Reflections on the Parrish's 125th Anniversary

On Friday, May 26, at 6 p.m., Parrish Art Museum Chief Curator Emeritus Alicia G. Longwell, Ph.D., will give a talk on the history of the museum as it celebrates its 125th anniversary. The talk is the first of a series of lectures and conversations that will delve into the Parrish’s rich and storied history. In her talk, Longwell will focus on the impact of former board president Rebecca Bolling Littlejohn’s revitalization of the museum beginning in 1952, and reflect on her own four-decade career at the Parrish prior to her retirement in 2022.

In 1952, Littlejohn began a crusade to rename, rebrand, and revive the waning institution, bringing it into the 20th century. As part of her strategy, she focused on developing the collection beginning with acquisitions of the first William Merritt Chase paintings, as well as works by contemporary East End-based artists Fairfield Porter, Larry Rivers, and John D. Graham. Likewise, during her tenure, Longwell was integral in building the Museum’s collection through identifying and pursuing acquisitions, including major works by Ross Bleckner, Mary Heilmann, Lonnie Holley, Elizabeth Peyton, David Salle, Alan Shields, and Joe Zucker. Coincidentally, she chose John Graham as the topic of her dissertation toward her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Among Longwell’s most notable curatorial achievements at the Parrish are “Sand: Memory, Meaning and Metaphor” (2008), “John Graham: Maverick Modernist” (2017) and “Affinities for Abstraction: Women Artists on Eastern Long Island, 1950-2020” (2021). She ushered the museum into its new building in Water Mill, planning the inaugural installations of the Parrish collection for the 2012 opening that featured the exhibition “Malcolm Morley: Painting, Paper, Process” (2012). Longwell organized numerous survey exhibitions including “Dorothea Rockburne: In My Mind’s Eye” (2011) and “North Fork/South Fork: East End Art Now” (2004), as well as solo exhibitions on the work of artists Barbara Bloom, Marsden Hartley, Frederick Kiesler, Alan Shields, Esteban Vicente and Jack Youngerman, among many others.

Admission to this talk in the museum’s Lichtenstein Theater is $16 ($5 members, $12 seniors, free for students and children). Advance ticket purchase with preevent registration is recommended at parrishart.org. Parrish Art Museum is at 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill.