NEWSLETTER
Museum hours: Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm
Yonkers, NY (March 1, 2023)—In Exaltation of Flowers: Edward Jean Steichen, opening Friday, March 10, features the work of iconic photographer and painter Edward Jean Steichen. This exhibition highlights his most ambitious project as a painter—three large-scale paintings, on loan from Art Bridges, which he created on the cusp of World War I as part of a series of seven murals that were commissioned to decorate a New York City townhouse.
A brand-new Planetarium show is premiering this month, Tycho Goes to Mars. Offered on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:30pm, this exciting adventure tells the story of Tycho, a dog with a knack for getting into trouble, on his latest adventure as he discovers Mars up-close. While on Mars, he discovers an ancient volcano, finds a gigantic canyon, and searches for water to help him make his way back home.
Plus, celebrate Women’s History Month at the Hudson River Museum with musical performances in the galleries, art workshops, and more. Join us on Sunday, March 5, 1–4pm, for Frederick J. Brown: Jazz in the Galleries, featuring DJ Sunny Cheeba, who will create an immersive experience in the galleries inspired by Brown’s practice of listening to music in his studio, as well as his collaborations with jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton. On Saturday, March 11, join a conversation and demonstration with three women printmakers, Nitza Tufiño, Luanda Lozano, and Julia Santos Solomon in Three Latina Artists on the Power of Printmaking. The discussion will be conducted in English and Spanish.
FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
In Exaltation of Flowers: Edward Jean Steichen
March 10, 2023–February 18, 2024
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Edward J. Steichen (1879–1973), one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century, spent his early career equally devoted to both painting and photography. This exhibition highlights his most ambitious project as a painter—three large-scale paintings he created on the cusp of World War I as part of a series of seven murals. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr., a prominent couple who were actively engaged in the arts, commissioned the paintings to decorate the foyer of their New York City townhouse. The magnificent works feature women from the Meyers’ family and close associates who formed a close-knit intellectual and artistic circle. Steichen himself was a member of this group of friends, who used floral names to address one another in correspondence and at social activities in creative and humorous ways.
In each 10-foot panel, Steichen placed the botanical specimens that aligned with the sitter’s dominant personality traits alongside their human counterpart. In the painting titled Rose—Geranium, Steichen portrayed Katharine Rhoades, the New York–born painter, photographer, and one-time love interest of photography pioneer Alfred Stieglitz. Petunia—Caladium—Budleya depicts the painter Marion Beckett, a still life and portrait artist known as “Petunia Beckett.” The identification of the woman in Golden-Banded Lily—Violets is less certain and may be either Agnes Ernst Meyer, the patron, or Clara Steichen, the artist’s wife. He drew inspiration for these floral personifications from the book The Intelligence of Flowers (1907) by Symbolist poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck.
The shimmering paintings are complemented by a selection of photographs from the HRM’s rich collection of Steichen images, including a self-portrait, works that illustrate his continued fascination with flowers, as well as photographs from his Condé Nast years of celebrities such as Marlene Dietrich, Lillian Gish, and Charlie Chaplin. In addition, the exhibition showcases related work by Steichen’s contemporary, Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., also known for evocative portraits of women with flowers. Eickemeyer went on to become one of the founders of the Museum. These photographs, together with the outstanding murals, shine a light on an under-appreciated aspect of the career of one of America’s most accomplished artists while exploring the legacy of this elaborate group portrait of Steichen’s and the Meyers’ friends who formed a close-knit intellectual and artistic circle while living in France.
Support provided by Art Bridges.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Collection Spotlight: The Hudson River School
Ongoing
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The Hudson River School was a movement in American art embraced by landscape painters who explored romantic themes of the wild beauty of nature from the 1830s to the 1880s. Although they focused primarily on Hudson River Valley vistas, they also depicted landscapes from throughout the United States. English emigree Thomas Cole was the founder and influential leader of this loosely affiliated group of painters, which included Asher B. Durand, Jasper F. Cropsey, Albert Bierstadt, and Cole’s only student, Frederic E. Church, among others. Through their paintings and published prints, the Hudson River School artists forged an aesthetic that promoted the bucolic American landscape and its inevitable settlement reaching to the Western frontier and even the Andes of South America.
This exhibition features works from the Museum’s collection, including paintings by Cropsey, Durand, Hermann Fuechsel, and prints by Cole, Church, and Frances Flora Bond Palmer. The exhibition also includes several special loans featuring works by Robert Seldon Duncanson, Francis Augustus Silva, and May Wheelock. Duncanson was the only known African American painter among the Hudson River School artists and was widely celebrated in the US and abroad. Wheelock, like other women of the Hudson River School who were frequently underrecognized, receives long overdue attention at the Museum.
The Hudson River School had lasting impact not only on American art, but also on the American landscape. For instance, the artists’ paintings inspired the United States government to create the first national parks in 1872. In the twentieth century, many preservationists were inspired by the earlier artists’ scenes of nature and interest in the Hudson River School escalated. More recently, scholars are examining the paintings with a more nuanced reading of how art, culture, and political history are intertwined, as we contend with environmental crises and reckon with our complex history of land ownership.
This exhibition is supported in part by Greg and Fay Wyatt.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Frederick J. Brown: A Drawing in Five Parts
Through April 2, 2023
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A pioneering figure in New York City’s art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012) developed groundbreaking approaches to abstraction, figurative expressionism, and portraiture. This exhibition features Brown’s series of five monumental works on paper titled The Actress: A Drawing in Five Parts, a recent gift to the Museum. The series explores the emotive progression of a stage performance by actor Jillian O’Brien. Homing in on Brown’s interests in Black expression, performance, and creativity, this exhibition turns a lens on his unique, experimental, and powerful practice of portraiture.
Drawing from his African American and Native American ancestry, as well as a breadth of knowledge in art-historical traditions, Brown engaged with American history and music, the urban fabric, religion, and spirituality. Together, the artworks on view present a visual performance in painting that captures the dynamic spectrum of emotion embedded in the creative process.
Born in Georgia and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Brown divided his time between New York City and Phoenix, Arizona. His loft studio, located at 120 Wooster Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, became a central gathering place for artists, musicians, writers, dancers, and performance artists. There, he collaborated with jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton, and Abstract Expressionist painter Willem De Kooning, among others.
Brown’s work is in public and private art collections throughout the world, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The exhibition features interpretive content and a new essay by American art historian and curator Lowery Stokes Sims. Read the essay.
Lead sponsorship of the exhibition is provided by DeWayne N. Phillips and Caroline A. Wamsler, PhD.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
We are deeply grateful to Marilyn Appel for her impactful gift of this series to the Museum’s permanent collection. Special thanks to Bentley Brown and Terry Joshi.
Order / Reorder: Experiments with Collections
New works on view starting March 10!
Through September 3, 2023
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Art as both creative output and curated object is in constant dialogue with the past and the present. It is this never-ending conversation that pushes art into its future, forcing us to continually reimagine the ways in which we project a vision of ourselves and the world around us. Order / Reorder: Experiments with Collections explores approaches to looking at American art that consider expressions of American identity from new perspectives.
The works on view range across genres: portraiture, figural studies, still life, landscape, and abstraction. Recent additions to the Museum’s collection and other artworks on view for the first time are joined by visitor favorites, paired with special loans from the Joslyn Art Museum and contributions from regional artists. Rather than structured chronologically, the installation is designed to spark discussion through juxtapositions of styles, outlooks, and eras. Works by renowned artists are in conversation with those now emerging.
We invite viewers to find connections in unexpected groupings of objects. For example, arranging works by Hudson River School artist James Fairman, Southwest painter Eanger Irving Couse, and Shinnecock Nation photographer Jeremy Dennis side by side offers fresh insight into traditional assertions of who owns and has access to nature and current efforts by artists to combat erasure. Alison Moritsugu and Valerie Hegarty remind us that nineteenth-century visions of pristine nature presaged its destruction, and that the preservation of “wilderness” requires environmental stewardship. Contrasting images by Hananiah Harari and Winfred Rembert assert the dignity of the working class, whether at work or at play.
New rotations to the exhibition juxtapose pieces including a quilt by Donna Chambers with a painting by Jacob Lawrence, two works by Black artists that celebrate the joy of creating something with their hands. Other recent additions to the exhibition include works by C. Finley, David Enriquez, Guy Gillette, and Miriam Schapiro.
The events of recent years have reaffirmed the importance of art as a source of inspiration, healing, and hope. As the HRM enters its second century with forward-looking initiatives for collection growth and new interpretations, we will showcase the Museum’s collections and these loans through many lenses and diverse voices, providing innovative opportunities for visitors to engage with the objects and with each other.
An exciting component of the exhibition is an interactive experience that invites the audience to create their own exhibition. We’ve reproduced a selection of these works on our lobby wall that visitors can arrange to tell their own visual story. Artworks can be grouped according to subject matter, style, color, shape, pattern, design, aesthetic, or whatever comes to mind. And it’s not just for fun. We are asking people to take a photo of their favorite combination(s) and tag us on Instagram. We want Order / Reorder to spark interaction, joy, and wonder—welcoming our communities to explore art, new viewpoints, and their own creativity, as well as the many stories to be found in the Museum’s rich collection.
#HRMOrderReorder
The exhibition is co-curated by Laura Vookles, Chair, Curatorial Department, Hudson River Museum, and Bentley Brown, Adjunct Professor of Art History at Fordham University and PhD Fellow, NYU Institute of Fine Arts.
Several works in this exhibition are generously lent by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, as part of the Art Bridges’ Collection Loan Partnership.
Order / Reorder: Experiments with Collections is made possible by generous support from the New York State Senate and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Matrix: Prints by Women Artists 1960–1990
Through April 2, 2023
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The Bierstadt Brother: Painting and Photography
Through September 10, 2023
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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.
View Program Images Here
Sunday, March 5, 1–4pm
Frederick J. Brown: Jazz in the Galleries Image
Experience Frederick J. Brown’s groundbreaking series The Actress: A Drawing in Five Parts surrounded by jazz music spun live by Bronx-based DJ Sunny Cheeba, founder of Uptown Vinyl Supreme. This immersive experience in the galleries is inspired by Brown’s practice of listening to music in his studio as he worked, as well as his collaborations with jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton during the New York Art Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s.
Sponsored by DeWayne N. Phillips and Caroline A. Wamsler, PhD.
Sunday, March 11, 1:30–3:30pm
Three Latina Artists on the Power of Printmaking Image
Artists Nitza Tufiño, Luanda Lozano, and Julia Santos Solomon—all of whose work is featured in Matrix: Prints by Women Artists, 1960–1990—discuss the role printmaking plays in the Latino culture and its power to effect social change. Through conversation and demonstration with an etching press, learn about their artwork and their unique contributions to the birth and development of the vibrant Latino art scene. The discussion will be conducted in English and Spanish.
Tres Artistas Latinas sobre el Poder de Impresión Gráfica Image
Artistas Nitza Tufiño, Luanda Lozano, y Julia Santos Solomon— todas cuyos trabajos se presentan en Matrix: Prints by Women Artists, 1960–1990— discuten la función que brinda la impresión gráfica en la cultura latina y cómo puede lograr el cambio social. A través de conversaciones y demostraciones con una prensa de grabado, aprenda sobre sus obras de arte y sus contribuciones únicas al nacimiento y desarrollo de la vibrante escena artística latina. La discusión se llevará a cabo en inglés y español.
Sunday, March 19, 3pm
Cocomama Concert: Woman’s World Image
The members of Cocomama hail from five countries on four continents, and their name refers, appropriately, to the Incan goddess of health and happiness. Playing their own kind of swinging Latin music, powerfully virtuosic yet elegantly musical, Cocomama creates a sound that is all at once original and authentic, fierce, and beautiful. Looking at love from the female perspective, they will perform selections from their new album, Woman’s World, as well as Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” and music inspired by the poetry of Maya Angelou.
Concierto Cocomama: Mundo de Mujeres
Los miembros de Cocomama provienen de cinco países de cuatro continentes, y su nombre se refiere, apropiadamente, a la diosa inca de la salud y la felicidad. Tocando su propio tipo de música latina swing, poderosamente virtuosa pero elegantemente musical, Cocomama crea un sonido que es a la vez original y auténtico, feroz y hermoso. Mirando el amor desde la perspectiva femenina, interpretarán selecciones de su nuevo álbum, Woman’s World, así como “Feeling Good” de Nina Simone y música inspirada en la poesía de Maya Angelou.
Friday, March 24, 6:30–8:30pm
Paint Night with Teresa Pereira: Intensity of Gaze Image
Join artist Teresa Pereira for a paint night that explores the emotive progression of an actor’s stage performance, inspired by Frederick J. Brown: A Drawing in Five Parts. Based on Pereira’s prototypes, paint three sequential self portraits focusing on the eyes, a key feature in Brown’s portraits. Through self reflection, practice the most direct way to capture your own “intensity of gaze” and create a triptych while sipping a glass of wine! Materials and one drink are provided.Ages 21+ Tickets: $30; Members $25. Purchase tickets.
Sponsored by DeWayne N. Phillips and Caroline A. Wamsler, PhD.
Sunday, March 26, 1:30–3:30pm
Monoprint Workshop with Luanda Lozano Image
Learn how to create a monoprint, a one-of-a-kind print that can be made from a variety of traditional plates, with Luanda Lozano, whose work is featured in Matrix. Draw and paint in color with brushes and brayers and explore how to use found materials to create textures. Learn hand-printing techniques as well as how to pull prints from an etching press. Open to all levels, no printmaking experience required. The workshop will be conducted in English and Spanish. Registration is recommended.
Taller de Monoprint con Luanda Lozano
Aprenda a crear un monoprint, una impresión única que se puede hacer a partir de una variedad de platos tradicionales, con Luanda Lozano. Dibuja y pinta en color con pinceles y brayers y explora cómo usar los materiales encontrados para crear texturas. Aprenda técnicas de impresión a mano, así como cómo extraer impresiones de una prensa de grabado. Abierto a todos los niveles, no se requiere experiencia en grabado. El taller se llevará a cabo en inglés y español. La capacidad es limitada; Se recomienda registrarse con anticipación. Registro recomendado.
Planetarium Shows
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 12:30pm
NEW PLANETARIUM SHOW!
Planetarium Show: 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. See an ancient volcano, a gigantic canyon, and help Tycho search for water to power his kennel back home. But how will he find water on Mars when it looks so cold, dusty, and dry? Finding his way back home is not going to be easy. But if anyone can do it, Tycho can. Watch the trailer. Recommended for ages 8+; 27-minute show plus Q&A. Advance reservations are encouraged.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 2pm
Planetarium Show: The Sky Tonight Image
Take an awe-inspiring tour of the night sky as seen from our area, with topics ranging from visible planets and bright stars, to periodic comets, seasonal constellations, upcoming rocket launches, and more! As winter comes to an end in March, get a preview of the constellations and star clusters of spring. Advance reservations are encouraged.
The Sky Tonight is sponsored by Domino Sugar Yonkers Refinery.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 3:30pm
Planetarium Show: We Are Aliens Image
Earth. It’s now a small world. The human race is connected better and faster than ever before, but what about elsewhere? Could we one day be part of a galactic community sharing our knowledge and ideas? Or is Earth the only planet with life? We Are Aliens! is narrated by Rupert Grint (from the Harry Potter films) that takes you on an epic ride in the hunt for the evidence of alien life. Watch the trailer. Recommended for ages 8+. Advance reservations are strongly encouraged.
Family Art & Science Workshops
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 1–4pm
Family Art Workshop: Puzzling Prints Image
Celebrate Women’s History Month by recreating artworks by iconic female artists and transforming them into puzzles! Use printmaking techniques and blank puzzles while learning about artists like Frida Kahlo, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, and others! Recommended for ages 5+.
Saturdays & Sundays in March, 1–4pm
Family Science Workshop: Leap into Moon Science Image
The Year of the Rabbit has a close association with the Moon, since the Chinese have long imagined seeing, not a “man in the moon,” but a leaping rabbit, on the Moon’s face. Learn about the science of the moon, make a crater or two, compare our moon to others, and use your imagination to find and paint a face, a rabbit, or something else on our nearest neighbor in space. Recommended for ages 8+.
Glenview Tours
Thursdays & Fridays, 1pm; Saturdays & Sundays, 1 & 3pm
Gilded Age Glenview: Historic Home Tour Image
Did you know that Glenview appears in HBO’s Emmy-award winning show The Gilded Age? Travel back in time and explore the six fully restored period rooms on a 45-minute guided tour of 1877 home on the National Register of Historic Places. Glenview is an 1877 home on the National Register of Historic Places, designed by architect Charles W. Clinton. Explore the six fully restored period rooms on a 45-minute guided tour and sSee the fine woodwork, furnishings, artwork, and magnificent architectural features that rank it as one of the most important early Gilded Age residences open to the public. Don’t miss the chance to see Yonkers’ favorite 24-room dollhouse, Nybelwyck Hall. Capacity is limited to 15 visitors per tour. Advance ticket purchase is encouraged. Recommended for ages 8+.
Press contact:
Jeana Wunderlich
jwunderlich@hrm.org
(914) 963-4550 x240
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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-growing collection of American art; dynamic exhibitions that range from notable nineteenth-century paintings to contemporary art installations; 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 Thursday–Sunday, 12–5pm. Mask wearing and COVID-19 vaccination are no longer required, but are recommended for all visitors. Learn more at hrm.org/visit
General Admission: Adults $10; Youth (3–18) $6; Seniors (62+) $7; Students (with valid ID) $7; Veterans $7; Children (under 3) FREE; Members FREE; Museums for All* $2, *SNAP/EBT card with photo ID (up to 4 people). Planetarium tickets: Adults $6; Youth (3–18) $4; Seniors (62+) $5; Students (with valid ID) $5; Veterans $5; Children (under 3) Free. Glenview tours: Adults $6; Youth (3–18) $4; Seniors (62+) $5; Students (with valid ID) $5; Veterans $5; 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.