I put my walk of the Garment District on hold as many of the museums are having their Private Members nights before the holidays get into the full swing. It gives the members a chance to really enjoy the museums before the City gets crazy with tourists and people are beginning to return to the City.
My first event that I attended was “The Met After Hours” event. It was a well-attended event that members were able to explore the first floor at their own leisure for three hours.
It really was a wonderful night. First it was a warm and clear evening and you could see the stars because it gets dark at 5:00pm. We as members got to the museum before 5:00pm and waited in a long line by the Member’s Entrance on…
The Soldiers & Sailors Monument in the Fall of 2024
I had passed the Soldier’s and Sailors’ Monument when I was walking the Upper West Side of Manhattan for my blog ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. It sits in an almost graceful state of disrepair behind fencing protecting it from people. It seems that it had been in a state of decay since the start of construction in 1900.
The monument is still under renovation and you can only walk around it
I walked all around the monument while walking Riverside Park thinking it was a small copy of a Greek Temple or another smaller burial site like Grant’s Tomb. You could see where the gaps in the structure were and the need for repair from the stairs to the platform. Still there is a beauty in its details.
The monument in the late afternoon
Reading in a recent issue of The Spirit, it seems that the New York Landmarks Conservatory and the local government officials want to put money into its repair. This beautiful landmark is going to need a lot of time and care in the future. Let’s hope they agreed to it.
The monument still under renovation
History of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument:
(from the parks website)
The monument was first suggested in 1869 after the Civil War and was put on the back burner until 1893 when a nostalgia for the Civil War sweep across the country. The State of New York established a Board of Commission to create a monument to the soldiers’ and sailor’s who had served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Wiki).
The ground was broke for the monument in 1900 and was completed in 1902 and it was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1902 with President Theodore Roosevelt officiating and a parade of Civil War veterans parading up Riverside Drive (Wiki).
The Monument when it opened
The monument was designed by architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton and the ornamental features were carved by architect Paul E. M. Duboy. The monument takes the form of a peripteral Corinthian temple raised on a high base with a tall cylindrical rusticated cella, that carries a low conical roof like a lid ringed by twelve Corinthian columns. The entrance has the names of the New York volunteer regiments and the battles in which they served as well as the Union Generals . The monument was designed a New York City landmark in 1976 and a State landmark in 2001 (Wiki).
The monument has been plagued with repairs since it was built and according to reports it is in need of desperate repairs. I could tell by the cracks and missing marble that their were flaws in its construction since it had been built.
Still it graces the entrance of Riverside Park with it’s beauty. Look at its details in the carvings and it look of a Greek temple. It is really impressive especially in the summer months with the park behind it in full display. You can’t get too close to the monument in its current state.
I recently visited the American Folk Art Museum in New York City for the “Made in New York City” exhibition and it is a very interesting and engaging museum. The artwork for the museum was a combination of painting, sculpture, pottery and metal work created at different periods of the City’s history. It really showed the extent of manufacturing in New York City and the craftsmanship that was once here.
The entrance to the museum
I recently visited the American Folk Art Museum in New York City for the “Nation”exhibition and it is a very interesting and engaging museum.
The main gallery of the museum with early American art
The main gallery with one of the revolving shows
The artwork for the museum was a combination of painting, sculpture, pottery and metal work created at different periods of the City’s and the Country’s history.
Some of the permanent works were made in the Tri-state area. It really showed the extent of manufacturing in New York City and the craftsmanship that was once here.
The ‘Folk Nation’: Crafting Patriotism in the United States’ exhibition
Patriotism in the United States draws from the American Folk Art Museum’s rich collections to explore links between vernacular art and the construction of an American sense of self. Introducing visitors to the concept of “folk” as a category developed in conjunction with the art and antiques markets, this exhibition positions works as multilayered in their meanings, imbued with cultural significance by not only their creators, but also their collectors and subsequent owners. Americans have long preserved objects as a way of telling stories about themselves. Beginning after the Revolutionary War and gathering momentum in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, people turned to early American things to construct a national history and sense of collective identity—an impulse often driven by lingering insecurity about the young nation’s perceived cultural provinciality compared to Europe (Folk Art Museum.com).
One of the painting’s that stood out to me was more contemporary approach to the Statue of Liberty, entitled ‘Miss Liberty reaches out to the persecuted’. A different approach to folk art.
The painting ‘Miss Liberty reaches out to the persecuted’ by Reverend Benjamin Franklin Perkins
The description of the painting
Some of the interesting things you will see are the paintings by artists in both Colonial New York and from the Hudson River School of prominent New Yorkers through its first 200 years of history. You will see how the styles of art have changed over the years.
Also there is a lot of metal work in the ways of signs and rods for the front of doors and for the roofs. The woodwork carvings that once graced the front doors of merchants all over the City is now a lost art. Here you could see the works of German and Russian carvers and the craftsmanship that was put into every piece. It was interesting too to see the racial themes and stereotypes that were used in the art.
Several revolving shows were being featured on a recent trip to the museum such as ‘Nation’ and ‘Self Made’, themed shows for the 250th Anniversary of the Country.
The show ‘Self Made’ A century of inventing artists’
Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists takes a critical look at the historical definition of the “self-taught artist” in the United States from the early twentieth century to today. The exhibition examines how artists without academic training have depicted, conceptualized, and identified themselves on their own terms. In doing so, it aims at challenging reductive, long-standing narratives that have cast these artmakers as amateurs or isolated geniuses working out of time, without lineage, influence, or artistic networks (Folk Art Museum.com).
The sixty artists featured here largely worked outside conventional art-school, gallery, museum, and peer-exchange systems. Their practices are rooted in diverse sites of learning, from professional expertise to community-based traditions. Drawn primarily from the American Folk Art Museum’s collection, this selection of artworks brings together outstanding examples of paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and artists’ notebooks by key national and international figures—many of them recent or rarely seen acquisitions (Folk Art Museum.com).
The exhibition is organized around three methods of artistic “self-making” and self-fashioning: self-portraits, alter egos, and autobiographies. Each gallery unfolds chronologically, providing grounding for the artists’ intentions. The works function as primary documents: firsthand accounts of the self, authored by the self. Akin to diaries or other personal statements, they call for close attention, asking viewers to “look at me, in this way, that I have chosen.” By centering the makers’ perspectives and aesthetic choices, Self-Made shifts the focus away from the viewer’s role in completing the creative act and places it squarely on the artist’s agency (Folk Art Museum.com).
Some of the paintings that stood out seemed to be self-portraits.
The painting ‘Untitled’
The painting ‘Untitled’
The museum takes different approaches to the way art is portrayed.
Another program that the museum does well is they have afternoon Jazz Wednesdays and Free Concerts on Friday nights.
There are family programs, walking tours, curator talks and lectures as part of the museum programming so there is something for everyone.
The American Folk Art Mission:
(From the Museum website)
Since 1961, the American Folk Art Museum has been shaping the understanding of art by the self-taught through its exhibitions, publications and educational programs. As a center of scholarship and by showcasing the creativity of individuals whose singular talents have been refined through experience rather than formal artistic training, the museum considers the historical, social and artistic context of American culture. Its collection includes more than seven thousand artworks dating from the eighteenth century to the present, from compelling portraits and dazzling quilts to powerful works by living self-taught artists in a variety of mediums (Museum bio).
Self-Taught art, past and present, tells empowering stories of everyday life. The field of American folk art was first defined at the turn of the twentieth century by collectors, professional artists, critics, dealers and curators whose search for an authentic American Art seemed to be finally answered in works that presented a nuanced of national identity, faith, progress, ingenuity, community and individuality. Under the umbrella of “folk art” expanded to also include artists working in the present. For the last twenty years, the term self-taught has more regularly come to address these artists, whose inspiration emerges from unsuspected paths and unconventional places, giving voice to individuals who may be situated outside the social mainstream. Those individuals have been active participants in the shaping of American visual culture, influencing generations of artists and establishing lively artistic traditions (Museum History).
American Folk Art Museum History:
(From the Museum website)
The museum of Early American Folk Arts as it was known initially held its first exhibition in a rented space on 49 West 53rd Street in 1961. The museum’s collection was launched in 1962 with the gift of a gate in the form of an American flag, celebrating the nation’s centennial. The gift reflected the museum’s early focus on eighteenth and nineteenth century vernacular arts from the northeast America.
In 1966, after receiving a permanent charter, the museum expanded its name and mission. As the Museum of American Folk Arts, it looked beyond the traditional definitions of American folk art. Its exhibitions and collection began to reflect “every aspect of the folk arts in America-north, south, east and west.” Founding curator Herbert W. Hemphill Jr. “expanded the notion of folk art beyond traditional, utilitarian and communal expressions.” Under his direction, the museum began to champion idiosyncratic and individualistic artwork from the fields of traditional and contemporary folk art. In doing so, the museum ushered in a new era in the field of twentieth-century folk art (Museum History).
The 1990’s brought new focus to the diversity and multiculturalism of American Folk Art. Offering a more inclusive vision. the museum began to present African American and Latino artworks in their exhibitions and permanent collections. Director Gerard C. Wertikin announced American folk art’s common heritage as “promoting an appreciation of diversity in a way that does not foster ethnic chauvinism or racial division.” (Museum History).
The museum further established its broadened outlook with the 1998 formation of the Contemporary Center, a division of the museum devoted to the work of 20th and 21st century self-taught artists as well as non-American artworks in the tradition of European art brut. In 2001, the museum opened the Henry Darger Center to house 24 self-taught artist’s works as well as a collection of his books, tracings, drawing and source materials (Museum History).
The gift shop
In 2001, the museum chose its current name, American Folk Art Museum. Recognizing that American Fold Art could be fully understood in an international context, the word American functions as an indication of the museum’s location, emphasis and principal patronage rather than as a limitation on the kind of art it collects, interprets or presents. The museum’s current programming reflects this shift in focus. Past exhibits have included folk arts of Latin America, England, Norway, among other countries and continents (Museum history).
Don’t miss this amazing little museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The New York Historical Society at 170 Central Park West
I have visited the New York Historical Society several times over the years and I have to say that make quite a statement on the history of New York City and the State of New York City. It has a interesting permanent collection of paintings and statuary. There are a lot of things that First Families of New York City have donated to the museum that tell the story of families born and raised here.
I was honored here years ago when a picture I took for the 9/11 Photo Album Book came out in 2002. All the photographers that contributed to it were in attendance. Another time I was here for a private event on John Adams back in the early 2000’s that was injunction with the American Museum of Natural History. Over the years, the Historical Society has brought in more interesting exhibitions. The current exhibition “Hudson Rising” on the history and ecological changes due to humans along the Hudson River. It was an interesting look of the natural changes to the river from manufacturing times today as the river is being reclaimed for recreational uses.
‘Hudson Rising’ Exhibition
The whole museum is a retrospect on the timeline of the New York City with an array of art out any one time. There are Masters from the Hudson River School, statues from all eras and special exhibitions that tell an interesting story of some part of the City’s past.
Hudson River School Paintings for ‘Hudson Rising’
History of the NY Historical Society:
The Historical Society was founded on November 20, 1804 largely through the efforts of John Pintard. He was for some years secretary of the American Academy of Fine Arts as well as the founder of New York’s First Savings Bank. With a group of prominent group of New Yorkers on the founding board including then Mayor DeWitt Clinton, the organization was established on December 10, 1804 (Wiki).
The Collections of the NY Historical Society
The NY Historical Society had its share of growing pains over the years in that it had been in heavy debt during its first couple of decades. It also moved several times over the years as well. It moved from the Government House, which it had been housed in since 1809 to the New York Institution, the formerly the city almshouse on City Hall Park in 1816. In 1857, it moved into the first building constructed specifically for its collection at Second Avenue and 11th Street. The collection moved to its final home to Central Park West in 1908 (Wiki).
The current Society building was designed by architects York & Sawyer, who were known for bank designs. The second part of the building was designed by architects Walker and Gillette. The building has just finished a $65 million dollar renovation in 2011 and all the galleries have been refreshed. The new director of the Society, Louise Mirrer is leading the establishment into the 21st Century.
On Friday night’s from 6:00pm-8:00pm it is ‘pay as you wish’ to enter the museum.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 