Drexel to Host Exhibition Commemorating the Drexel Family

In celebration of the inauguration of Drexel University's 14th president, John A. Fry, The Drexel Collection is sponsoring an exhibition commemorating the art of the Drexel Family from April 18 through June 30, 2011. Cara Fry, wife of Drexel’s president, is the guest curator for the University’s first exhibition devoted entirely to the art of the Drexel family.

“The Drexel family is thrilled to be able to commemorate the continuity of our rich art heritage and history with the University community as we join to celebrate the inauguration of John Fry,” said Louis C.R. Farrelly, chairman of the Drexel Family Committee.

More than 70 art objects are on loan from Drexel family members: portraits, including a portrait by Thomas Sully; miniatures; drawings by Francis Martin Drexel, father of the University’s founder Anthony J. Drexel; 18th and 19th century family gold and silver; letters from President Ulysses S. Grant; and rare letters from Anthony Drexel to his niece, St. Katharine Drexel.

From the time of Francis Martin Drexel, renowned portraitist-turned-banker, the Drexel family has a long and impressive legacy of creating, commissioning and being memorialized in art. The Drexel Collection includes several significant family-related pieces, which will be complemented in the exhibition by the art on loan from family members.

The Drexel Family Exhibition will be open to the public Monday through Friday, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Rincliffe Gallery and Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, located on the third floor of the Main Building (32nd and Chestnut Streets). Admission is free. For more information on the exhibition, contact Jacqueline DeGroff, curator of The Drexel Collection, at 215-895-0480 or drexelcollection@drexel.edu.

News media contact:
Niki Gianakaris, director, Drexel News Bureau, Office of University Communications
215-895-6741, 215-778-7752 (cell) or ngianakaris@drexel.edu