WHERE: Zadock Pratt Museum, 14540 Main St/Rte. 23 Prattsville NY 12468
WHEN: May 24 to October 12, 2014
MUSEUM HOURS: Friday thru Monday 45-minute tours start at 10am – last tour: 4pm
SPECIAL FEATURE: Opening Day Art Talk and Reception May 24, 2014 at 1pm.
CONTACT: Carolyn Bennett, Museum Director, prattmuseum@hotmail.com or Susie Walsh, Exhibit Curator suzanwal5@aol.com (518-937-6120 c)
On Sat., May 24 at 10 AM, the Zadock Pratt Museum, 14540 Main Street, Rt. 23, Prattsville, NY 12468 will open its doors to a new exhibit, D.F. Hasbrouck: American Impressionist, curated by the Museum’s own Suzanne Walsh. Admission to the exhibit is $5 adults, children 12 and under Free.
For the past ninety-seven years the small community of Stamford Village has been the quiet repository of steadfast devotion to the memory and artwork of the late 19th – early 20th century American Impressionist and Catskills’ native son, Dubois Fenelon Hasbrouck, an artist who at the height of his career was recognized by the movers and shakers of the New York art world of the Gilded Age before slipping into obscurity. By the end of World War I, everyone in America had forgotten about Hasbrouck except the small rural town of Stamford, New York, where the artist had lived and painted until his death in 1917.
The Zadock Pratt Museum is honored to present the American art retrospective, “The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of D. F. Hasbrouck ~ American Impressionist” as its 2014 exhibit. This exhibit has been curated in a historical context, interpreting the Catskill Region’s era of the Grand Hotels and Resorts during the epoch when Stamford was hailed as “The Queen of the Catskills” and the newly wealthy industrial magnates and railroad barons of America were turning hungry eyes toward investments in art. The philanthropic ventures of these ambitious men actually stunned the art market of the world by turning the tide against the prevailing prejudice of the established rich in buying European art only, and making way for the new art collectors of a new taste and the foresight to begin collections based on American art.
In the Zadock Pratt Museum’s search for American artists, D. F. Hasbrouck fills the bill nicely. Contrary to the unspoken requirement of the serious 19th century artist having to complete his professional credentials by studying painting abroad, Hasbrouck—like Winslow Homer—never stepped foot off of American soil. Self-taught except for a winter semester at Cooper Union (where he studied perspective drawing) Hasbrouck at the tender age of 24 had his painting accepted for exhibition at the National Academy of Design, followed by another exhibition in 1888. The painting accepted in the latter exhibit was subsequently accepted for inclusion at the Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition of 1893. More of his artwork was purchased by some of the notable collectors of the period, and today his paintings are in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Diego Museum of Art.
Hasbrouck’s hallmark signature was the natural talent he exhibited, which can be felt in his deft and confident handling of the watercolor medium rendered in his characteristically muted tones. He painted the landscapes and emotional “feel” of the Catskill Mountains, delivering to his viewers a direct experience of the simplicity and keen awareness of being at one with Nature. The fact that outside of the small community of Stamford, New York Hasbrouck is still relatively unheard of today is the interesting historical thread explored by this season’s exhibit at the Zadock Pratt Museum.
It is historically fitting that the resurrection of Hasbrouck’s work into public awareness should take place in the former homestead of early 19th century industrialist and Prattsville Town Founder Zadock Pratt, who was himself an avid patron of the American arts during his lifetime (1790-1871). Thus, the Museum itself becomes a historic witness to the reclaiming of yet another artistic native son.
____________________________________________________________________________________
“The Paintings Watercolors and Drawings of D.F. Hasbrouck ~ American Impressionist” will be on view at the Zadock Pratt Museum, 14540 Main St/Rte. 23 Prattsville NY 12468 from May 24 to October 12, 2014. Admission to the Museum is $5 adult; children 12 and under FREE. Art Talk and Reception May 24 at 1pm. The talk, which will be held at the former Prattsville Methodist Church, now the Prattsville Community Church, at the east end of Main Street, is FREE to the public. For further information please go to our website at www.prattmuseum.com Email: prattmuseum@hotmail.com Phone: 518-299-3258.
Catskill Art and Culture Festival 