonial coin.

The About Face exhibit includes two computer kiosks with an interactive CD-ROM experience that allows students to navigate their own exploration. In this CD-ROM, the biographies of John Singleton Copley and Nathaniel Hurd are directly tied to the people and events that led up the American Revolution. Students can explore simulations of a house and silversmith workshop in colonial Boston . Students will be exposed to the issues of identity and social status that are addressed through the manipulation of Nathaniel Hurd’s portrait.

Visiting the exhibit:

About Face was designed to encourage a self-guided experience of the exhibit. The exhibit contains a great deal of activities for students to engage in while visiting the Memorial Art Gallery. The label texts use interactive formats, there are two computer kiosks containing the About Face CD-ROM, and there are a number of books available for reference on life in colonial America. In addition to other activities present in the exhibit room, there are a number of lesson plans in this interactive exhibit and in the accompanying teaching packet that require student participation while at the Gallery.