Newington-Cropsey Foundation: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Infobox organization

| name = Newington-Cropsey Foundation

| named_after =

| image = NCF Gallery of Art.jpg

| image_size = 260px

| alt = The decorative main facade of the Gallery of Art

| caption = NCF Gallery of Art

| type =

| motto =

| predecessor =

| merged =

| formation = {{start date and age|1977}}

| founder =

| founding_location =

| merger =

| tax_id =

| registration_id = <!-- for non-profit org -->

| status =

| purpose =

| headquarters = 25 Cropsey Lane, Hastings -on -Hudson, NY 10706

| methods =

| fields =

| membership =

| membership_year =

| owner =

| sec_gen =

| leader_title = Chairman

| leader_name = Barbara Newington<ref name="Homepage"/>

| key_people = Adelia Rasines, Executive Director

| main_organ =

| subsidiaries =

| secessions =

| affiliations =

| budget =

| budget_year =

| revenue =

| revenue_year =

| disbursements =

| expenses =

| expenses_year =

| endowment =

| staff =

| staff_year =

| volunteers =

| volunteers_year =

| slogan =

| mission =

| website = {{official website}}

| remarks =

| formerly =

| footnotes =

| map = {{maplink|frame=yes |plain=yes |frame-align=center|zoom=12|frame-width=260|frame-height=140|frame-lat=40.9931736|frame-long=-73.8815273|type=point|coord={{coord|40.9935451|-73.8812282}}|title=Gallery of Art|description=[[File:NCF Gallery of Art.jpg|145px]]|marker=museum|type2=point|coord2={{coord|40.993058|-73.881729}}|title2=Ever Rest|description2=[[File:NCF Ever Rest.jpg|145px]]|marker2=home}}

{{Infobox historic site

| map_caption = Interactive map of the foundation's Gallery of Art and Ever Rest

|embed = yes

|coordinates = {{WikidataCoord|Q52301472|region:US-NY_type:landmark_scale:5000|display=inline,title}}

|map_dot_mark = Blue 000080 pog.svg

|map_dot_label = NCF

|locmapin = New York#USA

|map_caption = Location within the state and country

}}

}}

The '''Newington-Cropsey Foundation''' ('''NCF''') is a nonprofit private organization based in [[Hastings-on-Hudson, New York]]. The foundation's aim is to maintain and preserve the works of [[Jasper Cropsey]] and the art movement he was a part of, the [[Hudson River School]]. The foundation also promotes [[Representation (arts)|representational]] painting and sculpture.

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The organization was founded in 1977 by Barbara and John Newington to collect and promote works of Barbara's great-grandfather Jasper Cropsey, as well as other non-abstract art.<ref name="Barolini"/>

The NCF offers free tours of its properties: [[Ever Rest]], the last home and studio of [[Jasper Cropsey]], and the Gallery of Art Building, a museum dediateddedicated to the works of Cropsey. The properties are adjacent to each other in the village of Hastings-on-Hudson.

==Organization==

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==History==

===Establishment===

After Jasper Cropsey's death in 1900, his wife Maria Cropsey still lived in Ever Rest, until her death in 1906. Jasper Cropsey's granddaughter Isabel subsequently inherited the property and began buying back some of Cropsey's paintings. Isabel and her husband William Steinschneider lived there, raising their daughter Barbara in the house. William becamewas a six-term mayor of Hastings.<ref name="NYT2"/><ref name="Melvin3"/> Isabel died in 1958 and William in 1970, making William the last to live in the house; Barbara inherited it. Their daughter, married as Barbara Newington, aggressively pursued Cropsey's paintings alongside her husband John until about the 1980s, while Cropsey paintings were still inexpensive.<ref name="NYT3"/> Barbara and John Newington created the Newington-Cropsey Foundation and its properties in 1977 with concern over the state of modern art and "the way culture was going".<ref name="NYT1"/>

Newington, today the foundation's chairman, is a philanthropist living in [[Greenwich, Connecticut]] and is the great-granddaughter of Cropsey.<ref name="NYT2"/>

Around 1977, the foundation traded land with the village of Hastings, giving the village land and helped$400,000 financefor a newgarage for its department of public works for the village.<ref name="NYT2"/><ref name="Melvin3"/> In turn, the ItNCF acquired a {{convert|6|acre|adj=on}}<ref name="Brenner"/> parcel of land and the village's existing public works garage, on a site that was formerly the town dump for decades, and was called Frog Hollow around Cropsey's time.<ref name="NYT3"/> andThe createdNCF's aninitial intricatelyplans landscapedwere 19th-centuryto artsrenovate complexthe withgarage, threelandscape buildingsthe property, arestore the pond, and aconstruct garden,steps designedto byconnect Peterthe Gisolfiproperty Associatesto ofEver Hastings.<ref name="NYT2"/> The first buildingRest, the New Studio, opened in 1990total with"to an exhibition of paintings by Hudson River School artistmake [[Worthingtonthe Whittredgeproperty]]. Thelook site was also slated to includelike a gatekeeper'sCropsey cottage, a library and administration center, an outdoor amphitheater, as well as a {{convert|10000|sqft|adj=on}} museum, which was to be completed in 1992painting".<ref name="NYT6Melvin3">{{cite news|last=Melvin|first=Tessa|title=Cropsey Art Complex ToHastings OpenWeighs FirstMuseum BuildingProposal|newspaper=The New YOrkYork Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/19901984/1207/0201/nyregion/cropseyhastings-artweighs-complex-to-open-firstmuseum-buildingproposal.html|date=DecemberJuly 21, 19901984|accessdate=AprilMay 298, 2018}}</ref>

In 1979, the NCF was among several museums and private collectors that lent items to "An Unprejudiced Eye", an exhibit of Cropsey's works. The exhibit was at the [[Hudson River Museum]] and was created by the village of Hastings, marking its association with Cropsey and its 100th anniversary. NCF art historian Kenneth Maddox organized and curated the exhibit.<ref name="Raynor">{{cite news|last=Raynor|first=Vivien|title=An Eye on a Hastings Artist of Old|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/30/archives/westchester-weekly-an-eye-on-a-hastings-artist-of-old.html|date=December 30, 1979|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>

In April 1988, the [[New York State Department of Environmental Conservation]] cleaned up oil from Sugar Pond, a small pond on the property. The department approved the project and its environmental assessment report.<ref name="Brenner"/>

Beginning in the late 1980s, the NCF contracted the construction of an intricately landscaped 19th-century arts complex with three buildings, a pond, and a garden, designed by Peter Gisolfi Associates of Hastings.<ref name="NYT2"/> The first building, the New Studio, opened in 1990 with an exhibition of paintings by Hudson River School artist [[Worthington Whittredge]]. The site was also slated to include a gatekeeper's cottage, a library and administration center, an outdoor amphitheater, as well as a {{convert|10000|sqft|adj=on}} museum, which was to be completed in 1992.<ref name="Melvin2">{{cite news|last=Melvin|first=Tessa|title=Cropsey Art Complex To Open First Building|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/02/nyregion/cropsey-art-complex-to-open-first-building.html|date=December 2, 1990|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

During the initial planning phase for the complex, the village's historical society intervened, expressing curiosity over possible remains in the ravine. The society urged the village's planning board to put a hold on construction so the [[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]] could make preliminary tests in the ravine. The historical society president described the site as "our village's cradle of civilization - where our early industry started"; another member of the society expressed that the site was "the least-disturbed 19th-century industrial site in Westchester County". The executive director of the Westchester County Historical Society (a former president of the Hastings Historical Society) supported an archaeological study, and described that the site was previously the confluence of two streams where three early mills operated, including a bone mill and brass and iron-turning factory. Since then, the site was home to the Hastings Pavement and Brick factory, the Cottlet Hotel, and a Hastings Department of Public Works building. The public works building's foundation still remained, and the NCF had planned to build on top of it. The NCF was opposed to archaeological studies as it would require dynamiting the foundation and would disturb the fragile site, including a 125-year-old retaining wall. Greg Wyatt, director of the project, was concerned delays would lead to costs excessive of their $2.7 million budget. The construction was approved pending the archaeological study, paid for by the NCF and directed by a state-approved archaeologist with a specialty in early industry.<ref name="Brenner">{{cite news|last=Brenner|first=Elsa|title=Art and Archeology Clash Over Ravine Near Cropsey Studio|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/nyregion/art-and-archeology-clash-over-ravine-near-cropsey-studio.html|date=September 10, 1989|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>▼

▲During the initial planning phase for the complex, the village's historical society intervened, expressing curiosity over possible remains in the ravine. The society urged the village's planning board to put a hold on construction so the [[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]] could make preliminary tests in the ravine. The historical society president described the site as "our village's cradle of civilization -– where our early industry started"; another member of the society expressed that the site was "the least-disturbed 19th-century industrial site in Westchester County". The executive director of the Westchester County Historical Society (a former president of the Hastings Historical Society) supported an archaeological study, and described that the site was previously the confluence of two streams where three early mills operated, including a bone mill and brass and iron-turning factory. Since then, the site was home to the Hastings Pavement and Brick factory, the Cottlet Hotel, and a Hastings Department of Public Works building. The public works building's foundation still remained, and the NCF had planned to build on top of it. The NCF was opposed to archaeological studies as it would require dynamiting the foundation and would disturb the fragile site, including a 125-year-old retaining wall. [[Greg Wyatt]], director of the project, was concerned delays would lead to costs excessive of their $2.7 million budget. The construction was approved pending the archaeological study, paid for by the NCF and directed by a state-approved archaeologist with a specialty in early industry.<ref name="Brenner">{{cite news|last=Brenner|first=Elsa|title=Art and Archeology Clash Over Ravine Near Cropsey Studio|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/nyregion/art-and-archeology-clash-over-ravine-near-cropsey-studio.html|date=September 10, 1989|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>

Barbara Newington was considered a friend of the Hastings Historical Society, and had given the organization its first substantial home. The NCF gave them a $42,000 grant and a 5-year $1 lease to a cottage next to Ever Rest, which the historical society used until its relocation to its current home, the [[Henry Draper Observatory]].<ref name="Melvin">{{cite news|last=Melvin|first=Tessa|title=In Hastings, A Treasury of History|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/07/nyregion/in-hastings-a-treasury-of-history.html|date=February 7, 1988|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>▼

▲Barbara Newington was considered a friend of the Hastings Historical Society, and had given the organization its first substantial home. The NCF gave them a $42,000 grant and a 5-year $1 lease to a cottage next to Ever Rest, which the historical society used until its relocation to its current home, the [[Henry Draper Observatory]].<ref name="MelvinMelvin1">{{cite news|last=Melvin|first=Tessa|title=In Hastings, A Treasury of History|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/07/nyregion/in-hastings-a-treasury-of-history.html|date=February 7, 1988|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>

The Gallery of Art opened on October 16, 1994.<ref name="NYT3"/>

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===Garden of Great Ideas===

[[File:Central Library of Vanderbilt University.JPG|thumb|''Tree of Learning'' by [[Greg Wyatt]], in front of [[Vanderbilt University]]'s [[Heard Library|Central Library]]]]

Beginning in May 1997, the foundation partnered with [[Vanderbilt University]] to create a sculpture garden on the university campus, to be known as the "Garden of Great Ideas".<ref name="Van2"/> Then-US Republican Senator [[Fred Thompson]] brought the idea of the sculpture garden to the university's chancellor [[Joe B. Wyatt]], who visited the NCF and decided to partner with the organization.<ref name="Pulle"/>

Students of the NCF's Academy of Art, including six young artists, would create the bronze sculptures. The NCF's goal was the placement of many sculptures on numerous college campuses as a link between scholarship and artistry. By 1997, the NCF had already donated ''Bill of Rights Eagle'', a sculpture by NCF Academy of Art Director [[Greg Wyatt]] to the college. The NCF planned to donate 15 to 20 additional bronze sculptures by the students for permanent exhibitonexhibition,<ref name="Pulle"/> added over the following three to five years. The final piece would also be by Wyatt, a sculpture named ''Tree of Knowledge'' placed in front of the [[Jean and Alexander Heard Library]].<ref name="Van2">{{cite news|last=Shick|first=Ellie|title='Garden of Great Ideas' brings original sculptures to campus|newspaper=Vanderbilt Register|url=https://news.vanderbilt.edu/archived-news/register/articles/index-id=7560.html|date=May 5, 1997|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Van1">{{cite news|last=Reeves|first=Jamie Lawson|title=Newington-Cropsey artists visit campus, present proposals for bronze works|newspaper=Vanderbilt Register|url=https://news.vanderbilt.edu/archived-news/register/articles/index-id=9297.html|date=October 27, 1997|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

The art program had numerous criticisms. The university's art community and faculty were largely not consulted on the decision. One professor at the school expressed dismay that the "program is nowhere near the avant-garde of our own age", and that the sculptures were placed in so many areas of the campus that it could impede other gifts or exhibitions on campus. An art professor found the sculptures to not achieve the school's goals of quality and diversity, noting one material, one presentation, and generic ideas symbolized by the works. As well,

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From 1994 until about 2005, the NCF hosted the Hudson Valley Art Association's Annual Exhibition; Newington and the foundation had been long-time supporters of the association, which was established by a small group of artists who first met at Ever Rest in 1928.<ref name="Brenner"/><ref name="HVAA">{{cite news|last=Rudman|first=Joan|title=The History of the Hudson Valley Art Association|publisher=Hudson Valley Art Association|url=https://www.hudsonart.org/history|accessdate=May 8, 2018}}</ref>

In 2006, the NCF spent $500,000 to create a Christian [[docudrama]] ''Lost Letters of Faith'', a story about King [[Abgar of Edessa]]. The foundation filmed the production at [[Regent University]]. Terry Lindvall, a film and religious studies scholar and a former president of Regent University, assembled filmmakers for the drama.<ref name="Vegh"/> Another of their film projects, called ''Cradle of Genius'', focused on [[divine inspiration]] and the composers [[Brahms]], [[Puccini]], and [[Richard Strauss]]. It was based on Arthur Abell's ''Talks with Great Composers''.<ref name="Cradle">{{cite web|title=Cradle of Genius: Newington Cropsey Foundation Production|url=http://www.newingtoncropsey.com/ncffilm/cradle/cradle.htm|date=2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312014736/http://www.newingtoncropsey.com/ncffilm/cradle/cradle.htm|archive-date=March 12, 2012|dead-url-status=yesdead}}</ref>

From 2015 to 2017, Greg Wyatt installed a series of busts at the [[Boscobel (mansion)|Boscobel House and Gardens]] in [[Garrison, New York]]. Adjacent to the house, the property contains a permanent sculpture garden with ten bronze busts of significant Hudson River School artists. The sculptures are by Wyatt and were donated by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation. Boscobel was chosen to house the works because of its location in the [[Hudson Highlands]], which was a popular subject of the school's painters, and because the area roughly lies in the geographic center of Hudson River School artist homes and the landscapes that they painted. The busts include a biography of each artist, on the back of each sculpture, and the works also combine elements of the Hudson River School artists' paintings into them.<ref name="BHG-NCF">{{cite news|last=Deffenbaugh|first=Ryan|title=Boscobel Sculptures Capture Hudson River School|newspaper=Wag Magazine|url=http://www.wagmag.com/boscobel-sculptures-capture-hudson-river-school/|date=September 2017|accessdate=July 11, 2018}}</ref> The garden opened with three works in late 2015, and an additional seven were added by November 2017 when the site was dedicated.<ref name="2016AR">{{cite web|title=Boscobel House and Gardens: 2016 Annual Report|publisher=Boscobel House and Gardens|page=4|url=https://www.boscobel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Boscobel-2016-Annual-Report.pdf|date=2016|accessdate=July 11, 2018}}</ref>

Ever Rest and the Gallery of Art are part of the Hudson River School Art Trail, a project of the [[Thomas Cole National Historic Site]].<ref name="ArtTrail"/><ref name="NYTArtTrail"/>

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The museum is dedicated to the paintings and sculptures of Cropsey and other artists of the 19th century.<ref name="NYT1"/> It holds roughly 75 paintings of Cropsey's, many with scenes from England and Rome, where Cropsey visited, and allegorical works from the 1850s.<ref name="NYT3"/> It is open for free tours by appointment.<ref name="NYT1"/>

The yellow Gothic Revival<ref name="NYT2"/> or [[Palladian style]]<ref name="NYT5">{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Roberta|title=Critic's Notebook; Home Is Where the Easel and Quirks Are|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/28/arts/critic-s-notebook-home-is-where-the-easel-and-quirks-are.html|date=August 28, 1998|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}</ref> museum building was built in 1994<ref name="NYT2"/> and designed by Atlanta architects [[Rodney Mims Cook Jr.]] and Peter J. Polites of PolitesCook Architects.<ref name="NYT1"/> Along with the surrounding landscape, it was constructed at a cost of about $4 million.<ref name="NYT1"/> The building was designed to resemble a relic from a pastepast era, recapturing beauty and stability of the 19th century.<ref name="NYT2"/> The building uses many principles of classical architecture, including sunlight directed onto the rotunda's floor.<ref name="NYT1"/>

''New York Times'' art critic [[Roberta Smith]] found the building to be "garishly inappropriate and amateurish", with "badly scaled architecture". She noted that the building's main gallery has Cropsey paintings hung well above eye level, poorly lit, and with unlabeled and overcleaned paintings. She found Cropsey's works better-suited and more easy to see at Ever Rest.<ref name="NYT5"/>

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{{bquote|Ambition may be praiseworthy when its aim is that of excellence and the fountain from which it draws nourishment that of almighty wisdom.|Jasper Francis Cropsey<ref name="NYT2"/>}}

The main gallery is an octagonal Victorian room with maroon-flocked wallpaper above dark oak wainscoting and a timber ceiling, with a large oak staircase to the second floor.<ref name="NYT1"/><ref name="NYT2"/> The room features Cropsey paintings from its floor to ceiling; the light is kept low, allowing the paintings to glow.<ref name="NYT2"/> It was designed after Hudson River houses including Ever Rest and [[Lyndhurst (mansion)|Lyndhurst]]. [[David Linley]] designed furniture in the building.<ref name="NYT1"/> The building also has commissioned sculptures and religious statues, including a replica of [[Abgar V#The Letter of King Abgar to Jesus|an inscribed]] [[lintel]], with a message from King [[Abgar of Edessa]] to Jesus Christ. The building holds a research library of Hudson River School art and painters, which the organization aims to make the most complete resource for artists of the school within Westchester County.<ref name="NYT2"/> The space also has a gallery for temporary exhibitions by contemporary representational artists.<ref name="Barolini"/>

==Publications==

* {{cite book|editor-last=Speiser|editor-first=Anthony M.|title=Jasper F. Cropsey: Catalogue Raisonne, Volume I, 1842-18631842–1863|publisher=Newington-Cropsey Foundation|location=Hastings-on-Hudson, New York|date=2013|isbn=978-0976816577|oclc=869008207}}

* {{cite book|editor-last=Speiser|editor-first=Anthony M.|title=Jasper F. Cropsey: Catalogue Raisonne, Volume II, 1864-18841864–1884|publisher=Newington-Cropsey Foundation|location=Hastings-on-Hudson, New York|date=2017|isbn=978-0985924720|oclc=869008207}}

==References==

{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Homepage">{{cite web|title=Newington-Cropsey Foundation|website=Newington-Cropsey Foundation|url=http://www.newingtoncropsey.com|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="Barolini">{{cite book|last=Barolini|first=Helen|title=Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy|chapter=I. Ardor and Apocalypse: The Timeless Trajectory of Margaret Fuller|publisher=[[Fordham University Press]]|date=2006|accessdate=April 28, 2018|isbn=978-0-8232-2629-0}}</ref>

<ref name="NYT1">{{cite news|last=Brownoct|first=Patricia Leigh|title=New Museum With Quirks|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/31/garden/new-museum-with-quirks.html

|date=October 31, 1996|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

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<ref name="ArtTrail">{{cite web|title=Hudson River School Art Trail: Suggested Itineraries|website=[[Thomas Cole National Historic Site]]|url=http://thomascole.org/trail-itineraries/|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="NYTArtTrail">{{cite news|last=Kahn|first=Eve M.|title=Following the Artists Who Followed the Hudson|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/nyregion/following-the-hudson-river-school-art-trails-in-3-states.html|date=August 30, 2012|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}</ref>

<!--<ref name="">{{cite news|last=|first=|title=|newspaper=|publisher=|url=|date=|accessdate=AprilMay 298, 2018}}</ref>-->

}}

==External links==

{{commons category}}

{{commonscat}}

* {{official website}}

* [http://www.nccsc.net The Newington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center]

{{authority control}}

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[[Category:1977 establishments in New York (state)]]

[[Category:Arts foundations based in the United States]]

[[Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1994]]

[[Category:Art museums and galleries in New York (state)]]

[[Category:Arts organizations based in New York (state)]]

[[Category:Arts organizations established in 1977]]

[[Category:Museums in Westchester County, New York]]

[[Category:Hudson River School sites]]