What's It Wednesday - Whose Bust?
An artist and a leader of the arts
High on a shelf in the archives, there is a bust. I've walked by it for many years and wondered whose image it was. I just assumed that it had some classical reference - maybe a composer or Shakespeare. After all, we have a bust of Minerva that was in the classics department of the public school for years.
Finally, we took this bust down to see exactly who it was, hoping that there was a name on it. No name, but there was an object number which, in the case of museum collections, is more helpful. We discovered that the bust was of Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr.
The bust is surprising light. Not heavy plaster.
But why do we have it? And what was Bartlett Hayes’ connection to Andover? Turns out that Bartlett Hayes had a strong connection to Andover and beyond.
Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. grew up in Andover. Born in 1904, he was the oldest of 4 children. In 1922, Bartlett graduated from Phillips Academy and then Harvard in 1926 with a degree in Chemistry. After graduation he traveled throughout the US and Europe to study art. He met his wife, Clare, in Italy where she was also studying art. They married in 1933 and moved back to Andover where Bartlett taught art at Phillips Academy. The next year, he became the head of the Art Department and assistant curator at the Addison Gallery. In 1940, Bartlett was made the second director of the Addison Gallery. He continued as director for 29 years.
Bartlett Hayes, Jr. left his mark on Andover, Phillips Academy, and certainly the Addison. He established studio art classes at Phillips where students could create art rather than just learning about it. He was a beloved teacher. He also introduced the appreciation of contemporary art and architecture and brought modern artists’ work to the Addison. The Hayes hosted “Sundays at the Hayes” - a meeting place for artists including Buckminster Fuller, Charles Sheeler, Hans Hoffmann and Alexander Calder.
He believed that art should be accessible to a larger public and was the author of 4 books, Naked Truth and Personal Vision, Drawings of the Masters -American Drawings, Up from the Ground and Art & Nature, as well as the co-author of Laymen’s Guide to Modern Art. He also wrote and hosted “The Intent of Art”, a 1965 TV show on contemporary art.
Among other positions, Hayes was an art instructor at MIT and Connecticut College and on the boards of The Print Council of America, the College Arts Association, the art commission of the Smithsonian Institute, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the American Federation of the Arts, the Metropolitan Art Museum of New York, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and a committee member of the Andover Community Orchestra.
Bartlett retired from the Addison in 1969. He and Clare moved to Italy when Bartlett became director of the American Academy in Rome in 1970-1973. Then they retired to Peterborough NH where Bartlett died in 1988 at the age of 83.
Just as important as any bust or work of art is, is the artist who made it. In the case of the bust of Bartlett H Hayes, Jr. that artist was Beverly M. Jones Darling.
Beverly M. Jones was born in Brookline in 1913, grew up in Chestnut Hill and Beacon Hill, went to Brimmer and May School, and then Rollins College in Florida to study sculpture and painting, and also studied sculpture at the De Cordova Museum in Lincoln MA. She returned to Boston in 1940 and married David Lane Darling an industrial engineer in 1941. The Darlings lived in Topsfield and then moved to Andover. They had four children. In 1951, when her husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Beverly Darling recognized that she would have to become a businesswoman to support her family. She got her real estate license and subsequently opened her own real estate company, Darling Associates. In 1972, she was able to buy an 1896 Victorian house at 33 Chestnut St. for her company location.
Beverly was also involved in the community. She was a member of the Andover Garden Club, Christ Church and the New England Sculptors Association. Beverly served on many local committees and boards including the Andover Historical Society, the League of Woman Voters, the Treble Chorus of New England, the Andover Parents League, the Peabody Museum of Archeology and chaired the building committee for the J. Everett Collins Center of Performing Arts in Andover.
In her “spare “time, she turned to painting, sculpture, writing poetry, and gardening. She collected miniature furniture and glass pieces which were displayed in her home. Beverly was known for her gardens that graced her home at 18 Alden Road. Her garden contained many of her sculptures.
According to the Boston Globe, sculpting was natural to Beverly Darling. “Holding a fistful of natural clay she found on a beach off the coast of Maine, Beverly M Jones Darling molded the small faces of two boys playing the water nearby. The family like the sculptures so much…that they bought them.” Through the years, Beverly made busts of young children commissioned by more than 70 families.
Beverly played with molding clay as a young child and then refined her techniques in college and over the years. She worked with alabaster, soapstone and wax, primarily. But, the Bartlett Hayes, Jr. bust is made of fiberglass.
Sculpting with fiberglass is a multi-step, time-consuming process. However, the finished sculptures are lighter, aren’t as fragile as some of the other materials, and with a resin coating, are suitable for outdoor as well as indoor display. According to Beverly Darling, the Bartlett Hayes, Jr. clay bust was cast in fiberglass and then painted with a bronze verdigris patina resin. It was made in 1991.
Beverly Darling died at her home, April 2, 2007. Beverly was known for her practice of inviting friends to tea and ending each day, no matter how busy, with tea.
An art scholar and leader of renown and an accomplished artist and businesswoman. Amazing the stories connected to one bust!
Thanks for reading. Please share your comments and stories with me by posting or emailing me.
Marilyn Helmers
mhelmers@andovercenterforhistoryandculture.org
Resources
Andover Center for History and Culture library research materials and collection
Andover Historic Preservation Website
Smithsonian Archives of American Art
Smithsonian Clip of Oral History Interview Bartlett Hayes
Thank you for this lovely story and the pictures. Mrs. Darling befriended me when I was about 10 and I miss her so much after 35 years: the miniatures, her art studio space by the garage, her garden "rooms" and outdoor sculptures, her oak furniture, her Scottie (who died and was succeeded by another Scottie). Her alabaster sculptures were my favorites. I remember helping with an outdoor rehearsal or performance of the treble chorus in the garden. I think she told me she was dyslexic. -Abby
Beverly Darling sold us our property in 1978. She was very helpful. A good business woman. I learned later about her being an artist.