The Power of Two: Artist Couples of Long Island

Edith Mitchill Prellwitz, Elegy (or Fate), 1908, oil on canvas, framed 35”H x 52”W; Collection of Henry & Wendy Prellwitz

Artists often work in close contact with one another as a way to encourage their artistic and creative innovations, forming clubs, schools, and colonies that have produced some of our most groundbreaking art. All of the couples presented in this exhibition were brought together by art, and chose to join their domestic and family life with their creative output and profession. Examining the influences within these partnerships, differing arrangements can be seen, from deliberately collaborative to unexpectedly subconscious. Mary Nimmo and Thomas Moran together established East Hampton as a burgeoning artist colony with the creation of their home, The Studio, in 1884. He taught her to etch, and she conquered the medium to become internationally recognized. Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock retreated to their remote Springs studio in 1945 where gestural painting was pushed to its limits, and where Krasner decided that Pollock’s genius was the one to promote and support, even after his death. Judith and Gerson Leiber, over the course of a remarkable 70 year marriage, guided one another to success on the national stage in both the fashion and art worlds, poetically passing away just hours apart on the same day in 2018. These historic couples established Long Island as a place that nurtures artistic partnerships, and contemporary pairs continue this tradition, including Bastienne Schmidt and Philippe Cheng, Lautaro Cuttica and Isadora Capraro, and Jeremy Dennis and Brianna L. Hernández. This exhibition features over 50 artworks comparing and contrasting the work produced by 14 artist couples of Long Island, from the Morans in the 1880s through contemporary couples working today.