"Leviathan River" Traces Hudson's Whaling History at Front Room Gallery
A group exhibition examines how the whaling industry shaped the city's identity, economy, and mythology.
Pictured: Beth Dary's "Emmersion," made of hand built porcelain barnacles.
August 1–23 | Hudson, NY
Front Room Gallery opened "Leviathan River" on August 1, a group exhibition built around a piece of Hudson's deeply romantic history: the city's brief but formative run as a whaling port.
Hudson was founded in 1785 by a group of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard whaling families who relocated inland specifically to escape the disruptions of the Revolutionary War, and for a stretch of the late 18th and early 19th centuries it was one of the busiest whaling harbors on the East Coast—an origin story that shaped the city's street grid, its architecture, and its early wealth.
The group exhibition uses contemporary art, historical material, and material imagination to trace how the presence of whales—both literal and symbolic—shaped the identity and mythology of the river city. The gallery frames the maritime industry's relationship to Hudson as profound but overlooked, and the show's premise is corrective: connecting the city's current cultural identity back to an industry most visitors, and probably a fair number of residents, don't associate with the city at all.
Front Room Gallery, 205 Warren St., Hudson, NY. Free. More at frontroomles.com.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
