Art Exhbition
Derfner Judaica Museum The Art Collection at Hebrew Home at Riverdale
5901 Palisade Ave New York 10471 United States

03/08/22-05/08/22

Derfner Judaica Museum The Art Collection at Hebrew Home at Riverdale is pleased to announce it has reopened to the public following a two-year hiatus from in-person exhibitions during the Covid-19 pandemic. An exhibition of works from the collection Aviary Aesthetic: The Symbolism of Birds will be on view from March 8–May 8 2022.

With more than thirty artists and works in diverse media Aviary Aesthetic explores the fascination birds have long held for artists and designers across different cultures and in different eras ranging from late nineteenth-century France to the late twentieth-century United States. Selected from the permanent collection the works on view reflect a variety of stylistic influences from realism to surrealism folk art to scientific illustration.

The artists and makers in the exhibition come from diverse cultural backgrounds. They include Native artists in North America who incorporate birds as symbols of tribal identity and manifestations of the spirit world as well as contemporary artists whose depictions convey mood or draw attention to environmental issues. The exhibition also includes Jewish ritual objects ornamented with cast hand-drawn and embroidered birds.

Featured artists include Will Barnet (b. Beverly Massachusetts 1911–d. New York New York 2012) whose work reflects his admiration for the intimacy achieved by the seventeenth-century painter Vermeer and whose screenprint Introspection (1972) includes a pair of doves a classic symbol of love. Tapovan (2012) a painting by Hunt Slonem (b. Kittery Maine b. 1951) depicts exotic birds as if seen from inside an aviary with plants that help to simulate a natural environment. Both Slonem and Anton van Dalen (b. Amstelveen Netherlands 1938) represented with the sculpture Fantail Pigeon (1983) kept birds at home. Landscape and portrait painter Jon R. Friedman (b. Washington D.C. 1947) best known for his likenesses of such public figures as Bill and Melinda Gates and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is represented with two of his rich depictions of avian wildlife Peahen (1985–86) and Zoo Duck (1986).

The exhibition also includes a selection of vessels by Native American artists from a diversity of Pueblo communities in the southwest. Among them are Rachel Concho (b. Acoma Pueblo New Mexico 1936) whose pottery features a roadrunner; Loretta Huma (First Mesa Arizona dates unknown) with a jar adorned with a hummingbird; and Nellie Bica (b. Zuni Pueblo New Mexico 1905–d. 1998) represented by a ceramic owl figurine. Owls also appear in works by Gregory Izrailevich (b. Rostov-on-Don Russian SFSR 1924–d. St. Petersburg Russia 1999) Mel Hunter (b. Oak Park Illinois 1927–d. Ferrisburgh Vermont 2004) and Vladimir Gedikyan (b. Moscow Russian SFSR 1928). A pair of hummingbirds are a subject for Dorothy Doughty (b. San Remo Italy 1892–d. Cornwall England United Kingdom 1962) a ceramicist who designed popular bird figurines manufactured in limited editions under her supervision by the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company in England.

Several artists bring attention to environmental issues including Dan Bruggeman (b. Omaha Nebraska 1957) in a mixed media work on paper Science of Birds: The Magpie (1999) and Paul J. Greenfield (American dates unknown) whose ornithological drawings appear in field guides to the birds of Ecuador where he has lived since 1972. Surrealism fantasy and folk traditions inform the real and imagined birds in works by several artists. These include: Garden of Eden from Drawings for the Bible (1960) by Marc Chagall (b. Liozno Russian Empire 1887–d. Saint-Paul-de-Vence France 1985); a lithograph from the series Gates of the Immigrants (1970) by Naftali Bezem (b. Essen Germany 1924–d. Tel Aviv Israel 2018); A Sea Change (1963) by Lars Bo (b. Kolding Denmark 1924–d. Paris France 1999); and Feigele Sing Mir A Liedele (Little Bird Sing Me a Song) from the portfolio Yiddish Folksongs (1962) by artist Anatoli Kaplan (b. Rogachev Russian Empire 1902–d. Leningrad Russian SFSR 1980).

Among the earliest works in the exhibition is an etching by Felix Bracquemond (b. Paris France 1833–d. Sèvres France 1914) a contemporary of the Impressionists titled Ébats de Canards (Ducks Frolicking) (ca. 1881). The Jewish ceremonial objects in the exhibition also date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries including a richly embroidered velvet matzah cover (ca. 1910) originating from a girls’ orphanage in Jerusalem; a beautifully illustrated marriage contract (1891) from Hamadan in western Iran featuring a peacock a symbol of Persian royalty; a silver mezuzah probably from Eastern Europe (19th century); and a picture frame with a stately peacock design from the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem (ca. 1920).

Other artists in the exhibition include Irina Belopolskaya (Russian dates unknown); Yosl Bergner (b. Vienna Austria 1920–d. Tel Aviv Israel 2017); Miguel Ortiz Berrocal (b. Villanueva de Algaidas Spain 1933–d. Antequera Spain 2006); Valentina DuBasky (b. Washington D.C. 1951); Fugi Nakamizo (b. Fukuiken Empire of Japan 1889–d. New York City 1950); David Weidman (b. East Los Angeles California 1921–d. Los Angeles California 2014); and Clemence Wescoupe (b. Long Plain First Nation Manitoba Canada 1951–d. Portage la Prairie Manitoba Canada 2018).

All of the works on view reflect the many ways in which the beauty of birds enhances human design whether in paintings sculptures prints drawings or ritual objects and by extension people’s lives. Through these avian creatures humanity seeks to understand and communicate its place within the natural world.

In addition to visiting in person the exhibition may be viewed online at www.derfneronline.org/aviary-aesthetic

Museum hours: Sunday–Thursday 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended but not required. Call 718.581.1596 or email art@riverspring.org to schedule a visit for holiday hours and for in-person or virtual group tours. For further information visit our website at RiverSpringLiving.org/art.

Photo ID is required for all visitors to the Hebrew Home campus. In addition all visitors to the Museum ages 5 and older are required to show proof they have received two vaccine doses except for those who have received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Visitors 18 and older are also required to show identification along with their proof of vaccination. Face masks are required for all Museum visitors over the age of 2 even if vaccinated. Proof of vaccination may include:
• CDC Vaccination Card (or photo)
• NYC COVID Safe app
• New York State Excelsior Pass
• NYC Vaccination Record
• An official immunization record from outside NYC or the U.S. Valid ID includes your name accompanied by a photograph OR your date of birth such as:
• Driver’s license
• Government ID card
• IDNYC card
• Passport
• School ID card

About Hebrew Home at Riverdale
As a member of the American Alliance of Museums the Hebrew Home at Riverdale by RiverSpring Living is committed to publicly exhibiting its art collection throughout its 32-acre campus including the Derfner Judaica Museum and a sculpture garden overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. Derfner Judaica Museum The Art Collection provides educational and cultural programming for residents of the Hebrew Home their families and the general public from throughout New York City its surrounding suburbs and visitors from elsewhere. RiverSpring Living is a nonprofit non-sectarian geriatric organization serving more than 18000 older adults in greater New York through its resources and community service programs.

This exhibition is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

04/06/22-05/06/22

The presentation includes geometric and color abstractions created by Willis in New York from 1967 through 2017 with a focus on iconic examples from each of his important aesthetic series: Slats Wedges Zig-Zags Triangles Prismatics Lattices Cityscapes and Steps. While mid-sized and smaller artworks are available by Willis the focus is on the large-scale paintings of which many have not been presented in decades.
This is a rare opportunity to see such a vast and inclusive presentation of Willis’s artworks organized aesthetically and chronologically. Also this is a scholarly opportunity to fully experience the progression and consistency in Willis’s intuitive and organic approach to using color and geometry as his visual language throughout the decades. Each painting and series reveal his passion: celebrating the act of painting the artist’s hand and mark making all of which along with his process is fully exposed including the initial pencil marks and each addition and edit along the way. Willis’s paintings reflect himself specifically his honesty and authenticity both as an artist and human being. Willis is true to himself traveling his own path and trusting his instincts. Maybe he makes a few mistakes along the way but not apologetic as he corrects and pushes forward delivering the goods every day.
Simultaneously Thornton Willis will also have another major survey of his artworks spanning his career and curated from his paintings in the permanent collection of the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0270. That presentation will also include a collection of drawings on loan to the museum from Thornton Willis. The presentation will be on view from March 31 to May 19 2022.
About Thornton Willis:
“ The best painting is always “open-ended”. Paintings that aim for resolution lack a dynamic. Open-ended work asks questions and partners with the viewer to bring the experience to closure. Or it might excite another painter to respond either for or against. This requires a deep understanding of the nature of ambiguity as a reflection of life and what imparts to all art its energy. This is what I aim for in my work.”
Thornton Willis was born in Pensacola Florida on May 25 1936. His father a founding minister in the Church of Christ envisioned that his son would follow in his footsteps. Instead Thornton decided after the Marine Corps to go to Auburn University and pursue a degree in architecture. It was at Auburn that Thornton became convinced that his true calling lay in the realm of pictorial image making. He transferred to and graduated in 1962 from the University of Southern Mississippi. In l966 he completed his Masters work at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. There he found a mentor in expatriate New York School painter Mel Price who was a close friend of painters Franz Kline and Willem deKooning. Price encouraged Thornton to pursue his career in New York City. They both were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in the Selma to Montgomery March in l965.
Thornton moved to New York in 1967 and taught at Wagner College in Staten Island. Tom Young then Chairman of the Department of Fine Art (and later at Louisiana State University in New Orleans) became a lifelong friend and ally. Thornton began showing his work with the Henri Gallery in Washington D.C. (the first gallery to show abstract art in that city) and later with the Bykert Gallery The Paley and Lowe Gallery in New York and Simmone Stern Gallery in New Orleans. In the l980’s Willis was represented in the US by the Oscarsson Hood Gallery and in Europe by Claus Nordenhake in Sweden. The Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York began representing him in 2001.
Thornton Willis is the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Painting The Pollock Krasner Award The Gottlieb Award as well the National Endowment for the Arts. He has participated in gallery and museum exhibitions around the world. His artworks are represented in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art New York The Whitney Museum of American Art New York the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York and most major public and private collections.
Thornton Willis has gone on record in various articles interviews and documentaries over the years that his work derives much of its strength from the work of the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. Twelve generations of American pioneers farmers and evangelists have also informed the work with a stark integrity directness and singular pragmatic moral urgency.

Courtesy of David Richard Gallery

4/6/22-9/4/22

Jamel Shabazz | Eyes on the Street

Despite following a celebrated tradition of street photography that includes Gordon Parks, Garry Winogrand, and Lee Friedlander, it is to his credit that Shabazz has been one of the first photographers to realize the joyous, infectious potential of youth culture in neighborhoods such as East New York, Cypress Hill, East Flatbush and Bed-Stuy. A formidable archive of New York’s diverse communities in the outer boroughs, this exhibition pays homage to Jamel Shabazz’s illustrious career of over forty years documenting the vibrant interaction of New Yorkers with their neighborhoods.

Perspectives: Past/Forward

The thematic layout of the exhibition will present new acquisitions, alongside seldom seen treasures with a strong emphasis on art that relates to the Bronx, the Latinx experience, the African diaspora, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These permanent holdings testify to the Bronx Museum’s ambition to provide enriching experiences, connections and engagement with great art for the benefit of our Bronx communities and beyond.

Uptown art exhibition NYC
6/18/22-7/28/22

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