The Macdowell Colony

The in-depth story of America's premier artists' residency program, published on its centennial anniversary.

In selecting The Lists of the Past as her nomination for reissue, Cheryl Strayed was moved by "the intelligent, emotional depth and breadth" of the stories, all but two of which originally appeared in The New Yorker. Julie Hayden's New York hums with eccentric observation, humor and grit. Her leisurely Connecticut countryside is fresh with tilled soil, distant lapping waves and the summer breeze. Whether describing a child astonished with new perceptions, a distraught woman walking on Fifth Avenue with her concealed liquor flask, or a pair of lovers on a country picnic, her writing is ardent and precise, placing us at the center of her characters' lives and destinies. Her masterful voice and distinctive clarity show us the often concealed ways our pain and joy turn into knowledge.

Grimms’ fairy tales, originally collected in 1812, are a timeless chronicle of the possibilities our lives all have, and the full range of human nature. The stories remain just as relevant today as when they were first published over 200 years ago. To introduce these tales to a new generation, Uzzlepye Press presents Mirror Mirrored: An Artists' Edition of 25 Grimms' Tales, a special visual edition of 25 of the stories. It includes not only almost 2,000 vintage Grimms' illustrations remixed into the book alongside the story texts, but also work from 28 contemporary artists visually reimagining these stories.

A celebration of the Colony's history & its visual artists' diversity of subjects & stylistic approaches.

Edward MacDowell was born on the eve of the Civil War into a Quaker family in lower Manhattan, where music was a forbidden pleasure. With the help of Latin-American émigré teachers, he became a formidable pianist and composer, spending twelve years in France and Germany establishing his career. Upon his return to the United States in 1888 he conquered American audiences with his dramatic Second Piano Concerto and won his way into their hearts with his poetic Woodland Sketches. Columbia University tapped him as their first professor of music in 1896, but a scandalous row with powerful university president Nicholas Murray Butler spelled the end of his career. MacDowell died a broken man four years later, but his widow Marian kept his spirit alive through the MacDowell Colony, which she founded in 1907 in their New Hampshire home, and which is today the oldest and one of the most influential, thriving artist colonies in the the United States. Drawing on private letters that were sealed for fifty years after his death, this biography traces MacDowell's compelling life story, with new revelations about his Quaker childhood, his efforts to succeed in the insular German music world, his mysterious death, and his lifelong struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Edward MacDowell's story is a timeless tale of human strength and weakness set in one of the most vibrant periods of American musical history, when optimism about the country's artistic future made anything seem possible.

Understanding MacDowell's life and times opens a window into the interpretation of his music. This eclectic collection includes a moving illustrated biography, several early works composed under his pen name and his arranged improvisations on themes by J.S. Bach. Includes access to online audio.

Presenting a musical history of the MacDowell Colony in the fullest sense, this work also contains new discoveries in several areas. It is a survey of 19th and early 20th century art colonies in the United States, and, with reference to a French exemplar, provides a context for the founding of the MacDowell Colony in 1907. The various formative pressures, influences, and motivations of the colony are explored, and its philosophical basis is identified and discussed.

"...Tells the in-depth story of The MacDowell Colony, American's premier artists' residency program, which has nurtured some of the nation's most influential talents in the creative arts, from Edwin Arlington Robinson and Thornton Wilder to Leonard Bernstein, Milton Avery, and Alice Walker."--book sleeve.