Think you have to travel to New York to view great art? Think again. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is now exhibiting eight major paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, showcasing some of the finest works from the Hudson River School.
Celebrating the transcendental qualities of nature, large-scale paintings by Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, Sanford Gifford, and Asher Durand reflect the grandeur of the Hudson Valley. The artists painted in many prominent and familiar places. John Frederick Kensett’s Hudson River Scene (1857) provides a glimpse of Garrison and Storm King Mountain near Newburgh, and others offer views of the Catskills. One painting looks beyond the Hudson Valley. At over six feet across, Frederic Church’s The Parthenon (1871) offers a stunning view of the grand monument.
"It’s a great opportunity for us to show how these artists worked in full throttle," says James Mundy, the art center’s Anne Hendricks Bass Director. "These paintings were major commissions." The museum loan, through February 2009, couldn’t have come at a better time. Just as the art center shipped many significant pieces in its Hudson River School collection to tour in Japan for 10 months, the Metropolitan Museum’s American Wing closed for an 18-month renovation. "It’s a real sign of the friendship between the two institutions," says Mundy. "We’re giving their works exposure during their renovations, and they’re happy to enhance our collection."