by Shannon Butler
If you’re like us, you have seriously missed going out to museums and art galleries. However, things are slowly beginning to open up and we have a fabulous teaching museum/art gallery right here in Poughkeepsie that will both inspire and educate at the same time. They even have a wonderful new exhibit which showcases women in the world of art. “Women Picturing Women” is currently on view at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, from now until June 13th, and as you may have read in a previous blog post, the gallery has a truly great history of collecting some amazing art.
The museum began when Matthew Vassar purchased a massive collection from the Rev. Elias Magoon, in the 1860s. This collection focused on the works of the Hudson River School artists like Frederic Church and Asher Durand. This was long before the Metropolitan Museum opened its doors (which was in 1880, by the way). In the report of the committee on the art gallery made in 1864, Rev. Magoon, who served as the chairman of the committee wrote, “Art is diviner than science; the latter discovers, this creates.” He went on to explain the importance of art and the influence it has on the best minds of the world, “Above and beyond all petty strifes, mankind are most attracted and united by a taste for beautiful art – a taste at once the most engrossing and ennobling, refining the imagination and fortifying the judgment, elevating emotion to the loftiest enthusiasm, and at the same time, perfecting the critical faculty, under the joint influence of subjugated sense and sovereign reason.”
This collection was part of Vassar’s grand plan to give young women a better and more meaningful education than had ever been offered before. The idea was that these pieces of art would serve as teaching tools for female artists. One of the first professors to help in this endeavor was Professor Henry Van Ingen (seen on the right with the fabulous mustache), who originally hailed from Holland and came to Poughkeepsie to teach art in 1865 and remained here until his death in 1898. His talent for landscapes made its way into the museum’s collection of well over 19,000 pieces of art, and spans through many different centuries and cultures (Van Ingen’s self portrait is also on display). Of course the museum would not be as grand as it is today without the help of Class of ’28 graduate Frances Lehman Loeb (seen right in the Poughkeepsie Journal). She donated about 7.5 million dollars to the college in 1990 and about a year later, construction was underway for the new museum. It was designed by famed Argentine-American architect César Pelli and includes the curved glass entryway which leads you from the front desk area right into the galleries.
The museum’s latest exhibition looks at pieces by women, and of women. There are pieces of art dating back to the 17th century and going into the 1960s. As you walk through the gallery you can look into these paintings and see life through the eyes of women. Take a moment to admire a day of domestic chores like spinning wool or a day of leisure and sunbathing. Or jump ahead in time to the photography section with portraits that bring us a bit closer to reality and the modern experience.
If you are interested in checking out the new exhibit as well as the rest of the collections on display, the museum is open to the public on weekends, Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday from 1 PM to 5 PM. Please remember to wear a mask and to practice social distancing. Another option, if you are still not ready to get back out there, is to check out the 3-D virtual exhibit.
Resources:
“Vassar College Art Gallery” – LH 708.1 VAS
“Life at Vassar, 75 Years in Pictures” – LH 376.8 Lif
Poughkeepsie Journal – 02 Feb 1990
Images:
01 – Image of the painting of Matthew Vassar painted by Charles Loring Elliott in 1861, which can be seen in the Museum – LH Collections
02 – Postcard showing the old Museum on the Vassar campus – LH Collections
03 – Photo of Professor Henry Van Ingen, by the Vail Brothers Studios, Poughkeepsie – LH Collections
04 – Photo of Frances Lehman Loeb from the Poughkeepsie Journal article on Feb 2nd 1990
