Museum for Preservation of Illustrative Art

Do you remember the wonderful magazine covers painted by Norman Rockwell, McClelland Barklay or Jon Whitcomb for "The Saturday Evening Post" or "Ladies Home Journal"?

Even if you were not old enough to read at the time of their publication you probably do remember. These and other artists caught the spirit of those times so well that their paintings have become veritable icons of that period in America's burgeoning society.

How about the beautifully romantic paintings which filled the pages of McCalls, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and others enticing one to read the romantic storys of young people taking up life again after the terrible war years. Coby Whitmore, Al Parker! Joe Bowler, Lynn Buckham and other incredibly brilliant artists painted hundreds of those as well as the Pepsi Cola and other ads which mirrored so well the upbeat spirit and fashions of the late 1940s and '50s.

These were a special sort of artist. To be able to create those thousands of pictures reflecting the complex society around them these artists were a very special breed. They were illustrators, most often prosperous' socially involved, open minded, talented artists who lived the fashionable extraverted life they so magnificently portrayed and they created a vivid record of that epoc which was never so richly captured before.

MPIA is, at present, a new, developing undertaking and already has a sizeable collection of hundreds of illustrations which are being captured in digital form so that they can be protected from deterioration and made available to visitors and educational institutions. When further developed, it is expected to be one of the larger "socially reflective" collections of art in the world.

Don't miss this fascinating museum and its beautiful hilltop estate when you're in the Hudson Valley!