Kykuit Season Opens Saturday with Superb Architecture, Gardens, Views, and Art, Art, Art

From May 7 through November 6, 2011, the Rockefeller estate Kykuit (“lookout” in Dutch) will again be open for tours.  High on a hill, 500 feet above sea level, it offers fabulous river views, terraced gardens, outdoor sculpture, and paintings for many tastes.  The Coach Barn shows the family’s antique cars, saddles and harnesses, and buckboard surreys.  Kykuit was home to four generations of Rockefellers and is now a National Trust for Historic Preservation property. Tour groups not only see the beauty of the estate but also hear about the history and accomplishments of the family, from John D. Rockefeller Sr., the founder of Standard Oil, to today’s commitment to philanthropy, public service, the arts, and the environment.

A special addition to the art collection for this season only is the Picasso Guernica tapestry, on display courtesy of Happy Rockefeller and Nelson Rockefeller, Jr.  It’s one of a series collected by Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York State governor from 1959 to 1973, who loved modern art and wanted to share his passion with others.  The tapestries, based on Picasso’s famous oil paintings, were designed by the artist and executed by Rene and Jacqueline de la Baume Durrbach.  Nelson is said to have admired their bold, striking look, and portability.  Many others in the series, including Three Musicians and Night Fishing in Antibes, are permanently on view in the downstairs galleries. 

Guernica, the painting on which the visiting tapestry is based, is a powerful antiwar statement which brought to the world’s eyes the horrors of the 1937 bombing of the town by Germans in support of Franco.  The painting traveled extensively, and was not allowed to go back to Spain until democracy was restored, as Picasso had specified. The painting spent many years at the Museum of Modern Art and was reluctantly returned to Spain in 1981, where it can now be seen in Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofia.  The tapestry based on it, here at Kykuit for the season, has also traveled quite a bit, including a long stay in the United Nations.  It’s been to universities and museums in New York and Maine, and to four cities in Japan, and is just back from the Whitechapel Gallery in London, where it was seen by more than 300,000 visitors.  It will go to a new home in a Texas museum after this visit. 

Rob Schweitzer of Historic Hudson Valley shared the following quote from Nelson Rockefeller about the tapestry: 

Alfred Barr (Director of collections at the Museum of Modern Art at that time) was disturbed by my purchase of what he had heard was just a distorted copy of one of the greatest paintings of the twentieth century…However, when Alfred actually saw the tapestry for the first time, he completely changed his mind.  He realized that Picasso had created a totally new work…sensitively and brilliantly adapted to the different medium,…a stunningly beautiful work of art in its own right.

The permanent collection has something for almost every taste, with some paintings hanging on the walls of rooms the family had used for daily living and others downstairs in the gallery.  You’ll find a variety of portraits including Andy Warhol’s depictions of Nelson and Happy Rockefeller; John Singer Sargent’s elegant portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., a Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington, and one of the few Abraham Lincoln portraits done from life, by Joseph Alexander Ames.  You can see a depiction of the Oceanus Fountain, painted on location at Kykuit by John Singer Sargent, and you can see the real fountain outside the house.  Abstract paintings include one by Kenzo Okada that has been interpreted to be his version of Kykuit’s own grounds.  A few of the other modern painters represented in the collection are Karel Appel, Grace Hartigan, and Robert Motherwell.  Both John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his son Nelson collected ceramics, and in the eclectic way the family displayed their works, a copy of Miro’s Hirondelle D’Amour shares a room with figures from the Ming dynasty, among other things. There are striking outdoor sculptures such as the vividly red Lippencott II  by James Rosati, and masterworks by Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Aristide Maillol, Elie Nadelman, among others. 

For those of you who like to make your own art:  photography is permitted outdoors as long you’re with a tour group, and a painting class on the grounds, called “The Artist’s Eye,” will take place in late August. The class is an intensive five-day session taught by Randolph A. Williams, Professor of Studio and Art Education at Manhattanville College; an instructor and consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bruce Museum, and the Neuberger Museum; and Artistic Director of the New York State Summer School of the Visual Arts.  For more information, check back with Patch or with Historic Hudson Valley in a few weeks. 

Tour tickets can be purchased in advance online at www.hudsonvalley.org, or by calling 914-631-8200 (service charge additional) or at the Kykuit Visitor Center at Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow.  Weekend tours fill up quickly, so advance purchasing is highly recommended.  There are four tours to choose from: Classic, Grand, Timesaver, and Selected Highlights.  Ticket prices range from $21-$40, but for Historic Hudson Valley or National Trust members, the cost is reduced to $13-$30.  If you have friends or family coming from out of the area, check out special packages for accommodations and visits to all the Historic Hudson Valley properties at www.tarrytownhouseestate.com and Metro-North packages at www.mta.info.