NEWSLETTER
Yonkers, NY (February 29, 2024)—The Hudson River Museum is proud to present two new exhibitions opening in March: A Feast for the Eyes: Sumptuous Still Lifes opening Friday, March 8 and Meet Me at the River opening Friday, March 22.
Kick off Women’s History Month at Free First Fridays: Ballet, Bach, & Bold Women’s History on Friday, March 1, 5–8pm! Enjoy free admission and special programs, including a performance by Yonkers-based MorDance. This trailblazing, women-led ballet company is striving to advance accessibility, diversity, and creativity in ballet. The company will present Humanism, an immersive contemporary ballet inspired by Bach’s melodies and civil rights speeches.
Continue Women’s History Month celebrations with a variety of programs throughout the month, including Music and Spoken Word: MC Lady Slim on Saturday, March 2, 1:30pm, and artist workshops with Madge Scott on Wednesday, March 13, 1–3pm and Charlotte Schultz on Sunday, March 24, 1:30–3:30pm. We will also be offering an Author Talk with Allison Gilbert on Saturday, March 16, 3pm and a panel discussion on Breaking the Glass Ceiling in the Performing Arts on Saturday, March 30, 2pm, featuring choreographer Morgan McEwen, dancer Claire van Bever, and composer Polina Nazaykinskaya.
Plus, catch the premiere of a brand new Planetarium show, Moonbase: The Next Step, on Saturdays & Sundays in March, 3:30pm where you’ll learn about efforts to establish a permanent, scientific outpost on the Moon.
Image: Left: Adelheid Dietrich (German, 1827–1891). Spring Bouquet, 1874. Oil on canvas mounted to Masonite. Collection of the Hudson River Museum. Gift of Shelley and Felice Bergman, 2023 (2023.15.5), featured in Feast for the Eyes. Right: Andrew Kung (American, b. 1991). Skipping Rocks, 2022. Digital print. Courtesy of the artist, featured in Meet Me at the River.
FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
A Feast for the Eyes: Sumptuous Still Lifes
March 8, 2024–March 9, 2025
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Still-life paintings are deceptively straightforward. They depict groups of objects as their main subject matter—flowers, food, drink, and the vessels that contain them—yet they are often imbued with symbolic meaning and offer a new way of looking at everyday items. A Feast for the Eyes invites you to revel in lush expressions of beauty, sustenance, and abundance spanning 150 years.
As a category of art, still life traces its lineage to seventeenth-century Europe, particularly the Dutch Old Masters, whose paintings of consumable and material comforts were highly valued by their clientele. Artists not only showed off their skill in capturing light, shadow, and color of the surfaces and forms in their arrangements, but often included objects and details imbued with symbolic meaning. For example, nature’s bounty of cut flowers, perhaps beginning to wilt, or perishable food, attracting insects, signified wealth but also hinted at mortality and decay.
In the nineteenth century, many American artists, often from or trained in Europe, specialized in still life. Among the earliest paintings in the exhibition, the two masterful works by Severin Roesen demonstrate the role of still life in articulating visual and sensual pleasure in consumer goods in mid-nineteenth-century America. In the early twentieth century, Albert Herter painted the gladioli he grew in his garden, creating the illusion of cut stems inside a glass vase, reminiscent of French flower paintings he would have seen when he lived in Paris.
In reaction to nonrepresentational art movements popular in the aftermath of World War II, many painters in the 1970s returned to realism and explored still life. Photorealists such as Audrey Flack painted directly from photos of their compositions, striving to create the appearance, not of everyday life, but of a photograph. They shared earlier still-life artists’ fascination with the play of light on reflective surfaces, which offered the opportunity to display the mastery of their craft. Jane Wilson concentrated instead on a painterly luminosity, softening sharp edges and simplifying forms.
Overall, these examples of a time-honored genre ask us to consider the meanings conveyed by ordinary and extraordinary objects, when seen through the keen eyes and produced with the brush-wielding hands of artists of different times and sensibilities.
Featured artists:
Adelheid Dietrich • Audrey Flack • George Henry Hall • Albert Herter • Levi Wells Prentice • Severin Roesen • Ben Schonzeit • Jane Wilson
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Programs for the exhibition have been generously sponsored, in part, by Shelley and Felice Bergman.
Meet Me at the River
March 22–May 26, 2024
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A summer swim. A boat ride to catch the sunset. A birthday party on the shoreline. The Hudson River has long served as a space to gather and take pleasure in the natural world. In this exhibition, the Hudson River Museum brings together archival and fine-art photographs to document how community members past and present have turned to the water for a joyful day out.
From nineteenth-century studio portraits of Palisade Boat Club members to the quiet riverfront scenes captured by mid-twentieth-century photographer George Daniell, the works on view chronicle more than one hundred years of play on the Hudson shoreline. Throughout, the river takes shape as its own lively character, relayed through portrait-like close-ups or sweeping panoramic views. These photographs are complemented by a selection of images of local boat clubs as well as archival ephemera drawn from the Museum’s extensive collections of recreation along the Hudson.
At the same time, photographs of river traffic and lighthouse workers, taken by pioneering conservationist Ruth Glunt in the 1940s and 50s, remind us that access to the shoreline was a hard-won battle: one that required a deep understanding of the river as a community resource. Contemporary photographer Andrew Kung’s ongoing series, Dreaming on the Hudson also reveals that the Hudson River continues to invite conversations around access and equitability. Inspired by Hudson River School artists’ romantic depictions of the landscape, Kung stages his subjects in pastoral settings to investigate themes of masculinity and land stewardship. Through careful, sunlit compositions, he transforms images of soccer matches and picnics into radically tender scenes of friendship and belonging.
On view alongside Rivers Flow / Artists Connect, Meet Me at the River reflects the power of the river as an enduring gathering space for diverse communities.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
This exhibition is made possible by Sarah Lawrence College through a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation.
CLOSING SOON!
Hip Hop Heroes
Through March 3, 2024
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Hudson River Explorers: Prints by Holly Sears
Through March 31, 2024
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ALSO ON VIEW
Rivers Flow / Artists Connect
Through September 1, 2024
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Embrace: Cinematic Moments by James Seward
Through May 12, 2024
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Kindred Worlds: The Priscila and Alvin Hudgins Collection
Through March 2, 2025
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It Takes 2: Unexpected Pairings
Through March 2, 2025
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Collection Spotlight: The Hudson River School
Ongoing
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Collection Spotlight: The Art of Skywatching
Ongoing
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PROGRAMS
All events are free with general admission unless otherwise noted.
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Friday, March 1, 5–8pm
Free First Fridays: Ballet, Bach, & Bold Women’s History Image
Featuring women-led ballet company MorDance, a drop-in sketching workshop, and more. Free admission, cash bar.
Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.
Saturday, March 2, 1:30pm
Music and Spoken Word: MC Lady Slim Image
Celebrate Women’s History Month with a performance and artist talk-back with Lady Slim, who will play a set from her recent work and share how the Yonkers Hip Hop scene has influenced her music and lyrics.
Support provided by Sarah Lawrence College through a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation.
Sunday, March 10, 1:30pm
Curator Tour of Rivers Flow / Artists Connect Image
Join Laura Vookles, Chair of HRM’s Curatorial Department, and guest co-curator Jennifer McGregor on a tour of Rivers Flow / Artists Connect.
Wednesday, March 13, 1–3pm
Artist Workshop Series with Madge Scott Image
Join artist Madge Scott, whose work is featured in Rivers Flow / Artists Connect, in the first workshop in a series inspired by the life of rivers.
Image: Madge Scott (American, b. Jamaica, 1958). United Spirits at the River, from the Migration series, 2021. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist.
Saturday, March 16, 3pm
Author Talk: Allison Gilbert’s Listen, World! Image
Author Allison Gilbert discusses her latest book, Listen, World!, the biography of journalist and illustrator Elsie Robinson. The event will take place in Glenview, followed by a Q&A and book signing. Tickets: $35; Members $30; includes complimentary signed book and general admission
Sunday, March 24, 1:30–3:30pm
Drawing Upon the Rivers: A Workshop with Charlotte Schulz Image
Gaze at the Hudson River from the Museum’s West Wing galleries, and draw alongside artist Charlotte Schulz, whose work is on view in Rivers Flow / Artists Connect.
Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 11am–5pm
School’s Out, Stars Are In (SOSI) Image
During spring break, enjoy extended hours, visit the exhibitions on view, watch free planetarium shows under the dome, and engage in interactive art and science workshops. Plus, take a ticketed tour of our historic Gilded Age home, Glenview.
SOSI is sponsored by Con Edison.
Saturday, March 30, 2pm
Breaking the Glass Ceiling in the Performing Arts Image
Listen to a panel discussion on the topics of breaking barriers and advancing gender equality within the performing arts, featuring choreographer Morgan McEwen, dancer Claire van Bever, and composer Polina Nazaykinskaya.
Planetarium Shows
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 12:30pm
Free showings Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 12:30pm
Tycho Goes to Mars Image
Join Tycho, a dog with a knack for getting into trouble, on his latest adventure as he discovers Mars up-close. Recommended for ages 8+; 27-minute show plus Q&A. Advance reservations are encouraged.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 2pm
Free showings Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 2pm
The Sky Tonight Image
Take an awe-inspiring tour of the night sky as seen from our area. Recommended for ages 8+; 60-minute live and interactive show. Learn all about the Total Solar Eclipse, the rarest and most spectacular of all astronomical events. On Monday, April 8, our region will experience one—the last chance we’ll get until 2079! Advance reservations are encouraged.
The Sky Tonight is sponsored by Domino Sugar Yonkers Refinery.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 3:30pm
Free showings Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 3:30pm
NEW! Moonbase: The Next Step Image
In Moonbase: The Next Step, you’ll learn about efforts to establish a permanent, scientific outpost on the Moon. Recommended for ages 9+; 21-minute show plus Q&A. Advance reservations are encouraged.
Glenview Tours
Thursdays & Fridays, 1pm; Saturdays & Sundays, 1 & 3pm
Gilded Age Glenview: Historic Home Tour Image
Explore the six fully restored period rooms on a guided tour. Capacity is limited to 15 visitors per tour. Advance ticket purchase is encouraged. Recommended for ages 8+. Strollers are not permitted in Glenview.
Family Art & Science Workshops
Saturdays & Sundays in March, PLUS Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 12–4pm
Family Art Workshop: River Puzzles Image
Draw your own river setting on a blank puzzle and take it home to solve at your own pace. Recommended for ages 4+.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, PLUS Monday–Friday, March 25–29, 12–4pm
Family Science Workshop: Eclipse Pinhole Viewer Image
Prepare for the Total Solar Eclipse on April 8 by making a pinhole viewer and an observation plan. Recommended for ages 8+.
Saturdays & Sundays, March 2–17, 12–4pm
Family Art Workshop: Collaborative Mural Image
Use the fluidity of dance movements that mimic the flow of a river to paint and decorate a collaborative mural. Designed by Teaching Artists-in-Residence MorDance. Recommended for ages 4+.
Press contacts:
Jeana Wunderlich
jwunderlich@hrm.org
(914) 963-4550 x240
Samantha Hoover
shoover@hrm.org
(914) 963-4550 x216
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Hudson River Museum is a preeminent cultural institution in Westchester County and the New York metropolitan area. Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York, the HRM’s mission is to engage, inspire, and connect diverse communities through the power of the arts, sciences, and history.
The Museum offers engaging experiences for every age and interest, with an ever-evolving collection of American art; dynamic exhibitions that range from notable nineteenth-century paintings to contemporary art installations. The HRM’s new West Wing offers sweeping views of the Hudson River in dedicated exhibition galleries. The campus also includes Glenview, an 1877 house on the National Register of Historic Places; a state-of-the-art Planetarium; an environmental teaching gallery; and an outdoor Amphitheater. Accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM), the Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting these multidisciplinary offerings, which are complemented by an array of public programs that encourage creative expression, collaboration, and artistic and scientific discovery.
Hours and Admission: Hudson River Museum is open Wednesday–Friday, 12–5pm, Saturday & Sunday, 11am–5pm. First Friday of each month, 5–8pm (FREE). Learn more at hrm.org/visit
General Admission: Adults $13; Youth (3–18) $8; Seniors (65+) $9; Students (with valid ID) $9; Veterans $9; Children (under 3) FREE; Members FREE; Museums for All* $2, *SNAP/EBT card with photo ID (up to 4 people). Planetarium tickets: Adults $7; Youth (3–18) $5; Seniors (65+) $6; Students (with valid ID) $6; Veterans $6; Children (under 3) Free. Glenview tours: Adults $7; Youth (3–18) $5; Seniors (65+) $6; Students (with valid ID) $6; Veterans $6; Children (under 3) Free.. The Museum is accessible by Metro-North (Hudson Line—Yonkers and Glenview stations), by Bee-Line Bus Route #1, by car, and by bike. Make your visit a One-Day Getaway, and buy a combined rail and admission discount ticket. Learn more about Metro-North Deals & Getaways.