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Robert Nardolillo – “The Essence of Hoboken”
April 15 - May 21, 2017.
Join us for a free opening reception for our latest Upper Gallery art exhibition: “The Essence of Hoboken: Watercolors by Robert Nardolillo.” These dynamic and moody watercolor paintings by the Brooklyn-born artist who now lives in the suburbs, express the urban energy of the Mile Square City. He discovered the city’s unique beauty when his daughters moved to Hoboken after college. Meet the artist at the opening reception for his works on Saturday, Apr. 15 from 2 – 5 pm. His works will remain on view through Sunday, May 21. For a preview of his work, visit the artist’s website.
The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: 11-Part Lecture Series
August 21, 2016 – December 10, 2017 • 4pm
Location: Hoboken Historical Museum, 1301 Hudson St., (201) 656-2240
In the summer of 1914, nationalist fervor drove European nations into war. Although the United States did not enter the Great War until the spring of 1917, the conflict that would later be known as World War I had an enormous impact on Hoboken, a small city with large immigrant communities and a busy port.
As early as July 1916, the war intruded on Hudson County with the explosion of a munitions depot on Black Tom Island, just off the coast of Jersey City. The explosion shattered glass for miles around, yet the incident was initially downplayed, to avoid ramping up public support for America’s entry into World War I.
When America formally entered the war on April 6, 1917, Hoboken’s waterfront became central to the war effort as the government seized the German ships docked there and commandeered the piers, which became the army’s port of embarkation for American troops. Some 2 million soldiers passed through Hoboken on their way to or from Europe.
Near the end of the war, General John Pershing rallied the troops for a swift conclusion to the war with the rallying cry, “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken.”
Learn more about the “war to end all wars” through a series of lectures by visiting authors, scholars and professors, from August 21, 2016 through December 10, 2017. Topics ranged from the rhetoric that characterized the role of women during WWI to a critical view of the wartime leadership of Woodrow Wilson. See below for videos from the series.
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From Here to Over There: the WWI Legacy of Fort Dix, NJ - Jamien ParksOn August 27, 2017, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Jamien Parks, veteran and historian for the United States Air Force, currently assigned to the 621st Contingency Response Wing (621 CRW), Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB…View More
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Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Port of Embarkation - Mark Van EllsOn May 7, 2017, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Mark Van Ells, who is the author of America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide (Interlink Books, 2014), as…View More
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Harlem's Rattlers and The Great War - Jeffrey SammonsOn November 6, 2016, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Jeffrey T. Sammons is an American historian and professor. His areas of research and interest include African-American history, military history, and sports history. He…View More
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A Seaport at War With Itself - Steven H JaffeOn April 23, 2017, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Steven Jaffe, a writer and historian specializing in the history of New York City. Jaffe is a curator at the…View More
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A City on the Eve of War - Christina Ziegler-McPhersonOn November 20, 2016, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Christina Ziegler-McPherson, a public historian in the New York City area. She holds a PhD in history from the University…View More
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Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen - Christopher CapozzolaOn March 12, 2017, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Christopher Capozzola, who teaches courses in political and legal history, war and the military, and the history of international migration…View More
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Woodrow Wilson's Failure of Wartime Leadership - Richard StrinerOn December 11, 2016, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Richard Striner, Professor of History at Washington College, author of Woodrow Wilson and World War I: A Burden Too Great…View More
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The Women of Peace and Preparedness: Motherhood and Maternalism in World War I - Lisa MastrangeloOn February 12, 2017, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Lisa Mastrangelo, PhD, who teaches Composition and Rhetoric and Professional Writing courses at Centenary College, and is the author of…View More
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Illusions and Realities of World War 1 - Thomas FlemingOn October 16, 2016, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Thomas Fleming, historian and historical novelist born in Jersey City, NJ, the son of a World War I hero who…View More
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The First Attack on the Homeland - Howard BlumOn September 11, 2016, our lecture series, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of World War I, featured Howard Blum, historian and author of Dark Invasion, 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in…View More
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The 100th Anniversary of the Black Tom Explosion - Chad MillmanThe Hoboken Historical Museum inaugurated its World War I Centennial lecture series, "Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken," on August 21, 2016 with Chad Millman, author of "The Detonators," an in-depth look at the July 1916 sabotage plot to blow up a…View More
The series is supported by a Special Project Grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, and the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise County Executive and the Board of Chosen Freeholders, along with the Tom Kennedy American Legion Post #107, Hoboken, NJ.
Additional support comes from “World War I and America,” a two-year national initiative of Library of America presented in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the National World War I Museum and Memorial, and other organizations, with generous support from The National Endowment for the Humanities.
- August 21, 4 pm: “The 100th Anniversary of the Black Tom Explosion,” by Chad Millman, author of The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice (Little, Brown & Co., 2006)
- September 11, 4 pm: “The First Attack on the Homeland,” by Howard Blum, author of Dark Invasion, 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America (HarperCollins, 2014)
- October 16, 4 pm: “Illusions and Realities of World War I,” by Thomas Fleming, Jersey City native and author of The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I (Basic Books, 2004)
- November 6, 4 pm: “Harlem’s Rattlers and the Great War: From Hoboken to the Rhine and Back,” by Jeffrey Sammons, PhD, Professor of History at NYU and co-author of Harlem’s Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality (University Press of Kansas, 2014)
- November 27, 1 pm: “A City on the Eve of War, Hoboken in 1916-1917: Some Recent Research,” by Christina Ziegler-McPherson, PhD, author of Immigrants in Hoboken: One-Way Ticket to America, 1845-1985 (History Press, 2011)
- December 11, 4 pm: “Woodrow Wilson’s Failure of Wartime Leadership,” by Richard Striner, PhD, Professor of History, Washington College, and author of Woodrow Wilson and World War I: A Burden Too Great to Bear (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)
2017
- February 12, 4 pm: “The Women of Peace and Preparedness: The Use of Motherhood and Maternalism in World War I,” by Lisa Mastrangelo, PhD, Assistant Professor of English, Centenary College, and author of forthcoming paper, The Rhetoric of Maternalism: The Use of Motherhood as a Trope in World War I
- March 12, 4 pm: “Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen,” by Christopher Capozzola, PhD, Associate Professor of History at MIT, and author of Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (Oxford University Press, 2008)
- April 23, 4 pm: “A Seaport at War with Itself: Germans, Irish, Jews, Italians and African Americans in Wartime Greater New York,” by Steven H. Jaffe, author of New York at War: Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue in Gotham (Basic Books, 2012)
- May 7, 4 pm: “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken: The U.S. Army Port of Embarkation in Hoboken During World War I,” by Mark Van Ellis, PhD, Professor of History, Queensborough Community College, and author of America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide (Interlink Books, 2014)
- August 27, 4 pm: “The WWI Legacy of Fort Dix, New Jersey,” by Jamien Parks, veteran and historian for the United States Air Force
- September 10, 1 pm: “Legacy of Remembrance, Part 1,” a bus tour of WWI monuments of Hudson and Bergen County. Led by New Jersey historian Erik Burro
- September 17, 4 pm: Collections Manager Rand Hoppe shows and discusses newsreel footage of the American Expeditionary Forces in Hoboken.
- October 1, 4 pm: “Sabotage at Black Tom,” by Jules Witcover, jouralist and author of “Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany’s Secret War on America” (Algonquin Books, 1989)
- October 8, 4 pm: “The Patriot Farmerette: Women’s Land Army in New Jersey” by author Elaine Weiss (Fruits of Victory: The Women’s Land Army in the Great War, (Potomac Books, 2008)
- October 15, 1 pm: “Doughboy Monuments of Hudson County, Part 2”, a bus tour of WWI monuments led by New Jersey historian Erik Burro.
- November 5, 4 pm: “Camp Merritt, An American Portal to the Great War” by Harold Bartholf, author of “Camp Merritt,” (Images of America, 2017)
- November 19, 4 pm: “Who Was Major General David C. Shanks?” by Museum Director Robert Foster
- December 3, 4 pm: “Jungle of Weeds” to War,” by Melissa Ziobro, author and Professor of Public History at Monmouth University
- December 10, 4 pm: “Music Wins the War” led by Museum Programming Coordinator Eileen Lynch, and musicologist Lois Dilivio
Jean-Paul Picard – “Hoboken Sweeps”
March 4 - April 9, 2017.
The versatile artist Jean-Paul Picard specializes in web design and digital photography. He teaches courses in these technical skills in evening classes at the Hudson County Schools of Technology. But he started out as a graphic designer and photographer back in the days when you used an actual T-square to draw a rule, and mixed chemicals in a darkroom to print a photo.
With a penchant for trying new things, Picard started experimenting with using multiple images in single work to create a story line, after seeing a Richard Avedon exhibit in 2013. Avedon had created monumental, panoramic photographs of people standing in a row by combining several exposures together. Inspired by this and by his affinity for art by cubist painters like Picasso and Braque, Picard started combining a series of separate exposures he had taken at another art exhibit.
Then, he struck on the idea of using the panorama mode on a digital camera, but rather than moving the camera in a smooth line, he learned he could create more interesting effects by sweeping the camera in different ways and at different speeds. Like the cubists, this he uses this technique to show more sides of an object than a traditional single-perspective image offers.
At first, he printed these “sweeps” from his digital printer on white paper, but because of the images’ shapes, there was too much white space on the final artwork for his taste. So he experimented with printing on different types of fine-art paper, first preparing the paper with a digital ground – a field of special white paint applied to the paper to help set the inks and make the image pop.
He devised this approach on his own, inspired by a technique that dates from the earliest days of photography, when photographers applied a silver gelatin halide solution by brush to paper before developing their images. The silver gelatin images usually had rough-edged borders, unseen behind the matte or frame of the final product. But that rough edge appealed to Picard, who incorporates it into his original works of art.
Although the images originate in a digital camera, each of the works on display in the Museum’s upper gallery is a unique edition, or monoprint, containing the serendipitous elements of the artist’s hand. In addition to the Hoboken Sweeps series, Picard is working on similar series with the themes of nature, travel, portraiture, New York City and Québec, where he has family roots. More examples of his work, including his 2009 “Visage Hoboken” portraits that were displayed in his first Museum exhibit, can be seen at www.jean-paulpicard.com.
The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
Hoboken People and Places, 1976-1994: Photographs by Michael Flanagan
January 22 – July 2, 2017.
When he moved to Hoboken in the mid-1970s, Michael Flanagan was already a seasoned photographer with a passion for developing his own prints through meticulous experimentation.
His camera of choice was a large format, four-by-five-inch Linhof view camera, mounted on a tripod. The equipment was bulky and cumbersome, but under his skilled hands, it yielded crisp, detailed black and white images. He even toted this same camera and tripod on his many trips abroad.
From 1976 to 1994, Flanagan lived near the corner of Bloomfield and 10th Streets, and many of his photographs document the changing storefronts of this uptown location. He was determined to capture a feature of Hoboken life that was swiftly fading during the course of that decade: Mom-and-Pop shops, and the blue-collar residents that populated the city.
Only a few of the corner businesses recorded in Flanagan’s photos survive today: Lisa’s Deli, Truglio’s Meat Market, and, on the northeast corner of his block, the Bloomfield Launderette. Through his photographs we can see what has long been lost: Pierro’s Butcher Shop before it closed, and its owner, Al Pierro, during its last days. Today, it’s a kids’ yoga studio.
On the southeast corner, we see the interior and exterior of Kusseluk’s Shoe Store, which maintained an ancient display of footwear during the years Mike lived in the neighborhood. That it remained open at all during the 1980s was paradoxical, as potential customers would have to beg Sam Kusseluk to sell them a pair of shoes-—and rarely succeeded. Today, the building hosts Anthony David’s restaurant and an adjacent tattoo parlor.
Opposite Kusseluk’s was Nellie’s Store, where a customer might find just about anything available at the city’s one big supermarket, but in smaller quantities. Like so many who owned and ran the corner stores in Hoboken in the 1980s, Nellie lived in the building, and seemed to be in the shop night and day, offering warm greetings along with candy bars, cans of soup, and cartons of milk.
Flanagan photographed other longtime residents: barkeeps, plumbers, mailmen, retired longshoremen, and many seniors, often snapped while sitting in folding chairs on the sunny side of the sidewalk, as if the public pathway were a corner of their own backyard. Some were known as the “mayors” of their block-—the characters, the ones who told the best stories, the ones you sought out when you wanted to learn the news behind the news. One barkeep he photographed, “mayor” Tom Vezzetti, actually became Mayor of Hoboken in 1985.
Like most photographers, Mike did not set out to create a comprehensive visual record of the city. There are, for example, no photographs of the music scene at Maxwell’s, which was at its height during the late 1970s and 1980s, and there is but one image that attests to the spate of arson that terrified Hoboken’s tenement dwellers during the same period. It is a haunting memorial for the eleven tenants, including seven children, who died in the 1981 fire in the Eldorado on 12th Street.
But in their close observation of textures and absences and the uses of public space, Flanagan’s photographs allow current residents and visitors to reflect upon significant changes, over time, in the life and landscape of Hoboken. The exhibition also includes festival and political posters, t-shirts and video footage from the period, including the critically acclaimed “Delivered Vacant,” Nora Jacobson’s sensitive documentary showing the personal consequences of gentrification.
The most striking changes are visible in his images of the waterfront and of city parks. Hoboken’s young family population had declined by the 1980s, and some of the city’s old school buildings were sold for condominium development. The parks in that period were crumbling and seem nearly abandoned-—barely recognizable compared with the green, equipment-filled spaces that teem with activity today.
The Museum is indebted to the Estate of Michael Flanagan, for sponsoring this exhibition, with additional financial support from: Lizzy Flanagan; Michael Flanagan and Christine Allen; Abigail, Luke and Liam Flanagan; Liz Flanagan and Nancy Wilkinson; Hoboken Improvement Company; Justin Silverman; and Robert Foster; and thanks also to Steven and Lily Zane for their generous donation of Michael Flanagan’s photographs, negatives and slides to the permanent collection of the Hoboken Historical Museum.
Elliot Appel – “Mile Square Colors”
November 6 - December 30, 2016.
Elliot Appel has always been interested in capturing the myriad interesting architectural details embedded in the urban landscape. On weekends, and in the margins of his workweek in Midtown Manhattan, he prowls the city’s more colorful neighborhoods, camera in hand, looking for eye-catching subjects. He’s drawn to antiquated doorways and signs, interesting street performers, or an arresting reflection in a window.
“I try to capture the details of everyday life that people may not notice, or take for granted, as they rush from place to place,” Appel says. “I’ve always been a city person. It intensified when all these old structures were being torn down and replaced by new buildings without detail.”
Born and raised in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood, he began drawing as a child and kept on sketching through high school and college. Largely self-taught as an artist, he honed his painting technique and subject matter on trips to Europe in his early twenties, visiting museums in Paris, Geneva, Florence, Milan, Venice, Rome and Athens.
During his travels, he would often pause to sketch scenes in the public squares, capturing the unique character of each space from interesting angles. After he sold one of his acrylic paintings based on a photo of a cathedral, he began working in a more photorealistic style that has come to define his art, with urban life as his most frequent subject.
After moving to Bayonne, he began to explore neighborhoods across Hudson County filled with the same late 19th and early 20th century architectural detail that captivated two of his favorite American painters, Edward Hopper and John Sloan. Many of Appel’s scenes recall Hopper’s crisp, light-flooded canvases of modern, realistic street scenes. He interprets these scenes in vibrant colors, with unusual perspectives, as well as an eye for detail, resulting in a singular view of life in the big city. In general, his paintings take about two to three weeks to complete, depending on the amount of detail involved.
“Practice makes perfect,” he adds. “I like to work without a lot of sketching; I block it out on the canvas and launch into filling in the details, working in acrylics because they allow you to paint quickly.” He usually paints at night, with a daylight simulator lamp, with the full sunlight spectrum, and on weekends, when he’s not out searching for new subject matter. He says he’s looking forward to retiring and having more time to paint.
The artist will exhibit about 15 Hoboken-themed paintings, ranging in size from 16” x 20” to 24” x 36”, in a show titled, “Mile Square Colors: Paintings by Elliot Appel.” The show opens at the Hoboken Historical Museum on Sunday, November 6, with a free reception from 1 – 4 pm, and remains on view through Dec. 30. See more of his work at elliotpaints.com. His work is frequently on view at galleries in New York and New Jersey, as well as street fairs and online shows.
The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
Donna O’Grady – “Hoboken Scenes”
September 18 – October 18, 2016.
While most of us are busy documenting our travels and daily lives with cameras that fit in our pockets, Donna O’Grady carts along a full pochade box, a traditional painter’s supply case with attachable tripod easel, to capture scenes from her travels and her favorite places in her adopted hometown of Hoboken.
She takes her pochade case everywhere: To many of Hoboken’s sidewalk cafes, on business trips around the world as a financial software product manager, on frequent artist workshops in Italy, and even on a boat, where she lived for two years sailing around the Caribbean. She paints to preserve her memories of these places, or sometimes to barter for the catch of the day, painting portraits of fishing boats and their crews in exchange for a hearty meal of fresh scallops.
Like the Impressionists, she paints in oils on location, en plein air, and uses an Old Masters’ technique called underpainting, roughing out the major elements of a composition in dark and light monochromes before applying colors and details. This helps infuse a painting with light and depth, giving them a deeper dimension and a realistic atmosphere. (See examples on her blog, www.donnaogrady.com/blog)
O’Grady has been painting all her life – she can’t remember when she didn’t paint, from her early years in Jersey City and high school years in North Haledon, to her early adult years in Ringwood, NJ. Along the way, she has taken classes at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts, both in Manhattan. She likes studying with different teachers to learn different techniques and styles, and has taken to listening to podcasts by artists, too.
Her parents, who had worked so hard to be able to move the family out to the suburbs, couldn’t believe it when she chose to move to Hoboken about 14 years ago, but she says she felt an irresistible pull to the Mile Square City.
“I love Hoboken’s architecture, day or night, there’s so much detail,” she raves. “I love the factories, cafés, the train terminal, the waterfront—there’s so much life on the streets of the city.” Her artist’s eye is drawn to interesting details wherever she goes. She quickly sets up her easel and captures the local architecture, landscape and portraits of the people she meets. She even enjoys chatting with strangers while she works.
Hoboken’s architecture has inserted itself even more directly into her paintings lately, as she has begun painting on salvaged antique ceiling tiles made of pressed tin, once ubiquitous in older Hoboken homes and businesses. “My neighbor had bought some at a street fair and she gave me the idea to paint in the flat center area — a perfect painting surface with a built-in frame,” O’Grady says. “Now, I find them at craft fairs and order vintage tiles online – the older the better, with cracked and peeling paint.”
She’s chosen about 12 new works mostly on these tiles for her latest exhibit, “Hoboken Scenes: Paintings on Pressed Tin,” on view from September 18 – October 18 in the Hoboken Historical Museum’s Upper Gallery. O’Grady is an active member of the local hob’art artists gallery, and exhibits her work in shows in Jersey City and Ocean Grove, NJ.
The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
Past Exhibitions – Upper Gallery
- “Drawings of Hoboken: Changing and Enduring Places by Darren Kall"Darren Kall was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in East Paterson/Elmwood Park. From a young age, Darren was incessantly drawing. His artistic vision was so strong that he was inspired to draw on the walls of his…View Details
- "On the Steps of Saint Ann's: A Collection of Photos…Bob Delevante will astound you with his artistic versatility. He is a renowned photographer, illustrator, designer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. In all of his art forms, Bob is a storyteller who captures glimpses of everyday life with sensitivity and…View Details
- "Hoboken Trash: The Works of Jeremy Roche"The Hoboken Historical Museum is proud to present “Hoboken Trash: The Works of Jeremy Roche” in the Upper Gallery. Born and raised in Commack, Long Island, Jeremy Roche is an abstract artist who repurposes trash into art. While trained as…View Details
- "Bill Bayer In Black & White" Photography ExhibitBill Bayer grew up in Wood-Ridge, NJ. It wasn’t until after high school that Bill was first exposed to the field of photography. He gravitated to pictures in the 1970’s, which he considers a golden era of photojournalism. He would…View Details
- "Lugares de Mi Pueblito, Hoboken: Ayer Y Hoy/Places in My…Julio Cesar Santiago was born on August 17th, 1950 in the coffee town of Yauco, Puerto Rico. Raised on a farm, Julio had ambitions of a big city life and developed a love for all things New York City. He…View Details
- "Hoboken Sweeps 3D.0" by Jean-Paul PicardJean-Paul Picard's Artist Talk will take place on Friday, January 26, 2024 at 7pm with Ray Guzman on YouTube and Facebook @Hobokenmuseum Jean-Paul's Opening Reception will be held on Sunday, January 28, 2024 from 2pm-5pm at HHM. Jean-Paul Picard is…View Details
- "Hoboken Walkabout" by Maggie HindersThe Hoboken Historical Museum is pleased to host "Hoboken Walkabout" by Maggie Hinders. Maggie's Artist Talk will take place on Friday, November 10, 2023 at 7pm. Her opening reception will take place on Sunday, November 12, 2023 from 2pm-5pm at…View Details
The HeapThe Hoboken Historical Museum and Hoboken Business Alliance are pleased to present "The Heap," the creative character developed by Paul Andrejco of Puppet Heap. Please be sure to check out The Heap walking through Hoboken on Friday, September 22, 2023…View Details- Patterns in the Palisades: The Pen & Ink Drawings of…August 13-September 17, 2023Peter Fiordalisi was born in Union City in 1904 and had a deep connection to Hudson County, living many years in Weehawken. As a child, Peter was inspired after seeing a man painting the New York Harbor.…View Details
"Hoboken: Studio and Garden, Paintings by Bill Curran"May 21, 2023 – June 25, 2023"Hoboken: Studio & Garden, Paintings by Bill Curran" opened in our Upper Gallery on Sunday, July 2 with a reception from 2-5pm. To get us ready for the exhibition, Bill Curran was interviewed by Maggie Hinders for an online Artist…View Details
COMMUTE: photographs by Anthony JannelliMay 21, 2023 – June 25, 2023"COMMUTE: photographs by Anthony Jannelli" opened in our Upper Gallery on Sunday, May 21 with a reception from 2-5pm. Jannelli joined Museum Director Bob Foster for an online Artist Talk Friday, May 19 at 7pm. It can be viewed below,…View Details
Shipyard Marina: watercolors by Patrick NeillApril 8, 2023 – May 14, 2023"Shipyard Marina: watercolors by Patrick Neill," opens in our Upper Gallery on Saturday, April 8 with a reception from 2-5pm. Patrick joined Museum Director Bob Foster for an online Artist Talk Thursday, April 6 at 7pm. It was livestreamed on…View Details
"From a Yuppie's Typewriter" - Poems by Pierce LoganFebruary 26, 2022 – April 2, 2022In conjunction with our Main Gallery exhibit, “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982,” the Museum is pleased to present the work of Pierce Logan of QWERT Poetry in our new Upper Gallery exhibit, "From a Yuppie's Typewriter," from February 26 through Sunday,…View Details
"(UN)ERASED” by Christopher LópezSeptember 11, 2022 – October 20, 2022In conjunction with our Main Gallery exhibit, “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982,” we are proud to present an accompanying installation by Christopher López. (UN)ERASED, our new Upper Gallery exhibit, has its opening reception Sunday, September 22 from 2 - 5pm. This…View Details
"Making the Sinatra Bust" by Chris DahlbergSeptember 11, 2022 – October 20, 2022On Sunday, December 11, we kicked off the House Tour with the unveiling of our new bronze bust of Sinatra by master sculptor Chris Dahlberg. The bust can be viewed until Friday, December 23 in our Upper Gallery where you…View Details
Unclassical: Contemporary Still Lifes by Deborah PohlSeptember 11, 2022 – October 20, 2022We are thrilled to present recent paintings by a longtime Hoboken resident. Our new Upper Gallery exhibit, "Unclassical: Contemporary Still Lifes by Deborah Pohl" has its opening reception Sunday, September 11 from 2 - 5pm. The show's run has been…View Details
Carol Halebian: When We Were YoungJuly 10 2022 – September 4, 2022We are thrilled to present photography by Carol Halebian, in our new Upper Gallery exhibit, "When We Were Young." We're showing select images form the Kodachrome film she shot of Hoboken Street life between the late 70s and early 80s.…View Details
Lou Carbone: COVIDMay 7, 2022 – July 3, 2022We are thrilled to present the recent work of Hoboken master painter Lou Carbone. "COVID" debuts in our Upper Gallery on Saturday, May 7 with an opening reception with the artist from 2 - 5pm. The exhibit consists of 25…View Details
Liz Ndoye and Ibou Ndoye - "Adjacent"March 6, 2022 – May 1, 2022The artwork of Liz Ndoye and the artwork of Ibou Ndoye are featured in our Upper Gallery exhibit, "Adjacent." The show runs from Sunday, March 6th until Sunday, May 1st. There is an opening reception on Sunday, March 6 from…View Details
Karen E. Gersch - "CIRCUS LIVES: Hovering Above, Balancing Below"January 9, 2022 – February 27, 2022Frank Hanavan’s last exhibition in the Hoboken Museum’s Upper Gallery showcased his temporary departure from painting with acrylics into working with watercolors. The resulting series of watercolors were beautiful, but he has since returned to painting with acrylics – always…View Details
Frank Hanavan - "The Sidewalk is the Studio"November 14, 2021 – January 2, 2022Frank Hanavan’s last exhibition in the Hoboken Museum’s Upper Gallery showcased his temporary departure from painting with acrylics into working with watercolors. The resulting series of watercolors were beautiful, but he has since returned to painting with acrylics – always…View Details
Joan Michel - “Cavemen Built My Skateboard"September 19, 2021 - November 7, 2021The Museum’s Upper Gallery presents a new exhibit of photographs by Joan Michel, based on her film project "Cavemen Built My Skateboard" from September 19 - November 7. All are invited to the opening reception on September 19, from 2…View Details
Donna O'Grady - “Light at Play in Hoboken"August 1, 2021 - September 12, 2021The Museum’s Upper Gallery presents a new exhibit of paintings by Donna O'Grady, "Light at Play in Hoboken" from August 1 - September 12. All are invited to the opening reception on August 1, from 2 - 5 pm.View Details
Gary Spector - “Portraits of Essential Workers - Hoboken Hospital…May 2, 2021 - July 4, 2021The Museum’s Upper Gallery presents a new exhibit of photographs by Hoboken photographer Gary Spector, whose solo show “Portraits of Essential Workers - Hoboken Hospital 2020” is on view in the Museum’s Upper Gallery through July 4.View Details
McKevin Shaughnessy - “The Hidden Faces of Hoboken”March 14, 2021 - April 25, 2021The Museum’s Upper Gallery will present a new exhibit of photographs by Hoboken artist, graphic designer and photographer McKevin Shaughnessy, whose solo show “The Hidden Faces of Hoboken” opens in the Museum’s Upper Gallery starting Sunday, March 14.View Details
Duquann Sweeney - "Dignity, Beauty and Everything Between"January 17, 2021 - March 7, 2021Jersey City photographer Duquann Sweeney captures the spirit of his neighborhood in warm black and white photographs. His exhibition, "Dignity, Beauty and Everything Between," will go on view in the Museum's Upper Gallery from January 17 - March 7.View Details
Mika Endo - "Pen and Brush Works"November 8, 2020 - January 10, 2021Japanese artist Mika Endo's ethereal paintings of Hoboken scenes, "Pen and Brush Works by Mika Endo," will go on view in the Museum's Upper Gallery from November 8 - January 10.View Details
Ray Guzman - "Hoboken Tempest"October 3 - November 1, 2020Ray Guzman's "Hoboken Tempest" is a panoramic, 10-foot-wide painting that must be seen in person, under good lighting, to fully appreciate. The work, along with a couple of Hudson County portraits Ray painted around the same time, will be on…View Details
Bill Curran - "If Not Now, When?..."August 30 - September 27, 2020Artist Bill Curran has been painting up a storm during the state's shelter at home restriction. See his latest works in "If Not Now, When? Painting During the Pandemic," on view from August 30 - September 27.View Details
Lily Zane - "The Thread That Binds"July 26 - August 23, 2020Lily Zane's needlework art will be on view in the Museum's Upper Gallery in an exhibit titled "The Thread That Binds," from July 26 through August 23.View Details
Jack and Peter Mecca - "Hoboken - Late 1970s"April 5 - May 31, 2020Jack and Peter Mecca grew up in Hoboken in between its industrial boom in the first half of the 20th century and its economic decline and rebirth near the end of the century. In the late 1970s, they would load their…View Details
Alex Morales - "Hoboken: A Retrospective"February 16 - March 29, 2020Uruguayan artist Alex Morales returns to the Hoboken Historical Museum with a new batch of 15 paintings of his beloved adopted home of Hoboken. The public is invited to a free opening reception on Feb. 16 from 2 - 5…View Details
Meredeth Turshen - "New Views of Old Hoboken"January 5 - February 9The Museum's Upper Gallery space opens 2020 with an exhibition of works by artist, teacher and writer Meredeth Turshen. All are invited to a free opening reception on Jan. 5 from 2 - 5 pm. The exhibition will remain on…View Details
Kelli Glancey - "Lackawanna"November 10 - December 29One distinctive fixture of the Hoboken cityscape is the historic 1907 Lackawanna Terminal, the gateway to Hoboken and NYC for so many visitors and new arrivals. The terminal and its surroundings are the focus of the exhibit, “Lackawanna ~ From…View Details
Steven Vizena - "Cloud Zombies Visit the Museum"September 21 - November 3Artist Steve Vizena has been dazzling neighbors and passers-by at Halloween for a little over a decade with his thought-provoking 3D assemblages -- sometime featuring symbolic "cloud zombies" -- in his garden at the corner of 11th and Garden streets.…View Details
Anita Heimbruch - "The Amazing Color Photographs of Hoboken"August 4 - September 15Sneak back in time to Hoboken in the 1950s and 60s through the rich Kodachrome images taken by Anita Heimbruch, a long-time employee at Hoboken's Keuffel & Esser factory at Third and Adams Streets. Her photographs reflect the daily lives…View Details
Hiro Takeshita - "Cut Paper into Art"June 16 - July 28Hiro Takeshita wields an exacto knife with more finesse than many painters with brushes and oils. He creates dazzling works of art with layers of precisely cut paper in saturated hues.View Details
Greg Miller - "Unusual views of Hoboken from above"April 28 - June 9Photographer Greg Miller's new exhibition, “Hoboken from Above,” opens Sunday, April 28. The exhibition shows the city of Hoboken from multiple unusual vantage points, high above the city's mostly 19th century streetscape.View Details
Tom Zuk - "Work/Seven Portraits"March 17 - April 21Photographer Tom Zuk's latest series, “Work/Seven Portraits,” opens Sunday, March 17. The exhibition honors the work of people whose jobs are often classified by economists as “service” or “labor”: a nanny, a crossing guard, a waiter, a dog walker, a…View Details
Issa Sow - "Hoboken, from Old to New"January 27 - March 10, 2019Issa Sow is a Hoboken artist in the truest sense of the word. Before moving to Hoboken from France about 7 years ago, he had never created art. He had always been an avid collector of traditional and contemporary art…View Details
Jim Fallon - "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken"November 11 - December 23, 2018Jim Fallon’s “Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: Monoprints on Combat Paper” ties his own service as a Vietnam War medic to the war experiences of American soldiers from World War I through today. On view through Dec. 23.View Details
Gary Spector - “Hoboken Halloween"September 23 - November 4, 2018Highlights from Gary Spector’s seven-year series of portraits of Hoboken’s Halloween trick-or-treaters are now on display in the Hoboken Museum’s Upper Gallery, “Hoboken Halloween,” on view through November 4.View Details
David White - "Bootleggers Under Glass"August 5 – September 16, 2018Photographer David White recreates the glass-plate process look of vintage mugshots from the 1920s using modern digital technology. The result is a series now on display in the Hoboken Museum’s Upper Gallery, “Bootleggers Under Glass,” on view through September 16.View Details
Laura Alexander - "Reunion"June 2 – July 29, 2018Laura Alexander is best known for her large-scale, vividly colored oil portraits. Visitors to the Hoboken Museum in 2012 might remember the striking, four-foot-tall portraits in her “Mostly Rosemary” exhibit. She also had a solo exhibit titled “Portraits” in 2005, featuring…View Details
Tom Zuk - "Rear Window"April 15 – May 27, 2018Tom Zuk has made photographic art from the rough materials of the urban cityscape outside his Hoboken apartment window. A wall of crumbling masonry, a clothesline with pulley, a patio, a street corner, a church with steeple, hi-rise apartment, just…View Details
Marcella Conti - "Hoboken Sensations"February 25 – April 8, 2018Even though Hoboken is very close to the Big Apple, the city has its own personality and charm. There's a sense of familiarity, a warm environment where foreigners are welcomed to be themselves and keep their traditions alive. Small, family-owned…View Details
Erik L. Burro - "Legacy of Remembrance"January 7 – February 18, 2018As the commemoration of the centennial of America's involvement in World War I continues into 2018, a new photography exhibit in the Museum's Upper Gallery documents one man's quest to bring attention to the wealth of fine statuary and other…View Details
Anna Pinto - "30 Years of Snow"November 18 – December 31, 2017A hand-crafted card is a gift in itself, in an age when computer-generated “hand-writing” typefaces attempt to mimic the personal touch without quite pulling off the illusion. Hoboken-based lettering artist Anna Pinto has produced snow-themed calligraphic holiday cards for more…View Details
Frank Hanavan - "Hoboken"September 24 - November 12, 2017A plein air painter’s life isn’t easy, especially in an urban setting. Imagine lugging around close to 20 pounds of art supplies, including an easel and bulky canvases, perched on a bike or squeezed into public transit, just to capture…View Details
Artists on the Move - "In Transition"August 6 - September 17, 2017Art teacher Liz Cohen has been teaching weekly classes at the Hoboken Shelter and St. Matthew's lunch program, as a volunteer. After retiring from 40 years of teaching in a private school, she enjoys working with Hoboken’s transitional population, helping…View Details
William Magruder - "The Walls of Hoboken"May 28 - July 2, 2017An architectural illustrator by profession, William Magruder has an irrepressible artistic imagination that expresses itself in fantasy-infused drawings, reminiscent of one of his favorite artists, Windsor McKay. A recent series was inspired by Hoboken’s inundation during Superstorm Sandy. Magruder and…View Details- Robert Nardolillo - "The Essence of Hoboken"April 15 - May 21, 2017Join us for a free opening reception for our latest Upper Gallery art exhibition: "The Essence of Hoboken: Watercolors by Robert Nardolillo." These dynamic and moody watercolor paintings by the Brooklyn-born artist who now lives in the suburbs, express the…View Details
- Jean-Paul Picard - "Hoboken Sweeps"March 4 - April 9, 2017The versatile artist Jean-Paul Picard specializes in web design and digital photography. He teaches courses in these technical skills in evening classes at the Hudson County Schools of Technology. But he started out as a graphic designer and photographer back…View Details
- Elliot Appel - "Mile Square Colors"November 6 - December 30, 2016Elliot Appel has always been interested in capturing the myriad interesting architectural details embedded in the urban landscape.View Details
- Donna O’Grady - "Hoboken Scenes"September 18 – October 18, 2016While most of us are busy documenting our travels and daily lives with cameras that fit in our pockets, Donna O’Grady carts along a full pochade box, a traditional painter’s supply case with attachable tripod easel, to capture scenes from her…View Details
Bill Curran - "Extraordinary Hoboken"April 9 - May 29, 2016When most of us pass a flowerpot in full bloom on a stoop or a cat sunning lazily in a window, we might make a mental note of these moments of unexpected beauty, but they are soon forgotten, buried under…View Details
Alex Morales - "Watercolor Paintings"January 10 - February 14, 2016The Uruguayan artist Alex Morales has been making art in a wide range of media from an early age, studying and refining his skills at the Museum of Fine Arts in the state of San Jose de Mayo in his…View Details
Judy Schmitt - "Capturing Hoboken"May 10 - July 5, 2015The accomplished artist Judy Schmitt may be based in Cape Cod, but since her daughter and son-in-law moved to Hoboken 15 years ago, this city has been a second home for her. Inspired by the artistic tradition of Provincetown, Mass.,…View Details
Walter Barco - "Litopintura"March 22 - May 3, 2015Ecuadoran artist Walter Barco creates extraordinary “rock-works” that evoke nostalgic memories of his native Guayaquil’s colonial architecture and 19th century homes, using a technique he describes as "la litopintura," or stone-painting. With incredibly fine detail, including tiny figures in the windows of these…View Details
Kids Map Hoboken ArtworkJanuary 25 - March 15, 2015Hoboken is a kid-friendly city -- just ask a kid! We asked hundreds of children who visited the Museum with their school groups, scout troops and Family Fun Day participants to list their favorite places in town, and the result…View Details
Lou Carbone - "New Paintings"November 9 - December 23, 2014With diverse influences that include cubism, surrealism and the Mexican muralists, Lou's paintings are a series of pictorial spaces borne of personal experience as filtered through dreams and illusions. The images of anonymous figures in common settings depict ritual happening…View Details
Ibou Ndoye - "Art for Life"September 21 - November 2, 2014Ibrahima Ndoye, who goes by “Ibou,” has been an artist all his life. Born in Senegal to a family who expressed their creativity in tie-dying, embroidery, welding and dressmaking, Ndoye learned from an early age that nearly any material can…View Details
Tracie Fracasso - "Artworks"August 3 - September 14, 2014In an age of digital media, Tracie Fracasso’s artworks demand to be seen in person – a flat screen cannot do them justice. Her works are multilayered, two-dimensional images carefully arranged in a three-dimensional space within a glass-fronted frame. She…View Details
Adam Rodriguez - "Clubhouse Requiem"July 14 - August 18, 2013You’ve probably seen Adam Rodriguez’s art, without knowing it. As a professional artist with the New York-based graphic design firm Success Apparel, he’s created designs for some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including John Deere Apparel, Dickies…View Details
Jennifer Place & Jodie Fink - "Local Motion"May 18, 2014 - July 6, 2014Bowerbirds don’t merely “feather their nests” — they create elaborate art installations to impress prospective mates, using colorful materials collected from around their environment, such as cast-off bottle caps, buttons and trinkets. Jennifer Place identifies with the impulse to collect.…View Details
Tim Daly - "Important Clouds"March 23, 2014 - May 11, 2014Most of us deliberately tune out the scenery along New Jersey highways as we drive past the railroad and highway bridges crisscrossing the Meadowlands marshes. It’s hard to categorize what we’re seeing—neither planned architectural landscaping nor unfettered nature, it’s a…View Details
Robert Forman - "Uncommon Threads"January 26, 2014 - March 16, 2014From a distance, an artwork by Robert Forman appears to be many paintings at once, layered in some mysterious way. Up close, the mystery deepens: Instead of paint, the surface is composed of many colored threads, laid downwith as much…View Details
Hiro Takeshita - "Slices of Beauty on the Hudson"December 15, 2013 - January 19, 2014Hiro Takeshita was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and from an early age was interested in art and American culture. Born two years after the atomic bomb blast in his native city, he can still recall his mother’s searing memories of…View Details
Peter Gutierrez - "Let It Fly!"November 3 - December 8, 2013Ever since his mother took him to an airshow and let him take a ride in a B-24, at age 9, Peter Gutierrez has been fascinated by airplanes. He started making drawings of aircraft, and then his grandfather, a civil…View Details
John Cheney - "Spontaneous Hoboken"August 25 - September 29, 2013Hoboken resident and longtime Macy’s Parade Studio float builder John Cheney loves the challenge of drawing in ink. “Ink won’t allow you to go back and erase – you can accommodate errors, but just like in life, you can’t go…View Details
Benjamin Roman - "A Child's Innocence"May 5 - June 30, 2013; June 9, 4 pm: Artist TalkGrowing up in the Bronx under the watchful eye of a very protective grandmother, Benjamin Roman Jr. and his sister had a lot of time to while away indoors. He would fill hours sketching scenes of his apartment, images from…View Details
Mac Hartshorn - "Photographs"March 17 - April 28, 2013; April 13, 4 pm: Artist TalkThe Museum is pleased to open a new Upper Gallery art exhibit on the same day as Hoboken's 3rd Sunday Gallery Walk, March 17, with "Mac Hartshorn, Photographer," an exhibit of artistic photographs of babies and children by professional portrait…View Details
Thomas F. Yezerski - "Meadowlands, A Wetlands Survival Story"January 27 - March 10, 2013For Tom Yezerski, all roads seemed to lead to the Meadowlands. Literally. As a recent transplant to New Jersey from Allentown, Pa., Yezerski moved to Rutherford 14 years ago seeking a reasonably affordable community close enough to New York City…View Details
Raymond Smith - "En Plein Air: Seeking a Sensation"November 11 - December 23, 2012Hoboken’s physical character is known for its storied waterfront, its compact and walkable streets, and its rows of well-preserved late-Victorian homes. But not since the Elysian Fields were converted to industrial use in the early 1900s has it been known…View Details
Roslyn Rose - "Hoboken from Afar"September 15 – November 4, 2012Sometimes you have to get away—far away—to see your hometown from a fresh perspective. Or, you can stop by the Hoboken Museum’s Upper Gallery this September to see Hoboken From Afar: Photomontages by Roslyn Rose. A New Jersey native and…View Details
Ricardo Roig - "Hoboken in Print"July 29 – September 9, 2012Ricardo Roig, a young artist who moved to Hoboken in 2009 after finishing college, has long been an admirer of the Impressionist painters. Hoboken became his muse, he said, in part because its architecture reminded him of the Belle Epoque…View Details
Puppet Heap - "Strange Neighbors"March 18 - April 29, 2012Did you know that Hoboken is home to one of the stars of the puppet-making world? The cover story from the Fall 2011 issue of The Puppetry Journal features Hoboken’s own Puppet Heap, an innovative design and fabrication studio that…View Details
Beth Lucas - "Ta-Da!"May 6 – July 1, 2012For head scenic artist Beth Lucas, the Macy's Parade Studio's move from Hoboken to Moonachie last year was bittersweet. While the new facility offers better lighting and working conditions, she misses being surrounded by historic details scattered throughout the architectural…View Details
Laura Alexander - "Mostly Rosemary"January 29 - March 11, 2012Hoboken artist Laura Alexander’s Monroe Center studio is a fixture on the annual Artists Studio Tour. In addition to her paintings, her studio walls are covered with colorful and interesting pop culture artifacts, which are fun to look at, but…View Details
Liz Cohen - "Walkabout"November 13 - December 23, 2011Artists’ muses can assume unexpected forms; the artist’s challenge is to be open to the muse’s inspiration. For artist Liz Cohen, a handmade doll from her childhood has emerged as a significant influence in her art. As a little girl,…View Details
Barbara Mauriello - "Unfolding Landscapes"September 25 - October 2, 2011Unfolding Landscapes: Books and Boxes by Barbara Mauriello September 25 - October 2, 2011 An artist with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in painting, Barbara Mauriello hadn’t given much thought to how the books she loved to…View Details
Louise Gale - "Mixed Media"August 7 - September 18, 2011www.louisegale.com/art/ As a child growing up in South London, Louise Gale was encouraged to be creative, spending hours after school and during the summer drawing, painting, and creating patterns with her beloved Spirograph. She loved making decorations for Christmas, Easter,…View Details- Jennifer Place & Jodie Fink - "Friends & Relations"April 30, 2011 - June 12, 2011Hoboken artists Jennifer Place and Jodie Fink have been friends for so long, it’s hard for them to remember exactly when and where they met, but their long, close friendship is evident in the simpatico evolution of their artwork. They are…View Details
Sterne Slaven - "Deconstructing Hoboken"January 30 - March 6, 2011Artist/photographer Sterne Slaven has an eye for the industrial soul of Hoboken. When he moved here in 1983, after graduating art school, he found himself drawn again and again to the old factory buildings in his uptown neighborhood: Ferguson Propeller…View Details
Bill Curran - "A Passion for the River"May 2009A born artist, Bill Curran was fascinated with the interplay between shapes, colors, and light on the Hudson River from the moment he laid eyes on it from a stunning new vantage point, the Stevens Institute of Technology campus overlook.…View Details
Robert Burczy - "Poster Art"May 2006If you travel Hoboken by foot, you no doubt have seen those eyecatching posters on telephone poles and empty storefronts around town promoting local artist Robert Burczy. An art form of their own, these promotional posters have become a fixture…View Details
Bill Curran - "A View for All Seasons"November 13, 2005“Down all the side streets, people have wonderful hidden gardens,” artist Bill Curran told a reporter from The Hudson Dispatch in 1986. Today, the painter says, “Seeing other backyards helped me see my own.” Curran loves nature and looking out…View Details
Ben Fernandez - "Shipyard"September 2005Acclaimed photographer Benedict J. Fernandez went to work at Hoboken’s Bethlehem Steel Shipyard right after high school. His father, who had gone to work at the yard in 1936 and stayed until it closed, got him the job. Ben Fernandez…View Details
Antonio DeJesus - "The Town"March 20,2005A native of the Dominican Republic, painter Antonio DeJesus moved to Hoboken only three years ago. When he first arrived, DeJesus took long walks around town and developed an appreciation of Hoboken’s architecture. His paintings of local architecture and highly…View Details
Past Exhibitions – Main Gallery
The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982January 22, 2023We are proud to announce two exhibits by photo-based artist and arts educator, Christopher López. “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982” shines a light on horrific events from Hoboken’s early period of gentrification. This visual and oral history project will be on…View Details
The Avenue: A History of Washington StreetAugust 1, 2021 - December 23, 2022There's an old Hoboken saying: “If you can’t find it on Washington Street, you’re not looking hard enough.” Opening August 1: “The Avenue: A History of Washington Street,” traces century's worth of vibrant community and commercial life along Hoboken's main…View Details
Greetings from Hudson County: A Postcard History Then & NowJanuary 27, 2019 - July 4, 2021“Greetings from Hudson County: Then and Now” comprises over 700 historic postcards from all 12 cities and towns of Hudson County, supplemented by an augmented reality (AR) app showing present-day views. Most of the postcards date from the Golden Age…View Details
World War I Centennial, 1917-2017: Heaven, Hell or HobokenAugust 6, 2017 - December 23, 2018“World War I Centennial, 1917-2017: Heaven, Hell or Hoboken” explores how Hoboken and its residents were transformed by the United States entry into World War I on April 6, 1917. The city was declared the main point of embarkation for…View Details- Hoboken People and Places, 1976-1994: Photographs by Michael FlanaganJanuary 22 – July 2, 2017When he moved to Hoboken in the mid-1970s, Michael Flanagan was already a seasoned photographer with a passion for developing his own prints through meticulous experimentation. His camera of choice was a large format, four-by-five-inch Linhof view camera, mounted on…View Details
Frank Sinatra CentennialAugust 2, 2015 – July 3, 2016Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Voice, and the Fans Honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hoboken's most famous native son, the exhibition, "Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Voice, and the Fans," will open on Sunday, Aug. 2, with…View Details
The Extraordinary Stevens Family, A New Jersey Legacy: 1776-1911January 25 – July 5, 2015"The Extraordinary Stevens Family, A New Jersey Legacy: 1776-1911" detailed the lives and careers of two generations of the family The New York Times referred to as “one of New Jersey’s first families.” The Stevenses were inventors and designers, engineers…View Details
Hoboken, Ellis Island, and the Immigrant Experience, 1892-1924August 3, 2014 – December 23, 2014Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit. If Hoboken seems crowded today, with a population just over 50,000, imagine how crowded it was between 1892 – 1924, the peak period of U.S. immigration. Following the Immigration…View Details
Hoboken: One Year After Sandy, Lessons Learned about Preparedness, Resiliency,…October 2013 - July 2014One year after Superstorm Sandy hit, Hoboken still bears the traces, some visible, some invisible. Many flooded homes have been repaired, others have not. Many residents spent days or months cleaning out their homes or businesses, or helping neighbors clean…View Details
Mapping the Territory: Hudson County in Maps, 1840-2013January – September 2013Most of us use maps to learn how to get to where we need to go, but maps can also tell us a lot about where we have been and how we arrived at our destination. Maps can convey as…View Details
I Belong: A History of Civic and Social Clubs in…July – December 2012Hoboken has always been a haven for newcomers. So perhaps it’s not surprising that from as early as the 1700s, social clubs have sprung up as a way for people to connect with others around shared interests. From purely social…View Details
Driving Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland and…January – June 2012Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit. Through this exhibition, we celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Holland Tunnel and the 75th birthday of the Lincoln Tunnel. Love them for the access they provide to New…View Details
Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls, and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles... A…January – December 2011Buddy Valastro put Hoboken on the national culinary map with his popular TLC cable network show, “Cake Boss,” but did you know that Hoboken has been a confectionary powerhouse since the mid-19th century? It’s such a rich (and tasty) legacy,…View Details
Surveying the World: Keuffel & Esser + Hoboken, 1875–1968January - December 2010Hoboken’s Keuffel & Esser Made Instruments that Drove an Age of Progress K&E, the initials carved into the roofline of the building at the corner of Third & Adams, are the only visible trace of a company that played a…View Details
Up and Down the River: A History of the Hudson,…March – December 2009A hundred years ago, New York City threw a two-weeklong public celebration of a double anniversary: the tricentennial of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the river and the centennial (plus two) of Robert Fulton’s first successful steamboat crossing in 1807. One…View Details
Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: A City Transformed by World War…September 2008 – January 2009The designation as a port of embarkation meant national fame for Hoboken – General John J. Pershing’s promise to the troops that they’d be in “Heaven, Hell or Hoboken” by Christmas of 1917 became a national rallying cry for a…View Details
Greetings from Hoboken: A Postcard HistoryJanuary - August 2008Corresponding with the greatest growth spurt in Hoboken’s history, 1898 – 1930, a simple change in postage from 2 cents to 1 transformed the medium of souvenir postcards into a national craze. Known among collectors as the “Golden Age of…View Details
Hoboken Tunes: Our Musical HeritageJuly - December 2007Frank Sinatra may have put Hoboken on the world map, but his is not the only musical career this town has fostered. Stephen Foster lived here when he wrote I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. A few…View Details
From Another Time: Hoboken in the 1970sJanuary – July 2007A Trip Back to the Seventies: Imagine a Hoboken before the high-rise residential towers and ubiquitous nail salons, cell phone stores, realtors and shoe boutiques. This exhibit celebrates the Museum’s latest book, From Another Time: Hoboken in the 1970s, where…View Details
Upper Gallery
Raymond Smith is an accomplished painter, illustrator, and graphic designer, specializing in figurative art. Ray grew up near Lake Michigan in Hammond, Indiana. He credits his Mom and Grandma for encouraging his entry into art. Whenever Ray would sit down to draw, his Grandma would say, “don’t trace.” She believed in Ray’s talent and ability to develop his own artistic point of view. These were prescient words – Ray is a true original.
A precocious and bright child, Ray would often skip school and visit the local library. What made him most happy was art. Ray’s first commission was from his Aunt Margaret who requested a painting of her daughter’s wedding. Ray was only 11-years-old at the time. He also recalls Mr. Jacobsen, an energetic teacher fresh out of college, who exposed his high school students to different artistic mediums. This is where Ray developed his love for the craft of impressionist painting.
After high school, Ray headed to Chicago in search of creative opportunities. He was hired as an apprentice at the MoonInk design studio. The environment was conducive to Ray’s creativity. He eventually became a Junior Art Director and his portfolio expanded to include graphic design work. He also made time to enroll in a night course at the American Academy of Art, which sharpened his graphic design skills. He went on to serve as an Art Director for a quarterly bank magazine, which enabled him to broaden his network to meet illustrators and photographers.
The east coast was calling to Ray, though, and he made his way to Hoboken in the 1980’s. He took up work in advertising and design for school textbooks. He recalls seeing Mayor Vezzetti walking down the street with a bullhorn on one of his first days in town. This was also when he met HHM Director Bob Foster and even shared a darkroom with him.
Ray learned the importance of affordable housing, especially crucial for artists. He waited in line for 36 hours, with a broken arm, at that, in order to get an apartment in Marine View Plaza. This is now his home base and studio. He lives close to the Hudson River, and is continually inspired by it.
Ray serves as an art instructor for the Stevens Cooperative School. He has been teaching art for twenty five years for various non-profits and schools. He imparts his love of art to the next generation this way.
Among his proudest accomplishments, Ray cites his work in designing “Greetings from Hoboken,” which he has been selling for almost 20 years. Ray’s Hoboken Children's Memorial Flag can be seen on permanent display at Hoboken City Hall. It was the first public 9/11 memorial in Hoboken. Ray is also featured in a recent book, Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Danny Danziger.
In his art, Ray always seeks out the most unique aspects of an environment. The “Recent Works by Raymond Smith” exhibit in the Upper Gallery encapsulates the originality of Hoboken through his iconic impressionist paintings. From Church Square Park, to Karma Kafe, viewers will delight in Ray’s work.
"Recent Works" by Raymond Smith will be on display from November 3, 2024-December 22, 2024. All are invited for the Opening Reception on Sunday, November 3rd from 2pm-5pm at the Museum.
As part of the exhibit, HHM will produce an Online Artist Talk with Raymond Smith and HHM Director Bob Foster on Friday, November 1st at 7pm, which will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
A special thank you to the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development for supporting this exhibit.
Main Gallery
Benedict J. Fernandez was born in Manhattan on April 5, 1936. His father migrated from Puerto Rico and his mother Palma was of Italian heritage. Benedict was raised in East Harlem. As a child, he struggled with reading. Benedict later learned that he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Receiving a Brownie camera as a gift enabled Benedict to find his creative voice, and changed the trajectory of his life.
Throughout his childhood and young adulthood, Benedict’s circle of friends was very diverse, including young men who were African-American, Jewish, and Muslim. He learned to listen to and empathize with their experiences of discrimination. His friends inspired him to find his own way to challenge social prejudices later through his photography.
After graduating from Haaren High School, Benedict started working as an apprentice, and later, as an operating engineer/crane operator for Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Hoboken. Benedict’s father helped him to get the job, where he also worked since 1941. Benedict worked in Hoboken for four years and developed deep friendships with the other Shipyard workers. His first major photography project was a set of stills of his colleagues in Hoboken entitled “Riggers.” He pays tribute to the sense of warmth and family present among this close circle.
Afterwards, Benedict took a job at Brooklyn Navy Yard. However, his fate changed when he was laid off from the position and the yard closed. He was then introduced to Alexey Brodovitch, the well-known art director of Harper’s Bazaar. Alexey was also a founder of the Design Laboratory, a workshop for photographers and designers. Through Alexey, Benedict received a scholarship to the Design Laboratory. He also began working at the Parsons School of Design, where he eventually helped to establish a Photography Department. Benedict had found his calling.
Benedict developed his power as a photographer by documenting street protests of the 1960’s, especially related to the Poor People’s Campaign and draft card burnings in protest of the Vietnam War. His striking black-and-white photos captured the intensity and sense of tumult of this moment in American history.
Benedict relayed: “When the protest movement developed, it hit a kinship in me that I felt I had to record and expose. I developed and thought it was necessary that I stood for something, and that’s where the protest photography became important.”
As his reputation grew as a photographer, Benedict befriended Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Benedict visited Dr. King’s home in Atlanta, and got to know his family. Benedict developed a portfolio of 80 black-and-white prints entitled Countdown to Eternity: Photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which capture portraits of his life in the year before Dr. King’s assassination.
Benedict was very cognizant of the special opportunities he received as a young man thanks to his mentor, Alexey. Benedict was determined to pay it forward for the next generation. He helped to found the Photo Film Workshop, which he established in the basement of Joseph Papp’s Public Theater in Manhattan. He offered courses free of charge to young photographers. Among his students, he taught Angel Franco, who went on to work as a staff photographer for The New York Times, and won the Pulitzer Prize.
Among his many accolades, Benedict received a senior Fulbright Research Fellowship in photography and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He served as a Senior Fellow in Photography at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Benedict’s work is housed in permanent collections at institutions that include the Smithsonian, The National Portrait Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Norton Simon Museum of Art, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The King Center, University of Toyo, and Bilbioteque Nationale in Paris.
Instrumental to his success was Benedict’s family, including his wife Siiri Aarismaa, his son, Benedict IV, and daughter, Tiina Polvere. Benedict’s lineage has grown to now include five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
Benedict died on January 31, 2021. He lived to the age of 84.
The Hoboken Historical Museum is immensely proud to showcase the work of Benedict J. Fernandez, and preserve his legacy of using photography as an act of activism for the next generation.
We would like to thank our sponsors BCB Bank, Ironstate, and the New Jersey Historical Commission for supporting this exhibit.
