Living in Style:
Selections from the George Way Collection
of Dutch Fine and Decorative Art
On view until December 16
Featuring over 100 17th- and 18th-century Dutch items from the Netherlands—including 22 oil paintings, a rich diversity of interior furnishings, and decorative and utilitarian objects—the exhibition is installed in a period room in the historic Jean Hasbrouck House (ca. 1721) and celebrates Dutch culture which flourished in the 1600s and 1700s in New York State’s New Netherland Colony.
A catalogue for the exhibition with text by Ruth Piwonka is available for purchase at the Museum Shop in the DuBois Fort Visitor Center and online.
Tours
George Way will lead private exhibition tours Sunday, September 16, and Sunday, October 14, at 2 PM. Private tours are $20 ($18 for seniors, active military members, veterans, students, and members). Register at https://huguenotstreet.z2systems.com/np/clients/huguenotstreet/eventRegistration.jsp?event=1661&.
The exhibition may also be viewed as part of regular HHS tours. Ninety-minute tours of the HHS campus are available hourly beginning at 10 am, with the last tour departing the DuBois Fort Visitor Center at 4 pm. Guided tours are $15 (10% off for seniors and Friends of Historic Huguenot Street). Free for SUNY New Paltz students, children under 12, and active military families as part of the Blue Star Museums program. Public programs are offered year-round. Visit the calendar of events for more information.
Ruth Piwonka has contributed the text for the full-color catalogue, Living in Style. Piwonka has worked as a material culture historian for over 40 years. She is the author of A Portrait of Livingston Manor, 1686‒1850 (1986); and co-author with Roderic H. Blackburn of Remembrance of Patria: Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1606‒1776 (1988); and A Visible Heritage, Columbia County, New York: A History of Art and Architecture (1996, 2000). Piwonka has contributed to several other projects including New World Dutch Studies, Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776 (1987) and Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick (2009).
George Way has been a collector of fine Dutch 17th- and 18th-century furniture, paintings, and decorative arts for over fifty years. He began his collection as a teenager; today, it is recognized as one of the finest private collections of Dutch and English furniture, artifacts, and fine arts in the country. As one of America’s leading experts in 17th-century furniture, Mr. Way served as a consultant for Christie’s New York, and has made guest appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show, among others. He was named one of the top 100 collectors in America by Art & Antiques for four consecutive years (1989–92).
Funding for the project has been provided by a grant from the Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust and a private donation.