For nearly two months, visitors to Floyd Memorial Library have had a rare opportunity to step into a largely forgotten chapter of Greenport’s artistic history.
Drawn from private collections, library archives and newly commissioned works, Stow Wengenroth + The Flacks: The Greenport Group has brought together an extraordinary collection of paintings, drawings, books, dolls and marionettes connected to three artists whose lives and careers intersected in Greenport during the last century.
Now, with the exhibition scheduled to close June 14, organizers are inviting the public to one final gathering celebrating the artists, their work and their enduring ties to the East End.
The closing event will take place Saturday, June 13, at Floyd Memorial Library, beginning with gallery hours at 9:30 a.m. and culminating in a 2:30 p.m. screening of two documentary films about acclaimed American lithographer Stow Wengenroth, followed by a question-and-answer session with filmmaker Heather Atwood of 1623 Studios in Gloucester, Mass.
Rarely-seen works
The exhibition centers on Wengenroth (1906–1978), who lived in Greenport for more than two decades and is widely regarded as one of the finest lithographers America produced in the 20th century. His intricate black-and-white prints are held in the permanent collections of some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art.
Yet despite that acclaim, much of the work currently on display has rarely been seen by the public.
The exhibition’s centerpiece is the Joanna Lane Collection, a privately held assemblage of nearly 50 Wengenroth works that includes oil paintings, watercolors, charcoal drawings, pen-and-ink sketches and early studies created before the artist turned his attention almost exclusively to lithography.
Among them are drawings from Paris dating to 1927, when a young Wengenroth was completing his artistic studies and developing the fascination with architecture and urban landscapes that would later define much of his work. Other pieces capture scenes from Greenport, New England harbors and rural landscapes that reveal a quieter, more intimate side of the artist’s vision.
According to organizers, many of the works remained in Wengenroth’s personal collection until his death in 1978 and have only been publicly exhibited a handful of times since.
Visitors have described the collection as museum quality. Its future, however, remains uncertain.
Because the collection is privately owned, organizers say the exhibition may represent the last opportunity to see many of these works displayed together before they are dispersed.
The exhibition also explores the creative circle that surrounded Wengenroth, particularly his wife, Edith Flack Ackley, and her sister, children’s author and illustrator Marjorie Flack.
Ackley, a writer, designer, dollmaker and pioneering marionette artist, enjoyed national recognition during her lifetime. The exhibition includes books, dolls, manuscripts, photographs and newspaper clippings documenting her work, including material related to a celebrated marionette display once featured in the Fifth Avenue window of cosmetics entrepreneur Elizabeth Arden’s flagship New York City store.
Marjorie Flack, meanwhile, became one of America’s most beloved children’s authors, creating classics including Angus and the Cat and The Story About Ping. Several of her books from the library’s own collection are included in the exhibition, including volumes personally inscribed to generations of young Greenport readers.
One particularly notable piece is a copy of Wait for William bearing a handwritten message from Flack dedicating the book to children who visit the Greenport library, just as she had done herself as a child.
The exhibition also bridges past and present through the work of contemporary puppet maker Carmen Campos, Ed.D., who created two new cloth marionettes inspired by Ackley’s original designs and techniques.
The commissioned pieces reinterpret Ackley’s work through a modern lens while honoring her longstanding commitment to sharing the craft of puppet-making with children and families.
Short films
The June 13 closing event will feature two films that offer rare insight into Wengenroth’s life and artistic process. Atwood’s The Color of Light — Stow Wengenroth incorporates footage from a 1978 documentary by filmmaker Mary Arbuckle, whose full short film will also be screened.
The recordings include Wengenroth discussing his work and feature commentary from renowned American realist painter Andrew Wyeth, who famously described Wengenroth as “the best artist working in black-and-white in America.”
Together, the films run approximately 24 minutes.
For organizers, the event is intended not only as a celebration of the exhibition itself, but also as a reminder of the remarkable artistic legacy rooted in Greenport’s past.
Admission is free. The Floyd Memorial Library is at 539 First St. in Greenport.