The Hudson River Museum Embarks on New Partnership with Art Bridges

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YONKERS, NY, October 29, 2018 — The Hudson River Museum is honored to begin a partnership with Art Bridges, a foundation that focuses on collaborations with museums of all sizes across the country to present outstanding works of American art. Founded by arts patron and philanthropist Alice Walton in 2017, the organization centers on projects that deeply engage communities by aiding the creation and funding of exhibitions, programs, and new thinking about sharing works of art.

The Museum will feature three paintings on loan from Art Bridges: David Clyde Driskell, Woman with Flowers, 1972; Barkley L. Hendricks, Brenda P, 1974; and Kerry James Marshall, Lost Boys: AKA BB, 1993. The works by David Driskell and Barkley Hendricks are making their public debut at the HRM. These paintings will accompany and enhance works from the Museum’s permanent collection in Art and Identity: Highlights from the Collections of the Hudson River Museum and Art Bridges, selected to make powerful statements and invite open discussion about identity.

The six works on view are presented in three pairings, creating comparisons between these artists of radically different backgrounds and time periods. John White Alexander’s Azalea (Portrait of Helen Abbe Howson), 1885, a portrait of Helen Abbe Howson gazing at flowers, hangs next to David Driskell’s Woman with Flowers, 1972, her eyes closed in a similar deep meditation. Barkley Hendricks’ monumental portrait from 1974 of Brenda P, the lead singer of a popular Philadelphia R&B group, is paired with Hiram Powers’ Eve Disconsolate, 1871, a marble statue of Eve in a gesture of shame, pointing to the snake at her feet, clues of this dramatic moment from the Bible. Both figures strike a contrapposto, the Italian term for a pose in which the weight is shifted to one foot, each evoking established Classical precedents but to a different end, representing femininity in ancient and contemporary contexts. Kerry James Marshall and sculptor Isidore Konti both address themes of loss within their own time periods. Marshall’s Lost Boys: AKA BB, 1993, comes from a series of paintings partly inspired by J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. As the artist once stated, “I apply that concept of being lost in a Never, Never Land to a lot of young black men.” He portrays adolescents convicted and jailed, denied the opportunity to grow up by being lost in a system of institutional racism, with adult lives cut short through violence. The painting is juxtaposed with Isidore Konti’s, Consolation, 1914–18, which speaks to the disillusionment brought on by the World War I and envisions an allegorical mother to comfort humanity.

“The Hudson River Museum will celebrate its centennial in 2019, and will begin its next century building on the strength of community, Director Masha Turchinsky stated. “With a mission and collection that reflect a commitment to American art, we are profoundly grateful to Art Bridges and Alice Walton for enabling us to have greater access to important works from all aspects of our society, and for this paradigm-shifting opportunity to share outstanding works by these exceptional artists with the public.”

“The Hudson River Museum is exactly the kind of museum that inspires us at Art Bridges—they have great works of art, inspiring staff members, and a real desire to be deeply connected with the local community. We are honored to partner with Masha and her team, and excited to see how this exhibition sparks new conversations in the galleries—and beyond,” said Niki Ciccotelli Stewart, Program Administrator, Art Bridges.

This partnership with Art Bridges is part of the Museum’s commitment to increasing the variety and significance of the objects and subjects presented in its galleries. As the Museum plans for its future, one of its priorities is a commitment to diversity, ensuring the Museum’s operations, programs, exhibitions, and collection reflect our constituents. The ability to display these loans from Art Bridges and anticipate future loans will be crucial to the realization of this goal and the mission of the Museum.

Related Programs

To extend the impact of this partnership, the Museum will host a series of public programs, including Artful Impact: Come, Look, Respond!, that will activate this installation and invite input from the Museum’s visitors. Led by Christian Stegall, the Museum’s Samuel H. Kress Foundation’s Interpretive Fellow, this monthly program—with the first one taking place on Saturday, November 3, 3pm—will encourage visitors to explore these works and encourage discussion and debate. Additional interdisciplinary programs, which will feature artist talks, music, spoken word events, and studio workshops will be announced in the coming months.

The Museum will also create a curriculum focused on this new interpretation. Proposed educational outreach initiatives include gallery discussions about contemporary issues around identity, representation, and social issues with the Museum’s curatorial and education staff along with Yonkers Public Schools students, including those in the Museum’s Junior Docent Program and the My Brother’s Keeper program, an organization that addresses persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color, and multi-visit programs for Museum School 25, a Yonkers public school next door to the Museum. The Museum is also participating in Sarah Lawrence College’s “Semester in Yonkers” program, which will bring students to the Museum for special programming that will incorporate the Art Bridges installation, and welcomes additional participation by colleges in the region.

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