The Milan Museum: The Newton Arts Gallery

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Founded in 1968, The Edna Roe Newton Arts Building houses galleries filled with works from around the world. The building and collection of paintings, sculptures, glass, and decorative arts were the generous gift Bert Persing Newton. Mr. Newton has many ties to Milan, which is why he chose the Milan Museum to house his and his wife's extensive collection.

Images

Netsuke are hand-carved from ivory, lacquered wood, or a combination of both and were worn from the seventeenth century through mid-nineteenth century. A series of fifty ornately carved netsuke are on display, along with inro, a decorative companion piece worn by the Japanese. Inro originated in China and were first used to hold official family seals used in making business transactions. When first introduced in Japan, they were used as household decorations. Each inro consisted of two to four boxes, each fitting on top of another and were usually made of wood with an applique of silver, gold or enamel objects. It became the custom to wear inro suspended on a cord from the netsukes on the belts of kimonos.
The mineral sepiolite, makes the two meerschaum pipes depicting the likenesses of Peter Paul Ruben and Sire Anthony Van Dyke. Meerschaum can be both carved and polished and the pipes are usually created underwater to maintain the minerals pliability. During the Victorian era, these status symbols were often carved images from history, literature and art but soon gave way to the new look of Art Deco after WWI.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Edna May Roe (January 3, 1890 – November 19, 1964) and Bert Persing Newton (July 1, 1889 – January 6, 1976) grew up on farmlands in Oxford Township, just west of Milan. Following Edna’s graduation from nursing school at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, the two were married on November 3, 1914. The couple traveled extensively due to Bert Newton’s position as vice president in charge of foreign development for Gulf Oil, developing an appreciation for major works of art. Several of the paintings and artifacts on display were gifts to the Newton’s including the six lace mats made by the Lace makers of King Leopold III of Belgium, who presented them to Edna in 1936. Often described as quiet and shy, Edna enjoyed the arts of needle point and petit point design, executing many examples in the galleries.

Sources

The Milan Museum. Accessed June 12th 2020. www.milanhistory.org.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

The Milan Museum