From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper

Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors

 

June 28, 2024 - October 27, 2024

New-York Historical Society 

 

Maurice Brazil Prendergast (1858–1924), At the Park (Telegraph Hill), ca. 1896–1897. Watercolor on paper. Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leonard L. Milberg

 

From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper: New-York Historical Society Presents Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors

 

This summer, the New-York Historical Society presents an exhibition of more than 140 prints, drawings, and watercolors from one of the most admired collections of historical American works on paper. Bringing to vivid life two and a half centuries of the American experience, From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper: Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors, on view June 28 – October 27, 2024, features a rich tapestry of artworks, including early 18th-century portraits of Indigenous leaders, picturesque views of towns and cities, inspiring landscapes, dramatic images of historic events, and popular prints. Among these rare and iconic works are exceptional holdings of the American Pre-Raphaelites and a vibrant selection of prints, watercolors, and pastels by the artists of the Eight and the Ashcan School, such as John Sloan and George Bellows. The exhibition is curated by Linda S. Feber, museum director emerita, with Marilyn S. Kushner, curator of prints, photographs and architectural drawings.

 

“This exhibition is a testament to Leonard Milberg’s discerning eye and deep appreciation for the artistic heritage of our nation,” said Louise Mirrer, president and CEO, New-York Historical. “I am thrilled for the public to experience this captivating journey through American art. It has been a privilege to collaborate with Leonard, whom I have had the pleasure of knowing for many decades, to create this extraordinary exhibition from his exceptional collection.”

 

“From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper presents a remarkable graphic treasure: works on paper spanning more than three centuries in dialogue with one another and with us,” said Linda S. Feber, the exhibition’s co-curator and museum director emerita. “So many rewarding trails can be followed. One of the most powerful narratives is the visual journey through American history. Other paths invite us to move back and forth across time to compare, contrast, and connect wonderful works.”

 

“I never took an art course, but Miss Behan, my eighth-grade teacher at PS 197 in Brooklyn, would often have us write about 10 cent postcard-size reproductions of famous paintings,” said Leonard Milberg. “During the Korean War, I was stationed in Alaska. One day, tired of watching herds of moose go by, I found a small bookstore in neighboring Anchorage that sold art books. My eyes had been opened. After coming home from Alaska, I began visiting art museums and buying more art books.”

 

Exhibition Highlights

From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper features a medley of 18th-century town and city views charting the nation’s early evolution and expansion. Within this section is one of the most geographically accurate early prints of New York City. Engraved in about 1735, A View of Fort George with the City of New York from the Southwest is an early panoramic view of colonial New York from the Hudson River. An engraving by artist Peter Gordon, A View from Savannah as it Stood the 29th of March 1734, represents the earliest known plan of Georgia’s settlement, founded by James Oglethorpe in 1733.

 

Portraits of leaders of the American Revolution and Early Republic, as well as Indigenous leaders, are also featured, including James Sharple’s pastel on paper portrait of George Washington (ca. 1796), which would have been completed with both speed and precision by Sharples using a device called a pantograph. An engraving by John Faver the Younger, Tomo Chachi Mico, or King of Yamacraw, and Tooanahowi, his Nephew, Son to the Mico of the Etchitas (ca. 1734) shows the Chief and his heir, who traveled from their tribal lands in what is now Georgia to London as a gesture of peace between the Indigenous people and King George II. Also featured is a portrait by George Catlin of a prominent American Jew, Mordecai Noah, whose fame was amplified by his project Ararat, an endeavor to establish a city of refuge from persecution to be located on Grand Island in the Niagara River between Canada and the United States.

 

The exhibition features many hand-colored prints that chart momentous events in United States history. Made only five days after the event itself, a 1770 engraving by Paul Revere depicts a key moment in the Revolutionary War: a confrontation on March 5, 1770, when Bostonians threw snowballs and rocks at British soldiers, who retaliated with gunfire. Five colonists were killed in the Boston Massacre, including Crispus Attucks, the first Black man to die fighting for independence. A century later, Frances “Fanny” Palmer, a watercolorist as well as leading lithographer of her time, would create many of Currier & Ives’ United States historical scenes, such as the one depicted in The Rocky Mountains: Emigrants Crossing the Plains (1866), which illustrates westward expansion under the policy of “Manifest Destiny.”

 

A selection of watercolors glorifies the unspoiled beauty of the American landscape, such as Niagara Falls (ca. 1840) by James Bennett, a master printmaker specializing in views of American scenery. In the vibrant visual culture of the mid-19th century, America’s politics and beloved pastimes took center stage in popular prints. From elections to baseball, these prints captured the essence of the era. The Verdict of the People, George Caleb Bingham’s lithograph of 1858, captures the drama of an exciting political contest, observing the reactions of those who had the right to vote and those who did not. An 1866 lithograph immortalizes an early baseball showdown between Manhattan’s Mutual Club and Brooklyn’s Atlantic Club, which drew a massive crowd in Hoboken, New Jersey.

 

During the Gilded Age that followed the Civil War, cosmopolitan American artists responded to styles from abroad. Mary Cassatt’s elegant etching The Banjo Lesson (1894) bears witness to Cassatt’s continued interest in printmaking and relates to a panel of her now-lost mural created for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which included a woman strumming the banjo, symbolizing the musical passions of the time, particularly among middle- and upper-class women. Maurice Brazil Prendergast’s brilliant watercolor, At the Park (Telegraph) Hill, ca. 1896-97, presents a festive promenade of holiday makers on a sunny day celebrating the Fourth of July; an American flag waves at the upper left.

 

New York City is reflected in a selection of prints, pastels, drawings, and watercolors by the artists of the Eight and the Ashcan School. A preparatory drawing for one of Edward Hopper’s most admired etchings, the 1918 Night on the El Train, prefigures the artist’s later nocturnal paintings that evoke feelings of disconnection and isolation. On Ninth Avenue (1901) by Jerome Myers captures a familiar urban scene evocative of hot summer days and nights; John Sloan’s Sixth Avenue and Thirtieth Street (1908) presents a street drama in the infamous Tenderloin area; and Washington Square (ca. 1914) by William Glackens offers a more genteel vision of urban life, influenced by French Impressionism.

 

A privately published, illustrated catalogue with essays by Sean Wilentz, John Wilmerding, and Linda Ferber will be available for purchase from the NYHistory Store. Private group tours can be arranged throughout the run of the exhibition.

 

Support

The exhibition is funded by Leonard L. Milberg. Exhibitions at New-York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.

 

About the New-York Historical Society

Experience 400 years of history through groundbreaking exhibitions, immersive films, and thought-provoking conversations among renowned historians and public figures at the New-York Historical Society, New York’s first museum. A great destination for history since 1804, the Museum and the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library convey the stories of the city and nation’s diverse populations, expanding our understanding of who we are as Americans and how we came to be. Ever-rising to the challenge of bringing little or unknown histories to light, New-York Historical will soon inaugurate a new wing housing its Academy for American Democracy as well as the American LGBTQ+ Museum. These latest efforts to help forge the future by documenting the past join New-York Historical’s DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Center for Women’s History. Digital exhibitions, apps, and our For the Ages podcast make it possible for visitors everywhere to dive more deeply into history. Connect with us at nyhistory.org or at @nyhistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Tumblr.