July 18, 2008 – The St. Croix Landmarks Society has posted three photography exhibits as part of its Landmarks Society's Virtual Exhibit at www.stcroixlandmarks.org, featuring artwork and photographs from the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries from St. Croix, the Caribbean and South America. All images are now for sale to the public at the Landmarks Society Vintage Photography Internet store. To view or purchase photographs from the virtual exhibits, go to the Web site and click on "Library & Archives" to navigate to the virtual exhibits and the eStore. All proceeds from the sale of photographs will be used by the society to pay for the continuing maintenance and operation of their research library and archives.
"The Landmarks Society's Virtual Exhibit is an excellent way to further showcase the heritage that makes St. Croix so unique," said Assistant Commissioner of Tourism Brad Nugent. "The preservation of our culture, heritage and traditions is one of the main reasons cultural tourism is on the rise for St. Croix."
The first exhibit will feature artwork of the 1800s. Four artists will be featured: Reverend Henry Morton, whose drawings and water colors of St. Croix were done in 1844 and 1845; Dr. Allen Voorhees Lesley, whose drawings of St. Croix and St. Thomas were created in 1856; and William Clark's "Ten Views of the Island of Antigua," which depict the sugar-making process in the late 1800s. There will also be 12 watercolors of St. Croix landscapes, flora and fauna that were done in 1832 by an unknown artist. These four collections are the unique properties of the Landmarks Society purchased and /or donated to the it by generous patrons in the past.
The second exhibit consists of over 1,000 photographs taken by local photographer Axel Ovesen in the first half of the 20th Century. Born in Denmark, Axel Ovesen was stationed on St. Croix in 1904. When law enforcement was transferred from the Danish military to the local militia, he opted to make St. Croix his permanent home. Landmarks Society is fortunate to have a large collection of his work.
The third exhibit focuses on photographs taken in the Caribbean in the period 1880-1920. There are five collections in the third exhibit. The first is a collection of over 250 photographs donated to the Society by the family of Captain A. J. Blackwood. Half of the photographs are specific to St. Croix, while the other half were taken in other Caribbean locations and South America. All are from the period 1880-1900. The second collection consists of two photograph albums donated to the Society's library in 1983, by Rachael Armstrong Colby. It is not known how she came to acquire the albums, but they are the vacation memories of W. H. Denjing and his traveling companions taken on two excursions to the Windward Islands in 1901, and again in 1912. Some of the photographs from the 300-photograph album of the 1901 trip include pictures taken on a previous trip in 1889. All the photographs are dated and identified, which is a rare occurrence in most collections. This exhibit also includes photographs from the Howard Jackson Collection (circa late 1800s), the R. H. Amphlett Leader Collection (circa 1900-1920) and the McWilliams Family Collection.
