PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

 

I am happy to report that 2024 was a good year at both Fenimore Art Museum and its sister institution Fenimore Farm, with solid attendance and a full slate of well-received adult and school programs, exhibitions, and events.

At FAM, we opened in the spring with “American Masterworks” and “As They Saw It: Women Artists Then and Now”, and then launched into summer with Banksy, Marc Hom, and Bob Dylan. While all of these exhibits were outstanding, the outdoor component of the Marc Hom exhibition was particularly innovative and memorable.

Of particular importance are several major initiatives that hold great potential to significantly enhance our pursuit of our mission to welcome and connect people to our shared heritage. They are:

Education and Regional History Center (planned for 2025)

We have made great progress on the Library project over the past year. Construction improvements include ADA bathrooms and high energy efficiency windows being completed in 2024. Additionally, Library and Facilities staff have made great strides in culling the collection of little- or never-used bound volumes to create space on the first floor for the new Education and Regional History Center. Looking forward, the project will include the installation of a new climate control system and elevator, as well as upgraded lighting, new fixtures and furnishings, and the addition of a glass partition separating research areas from meeting spaces. Our fundraising efforts have remained steady and continued to be successful.

American Masterworks Initiative

We had nineteen outstanding purchases in 2024 to round out the spectacular American Masterworks collection, thanks to Katie Flanagan and the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust.

These include:

Albert Bierstadt, The Golden Gate, ca. 1872
A rare nocturne by one of America’s greatest landscape painters, depicting the San Francisco Bay.

Albert Bierstadt, Mount Hood, Columbia River, 1870
As a complement to The Golden Gate, this painting depicts a famous natural landmark in dramatic fashion.

Mary Cassatt, Madame de Fleury and Her Child, ca. 1890-1891
A classic mother/daughter portrait by one of America’s greatest women artists and the painter who brought Impressionism to the United States.

George Inness, Landscape with Sheep, 1858
A lovely Hudson River School style landscape that presages Inness’s turn to more fashionable European styles in the 1870s.

George Inness, Summer, Montclair, 1887
One of the best examples of lnness’s Tonalist pictures, a moody, spiritual depiction of his native Montclair.

Martin Johnson Heade, Cattleya Orchid with Two Brazilian Hummingbirds, 1871
Simply the best example of Heade’s celebrated series. As good as it gets.

Thomas Moran, Afterglow, Green River, Wyoming, 1918
A dazzling Western landscape by the painter who became virtually synonymous with the American fantasy of the West.

Frederic Edwin Church, South American Landscape, ca. 1856
A great example of Church’s South American work and a perfect complement to the Martin Johnson Heade.

Theodore Earl Butler, On the Way to Limetz, Giverny (La Chaussee de Limetz), ca. 1920
A beautiful, chromatic landscape showing the influence of Claude Monet on American Impressionist painters.

Thomas Eakins, Seated Boy with Book (on verso: Baby Girl Playing), ca. 1876
A double-sided oil study of children by America’s greatest Realist.

Frederick Carl Frieseke, Luxembourg Gardens – Sketch, ca. 1901
An impressionist sketch of picnickers and revelers in a famous Parisian site.

Samuel Colman, Morning, 1859
A classic Hudson River scene of a lake dotted with islands seen in a luminous morning sun.

David Johnson, Buck Mountain, Lake George, 1872
Another classic landscape depicting the Queen of American Lakes. 

Robert Henri, Betalo, The Dancer, ca. 1909-1910
A stunning Realist portrait by the painter who founded the Ashcan School in Philadelphia and New York.

William Glackens, Washington Square – The Green Dress, ca. 1910
A colorful painting of a popular New York park by a member of the Ashcan School and follower of Henri.

Ernest Lawson, Building the New York Subway, ca. 1904-1909
A gritty, urban scene in keeping with the Ashcan style, depicting Italian immigrant laborers building the subway in Washington heights in northern Manhattan.

John Sloan, Well in the Garden, 1925
A Southwestern landscape by one of the most famous members of the Ashcan School.

Max Weber, Still Life with Fruit, Vase, and Cup, 1910
A cubist-inspired still life by the painter who introduced Cubism to the United States.

James Whistler, Campanile at Lido, 1879
A delicate pastel of Whistler’s beloved Venice, which he explored for months to capture the city’s ethereal beauty.

FAM’s American Masterworks Collection is now a tremendous educational and cultural asset for the museum and the region. It will be housed along with our other masterpieces on the first floor of the museum.

As always, the staff has done a remarkable job in a wide variety of areas to make the museums what they are.

PAUL S. D’AMBROSIO, Ph.D.

President and CEO
Fenimore Art Museum

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MISSION STATEMENT

Preserving – Engaging – Educating
Fenimore Art Museum is dedicated to welcoming and connecting people to our shared cultural heritage through exhibitions and programs that provoke, delight, and inspire.

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OFFICERS, DIRECTORS & SENIOR STAFF