Homestead at Rehoboth Art League to open with special exhibition April 20

The Rehoboth Art League’s Peter Marsh Homestead House will reopen Friday, April 20, with a special exhibition, Musical Notes by Honoré Daumier,  from the collection of Rehoboth Beach residents Ray and Valerie Bryant.

Honoré Daumier (1808-79) was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter and sculptor whose many works offered commentary on social and political life in 19th century France. He was an artist who brought both profound emotion and humor to his craft and is perhaps best known for his caricatures of political figures and satires on the behavior of his countrymen.

The works in this exhibition are from the collection of Professor Egon and Belle Gartenberg, the parents of Valerie Bryant. Egon Gartenberg (1911-82), a Holocaust survivor, lived a life of great passion. The story of his life, including an escape from Europe during World War II and culminating in a second career as a music historian and impresario in Chambersburg, Pa., is filled with drama and perseverance, and consistently punctuated by his three great loves: art, music and his wife Belle Gartenberg.

Belle, also a musician, embraced her husband’s love of art almost from the moment they met in 1944. Together they frequented galleries and bookshops throughout Europe in search of Daumier lithographs and woodcuts, especially those dealing with the theme of music. In 1968, Egon Gartenberg was awarded the Medal of Meritorious Service to his country of birth, Austria. The award honored Gartenberg’s literary scholarship including his book on Vienna, followed by books on Mahler and Strauss.

The Rehoboth Art League is extremely grateful to the Bryant family for their generosity and desire to share the “musical notes” from their collection with a wider audience.

The Peter Marsh Homestead house on the campus of the Rehoboth Art League is a historic home that was built in 1743. It is used as a showcase for RAL’s permanent collection of furniture, fine art and artifacts, as well as an exhibition space for RAL members’ work and special exhibitions.

This exhibition runs through Sunday, April 30. The Rehoboth Art League is at 12 Dodds Lane in Helopen Acres.

For more information, go to www.rehobothartleague.org or call 302-227-8408.