from the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame

Goshen, NY — The last day to see “The Art of Allen F. Brewer, Jr.” exhibit at The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y., is Sunday, March 27.

This retrospective of the work of equine artist and Hall of Fame Immortal Allen Brewer is a brilliant, eclectic collection of Brewer’s work, the tools he used, and the various artistic mediums he developed. It provides a glimpse of a talented man who adored horses, especially Standardbreds, and whose capacity to convey his passion continues today.

The exhibition, sponsored in part by Orange County Tourism and the County of Orange and the New York State Council on the Arts (a state agency), opened on Hall of Fame Day, Sunday, July 4, 2010.

The Museum’s Currier & Ives Gallery will be closed to the public from March 28 through April 1 to install a new exhibit. The following day, Saturday, April 2, the internationally acclaimed presentation “The Story of Harness Racing by Currier & Ives” will be open and on exhibit until Spring 2012.

As an added bonus for museum-goers a never before seen display of the Museum’s collection of world-class historic bronze horse statues from the mid-19th century to the present will be showcased. Works including Trotter c.1850 and Barbary Stallion Djinn c.1846, by mid-19h century Animalier sculptors Isidore Jules Bonheur and Pierre Jules Mene, will enhance the Harness Racing Museum’s Currier & Ives exhibition.

Animalier is a very natural and realistic style of art, particularly sculpture that became popular beginning in 1831. Isidore Jules Bonheur (1827-1901), the brother of artist Rosa Bonheur from whose paintings Currier & Ives drew some of its famous lithographs, began exhibiting his work at the Salon in Paris in 1848. He won the Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle for his work, which ranged from domestic cattle and sheep to wild bears and horses.

Pierre Jules Mene (1810-1877) was one of the most successful and prolific sculptors of the Animalier style. Bronze castings of his sculptures were sold throughout Europe and America and in 1861 Mene was awarded the Cross of the Legion d’Honneur in recognition for his contributions to art.

“The Story of Harness Racing by Currier & Ives” introduces America’s first pastime, harness racing, or “trotting” as it was originally called, to those unfamiliar with its culture, historical significance and economic impact. The lithographs illustrate, in an artful way, the birth of the sport and its early accomplishments. Prints depicting great trotting horses, bucolic mid-19th century scenes, and comedic adventures, convey a picturesque view of Americana prior to the advent and development of photography.

The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame is the custodian of the world’s largest collection of Currier & Ives trotting lithographs. This vast holding has allowed for four separate exhibits to be assembled and made available to facilities world-wide, free of charge. Currently one is on exhibit at France’s new trotting museum in Gros Bois near Paris. Others have just returned from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Mo., and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill.

The traveling exhibit was launched in 2001 and since that time it has been enjoyed by more than 335,000 people in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin. It has also traveled internationally to Canada, Sweden and France. Of note it appeared in the Russell Rotunda of the Senate Office Building, in Washington, D.C., for an unprecedented two week stay. Its appearance was sponsored by then-Senator (and now Secretary of State) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and then Senator (and now Rhode Island Governor) Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).

Bookings are now being taken for 2012 on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications should be sent to The Director, Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, 240 Main Street, Goshen, NY 10924 or e-mailed to library@harnessmuseum.com.

Annual operating funding is provided by the CTW Foundation and Robert Tucker of Stonegate Standardbred Farms of Glen Gardner, N.J., and there is, therefore, no charge to host this exhibition.

The complimentary “Story of Harness Racing by Currier & Ives” exhibit package includes but is not limited to the following:

• All shipping fees
• Custom designed shipping crates
• Fine arts insurance coverage
• Approximately 33 framed original Currier & Ives lithographs ready to hang
• Introductory panels on Currier & Ives and their process
• Seven storyboards on American Harness Racing
• Narrative exhibit identification labels
• Gallery installation plan
• Curatorial and registrarial information
• Teacher and docent guides (upon request)
• Educational lesson plans (upon request)
• (Upon request & availability) Tack Box/Trunk complete with labeled harness racing equipment and general equine care tools, driver’s colors, books and brochures
• Full color promotional exhibit rack cards and gallery guides
• Labels
• Publicity and Educational Programming Kits

It is a fun show that, using Currier & Ives prints, tells the story of how harness racing began in the United States, even beginning “once upon a time” and ending with “and they lived happily ever after!”

The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame is located at 240 Main Street in Goshen, New York and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information on the museum, special events and other educational programs and services the museum offers, please call 845.294.6330 or visit www.harnessmuseum.com.