Case Study 4 is work in progress. This contemporaneous American artist was born and raised in the Hudson Valley/ Catskills. After his formal collegiate education, he moved to NYC where he exhibited as a color field artist at the Whitney Museum, entered the Whitney collection, and was represented by a Manhattan gallery. He became disenchanted with the NYC art scene and returned to the Hudson Valley/Catskills to live out his life doing what he believed was his life’s work: landscape painting and in later years at the top of a mountain. For forty years he did not exhibit or sell. His oeuvre, 400 paintings and 900 drawings, is unique. And his family wishes his legacy collection to be archived, exhibited and honored.  

Step 1: Client Objective

The family wishes the artist’s oeuvre to become known to the American art world for its distinctiveness and quality and to donate representative works to museums of note. To do this the collection needs to be inventoried and then digitally archived and high resolution photographed. From that digital applications can be created for public relations, exhibition and discussion with museums. 

Step 2: Problem

The first challenge is to inventory the collection and then digitally archive it.

Step 3: Solution

A next step will be to have the inventory transformed into a searchable digital archive and professionally photographed such that digital applications having value-add benefits can be created.

Step 4: Results

Results from the searchable digital archive may include a state-of-the-art website, digital catalog, documentary short film, and educational presentations.    

Step 5: ArtNarrative

What makes this artist and collection unique. The artist grew up in the Hudson Valley overlooking the Catskill Mountains. After college and MFA, he went to NYC to be a color field artist where he exhibited at the Whitney Museum, entered the Whitney collection and was represented by a Manhattan gallery. Soon, however, he became disenchanted with the NYC art scene and longed to return to his Hudson Valley roots to follow his own voice and to live in his beloved mountains for inspiration. He developed a creative process to do his art his own way: beginning with pencil drawings, then a small color field painting and finally the large oil-on-acrylic landscape painting. For forty years he did not exhibit publicly and gifted to family and friends from his mountain studio, resulting oeuvre is 400 paintings and 900 drawings. The artist’s family wishes the artist’s work to be presented to and accepted by the art world, to celebrate the artist’s art and life, to show  what the artist has been doing these past years, and to demonstrate the artist’s legacy through donation of works to museums of note.