Portfolio at NYU

Posted 05.27.03
Storm King Art Center

By Carola Mandelbaum

April, 2003

The Storm King Art Center doesn't have walls, ceilings or paintings. The deep blue sky, the "green walls" set by the Schunnemunk and Storm King Mountains, and native forests compose the perfect frame for more than one hundred sculptures that rise fifty-feet-high into the sky. Made of steel, wood or stone, the art pieces stretch in every direction forming a magic composition of unison and dialog between art and nature.

The sculptures, by major international artists including Isamu Noguchi, Richard Serra and Henry Moore, are carefully situated on the 500 pristine acres of land that compose the Center. They serenely become part of the landscape, each one dominating a site, a hill, a forest or a lawn, creating a powerful visual experience. "It's surreal," said Roee Raz, a photographer from New York City, who visited the sculpture garden on a stormy autumn afternoon when the upstate New York foliage beams millions of colors, "It makes a fantastic playground for photography."

Visiting Storm King is an unforgettable experience that's different with each visit, as changing seasons, light, and weather transform the landscape and therefore, the artwork. "Storm King is as much about the land and the sky as it is about the sculptures," said David Coller, director of the Center, "Most people prefer to come on a bright sunny day, but the pieces might appear more accurately to what the artist wanted to portray in a foggy winter afternoon or in a thunderstorm."

Claimed to be the largest sculptures garden in the world, the museum has a permanent collection, dating from 1945 to the present, which includes several specially commissioned site-specific works and several annual temporary exhibitions, attracting visitors from all over the world. Although most guests are American tourist, Storm King is getting increasing attention in foreign travel magazines. "Wondering through Storm King is a very special experience," said Martha Solari a visitor from Argentina who came here on recommendation of a close friend. "I knew the work of many of the artists, but I had seen them indoors. Here their works are unlimited, they grow and accommodate to nature in a prefect way," she said, "My favorite was Noguchi's fountain-like stones." This piece, Momo Toro, is a perfect example of how the sculptures at Storm King inhabit the landscape; placed close to five old oak trees the stones are especially sensitive to the changing sunlight because it makes the granite change color both slightly and dramatically and the forms of the stone modify their appearance, depending on whether they are in the light or shadow.

Collens cannot decide on which is his favorite piece, "I have preferred seasons to view each one of the installations," he said. Since he started working at the Center in 1974 he has seen many changes and improvements in the layout of the sculptures and is proud to have been part of the process that resulted in what he calls the "Storm King experience." Acting chief curator, Collens takes part in the selection process of the pieces, which isn't guided solely by its aesthetic and artistic consideration, as is customary for "normal" museums, but includes deliberations about its durability, its scale and compatibility with the scenery.

The museum was founded in 1960 by Ralph E. Ogden and Peter Stern, trained engineers and business partners, with the idea of honoring the Hudson Valley painters, nineteen-century American romantic landscape painters, like Albert Bierstadt and Federick Church, who worked mainly in the vicinity of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. But Ogden became increasingly interested in sculpture, and as the saying goes, timing is everything: big-scale pieces began to be produced at that time and could be acquired at relatively low prices. He bought 13 pieces by David Smith and set them throughout his newly acquired 180 acres of land. Later the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation, presided by Peter Stern, bought the remaining land and more sculptures. "That's how it all started," remembers Collens, "Today we have larger scale pieces that better fit into the landscape. We also create mowing patterns in order to enhance the sculpture."

Given the expanse of the terrain, the museum takes at least three hours to explore, considering visitors usually stop for a picnic lunch in the forests that surround the property or on the manicured lawns close to the museum building, a Normandy-style chateau overlooking the valley. This spring marks the last chance for visiting the three-year exhibit by Alexander Calder "Grand Intuitions." Some of his biomorphic steel forms, which seem like giants about to walk away, are placed in a field surrounded by round bales of newly harvested hay. Additionally, new installations by American artists Chakala Booker and Peter Lundberg will be unveiled next month. Storm King is a must-see experience for this coming season.