Right:
Alexander Calder (1898–1976)
The Arch, 1975
Steel painted black
50´x 41´ 7˝x 34´ 10˝
(©)Estate of Alexander Calder
Artists Rights Society, New York
Below:
Bronze, 5´ 11⅝˝x 2´ 5½˝ x 1´ 6½˝
the sculpture, by Alexander Calder, even has a name
i can handle: The Arch. And although some of the more
than 100 post–World War ii sculptures that live (and i
use that verb thoughtfully) at the 500-acre art center do
have what i would consider eye roll–worthy monikers,
it doesn’t seem to matter here.
Storm King is both art gallery and nature preserve,
a theme park for aesthetes. now in its 51st season, the
center celebrates modern art while placing it in a pre-
historic setting. the earliest
art, after all, was outdoors,
from the cave paintings of
europe to the mysterious
easter island stone heads
to the Sphinx. throughout
recorded history, from ancient
greece and egypt through the
renaissance, art was an open,
public conversation. only rel-
atively recently has it moved
into museums. Storm King
reminds us that, like eating
and sleeping, art can be pretty
great outdoors, too.
A Little History
in the 1950s, ralph edward
“ted” ogden and his son-in-law, h. peter Stern, had
a successful manufacturing
business in the area. ogden was friendly with a man
named Vermont hatch, who owned a beautiful, 1935
normandy-style home and 23 acres in the well-named
town of mountainville, between Schunemunk and
Storm King mountains. When hatch died, ogden
bought the property with the intent of doing something
there for the community. he and Stern founded Storm
King Art Center in 1960.
“ted was very philanthropic, and he wanted a
museum in the area,” says his grandson, Stern’s son John
p. Stern, now president and Ceo of Storm King. ogden’s
first thought was a showcase of hudson river School
art, and he held a few exhibits in the early 1960s. “But he
wanted to have fun in his retirement, and to him, that
meant doing what others didn’t do,” Stern says.
in 1966, ogden visited the Adirondacks home of
David Smith, a prominent abstract artist, a year after
Smith died in a car accident. ogden saw Smith’s large
sculptures set against his bucolic mountain-home
backdrop.
“he was so moved by Smith’s work, he bought 13
pieces then and there,” Stern says. “they really turned
the vision of Storm King around and are still the core
of our collection.”
ogden and the elder Stern began acquiring more
land and art, including many commissioned, site-specific pieces, by the greatest abstract sculptors in the
world: Calder, Andy goldsworthy, maya Lin, Louise
nevelson, isamu noguchi, nam June paik, richard
Serra, mark di Suvero and more. each piece is carefully
