HISTORICAL FICTIONS: EDWARD LAMSON HENRY’S PAINTINGS OF PAST AND PRESENT 
OPENS AT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Dynamic works by the renowned 19th-century artist on view
 April 4, 2006 through August 6, 2006

NEW YORK – New York City’s first museum, the New-York Historical Society  
(N-YHS) presents Historical Fictions: Edward Lamson Henry’s Paintings of 
Past and Present, a comprehensive exhibition of the acclaimed genre 
painter’s works.  Brought together for the first time, twenty-one paintings 
and drawings will be on view highlighting Edward Lamson Henry’s idealized 
renderings of America’s past as well as his vivid depictions of 
contemporary life.  Working in the late-nineteenth century, a period 
greatly affected by sweeping changes following the Civil War, Henry’s 
paintings captured the popular imagination by illustrating the pervasive 
nostalgia for early America. Historical Fictions opens on April 4, and is 
on view through August 6, 2006, at the New-York Historical Society, located 
at Central Park West and 77th Street, announced Linda S. Ferber, N-YHS 
Museum Director.
 
This exhibition, organized by the Yale University Art Gallery, provides an 
illuminating look at a critical period when  American history was assigned 
a crucial role in the effort to construct a stable, national collective 
identity after the ravages of the Civil War. Historical Fictions is 
especially meaningful because many of the types of objects and artifacts 
that inspired Henry’s paintings were also collected during this period by 
the New-York Historical Society, said Dr. Ferber.