© John H. Beaumont 2011 - 2020
Photo Tours
Widely celebrated as one of the world’s leading sculpture
parks, Storm King Art Center has welcomed visitors from
across the globe for fifty years. It is located only one hour
north of New York City, in the lower Hudson Valley, where its
pristine 500-acre landscape of fields, hills, and woodlands
provides the setting for a collection of more than 100 carefully
sited sculptures created by some of the most acclaimed artists
of our time.
The nonprofit Storm King Art Center was founded and opened
to the public in 1960, thanks to the efforts of the late Ralph E.
Ogden and H. Peter Stern, co-owners of the Mountainville-
based Star Expansion Company.
The initial gift of what is today the Museum Building and its
surrounding property was made by the Ralph E. Ogden
Foundation, Inc. Over time, Star Expansion Company donated
300 contiguous acres, as well as 2,100 acres of
Schunnemunk Mountain (now owned by the State of New York
and designated Schunnemunk Mountain State Park) that
preserve Storm King Art Center’s view-shed.
Although Storm King was originally envisioned as a museum
devoted to Hudson River School, by 1961 its founders had
become committed to modern sculpture. Early purchases
were sited directly outside the Museum Building as part of a
formal garden scheme. However, with the 1966 purchase of
thirteen works from the estate of sculptor David Smith
(1906¬1965), Storm King began to place sculpture directly in
the landscape. Since then, every work has been sited with
consideration of both its immediate surroundings and distant
views.
Fifty years after its founding, Storm King continues to grow and
evolve, and is among the world’s leading sculpture parks.