The Fenimore Art Museum, in Cooperstown, reopened for the 2010 season with four new exhibitions on Thursday, April 1. These diverse exhibitions include examples of 19th-century fashion, folk art, photography, and contemporary landscape painting.
Starting this year, admission for children 12 and under is free. This price change will allow more families the opportunity to experience the Museum, its acclaimed exhibitions, and its unique educational programs. Adult admission (13-64) is $12.00 and senior admission (65 and up) is $10.50. NYSHA members, active military, and retired career military are always free.
Exhibition highlights include:
Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace: A Century of New York Fashion
(April 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010)
Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace is an exciting exhibition of the Museum’s collection of historic dresses. When viewed in conjunction with the John Singer Sargent exhibition (opening May 29), the show enables visitors to see and experience a broader historical context of men’s and women’s fashion. Even though upstate New York was considered the edge of the western frontier in the 19th century, residents of the area kept up with New York City and the world in terms of fashion. The exhibition includes the oldest known example of a dress with a label, stunning examples of Empire, Romantic and Civil War era dresses and turn-of-the-20th century items. Additionally, visitors will be able to peek at what was worn underneath the dresses which were vital to giving them their distinctive shapes. This exhibition is funded in part by The Coby Foundation.
In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers
(April 1, 2010 – September 6, 2010)
In Our Time was organized to celebrate 50 years of photography at Magnum Photos Inc. and the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography.
This exhibition of 150 black-and-white photographs is from a comprehensive survey of Magnum Photos, Inc., which is considered to be one of the world’s most renowned photographic agencies. These images are a result of the extraordinary vision of the many talented photographers who have been associated with Magnum since its founding in 1947.
The broad events captured in these Magnum photographs include the D-Day landing in Normandy, France (1944)- prisoners of war returning home to Vienna, Austria (1947)- Ghandi’s funeral in India (1948)- James Dean in Times Square (1955)- Castro delivering a speech in Havanna (1959)- Martin Luther King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize (1963)- Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy at Arlington (1963)- a Shriner’s parade in Boston (1974)- women supporters of Ayatollah Khomeni in Iran (1979)- and a crack den in New York City (1988).
In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers is toured by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.
Watermark: Michele Harvey & Glimmerglass
(April 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010)
Michele Harvey spends most of the year in her summer studio in upstate New York. Among her various formats, Harvey’s signature triptych formats often include quiet roads or paths framing a central scene that provides one with the sense of simultaneously entering and leaving her misted landscapes. The union of the darker colors of the trees and the distinct light of the vaporous sky create a calming rhythm that draws the viewer into a mysterious world where time appears to stand still.
Harvey is enchanted by the environs of Cooperstown and the opportunity to create works based here. “The lake, its history, the views…- all conspired to take me off the beaten path. I felt the lure of Glimmerglass as it must have felt to James Fenimore Cooper. For the first time I became a tourist, humbled by the scenery.”
Watermark: Michele Harvey & Glimmerglass represents a melding of the two- adding her own style to the venerable history of landscape art already created here.
Virtual Folk: A Blog Readers’ Choice
(April 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010)
Virtual Folk: A Blog Readers’ Choice is an exhibition of exceptional folk art objects from the Fenimore Art Museum’s vast collection, chosen by the readers of our folk art blog – American Folk Art @ Cooperstown.
Bits of Home
(April 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010)
Visitors to the Fenimore Art Museum have long enjoyed the extraordinary collections of fine art, folk art, and American Indian art held by the New York State Historical Association. Less well known are the thousands of historical artifacts in the collections storage areas. Bits of Home acquaints visitors with these historical collections by featuring a selection of more than 30 artifacts from NYSHA and The Farmers’ Museum’s extensive collections of domestic life in nineteenth-century New York.
Opening Later in the Season…
John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women
(May 29, 2010 – December 31, 2010)
The Fenimore Art Museum presents the first major exhibition on the topic of portraits of women by the well-known American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). The exhibition explores Sargent’s range of styles and depth of characterization in his portraits of society women, as well as his fascination with exotic working-class women of Venice and Capri. The paintings and drawings provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of these women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Included will be drawings of Madame Gautreau, the mysterious subject of Sargent’s famous portrait Madame X.
Picturing Women: American Art from the Permanent Collections
(July 18, 2009 – December 31, 2009)
Ongoing Exhibitions…
Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art
Eugene and Clare Thaw Gallery
The Coopers of Cooperstown
Cooper Room
Genre Paintings from the Permanent Collection
Paneled Room
American Memory: Recalling the Past in Folk Art
Main Gallery
From April 1 through May 10, the museum will be open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm, closed on Mondays. Summer hours begin on May 11 and continue through October 11. During the summer season, the museum is open seven days a week from 10 am to 5 pm. Please visit their website for more information – www.fenimoreartmuseum.org.