The Hyde Collection

Charlotte Pruyn Hyde (1867-1963) was born in Glens Falls, NY, into one of the leading industrialist families of the Adirondack region. Her father, Samuel Pruyn, founded Finch, Pruyn & Company, Inc. – a paper manufacturing business – with Jeremiah Finch in 1865. Eventually, Pruyn became the sole owner, thus establishing the foundation of the Pruyn family’s wealth.

Charlotte Pruyn married Louis Fiske Hyde (1866-1934) in 1901, and in 1906 Charlotte’s father asked his son-in-law to leave his law practice in Massachusetts and join the family business in Glens Falls. As a result, the couple returned to Charlotte’s hometown in 1907 and Louis became vice president of the family mill.

Between 1904 and 1912 Charlotte and her sisters built three homes on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River and the family mill. The Boston architect Henry Forbes Bigelow of the architectural firm Bigelow and Wadsworth was commissioned to design all three residences. Each followed the American Renaissance tradition of adapting European architectural traditions to American taste.

Hyde House was completed in 1912. Influenced by contemporary movements regarding interior design, they purchased furnishings and decorative arts that best suited the scale and environment of their home. The Hydes continued to acquire pieces during subsequent summer sojourns to Europe and, more often, from their favorite New York City dealers during their winter stays in New York.

By 1930 their collection had garnered its hallmark – a combination of quality, intimacy, and elegance without excess. When Louis passed away in 1934, approximately one-third of the core collection was assembled. In 1952, eighteen years after her husband’s death, Charlotte established the Trust Agreement that would establish the future museum. Mrs. Hyde died on August 28, 1963. Three months later, The Hyde Collection opened to the general public.

In the spring of 1964, the new museum held its first special exhibition, a significant selection of drawings and sculpture by David Smith. In 1984, Hyde House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. One year later, The Hyde Collection was first accredited by the American Association of Museums.

As the Museum’s role in the region grew, the trustees began to consider the issues of managing the art collection and its increasing educational responsibilities solely within the confines of a historic house. In 1985, the Museum acquired nearby Cunningham House for its administrative offices and proposed a major expansion to connect it with Hyde House. Designated the Education Wing, this addition was considered the optimum solution for preserving the Hydes’ legacy, enabling the expansion of the collection, and fulfilling the educational objectives of the Trust Agreement.

The Education Wing was designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and opened in celebration of the Museum’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 1989. With this addition of four exhibition galleries, an auditorium, art storage, classrooms, and a museum shop, The Hyde consciously broadened its scope of purpose. From an active special exhibition schedule, to concerts, lectures, and family and school programs, the new wing greatly enhanced the Museum’s involvement within its community and region.

By 1999, significant growth had combined with compelling preservation needs to necessitate the creation of a new strategic plan. Following three years of planning and preparation, the Museum publicly outlined their objectives by unveiling Preserving the Legacy: a Comprehensive Plan for the Future. Eighteen months of expansion, restoration, and renovation followed and the plan was successfully completed in May 2004.

In 2013 The Hyde celebrated fifty years as a museum and is now a dynamic institution with an active education department, on-going temporary exhibitions by major world-renowned artists, concerts, and lectures, much of which is supported by an enthusiastic membership base.

By preserving our founders’ legacy and addressing our most pressing logistical needs, we have effectively and proactively prepared the Museum for future service to the entire region.

Season And Hours Open
2013: Tuesday – Saturday: 10 am – 5 pm; Sunday: 12 noon – 5pm Closed Monday & most national holidays
About This Building And Site
Hyde House and the Museum’s modern Education Wing are the center of the property and are flanked by two additional historic houses, built by the sisters of the Museum’s founder, Charlotte Pruyn Hyde. The homes of the three women and their families overlook the original family paper-manufacturnig business. Though no longer owned by the family’s descendants, it still operates today as Finch Paper LLC.

Don’t Miss This When Visiting
There is not a room in Hyde House that does not hold a treasure for the eyes. Old Masters works by artists such as El Greco, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Ingres are juxtaposed with modern works by Degas and Picasso. The Museum also has compelling temporary exhibitions in two galleries throughout the year.

Identify And Describe The Management Organization
The Hyde Collection operates as a non-profit under The Hyde Trust.

Suggested Further Reading
A Shared LIfe: A History of The Hyde Collection’s Founding Family

Additional Notes And Comments
2014 Exhibitions

January 25 – April 20, 2014:
Ansel Adams: Early Works – Forty vintage prints by the legendary master of American landscape photography. This exhibition offers a fresh look at key images by the artist from the 1920s through the 1950s, and illustrates the evolution of Adams’ style.

Photo-Secession: Painterly Masterworks of Turn-of-the-Century Photography – Original masterworks from an international circle of painterly photographers known as the Photo-Secession. Emphasizing the role of craftsmanship in photography, the American ‘triumvirate’ of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand are represented.

* Both exhibitions are from the Collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg and are organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions.

January 25 – May 11, 2014
Winter Light: Selections from the Collection of Thomas Clark- A selection of twenty winter landscape paintings. In the early twentieth century, winter scenes emerged as a major genre for American landscape painters. Major practitioners of the winter landscape aesthetic in this exhibition include Aldro Thompson Hibbard, Hobart Nichols, and Arthur James Emery Powell.

May 3 – June 1, 2014
The Juried Show – The 23rd Annual Regional Juried High School Exhibition features works from competing area students who hail from Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Hamilton and Essex counties. Works are reviewed and selected by a jury composed of local art professionals.

June 14 – September 14, 2014
Larry Kagan: Lying Shadows – Larry Kagan has engaged with the process of creating a hybrid combination of the solid component of steel wire sculpture and the specific shadow it casts on the wall in a way that challenges expectations. The exhibition will present over twenty wall-mounted steel sculptures illustrating his development of this concept.

June 14 – September 14, 2014
Emerging from the Shadows: Edward Hopper and his Contemporaries – Works by Hopper, Ansel Adams, Armin Landeck, and Albert E. Flanagan reflect the theme of shadows in art.

September 27 – January 4, 2015
Picturing America: Signature Works from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art – The exhibition presents paintings and sculptures that describe the American experience from the pre-Revolutionary War era to early Modernism. Renowned artists represented in this selection include Milton Avery, Mary Cassatt, John Singleton Copley, and Childe Hassam.

September 27 – January 4, 2015
Anne Diggory: Hybrid Visions – works by the artist Anne Diggory explore “hybrid media,” a multi-layered process combining sections of photography and painting. The exhibition features a selection of her dramatic landscapes that juxtapose moving water and changing skies against the seemingly permanance of the land.

Fees
yes
ADA Accessible
yes
Tours Are Offered
yes
Site is Child-friendly
yes
Site is Pet-friendly
no
Comments
What a nice and captivating Revelation!

Saudat Asabe Arome Abubakar, 10/2/2015

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The Hyde Collection

Latitude: 43.310255 Longitude: -73.63377 Elevation: 316 ft

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