SOUTHAMPTON, NY.- The Parrish Art Museum will open the doors of its new home to the public on Saturday, November 10, 2012. Located on fourteen acres in Water Mill, NY, the 34,400-square-foot, Herzog & de Meuron- designed building will be the first art museum built on the East End of Long Island in more than a century, and will be the cultural centerpiece and most recognizable architectural landmark in the region. The new building has a budget of $26.2 million, 95% of which has been raised to date.
The November 10 grand opening will be free to the general public. Free admission continues throughout the long weekend—Sunday, November 11, and Monday, November 12, Veterans Day. Preceding the public opening, a series of special events for the many stakeholders who have made the new building possible—donors, trustees, the building team, government officials, artists, members, and volunteers—will take place on November 3 and November 4. Museum members, donors, and residents of the Southampton and Tuckahoe Common School Districts will enjoy special access to the Museum from Monday, November 5 through Friday, November 9.
“We could not be prouder of this amazing accomplishment,” Director Terrie Sultan said. “The new building is a beautiful embodiment of the creative legacy of the East End, and with light-filled galleries, a flexible multi-purpose performance space, and many other public amenities, the Parrish will take its place as a real center for cultural engagement for the entire East End.”
According to Norman Peck, Treasurer of the Board of Trustees and member of the Building Committee, “After a journey that started for me in 1998, the completion of the new Parrish is like arriving in the Promised Land. This museum stands for warmth and education of an aesthetic nature for future generations.”
The new structure will nearly double the size of the existing facility on Jobs Lane, and provide triple the exhibition space, with 12,200 square feet of pristine and flexible gallery space. Of these, 4,600 square feet will be available for presenting special exhibitions while 7,600 square feet are dedicated to installations of the Museum’s permanent collection. The collection features more than 2,600 works ranging from the nineteenth century to the present, a portion of which will be on view for the first time in the Museum’s 115-year history. From masterworks by American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and post-war American realist Fairfield Porter, to important examples of work by contemporary painters and sculptors Chuck Close, April Gornik, Elizabeth Peyton, Alan Shields, and Keith Sonnier, as well as such masters as Dan Flavin, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, and Esteban Vicente, the permanent collection galleries will offer visitors fresh and exciting visual experiences year-round.
“The galleries are the heart and soul of the new Museum,” according to Alicia Longwell, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education. “Now, for the first time, the Parrish will have the wherewithal to make available on a permanent basis our distinguished collection of American art, while simultaneously presenting special exhibitions.” A series of north-facing skylights will allow for natural light to be evenly filtered throughout the galleries.
Inaugural Exhibition, Malcolm Morley: On Paper
In addition to the installation of the permanent collection, the Museum will present as the inaugural special exhibition Malcolm Morley: On Paper, which will be on view from November 10, 2012 through January 13, 2013. For more than 40 years, the paintings of Malcolm Morley (b. 1931, England) have heightened our perceptions and expanded the possibilities for ways of seeing the world around us. Little explored until now is the seminal role of paper in his art-making process, whether in watercolors sourced for paintings, scale models that float above the surface of the canvas, or free-standing sculpture. Malcolm Morley: On Paper will illuminate the artist’s working method while underscoring the seamless transition among paper mediums, including screenprint, etching, and monotype, and the dazzling passages of this progression. Morley has maintained a house and studio on the East End of Long Island in Bellport, New York, since 1983.
New Acquisitions
The remainder of the temporary exhibition galleries will feature an installation of recent acquisitions, including Ross Bleckner’s Architecture of the Sky (1990), Eric Freeman’s Red Inside Green (2005), Louise Nevelson’s Untitled (ca. late 1970s), Dorothea Rockburne’s The Cross is in the Center, Tintoretto (1988- 1989), and Keith Sonnier’s Palm: Saw Tooth Blatt (2004).
The New Building
The new building is designed to reference the vernacular architecture of the East End, to emphasize the relationship of art to nature, and to be flexible and welcoming. In addition to the galleries, there will be a 2,400 square foot multipurpose room that can be configured for a range of uses, including film, lectures, live performances, seminars, dinners, and receptions. A café located next to the lobby will offer salads, sandwiches, desserts, as well as beer and wine. Weather permitting, the café can open onto an expansive covered terrace for outdoor dining. The terrace will also be used for receptions, festivals, performances, and workshops. In addition to the terrace, a cast concrete bench and covered walkway surround the Museum and allow for contemplation of the landscape. State- of-the-art administrative and support spaces include the climate controlled loading dock, administration offices, conservation, and storage.
The landscape itself is an important aspect of the Museum experience, designed by the renowned landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand. Consisting entirely of native plants, the design evokes the iconic features of the East End— meadow, wetland, scrub woodland, and long views of expansive sky and horizon. Large window walls to the north and south of both the lobby and offices allow views through the building into the surrounding landscape. Members of the community can join in supporting the Museum’s efforts by purchasing trees through the ongoing Landscape Campaign. Individual trees are available for as little as $30.
