The Hyde Collection announces the opening of its summer exhibitions entitled Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George in Wood Gallery and Family Album: Alfred Stieglitz and Lake George in Hoopes Gallery.  The exhibitions open on June 15, 2013 and run through September 15, 2013.

            Modern Nature is the first to explore the formative influence of Lake George on the art and life of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986).  From 1918 until 1934, O’Keeffe lived for part of each year at Stieglitz’s (1864-1946) family estate on Lake George in New York’s Adirondack Park.

The property was situated just north of Lake George Village along the western shoreline. It served as a rural retreat for the artist, providing the basic materials for her art, while evoking the spirit of place that was essential to O’Keeffe’s modern approach to the natural world. During this highly productive period she created more than 200 paintings on canvas and paper in addition to sketches and pastels, making her Lake George years among the most prolific and transformative of her seven-decade career. This period also coincided with O’Keeffe’s first critical success and emergence as a professional artist.

Curated by Erin B. Coe, Hyde chief curator, and Barbara Buhler Lynes, former curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, it was organized in association with the     Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  With sixty paintings on view, it will premiere at The Hyde Collection and travel to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe from October 4, 2013 – January 26, 2014, and to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum from February 15 – May 11, 2014.

In connection with Modern Nature, through a selection of approximately thirty photographs by the influential photographer, critic, and dealer Alfred Stieglitz, A Family Album: Alfred Stieglitz and Lake George will take an intimate look at the people who resided on the property while O’Keeffe was in residence there, including members of the Stieglitz family, and the special place that bound them together.

            During the years1918 to 1934, Georgia O’Keeffe left the bustle and heat of New York City and headed     for the pristine, mountain-rimmed waters of Lake George where her companion, and later husband, Alfred Stieglitz  (1864-1946), and his family kept a summer home. Comprised of thirty-six bucolic acres located a mile north of Lake George village on the western shoreline, their country retreat known as “the Hill” was a former farm and contained a large farmhouse and a number of barns and outbuildings. Today, the property is a residential subdivision and is identified with a historic marker at the foot of the hill.

Lenders to Family Album include The Adirondack Museum and Alfred Stieglitz’s grandniece Sue Davidson Lowe. The exhibition is curated by Erin B. Coe, Chief Curator, The Hyde Collection and Caroline Welsh, Senior Art Historian and Director Emerita, The Adirondack Museum.

            The presentation of Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George has received significant support from a wide range of contributors. Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company is the lead corporate sponsor. Major additional business support has been provided by Behan Communications, Inc.. Significant media sponsorship support has been provided by the Lake George Mirror, the Times Union, and WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Among individual donors, leadership support for this project has been provided by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Atkiss and Susan and Bill Dake. The exhibition and catalogue have also received foundation support from the Charles R. Wood Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and Furthermore, a publishing program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund. The project also received major grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the I Love NY program, through the Capital Regional Economic Development Council, and funding for tourism promotion from Warren County, New York.

Support for Family Album: Alfred Stieglitz and Lake George has been provided for, in part, by Karl E. Seitz, Managing Director-Investment Officer, PIM Portfolio Manager, Wells Fargo Advisors.