Van Cortlandt House Museum

Installation is underway!

 .box and are in the house preparing Overlapping Empires, a site-wide contemporary art exhibition opening this Friday, June 5th at Van Cortlandt House Museum.

Soon, the rooms of the museum will hold new work that reframes the house, its objects, and its histories through Box’s still-life photography and installation.

This is the first contemporary art exhibition of its kind at VCHM, on view through August.

Come see the house differently.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The piano is the art. The music is up to you.

"Daily Chhapa," a Sing for Hope piano by artist Rangoli, is at Van Cortlandt House Museum through June 7 as part of the citywide public piano project!

Come play it. Photograph it. Listen for a minute. Make the museum sound a little different.

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Artist:

Explore "Overlapping Empires" through a series of free public programs at Van Cortlandt House Museum!

The program series begins with “Meet the Artist” & Intro to Exhibition, a free online conversation with Samantha Box on Tuesday, May 26 at 7 PM.

Learn more about the ideas, process, and research behind Box’s site-wide contemporary art exhibition, opening June 5 and on view through August.

"Overlapping Empires" brings contemporary art into dialogue with the histories of empire, trade, migration, and memory embedded in one of New York City’s earliest colonial sites.

Join us online May 26 ! For more info and to register, visit our website: vchm.org

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

VCHM’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Special event this Sunday, May 24th at Edgehill - 2570 Independence Ave in The Bronx. Get a behind the scenes look at Daniel Hauben’s creative process at two screenings (1:00 & 3:00pm) of a time-lapse video showing the evolution of Emergence, in which 6 years of painting goes by in less than 20 minutes. After the video there will be a gallery talk by the artist. Doors open at 11am.

What is a still life really showing us?

In Adriaen van Utrecht’s "Banquet Still Life" from 1644, abundance fills the canvas: fruit, glassware, silver, lobster, imported goods, and objects arranged to display wealth, taste, and access.

But paintings like this can also open larger questions. What histories of trade, empire, labor, and desire are contained in these objects? What does a table of luxury reveal about the world that produced it?

These are some of the visual histories that Bronx artist Samantha Box engages in "Overlapping Empires," a site-wide contemporary art exhibition opening June 5 at Van Cortlandt House Museum.

"Overlapping Empires" will be on view June through August, with a series of free public programs for anyone ready to look closer.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

VCHM’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Image: Adriaen van Utrecht, Banquet Still Life, 1644. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

📣EXHIBIT OPENING: Overlapping Empires

For the first time in its history, Van Cortlandt House Museum will present a site-wide contemporary art exhibition.

Opening May 22, Overlapping Empires is an exhibition by Jamaica-born, Bronx-based artist Samantha Box that transforms the historic house into a space for confronting the ongoing legacies of empire, colonialism, wealth, migration, and enslavement. Installed throughout the museum, the exhibition brings contemporary art into direct dialogue with one of New York City’s oldest colonial sites.

Presented during the nation’s 250th anniversary, Overlapping Empires explores how histories of empire, trade, and migration continue to shape the world around us today. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of free public programs including artist walkthroughs, talks, tours, and panel discussions.

On view May 22 through August 2026.

Join us, and sign up for our newsletter to get early access to the exhibition’s full lineup of programs and events. The full press release is available on our website: vchm.org

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Images: Samantha Box; Wreckage (2023) by Samantha Box

On display in the West Parlor of the Van Cortlandt House Museum, there is a collection of beautifully designed and painted Dutch pottery known as delftware, known for its distinctive white glaze and blue painting. These items include tiles set around the fireplace as well as to***co jars displayed on a desk. Pieces like this were a way for families like the Van Cortlandts to flaunt their wealth, as such well-crafted items would have been expensive and hard to get at the time.

Now, for one of several free crafts offered by the Van Cortlandt House Museum, we are giving visitors the opportunity to design and decorate their own paper delftware items! Choose between a paper vase or tile, then use your imagination and blue markers to create your own distinctive design.

📍Van Cortlandt House Museum Gift Shop
⏰April 26th, from 11am to 4pm
🎟️Free museum admission for Bronx residents, the craft is free for all!

We hope to see you there!

VCHM’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Darning or weaving sampler, dated 1734. Probably England. A square of linen with sixteen darning examples in four rows of four each; mostly bi-colors of brown, white, yellow, blue, pink, green and beige executed in various patterns of chevrons, diamonds, herringbone stripes, diaper and trellis. Tacking holes on four sides.

initials and date stitched between squares in three registers:

A CL D

A NN O

1 73 4

This vibrantly colored and stitched needlework, with its grid-pattern format is a darning or weaving sampler typical of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Young women would prove their stitching skills by creating examples of the various techniques needed for darning, patching or decorating their clothing. This form later developed into more elaborate designs featuring alphabets, numerals, borders, moral and pictorial content.

This fine example is dated 1734, with - unfortunately - only the initials to indicate its maker or makers.

Collection of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York at Van Cortlandt House Museum.

Currently not on view.