NEU 50th Anniversary
50 Years : 50 Stories
Presented weekly in the Director’s backstory blog, fifty stories will recount the history of the Museum from its founding on the Purchase College, SUNY, campus in 1969 to the present day. Each story plays an important role in honoring our past, celebrating our present, and preparing the NEU to move boldly forward into its next 50 years.
This week's featured backstory:
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backstory50: A collection in service to others
On June 19, 1960, a critic for The New York Times wrote, “No private collection in this country, or for that matter anywhere, has been more generously put into service of the public than that of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger.”
More Stories from the Archives
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backstory50: Dismantling the “Van Gogh Effect”
This is a story best told by Roy R. Neuberger in his own words (excerpted from The Passionate Collector):
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backstory50: The Yaseen Lectures
As we prepare to host the first of the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebratory social events this weekend, I’ve been reflecting about the incredible legacies that were established by some of our founding members. -
backstory50: Transformational Giving
Today, I want to tell you about one of the Neuberger Museum of Art’s greatest supporters, the Straus family.
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backstory50: The biggest gallery around
I hope you will all be joining us next month for our 50th anniversary celebration events. When we gather in the Theater Gallery on Saturday evening, April 13, to honor Janet Langsam, Fred Wilson, and Lois Bregstein, surrounded by the site-specific painting, Threnody, we will be in one of the largest exhibitions spaces in the region.
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backstory50: Rethinking our objects from Africa
Objects from Africa have been on view at the Neuberger Museum of Art since it opened to the public in 1974.
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backstory50: On display at the Museum of Modern Art
This is one of my favorite stories because it connects our campus to another great institution, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
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backstory50: The Museum Service Council
Another of the Neuberger’s great support organizations is the Museum Service Council. The MSC is comprised of devoted art lovers who have volunteered hours and hours of their time to the education of generations of students—from the College and from the community—who have walked through the doors of the Museum.
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backstory50: The Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art
One the best things about the Neuberger Museum of Art are the people who make up our community. And among the ‘best of the best’ are the leaders who have, for so long now, been a part of our amazing support and advisory group, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art.
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backstory50: Threnody
Opening today, Cleve Gray’s Threnody is on view again as part of the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration.
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backstory50: Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today’s story is your story to tell.
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backstory50: Building a Museum collection
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Roy R. Neuberger’s 1969 founding promised gift. Twenty-nine objects were accessioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art in that year. Since then, the Museum’s collection has grown to comprise nearly 7,000 objects, which have been donated, promised, bequeathed, and purchased.
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backstory50: Building a Museum
No, it’s not shiny, or fancy, or visible from the road. But that’s not what it was supposed to be.
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backstory50: The Academical Village
The master plan for Purchase College was inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s master plan for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
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backstory50: The Passionate Collector
In 2002, as Roy R. Neuberger turned 100, he published his second memoir, The Passionate Collector: Eighty Years in the World of Art. He dedicated the book “with great affection and respect to the extraordinary, original, passionate artists who have enriched my life beyond measure.”
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backstory50: The Promised Gift
Do you know which work of art was the very first to enter the Museum’s collection?
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backstory50: Happy and Happy
2024. A great year. Why? Because the Neuberger Museum of Art is celebrating its 50th anniversary!
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backstory: Celebrate with us!
Between your other festive holiday happenings, take a minute to mark your calendars for some of the special events that we’ll be hosting at the Museum during our Year of Celebration!
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backstory: Our 50th Anniversary
You’ve heard me mention that all year next year the Neuberger will be celebrating our 50th anniversary.
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backstory: November 19 and the Friends
You’ve heard me mention that next year we’ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Museum. This milestone wouldn’t be possible without the support of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art. It’s true. We wouldn’t be one of the top academic art museums in the country without the Friends organization.
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backstory: Groundbreaking
This Friday, October 6, marks the 54th anniversary of the groundbreaking for the museum.
Programs and Events
Friends, neighbors, and guests from around the globe are invited to celebrate with us during a series of social events at the Museum in the spring and in person and online for a year-long schedule of artist talks, lectures, and other programming.
Exhibitions
Inspired by our first exhibition in 1974, the Museum’s galleries will be filled with commemorative, multimedia experiences illustrating important moments from our history, highlighting objects from our collection, and showcasing materials from our vast archives.
The Making of a Museum Exhibitions
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The Making of a Museum: 50 Years
On View
January 24 - December 31, 2024
For fifty years, the Neuberger Museum of Art has fostered learning, sparked the creative process, and investigated understandings of the world in which we live through its collections, exhibitions, and education programs. -
The Promised Gift
On View
January 24, 2024
West Gallery
A project in The Making of a Museum: 50 Years exhibition
The Promised Gift tells the story of Roy R. Neuberger’s 1969 grand and optimistic philanthropic contribution, a gift of 300 works of art to the State University of New York. -
1969—1974
On View
January 24, 2024
Klein Gallery
A project in The Making of a Museum: 50 Years exhibition
1969—1974 explores the role of Roy R. Neuberger as one of the most important collectors of his day, the conceptualization, design, and construction of the Museum, and its use in the early 1970s by the students and faculty of Purchase College prior to the formal opening of the Neuberger Museum of Art in 1974. -
Threnody
On View
February 21, 2024
Theater Gallery
A project in The Making of a Museum: 50 Years exhibition
Threnody is a 250-foot-wide site-specific painting created by American artist Cleve Gray for the opening of the Neuberger Museum of Art. -
1974—2024
Opens April 2024
South Gallery
A project in The Making of a Museum: 50 Years exhibition
1974—2024 tells the story of the years from the time of the formal opening of the Museum to the present. -
backstory50: The Yaseen Lectures
As we prepare to host the first of the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebratory social events this weekend, I’ve been reflecting about the incredible legacies that were established by some of our founding members.
