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Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), an accomplished Hudson River School landscape painter, grew up in Hudson, New York, where his father’s business ventures in banking and ownership of an iron foundry provided the family with great wealth. Gifford attended Brown University from 1842 to 1843 before leaving school in pursuit of becoming an artist. In 1845, Gifford began to study at the New York City studio of John Rubens Smith, a painter, printmaker, and influential art instructor, and in 1846, Gifford enrolled at the Antique School of the National Academy of Design, where he received further artistic training. Inspired by the work of Thomas Cole, often referred to as the father of American landscape painting, Gifford became consumed by his love for landscapes and departed from portraiture to focus solely on painting the natural world. Read More

Reginald Marsh’s (1898-1954) paintings capture the expansive growth and frenetic energy of everyday urban life in New York City in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Marsh moved to New York after graduating from Yale University in 1920, and quickly found success as an illustrator and political cartoonist, working for publications such as New York Daily News, The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar, and New Masses. Already an adept illustrator, Marsh began taking painting classes at the Art Students League in 1921 (where one of his first teachers was John Sloan), and after a trip to Paris in 1925 where he met Social Realist painter Thomas Hart Benton, Marsh returned to the city with an eye towards painting the characters that filled its streets. Read More

Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), often referred to as the “American Rembrandt,” is noted as one of the most gifted genre and portrait painters of the nineteenth century. Johnson was born in the remote town of Lovell, Maine, grew up in Fryeburg (just south of Lovell), and moved with his family to Augusta in 1834 when his father became involved with the state government. In the early 1840s, Johnson briefly apprenticed with a lithographer in Boston before moving to Washington D.C. for a few years, where he drew portraits of notable figures, including John Quincy Adams. He eventually returned to Boston, where he became close with the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his family. Read More

Rafael Montañez Ortiz was an early pioneer of the Deconstructionist Movement, which began in the 1950s and continued to have an important presence into the following two decades. As an avant-garde artist in the post-war period, Ortiz addressed contemporary social and political issues with performance pieces and films that dismantle traditional expectations of art. His work strips away viewers’ understanding of the physical forms of objects and the traditional storytelling of film while commenting on the general disruption of society and the problems that have arisen due to increasingly advanced technologies. Read More

Recently, the Everson acquired several important works for the permanent collection, including Put Me Down Gently, a monumental fiber installation by artist Sheila Pepe. Put Me Down Gently is currently on display in Sheila Pepe: Hot Mess Formalism, a mid-career survey exhibition which examines how Pepe plays with feminist and craft traditions through drawing, sculpture, and installation. Read More