Fall Collection
Halloween
The Shows
The Lyman Orton Collection, presented as two, simultaneous exhibitions is an unprecedented collaboration by two of Vermont’s most celebrated museums — The Bennington Museum and Southern Vermont Arts Center— with each show featuring a unique selection of artwork.
The shows feature over 200 works of art that capture Vermont’s unique character, people, traditions and landscape from the 1920’s-1960’s. More than 65 artists will be represented including Rockwell Kent, John Clymer, Churchill Ettinger, Paul Sample, Mead Schaeffer, John Atherton, Marion Huse, Luigi Lucioni, Kyra Markham, Bernadine Custer, and others.
Lyman Orton’s collection is the largest collection of historic Vermont art in private hands... Because Vermont is rural, and because it is a place that is culture-rich but money-poor, there haven’t been a lot of independent efforts to focus on the artists who lived in Vermont and who depicted this place and the people who live here. Orton’s collection is the collection of Vermont art of the 20th century.
Directions 
The Man
Lyman Orton
Lyman Orton has spent his life building The Vermont Country Store, collecting the art of Vermont, supporting Vermont non-profits, and exploring Vermont’s nature on cross-country skis and bicycles. Raised in Weston, Lyman is a seventh-generation Vermonter and second-generation proprietor of The Vermont Country Store. His three sons, Cabot, Gardner, and Eliot, have taken over the business that Lyman’s parents, Vrest Orton and Mildred Wilcox, founded in 1946. The Vermont Country Store is nationally known as the Purveyors of the Practical and Hard to Find, serving customers online, through its catalogs, and in their two retail stores in Weston and Rockingham, VT.
Lyman’s love for the art of Vermont has spanned over four decades and continues to this day. He has assembled over 200 works of art that were created from 1920-1960 by Vermont artists and artists that loved Vermont. Today, The Lyman Orton Collection is one of the largest private collections of art depicting Vermont’s landscape, its people and their way of life.
Lyman lives in Manchester, VT with his partner Janice Izzi. The two of them work together on Community Heart & Soul, a non-profit devoted to helping small cities and towns across America discover, articulate, and act from each town’s Heart & Soul, those elements that matter most to the residents. This bottom-up practice guides the future of towns.
By bringing these artworks together as a single, comprehensive collection, and by sharing some of it in this book and in ongoing exhibitions and loans, I hope all of us are given a thoughtful way of looking at Vermont, past and present, that can act as a benchmark for the future.
The Gallery
Coming Together
Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
1953, Tempera on masonite, 19 x 24 in.
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.
Oil on canvas, 21 ¾ x 26 ½ in.
Making a Living
Watercolor, 16 ½ x 20 in.
Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in.
Oil on canvas, 36 ⅛ x 30 ¼ in.
Oil on board, 8 ½ x 11 ½ in.
Picture Country
Oil on canvas, 22 ⅛ x 38 ⅛ in.
Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in.
30 ¼ x 36 ⅞ in.
Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.
Village Beautiful
Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in.
Watercolor, 15 ¼ x 22 in.
Oil on masonite, 18 ¼ x 24 ⅛ in.
Oil on canvas, 22 ¼ x 30 ¼ in.
The Book
The 220-page book tells the story of how Lyman Orton assembled his extensive collection of Vermont art over many years while running The Vermont Country Store. It is packed with photographs of the paintings, as well as stories of the artists and their love of Vermont.
For The Love of Vermont
is the story of Lyman Orton’s heartfelt affection for his home state of Vermont, his quest to keep its art from leaving his beloved state and his effort to return artworks that had been scattered across America in the last century.
This book is for everyone who loves Vermont as their home and refuge, for its history and heritage and the wonder of its boundless beauty.
Anita Rafael
For the Love of Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection was authored in collaboration with Lyman Orton by Anita Rafael, a writer living and working in an 1840s carriage barn she rehabbed in Wardsboro, VT. Her feature articles about people, places, arts, food, travel, and events in Vermont have appeared in lifestyle magazines and newspapers throughout the state of Vermont since 2007.
Contact Us
I welcome your contribution of new, corrected, or missing information about this collection of Vermont art, such as historical accounts, old papers, articles, clippings, photographs, or personal recollections and private letters related to the artists, artworks, and places or people represented in the Lyman Orton Collection of Vermont art.
All the information sent to me will be gratefully received and I will add it to the Orton Collection database and archives (with acknowledgment of your name as the source, or anonymously if you wish). I hope to preserve as much information as I possibly can about these artists and their lives and work in Vermont for the benefit of all future lovers of the art of Vermont.
I would also be happy to hear your comments and questions related to the shows, the book, or this website. Please use the “Contact Us” button below and thank you.
Lyman Orton
Contact Us