Two new exhibits have opened at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake for the summer. “The Adirondack Work of A.F. Tait“ and “Night Vision: The Wildlife Photography of Hobart V. Roberts“ will both be on exhibit until October 17, 2011.
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait is known for his paintings of life in the Adirondack woods. Hunters, sports, guides and settlers were the most common subjects of his 19th century art. The exhibit will showcase some of Tait’s finest paintings, and will also offer visitors a chance to explore the customs, clothing, weapons and transportation that he portrayed so well.
Tait spent much of his life living in the Adirondacks, around Chateaugay, Raquette and Long Lakes. Currier & Ives published lithographs of Tait’s paintings, which helped brand the Adirondacks as a sportsman’s paradise.
Hobart Vosburg Roberts pioneered and developed ingenious techniques for capturing birds and animals in their natural habitat, without disturbing them. Obviously, this was done long before motion-sensors, mega pixels and digital cameras.
Roberts would at times offset his flashes by one second, so that the first one startled the animal, and the next captured the shot of a deer bounding away, or a loon taking flight.
Roberts also developed trip-wires, baiting techniques, and moisture proof cameras to capture these amazing photographs. He can be credited with most of the ideas behind modern-day game cams.
I haven’t been to Blue Mountain Lake in a few years, and I’m definitely due for a trip to the Adirondack Museum. I will be sure to get up there this summer, and you should too! At least once.
View more information about the Adirondack Museum.