THE ROBERT D. L. GARDINER FOUNDATION
AWARDS $50,000 TO GUILD HALL
TO SUPPORT THE DIGITIZATION OF THE MUSEUM’S
PERMANENT COLLECTION

 

The Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation has awarded Guild Hall $50,000 to support the digitization of the Museum’s Permanent Collection. The grant funds the institutional goal of building a publicly accessible, searchable online database of over 2400 artworks that serve as a critical resource for understanding Eastern Long Island’s legacy as an artist colony. Guild Hall’s Permanent Collection is comprised of works by artists with ties to the East End and includes masterworks from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries encompassing paintings, sculpture, prints, watercolors, photographs, and drawings by internationally distinguished artists such Winslow Homer, Thomas Moran, Childe Hassam, and Jackson Pollock.

“Artists represented in the Guild Hall Permanent Collection, all of whom have an association with our region, have contributed significantly to American art,” said Andrea Grover, Executive Director, Guild Hall. “Many of them have produced work that altered the course of art history, not only in America but around the world. By having the Collection online, our region’s historical resources will become globally accessible.”

“The Gardiner Foundation is delighted to have this opportunity to support Guild Hall, one of Long Island’s premiere cultural resources. The project will readily allow researchers access to the treasures of their collections. This venture highlights Long Island’s artistic heritage and its place within the historic content of American Art.” said Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

Jess Frost, Associate Curator and Registrar of the Permanent Collection, will manage the project with photography beginning in January and completed by June 2018. Christina Strassfield, Museum Director, who has overseen the maintenance, conservation, exhibition, cataloguing, and accessioning of the collection objects for over 20 years will supervise each stage of development.

The Permanent Collection began with a donation of a portrait of Thomas Moran and grew as members of the Tile Club (Frederick Dielman, R. Swain Gifford), American Barbizons (Howard Russell Butler, Gaines Ruger Donoho), the Surrealists (Salvador Dali, Max Ernst), Abstract Expressionists (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning), Pop artists (Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein), and Neo-Expressionists (Eric Fischl, Julian Schnabel) migrated here. It includes all mediums of painting, as well as sculpture, photography, works on paper, prints, and mixed media.

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THE ROBERT DAVID LION GARDINER FOUNDATION, established in 1987, primarily supports the study of New York State history. Robert David Lion Gardiner was, until his death in August 2004, the 16th Lord of the Manor of Gardiner’s Island. The Gardiner family and their descendants have owned Gardiner’s Island since 1639, obtained as part of a royal grant from King Charles I of England. The Foundation is inspired by Robert David Lion Gardiner’s personal passion for New York history.

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Harvey Ginsberg Postcard Collection. Courtesy of the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.

Guild Hall

 

Founded over 85 years ago, Guild Hall is the Hampton’s year-round visual and performing arts center wholly dedicated to serving the residents, members, families, and artists of the East End. The center offers enriching experiences by presenting relevant and meaningful programs and events, working in collaboration with artists, and providing a meeting place for the community. For more information, visit www.GuildHall.org.

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