As a decorative art advisor and writer with over thirty years in the art world, including a decade with Christie’s in New York and London, Genevieve Wheeler Brown has been actively involved in the community of Delftware. She has also participated on the Antiques Roadshow as an appraiser with an eye out for overlooked “treasure.” In her role, she has held innumerable objects, from fake Stradivari violins to gold-mounted Faberge eggs, considering their value but also the stories they can tell. Beyond Blue and White has been named an NPR Here & Now Editors’ Pick and selected for The Art Newspaper’s Book Bag. It has also received glowing reviews from The Magazine ANTIQUES and The Wall Street Journal.
Albany Institute of History and Art (125 Washington Ave, Albany, NY 12210)
Beyond Blue and White: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic
Free with admission. Program followed by a reception.
The New Netherland Institute’s director, Dr. Deborah Hamer, speaks with decorative arts specialist Genevieve Wheeler Brown, author of the new book Beyond Blue and White: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic (Pegasus Books/ Simon & Schuster, 2005). They will discuss the women in the Netherlands who made the beautiful ceramics, the women who brought it to New Netherland and New York, and the eighteenth and nineteenth century collectors who collected and championed it. In addition, selections of blue and white Delft objects from the Albany Institute of History & Art's collection will be on display.
In the fall of 2019, more than seventy-five rare pieces of 17th- and 18th-century Delftware were re-discovered in a historic Manhattan townhouse. Genevieve Wheeler Brown reveals the history behind this extraordinary find in Beyond Blue and White: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic—recently named an NPR Here & Now Editors’ Pick and praised by The Magazine ANTIQUES and The Wall Street Journal. Brown explores how these vibrant ceramics represent not only a beloved decorative art form but also the powerful, often overlooked roles women have played across centuries. Audiences will encounter pioneering Delft pottery owners such as Barbara Rotteveel, founder of the influential Three Bells factory in 1671, alongside Queen Mary II, whose enthusiasm helped elevate Delftware to royal favor.
The talk also highlights trailblazing Gilded Age collectors—including Frances Tracy Morgan, wife of J. Pierpont Morgan, and Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt, wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II—whose commitment to preservation helped shape early museum culture and opened new pathways for women in leadership.
Through rich visual material, from period objects to historic works of art, Brown looks beyond the iconic cobalt glaze to reveal a vivid story of artistry, female agency, and cultural history embedded in Delftware.
Brown’s book, Beyond Blue and White: The Hidden History of Delftware and the Women Behind the Iconic Ceramic (Pegasus Books), will be available for purchase.
This program is co-sponsored by The New Netherland Institute.
The New Netherland Institute is a registered non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, digitizing, translating, and making available Dutch documents related to the colony of New Netherland (1609-1664). Created in 1986 as the Friends of the New Netherland Project, it has promoted the study of New Netherland for forty years. Visit newnetherlandinstitute.org to learn more.