Horology in Art, the second exhibition of the Horological Society of New York (HSNY), opens at HSNY’s library at 20 West 44 Street in Manhattan starting Tuesday, November 23.

On loan from HSNY Exhibit Curator Bob Frishman, the sixty artworks depict how clocks and watches have been displayed and referenced in artwork around the world.

Edgar Allan Poe at work.

Among the original artworks are a circa-1830 folk-art portrait of a mother and child holding a pocket watch; the preparatory watercolor by Anatol Kovarsky for a 1961 New Yorker cover showing a watchmaker in his shop; and a portrait miniature on ivory, circa 1840, in which a young woman’s watch and chain are visible.

Ad poster by Hugo Laubi for Turler Watches and Jewelry, Zurich, circa 1960. .

Salvador Dali, Jan Steen, Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, and Giovanni Piranesi are Among the artists represented in the exhibit. Vintage photographs include two rare mid-19th century daguerreotypes, cabinet cards, cartes de visites, glass lantern slides, and several examples of Mathew Brady Civil-War-era portraits.

“Curating these artworks for my personal collection, and now for the public to view, has been a two-decades-long passion project for me,” says Frishman, who has been a clock restorer and writer-lecturer on horology for more than 30 years. See Frishman’s first Horology in Art exhibit here.

Clockmaker, an original cover of ‘The New Yorker’, March 11, 1961, by Anatol Kovarsky.

“Thanks to today’s technology, I am happy to share my archives of over 2,000 examples of timepieces displayed in artworks through a continuous slideshow exhibition. The different depictions of watches and clocks in art help us earn about how time was perceived in the past while helping to advance the art of horology today.”

Visits are free of charge and timed tickets are required to visit the Horology in Art exhibition, currently on display starting November 23 until April 2022. To visit, please schedule an appointment here. HSNY is located at 20 West 44th Street.

The cover of the HSNY exhibit catalogue.

Comments are closed.