One of the notable attractions in Utica NY is the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute. Named after three generations of a prominent Utica family, it was founded in 1919 as "an artistic, musical and social center." It had started as a museum and now also has several other divisions. The Performing Arts Division presents more than 100 events year-round showcasing world-famous performers as well as rising stars, recitals, cinema, concerts, etc. The School of Art offers courses in dance and art for kids and adults. At PrattMWP, students spend the first two years of their bachelor of fine arts degree before completing their studies at Pratt's main campus in Brooklyn.
The Museum of Art started in Fountain Elms (the home of Helen Munson and her husband James Williams as a house museum showing the family's collection of paintings, prints and decorative furnishings. Helen Elizabeth Munson Williams (1824-94), a prominent philanthropist, left her extensive collection of fine and decorative arts to her two daughters Rachel and Maria, who, with their husbands, half-brothers Thomas and Frederick Proctor, continued their mother's flair for collecting art. The institute opened to the public in May 1936 after the death of Maria, the last member of that family. In 1960, a new building was designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson to house the institute's expanding collection. The restored Fountain Elms mansion now serves as a showcase of Victorian era decorative arts.
On our short visit to Utica on July 1, 2013, we only had time to visit the Johnson building Although normally closed on Mondays, the museum was open probably because of the ongoing art festival (June28-July4) and an exhibition of Andy Warhol prints.
We headed directly to the museum's most prominent exhibit, The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, then considered America's foremost landscape artist and founder/father of the Hudson River School. In this allegorical series, Cole depicts 4 stages in a person' life (Childhood, Youth, Manhood and Old Age) as a voyage on a river. We had trouble tearing ourselves away from this beautiful and awe-inspiring series.
With no other visitors joining the museum tour, we had our own knowledgeable guide to show us the rest of the exhibits. Only a fraction of the museum's 25,000 "American 20th and 21th-century paintings, drawings, sculptures, 19th-century decorative arts, photographs, European paintings, and European and Asian works on paper",were on display at the time. Aside from The Voyage of Life, noteworthy were some works of Picasso, Andy Warhol (Electric Chair) and surprisingly, Samuel Morse (who, unbeknowns to many, was a painter before he became the acknowledged inventor of the electric telegraph and Morse Code). Interesting also were works of Utica sculptor Henry DiSpirito as well as the sophomore class of PrattMWP.
It was overall a very worthwhile and informative experience with enough material to satisfy an art aficionado on a short visit but not too much to overwhelm a less-than-enthusiastic viewer.
310 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13502
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