Lens on the Hudson: Photographs by Joseph Squillante
This exhibition celebrates Joseph Squillante’s golden anniversary by highlighting his intersection with the environmental movements that gained momentum along the river in the 1970s and continue today.
Joseph Squillante. Boy Fishing, 1976 (printed 2005). Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist.
For fifty years, Joseph Squillante has captured the Hudson River’s magnificence, producing thousands of evocative photographs that offer a lens into the past and present of this historic waterway. While his portfolio includes portraiture, still life, and abstraction, he is best known for his romantic landscapes along the Hudson’s 315 miles. Squillante describes his mission as “raising awareness of the beauty of the Hudson River through photography,” documenting the river’s ever-changing light, seasons, and weather, from its source at Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondacks to its mouth at New York City.
This exhibition celebrates Squillante’s golden anniversary by highlighting his intersection with the environmental movements that gained momentum along the river in the 1970s and continue today. As protests escalated against industrial development that scarred the shoreline and polluted the waters, Squillante grounded his work in visual storytelling—illustrating both the river’s splendor and the efforts to protect it. He has sailed aboard the Clearwater sloop, photographed singer-activist Pete Seeger, documented the PCB dredging operations, and chronicled eagle banding and monitoring programs that contributed to the species’ resurgence in the mid-Hudson Valley. “As photography stops time,” he states, “it has an inherent ability to preserve moments for posterity, documenting our traditions and thereby protecting our future.”
A Life Member of the American Society of Media Photographers, Squillante is also on the teaching artist roster of ArtsWestchester. His work is held in the collections of the New-York Historical, the Museum of the City of New York, the Albany Institute of History & Art, the New York State Museum, and the Hudson River Museum. Far from slowing down, he continues to explore the Hudson’s grandeur, hiking through the Highlands to shoot panoramic vistas and joining Riverkeeper boat captains on the water. His images immerse us in the river’s natural sublimity while revealing the intricate connections between people, animals, and this vital waterway.
Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Selected objects
Joseph Squillante. Boy Fishing, 1976 (printed 2005). Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Lake Tear of the Clouds, 1983 (printed 2013). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Piermont Marsh, 1985. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Cloud, Storm King, 1996 (printed 2004). Giclée print (edition 2/40). Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Painterly Sky, Tivoli, 1996 (printed 2020). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Jumping In, 1998 (printed 2025). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Pete Seeger Playing the Banjo, 2000 (printed 2021). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Clearwater Bow and Libertad, 2000 (printed 2004). Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Highlands Nook, 2000 (printed 2009). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Fishing on a Yonkers Pier, 2000 (printed 2025). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Craig Thompson Cradles a Bald Eagle, 2000 (printed 2013). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Gone Fishing, 2001 (printed 2025). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Peekskill Bay from Riverfront Green, 2008 (printed 2009). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Clearwater Festival During the Quadricentennial, 2009 (printed 2025). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
Joseph Squillante. Riverkeeper Boat Captains John Lipscomb and Luis Melendez, 2024. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist.
