COOPERSTOWN — Fenimore Art Museum’s New Gallery Opens September 26, offering visitors a broader presentation of American art.
The gallery will bring recently acquired paintings together with works from the museum’s existing collections. According to the Rome Sentinel, the presentation combines fine art, folk art and Native American art to examine the period from 1800 to 1930.
The Fenimore Art Museum’s New Gallery Opens September 26 will feature recently acquired paintings alongside works from the museum’s existing collections.
The project draws on an acquisition of 27 works made possible by $33.8 million in support from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust in 2023 and 2024.
Building on existing collections
Fenimore’s own American Masterworks materials explain that the acquisitions expand its account of American art after the Civil War. Artists represented include Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam and Thomas Moran.
The museum places that expansion in the context of earlier gifts from Stephen C. Clark and the Thaws’ gift of American Indian art. The new gallery is therefore a change in how collections are brought together, as well as an opportunity to see notable paintings.
The September 26 opening should be distinguished from the museum’s earlier American Masterworks exhibition listings. Those pages describe the collection and its works; the September news report concerns the new gallery.
Paintings with New York connections
Among the works discussed by the museum is O’Keeffe’s 1928 painting “Brown and Tan Leaves.” Fenimore connects her leaf paintings to the periods she spent near Lake George, where the landscape inspired a substantial body of work.
The museum also describes Sargent’s portrait of the young Laurence Millet, painted in 1887, as a work shaped by the artist’s friendship with the child’s family.
Those examples give visitors different ways into the collection: one through landscape and natural forms, another through a personal relationship captured in a portrait.
A regional arts destination
The Sentinel reports that the gallery opening comes immediately before museum President and CEO Paul D’Ambrosio’s scheduled September 27 retirement. He is expected to remain involved as president emeritus.
For Mohawk Valley readers planning a Cooperstown trip, the opening provides a specific reason to visit. Admission, operating hours and any opening-day arrangements should be checked directly with the museum.
Sources: Fenimore’s collection information and Rome Sentinel’s gallery announcement.
