The Heckscher Museum of Art March & April 2015 Exhibitions and Programs

PROGRAMS 

Exploring Art…and Making Memories

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Members $8, Non-Members $10, Care Partners Free

With the understanding that artistic experiences stimulate new pathways of learning, expression, and memories, the Museum is offering a unique program for individuals living with dementia and their care partners. Specially trained professionals will lead an interactive tour of selected works and encourage group discussion. Light refreshments will be served. Registration is required.  Space is limited. 

Monday, March 23

Following the tour participants will collaborate and create a personal memory collage with artist Bill Grabowksi.

 SENIOR SECOND WEDNESDAY

1:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Programs begin at 1:45 pm

Members and Seniors (62+) Free Museum Admission

General Public Half-Price Museum Admission

Groups welcome 

Docent Tour of Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at The Heckscher Museum Wednesday, April 8

FIRST FRIDAY 

Extended Hours 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm, Performance 7:00 pm, Free Museum Admission

Celebrate First Friday at The Heckscher Museum of Art.  Explore the Museum’s exhibitions during extended viewing hours and enjoy unique musical performances inspired by artwork on view.

Chamber Music

Five Towns College 

Friday, May 1

In the salon setting of the Museum’s Poised Poses exhibition, experience a variety of 19^th– and 20^th-century parlor room chamber music performed by students from the Five Towns College Music Division.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

International Slow Art Day

Saturday, April 11

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Free with Museum Admission

Slow down and celebrate this global day of connecting to art in an unrushed, meaningful way. All over the world, museum goers will take time out from busy schedules to slow down and spend time with art. Docents will be in the galleries to facilitate slow-looking at five select works of art.  Families are invited to use the Museum’s Explore the Exhibitions activity guide and visit the Create Your Own Art Activity Station in the Central Gallery. Visit www.slowartday.com for additional information and registration.

Members of The Heckscher Museum of Art, The Whaling Museum & Educational Center of Cold Spring Harbor, and the Nassau County Museum of Art will be admitted free to International Slow Art Day activities in each museum.  Not a Member? Present The Heckscher Museum admission receipt at The Whaling Museum or the Nassau County Museum of Art to continue enjoying Slow Art Day free.

Sharing the Pride

Blue Star Museums Program

The Museum is proud to offer free admission to active military personnel, veterans, and family throughout the year.  In addition, the Museum is pleased to participate in the Blue Star Museums program which is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America, to offer free Museum admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Memorial Day, May 25, through Labor Day, September 7.

EXHIBITIONS AT THE HECKSCHER MUSEUM OF ART 

Mort Künstler Artwork Unveiled at The Heckscher Museum On April 11

April 11 – April 19

Respect of An Army —by America’s premier Civil War history painter Mort Künstler —will be unveiled for public viewing at The Heckscher Museum. The painting commemorates the 150th anniversary of the signing of the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by General Robert E. Lee and General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9, 1865. Described as “perhaps one of the most touching scenes in the entire Civil War,” Künstler’s painting depicts General Lee departing, on his horse Traveler, from the McLean House where the surrender documents were signed. Not only does this painting portray a moment in history from a vantage point never before painted, it also shows the departure through a compassionate lens, accurately presenting the emotions that were present that day. 

Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at The Heckscher Museum

March 21 – April 19

Young artists are capable of amazing things. This exhibition features the extraordinary artwork created by young artists in the Long Island community. Now in its 19th year, Long Island’s Best challenges students in grades 9 through 12 from across Nassau and Suffolk Counties to choose a work of art from a Museum exhibition as the starting point for their creative exploration. The quality of artwork is exceptional and delivers a professional-level show. Approximately 80 works of art in various media will be featured in this exhibition. Follow @heckschermuseum on Instagram for #hmalibest exhibition-related photos and #ArtistsoftheDay. 

Educators and students will be admitted free to the Museum during the Long Island’s Best exhibition (ID required).

This exhibition is sponsored in part by Dr. Inna Gellerman, DDS, Gellerman Orthodontics.

Before Selfies:  Portraiture through the Ages

April 25 – August 9

Before Selfies features over four dozen works that present various approaches to conveying a sitter’s likeness.  Self-portraits and images of fellow artists, family, and friends are included, as well as portraits of public figures, unidentified sitters, and character types.  Changing concepts of beauty, diverse approaches to male and female subjects, and modern life are ancillary themes.  Works by Thomas Anshutz, William Merritt Chase, Edward Curtis, Thomas Eakins, Red Grooms, Henri Matisse, William Sidney Mount, Fairfield Porter, and many others are represented.

Be part of the exhibition!

Museum guests are invited to visit the Museum’s unique Selfie Station to create their own portraits inspired by the featured exhibitions and to share their photos on Instagram including #hmaselfie and #heckschermuseum.

Before Selfies and Poised Poses are sponsored in part by Astoria Bank.
Poised Poses: Portraits from the August Heckscher Collection

April 25 – August 2

Like many turn-of-the-20th-century private collections in America, August Heckscher’s collection was particularly strong in historical European portraiture. This installation features works from the Museum’s core collection, donated by August Heckscher in 1920, installed to evoke the ambience of a well-to-do residence in the late 19th or early 20th century. Highlights include captivating works by Sir William Beechey, George Romney, and Antoine Vollon, as well as exquisite portraits by Nicholas de Largillierre, Sir Henry Raeburn, and Franz Wolfgang Rohrich. 

Ferdinand Richardt’s Niagara: A Study in Landscape Painting

Through April 12, 2015 (Closed March 9 – 20)

Among America’s most iconic natural sites, Niagara Falls has been a popular tourist destination since the early 19^th century.  Ferdinand Richardt’s Niagara depicts the attraction, as it appeared at mid-century, with charming genre elements set against the grand landscape.  Featuring European and American works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, this exhibition examines the painting within a broader landscape tradition, including intimate views of East Coast locales and dramatic scenes of the American West by Hudson River School artists, as well as images of man’s multifaceted relationship to water.  

Power, Politics & War: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Through August 9

To highlight the significance of George Grosz’s Eclipse of the Sun as a critique of the corrupt Weimar government in 1920s Berlin, this exhibition places the painting in the context of other works from the Permanent Collection that depict themes of power, politics, and military aggression.  Featured works include paintings about the American Revolution and the birth of America by Alonzo Chappel, the Franco-Prussian War by Etienne Berne-Bellecour, and photographs from World War II by the Russian photographer Mark Markov-Grinberg.  This close look at Eclipse of the Sun is occasioned by its inclusion in the upcoming exhibition New Realities and Neue Sachlichkeit: Modern German Art during the Weimar Republic, to be held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in late 2015.

Editor’s Note:

The Heckscher Museum of Art, founded in 1920 by August Heckscher, serves the people of the Town of Huntington and surrounding communities. Through exhibitions of its permanent and loan collections of art and related programs, it seeks to provide inspiring and transformative educational experiences to encourage a broader understanding of our past and present and enrich the quality of life of the individuals it serves. The Museum’s Permanent Collection contains more than 2,200 works from the early 16^th century to present. For information about The Heckscher Museum of Art, visit www.heckscher.org. 

Museum Hours

Wednesday – Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

First Friday FREE Museum Admission 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm Extended Viewing Hours 7:00 pm Performance

Huntington Township Residents admitted FREE Wednesday after 2:00 pm and Saturday before 1:00 pm.  Proof of residency required. 

Free Museum Admission for Active Military Personnel and Veterans
Available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), a DD Form 1173, a DD Form 1173-1, a Veteran’s DD-214, or a Veteran ID card and a driver’s license.  Includes active duty, National Guard, and Reserve military personnel and their families.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) since 1972.