Twenty five years ago I would pass through Katonah and at times would park my car there as a part of my daily commute to New York City. Katonah from what I could see, was/is a beautiful small town framed by a large tress.

"A Ride for Liberty" Eastman Johnson

The perfect sub-suburb of New York and I was not surprised that Ms. Clinton and the former President picked Katonah as their New York home. (As pointed out to me the Clintons picked Chappaqua, NY, which is equally lovely, my error)

What I did not know about was the Katonah Art Museum which has me wondering what other treasures did I pass up while riding the commuter train. The current exhibition “Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era” features some of my favorite paintings of this period, many of which I’ve only seen in reproduction. Good reminder to always stop by the local museum.

This landmark exhibition takes its themes from a troubled era in American history and its title from a Walt Whitman poem. Whitman’s elegiac words introduce the portraits, landscapes, battlefield scenes, and genre pictures that depict the heroism of the common soldier, the flight of escaped slaves, and the courage of the women and children left behind. Bold, Cautious, True features the work of some of the most important American artists of the mid-19th century, including Frederic E. Church, Sanford Gifford, Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, John Frederick Kensett, and Worthington Whittredge. Katonah Museum of Art