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By Annette Hinkle As a painter, Thomas Moran was renowned for his 19 th century American landscapes of this country s vast stretches ofwilderness. His paintings created before the advent of cars andplanes featured places like The Rockies, Yellowstone and theGrand Tetons and revealed natural landscapes that most people wouldnever have an opportunity to see in person. In fact, his work wasinstrumental in the creation of Yellowstone National Park thefirst national park in the United States. Though the American West may have been his best known subjects,Thomas Moran and his wife Mary Nimmo Moran also an artist lived in East Hampton. They discovered the village in 1878 and fellin love with the area. They rented a nearby home while they builttheir own house and studio on Town Pond in 1884, and in the decadesthat followed, they made art, raised their children and enjoyedclose ties with family, friends and the community. The Moran Housestill stands at 229 Main Street and today is a National HistoricLandmark. The property was gifted to Guild Hall in 2004 upon thedeath of its owner, Elizabeth Lamb, and has since been transferredto the non-profit Thomas Moran Trust which is currently overseeingan extensive and much needed restoration of the home. While it will be some time before the public is able to get aglimpse inside the Moran home, just up the road at the East HamptonHistorical Society s Clinton Academy, an exhibition opened lastweekend based on the life of Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran and theirextended family many of whom were talented artists in their ownright. Among them were Thomas brothers Edward and Peter, his sonPaul, and nephews Leon and Percy. On view is not only originalartwork of local scenes by the various members of the Moran family(much of it on loan from area collectors), but also photographs,furniture and personal objects like Thomas Moran s etching desk(which he can be seen using in a large photo in a corner of theexhibition) and his artist s palette complete with thumbprintand signature. Co-curated by Charles Keller and Glenn Purcell of East Hampton, theshow is presented in partnership with the Thomas Moran Trust andalso features pieces on loan from the East Hampton Library. ForKeller and Purcell, who have volunteered their efforts and spentthe last two years putting this show together, the exhibit is alabor of love. We have some of our own Morans, explains Purcell. With theMoran Trust and Guild Hall working to restore the house, it was aperfect time to do an exhibit and that s where it all started. It s a celebration of family and place, adds Keller. It snot just a show on Moran s paintings. It includes all familymembers. Purcell notes that initially, he and Keller were concerned aboutthe willingness of East Hampton collectors to loan their pieces fora local exhibition. But we knew a lot of people and were friendly with a lot more, adds Purcell, and it came together easier than we thought. People were very cooperative, adds Keller. They wanted totake part. Being involved in the community was a tradition in Moran s day aswell, and Richard Barons, director of the historical society, notesthat while Moran exhibits in and of themselves are not rare, whatis unusual in this case is the opportunity to see how members ofthe Moran family spent their time in East Hampton. What makes it so extraordinary is this isn t really an artexhibit, but more about the Morans living here, explains Baronswho adds that the family also had a connection to Clinton Academy which in its day (before the founding of Guild Hall) functionedas a community center and art gallery. The Morans were benefactors of the community and did a lot tosupport organizations, says Barons. They would do an artexhibit or a musical and charge some money for it and would raisemoney for the Maidstone Club, or other community organizations. As artists, the Morans, who spent about seven months of the year inEast Hampton, were unusual in that they were the first to reallylive on the South Fork. It was one thing to come out here and paint, but another to comeout here and build, says Barons. Thomas and his wife remembereda house they had seen in England. When they built their studio andhome they incorporated the ideas of English studios. The resemblance of 19 th century East Hampton to pastoral England was certainly not lost onthe Morans. These people s families would've left England and Scotlandin the messy part of the industrial revolution, explains Barons. The Moran family came from Little England in Philadelphia andwere in the textile industry. They grew up in a smoky environment.If you look at some descriptions of East Hampton in the 1860s, theyoften referred to it as looking like England. They see the windmills and know they re English, not Dutch, headds. East Hampton in the 1880s had a charming ruralness. It wasnot heavily treed. They see the flat plains, the grazing land, someof the houses originally would have had thatching. It was veryun-ostentations. Some people after the Civil War referred to theHamptons as a discovery that had been overlooked. There was theBonac dialect, it was that sense of romanticism. The ever present sentinel in pastoral paintings from East Hamptonin that period were the village s three windmills and thePresbyterian Church steeple, and Barons notes that the romanticismthe Morans felt for the area can be seen in an oil by Mary NimmoMoran showing Pantigo Mill, Home Sweet Home and the blades of HookMill. He explains that two years before she did the painting, theblades had been ripped off the mill. But since she knew what theylooked like, she chose to put them back in her painting. It was a sense of nostalgia and she made it a little morebeautiful, notes Barons. While summer artists came and went in East Hampton, the Morans werenot seen as part of that crowd and treated by village residentsmore as celebrity residents. In fact, Moran was not a plein airpainter and many of his most famous western paintings were actuallyconstructed in the studio in East Hampton. For Purcell and Keller, the process of assembling the exhibitbrought new realizations not only about how the family worked, buthow they came to call this place home as well. We knew we loved the work mostly Mary Nimmo s work, saysPurcell. But we ve learned a lot over the two years in decidinghow to tell the story. In general, pulling together the exhibit is the uniqueness of thefamily members, explains Keller. Some were drawn to differentrepresentations Peter Moran with cows, Edward with marine life,Mary with the quaintness of the village. It pulls together a fullvision. It started with our love of place, captured by Mary and ThomasMoran, says Keller. I think what I really found interesting arethe photographs taking us through what life was like then. Thetreeless landscapes, walking across the green to their friends house. Purcell adds that the Morans were also somewhat eccentric and evenowned an authentic Venetian gondola which they used for outings onlocal ponds. That gondola now resides in The Mariner s Museum inNewport News, but photos of it with Thomas and Mary s twodaughters aboard, are on view in the exhibition. It's unusual to look at the community, confirms Barons. A curator would be torn to have the Grand Tetons and other stufflike that on view. But this was all about intimacy. That s why youget the big blow ups of photos from the studio it s a work ofart in itself. Also you had the fact that they were all family members and allgreat artists, adds Purcell. You see their love of place, theirpassion and understand why they stayed and lived here. Mostly, thisshow brings awareness to the Moran property and the restoration. Moran: A Family s Celebration of Home and Place will remain onview through Sunday, July 8 at the East Hampton HistoricalSociety s Clinton Academy Museum (151 Main Street, East Hampton).Hours are Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays fromnoon to 5 p.m. There is no admission charge, but donations arewelcome. On Saturday, June 30 at 10 a.m., East Hampton HistoricalSociety Director Richard Barons offers a special tour of theexhibition. For more information, call 324-6850. Top: Mary Nimmo Moran's etching "Where Through theWillows Creaking Loud Is Heard the Busy Mill," 1886. PrivateCollection. Popularity: 1% [ ? ]. 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