The Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York

Mountainville, New York

Mountainville is a hamlet in the western section of the town of Cornwall, in Orange County, New York, USA. It is mostly wooded, lightly populated area, located in the narrow valley of Woodbury and Moodna creeks between Schunemunk Mountain and the Hudson Highlands. The New York State Thruway and NY...

 is an open air museum

Open air museum

An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open-air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open-air museums are variously known as...

 which has extended the concept of a "sculpture garden

Sculpture garden

A sculpture garden is an outdoor garden dedicated to the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings....

" to become a "sculpture landscape." Founded in 1960 by Ralph E. Ogden as a museum for Hudson Valley painters

Hudson River school

The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...

, it soon expanded into a major sculpture venue with the acquisition of works from the estate of sculptor David Smith

David Smith (sculptor)

David Roland Smith was an American Abstract Expressionist sculptor and painter, best known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures.-Biography:...

. The site is approximately 500 acres (2 km²) of meadow and woodland located about an hour north of Manhattan. The center is so named because of its proximity to Storm King State Park

Storm King State Park

Storm King State Park is a state park in Orange County, New York in the USA. The park is in the southeast part of the Town of Cornwall, next to the Hudson River.The park is undeveloped, with limited parking, and offers hiking, and seasonal deer hunting....

 and Storm King Mountain.

Dorothy Mayhall

Dorothy Mayhall

Dorothy Mayhall was an American museum director and sculptor. She worked at art museums in New York and Connecticut, primarily exhibiting contemporary art.- Early years :...

 was a director there.

Collection

A permanent collection of monumental works has been sited in grand outdoor "rooms". There is a core collection of pieces by modern masters such as
Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...

,
David Smith

David Smith (sculptor)

David Roland Smith was an American Abstract Expressionist sculptor and painter, best known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures.-Biography:...

,
Mark di Suvero

Mark di Suvero

Marco Polo "Mark" di Suvero is an American abstract expressionist sculptor born Marco Polo Levi in Shanghai, China in 1933 to Italian expatriates. He immigrated to San Francisco, California in 1942 with his family. From 1953 to 1957, he attended the University of California, Berkeley to study...

,
Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

, Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

, Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...

, and Louise Nevelson.

These are joined with more recent large-scale sculptures by contemporary sculptors including
Magdalena Abakanowicz

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Magdalena Abakanowicz is a Polish sculptor. She is notable for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium. She was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Poland from 1965 to 1990 and a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles in 1984...

,
Alice Aycock

Alice Aycock

-Biography:Aycock studied at Douglass College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1968. She then went to New York City where she studied for her masters at Hunter College, and where she was taught and supervised by Robert Morris; she graduated in 1971...

,
Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy, OBE is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.-Life and career:The son of F...

,
Alexander Liberman

Alexander Liberman

Alexander Semeonovitch Liberman was a Russian-American magazine editor, publisher, painter, photographer, and sculptor. He held senior artistic positions during his 32 years at Condé Nast Publications.-Biography:When his father took a post advising the Soviet government, the family moved to Moscow...

,
Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt

Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....

, and Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...

. Maya Lin

Maya Lin

Maya Ying Lin is an American artist who is known for her work in sculpture and landscape art. She is the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Personal life:...

's outdoor installation, "Storm King Wavefield" (2009), consists of seven long rows of undulating land forms, like waves.

The grounds

The development of the Storm King landscape has been the work of more than 40 years. Vistas of distant mountains contrast with fields of waving native grasses and woodlands. A 1935 residence designed after a Norman chateau has been converted to use as the Museum Building. In addition to nine galleries it houses a museum shop and offices. There is a picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

 area located in the vicinity of the artwork.

Inspired by Storm King

The Storm King site has been identified by collector Alan Gibbs

Alan Gibbs

Alan Gibbs is a New Zealand businessman, entrepreneur, and art patron; and one of New Zealand's wealthiest residents. National Business Review magazine estimates his wealth at $450 million.-Career:...

as one source of inspiration for his private outdoor sculpture museum and landscape in New Zealand.

External links

• Official website
• Overview of Storm King ArtFacts.net