50th Anniversary

More Stories from the Archives

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  backstory50: Catlett x 2

  So, right now we have a work on view that is in two places at one time—Elizabeth Catlett’s study Homage to Black Women Poets (1984). OK, it’s not really visible in two places, but the object is a part of both The Making of a Museum: 50 Years and Reflection / Refraction … although it’s only physically on view in the latter.

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  backstory50: In the public eye

  Do you remember these hammocks? I do. Laura Anderson Barbata’s Nuestra historia no se encuentra en un libro [Our history Is Not Found in a Book] was one of the first outdoor sculpture projects I saw when I arrived on the Purchase College campus many years ago. I didn’t realize immediately that it was a sculpture project... which is one of the most interesting things to me about public art in general.

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  backstory50: Artist as Curator

  Many years ago, when I was Chief Curator at the Neuberger, I was thinking about putting together an exhibition of the work of Forrest Bess. We have a wonderful painting of his work in our collection entitled Before Man, which was purchased by Roy R. Neuberger from the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1978 and donated to the Neuberger in 1986.

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  backstory50: Creative aging

  Last year the Neuberger Museum of Art initiated the NEU Vitality Art Workshops, a series of programs for members of our community who are over the age of 55.

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  backstory50: Juneteenth

  All this year these backstory messages have focused on the celebration of the Museum’s 50th anniversary, focusing on today through the lens of the past. 

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  backstory50: Nevelson at Purchase, 1977

  Do you recognize this sculpture, being craned into place for the Neuberger’s 1977 Louise Nevelson exhibition? You may if you’ve spent time across the street from Purchase College at the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo.

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  backstory50: Dada Art at the NEU

  The extraordinary depth and quality of the objects that Roy R. Neuberger donated to the Museum over the course of his lifetime can overshadow some of the other extraordinary areas of the Museum’s collection. One of those areas is the Hans Richter Collection of Dada Art.

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  backstory50: Training the next generation

  The Neuberger Museum of Art has always trained students in curatorial practice and the student-curated exhibition has long been a hallmark of that training.

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  backstory50: The Museum as Classroom

  In my Ph.D. program in art history at Rutgers I had an unexpected experience. Part of my funding required that I serve as a teaching assistant and, to my great surprise, I found that I loved being in the classroom. Eventually, teaching my own classes but still intent on continuing my museum career that was already a decade-long prior to grad school, I came to understand the ways in which museums could function as classrooms.

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  backstory50: 1974 Inaugural Exhibition

  Fifty years ago this week, the Neuberger Museum of Art opened its doors to the public with its very first exhibition, The Making of a Museum. 

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  backstory50: Robert Indiana’s “Art” (fronted by a follow-up about uric acid)

  So, last week’s backstory50 got a LOT of raised eyebrows.

  I kind of thought it might. 

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  backstory50: Here’s why we moved the Henry Moore

  Yeah… we moved it. 

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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.”

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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 50^th anniversary celebratory social events this weekend, I’ve been reflecting about the incredible legacies that were established by some of our founding members.
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  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! 

• 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.