NASSAU COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART:
“THAT 80S SHOW”
STORY & PHOTOS
BY LORRAINE BERTAN,
CULTURAL COMMITTEE
The 1980s was a period of
conservative politics. Ronald
Reagan had been elected
president, the economy was booming
and the Berlin Wall was coming
down. How did the art and music
scene reflect this era?
Eric Fischl has curated an exhibit,
“That 80s Show,” featuring many
of his contemporaries of that the
period to illustrate the changes in
the art and music world. Fischl
introduced figurative painting, as
opposed to abstract painting, and
the paintings of the 1980s provided
a narrative for the viewer. The
works of Keith Haring, Jean Michel
Basquiat and Brian Hunt reflected
their opinions about contemporary
life, government, the coming digital
age and their interest in the rising
investment value of contemporary
art. Eric Fischl’s study for the
painting “Sleepwalker” captures the
viewer’s attention immediately, and
raises many questions about this
adolescent boy standing in a kiddie
pool during the night. Robert Longo
photographed well-dressed models
in business attire in anatomically
challenging poses, reminiscent of
the gyrations of the rock musicians
of the 1980s.
Keith Haring began painting
white chalk graffiti on unused
black subway advertising posters
and used similar black-on-white
techniques when he became an
established painter. His work
reflected his activism about
homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic.
His friends included Andy
Warhol, Jean-Michele Basquiat
and Madonna. Keith Haring died
in 1990 of AIDS-related complications,
and Jean-Michele Basquiat
died earlier of drugs. Many of the
artists of the times had challenging
lifestyles and died young, limiting
the output of their work. Julian
Schnabel, another artist of the period,
expanded his work to include
movies. Brian Hunt, who worked
for NASA, worked in bronze and
other mediums.
“That 80s Show” is currently on
exhibit through July 17.
The Nassau County Museum
of Art is the third occupant of the
Georgian mansion built in 1900
for the Lloyd Bryce family on land
originally owned by William Cullen
Bryant. The Bryce family sold the
property to the Frick family in 1919,
who named it Clayton, and it was
occupied by Childs Frick and his
family until 1969. Childs Frick, the
oldest son, did not enter the family
coke and steel business and attended
Princeton University, graduating
with a degree in paleontology. He
became a respected scientist, having
his own research laboratory at
Clayton. He was a fossil hunter
making trips to the American West,
Africa and Asia, and was a major
contributor to the fossil collection
at the American Museum of Natural
History, where he established an
eleven story building to house the
fossil collection.
On the grounds of the Nassau
County Museum of Art is the Manes
Center, which recently exhibited
paintings from the collection of Dr.
Harvey Manes, an orthopedic surgeon.
The paintings and art works
were collected over many years, and
are examples of many art periods
and genres, including Rembrandt,
Picasso, Haring, Warhol, Picasso,
Rembrandt, Motherwell and
Botero.
Dr. Manes is a Trustee of the
Nassau County Museum of Art
and donated $1,000,000 to the
museum. As interesting as the two
buildings are, walking through
the extensive paths around the
museum provides 38 examples of
sculpture that interact with a living
environment-- nature.
The Nassau County Museum
of Art is located at One Museum
Drive in Roslyn Harbor and is
open Tuesday through Sunday from
11:00am until 4:45pm. For more
information, visit www.nassaumuseum.
org or call 516-484-9338. If
you are hungry after the museum
visit, consider going to Ben’s Deli
or Bar Frites Restaurant in the
Greenvale Shopping Center or
Trattoria Diane in Roslyn.
54 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ June 2019
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