NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.- The New Britain Museum of American Art presents “Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection,” on view through December 7, 2003. Some 55 works of art from the collection of the Terra Foundation for the Arts and its museum, the renowned Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago, will be on view in an exhibition that opened at the NBMAA.

The exhibition presents works showcasing the rich history of American art from the early colonial limners to contemporary artists. Among the paintings on loan from the Terra are works by John Singleton Copley, Frederic Church, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Ammi Phillips and John Singer Sargent.

Some 60 of the NBMAA’s best works traveled to the Terra Museum earlier this year as part of a reciprocal exchange.

The Terra Museum of American Art was founded in 1980 by Daniel J. Terra, who revolutionized the printing ink business. The Terra’s early history may seem somewhat familiar to those also familiar with the NBMAA’s early days. Terra started collecting American art during the 1970s, when it was still affordable, and amassed a collection of 700 important works of art ranging from Ammi Phillips’s Girl in a Red Dress to works of the mid-20th century. Major emphasis of the collection is on paintings of the Hudson River School and American Impressionism. The exhibition is organized by the NBMAA and the Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago.