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Growing up just three blocks from Kilmer Mansion, artist Robby Rose knew the family name from an original bottle of Swamp-Root his parents kept, still in its red box with Dr. Kilmer’s portrait on the front. Years later, discovering the personalities behind that familiar name inspired the pieces in this exhibition.
Pencil portraits bring us face-to-face with the three men who shaped the Swamp-Root enterprise:
Andral, the doctor behind the medicine.
Jonas, his businessman brother and the owner of Kilmer Mansion.
And Jonas’s son Willis, the innovative advertiser and entrepreneur whose interests extended into newspapers and horse racing.
These portraits depict the humanity behind the real-life, theatrical legend of a dynasty that was at the center of Binghamton life at the turn of the 20th century.
The exhibition also features a charcoal portrait of Exterminator, the beloved underdog who won the 1918 Kentucky Derby. The drawing captures the beauty of the racehorse's unique proportions and musculature that inspired the nickname “Old Bones.”
An oil painting of Esther Margaret Wadsworth Kilmer Sutton Nansen rounds out the collection. This portrait depicts a woman and her humanity amid the opulence and whirlwind of the Kilmer family’s expansive enterprise.
Inspired by historic photographs, books, and memorabilia, these works offer a personal look at the ambition, ingenuity, and colorful lives of a family that helped shape the City of Binghamton.
Binghamton native Robby Rose graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004 with a BFA in painting. His portraits explore the humanity of his subjects and preserve them long into the future. He is grateful to Nick Radice for helping him discover the Kilmer family and to Friends of Kilmer Mansion for its work caring for the Mansion and sharing its history. He is honored to contribute to the preservation of the family’s story through this exhibition.
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9 Riverside Dr, Binghamton, NY, United States, New York 13905
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