Illustration of a Victorian-era woman sitting with a hand-held fan and a lamp next to her. The nighttime scene outside her window shows a man lighting a gas street lamp amongst a row of them.

Gas Lighting: An Exploration of Light & Shadow

July 5–Sept. 24, 2023
Forsyth Galleries | Memorial Student Center, MSC 2428

Prior to the second quarter of the 20th century, most cities in Europe and America had gas fixtures illuminate their homes providing a subtle, rich, golden light. When visiting museums, one is accustomed to viewing their period collections lit with bright bulbs that filter out color and provide few shadows, making it easy to view every detail of a work. In one gallery, this exhibition literally lowers and filters light to give viewers an idea of how paintings and decorative items might have looked in their original homes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, contrasted with similar items lit in a modern manner in a second gallery.

Inside the Exhibition

Interior view of Forsyth Galleries. A view of art objects in a display case with the title wall in the background reading, "Gas Lighting"
Lidded Ginger Jar. English Cameo Glass. George Woodall. Love's Awakening. White on blue on raisin brown. A large central scallop-edged cartouche fills the body from top to bottom. Within the cartouche sits a quiet scene of a female figure and cherub in a landscape. The female figure is dressed in a Grecian robe, her long hair trailing behind her, as she reclines on a tree branch. Her arms and legs outstretched as though waking up from a long slumber. Her big toe hovers over a pond with grasses and water lilies. A cherub flies just above her. The cherub is wearing a quiver and a bow over his shoulder. A small loin cloth for modesty. He holds a twig in his hand that he dangles over her nose. The scene may be the Goddess Venus being awaken from a long slumber by her son, the God Cupid.
Display case of Victorian vases and a cameo ginger jar.
Portrait of a female figure facing left. She wears a jeweled clip in her brown hair, and a cream and blue dress with a fashionable Turkish style orange sash tied around her waist.
Pale green Bristol glass cheese dome with underplate, decorated with a flower and vine motif that encircles the side and crown of the dome and the rim of the underplate. Each flower has yellow and blue glass beads pressed into the enamel paint to accentuate each flower's center and petals.
Pitcher. Crown Milano. White blown body enamel decorated with under sea scene with fish and shell. Bead "jewels" on body. Applied twisted rope handle. Interior mouth gold enameled.
Ideal view of the Stetson Range in Idaho. A small river divides the forested hillside with quick moving water that breaks over the rocks. Trees and a rising rock face fill the right side of the image. The view in the midground edges down creating a feeling of a valley or cliff edge just beyond the river. Snow capped mountains and blue skies fill the background.
Footed Urn-shaped Vase. English Cameo Glass. Red on white on citron on white on ivory. A rare 5 layer vase with Asian inspired floral tapestry motif. A repeating design made of stylized flowers, bats and Chinese symbols.
Footed Urn-shaped Vase. English Cameo Glass. Red on white on citron on white on ivory. A rare 5 layer vase with Asian inspired floral tapestry motif. A repeating design made of stylized flowers, bats and Chinese symbols.
Goblet. Air Trap, Pomona Green. Green foot and body with mica flecks. Hexagonal shaped body.
Display case of glass vases
A summer scene showing female figures sitting and standing under two large trees along the water's edge. A boathouse and a horse are just behind them. The background shows a large lake or river with four boats, sails raised, going by.
Teapot. English Cameo Glass. White on flint on red. Clematis flowers on one side, buds on the other. Leaves on handle, decorative bands on rim and base of pot and spout.
Decorative pitcher featuring seagulls on the body.
Display cases of small, glass jars and vases
Vase. Gem Cameo. English Cameo Glass. George Woodall (Attributed). "Lovers on a Swing." White on red on turquoise. Floral motifs at neck and base. Male and female figures clad in classical Greco Roman clothing, with loose flowing fabrics draping in the wind. She wraps her arms about her partner's neck, while his hands are aloft, grasping the ropes on the large swing in which they sit. He gazes down at her, almost kissing her cheek. The ground below them is dotted with plants and flowers.
A quiet Native American family scene of a father and his two children as they crouch at a water's edge. The father looks pensively over the water's edge, his son reaches down to touch the water and his daughter sits just behind them looking at the grass. The adult male, shirtless and wearing traditional chaps, with his hair in two braids and a feather headdress; and two children, one male with short hair, also shirtless and wearing chaps and the female, with hair in short braids and wearing a pink floral dress and necklace. A forest and blue skies fill the background.
Pedestal footed fairy lamp in shades of pink and yellow.

Gas Lighting vs. Modern Lighting

Move the sliders to see how these curated art objects would have looked in their Victorian homes under gas lighting, versus the modern lighting of today.

Oil painting of a woman of nobility in the 19th century. This image shows the painting as it would look under gas lighting.Oil painting of a woman of nobility in the 19th century. This image shows the painting as it would look under modern lighting.
Oil painting of a Native American on horseback. This image shows the painting as it would look under gas lighting.Oil painting of a Native American on horseback. This image shows the painting as it would look under modern lighting.
Primitive painting of a white church in the countryside. This image shows the painting as it would look under gas lighting.Primitive painting of a white church in the countryside. This image shows the painting as it would look under modern lighting.
Oil painting of a canal in Venice. This image shows the painting as it would look under gas lighting.Oil painting of a canal in Venice. This image shows the painting as it would look under modern lighting.

Gas Lighting Exhibition on the Brazos Valley Museum Trail

Caleb Britt and the KBTX Morning Show visited the Forsyth Galleries to talk with Elizabeth Appleby, assistant director of the University Art Galleries and curator of the Forsyth Galleries, about the Brazos Valley Museum Trail and the Forsyth Galleries’ recent exhibition, “Gas Lighting: An Exploration of Light & Shadow.”