Last updated: August 12, 2022
Place
Woodstock Artists Association
Photograph by William Lanford and Chelsea Towers, courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation O
Quick Facts
Location:
28 Tinker Street, Woodstock, New York
Significance:
Art, Social History
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference number 100007685
MANAGED BY:
The building known as the Woodstock Artists Association, known in its early years as the Woodstock Art Association, is locally significant as a long-standing exhibition space that supported the diverse artist colony at Woodstock. The gallery space, located at 28 Tinker Street, is purposefully placed in the heart of Woodstock’s commercial core. Built in in 1921 to the design of architect William Boring, and financed by the Artists Realty Company, the property has continued to provide exhibition opportunities and to support the needs of artists for 100 years.
The Woodstock Artists Association was a direct byproduct of the artist colony, Byrdcliffe, founded by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, Bolton Brown and Hervey White. Whitehead hired two paid collaborators to aid his efforts of creating an experimental colony of his own. Hervey White, a socialist, writer, and social worker at Hull House, and Bolton Brown, head of the art department of Leland Stanford University joined Whitehead by 1900. In 1902, the three began a widespread search across the country for a site for the proposed colony. In late spring of 1902, Brown identified the Village of Woodstock as a potential location, and with agreement from White and Whitehead, began to quietly buy up farmsteads along the mountainside. Under the supervision of Brown and White, construction started on the group of buildings that would become the core of the artist colony. Naming the colony Byrdcliffe, the institution hired instructors by 1903 and the colony began to function.
By 1919 the colony had grown, and as a thriving and expanding group of diverse individuals, Woodstock artists recognized the need for a gallery space. To facilitate this, a group of five artists established two complimentary organizations: The Woodstock Art Association (later changed to Woodstock Artists Association in 1933) who would maintain the exhibition space and set its artistic principles, and the Artists Realty Company who would finance the construction and maintenance of the physical space.
The Woodstock Artist Association made clear that the intended gallery would be inclusive, and all types of art would be shown. While the Association was setting its artistic policies, the Artist Realty Company had selected a site for the gallery, centrally located in the middle of the town. Ideas for the gallery were compiled and sent to architect William Alciphron Boring, a friend of artist Birge Harrison who was one of the original instructors at Byrdcliffe and who lived in Woodstock for most of his life. After studying at the esteemed Ecole des Beaux-Arts school in Paris, Boring worked for McKim, Mead & White for only one year before starting his own practice with Edward Tilton in 1891. His most noted work is his 1897 Immigration Station on Ellis Island. Boring’s original design for the gallery, while generally well received, was too expensive, a simplified version of Boring’s design was accepted, resulting in plans for a sparse, boxlike building placing functionality above all else. The design called for a Colonial Revival style building, with a symmetrical façade, central doorway framed by pilasters, and a simplified pediment. By 1921, the Woodstock Artist Association building was complete, directed by the local builder, Griffin Herrick.
Woodstock continued to flourish as an art colony through the midcentury and had a significant impact on American art broadly. The 1930s brought new and different opportunities for WAA including the installation of a printing press in the gallery basement. Led by Konrad Cramer and Arnold Grant Arnold, an organized artist’s club would print artist lithographs, reducing costs and providing an essential service to the artist community. During the 1940s and 50s the WAA began to sponsor conferences including, The Artists and His World (1947), Art Now (1948), The Artists and the Museum (1950). The WAA continued to hold significant exhibitions and sponsors influential events for the art community through the mid-to-late century.
As the mission of this organization broadened beyond that of a venue for member artists, other activities were added. In 1977, Sam Klein started an archive to preserve and organize all materials relevant to the history of Woodstock art. A large and energetic educational component has been added that includes hundreds of K-12 students from regional school in Kingston and Saugerties. These educational programs involve both art history and art creation, with many student works displayed in the Woodstock Artists Association building.
The Woodstock Artists Association continues to function much as it did early in its history. It provides a place where its member artists can display their works through juried shows. While there are still arguments about how much wall space is allocated to realistic works versus abstract works, as at its founding, the gallery tries "to give free and equal expression" to all.
The Woodstock Artists Association was a direct byproduct of the artist colony, Byrdcliffe, founded by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, Bolton Brown and Hervey White. Whitehead hired two paid collaborators to aid his efforts of creating an experimental colony of his own. Hervey White, a socialist, writer, and social worker at Hull House, and Bolton Brown, head of the art department of Leland Stanford University joined Whitehead by 1900. In 1902, the three began a widespread search across the country for a site for the proposed colony. In late spring of 1902, Brown identified the Village of Woodstock as a potential location, and with agreement from White and Whitehead, began to quietly buy up farmsteads along the mountainside. Under the supervision of Brown and White, construction started on the group of buildings that would become the core of the artist colony. Naming the colony Byrdcliffe, the institution hired instructors by 1903 and the colony began to function.
By 1919 the colony had grown, and as a thriving and expanding group of diverse individuals, Woodstock artists recognized the need for a gallery space. To facilitate this, a group of five artists established two complimentary organizations: The Woodstock Art Association (later changed to Woodstock Artists Association in 1933) who would maintain the exhibition space and set its artistic principles, and the Artists Realty Company who would finance the construction and maintenance of the physical space.
The Woodstock Artist Association made clear that the intended gallery would be inclusive, and all types of art would be shown. While the Association was setting its artistic policies, the Artist Realty Company had selected a site for the gallery, centrally located in the middle of the town. Ideas for the gallery were compiled and sent to architect William Alciphron Boring, a friend of artist Birge Harrison who was one of the original instructors at Byrdcliffe and who lived in Woodstock for most of his life. After studying at the esteemed Ecole des Beaux-Arts school in Paris, Boring worked for McKim, Mead & White for only one year before starting his own practice with Edward Tilton in 1891. His most noted work is his 1897 Immigration Station on Ellis Island. Boring’s original design for the gallery, while generally well received, was too expensive, a simplified version of Boring’s design was accepted, resulting in plans for a sparse, boxlike building placing functionality above all else. The design called for a Colonial Revival style building, with a symmetrical façade, central doorway framed by pilasters, and a simplified pediment. By 1921, the Woodstock Artist Association building was complete, directed by the local builder, Griffin Herrick.
Woodstock continued to flourish as an art colony through the midcentury and had a significant impact on American art broadly. The 1930s brought new and different opportunities for WAA including the installation of a printing press in the gallery basement. Led by Konrad Cramer and Arnold Grant Arnold, an organized artist’s club would print artist lithographs, reducing costs and providing an essential service to the artist community. During the 1940s and 50s the WAA began to sponsor conferences including, The Artists and His World (1947), Art Now (1948), The Artists and the Museum (1950). The WAA continued to hold significant exhibitions and sponsors influential events for the art community through the mid-to-late century.
As the mission of this organization broadened beyond that of a venue for member artists, other activities were added. In 1977, Sam Klein started an archive to preserve and organize all materials relevant to the history of Woodstock art. A large and energetic educational component has been added that includes hundreds of K-12 students from regional school in Kingston and Saugerties. These educational programs involve both art history and art creation, with many student works displayed in the Woodstock Artists Association building.
The Woodstock Artists Association continues to function much as it did early in its history. It provides a place where its member artists can display their works through juried shows. While there are still arguments about how much wall space is allocated to realistic works versus abstract works, as at its founding, the gallery tries "to give free and equal expression" to all.