90 Years features a selection of paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper showcasing 90 years of Guild Hall’s commitment to collecting artists of the Eastern End of Long Island.  Museum Director/Chief Curator Christina Mossaides Strassfield has chosen 90 works from all media to show the historical contribution of artists of the area.

The exhibition includes works by John Alexander, Peggy Bacon, George Bellows, Lynda Benglis, Ross Bleckner, Alexander Brook, James Brooks, Rudy Burckhardt, Howard Russell Butler, Henri Cartier-Bresson, John Chamberlain, Chuck Close, Stuart Davis, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, James de Pasquale, Jim Dine, Gaines Ruger Donoho, Jimmy Ernst, Max Ernst, Audrey Flack, John Ferren, Eric Fischl, Eric Freeman, Jane Freilicher, Cornelia Foss, Arnold Genthe, April Gornik, Eunice Golden, Adolph Gottlieb, George Grosz, Beatrice Grover, Robert Gwathmey, Childe Hassam, Mary Heilmann, Arthur Turnbull Hill, Judith Hudson, Bryan Hunt, Jasper Johns, William King, Lee Krasner, Barbara Kruger, Ibram Lassaw, Claude Lawrence, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Lipski, Alvin Loving, Conrad Marca-Relli, Paton Miller, Thomas Moran, Thomas Moran, Robert Motherwell, Hans Namuth, Francis Newton, Alfonso Ossorio, Harvey Havelock Pierce, Jackson Pollock, Fairfield Porter, Robert Rauschenberg, John Reed, Larry Rivers, James Rosenquest, Clifford Ross, David Salle, Miriam Schapiro, Alan Shields, David Slater, Cindy Sherman, Frank Stella, Keith Sonnier, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, Saul Steinberg, Strong-Cuevas, Donald Sultan, Andy Warhol, Lemuel Maynard Wiles, Jane Wilson, Tile Club and E. Saroldi, Robert Wilson, Frank Wimberley, Nina Yankowitz, Darius Yektai, Manoucher Yektai, Robert Rahway Zakanitch, and Joe Zucker.

Moran and Woodhouse Galleries
Curator: Christina Strassfield

ABOUT GUILD HALL’S PERMANENT COLLECTION

In 1931, when Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse dedicated Guild Hall as a cultural center for the community, The New York Times noted that Howard Russell Butler’s portrait of Thomas Moran on exhibit was not a loan but an acquisition. “It marks the beginning of a permanent collection which is proposed to build up in Guild Hall,” the newspaper explained.

From the beginning 90 years ago, the holdings have grown significantly in size and scope. In the early 1960’s, the collection began to focus on the artists who have lived and worked in the region, including some of the country’s most celebrated painters, sculptors, photographers and graphic artists. In 1973, the museum received the distinction of being accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, and it was reaccredited in 2010. Today, the holdings of 19th, 20th and 21^st century art number some 2,200 objects, and the museum continues to acquire works by donation and acquisition.  

With its close proximity to New York City, the East End became a popular tourist destination with the onset of the Long Island Railroad in the late 19th century. The LIRR was very active in marketing the charms of the region by distributing thousands of brochures and leaflets. In the 1870s, Hudson River School painters portrayed the white sand beaches of eastern Long Island. Winslow Homer came to visit in 1872, and in 1878 a group of New York artists known as the Tile Club traveled to the East End and visited several of its small villages, including East Hampton. Thomas Moran and his family settled permanently in 1884. His home and studio became the center of life for artists who visited the village. In the teens, twenties and thirties, many artists, including Guy Pene du Bois and George Bellows, visited the area. Later after WWII, the Surrealists, aided by artist and philanthropist Gerald Murphy, were welcomed guests. They were followed by the Abstract Expressionist artists Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and Willem de Kooning; Pop artists Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol; Photorealists Audrey Flack and Chuck Close; 80’s and 90’s Neo-expressionist artists Eric Fischl, David Salle; as well as many contemporary artists, such as Ross Bleckner, Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince. These artist-residents continue to make the East End the country’s foremost art colony.

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Winner of the 2018 Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition

Jeff Muhs: The Uncanny Valley will open on October 30 in tandem with the Permanent Collection exhibition. As a local multidisciplinary artist, Jeff Muhs has worked in a variety of mediums and genres and this exhibition will feature both his sculptural works as well as his paintings. In 2018, Muhs participated in Guild Hall’s annual Artist Members Exhibition where he received the Top Honors award for his concrete sculpture Callipyge, selected by Connie Choi, Associate Curator at The Studio Museum of Harlem. The prize for the recipient of the top honor is a solo exhibition in the Spiga Gallery.

The Uncanny Valley originates from a sculptural process the artist calls “Dynamic Free Casting.” By discovering this method, the artist has developed new means for forming concrete, all while embracing its inherent fluidity and weight. By pushing the physical limits of the materials as well as his own ability to manipulate, he has discovered a personal source of infinite creativity.   

“The Uncanny Valley is a hypothesized relationship between the degree of an objects’ resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object,“ shared artist Jeff Muhs. “For me, The Uncanny Valley was the moment when I first saw the results of my concrete sculpture as flesh. What had previously been an exploration of more architectural forms, by manor of my process, presented itself as flesh-like. I have been participating in the Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition for about 25 years. I see it as a great focal point for our creative community. An opportunity for camaraderie and to share our artistic expressions with one another. It is a great honor to have been chosen as the Top Honors recipient for my sculpture and to be awarded the opportunity to exhibit at this cultural institution, so rich in the history of our local artistic community and 20th century art.”

Spiga Gallery

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