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Hudson
River Museum & Gallery Guide |
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My
late friend Alan Gussow wrote a book in 1972 based on an exhibition he
curated called “A Sense of Place,” which intended to show the
connection between American artists and the landscapes within which they
lived and painted over two centuries. When I arrived in the Hudson
Valley 35 years ago, my own painting changed markedly, a change I
attribute to the powerful influence of these mountains and waterways.
Although the region had fallen out of favor after World War II, over the
past 15 years or so it has experienced a tremendous resurgence. The
region north of New York City encompassing the Hudson Valley,
Berkshires, and Western Connecticut has become a destination for artists
from all points, as well as home to many who choose to live here because
of the sublime natural beauty. And it’s a place where an increasing
number of New York-based art professionals come to refresh their senses
and pursue new opportunities. The Hudson Valley has long been recognized as the
most influential region in the history of non-Native North American
visual art. Further, it is now unquestionably the premier location for
the creation, display, and sale of visual art in the United States. The
growth of art galleries, museums, and other art institutions in this
region as well as Western Massachusetts and Connecticut over the past
few years has been nothing less than astonishing. Our mission at the Hudson
River Museum & Gallery Guide is to create a unifying identity
for this eclectic region and its vast array of visual arts, and to
broadcast that identity to an extensive audience. Indeed, part of our
role is to help increase the size of that market by making more people
aware of the wealth of artistic resources now available north of
Manhattan At the same time, we hope to foster a sense of community among the disparate groups of people and institutions in our region that are engaged in and by the arts. By serving as a central source of information for a widespread area that before now has had no unifying voice, we aim to foster an atmosphere of synergistic growth, both artistic and financial. Our goal is to articulate an editorial perspective that addresses both the historic continuum and the vitality of contemporary visual art within the region. Given the size of the
publication, we can barely address more than a sliver of the artistic
developments taking place here. In this debut edition, we have focused
on two parallel phenomena. Many of the significant historical
collections, museums, and sites in this area have until recently been a
well-kept secret. The twin exhibitions this spring of works by George
Inness, one of the most important artists to emerge from the Hudson
Valley and Berkshires, have helped call attention to this in a way we
couldn’t ignore. At the same time, the ranks of important contemporary
artists who live, work, and exhibit here continue to grow. Nowhere is
this more obvious than in the rise of galleries and institutions
focusing on photography both classic and contemporary, and we survey
some of the highlights. One contemporary artist
who pioneered our region is Don Nice. A maverick who left Abstract
Expressionism to take up residence along the Hudson River, Nice found
his leitmotif documenting its ebb and flow. Our prototype edition
featured a commentary on the Don Nice exhibit that traveled to the
Albany Institute of Art last year. If you missed that or the exhibit
that closed this April at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz,
you can still pick up a copy of the handsome accompanying book written
by John Driscoll, director of Babcock Galleries, entitled Don Nice:
The Nature of Art (Pomegranate Press). A historic art resource
in our area has been rediscovered through a nationally traveled
exhibition. “Byrdcliffe: An American Arts and Crafts Colony” has
just left the New York Historical Society for its final berth at
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware. This centennial
exhibit celebrates the importance of the oldest practicing arts colony
in the United States. Later this summer, the Dorsky Museum will
celebrate the avant-garde Byrdcliffe offshoot known as the Maverick. And
the James Cox Gallery of Woodstock will revive the all-but–forgotten
Blue Dome Fraternity, where a variety of artists will paint the muse en
plein air. Because
we aim to serve the art community of the areas we cover, we invite you
our readers to let us know how we can best advance your particular
needs. Whether you are an artist, gallery or museum director, curator,
collector, or someone who appreciates art, we hope you will turn to us
as a resource. Douglas Alderfer, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
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