Hamptons Artists Hall of Fame
Induction Ceremony: Saturday, July 13 at 11:30 AM in the COLLECTORS LOUNGE
The Hamptons region has long been recognized as a Mecca for the creation and patronage of fine art. Currently over 1,500 artists reside in the region. We recognize and salute a handful of well respected and much-accomplished East End based artists (both living and posthumously) who will be inducted into HFAF 2024 Hamptons Artists Hall of Fame. The purpose of the HOF is to highlight, as well as to invite, a rediscovery for those esteemed local artists who have not fully received the national fame and recognition they deserve.
Herman Cherry (1909-1992)
Herman Cherry is a noted AbEx painter who was a contemporary of all great New York School painters of that 1950-60 era. Known for his accomplished interplay of color and shape in his artworks. He moved to Los Angeles at 15, dropped out of high school to work for 20th Century Fox, designing blueprints for sets. He later studied in Los Angeles with noted painter Stanton MacDonald-Wright. In New York City, he studied at the Arts Students League with Thomas Hart Benton. He had his first solo gallery show in 1934. In the 1930’s, he did murals under the aegis of WPA. In the 1950’s his painting took a step towards abstraction, where he showed at a number of prestigious NYC galleries, including the Stable, Poindexter, and the Tanger. Introduced by Philip Guston, he soon became a member and fixture of the famed art hub, The Club. He was one of only 16 artists that appeared in all prestigious NY Painting and Sculpture Annals at the Stable Gallery (now known as the Stable Shows), 1953-1957, along with such artists as Louis Bourgeios, Ray Parker, William Baziotes, and Yvonne Thomas.
In 1975, after a decade of teaching at various schools across the country, Mr. Cherry stopped painting and began to write poetry. He soon resumed painting and in 1984 and received an award for painting from then American Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1989-90, he had a retrospective at Baruch College, Ball State University, and Stony Brook University.
Connie Fox (1925-2023)
Ms. Fox was a leading AbEx painter who output spanned an amazing 7 decades. She studied art and anthropology at the University of New Mexico, and with her husband, founded the Albuquerque Modern Museum. While in New Mexico in 1957, she met Elaine de Kooning, and a longtime friendship began, as well as her interest in Abstract Expressionism. She lived in Berkeley from 1962-68 and exhibited her art in San Francisco. Then she moved to Pennsylvania and taught at Carnegie Mellon University. In 1970, both Elaine de Kooning and Bob Dash encouraged her move to the Hamptons, so she bought a house in Northwest Woods. Ms. Fox and Mr. Bill King who were longtime popular fixtures of then East End art community, where together until his death in 2015. They married in 2003. Connie Fox’s work is in the public collections of Guild Hall Museum, Parrish Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Albright Knox Museum, and other museums across the nation.
William Dickey King (1925-2015)
Mr. King, a sculptor who worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap and aluminum, created human figures in familiar poses, in the second half of 20th century. He worked both big and small, from busts and toy-like figures to large public art pieces. His figurative sculptures, often with long, spidery legs and an outlandishly skewed ratio of torso to appendages, used gestures and posture to suggest attitude. His depiction of the human form reflected a comic delight.
Arriving in NYC, from Florida, he attended Cooper Union, and traveled to Italy on a Fullbright grant, in 1949, and received the St. Gaudens Medal in 1964. He was survived by his fourth wife, artist Connie Fox (2024 Hall of Fame inductee). The NY Times Art citric described Mr. King’s sculptures as “comical-tragical-maniacal” and “like Giacomettis conceived by John Cleever.” “Misery loves comedy” was one way Mr. King himself described his attitude. He continued to work until just a few month before his death.
Mr. King’s work is in the collections of MoMA, The Met, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and others, and he had dozens of solo shows in NY and elsewhere. He appeared in 3 of the now famous Stable Shows (1955-57).
Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas (1929-2023)
Known professionally, simply as Strong-Cuevas, she was a sculptor known for monumental creations of figurative sculptures of large heads, many of which were in profile, made in steel and bronze. Later in life, her highly abstract, cubist, and totemic works consisted of human faces rendered from multiple angles.
Growing up, she was said to be the favorite grandchild of John D. Rockefeller, the Gilded Age tycoon. She studied at the arts Student League, learning wood and stone carving under the tutelage of John Hovannes in the mid- 1960s. Besides bronze, some of her works has been cast in stainless steel and aluminum. Sculptures by Strong -Cuevas have been exhibited in one person shows in NYC and the Hamptons.
Her works have appeared in group exhibitions in leading galleries and museums, such as The Bruce Museum, Kouros Gallery, in Connecticut, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton Arts Center, Shidoni Contemporary, Biennale III and IV in Monte Carlo, the Tolman Collection in Singapore, Grounds for Sculpture, Guild Hall, Long Island Museum, and Heckscher Museum of Art, where several of her works are in their permanent collection.
William Tarr (1925-2006)
William Tarr was a monumental sculptor, painter, best selling author, Guggenheim Fellow and longtime resident of Springs, East Hampton. While he began his creative career as a painter, by1958, sculpting in metal became his focus. Artistically, Tarr is best known for his massive 63 ton, 30 ft. x 30 ft. x 30 ft. welded-steel memorial to Martin Luther King which took him 3-1/2 years to build and install in front of the M. L. King High School, (66 St., & Amsterdam Ave., NYC), in 1973 which was selected as “Best monument in NYC” by New York Magazine in 1985.
Over the years Tarr undertook many challenging commissions including in 1967, a huge 40 ft. x 8 ft. x 8 ft., 13 ton welded-steel sculpture appropriately adorned with numbers & letters for Harlem Public School 36. In 1969, Tarr showed with O.K. Harris Gallery, and installed a full-scale 28 ft. wingspan, welded-steel WWI era, “Sopwith Camel” biplane atop the 27th floor roof of 77 Water St., NYC, complete with its own runway and lights.
In 1974, he received a prestigious GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP for sculpture. In 1978 and 1981 he was awarded Best Sculpture and Best In Show, Guild Hall Artist Member Exhibition. In 1990, Tarr installed “Gates of The Six Million”, a 9 ft. tall x 8 ft. wide x 4 ft. deep, 5,400 lb. cast bronze memorial at the Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C.
Amy Zerner
Amy Zerner is a multi-disciplinary artist and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist’s Fellowship Grant in the Category of Painting. She attended Pratt Institute and has made her home in East Hampton, NY since 1967, where she lives with her husband, author Monte Farber. Amy has exhibited her mixed-media work extensively in the Hamptons, most recently at MM Fine Art in Southampton, NY. Her unique collage style combines various fabrics, unique textiles, and found objects to create visually stunning and spiritually meaningful works.
Amy has sold her one-of-a-kind art couture jackets, coats and caftans at Bergdorf Goodman for 24 years, along with her unique jewelry designs. Her tapestries and collages have been included in the collections of many prominent individuals including Oprah, Shirley MacLaine, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Rhianna, Patti LaBelle, Martha Stewart and Michael J. Fox.
She has had many one-person shows at venues such as the Myers Gallery at the State University of New York in Plattsburg, University of North Texas ArtSpace, Eastern Kentucky University Giles Gallery, Las Vegas Cultural Center, First Woman’s Bank, Callenwolde Fine Arts Center, and The Islip Art Museum.
Her work has been shown in many group shows, including the Museum of American Craft, Lebanon Valley Collage Art Gallery, Downey Museum of Art, Pacific Lutheran University, Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall Museum.
Her artwork illustrates the best-selling mind/body/spirit books and tools she has created with Monte, with nearly 3 million copies in print in 18 languages. A feature length documentary about the couple “Amy & Monte: A Legacy of Love and Creativity” has been produced and will be released Fall 2024.
