Archive of Past Exhibitions at the Arkell Museum
Winslow Homer Watercolors
On Display
July 26, 2008 to October 19, 2008
NBT Gallery
The Arkell Museum’s collection of Winslow Homer watercolors will be brought out of storage for this remarkable exhibition.
Winslow Homer, On the Cliff, 1881
Wyeth Family Paintings from the Farnsworth Art Museum
On Display
June 27, 2008 to September 21, 2008
N.C. Wyeth, Portrait of a Young Artist,
c. 1930, Farnsworth Art Museum Collection
Watercolors and oil paintings by three generations of America’s most famous family of artists — Jamie, Andrew, and N.C. Wyeth — will be on display through the summer. This collection of paintings comes from the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine.
Exhibition sponsored by NBT Bank.
Famous and Fabulous Portraits
from George Washington to the Golden Girl
On Display
January 20, 2008 to July 20, 2008
George de Forest Brush, Golden Girl, 1925
This fascinating exhibition of portraits by some of America’s best known artists from the 18th through the early 20th century is selected from the Arkell Museum’s permanent collection. The subject of these paintings range from America’s first president painted by Gilbert Stuart to an introspective portrait by Thomas Eakins and a beautiful woman painted by John Singer Sargent.
Gilbert Stuart,
Portrait of George Washington, c. 1820
Immigration, Politics and Caricature:
Ethnic and Political Images from the Appel, Arkell and
Zim House Collections
On Display
March 9, 2008 to June 15, 2008
Judge Magazine Cover,
Michigan State University Appel Collection
The Appel Collection of immigrant and ethnic caricatures from Judge and Puck magazines date from the late 19th century to World War I, a period of massive migration to the United States. The images, sometimes humorous, sometimes very disturbing, depict American values and attitudes of the period. Original art by the cartoonists Gilliam and Zim will be shown alongside the magazine illustrations.
Click to view MSU online exhibition
Exhibition funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
Mohawk Valley Views
On Display
September 23, 2007 to February 20, 2008
William Wall,
New York and the Erie Canal, 1862
Edward Gay,Mother Earth, 1892
The Mohawk Valley’s River, the Erie Canal, and the picturesque villages and farmland have all been sources of inspiration for artists from the early 1800s up to the present.
The landscape here today is a reflection of the work of German settlers who cleared the land and planted wheat in the 18th century. Nineteenth-century travel books featured images of the new canal and railroad that ran along river. Painters were also drawn to these images and tended to show the changing modes of transportation in harmony with nature.
William Wall’s painting New York and the Erie Canal is believed by many to be the quintessential image of the Mohawk Valley, capturing all the elements people associate with this region.
Edward Gay, another 19th century artist featured in this exhibition, was a well-known Albany and New York City artist who frequently returned to the Mohawk Valley for inspiration. His large oil painting, Mother Earth, measuring over eight feet in length, places the viewer in the middle of a large hayfield with the farmer in the distance and majestic sky overhead.
The rural views captured by artists in past centuries can still be found today. Contemporary artists depict these views but some artists such as Walter Hatke show us the beauty and hint at what might be hiding under our broad skies.
Fragile Masterpieces:
Pastels and Watercolors from the Permanent Collection
On Display
September 23, 2007 to January 10, 2008
Maurice Prendergast, Revere Beach, c. 1902
The Arkell Museum has a remarkable collection of American watercolors and pastels, but due to the fragile nature of these works, they can only be displayed occasionally for short periods of time. This opening exhibition will bring out of safe storage the museum’s finest watercolors by Maurice Prendergast, Edward Hopper, and Reginald Marsh. Pastel landscapes, still-lifes, and portraits by artists such as Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O’Keeffe will also be on display to show how many notable American artists were masters of both pastels and watercolors.
• • • • •
On the Road
Below are some notable past exhibitions at other museums where works on loan from the Arkell were featured.
Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation
February 10 - April 5, 2007
National Art Museum of China
Beijing
At this historic first survey exhibition of American art ever presented in the People’s Republic of China, a highlight was one of our own prized Winslow Homer paintings, Watching the Breakers: A High Sea.
Winslow Homer: A Collector’s Passion
June 25, 2006 - September 17, 2006
Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center
Rockland, ME
Winslow Homer was a particular favorite of Bartlett Arkell, and sixteen of Homer’s works from our collection, both oils and watercolors, were on display at this exhibition, supplemented by works from the Farnsworth’s own collection.
Selections from The Arkell Museum at Canajoharie
November 12, 2005 - July 16, 2006
Thomas Dewing (1851-1938)
The Letter, 1889
Oil on panel
Gift of Bartlett Arkell
Hyde Collection Art Museum
Glens Falls, NY
Fourteen remarkable paintings from our collection were on display at this exhibit, including The Letter (1889), an exquisite portrait by Thomas Dewing; The Rainbow (1878), a magnificent landscape by George Inness; and Emil Carlsen’s luminous Blue and White Jar (c. 1910), a still-life.
