New York, NY….Among the loveliest of Morris-Jumel Mansion’s (MJM) historic furnishings are its wallpapers, decorating six of the Mansion’s eight elegantly appointed period rooms and front hall. To artist Talia Greene , MJM’s wallpapers provided both aesthetic delight and inspiration to create Passage – a site-specific exhibition opening October 17, 2015.
Installed in the Mansion’s first and second floors, Passage comprises two related pieces: a mural covering the walls of the main stairway, and a floor-based installation of cut paper in the bedchamber of Aaron Burr (1756-1836, third Vice President of the U.S.). Merging her own hand-painted imagery with motifs found in MJM’s existing wallpaper, Greene conveys the story of Manhattan’s gradual urbanization: the inexorable expansion of the city grid, and the retreat of the natural environment. For viewers ascending the stairs, the effect is akin to time travel, as the depiction of urbanized Manhattan returns it to its original bucolic state.
On the first floor of the mural, Greene has reconstructed the map of lower Manhattan, using appropriated motifs from the adjacent hallway wallpaper. As viewers ascend the staircase, they will notice the dissipating grid and the dominance of the natural environment, a reflection of the Island in 1832. Greene intermingles her paintings of passenger pigeons with natural motifs taken from throughout the house, most notably the grape leaves in Aaron Burr’s room. The decline of the mural’s most prominent bird, the passenger pigeon, which went from being the most prolific bird on the continent to near extinction by the end of the century, highlights the dramatic changes to the natural environment during the period when the Mansion was a residence.
On the second floor, Greene created a “garden bed” of cut-out grape leaves – a three-dimensional appropriation of the motif that decorates the wallpaper in Burr’s bedroom. The sculptural installation appears to grow out of the wall, extending across the room like living vines, covering the historic furniture and weaving between the roses patterned on the carpet. The piece, Greene says, “portrays a wild, garden-like space” evocative of upper Manhattan in 1832, when Burr lived at the Mansion with his wife, Eliza Jumel. For viewers, it is the extension of the drama depicted in the stairway mural, with nature reclaiming the man-made environment.
Kelsey Brow, Assistant Curator at Morris-Jumel Mansion, organized the exhibition. It is a Historic House Trust Contemporary Arts Partnership. Prior Contemporary Arts Partnership projects include Yinka Shonibare MBE: Colonial Arrangements, MJM’s critically acclaimed exhibition of new and classic work by Turner Prize finalist Yinka Shonibare MBE, presented earlier in the year as part of MJM’s 250th Anniversary Celebration.
Morris-Jumel is hosting an opening reception on Saturday, October 17, from 4 to 7 pm, which the artist will attend. The reception is free and open to the public. In conjunction with Passage, MJM will also host a Wallpaper Family Day on November 15, during which parents, caregivers, and children will learn how to make wallpaper designs of their own.
For more information on Passage and related programming, call 212-923-8008 or email [email protected]. Additional information can be found at www.morrisjumel.org.
About Talia Greene
Talia Greene is an adjunct professor at Drexel University and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She was recently awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship Grant and the Peter Benoliel Fellowship from the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA. Greene has exhibited, among other places, at: the American University Museum, Washington, DC; Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE; The Contemporary, Baltimore, MD; Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC; and Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. She received her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her M.F.A. from Mills College.
About Morris-Jumel Mansion
At 250 year’s old, Morris-Jumel Mansion is Manhattan’s oldest house. Built in 1765 by British Army Colonel Roger Morris, the Mansion served as headquarters to General George Washington during the 1776 battle of New York and was for 50 years the residence of Eliza Jumel, one of America’s richest women and second wife to Vice President Aaron Burr. Today, Morris-Jumel Mansion is a not-for-profit museum, welcoming tens of thousands of international and local visitors annually, including, nearly daily, elementary- and high school-aged children. Committed to preserving, interpreting, and making relevant to diverse audiences the Mansion’s illustrious past and varied collection of period art and furnishings, Morris-Jumel is a member of the Historic House Trust of New York City and the American Alliance of Museums.
The Mansion is located in upper Manhattan at 65 Jumel Terrace, and is open to the public Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. Accessible by subway on the 1, A, and C lines. For more information visit www.morrisjumel.org