- A unique and groundbreaking exhibition of notable contemporary art - The Thomas Cole Historic Site and Olana, Frederic Edwin Church's mansion, will showcase the work of contemporary American artists, such as Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, Maya Lin, Martin Puryear, and Gregory CrewdsonIn a unique and groundbreaking presentation of important contemporary art rarely seen in the traditional environs of the Hudson River Valley, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana, Frederic Edwin Church's Persian-inspired mansion, will showcase the work of contemporary American artists such as Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, Maya Lin, Martin Puryear, and Gregory Crewdson, some of the 30 artists exhibiting. Stephen Hannock, celebrated luminist painter and one of the exhibition's co-curators, believes that this is a terrific opportunity to open up contemporary art, as well as these historic properties, to audiences who will see firsthand these shared artistic concerns. The works of art selected for the exhibition will be shown at the two venues to encourage visitors to experience both distinguished properties and the grandeur of their surroundings, and to present a complete overview and understanding of these contemporary works in a location where many art historians believe American art was born.The accompanying publication, River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home, will provide readers with a lavish record of this extraordinary and innovative exhibition, and will offer unique and highly informative perspectives on the continuity of the American artistic tradition in one of the nation's most historic locations.The Artist Book Foundation is a 501(c)3; proceeds from sales will help support the donation program to undeserved public and university libraries across the country.
About the Author: Jason Rosenfeld has been a member of the faculty at Marymount since fall 2003. Dr. Rosenfeld received his B.A. from Duke University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University with a dissertation titled New Languages of Nature in Victorian England: The Pre-Raphaelite Landscape, Natural History and Modern Architecture in the 1850s. He has previously taught at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, New York University, and Queens College, New York. Academic interests include British art, specifically Victorian, the art and architecture of New York City, modern architecture, and contemporary art.He has published many articles and reviews on British art and architecture and contemporary art and has been a frequent reviewer for Art in America and ARTNews. He was a co-curator of the exhibition, The Post-Pre-Raphaelite Print at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, in 1995, and contributed to the Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2003. He also contributed an essay to the catalogue of Marcel Dzama's exhibtion at the David Zwirner Gallery, New York, in 2005. Recent research interests have revolved around the life and career of the Victorian painter Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and his monograph on that artist for Phaidon Press Ltd. will be published in 2012. In addition, he co-curated the major exhibition on Millais at Tate Britain, London, the National Gallery of British Art, with Alison Smith, Senior Curator of Paintings, which traveled to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, followed by venues in Fukuoka and Tokyo, Japan. The exhibition was seen by in excess of 660,000 visitors. He is also co-curator of the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde at Tate Britain in September 2012, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., in February 2013 (as Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design), the Pushkin Museum, Moscow in June 2013, and the Mori Art Gallery in Tokyo in January 2014.Dr. Rosenfeld has been named Distinguished Chair at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition, he is the lead contributor to a monograph on the contemporary American artist, Stephen Hannock, published by Hudson Hills Press in the summer of 2009. And he has curated and written the catalogue for the exhibition, Stephen Hannock, Recent Paintings: Vistas with Text, held at Marlborough Gallery, New York, 25 April - 2 June, 2012. In addition to an impressive plate section of more than 60 works with brief artist biographies and descriptive narratives for the individual works, this comprehensive presentation features noteworthy, exceptional contributions. Stephen Hannock's preface details the development of this remarkable exhibition, while co-curator Jason Rosenfeld reveals in his essay the exhibition's importance relative to historical perception as he considers Cole's and Church's support of contemporary art in their time. Maurice Berger, cultural historian, considers the realities of race and gender from the nineteenth-century Hudson River Valley to the present.Marvin Heiferman, curator and writer, examines photography in the exhibition and its connections to Church's work and his use of the medium. Peter Aaron, award-winning architectural and landscape photographer, generously provided the stunning installation, exterior, and landscape photographs, a gorgeous complement to this outstanding catalog.