Sometimes it takes an outsider with a new set of eyes to see what others don’t.
The result of that perspective is Belgian-born artist Serge Strosberg’s newest exhibit, Reimagining Palm Beach – Past, Present and Future, on display through May at the Cornell Art Museum in Old School Square, in the main downstairs gallery.
Featuring 12 allegorical paintings reimagined for the modern era, the show focuses on the life and influence of key South Florida historical figures, including Henry Flagler, who brought the railroad and East Coast visitors to Florida; Addison Mizner, the architect whose influence is still evident in modern-day Boca Raton; and actress Dina Merrill and her mother, Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built Mar-a-Lago.
“Serge eloquently captures the vibrant essence of Palm Beach leaders and visionaries with his exceptional artistic talents translated onto canvas,” says Marusca Gatto, cultural arts director for the museum. “He brings a new way to look at these historical figures who were instrumental in the founding days of South Florida’s landscape.”
Flagler transformed Florida, much of which was swamp in the late 1800s, into a flourishing state, and Palm Beach into a luxurious resort, by building a road and the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West. He also built monumental hotels such as The Breakers, and cities, bringing the first tourists en masse to the state.
Five years ago, Strosberg moved from New York City to the island of Palm Beach and admits to some culture shock amidst the wealth and privilege of his new home.
“I saw the impact these Gilded Age titans had here and wondered what it would be like to reimagine Henry Flagler — the founding father of Florida — and his iconic landmarks such as The Breakers Hotel, the Royal Poinciana Hotel and the Alcazar Hotel in St. Augustine — in a contemporary light,” Strosberg says.
In an initial show at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County last January and at the Historical Society for Palm Beach County last May, he did just that, depicting a young Flagler as a Palm Beach dandy, sitting with his legs crossed, a colorful, floral top hat on his head, a half-smile on his face, outfitted in the pinks, greens and blues of signature Lilly Pulitzer.
“When Serge first presented the concept for ‘Reimagining Palm Beach,’ I knew it would strike a chord,” says Art Moves You curator Debby Coles-Dobay. “His superb portrait painting and ability to create engaging subjects, brings out the humanity in each of these figures while adding a contemporary twist.”
Strosberg worked from vintage 1896 black-and-white photographs of Flagler, the Vanderbilts and others he obtained from the Flagler Museum and the Historical Society. His contemporary works will be juxtaposed with the original photographs with comments by Palm Beach historian Rick Rose.
As an homage to Flagler and his railroad, all the paintings have a Roman-inspired frieze that borders the works, embellished with train tracks. Many of the images were grainy and hard to reproduce in a painting. For the Cornell Museum exhibit, Strosberg turned to AI (a tool he calls revolutionary for portrait painters) to digitally enhance the faded images, including the one he titled First Ladies of Mar-a-Lago.
The 56-inch-by-68 inch oil, egg tempera and wax on aluminum captures mother and daughter, Merrill and Merriweather Post, sitting and conversing in their ornate drawing room. The original photograph, taken in the late 1960s or early 1970s by Mort Kaye Studios, one of the most elite portrait and social photographers in Palm Beach, was provided by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
Strosberg reinvents that moment in time by portraying the mother and daughter in a contemporary light. Merrill, on the left, is dressed in a sunny green and pink Lilly Pulitzer dress, the sunlight hitting her upswept hair, while her mother, dressed in a light blue floral dress, a multi-strand of pearls around her neck, reaches over toward her daughter in a gesture of affection. Both are seated on Lilly-pink chaises.
Strosberg’s vision incorporates AI to create an imaginary Palm Beach architectural project titled Palm Beach II in which iconic monuments and landmarks are digitally altered. The dark, monochromatic statue of Henry Flagler at the Royal Poinciana Hotel is reimagined in vibrant colors à la Palm Beach and creates a three-dimensional complement to his two previous portraits of Flagler.
Designed to be interactive, visitors can scan a QR code that will take them to the website reimaginingpalmbeach.com to see his futurist vision of the current monuments.
Other Palm Beach monuments to take on a new life include The Colony Hotel, the Golden Eagle near Bradley Place, The Biltmore Hotel and the Stotesbury Gates, a remnant from the Stotesbury estate, El Mirasol, built in 1919.
Also debuting is the unveiling of a new portrait of Solomon Spady, Delray Beach’s prominent African-American educator and community leader, from whom the Spady Museum takes its name; a portrait of Judge Curtis Chillingworth, a Palm Beach county judge murdered in 1955 along with his wife Marjorie; and one of architect Mizner and his omnipresent companion, a capuchin monkey named Johnnie Brown, known as JB.
Strosberg depicts JB (known as the Human Monkey), who once ran for mayor of Palm Beach, attired in Maus & Hoffman, sitting by the pool sipping orange juice and coffee. For Chillingworth, who made enemies fighting corruption, Strosberg brings to life an old black-and-white photograph of Chillingworth as a young man hunting wild turkeys.
Other paintings in the series include a painting of the Vanderbilts, posing in front of a train on the lawn at the Royal Poinciana Hotel, also taken from an old black-and-white photograph, and one titled Rubicon, inspired by an historic 1912 photograph of an FEC train crossing the overseas railroad on the way to Key West.
Strosberg hopes to continue reimagining his new home of Palm Beach and showcase these paintings in a coffee-table book. He finds some irony in the fact that he, as a European-born artist and outsider to the tight-knit and insular WASP-y community of Palm Beach, has reimagined and reinvigorated the cultural icons and monuments of that city.
“This series is the missing link between our past, present and future,” Strosberg says. “My intent is to imbue these historic figures with more humanity. I hope these paintings illustrate the history of Palm Beach and pay homage to the people who came before us.”
Reimagining Palm Beach – Past, Present and Future is on view through May at the Cornell Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach, through May. Visit oldschoolsquare.org or call: (561) 243-7922.