In a way, it all started with a railroad. Put another way, there were too many forces to count that made Long Island’s East End known as the Hamptons, or “out East” to locals—a globally recognized art scene, but women were central. In a changing society, women had choices and mobility that they had never had before; many turned to art.
By 1870, the Long Island Railroad operated a line that extended service from New York as far east as the agricultural and maritime towns of Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor. In 1884, Maria and Thomas Moran were among the first artists to set up easels in East Hampton. The others followed. The pristine landscape of wide, flat green fields and endless sky surrounded by waterways creates the kind of light that inspired the Dutch masters.
“It’s the power of the beauty of the landscape here. It tends to get people to notice it and work with it.” April Gornika contemporary painter and one of the women keeping the Hamptons art scene alive, told the Observer. “It’s light, but the light results from the fact that it’s the end of an island that juts out into the Atlantic. And then the way everything spreads. To me, it’s like an exhalation.”
After living and working in the East for about 40 years, Gornik and her husband, an artist Eric Fischlfounded The Church, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts venue in Sag Harbor. Her curatorial work has deepened her sense of the history of women artists in the area, from contemporaries such as Celmins line, Cindy Sherman AND Nanette Carter to historical figures such as Moran, Mount Evelina AND Annie Cooper Boyd. In the current exposition of the Church, “This Land: Considering the American Landscape,” she noted, “There’s an engraving nearby Mary Nimmo Moran which is just gobsmatching. It’s great.”
With easy access, more artists traveled from New York. In 1891, the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art was founded by Janet Ralston Chase Hoyta philanthropist and artist who spent the summer in Southampton. She knew that William Merritt Chase wanted to bring a new kind of American art, and Hoyt chose him to create the first school of plein air painting in the country. A respected teacher, Chase had said “I don’t know sex in art” and welcomed women students and instructors. The Shinnecock Summer School of Art was instrumental in the founding of American Impressionism, which is itself notable for its number of outstanding women artists.
Artists gravitate towards other artists, so the creative community continued to grow. In 1931, Mary Woodhouse donated the land and funds to establish Guild Hall, an arts center in East Hampton that houses a theater and museum. In 1949, their controversial “17 Artists of Long Island East” featured works by Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock and other abstract expressionists, heralding a new cultural shift.
The idea of affordable housing and the Hamptons hardly go together now, but in the 1950s and 1960s, New York office workers, firefighters and policemen could buy summer homes and bungalows in the East. After Krasner and Pollock settled in, Lee encouraged other artists to look for venues. Before long, Abstract Expressionism had two addresses—downtown Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Elaine De Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Beautiful Pearls, Mercedes has issues AND Joan Mitchell everyone was called to the Hamptons house at one time or another. (Fun fact: Joan Mitchell played in the inaugural East Hampton Artists & Writers softball game in 1948 along with teammates Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning AND Franz Kline.)
“It was affordable at the time,” Christina Mossaides Strassfieldthe chief executive of Southampton Arts Center told the Observer. “Even if there was no heat, it was a great opportunity.”
Strassfield, himself, has been shaping it The Hamptons art scene since 1987 when she started as Associate Curator and Recorder at the Guild Hall Museum. After rising to the post of museum director, she moved to Southampton Arts Center as executive director in 2023.
Although the quality of work is always paramount to her, in her years in the Hamptons she has championed so many women artists that the Guerrilla Girls took note when they visited. “They looked at a number of institutions on Long Island, and we got an A+ because we had done so many one-woman shows. I was really, really proud of that,” Strassfield recalls. The list extends from artists of the post-war era as Connie Fox, Jane Wilson, Jane Freilicher, Audrey Flack AND Miriam Schapiro for a new generation that includes Gornik, Barbara Kruger, Pat Steier AND Laurie Anderson.
Strassfield also noted the importance of women in the development of exhibitions, dating back to the days of the Abstract Expressionists. “They would meet on the beach every day after they had painted. They would take their break and they would all sit together, men and women, and talk about art,” she said. The annual exhibition organized by the artist at East Hampton’s Ashawagh Hall played a major role. “Many women, notably Elaine de Kooning, were active in the Springs Invitational and involving artists, both their husbands and themselves, in curating and organizing these exhibitions.”
She added, “John Littlehis wife, Josephine Littlewas an artist and actually ran the Signa Gallery, which was one of the first art galleries in the Hamptons… When I came out, years ago, in ’87, Arlene Bujese it was one of the main galleries. Ruth Vered was a great gallerist and Elaine Benson. These were the three mainstays of galleries in the Hamptons.
On Long Island now, all the art museums have women as directors. This is a major step. Parrish Museum of Art at
While Gornik expressed discomfort with the term “woman artist” and Strassfield pointed out, “If it’s made by a woman, but it’s not good art, then it’s not worth showing,” both agreed that they try to uplift women artists. “It’s like having a cause, like being part of a resistance group, where you’re always like trying to empower the other people in your group,” Gornik said. “There is a massive body of understanding that drives women as we try to navigate this ingrained bias.”
Strassfield emphasized, “You have to show good art whether it’s by a woman or a man,” adding, “I believe at a certain point we’re not going to think about that anymore.”
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