The Thomas Moran Trust held its Midsummer Cocktail Party on the evening of July 29th on the historical grounds of the Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio on Main Street in East Hampton Village. The benefit party celebrated the final phases of this sensitive restoration project and offered the public a sneak-peek of the interior, as well as access to the outbuildings and grounds.

In 1885, the great American landscape painter Thomas Moran and his wife, Mary, a celebrated printmaker, and their children moved into their new studio and house that Moran himself designed on East Hampton’s historical Main Street. The Studio, as it has been known since the Moran family first occupied it, comprises Thomas Moran’s studio and the rooms they lived in, as well as the gardens and outbuildings. The Moran Studio was the first artist’s studio built in East Hampton and it played a significant role in American art history. In its heyday The Studio was a lively center of the turn-of-the-19th-century art colony.

A community of artistic luminaries rallied to lend their support, bridging the legacy of the Morans with the contemporary East End art community. Attendees included: April Gornik, Ralph Gibson, Mary Jane Marcasiano, Bryan Hunt, Lucy Wintor, Susan Wood, and Neda Young — among others.

Philanthropists and Benefit Committee Members also showed up in full force, including co-chairpersons Hollis Forbes and Michael Clifford, Frank Newbold, Grier Eliasek and Tristana Wlatz, Charles Savage, Curt and Angel Schade, Doris and Gil Meister, Alan and Jackie Mitchell, Bruce and Laura Siska, Arthur (Tiger) and Katy Graham as well as East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and his wife, Jean.

Proceeds from the Midsummer Cocktail Party at the Moran Studio will go towards the completion of the restoration. “We are very excited about our summer event; with the exterior restoration nearly complete, the proceeds from the event will help us toward our goal of completing the interior restoration and opening the house to the public next summer,” said Curt Schade, the Trust’s Chairman.

Overlooking the Village Green and Town Pond, the property offers one of the most distinguished vistas on Long Island’s East End and serves as the gateway to East Hampton’s Main Street Historic District. In 1965, the Thomas Moran Studio became one of the first National Historic Landmarks in America — the highest recognition accorded by the Department of the Interior to the nation’s most historically significant properties.

* Photos by Richard Lewin