Hyde Collection Names Interim Co-Directors

The Board of Trustees of The Hyde Collection has announced the appointment of two interim co-directors to oversee and direct the Museum following the departure of the current executive director, David Setford, in August.

Hyde chief curator Erin B. Coe and Hyde financial officer Lynne Mason will share responsibilities for running the institution until a new director is found. As of August 24, 2012, the current director, David F. Setford, will resign his position to be the managing executive of International Fine Art Expositions, Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida.

Coe has been with The Hyde since 1999 and during her tenure she has been responsible for many exhibitions and publications related to nineteenth and twentieth-century American art. In addition to serving as the head of the curatorial department, she has authored several publications and many successful grants. Erin had held previous positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shaker Museum and Library, and University Art Museum (University at Albany), holds a B.A. and M.A., and is currently finishing her Ph.D. in the history of art at Boston University.

At the Museum since September of 2001, Lynne Mason manages both finance and human resources. She came to The Hyde with over 20 years of business and accounting experience. Mason completed a graduate business administration program in accounting, was named to the business honor society, earned the Graduate Achievement award, and passed the CPA exam. Ms. Mason holds a B.A. and M.S.

The Board of Trustees has retained executive search consultant Marilyn Hoffman of Museum Search and Reference, Londonderry, New Hampshire. Inquiries regarding the Museum’s search should be directed to Hoffman at 603-432-7929.

Walt Whitman Portrait at The Hyde Collection

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls (Warren County) is offering visitors an unprecedented opportunity to see the remarkable Portrait of Walt Whitman (1887-1888) by Thomas Eakins (1844-1914).

The Whitman portrait is considered one of Eakins’s finest paintings, and only rarely leaves Philadelphia, where it is a featured work in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). The image of one of America’s most influential poets, by one of the nation’s greatest artists, will be in Glens Falls for six months, as a second exchange for the year-long loan of The Hyde Collection’s Portrait of Henry Ossawa Tanner (ca. 1897) by Eakins.

Tanner was one of Thomas Eakins’s students at the Pennsylvania Academy and the portrait has been lent to PAFA for their exhibition Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit. That major retrospective celebrates Tanner’s position in American art as a pioneering African-American, as well as establishing him as one of our most significant expatriate artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Portrait of Walt Whitman will be exhibited in Hyde House where visitors can also see In the Studio (1884), another work by Eakins in the Museum’s collection.

Before returning to The Hyde, the Tanner portrait will have been exhibited in three national venues: PAFA, January 28 – April 15, 2012- Cincinnati Art Museum, May 26 – September 9, 2012- and then traveling to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 21 – January 13, 2013.

Illustration: Thomas Eakins, American (1844-1916), Walt Whitman (1819-1892), 1887-88, oil on canvas, Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.

Hyde Lectures Begin with Tiffany Glass Expert

On Sunday, June 17, 2012, The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY will present Lindsy R. Parrott, director and curator of The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, New York City. Beginning at 2pm in the Froehlich Auditorium, Parrott will speak about The Hyde’s new exhibition, Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light, which was organized by the Neustadt Collection.  

Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light is part of the Museum’s “Summer of Light” which also includes Stephen Knapp: New Light in the Wood Gallery. Both exhibitions open June 17, 2012 and run through September 16, 2012.

Admission to the lecture is free with Museum admission. For this lecture, and others throughout the “Summer of Light” Lecture Series, open captioning for the hearing impaired will be provided, in part, by TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Parrott is a graduate faculty member in the History of Decorative Arts Program offered jointly through the Smithsonian and George Mason University. Prior to joining the Neustadt Collection in 2003, she served as Collections Assistant and Mobile Museum Manager at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, which boasts the most comprehensive collection of Tiffany works in the world.

Parrott received her M.A. in the History of Decorative Arts from Parsons School of Design/Smithsonian Institution where she focused on late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century ceramics and glass, with a specialization in the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. She has also studied architecture and decorative arts through the Attingham Summer School in England and the Victorian Society Summer School in Newport.

Among her current projects, Parrott is a co-curator and co-author of the upcoming exhibition and accompanying catalog Louis C. Tiffany and the Art of Devotion. The show, which presents the first scholarly look at Tiffany’s significant artistic contributions to religious interiors, is organized by the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City and opens this October. Parrott has written and lectured extensively on various aspects of Tiffany’s career.

For more information, call 518-792-1761 or go to www.hydecollection.org.

Exec Dir David Setford to Leave Hyde Collection

The Hyde Collection has announced that David F. Setford has informed the Board of Trustees that he intends to leave his post as Executive Director in August. A nationwide search will be conducted to identify a successor.

Setford, who has led the Hyde for four and a half years, spearheaded high-profile exhibitions including Degas and Music in 2009 and Andrew Wyeth: An American Legend in 2010 and oversaw a successful $3 million capital campaign. He has accepted a position with International Fine Art Expositions in Florida, as Managing Executive directing international art fairs in Palm Beach and Miami.

“Leading The Hyde Collection has been one of the greatest professional experiences of my career, and I leave with both deep affection for this spectacular collection and great expectations for its future,” Setford said. “The Hyde is one of the most distinguished regional art museums in the United States, respected both for its profound cultural impact and its economic importance to the Greater Glens Falls and Capital Regions.”

Candace Wait, chair of The Hyde Collection Board of Trustees, said: “We are indebted to David for his steady leadership and vision, especially in helping the Board of Trustees and our staff carefully chart the future of one of the most important cultural institutions in Upstate New York. He has led us through the process of updating The Hyde Collection’s long-term strategic plan and to the near completion of our Facilities Master Plan. David’s leadership, good humor and enthusiasm will be missed.”

“During the next four months, as we prepare for David’s departure, our Board will engage in a careful national search for a successor who shares our commitment to thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe mission of The Hyde and our passion for bringing The Hyde experience to an even broader audience throughout New York and New England,” Wait added.

The Hyde Collection attracts thousands of visitors annually. Its collection of more than 3,000 objects of European and American art includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Picasso, Renoir, and Hassam. Its holdings are regularly in high demand by art museums around the world. Its “Christ with Folded Arms” by Rembrandt was loaned to the Louvre last year.

The museum is located at 161 Warren Street in Glens Falls, where it was founded in 1963 in the historic American Renaissance mansion of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde and Louis Fiske Hyde. Mrs. Hyde was the daughter of the co-founder of the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls. Hyde House, as the residence is known, is on the National Register of Historic Places. More information is available at www.hydecollection.org.

Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition at the Hyde Collection

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, Warren County, has announced it will present the exhibition Toulouse-Lautrec & Company: Prints from the Belle Epoque. On view in Hoopes Gallery from March 3, 2012 through May 27, 2012, the exhibition will feature ten lithographs by Toulouse-Lautrec and approximately twenty prints by his contemporaries including Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Jules Cheret (1836-1932), Maurice Denis (1870-1943), Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was one of the most innovative and popular artists of the late nineteenth century. In addition to his captivating images of cabaret performers, actresses, and dancers, he designed theater programs and song sheets that conjure the atmosphere of the Belle Epoque, or beautiful era.

The prints are on loan to The Hyde from two private collections. The exhibition is curated by Erin B. Coe, Chief Curator, The Hyde Collection.

Hyde Collection Celebrates Milestones

Hyde Collection executive director David F. Setford announces two important celebratory milestones in 2012 and 2013. Hyde House, the cornerstone of our museum and the former home of museum founders Louis and Charlotte Hyde, is 100 years old this year.

On the National Register of Historic Places since 1984, the beautiful structure has stood the test of time and is a testament to both the Hydes and its architect, Henry Forbes Bigelow. And in 2013, look for more events as we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Hyde Collection as a public museum in Glens Falls, Warren County, with special programming to focus on that achievement.

“The next two years offers us the opportunity to celebrate Mr. & Mrs. Hyde’s vision, their love of art and their strong relationship to our community, both from personal and historical perspective. As we look to the future, we are always reminded of their legacy and important role we play as caretakers of this magnificent collection, the buildings and campus as a whole,” says Setford.

Public events planned for this year include:

Hyde House Tour and Lunch
Thursday, March 15, 2012 • Noon-1 pm
With Erin Coe, Chief Curator, followed by lunch and discussion. Limit 12 people. Call 518-792-1761, ext. 27 to register by March 12- $20 members / $25 non-members (lunch is included).

Hyde House Tour and Lunch
Thursday, April 19, 2012 • Noon-1 pm
With David F. Setford, Executive Director, followed by lunch and discussion. Limit 12 people. Call 518-792-1761, ext. 27 to register by April 16- $20 members/$25 non-members (lunch is included).

The Hyde Celebrates! Lecture and Book Signing
May, 2012 (date to be determined)
A Museum of One’s Own: Private Collecting, Public Gift
Anne Higonnet, author and professor of art history, Barnard College. Free with museum admission- free to members- Book available for purchase in Museum Store.

Hydes Rembrandt on Loan to Louvre

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls has announced that its prized Christ with Folded Arms by Rembrandt van Rijn is now on display in the Louvre in Paris as part of a landmark exhibition titled &#8220Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus.&#8221

The Hyde masterwork plays a key role in shaping the thesis of the exhibition, which will be seen in three major museum venues. When the exhibition closes at the Louvre, it travels to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where it will be shown from August through October, 2011 and then to the Detroit Institute of Arts for exhibition beginning in February, 2012.

According to David F. Setford, the Hyde’s executive director, “It is seldom that the Museum considers lending this impressive masterwork, but the exhibition being organized by the Louvre offers previously unparalleled opportunities for comparisons with related works from Hygeia4NR.jpgleading museums around the world.” Setford also noted that the exhibition curators specifically requested Christ with Folded Arms because it is “the key image of Christ in Rembrandt’s late work” that “reflects how his idea of Christ had evolved” in a fully realized work.

During the absence of the Rembrandt work, The Hyde will exhibit a painting by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The work, lent to us by the Detroit Institute of Arts, is entitled Hygeia, Goddess of Health (1615) and depicts the classical goddess of health and the prevention of illness. Hygeia was the daughter of Asclepius, god of medicine and the word hygiene is derived from the goddess’ name. The voluptuous, Baroque figure of a semi-nude female is shown in the glowing, healthy flesh tones synonymous with Rubens and with the subject.

For the duration of the traveling exhibition, Hygeia, Goddess of Health will be on view in the Library of Hyde House where it will allow visitors to compare it with the Museum’s own smaller Rubens Portrait of a Warrior, that also hangs in that room.

Illustration: Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish, 1577-1640, Hygeia, Goddess of Health, ca. 1615- Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Reichhold. Image courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library.

Hyde Collection to Present Still Life Talk

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls has announced that on Thursday, March 17, 2011, the Museum will hold a lecture on still life by David F. Setford, the Museum’s executive director.

Titled &#8220Fish, Fowl, and Flowers: 20th Century Still Life from the Norton Museum,&#8221 the talk will be held in conjunction with the current exhibition at Hyde &#8211 Objects of Wonder: Four Centuries of Still Life from the Norton Museum of Art.

The exhibition brings together fifty-one works of painting, watercolor, collage, sculpture, and ceramics as well as glass pieces and textiles, spanning four centuries. The show features such famous artists as Gustave Courbet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Steichen, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andy Warhol. Setford, who was chief curator at the Norton throughout the 1990s, brings his specific expertise to this presentation as he was responsible for major shows at the Norton which featured 20th century artists, including Picasso, Man Ray, Dufy, and Bellows.

Setford’s lecture will highlight the different way that 20th century artists used still life as a way to grapple with the new styles of the century and will be held in The Hyde’s Froehlich Auditorium at 6 pm.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Suggested non-member donation to view the exhibition, which will be open to visitors until the start of the lecture, is $8. Seating is limited and is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Those wishing to make reservations area asked to call 518-792-1761 ext. 17.

Illustration: Pomegranates and Fruit on Silver with Baluch Rug by James Whitbeck.

Hyde Collection to Feature New Acquisitions

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, Warren County, has announced the opening on March 8 of its newest exhibition – What’s New? Acquisitions from 2008 to 2010.

The exhibition, which will be on display through May 29, features approximately twenty-four works of art acquired by The Hyde Collection between 2008 and 2010. During this period, the Museum accessioned an unprecedented ninety-six objects into its permanent collection through bequests, gifts, and purchases from a variety of donors and sources.
 
What’s New? highlights a selection of these recent additions, many of which introduce artists who have not been represented in the collection to date. The exhibition also emphasizes the variety of media in which these artists worked. Featured are such works as the monumental etching, The Gate Of Venice from 1888, by the American artist Thomas Moran (1837-1926) and a stunning Pond Lily Lamp from the Tiffany Studios, dating to the early-twentieth century. Also on display are a luminous watercolor by the American modernist Arthur Dove (1880-1946) from 1934-35 and an early engraving by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Durer (1471-1528).

The works will be on view in the Hoopes Gallery and in the Education Wing of the Museum. The exhibition is curated by Erin Coe, chief curator, and Jayne Stokes, associate curator of The Hyde Collection.

Hyde After Dark Networking Event Tonight

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls announces that the first Hyde after Dark event of 2011 will be held at the Museum tonight, Thursday, March 3 from 5:30 to 8 pm.

The Hyde after Dark program, which brings approximately 100 individuals to The Hyde on each occasion, was designed to make it as convenient as possible for potential visitors to come directly after work and socialize with friends while enjoying the art on display.

March’s Hyde after Dark showcases Objects of Wonder & Delight: Four Centuries of Still Life from the Norton Museum of Art – the Museum’s current exhibition which includes works by such artists as Matisse, Chagall, O’Keeffe, and Mapplethorpe.

The evening will feature live music by Mark Rabin, light appetizers, beer, wine, and access to the exhibition.

Davidson Brothers Brewery and Restaurant is the Event Partner and this Hyde after Dark is being held in association with the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Organization and the Saratoga County chamber of Commerce Young Professional Network.

Tickets for Hyde after Dark are $12 for members and $15 general admission. Those interested can save $2 per ticket by purchasing at least one day in advance of the event at the Museum Store or by phone via credit card. Admission to the exhibition during Hyde after Dark is included in the ticket price.

Contact the Museum at 518-792-1761, ext. 46 for additional information, to add your name to the Hyde after Dark electronic invitation list, or to purchase advance tickets. Individuals purchasing a new Museum membership at Hyde after Dark are admitted to that evening’s event free of charge.