Two long lost prints returned to Malabar Farm by trustees at Mansfield Memorial Museum

LUCAS ― Two long-lost prints that used to hang in Malabar Farm State Park's Big House, the former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, were recently given to Malabar Farm Foundation from the Mansfield Memorial Museum by its trustees, according to Tom Bachelder, Malabar Farm Foundation president.

"Through the gracious generosity of the trustees of the (Mansfield Memorial) Museum, these two prints were recently given to the Malabar Farm Foundation with the understanding that they would be returned to Malabar Farm, where they will once again be included in Louis Bromfield’s wonderful art collection on display in his Big House," Bachelder said.

The preliminary prints done on linen are part of the extensive collection on display at the Big House at Malabar Farm State Park, a giant time capsule to the life and times of Bromfield.

"On display in the Big House you will see antique furniture and lamps, early appliances, more than a thousand books, and numerous household objects from Stork Club ash trays and ceramic bric-a-brac to fine china and a host of family photographs, all original to Louis Bromfield and his family.

"The Big House also contains over more than 100 pieces of art  — oil paintings, watercolors, prints, and sculptures — collected over the years by Louis Bromfield. Included in this art collection are several paintings by artist and author James 'Jimmy' Reynolds," Bachelder said in a news release.

Reynolds was a costume and set designer on Broadway, his work there extending from 1919 to 1943. After that he began to travel, write, and paint. He died in Bellagio, Italy, in 1957. In addition to several of his paintings on display in the Big House, Reynolds also created the equestrian themed design that adorns the large curtains that hang behind Bromfield’s big desk in his study. Reynolds’ design, repeated four times on the curtains, includes portraits of four named steeplechase horses, Bachelder said.

In preparation for creating his design for the curtains, Reynolds created separate textile studies of each of the four horses. Bromfield was given (or purchased) at least two of these pieces, which he had framed in the same green that accents much of the Big House. However, at some point in the past both pieces went missing, the circumstances of their removal from the Big House are unknown. Recently these two pieces were discovered hanging on the walls of the Mansfield Memorial Museum in Mansfield, Ohio, but how they arrived is as big a mystery as their disappearance from Malabar Farm, Bachelder said.

Bachelder on Monday said the manager of Malabar Farm said the plan is to get easels and display them on the big desk in front of the curtains with the same design in Bromfield's study.

An inventory is being conducted by the Scott Schaut estate of items to determine what belongs to whom at the Mansfield Memorial Museum. Schaut, the curator of the Mansfield Memorial Museum, died July 4, 2023.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Louis Bromfield's famous horse themed textile design studies