A New Life for a Still Life

The director’s office at the Jersey City Museum looked like a scene from Antiques Roadshow last May, when a patron brought in paintings that had been behind a dresser for years.

Posted October 13, 2008 by Deborah P. Carter

The Jersey City Museum was surprised to find an authentic Severin Roesen painting brought in by a patron.

Photo courtesy of the Jersey City Museum.

“The first were by unknown artists,” says Marion Grzesiak, executive director of the JCM. “Then I looked at the still life and was flabbergasted. It was dirty and in a beat-up frame, but the signature was legible: Severin Roesen.”

Grzesiak, a scholar of American art, recognized the nineteenth-century canvas was probably an original work. Once authenticated, the painting, which is worth approximately $1 million, underwent a four-week restoration.
Roesen, a major 18th century American still-life painter, became more widely known when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy hung several of his paintings in the White House.

The museum administrators were eager to show the work, which had likely never before been on public view. “We recognized that collectors in the community have important work to share, so the idea of ‘A Community Collects’ was conceived,” says Grzesiak. The owner of the newly confirmed Roesen (who wishes to remain anonymous) loaned Still Life with Fruit for the display. The exhibit, which includes works from Europe, Asia, and Africa—all loaned by museum patrons—will continue through August 2009. “A Community Collects” marks the first time JCM has shown international art. Visit jerseycitymuseum.org for information.

If you enjoyed this piece, you also might like this story about a man who makes a living printing postcards of highly detailed military and historic sites around the state. Click here to read: Our Towns.

For more stories about: art, Jersey City Museum, Antiques Roadshow, Roesen, Severin