Exhibits & Collections
Doris Duke was a renowned collector of decorative and fine arts from around the world. Her magnificent collections are available to the public at the Newport Restoration Foundation’s museums.
Rough Point is home to a collection of European pieces, focusing on Louis XVI furniture, portraits from such illustrious artists as Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Hoppner, as well as fabulous textiles. Each year, an annually changing special exhibit is presented in the two formal galleries at Rough Point.
Whitehorne House was opened in 1974 as a museum to share a remarkable collection of 18th century Newport furniture personally assembled by Doris Duke. It is filled with prime examples of early Newport and Rhode Island furniture by the Townsend and Goddard families, Benjamin Baker, and Holmes Weaver.
The NRF’s Architectural Collection of preservation properties is our third major collections strength.
Current Exhibits
Zoo in the House Exhibit »
Doris Duke was an animal lover and kept numerous pets at Rough Point (including two camels!). Her vast art collection featured a wonderful array of pieces depicting animals as friends, adversaries and allegories. Highlights of the exhibit include a Tang Dynasty earthenware camel and horse, a bronze lion by Barye, a painting by Julien Dupre and several Audubon prints. Currently on display at Rough Point.
The Eloquence of Place: Forty Years of the Newport Restoration Foundation »
This exhibition, on view at the Newport Art Museum through January 4, 2009, traces NRF's development and features photography, drawings, objects and maps sharing highlights from the collection of over 80 historic structures. Vision, dedication and drama mark the forty-year history of the Newport Restoration Foundation, founded by heiress Doris Duke in 1968 to protect Newport's Colonial architectural heritage. Today, the NRF maintains one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the country. The Newport Art Museum is at 76 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI. For more information call (401) 848-8200 or visit www.newportartmuseum.org.
Past Exhibits
Duke Treasure Houses »
"Duke Treasure Houses" was the 2004 Exhibition at Rough Point. With a true connoisseur's eye, a world traveler's experience, and great financial resources, Doris Duke collected aesthetic styles that appealed to her, disregarding current fads and creating her own decorating styles in her houses. She had begun collecting Islamic art in the 1930s for her house in Hawai'i, called Shangri La. Some twenty years later she turned her attention to Rough Point. Completely emptied several years before, after her mother stopped coming to Newport each summer, the house was a blank canvas for Miss Duke to decorate with art and furnishings from Duke Farms, the family's New York house, as well as the great art dealers and auction houses. The Duke family homes held many important collections. Now, the treasures from these houses belong to the public, as her continuing gift.
