Hearthside - The House That Love Built

Exhibit of David Davidson Photographs Now on Display

Hearthside has something new, but it’s old. A new exhibit of hand-colored photographs taken by David Davidson in the early part of the 1900s is now on display in the front hall. Davidson was considered to be one of the top two national leaders in hand-colored photography, second only to Wallace Nutting, in the early 20th century. Davidson met Nutting at Brown University and learned this fine art from him. Davidson spent many afternoons with Nutting in the countryside and took most of his photographs around Rhode Island. He founded the Davidson Photographic Studios in Providence, R.I. and sold much of his work through department stores, gift shops and traveling salesmen. His photos were so popular that hardly a New England wedding occurred where the bride did not receive at least one Davidson picture as a wedding or shower gift. Interest in hand-colored photography ended in the early 1940’s.

Among the more than 1000 different shots Davidson took over a 40-year period were his interior and exterior shots from his collection of America’s Colonial Revival Movement, which included Hearthside. Typically Davidson’s interior scenes did not include people. But Hearthside is now home to some of his works, including an interior shot of a lady in the upstairs master bedroom. Davidson always used pencil to title his pictures in the lower left corner, and added his signature in the lower right. Hearthside’s collection includes: The Porch Beautiful, On a News Hunt, An Afternoon Call, The Red Parasol, and Chippendale Reflection, all taken at Hearthside, as well as Historic Homestead, which was taken in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

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