Celebrating life of a New England Renaissance man

Wallace Nutting's name may not be familiar to many, but the antiquarian, lecturer, and photographer had a lot to do with how we see the past.

"His romantic images of old America -- apple blossoms, stone walls, and barns -- had a tremendous influence on how we view Colonial times," said Sandra Rux, manager of the Wentworth-Gardner House in Portsmouth, N.H., which Nutting restored at the turn of the 20th century.

A five-month celebration of the career of the influential Renaissance man began in Portsmouth late last month with the world premiere of the Pontine Theater show "Wallace Nutting's Old America," which will be presented in the West End Studio Theater through May 13.

Nutting (1861-1941) was a Congregationalist minister who gave up the pulpit in Rhode Island after suffering emotional problems in 1904. He later turned to photography, riding his bicycle around New England and marketing his hand-tinted photographs throughout the country through advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

"He was a pioneer in modern marketing methods," said Rux.

Nutting was also a pioneer in the restoration of historic homes. He bought and restored the Webb House in Wethersfield, Conn., the Saugus Iron Works, the Hazen Garrison House in Haverhill, and the Wentworth- Gardner House in Portsmouth. He decorated the houses in period furnishings and charged visitors 25 cents to view the results. He called them "picture houses."

"He was a pioneer in the restoration of historic homes who saw opportunity in the early 1900s, when people began buying cars and touring the countryside," said Rux.

Nutting also marketed a line of reproduction furniture and sold his photographs in the houses.

"He was an entrepreneur who used the home much like catalogs," said Rux.

Nutting also wrote a series of books about antique furniture and lectured widely.

"He was not a scholar or a historian and had a very romantic view of the Colonial period. Everybody was clean, nobody was starving, and there were no Indians in his photographs.

"And the women in his pictures wore elaborate Victorian costumes that were not accurate for the period," said the Pontine Theater's Greg Gaithers, who, with his partner in the theater company, M. Marguerite Mathews, spent nine months researching the life of Nutting.

Those were the days before television, iPods, and DVDs. The pictures were wildly popular. Nutting often boasted that his images hung in 10 million homes.

At one time he employed more than 200 women who hand-tinted his photographs at his farm in Southbury, Conn., and later in Framingham, where he moved in 1912.

Often found in farm houses and yard sales, his photographs are regarded as period kitsch by some and folk art by others. They have recently become popular with collectors, and one recently sold for $4,800.

When gas became scarce during World War I, Nutting sold most of his historic "picture houses."

In 1923, he also sold his eclectic antiques to robber baron J.P. Morgan, who donated the collection to the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford.

"He was pedantic and preachy, but he was brimming with ideas and had a wonderful, simplified vision of life that is eminently likable," said Gaithers.

In "Wallace Nutting's Old America," Gaithers and Mathews use masks, puppets, and images to dramatize not only the life of Nutting, but other local preservationists of an earlier era, including local authors Sarah Orne Jewett and William Sumner Appleton, founder of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.

Dialogue was created using Nutting's autobiography and correspondence as well as period newspaper accounts. "We wanted to give the piece a period voice," said Mathews.

She described Nutting as a seminal character in the life of Portsmouth, whose work continues today in the port city.

"He has a lot to say" that interests people who have bought historic homes and are restoring them, she said.

"He saw the beauty in everyday items, and I hope people will come away from the show with a renewed interest in the history that is in their own backyard."

The celebration of the life of Wallace Nutting will continue through Sept. 27 with a lecture series, exhibits, and theater performances. Visit the website pontine.org for a complete schedule.