NEW PALTZ, NY.- The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art presents Museum, Mission and Meaning: Selections from the Collections. This installation marks the first in a series of long-term installations in three of the SDMA’s spectacular east wing galleries, dedicated to displaying work from its diverse collections. A museum’s value is determined, to a large extent, by the uniqueness of the objects it holds in trust, and how it interprets and uses the contents of its collections. The works on display here are designed to demonstrate the growth and development of collections at the SDMA, and to underscore the areas of focus and strength that are particular to the museum.

Works on display will include the following:

Morgan Anderson Gallery - A survey of 19th and 20th century American prints, drawings, paintings, and sculpture selected from the permanent collection. The SDMA has a special commitment to collecting important works of art created by artists whose careers are linked to the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions. Works from the permanent collection on display in the Morgan Anderson Gallery will include including works by George Inness, Milton Avery, George Bellows, Bolton Coit Brown, Ilya Bolotowsky, Doris Lee, Lilly Ente, Eugene Speicher, Charles Rosen, Austin Mecklem, Theodore Roszak, Richard Segalman, and Don Nice. Many of the artists featured in this gallery were associated with the historic Woodstock Art Colony.

Howard Greenberg Family Gallery - First dedicated in 2005, this gallery focuses on the SDMA’s extensive photography holdings, which include both the museum’s own permanent collection and the collection of the Center for Photography at Woodstock which is housed at the SDMA. Works on view will include major recent acquisitions, including two rare issues of Alfred Stieglitz’s magazine Camera Work. The collections span a broad cross-section of the history of photography, from 19th century images of the Adirondacks by Seneca Ray Stoddard and pictorialilst portraits by Eva Watson Schütze, to work by renowned mid-20th century photographers such as Aaron Siskind, Edward Steichen, Josef Sudek, Sid Grossman, and Weegee, to significant bodies of work by more contemporary figures like Larry Fink, Mark Goodman, Joel Meyerowitz, and Allen Ginsberg.

Corridor Gallery - Committed by its mission to collecting, researching, interpreting, and exhibiting works of art from diverse cultures, the SDMA’s permanent collection spans a period of almost 4,000 years, and includes art and artifacts from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. On view in the Corridor Gallery will be outstanding examples from the museum’s rarely seen world study collection, including Chinese and Japanese woodblock prints, Australian bark paintings, and pre-Colombian art and artifacts. Made newly accessible through this installation, this broad group of works serves to complement museum’s other holdings, and to support the teaching mission of the college.