Bowling Green, Ky. - "The Latvian Connection." Sound like a fascinating novel full of international intrigue? Could be, but in this instance the term best describes The Kentucky Museum's evolving cultural connection with Latvia, which began in May when seven museum quilts were among a number of Kentucky quilts chosen for exhibition at the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts in Riga, the Latvian capital.

Now, only weeks after the quilts were shipped, a museum painting is on its way to Riga and will be among artwork decorating the U. S. Embassy. Although the U. S. State Department's "Art in Embassies Program" helped select and arrange pick-up, packing and shipment, selection of the Mammoth Cave painting, as well as other Kentucky-related items, was done at the behest of our Ambassador to Latvia, Catherine Todd Bailey, who is from Louisville. While the quilts will return sometime later this summer, the painting may remain in Latvia for as long as Bailey is Ambassador there.

"Mammoth Cave in 1859" by Clement Reeves Edwards (1820-1898), the painting headed to Riga, is one of 15 pieces in the museum's Agnes Hampton Maxwell Collection, which was purchased in 1979. The 22-3/4" x 36" oil-on-canvas very aptly portrays the interior of Mammoth Cave, because the painting is basically all black, except for color images of six people, who, according to a 2002 National Speleological Society News article, are at a wedding in the Bridal Chamber of Gothic Avenue. The writer explained that, "Besides the wedding couple, there are four other people" gathered around or near the Bridal Altar formation."

Although not well known, Edwards earned a reputation as a fine regional artist who, primarily, painted familiar landscapes and portraits of local people, including his family and himself. His career as an artist began in 1838 with an apprenticeship to a sign painter. Two years later, he opened his own studio and began painting portraits. Edwards moved about, living twice in New Jersey, his native state; twice in Ohio; and in Pennsylvania. In 1847, he enlisted in the military and fought in the Mexican War, attaining the rank of Captain. He was discharged in 1848.

In 1854, Edwards moved from Cincinnati to Louisville, Ky., and lived there until 1857. That same year he moved to Bowling Green and set up a photography studio and also painted portraits. In 1871, he took up farming. He died in 1898.

For more information about the Mammoth Cave painting, contact Earlene Chelf (270) 745-5263 or earlene.chelf@wku.edu or check the Website: www.wku.edu/Library/kylm

CONTACT: Earlene Chelf - (270) 745-5263 - earlene.chelf@wku.edu