Chesterwood's director receives fellowship
Berkshire Eagle, March 22, 2018
Photo: Donna Hassler in the Studio at Chesterwood, photograph by Cassandra Sohn
STOCKBRIDGE — Donna Hassler, the executive director of Chesterwood and the administrator of the Historic Artists' Home and Studios Program, has been awarded a National Trust for Historic Preservation Affiliated Fellowship of the American Academy in Rome that will take place during the month of April. While at the academy, Hassler will retrace the steps of distinguished 20th-century public sculptor Daniel Chester French's presence in Italy both as a young student and on trips later in his career. Hassler is an art historian and authority on American sculpture. Located on Williamsville Road, Chesterwood is the former summer home of French, one of America's foremost sculptors of public monuments including the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. French was also a founding board member of the American Academy in Rome. The diaries of his European travels are in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Hassler will keep a written and visual diary of her experiences as she explores French's life in Italy on Instagram @ChesterwoodNTHP and #dcfrenchinitaly.
