Dove’s Geneva
On Saturday, June 30, the Geneva Historical Society will open Dove’s Geneva, an exhibit focused on the buildings in Geneva with links to modern artist Arthur Dove and his family. Arthur Dove (1880-1846) was America’s first modernist painter. He grew up in Geneva and attended Hobart College and Cornell University before moving to New York City and becoming an illustrator. His fame lay in the abstract paintings he began creating in the second decade of the 1900s. Dove also lived in Geneva from 1933 to 1938 and produced a number of paintings inspired by the city and Seneca Lake. Three generations of the Dove family were stonemasons, and many of their buildings still stand in Geneva.
In conjunction with the June 30 opening of the exhibit, the Geneva Historical Society and the Arthur Dove Tribute Group are hosting a special event celebrating the importance of Dove and his work to Geneva. At 8:30 a.m., Jim Spates, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Professor of Sociology Emeritus, will lead a tour of the Dove Block at 459 Exchange Street. The tour is free and open to the general public, but reservations are required. Reservations may be made by calling the Historical Society at 315-789-5151.
At 10 a.m., Professor Spates and Dove scholars, art historian Alan Pensler and Princeton Professor Rachel DeLue, will hold a panel discussion at the Geneva History Museum about Dove and his work in Geneva. At 11 a.m., Dove’s Geneva will officially open to the public. In addition to exploring local buildings and sites connected to Dove and his family, the exhibit contrasts the Geneva of Dove’s late 19th-century youth with the city when he returned in the 1930s. Dove’s Geneva will be on display from June 30 to September 22, 2018 during the regular museum hours.
The Geneva History Museum is located at 543 South Main Street. Summer hours are Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 5 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation of $3. Parking is available on the street or in the lot at Trinity Episcopal Church.
Brava on this event–sorry to have missed it. Is there any chance the event will be made into a monograph or a book?
There aren’t any plans for something beyond the exhibit at the moment. For more about the Arthur Dove Tribute Group, you can visit their website here: https://savethedoveblock.org/blog/.