With July reaching the peak of the Hamptons season, the Thomas Moran Trust is getting ready to celebrate the height of summer with its annual Midsummer Cocktail Party, which will take place on Friday, July 29th from 6 to 8 p.m.
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Thomas Moran beside his Studio, 1909. (Photo: East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection) |
The party, which will benefit the Thomas Moran Studio, will bring together a slew of “artistic luminaries” from all across the East End, as they honor the final phases of a sensitive restoration project on the Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio in East Hampton, where the party will be held. Guests will have access to the outbuilding and grounds, as well as get a sneak-peek of the new inside.
Many big names have come together to help restore the Moran house and their legacy, including Benefit Committee members such as Kim Cattrall, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Nicole Miller, Cindy Sherman, Larry Gagosian, Edwina von Gal, Ralph Gibson, Mary Jane Marcasiano, Neda Young, and others.
“It is really the Morans who jump-started East Hampton as an artist’s colony,” noted Richard Barons, Executive Director of the Trust. “Their extraordinary Victorian turreted studio, built in 1884, will be a center for the story of artists, landscapes, and seascapes, and is why the South Fork lured painters to this beautiful tip of Long Island.”
All proceeds from the cocktail party benefit will go towards completing the restoration of the studio. “We are very excited about our summer event; with the exterior restoration nearly complete, the proceeds from the event will help us toward our goal of completing the interior restoration and opening the house to the public next summer,” said Curt Schade, the Trust’s Chairman.
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The Studio, Final Phase of Restoration, 2016. (Courtesy Photo) |
The great American landscape painter Thomas Moran and his wife Mary Nimmo Moran originally constructed the building, which has become known as “The Studio,” in 1885 for their family to live in on the historical Main Street in East Hampton. It was the first artist’s studio built in East Hampton, and played a significant role in American art history at its peak, when it was a lively center for turn of the century artists. It was one of the first designated National Historic Landmarks in America.
Tickets for the Midsummer Benefit Cocktail Party at the Moran Studio start at $250.
The Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio is located at 229 Main Street in East Hampton. For more information, call 631-324-0100 or visit thomasmorantrust.org.
