Preservation Long Island

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Preservation Long Island’s Latest Publication

Focuses on the Work of Edward Lange,

One of Long Island’s Most Prolific Artists of the Late Nineteenth Century

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“Promoting Long Island:

The Art of Edward Lange, 1870–1889”

By Lauren Brincat and Peter Fedoryk with Jennifer L. Anderson,

Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, and Joshua M. Ruff.

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Cold Spring Harbor, NY—Preservation Long Island’s new hardcover book, Promoting Long Island: The Art of Edward Lange, 1870–1889, released earlier this month, features over 100 full-color images of the late 19th-century Long Island landscapes the artist knew and painted. Edited and authored by Preservation Long Island’s chief curator & director of collections, Lauren Brincat, and former curatorial fellow, Peter Fedoryk, with essays by Jennifer L. Anderson, Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, and Joshua M. Ruff, the publication presents over two years of new research into the artist’s life and work.

Reconciling the carefully edited world Lange depicted in his artworks with the real historical record, Promoting Long Island builds off decades-old research, study, and institutional collecting to present a more complete view of Edward Lange and the Long Island he knew and painted.

Edward Lange (1846–1912), a German immigrant who grew up in a family of prominent artists, publishers, and printmakers, arrived on Long Island during one of its most critical moments. For nearly two decades, he watched new industry creep into an older agrarian landscape and used his artwork to record the region’s change. With clear entrepreneurial spirit, Lange inserted himself into Long Island’s booming economy, creating advertorial content to promote businesses across the region. His images of main streets, factories, railroad depots, and hotels capture a Long Island undergoing rapid industrial and social transformation.

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“Lange’s artwork represents a tangible connection to a period of Long Island’s history when its people, culture, and landscape were undergoing rapid change,” said Elizabeth Abrams, Preservation Long Island interim executive director. “The artist’s views of Long Island towns, villages, landscapes, and waterscapes offer local Long Islanders an unparalleled look into their own shared past.”

“Artists like Lange played a significant role in a promoting Long Island’s scenery to the larger public during the nineteenth century,” noted Preservation Long Island chief curator & director of collections, and co-author of the publication, Lauren Brincat. “Not only was Lange’s artwork reflective of a resulting new age of booming tourism on Long Island, but it was instrumental in the region’s growth by advertising hotels, resorts, and experiences to a greater public.”

“In the late nineteenth century, Lange’s artwork had immense visual influence in the New York metropolitan area. Today, the artist’s paintings, drawings, prints, and photographic reproductions are celebrated as snapshots of a world before suburbanization permanently reshaped Long Island’s built environment,” said Peter Fedoryk, a co-author of the book and former lead researcher for Preservation Long Island’s Art of Edward Lange Project.

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By assembling broader historical context around Lange’s life and work, Promoting Long Island draws connections between his art and previously unassociated historical themes—from the plight of factory laborers and Black hotel workers to the unjust treatment of Native communities at the hands of real estate developers and railroad tycoons.

“Engaging with these historical narratives in conjunction with Lange’s artwork helps demonstrate exactly how much is not depicted within the artist’s incredibly detailed pictures,” said Brincat.

Fedoryk added, “Separating the objects of art from the narratives people have attached to them over time is a necessary step in placing Lange’s artwork back within its historical context to attain a more complete understanding of the Long Island that the artist navigated and the kind of life he lived there.”

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Book Release Special Programs and Events

Exhibition: “Promoting Long Island: The Art of Edward Lange, 1870–1889” on view through December 1, 2024 at the Preservation Long Island Exhibition Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. FREE

Inspired by the release of Preservation Long Island’s latest publication of the same name, this exhibition features watercolors, photographs, and historical objects from the collection of Preservation Long Island and on loan from collections across Long Island.

Curator Exhibition Tour: Sunday, September 29, 2024 at 11:00 AM
Preservation Long Island Exhibition Gallery (161 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor)
Ticket Price: $10 members / $15 non-members

Step inside Preservation Long Island’s newest publication with a special tour of the accompanying exhibition lead by guest curator, Peter Fedoryk and Lauren Brincat, chief curator and director of collections at Preservation Long Island (both curators are co-editors of the book).

Northport Walking Tour: Sunday, October 6th at 1 PM (Meeting Place: Northport Park)Ticket Price (includes reception): $20 members / $25 non-members

Follow in the footsteps of artist Edward Lange with Huntington Town Historian Robert C. Hughes. The walking tour of Northport’s historic Main Street will highlight the places, people, and stories captured in the paintings of late nineteenth-century artist Edward Lange (1846–1912). A reception will follow the tour at the Northport Historical Society, where participants can see some of Lange’s original works on display.

Authors Panel Discussion & Book Signing: Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 3:00 PM at the
DNA Learning Center (334 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor), followed by a reception at the Preservation Long Island Exhibition Gallery (161 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor)
Ticket Price: $35 members / $45 non-members

Join all five authors of the book for a moderated discussion as they unravel how one artist captured Long Island during a critical period of transformation and how this change impacted all who called it home. The program will be immediately followed by a wine and cheese reception and book signing at Preservation Long Island’s Exhibition Gallery, where original artworks by Lange will be on view as part of a companion exhibition.

Call or visit Preservation Long Island’s website for more information about the publication and related programs. 631.692.4664 https://preservationlongisland.org/pre-order-our-latest-publication/

Promoting Long Island: The Art of Edward Lange, 1870–1889 is available to order at Preservation Long Island’s online store: https://preservationlongisland.org/product/promoting-long-island/

The book is also available for purchase at the following locations:

Preservation Long Island’s Exhibition Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor, NY and at each of their historic house museums in Suffolk County
The Long Island Museum Gift Shop in Stony Brook, NY
The Never-Ending Story Bookstore in Babylon, NY
Three Village Historical Society in Setauket, NY
Upcoming fall book signing events planned across Long Island including at Barnes & Noble in Bridgehampton, NY and The Next Chapter in Huntington, NY

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Author Biographies

Lauren Brincat is the chief curator and director of collections at Preservation Long Island where she organizes exhibitions and publications examining Long Island’s history and material culture and oversees special initiatives, such as The Art of Edward Lange Project and The Jupiter Hammon Project.

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Peter Fedoryk is a PhD student in the Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology, and Culture at the University of Delaware. He served as the lead researcher for Preservation Long Island’s The Art of Edward Lange Project from 2021 to 2023.

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Jennifer L. Anderson, PhD, is associate professor of history at Stony Brook University. She is an editor of the Long Island History Journal and author of Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2012.).

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Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, PhD, is the Richard and Mary Holland Assistant Curator of American Western Art at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. His research has been published in the Oxford Journal of the History of Collections, Panorama, and Early American Studies.

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Joshua M. Ruff is co-executive director, collections and programming, for the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook, New York. He is the author of many previous publications about American and Long Island history and has curated more than seventy exhibitions in his twenty-seven years as a museum professional.

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Robert C. Hughes, Esq. serves as Huntington Township’s local historian. He is the published author of Cold Spring Harbor (Arcadia Publishing, 2014) and Northport (Arcadia Publishing, 2018). He serves as a board member for the Cold Spring Harbor Public Library, Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Eagle Dock Foundation, Inc., and the Huntington Rural Cemetery Association. His expertise has established him as the paramount authority of local history as well as an invaluable member of the Huntington community.

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Support

Generous funding in support of this publication has been provided by

The Gerry Charitable Trust and The Decorative Arts Trust.

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Preservation Long Island is a not-for-profit organization that works with Long Islanders to raise awareness, appreciation, and support for the protection of our shared past through advocacy, education, and the stewardship of historic sites and collections.

http://preservationlongisland.org

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Preservation Long Island maintains and interprets historic sites and collections that embody various aspects of Long Island’s history including:

Joseph Lloyd Manor, Lloyd Harbor http://preservationlongisland.org/joseph-lloyd-manor/

Custom House, Sag Harbor http://preservationlongisland.org/custom-house/

Sherwood-Jayne Farm, Setauket http://preservationlongisland.org/sherwood-jayne-farm/

Old Methodist Church and Exhibition Gallery http://preservationlongisland.org/methodist-church/

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