About the Project
Preservation Long Island has a longstanding tradition of studying the artwork of Edward Lange. In 1979, then-curator Dean F. Failey and researcher Zachary N. Studenroth published a seminal text on the artist's work titled Edward Lange's Long Island that included commentary and illustrations for seventy-six paintings, sketches, and photographs. Over the decades that followed, Preservation Long Island's institutional collection grew to include over two dozen original pieces of Lange's art. Edward Lange Revisited, a gallery exhibition guest-curated in 1990 by Alison Cornish, presented an additional twenty-eight artworks that had been discovered since Failey's and Studenroth's original publication. In 2013, historian Drew W. Crooks authored a book titled Edward Lange: An Early Artist of Olympia and Washington State outlining the latter portion of the artist's life after he moved away from Long Island. Collectively, these scholars developed the foundation for all that we had known about Lange.
The Art of Edward Lange Project is Preservation Long Island's most involved effort relating to the artist to date, conceived by curator Lauren Brincat in 2019 with the goal of tracking down Lange's Long Island views to create an updated catalogue of his art. The final product was developed by curatorial fellow Peter Fedoryk and launched in April of 2022. Fully illustrated with new high-resolution photography, this website has been designed to be accessible to the general public and scholars of Long Island history alike. The Art of Edward Lange Project is also a cooperative initiative with The Long Island Museum, whose staff will open a full-scale gallery exhibition about the artist in September of 2022.
At its core, The Art of Edward Lange Project is a study in the importance of place to people of various backgrounds and cultures across time. Consolidating so many pieces of Lange's art within one database creates a more complete visual narrative of his Long Island than has previously been seen. In turn, this tells us more about the man himself. Perhaps Failey put it best in the introduction to his publication, when he wrote that "Lange's career, like an unfinished canvas, is understandable in its broad outlines but elusive in detail." Few documents survive to provide concrete information about his life. For the most part, his artworks have been our only clues. Forty-three years later, The Art of Edward Lange Project offers a renewed opportunity to search for the details hidden throughout the artist's work. As long as we continue to look, there will always be more to find.
Acknowledgements
Preservation Long Island would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their generous support and help making this project possible.
The Gerry Charitable Trust; NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Treatment Grant Program administered by Greater Hudson Heritage Network (made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, additional support provided from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation); Robert B. Mackay, Director Emeritus of the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities; Toby Kissam, Trustee, Preservation Long Island; Robert C. Hughes, Huntington Town Historian; Zachary N. Studenroth, Historic Preservation Consultant; Robin Horn, Executive Liason, Karen Martin, Archivist, Emily Werner, Collections Manager, Huntington Historical Society; Joshua Ruff, Deputy Director & Director of Collections & Interpretation, Jonathan Olly, Curator, Andrea Squeri, Collections Manager, Molly McGirr, Curatorial Assistant, The Long Island Museum; Deanne Rathke, Staff Director, Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association; Kerrilyn Blee, Registrar & Exhibitions Manager, Heckscher Museum of Art; Mark B. Schlemmer, Registrar for Collections, Cristian Panaite, Curator of Exhibitions, New-York Historical Society; Terry Reid, Curator, Northport Historical Society; Cecily Dyer, Special Collections and Outreach Librarian, Alice Griffin, Archivist, Anna Schwarz, Art Collections and Exhibitions Manager, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History; Elizabeth Marriott, Collections and Exhibit Coordinator, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum; Cindi Verser, Curatorial Assistant, Liz Williams, Manager of Collections Management, The Mariners' Museum and Park; Gary Haglich, Registrar, Nassau County Museum; Amy Grandy, Village Clerk, Inc. Village of Northport; Laura S. Warren, Curator, Port Jefferson Historical Society; Herbert J. Strobel, Program Director, Hallockville Museum Farm; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, Assistant Curator of American Western Art, Joslyn Art Museum; Harry S. Newman, The Old Print Shop, Inc.; Marie Failey; Steve & Elaine Gittelman; Robert H. Falk; Veronica Mollica; Rebecca & Charles Wadsworth