Art News

New York’s Fort Ticonderoga Shows Off Its Artistic Side

TICONDEROGA, NY (AP).- Plenty of cannon, muskets, bayonets, swords and other 18th-century military hardware are on display at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York. Officials claim to have one of the most extensive collections of military artifacts from the 1700s, rivaling those at the Smithsonian Institution and the Tower of London. But there’s more to see this summer and early fall at the historic site on Lake Champlain than relics from the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The fort’s extensive art collection is getting equal billing with the weaponry on display. For the first time since the fort was rebuilt as a tourist attraction 102 years ago, 50 of Fort Ticonderoga’s most important artworks are on display in a single exhibit. They include a painting by Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole, engraved powder horns circa 1759, and a portrait of George Washington by Charles Peale Polk. “You don’t have to go