An extraordinary photographic exhibit, Pop Photographica, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and presented here by the Parrish, comprises early photography portraiture which provokes apprehension as well as enchantment and was the genre of choice, prompted the public to marvel at photography's startling verisimilitude. As enterprising photographers sought attractive applications for this new medium, the portrait morphed into the 3-dimensional object festooned with an image. There is a beautiful ruby glass perfume bottle with a daguerreotype inset in the lid, a 14k gold broach containing an ambrotype of a loved one, and walking sticks, tabletop clocks, writing instruments, and other luxury goods associated with le haute bourgeoisie. Before long photographs appeared on quilts, mirrors, clothing, furniture, souvenirs, and countless other quotidian items utilized by the middle and working classes. Curator Daile Kaplan has coined the term "Pop Photographica" for this hybrid form that defies simply categorization.

As we look to the future and a newly expanded museum complex on a nine-acre site overlooking the glorious Shinnecock Bay - a vista often depicted by William Merritt Chase - The Parrish is positioned to become the leading cultural institution of the East End and the repository for the body of knowledge that brings the estimable history of North and South Forks artists together. This large scale survey, organized by Parrish Curator of Art Alicia Longwell, took a wide-ranging look at some 40 artists at work here on the East End today, making a persuasive case for the endurance of the region as a vital art colony - as illustrated in the exhibition North Fork/South Fork: East End Art Now. For nearly a century and a half, Long Island's legendary East End has been a destination not only for sun-seeking vacationers but for artists who come to enjoy the scenic beauty and practice their craft as well. Ever since the Tile Club expeditions in the 1870s, the first artistic forays to the island, both the North and South Forks have been highly desirable locales for the artistic community.

Romance and Solitude was an exhibition of 43 prints from the collection of Theodore C. Rogers which depict life in urban America between the turn of the century and World War II. This, in other words, is a look at American life before suburbanization. Millions of immigrants from abroad arrived in these years. At the same time, millions of Americans left farms and small towns to take jobs in the burgeoning manufacturing industries centered in cities. This meant forsaking the familiarity of small town communities for the anonymity of big city life. The prints chosen for this exhibition show these urban Americans coping with city life, feeling the loneliness of life among millions of strangers and finding solace in companionship. The earliest prints in the exhibition are those of the Ashcan artist John Sloan most of which date from the 1900-1910. The exhibition also includes a number of work by artists of the 1920s and 1930s known for their sensitive interpretations of American city life: Edward Hopper, Peggy Bacon, Raphael Soyer and Martin Lewis. Organized by the International Print Center New York.

Another very important exhibition also held at The Parrish Art Museum was An American Legacy: Art from The Studio Museum in Harlem - a fine presentation and rich array of art from the permanent collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem. It was accompanied by dynamic lectures, critically acclaimed films, a poetry reading with distinguished authors and illuminating gallery talks, providing a thought-provoking look at important works by African American artists.

Two other past exhibitions showcased works from the permanent collection. American Views: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Idea of Place organized by Parrish Curator of Art, Alicia Longwell, included more than 40 works drawn exclusively from the Museum's collection and reexamining the notion of a sense of place. It included works by William Merritt Chase, John Twachtman, John Marin and Fairfield Porter, among others. "Selected for Myself": American Etchings of the 1880s was a selection of forty prints drawn from The Parrish Art Museum's Dunnigan Collection of more than 400 prints by 39 American painter-etchers. Its title derives from inscriptions on the etchings written by Henry E.F. Voigt, the noted New York printer who supervised their production.

Other worthy exhibitions: The Stamp of Impulse, was a remarkable show of Expressionist prints by as many artists that provides a new and comprehensive survey of the diverse stylistic and technical experimentation that revolutionized American graphic arts at mid-century. William Merritt Chase's The Bayberry Bush (circa 1895), a local landscape, set in the dunes of the Shinnecock Hills on a brilliant summer day. An American Impressionist and an influential teacher, Chase (1849-1916) was one of the nation's most admired painters at the turn of the century. The Bayberry Bush is the centerpiece of the Museum's Chase holdings, the largest collection of works by William Merritt Chase in a public collection. The Parrish also houses The Chase Archives, a trove of more than 1,000 objects, primarily photographs, that document the artist's career. The Bayberry Bush was painted during the heyday of Chase's years on the East End of Long Island (1891-1902).

Earlier notable exhibitions feature works by Agnes Pelton and a unique selection from our native American Indians Affinities and Influences which focuses on Native American Art and American Modernism along with the one on loan from The National Museum of American Art titled Pueblo Indian Watercolors.