TRIP TO KYKUIT

Our NCJW group had an exciting day on Thursday, October 1, visiting Kykuit (Dutch for “lookout”), the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills in the Hudson Valley.  Our docent described how this hilltop paradise was home to four generations of the Rockefeller family, beginning with the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His business acumen made him, in his day, the richest man in America. Now a historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, this extraordinary landmark has been continuously and meticulously maintained for more than 100 years.

Our tour took us to the main rooms of the six-story stone house. Then we moved on through the expansive, terraced gardens containing Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s exceptional collection of 20th-century sculpture. Artists represented include Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and David Smith, among many others. We were privileged to visit the underground art galleries with Governor Rockefeller’s collection of Picasso tapestries, and the cavernous Coach Barn, with its collections of classic automobiles and horse-drawn carriages, were also part of the experience.

Our guide shared many stories that highlighted the lives of Rockefeller family members and their contributions to philanthropy, conservation, business, government, and the arts.

After a delicious lunch at Sweet Grass Grill in nearby Tarrytown, we visited the little Union Church of Pocantico Hills to marvel at the colorful rose window created for the church by Henri Matisse. As told to us by our docent, the design for the window was his last work of art before his death in 1954. The commission, spearheaded by Nelson A. Rockefeller, honors the memory of his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Mrs. Rockefeller, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art, admired Matisse, collected his work, and entertained him in her home in New York City.

The glorious Good Samaritan window by Marc Chagall is a memorial to Abby Aldrich Rockefeller’s husband, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Their son David Rockefeller masterminded the commission in 1963, which later expanded to include all eight windows in the nave of the church. They memorialize, among others, Michael Clark Rockefeller, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Peggy Rockefeller (Mrs. David Rockefeller), and Mary Rockefeller (Mrs. Laurance Rockefeller). Chagall and members of the Rockefeller family carefully selected the subject matter for the windows from Biblical texts.

We heard the enthralling story of the windows, and how they came to be here. It is a story of relationships among distinguished patrons and collectors of modern art, two great 20th-century artists, and the leading connoisseurs and tastemakers of the day.

Click to enlarge.