NEWSLETTER
Glens Falls, NY — This fall, The Hyde Collection unveils a vibrant series of four exhibitions spotlighting the innovation and lasting influence of women artists from the seventeenth century to the present day. At the heart of the season is A Feast of Fruit and Flowers: Women Still Life Painters of the Seventeenth Century and Beyond, opening October 25, which highlights the groundbreaking role women played in the development of still life painting in early modern Europe. Complementing this historical lens are solo exhibitions by acclaimed contemporary artists Sharon Core, Nina Katchadourian, and Tanya Marcuse, whose work reimagines traditional genres and challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries between nature, illusion, and perception.
A Feast of Fruit and Flowers: Women Still Life Painters of the Seventeenth Century and Beyond
October 25, 2025 – March 8, 2026 | Charles R. Wood Gallery
A Feast of Fruit and Flowers explores the important role women artists played in the development of the still life genre in seventeenth-century Europe. Still life painting emerged as a recognized genre during this time, with subjects ranging from artfully composed floral arrangements to tables brimming with food. Many of the leading still life painters were women: at a time when women were often limited in the subjects they were able to paint, still life was a genre that gave them the opportunity to experiment and in which they found great success. Artists featured include Fede Galizia, Clara Peeters, Josefa de Óbidos, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Rachel Ruysch.
“This exhibition is the first to focus on the contributions women artists in Europe made to the new genre of still life, beginning in the early 1600s,” said Bryn Schockmel, Hyde Curator of the Permanent Collection and Related Exhibitions. “It is also the first exhibition at The Hyde Collection to focus on women artists from the Early Modern period. It has been such a joy for me over the last few years to learn more about these incredibly talented artists, and I hope visitors to The Hyde feel the same.”
The exhibition concludes with more modern examples of still life painting, demonstrating that still life was a genre that continued to resonate with women artists over time and evolved to reflect changing eras. A catalogue designed and published by The Hyde, with contributions from leading scholars in the field accompanies the exhibition in the Museum shop.
Sharon Core: 1606 to the Sixties
October 4, 2025 – February 1, 2026 | Whitney-Renz and Hoopes Galleries
Trained as both a photographer and painter, Sharon Core builds elaborate studio sets that meticulously reconstruct still-life paintings by Rachel Ruysch, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, and others. Using only the most foundational of photographic tools—composition and lighting, no manipulation software—Core’s photographs are uncanny in their resemblance to still life paintings from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Core’s practice interrogates longstanding associations between photography and mechanical documentation of “the real” versus painting’s affiliations with individual inspiration and imagination. Blurring the line between painterly illusion and photographic reality, the viewer is invited to reconsider how authenticity is constructed and perceived in art.
Nina Katchadourian: Fake Plants and Other Curiosities
October 25, 2025 – March 8, 2026 | Hyde House and Feibes & Schmitt Gallery
Playful, sharp, and full of surprises, Fake Plants and Other Curiosities showcases Nina Katchadourian’s fascination with the overlooked and the mundane. In historic Hyde House and the Feibes and Schmitt Gallery, there will be sculptures and photographs from Katchadourian’s Fake Plants project, three-dimensional still lifes made from paper food packaging, disposable medical masks, sponges, toothpicks, and other discarded common materials. Based on invention rather than existing species, Katchadourian’s peculiar flora and fauna bring viewers closer to the overlooked matter that constitutes their domestic lives. A new series of Fake Plants Katchadourian created for The Hyde’s exhibition uses upcycled industrial materials from the Finch papermill, located behind the Museum and central to its history and permanent collection. Katchadourian’s exhibition will also include two of her hilarious Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style and her six-channel video installation, Accent Elimination. The integration of Katchadourian’s work throughout the historic collection encourages visitors to reflect on institutional identity and the continuities between old and new.
Tanya Marcuse: Woven No. 16
September 27, 2025 – February 1, 2026 | Rotunda Gallery
Tanya Marcuse’s lush, large-scale photographic work Woven No. 16 transforms natural debris—leaves, fruit, and flora—into intricately choreographed compositions. Collected from the land around her Hudson Valley studio, these organic materials become elements of a pictorial and symbolic composition that Marcuse meticulously constructs over weeks, even months. The results are lush and painterly abstract compositions; but close inspection reveals the painstaking nature of Marcuse’s sculptural process as she builds her compositions. Marcuse immerses viewers in the fragile textures of the natural world, where decomposition and beauty converge in unexpected harmony.
“The three contemporary artists on view highlight the evolution of the still life tradition in the face of new media,” said Derin Tanyol, Hyde Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “Sharon Core, Nina Katchadourian, and Tanya Marcuse each create a kind of constructive confusion with their work, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fake, and between mechanical and handmade forms of production. Yet in the work of all three, any confusion viewers might feel resolves into an experience of rare and mysterious beauty.”
Support for these exhibitions was generously provided by: Presenting Sponsors: The Charles R. Wood Foundation and The Hoopes Family Foundation; Signature Sponsors: The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and The Robert Lehman Foundation; Premier Sponsor: Thomas Masterson; Community Sponsors: India & Benjamin Adams, Behan Communications, Kara Shier, Maquette Fine Art Services, Sustainable PR, NYSCA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Finch Paper; Additional exhibition support provided by: Ellen-Deane Cummins, Leslie F. Gold, Dorothy Malossi, John Nigro, and John & Chris Strough
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Oct.16 at 6 pm: Artist Talk with Sharon Core
Oct. 25 at 10:15 am: Exhibition Tour of A Feast of Fruits and Flowers with Curator Dr. Bryn Schockmel
Oct. 25 at 11 am: Artist Talk with Nina Katchadourian
Oct. 30, Nov 6, & 13, 3-5 pm: Art History Class Women Artists of the Early Modern Period with Dr. Bryn Schockmel
Nov. 2, 16, & 23, 11 am-1 pm: Family Sundays: Fantastic Fake Flora
Nov. 15 at 2 pm: Panel Discussion: Is still life still relevant?
Nov. 20 at 6 pm: A Seat at the Table: Women Still Life Painters of the Seventeenth Century with Dr. Bryn Schockmel
Feb. 28 at 11 am: Among the First: Italian Women Artists as Originators Lecture with Dr. Eve Straussman-Pflanzer
Learn more and register for programs at hydecollection.org/programs-and-events/
VISIT THE HYDE COLLECTION
All exhibitions are included with general museum admission and will be on view during regular hours: Thursday–Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm
The Hyde Collection is located at 161 Warren Street, Glens Falls, NY. For more information, visit hydecollection.org
ABOUT THE HYDE
The Hyde is one of the Northeast's exceptional small art museums with distinguished European and American art collections. Throughout the years, the Museum has expanded considerably from the historic Hyde home. It includes a modern museum complex with an auditorium, classroom, five galleries, and a state-of-the-art storage facility. The core collection, acquired by Museum founders Charlotte and Louis Hyde, includes works by such artists as Sandro Botticelli, Tintoretto, El Greco, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, and Pablo Picasso and American artists Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, and Anna Hyatt Huntington. The Museum's Modern and Contemporary art collection features work by artists including Josef Albers, Dorothy Dehner, Sam Gilliam, Adolph Gottlieb, Grace Hartigan, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Robert Motherwell, Ben Nicholson, Robert Rauschenberg, Bridget Riley, and Paul Anthony Smith. Today, The Hyde offers significant national and international exhibitions and a packed schedule of events that help visitors experience art in new ways. Learn more at hydecollection.org
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MEDIA CONTACT
Gina Fisk, Creative Director
gfisk@hydecollection.org