When you step into The Flat Iron Gallery this month, you'll take a step into Peekskill's past.
What did Peekskill look like in the 1930's? That's what visitors will find out when they attend this very special art exhibit of paintings by artist Arthur Frishke at the gallery on South Division Street.
The collection features landmark oils of the downtown and the riverfront by Frischke, a well known 20th century artist born in New York City who studied at the Cooper Union Art School and the National Academy of Design. The exhibit includes scenes of Annsville Creek, Lower Hudson Street, the Depew Homestead, Riverview Terrace, Lower Main St. with a view of “St. Mary’s”, Route 9 in Peekskill, and the Bear Mt. Bridge while it was being constructed from “Steamboat Landing”.
Visitors will not only learn something about the city's past, but understand something about its present—how the collection was saved local residents who care deeply about art, and about the City of Peekskill.
For the past thirty years, the eight Frischke oils were in the collection of Anne and Lloyd Moss of Croton, according to gallery director Wendie Garber, who organized the exhibit. Prior to the exhibit’s opening, Ms. Garber invited Sybil Canaan, retiring director of the Field Library, to view the collection.
Ms. Canaan was taken with the paintings and envisioned the entire collection being acquired by the Field Library to be enjoyed by the Peekskill community and other visitors for decades to come. She contacted Dr. Bernard S. Yudowitz of Weston, MA, a graduate of Peekskill High School, who made a generous donation for the purchase of the paintings and donation to the library.
Mr. Frischke painted landscapes, still life and portraits, but he was particularly fond of the Hudson and the towns alongside the river from New York to the Highlands, according to a gallery press release.
