© Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust • All rights reserved
Permanent Collections include:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Lambert Collection, Philadelphia, PA
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
Mystic Museum, Mystic, CT
Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
Brigham Young University Museum of Fine Arts, Provo, UT
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
Addison Gallery, Andover, MA
Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Brown University, Providence, RI
Langdell Library, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA
Eliot House, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Westbrook College, Portland, ME
Sweetbriar College, Sweetbriar, VA
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA
Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Washington, DC
Solo Exhibitions:
Vose Contemporary (Vose Galleries of Boston), 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
St. Botolph Club, Boston, 2003
Dolphin Gallery, Hingham, MA 2002
Friends Meeting Center, Cambridge 1995 and 1996
Latrelle Brewster, Locust Grove, Georgia, 1994
Copley Society, Boston 1981, 1994 and 1996
Boston Public Library, 1969
Pietrantonio Galleries, New York 1964
Childs Gallery, Boston 1963
Sessler Gallery, Philadelphia 1956
Robert Vose Galleries, Boston 1950
Contemporary Arts, New York 1941
Grace Horne Galleries, Boston 1938
Philadelphia Art Alliance 1936
Guild of Boston Artists, Boston 1932
Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York 1932
Doll and Richards Gallery, Boston 1931 and 1935
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (“A Studio of Her Own”)
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, New York
Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, Hartford, CT
Springfield Art League, Springfield, MA
Copley Society, Boston, MA
Boston Art Club
Boston Institute of Modern Art
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Denver Art Museum, Denver CO
Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Norfolk, VA
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich, CT
Selected Bibliography
Archives of American Art (Robert F. Brown and Polly Thayer Starr). Oral history interview 1995 May 12 -
Beane, Lise. "Peak Experiences.” Cambridge Current Cambridge, MA, April 21, 1995
Burgard, Timothy Anglin. "Polly Thayer and May Sarton: Portrait of the Artists as Young Women." Harvard University Art Museums Review 1994.
Carsten, Robert K. “Polly Thayer Starr.” Pastel Journal October 2005:28-
Gerdts, William H. and Nancy Hall-
Grob, Mollie C. “Reflections: One’s Life Work; Polly Thayer Starr’s Conversation with Mollie C. Grob." Brookhaven Voice Lexington, MA: March, 2001 .
Hirshler, Erica. A Studio of Her Own: Women Artists in Boston 1870-
Lightman, Jean G., Paul Ingbretson & Ellen E. Roberts. “A Woman’s Perspective at the Guild of Boston Artists. American Art Review October 2001: XIII, 5, 118-
Middleton, Faith and Douglas Hyland. “The New Britain Museum Of American Art” (radio interview), The Faith Middleton Show, December 16, 2010.
Montminy, Judith. "Reflections on a Life at the Easel" Boston Globe March 12, 1995
O’Shaughnessy, Tracey. “New Britain museum lets them be the practitioners” Republican-
Prychodko, Nicholas. “Getting to the Essence: The Life and Art of Polly Thayer” The Social Register Observer 2007
Russo, Valerie “Polly Thayer’s Century of Art” Patriot Ledger Quincy MA July 21, 2001
Smee, Sebastian. “Finding the wit in ‘Shopping for Furs.’” Boston Globe June 22, 2010
Temin, Christine, “Portrait in Determination." Boston Sunday Globe August 19, 2001
Poetry of Hand and Spirit: Paintings and Drawings by Polly Thayer (Starr). Boston: Vose Galleries, 2001; with illustrations, and biographical essay, "Poetry of Hand and Spirit," by Dorothy Koval.
Vose Family. "Polly Thayer (Starr): An Appreciation." The Best of Art Notes, In Celebration of our 165th Year Boston: Vose Galleries, 2006; see also Marcia L. Vose, “Carving Out a Professional Life: The Stories of Three Generations of Women Artists" in the same volume.
Vose Galleries. Centennial Exhibition: Polly Thayer Starr, A Celebration of the Artist’s 100th Birthday. Boston: Vose Galleries, 2004; with illustrations, and essay, “Liberating the Bridge,” by Dorothy Koval
References
Collins, Jim and Glenn B. Opitz (eds.). Women Artists in America: 18th Century to the Present (1790-
Fairbrother, Trevor J. The Bostonians: Painters of an Elegant Age, 1870-
Falk, Peter (ed.). Who Was Who in American Art. Sound View Press, 1999.
Jarzombek, Nancy Allyn. Mary Bradish Titcomb and her Contemporaries: The Artists of Fenway Studios. Boston: Vose Galleries of Boston, 1998
McGlauflin, Alice Coe (ed.). Dictionary of American Artists 19th and 20th Century. NY: American Art Annual vol. 26, 1929. Poughkeepsie, NY: Apollo, 1982.
New Britain Museum of American Art, Catalogue of the Collection. New Britain, CT: The New Britain Museum of American Art, 1975.
Opitz, Glenn B. (Ed). Mantle Fieldings Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers. Poughkeepsie, NY : Apollo,1984.
Troyen, Carol et al., American Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1997.
Who’s Who in American Art, 1936-
Who’s Who of American Women, 1958-