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HISTORIC HILLWOOD MUSEUM AND GARDENS

Fully Renovated and Restored Marjorie Merriweather Post Mansion Provides Enhanced Showcase for Most Comprehensive Collection of Russian Imperial Art in the West and Important Collection of 18th-Century French Decorative Arts

Washington, D.C. –– Hillwood Museum and Gardens, the former estate of visionary collector, philanthropist and businesswoman Marjorie Merriweather Post, reopened to the public on September 26, 2000, following an extensive three-year renovation of the museum.  The revitalized estate now provides a superior showcase for Hillwood's world-class collections, including an improved museum-quality environment, renewed plantings and restored sculpture in the surrounding gardens and enhanced public facilities.  A new Visitor Center houses an updated orientation film, as well as information and audio-tour desks and an expanded museum shop. 

One of the premier house museums in this country, Hillwood is the legacy of Postum Cereal Company heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973) and features her internationally renowned personal collection of fine and decorative arts.  The museum includes the most comprehensive collections of 18th– and 19th– century Russian imperial art outside of Russia, as well as one of the world’s most important collections of the 18th– century French decorative arts.  Hillwood is set upon twenty-five acres, twelve of which are enchanting formal gardens, including a Japanese-style garden, and a French parterre.

Mrs. Post was a pioneering collector who assembled Russian imperial works of art long before they were widely recognized or appreciated in the West, and she acquired the nucleus of her superb collection while living in Russia in the late 1930s.  The care and passion with which she selected each piece demonstrate her insight as well as her great love and enthusiasm for Russian, as well as French culture.  She was especially interested in the decorative and applied arts, including porcelain, glass, jeweled objects, textiles and furniture selected for their beauty, superb craftsmanship, historical importance and overall contribution to the context of the collection. 

"Marjorie Merriweather Post was one of America's great collectors of fine and decorative arts who chose to create a museum out of her home, like Isabella Stewart Gardner, Henry C. Frick or Henry du Pont," said Frederick J. Fisher, Director of the Hillwood Museum and Gardens.  "Mrs. Post, who was schooled early in her collecting career by leading art dealers including Sir Joseph Duveen, was a knowledgeable and passionate collector and philanthropist who devoted her life to sharing her treasures and good fortune with others."

Highlights of the Russian collection at Hillwood include an 1884 diamond crown worn by Empress Alexandra at her marriage to Nicholas II; a comprehensive collection of approximately 80 works by Carl Fabergé, including two imperial Easter eggs; a gold chalice with diamonds and carved stones by I.W. Buch; delicate imperial porcelain and ormolu vases depicting painted scenes in a contemporary Western style; and a selection of ornate Russian Orthodox icons and religious objects.

The museum also features an extensive collection of French furnishings, tapestries and porcelain, primarily from the 18th century, including furniture by such masters as Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen; numerous pieces of famed Sèvres porcelain spanning the early years of manufacture at Vincennes to the time of the French Revolution; objets d'art by Louis Cartier; and spectacular Beauvais tapestries designed by François Boucher that later inspired works by Fabergé and Sèvres. 

MARJORIE MERRIWEATHER POST, COLLECTOR

Pioneer collector Marjorie Merriweather Post was the only child of cereal magnate C.W. Post.  She inherited the Postum Company in 1914 and began collecting art -- primarily Sèvres porcelain and French furniture and tapestries -- in the 1920s after her marriage to financier Edward F. Hutton.  In furnishing her 54-room Manhattan apartment, she adopted her taste for French neoclassicism that was then fashionable in New York society. 

Mrs. Post became interested in Russian art when husband Joseph E. Davies served as ambassador to the Soviet Union in the late 1930s.  During these years, the Soviet government was selling many of the treasures it had appropriated from the church, the imperial family and the aristocracy in an effort to finance the new government's industrialization plan.  She acquired the nucleus of her holdings at this time, but she continued to collect French and Russian art for the rest of her life, eventually amassing the most comprehensive Russian imperial collection in the West. 

Mrs. Post bought Hillwood in 1955 and immediately decided her home would be a museum that would educate and inspire the public.  Originally designed by John Diebert in 1926, the mansion was extensively enlarged and redesigned in the mid 1950s by New York architect Alexander McIlvaine and the New York design firms of McMillen, Inc. and French and Company.  Mrs. Post lived at Hillwood, named after a Long Island residence she owned for many years, until she died in 1973.

Hillwood Museum and Gardens is located on 4155 Linnean Avenue, in Northwest Washington, D.C., overlooking Rock Creek Park.  The museum is closed in January and open from February through December on Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on select Sundays in the Spring and Fall.  Hillwood is closed on all national holidays. Admission is by reservation only.  For general information call the toll free line at 1- (877) HILLWOOD or (202) 686-8500 or visit the museum website at www.hillwoodmuseum.org.  For reservations call (202) 686-5807, fax (202) 966-7846 or send an email request to reservation@hillwoodmuseum.org.  Hillwood Museum and Gardens is an accredited museum with the American Association of Museums.

For additional information, please see related documents from the office of Public Affairs @ www.hillwoodmuseum.org and go to press room.

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4155 Linnean Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Reservations 202.686.5807
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Office 202.686.8500

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