Four hundred years ago, Henry Hudson sailed north— and the rest is history. Now, for the Quadricentennial of that voyage, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center invites visitors to take a journey of their own and rediscover New York State through its newest exhibition, Drawn by New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings.
Organized by the New-York Historical Society, which houses one of the earliest assembled public collections of drawings in the country, the exhibition features 81 works ranging from sixteenth century watercolors of birds and the first-known view of New York City to a 2002 depiction of the World Trade Center by Donna Levinstone. Other highlights include renderings of Native Americans and images from the Civil War and September 11, as well as an early view of Niagara Falls and New York’s Federal Hall, the nation’s first capitol. Drawn by New York reflects the country’s evolving self-image from a dependent colony to a young country with unlimited possibilities, finally emerging as a world economic power with larger urban centers.
The exhibition highlights the beginning of landscape art and plein air sketching, featuring the famous Hudson River Valley scenes of Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, and Jasper Cropsey. Also on display are works by John James Audubon, Albert Bierstadt, George Catlin, and Louis Comfort Tiffany and Tiffany Studios, as are portraits of explorers, innovators, and inventors like Robert Fulton. A 1796 view of Poughkeepsie by Alexander Robertson is included as well.
“Drawn by New York offers a rare opportunity to rediscover America through the kaleidoscopic lens of this extraordinary collection,” says Dr. Roberta J.M. Olson, curator of drawings at the New-York Historical Society. “Since many of the outstanding watercolors and drawings were executed before the advent of photography, they not only document lost buildings, customs, and landscapes but also preserve images of significant events and individuals who played vital roles in the history of the nation and the city.”
The exhibition is on display through November 1. For more information, visit the exhibit information page on the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center website.
