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Art History Lecture About Osborn and Sturges Influence on Hudson River Painters at Desmond Fish Library
On the verge of submitting her important paper about the Hudson River School Art Patrons to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr. Christine Oaklander will present a talk this Sunday October 28, at 2pm, about Hudson River Art and its patrons. The lecture will be held in the program room of the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison.
Garrison has a close connection with the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Not only did many of the artists paint the stunning Hudson Highlands scenery, but some of the foremost collectors and patrons of these artists lived in the vicinity. Jonathan Sturges, self-made millionaire and leading philanthropist, was the principal patron of Asher B. Durand, and commissioned the famous Kindred Spirits to thank William Cullen Bryant for his masterful funeral oration on Thomas Cole. Sturges owned a major collection of American art at a time when most patrons were buying spurious Old Master paintings. His eldest child, Virginia Reed Sturges, married William Henry Osborn, and they became the leading patrons of Frederic E. Church and best friends with his family. Osborn purchased a vast tract of land at Garrison, and built Castle Rock overlooking West Point, modeled on Frederic Church's Olana. Other Osborn houses in Garrison are Wing-and-Wing and Cat Rock.
After receiving her B.S. in general studies from Cornell, Dr. Oaklander went on to receive her Masters in Art History from Williams College and her PhD in art history from the University of Delaware. Over the last two decades she has emerged as one of the preeminent authorities on 19th and 20th Century American Painting and Decorative arts. Her most recent lectures this last Spring were at the Frick Collection in New York and the New York Historical Society.
The Desmond-Fish Library is located at the intersections of 9D and Rte 403 in Garrison. For more information contact 424-3020.
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