Chagall In High Falls
Photo: chagallinhighfalls.com
Last fall, I happened upon the Delaware & Hudson Canal Museum while exploring the small Ulster County hamlet of High Falls, NY. I saw a sign that read “Chagall In High Falls.” As a former art student and lover of art, I knew of the artist Marc Chagall, a giant of the 20th Century art world. At first, I thought it was just a show of Chagall paintings on loan, but soon learned that it was a show of the over 90 works Chagall produced while living in High Falls. I never learned about this in my art history classes.
Rick Ryden, a High Falls resident since the late sixties, started to hear rumors about a famous painter once living in a house on Mohonk Road. He turned his neighbor, Gary Ferdman, on to the rumors and they became obsessed with uncovering a story largely ignored by the art world.
