Housed Treasures
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Add to Calendar 2024-04-24 17:00:00 2024-07-30 17:00:00 Housed Treasures A student-curated exhibition celebrating the centennial of the Treasure House, now known as the USC Pacific Asia Museum. The USC Pacific Asia Museum began its life as the Treasure House, an Orientalist-style building in Pasadena constructed under the guidance of Grace Nicholson, an East Coast transplant who opened the space in the 1920s as a gallery to sell Native American, Asian, and contemporary artworks. This exhibition, curated by students in Professor Nancy Lutkehaus’s spring 2024 Thematic Option Honors Program CORE 101 class, explores the history of the building and Nicholson’s career as an art dealer through baskets, maps, photographs, letters, and other ephemera. Doheny Memorial Library America/Los_Angeles public
Housed Treasures: Grace Nicholson, California, and the Pacific Asia Museum celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Treasure House in Pasadena that now houses the USC Pacific Asia Museum through a focus on the life and legacy of Grace Nicholson, an art collector and entrepreneur who moved to Pasadena, CA at the turn of the 20th century. Her establishment of the Treasure House spurred the early growth of the region’s interest in Asian art and indigenous art. Grace Nicholson was born on December 31, 1877 in Philadelphia, PA. Her mother, a teacher, died shortly after Nicholson’s birth. Her father, an attorney, died fifteen years later. Nicholson lived with her paternal grandparents until they both passed away in 1901. That same year, she sold her inherited Philadelphia home and moved to Pasadena, CA. Shortly after her migration, Nicholson became interested in the local Native American Pomo culture. Inspired by other collectors, Nicholson began accumulating her own collection of basketry.
The exhibit includes 34 objects that illuminate the career of Nicholson and her legendary Treasure House. These objects are displayed in four cases, each with themes that allude to different aspects of Nicholson’s life and work and the transformation of the Treasure House from gallery to museum.
The following individuals and institutions loaned materials for display: USC Pacific Asia Museum, USC Libraries Special Collections, the Huntington Library, Pasadena Public Library, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Huebner family. This exhibition was curated by the following students in Professor Nancy Lutkehaus’s spring 2024 Thematic Option Honors Program CORE 101 class: Elliot Broth, Dylan Martling, Isaac Millians, Lucia Musacchi, Michael Musker, Jennifer Nehrer, Angie Rockey, Ruth Sanchez Mendez, Colin Stillman, Adam Wang, Andy Zhang, and Jack Zuckerman.