Red Grooms, "The Bookstore" and The Late Seventies

Hudson River Museum

Yonkers, New York

914.963.4550

Photo: Quesada/Burke

Red Grooms, "The Bookstore" and The Late Seventies

July 16 - September 19, 1999

The Red Grooms Gift Shop - Exterior View, The Hudson River Museum, Photo: Quesada/Burke

The Hudson River Museum celebrates the 20th anniversary of "The Bookstore" - a permanent installation commissioned by The Museum - with the exhibition Red Grooms, The Bookstore and the Late Seventies, July 16 through Sunday, Sept. 19, 1999.

This exhibition includes prints, drawings, paintings and mixed media works created by the American Pop artist immediately before and after The Bookstore.

Grooms was commissioned by Richard Koshalek - The Museum's director at the time - to create the 200 square-foot gift shop installation in 1978. The Bookstore incorporates two of Grooms' favorite places in New York - Mendoza Book Company and Pierpont Morgan Library.

"I think I was taken by Mendoza's because it was such a warm kind of a cozy place, very; tucked away," Grooms said. "I was also always attracted to the Morgan Library and the grandeur and Baroque style of its rooms.

"It just seemed that these two places struck a chord and provided something I could sink my teeth into. I Liked the idea that I could mix the high end and low end with these two subjects," Grooms added.

"The late seventies were frenetically productive times for the internationally acclaimed artist," said Museum Director Philip Verre. "Public and private commissions, prints, films and set designs were all part of his output at this time. "This exhibition includes examples of these works, many coming from the artist's own collection, as well as preparatory sketches and period photographs of The Bookstore," Verre added.

Read more in Resource Library Magazine about the Hudson River Museum.

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