Exhibitions

2023

The Swimsuits Series – A Pictorial Reflection on Women’s Rights

The Swimsuits series by French artist Fleur Spolidor focuses on Women’s Rights and the surreal situations that women face in society. The exhibition consists of twelve artworks, seven of which were previously displayed at the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations in New York on the occasion of the Commission on Status of Women with an emphasis on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The artist painted them in acrylic on a collage of recycled materials, not only to upcycle, but also to create a rough textured surface, thus contrasting with the idea of classical painting being constructed as windows of a smooth, perfect world.

The exhibit was installed at the site of the future Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Center and made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by ArtsWestchester.

2019 - 20

Preserving Westchester’s African-American Heritage

On Saturday, September 28, 2019, JHC joined with fellow members of the African American History in Westchester 400th Commemoration Committee to host a tour and photo exhibit about our County’s vibrant Black history. Dave Thomas, Founder of the Friends of the African-American Cemetery in Rye shared updates about restoration efforts and new research at the National Historic Register burial ground on North Street where many Black families from Mamaroneck, Rye and Port Chester have been interred since 1860. The tour was followed by a reception and exhibit of historic late 19th and early 20th century photos. Descendants of the families memorialized at the cemetery welcomed questions. Both the Rye African-American Cemetery and the Jay Estate have been member sites of Westchester County’s African-American Heritage Trail since 2004. The day was a culmination of many years of partnership between the two non-profits. Read more about the exhibit here.

Photos courtesy of Carol Ubosi nee Smith and the Robinson and Lockley families. Thank you to Con Edison for supporting this program.

Learn more in this Video by Historian Dr. Larry Spruill

2018

Manhattan Seascapes by Robert Gambee

Rye resident, Robert Gambee, has been photographing for 50 years and it is a joy to bring his works to our site for the holidays. He has worked primarily in the United States, but also in Western Europe as well as Asia. He has published seven books with color photography and three with black and white photography.

Approximately 1,700 black and white images of New York’s Manhattan Seascapes are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, National Maritime Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York, New-York Historical Society, The New York Public Library, Princeton University, Bruce Museum, and Vassar College.

Robert has served as the Official Photographer for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Cunard Lines, Phillips Exeter Academy, Scottish Development Authority,and others.

2016-17

Shorelines & Greenscapes - Photos by Alex S. MacLean

Alex MacLean, founder of Landslides, is an internationally acclaimed fine art aerial photographer. He melded his undergraduate and graduate studies in architecture and planning at Harvard University with a love of flying and photography into a prolific and stimulating career. His aerial images are beautiful, provocative and often painterly. They document the impact of humanity on our planet and its limited resources. Alex’s deft selection of urban, agricultural and sylvan vistas invite discussion about development patterns which affect our economic and social well-being. His images can be whimsical while also sounding a more serious note about our relationships to climate change.

Alex’s portfolio includes exhibitions all over the world, ten published books, and numerous honors including a Prix de Rome Award in Landscape Architecture- it is an honor to present this show that he produced exclusively for the Jay Heritage Center. Come see this unique selection of perspectives of Long Island Sound from Rye to Greenwich. These high resolution landscape portraits will have you lingering and studying every nuance of familiar places made brand new from a bird’s eye view.

Read more about Alex and Landslides here

2015 - 16

Mary Rutherfurd Jay - Garden Architect

Mary Rutherfurd Jay (1872 – 1953) was one of America’s earliest landscape architects and a vocal advocate of horticultural education and careers for women. Like her contemporaries – Beatrix Jones Farrand, Martha Brookes Hutcheson, Marion Cruger Coffin, and Ellen Biddle Shipman – Jay excelled in a male dominated profession that demanded proficiency in architectural planning, engineering and encyclopedic botanical knowledge.

Our 2015 exhibit illuminated chapters of her life beginning with her early education and first commissions in Connecticut and New York in 1907. Visitors learned about her distinguished service working with wounded soldiers during the Great War and her agricultural work raising crops for battalions at the front. Tour groups, from the American Women of African Heritage to The Colonial Dames of America saw photos of private and commercial projects that were digitized for the very first time from her personal collection of hand colored glass lantern slides.

With gratitude to the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley; William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan; and New-York Historical Society. Exhibition made possible through the generosity of Ellen and Pierre Jay de Vegh and a grant by Con Edison. Curated by Suzanne Clary.

Read a review here

Learn more about Mary Rutherfurd Jay and her career

2013

Landmarks of NY

The Jay Heritage Center kicked off NY Heritage Weekend and Path Through History Weekend with the opening of their first major photography exhibit, The Landmarks of New York, on Sunday June 2nd, 2013. The show filled a newly configured gallery space at the 1907 Carriage House. Guests enjoyed a collection of 90 striking black and white photos documenting a select cross-section of New York City’s best loved architectural treasures. Visitors will recognize the exterior silhouettes of iconic structures like the Little Red Lighthouse or Rockefeller Center but be equally intrigued by lesser known landmarks like the star studded interior of the Paradise Loews Theatre; the residence of African American jazz legend and saxophonist Charlie Parker; or the Alice Austen House on Staten Island, home to one of America’s earliest female photographers. The buildings highlighted span more than 300 years from 1640 to 1967.

The touring exhibit which was most recently shown at The New-York Historical Society, was curated by the 2012 John Jay Medal honoree, Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel. She is an author, television interviewer and producer, preservationist, and civic activist. In 1966, Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel became the first Director of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She also served as a Commissioner of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1972 to 1987 and was Chair of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Foundation from 1987 to 1995. She is currently the Chair of NYC Landmarks 50, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the organization and the NYC Landmarks Law.

Learn more and view photos

2011 - 12

The Jay Family and the Abolition of Slavery - From Manumission to Emancipation

This exhibit examined the role of John Jay and his descendants in abolishing slavery, from Revolutionary Times through to the Civil War. In this unique presentation that uses John Jay’s family home in Rye as a portal to the past, visitors will invited to learn how Jay’s earliest antislavery efforts in 1777 through to his signing of Gradual Emancipation Act in 1799, were further advanced by his family through to the Civil War, including the enlistment of Jay’s descendants in the Union. The Jay Heritage Center’s collection of original Jay family letters, books, paintings, photos, Civil war flags and artifacts were displayed for the very first time at this landmark event. Read more here

As companion programming, JHC hosted actors John Douglas Thompson, Jefferson Mays, and Sean McNall to read lines from Shakespeare’s plays and compared them with excerpts from Lincoln’s Civil war letters and inaugural addresses. American essayist Adam Gopnik provided incisive commentary that was truly riveting about Shakespeare’s very definite influence on Lincoln’s prose. Read more here.

Learn more and view photos

2011

Every Tree Tells A Story - Photo Exhibition

Landslide – Every Tree Tells a Story, is a unique photo exhibition that focuses on the irreplaceable trees and tree groupings, often associated with historically important people and events that have shaped the development of our American communities and cultures. This event will be complemented by many lectures on native trees and walking tours of the National Historic Landmark Jay Property throughout April, May and June.

Landslide, first issued in 2003, is The Cultural Landscape Foundation‘s annual compendium of significant at-risk parks, gardens, horticultural features, and working landscapes. Visitors will learn about sentinel and specimen trees, allées and boulevards, urban forests, formal and vernacular—things that surround us and are reminders of our national heritage. These natural and living witnesses command the same awe and admiration that our culture bestows upon the arts, architecture, and design. The exhibition is supported by The Davey Tree Expert Company, American Forests, Garden Design, American Photo, and Con Edison, the Power of Green.

2010

Conservation Education Exhibit

This unique conservation exhibit took the form of a dollhouse with a slide show of energy efficiency steps from Rye Garden Club. “The restoration of the magnificent Jay mansion is the inspiration for our Conservation Exhibit, as it so beautifully shows how home renovation and historic preservation can go hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship,” said Rye Garden Club (RGC) members. “Historic methods of climate control such as the use of shutters and proper placement of plantings are just as relevant today as they were in the past. Time honored practices of re-using existing materials plus recycling products from local sources remain the ideal. New technological advances, such as low-VOC paints and geothermal heating, further build upon the pragmatic mindset of our Founding Fathers”.

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2009

Legacy of Sailing - Celebrating NY's Quadricentennial

Residents of the historic Jay Estate in Rye and their families shared a passion for the water and were influential members of the New York sailing community:

John Clarkson Jay was one of the founders of the historic New York Yacht Club, owner of the yacht, La Coquille; and an esteemed friend/conchologist/ consultant to Commodore Matthew Perry before and after his 1852 -54 Expedition to Japan

Warner la Montagnie van Norden was also a member of New York Yacht Club– his father, Warner Van Norden, a member of the Holland Society, was one of the original organizers of the 1909 Henry Hudson Tercentenary that celebrated New York’s most vital waterway while applauding the contributions of European culture to this state’s development and commerce

Edgar Palmer and his wife Zilph, Princeton philanthropists, owned several famous yachts including two schooners named Guinevere that were legendary for their state of the art technology–their family’s loyal support of the allied war effort was reflected in the commissioning of both vessels to the US Navy in World War I and World War II for special escort patrol. Both Edgar Palmer and his son-in-law Walter Devereux were Commodores of American Yacht Club in Rye. Zilph was one of the first female flag members of the club and a regatta winning sailor in her own right.

The exhibit included rare Edwin Levick photos in our collection, an 1836 treatise by NYYC co-founder J. C. Jay on shells with hand colored plates; numerous Hudson Fulton Tercentenary memorabilia including silver and bronze medals designed for the Chairmen of the Commission by artist Emil Fuchs and the original engraved invitations, programs and silverware from Tiffany’s; vintage photographs of the 1909 naval parade; 100 year old ship plans of the replica Half Moon and Clermont; complimented by photographs from Mystic Seaport’s Rosenfeld collection and much more.

Learn more and view photos