Scenic Vistas: Landscape as Culture in Early New York

Details:

Boscobel House and Gardens presents Scenic Vistas: Landscape as Culture in Early New York, a sweeping exhibition that explores how landscape depictions shaped domestic life, design, and identity in New York well before the rise of the Hudson River School in the mid-19th century.

On view across the Historic House Museum, Visitor Center Gallery, and Great Lawn, Scenic Vistas brings together pre-1850’s decorative arts alongside contemporary works to reveal the enduring role of the Hudson Valley’s landscapes in art and culture. Objects on display include ceramics, furniture, wallpaper, and textiles by artists living and working in the Hudson Valley.

A highlight of the exhibition is a rare set of maple side chairs from circa 1815, each with a scenic painted back, now undergoing careful restoration after being crushed in Boscobel’s April 2024 ceiling collapse. These works embody resilience and artistry while resonating with the evolving relationship between house, grounds, and landscape.

Contemporary artists in dialogue with these historic objects include Kat Howard, Betsy Jacks, Kieran Kinsella, and James McElhinney, with new commissions by Alison McNulty and Jean-Marc Sovak. Their installations respond directly to Boscobel’s site and history, layering perspectives on landscape, memory, and preservation.

Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Thomas Cole’s formative Hudson River journey, Scenic Vistas underscores how early landscape imagery helped establish aesthetic ideals later embraced by the Hudson River School. The exhibition reminds us that the artistic impulse to frame, idealize, and interpret the Hudson Valley has deep and lasting roots.

Scenic Vistas is included with general admission and open during Boscobel’s public hours, Friday-Monday, 9am to dusk. To view the works on view inside of the Historic House Museum, please be sure to reserve Preservation in Progress guided tour tickets online or in-person. 

Programs

• Opening Reception: September 18 | 5–7 pm (See above for tickets)
• Public Opening: September 19 | All Day, Free with admission
• Panel Discussion: Legacies of the Hudson Valley’s Landscape Culture | October 5
• Lecture: The Distinctive Wappingers Getting to Know “The Men of the East” Through Ceremonial Art with Professor Evan Pritchard | October 23
• Workshops: Plein-air Drawing with James McElhinney | October 24 & November 17
• Virtual Lecture: Scenic Landscapes Ceramics with Assistant Curator Riley Richards | October 30

Program tickets and full details to be announced. Please visit the corresponding program event page for full details, tickets, and more. 

Exhibition Support

Scenic Vistas is made possible through support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the TERRA Foundation, the Decorative Arts Trust, the Putnam Arts Council, and generous loans from partnering museums and private collections.