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For a fascinating look at the creation of American art over the years, nothing beats a visit to where it was made. That’s the idea behind the Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a coalition of 55 individual museums in 25 states dedicated to preserving and interpreting a single artist’s (or group of artists’) working environment. “The power of place is very potent at these sites,” says the program’s director, Valerie Balint, who notes that they often include the artists’ actual materials and tools. Each a touchstone of our cultural history, these six sites should get the inspiration flowing.
Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, New York
Step into the Long Island studio of the two artists who painted here, Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Lee Krasner (1908-1984), and you’re immediately swept into the frenetic movement of their art. When the newly married couple moved to this 19th-century former fisherman’s house in 1945 and converted its barn into a studio for Pollock, he was on the verge of pioneering his groundbreaking technique of placing his canvas on the floor and spontaneously pouring and dripping liquid paint onto it. Today, the floor is covered with his over-splash and a few of his footprints, and the walls of the studio — which Krasner used after Pollock’s 1956 death — bear traces of her own action paintings. By contrast, the house exudes a stillness, with the couple’s books, jazz records, hi-fi and furniture just as they were when Krasner passed away in 1984.
How to visit: The museum is open May through October, Thursdays through Saturdays, for one-hour guided tours at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. ($15 for adults). Advance reservations are required.
Chesterwood, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
You may not know the name Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), but if you have ever stood in solemn awe before his white marble sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln in Washington’s Lincoln Memorial, you know the power of his work. In 1896, when French was America’s preeminent sculptor of architectural and public monuments, he bought a 122-acre farm, established a summer studio and home there, and christened the property Chesterwood. The three-floor, nine-bedroom residence retains its original tasteful elegance, the formal gardens now host an annual show of contemporary American sculpture, and visitors can hike woodland trails laid out by French himself to take in views of the surrounding Berkshires. The studio’s walls soar to 26 feet to accommodate oversize works, and his ingenious solution for viewing sculptures outdoors as he worked on them — part of the studio floor is actually a movable flatbed rail car — still functions.