Due to the continued generosity of faculty, alumni, and friends in the community, a number of areas in the permanent collection have recently seen growth. During the year 2002, 117 objects were added to the permanent collection.
Highlights include a ca. 1828 sketchbook belonging to Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole which was a gift from Richard and Pamela Geuss. This book contains a wealth of landscape sketches with color notations, and provides an important insight in to how this 19th century American painter worked.
After being away from the campus for over two years, the monumental outdoor sculpture, “Large Hybrid” by Richard Hunt was gifted by the Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs. This cor-ten steel piece has been reinstalled in a green area on the south end of campus and provides a stunning focal point for all that pass it. The Dorsky Family also donated a cast-bronze bust of their father, Sam, by Lloyd Glasson, which is permanently installed in the museum’s main galleries.
The Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs also donated prints by Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg, Nathan Oliveira, and Jan Sawka. This generous contribution will continue to help the museum expand its holdings in the area of works by contemporary masters.
In the area of contemporary photography, the museum was pleased to have received a number of significant donations over this past year including a collection of 51 images by such noted 19th and 20th century photographers as Jacob Riis, James Van Der Zee, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Robert Capa from Howard Greenberg. David Graham donated 22 color photographs of nuclear test sites in Nevada from his series “In Defense of America”, and Mary Traub gave 5 dye transfer prints by Harry Callahan.
The Jewish Federation of Ulster County provided funds to purchase works from their annual fundraiser show “Fall for Art”. Because of their extreme generosity, the museum was able to acquire six works by a number of noted local artists including Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Richard Pantell, Karen Whitman, and Jeff Millstein.
The Contemporary Metals collection, received a donation from artist Brigid O’Hanrahan of two of her silver textured cups, and a pendant by noted metalsmith Caryle H. Smith which was gifted by his wife, Isabelle M. Smith. Lisa Norton also donated one of her chrome plated, mixed media trivets titled “View(er)”.
The museum was pleased to accept from Arthur A. Anderson a donation of 13 lithographs by American printmaker and painter, George Bellows from the artist’s “War Series.” These works were part of a larger body of prints by Bellows that made commentary on the atrocities committed in Europe during World War I. This donation will help the museum to continue to expand its very important holdings in American prints.
Other highlights from this past year include a donation of a major oil on canvas by former art department faculty member and noted landscape painter George Wexler titled “View From the Dietz Farm”; a ca.1940s oil by Woodstock artist Joseph Pollet titled “Bluestone Quarry” which was a gift from his two children Elizabeth and Sylvester Pollet, and an oil on panel titled “Augur” by Thomas Sarrantonio which was a gift from the artist.
