GLENS FALLS, NY.- The Hyde Collection opens The Prints of Sean Scully – an exhibition of the bold works of Irish-born, American painter. Sean Scully is an international artist best known for reviving abstract painting in the 1980s. Born in Dublin and now an American citizen, Scully has made prints in professional workshops in New York, Munich, Barcelona, and Tampere, Finland. The exhibition will be on display in The Hyde’s Charles R. Wood gallery through November 2, 2008.

His magnificent compositions resonate with personal interactions to the world around him. The selected words provide a rare opportunity to view luminous graphic images created by one of the leaders of abstract painting today. Using his instantly-recognizable block shapes, Scully’s richly layered prints explore such themes as the play of light and shadow, the expressive qualities of color, and the spatial relationships created by the edges of his distinctive abstract forms.

Organized and circulated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this exhibition will feature fifty-one etchings, aquatints, and woodcuts, as well as lithographs recently made by Scully. The Smithsonian is the only institution in the United States to own a master set of the artist’s prints. This traveling exhibition completes its tour at The Hyde Collection. Previous display venues include The Smithsonian, as well as the Naples Museum of Art (Florida) and the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minnesota). Local sponsors for the exhibition are Ames Goldsmith and Jointa Galusha.

The permanent collection consists of approximately 2,800 paintings, sculpture, works on paper, furniture, and decorative arts. When the Hydes began collecting, their focus was not unlike that of their contemporaries. They acquired Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture by such artists as Botticelli, El Greco, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens. In their most important decisions, notable scholars William R. Valentiner and R. Langton Douglas often guided them.

After the death of her husband in 1934, Mrs. Hyde continued to acquire new works. In fact, approximately two-thirds of the core collection reflect her personal decisions and taste. It was also during this time that she decided to broaden the scope of the collection. To that end, she proceeded to purchase additional works by such modern masters as Cézanne, Degas, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, and van Gogh. Concurrently, she assembled a significant group of works by important American artists including Eakins, Hassam, Homer, Peto, and Ryder.

While the majority of the objects comprising the permanent collection were the result of the efforts of Louis and Charlotte Hyde, the collection continues to grow through acquisitions. The Hyde Museum offers a world class collection of objects that span the history of western art from the 4th century BC through the 20th century. The Museum's founders, Louis and Charlotte Hyde, acquired the majority of objects during a fifty-year period of avid and highly informed collecting. Many of these works are displayed in their home, known as Hyde House, as well as select galleries in the education wing.   Visit : www.hydecollection.org/