Family portraits, with a twist
Artist plays with gender, history at Gibson House
By Cate McQuaid
Globe Correspondent / May 9, 2010
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/05/09/artist_hannah_barrett_plays_with_gender_history_in_gibson_house_exhibit/Family portraits line the staircase of the Gibson House Museum, founded by scion Charles Hammond Gibson Jr., in a historic Back Bay home, but they're not the type you see in most house museums. "Lady Travesty'' wears a tutu and stands en pointe in a bowl on the dining room table. She, if the lady is indeed a she, also sports a broad jaw, a bushy gray mustache, a man's double-breasted albeit sleeveless jacket, and a restrained brown coif.
An eccentric relative? Yes and no. All the portraits along the staircase were painted by Hannah Barrett, 43, a contemporary painter known for mashing together odd characters from a variety of source materials. Her show, "Tales From the House of Gibson,'' was inspired by the Victorian-era row house, and she constructed the six portraits from archival photos of the Gibson family. "Lady Travesty'' is a comic mélange of Charles Gibson's father, Charles Sr., and his dancing sister, Mary Ethel.
