GLENS FALLS, NY.- Hyde Collection founder Charlotte Hyde (1867-1963) had the foresight to know that to stay relevant, the Museum would have to evolve. On Saturday, June 10, the Museum opened its doors to the future as it unveiled its latest transformation, the newly constructed Feibes & Schmitt Gallery.

The Feibes & Schmitt Gallery is the result of a donation made last year from Werner Feibes and his late partner, James Schmitt, who gave the Museum their Modern and Contemporary art collection valued at more than $10 million, and a $1 million leadership donation to build the 1,500-square-foot exhibition space. The collection establishes the Museum as a regional hub for Modern and Contemporary art, and greatly increases its educational and programming opportunities.

“I have visited The Hyde Collection many times and know how important it is to our community’s culture, as well as to our local economy," said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. "This new gallery will make The Hyde an even stronger pillar of our Glens Falls community.”

June 10 also marked the opening of the Feibes & Schmitt Gallery's inaugural exhibition, To Distribute and Multiply: The Feibes & Schmitt Gift, which includes more than forty works from the collection, representing some of the twentieth century's most influential artists, such as Jean (Hans) Arp, Josef Albers, Ilya Bolotowsky, Keith Haring, Grace Hartigan, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Man Ray, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, George Rickey, Bridget Riley, and Andy Warhol, among others.

"The Feibes & Schmitt Collection establishes The Hyde as a regional must-see for Modern art," Coe said. "Without traveling to New York or Boston, or even Montreal, there's nowhere else in the region where you can see the works of the twentieth century's most influential artists just down the hall from Botticelli, Rembrandt, Degas, Hassam, and Homer."

“The Hyde Collection is a jewel which now shines even brighter with the addition of the Feibes & Schmitt Gallery,” said Senator Betty Little. “Past visitors to The Hyde will want to come back to see the new gallery and those who have never been here will no doubt be astounded when they walk through the doors and see the breadth and the beauty and the cultural impact of this remarkable collection of artwork. I am very proud that my hometown of Glens Falls has this to offer.”

Inaugural exhibition
Architects and Hyde benefactors Werner Feibes and the late James Schmitt didn't see works of art as material possessions, but as ideas. They donated their $10 million collection of Modern and Contemporary art to The Hyde Collection in part because they knew the Museum would regularly exhibit the works and provide the public greater access to the art than a larger museum could. Centered on a quote from Josef Albers (1888-1976) — "To distribute material possessions is to divide them. To distribute spiritual possessions is to multiply them." — the inaugural exhibition To Distribute and Multiply: The Feibes & Schmitt Gift in the new gallery that bears their names, demonstrates Messrs. Feibes and Schmitt as art lovers and collectors.

The more than forty works showcase the collectors' affinity for postwar nonrepresentational art. Messrs. Feibes and Schmitt were friends with many of the artists whose works they collected, including Ellsworth Kelly, whose portraits of the couple are included in the exhibition.

“The selection of works in the inaugural exhibition speaks pointedly to Werner and Jim’s collective interests and tastes,” Coe said. “Specifically, it focuses on the artists that Werner and Jim befriended, which gives the collection its distinctive character and charm.”

"Jim (Schmitt) and I always considered art as ideas expressed through a visual medium," Mr. Feibes has said. "For more than four decades, we collected these ideas, and it gives me great pleasure to share them with The Hyde and with the public."

To Distribute and Multiply: The Feibes & Schmitt Gift is organized by The Hyde Collection and curated by Museum Director Erin Coe and Jonathan Canning, Director of Curatorial Affairs. The inaugural exhibition will remain on view through the end of the year.