It’s almost 30 years since John Hubbard visited New Harmony, a small town in Indiana, USA, established in 1825 as a model community by the Welsh utopian thinker and social reformer Robert Owen. John was invited by Jane Blaffer Owen, New Harmony resident and the wife of Robert Owen’s third great grandson.
In its long history, Poet’s House has nurtured many visitors of renown – scholars, writers, poets, musicians, and artists – who have in turn nurtured New Harmony’s townspeople. In the fall of 1988, Poet’s House welcomed the artist John Hubbard, who came at my invitation to capture New Harmony’s indwelling spirit. Hubbard’s eye and hand offered a reality outside the confines of the brick, wood, and limestone surfaces of New Harmony. The etchings that evolved from the charcoal drawings he made during the time he and his wife, Caryl, spent there justified my initial faith in his sensitivity and skill. His rendering of the Poet’s House is tender and devout, as were the Harmonist hands that built it.
New Harmony, Indiana: Like a River, Not a Lake: A Memoir: Jane Blaffer Owen
Rick-Rack Fence
Barn Abbey
Coxie’s Lane
Rainy Day
Fence, Carol’s Garden
Fountain, Carol’s Garden
Cemetery Sunset
In 1990 a book of 12 facsimile etchings was published by the Robert Lee Blaffer Trust.
It’s now out of print but some of the original etchings are still available from The Rowley Gallery.
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The Poet’s House, New Harmony, Indiana, December 1958.
Four black & white photographs from the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey.
John Hubbard / The Rowley Gallery
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