Author Bob Barthelmes "Finktown" Book Signing at Field Library

On Thursday, October 4 from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm, The Field Library in Peekskill proudly presents artist and author Robert Barthelmes as he discusses and signs his new book, Finktown: A Peekskill Neighborhood in Memory. Finktown contains all thirty-four of the Finktown series of paintings and the story of how Finktown acquired its unusual and quirky name. Each painting is accompanied by Robert’s description of the scene and the story behind it, as well as colorful anecdotes by his lifelong Finktown friend, Herb Trimpe, and other Finktowners.

The Finktown area in Peekskill encompassed roughly the area bounded by East Main Street, Penelope Pond, Crompond Road, and Charles Street. In the late 1860s, most of the vacant land in the area was owned by Steven Brown, and John Fink, a Civil War hero and foreman at the Peekskill Plow Works, convinced Brown to sell some of the land for building lots and became the agent for the estate owner. Thanks to reasonable prices and easy terms, the venture prospered, and the community that arose was soon known as Fink's Town or Finktown. The neighborhood had many large families and a great mix of ethnic and racial groups who lived together.

The images of Barthelmes' Finktown are based around his memories of growing up there from the span of 1940 to 1950. Through his paintings Barthelmes "has endeavored to bring to life bring to life a time and place and way of living that America has left behind. Finktown was but one of thousands of simple working class neighborhoods across the Northeast...it could be seen as ordinary place, but by illuminating these scenes of life there, Finktown is brought back, however fleetingly, as a rich and extraordinary place," he says.

Finktown has been beautifully designed by Robert’s son Andrew, who like his father, is an accomplished painter and graphic designer. This edition is limited to 300, and is available at the event for $55.

Robert Barthelmes is a life-long resident of Peekskill, New York. He is a watercolorist and his love of that medium began in kindergarten in the old Peekskill neighborhood known as Finktown. He continued his serious interest in art through high school and later at the New York Phoenix School of Design. After a three year enlistment with the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, he began his career as an art director and creative director with Conde Nast Publications. Since retiring, Robert has pursued painting on a full time basis. Robert has painted plein air landscapes all over the United States and Europe. He lives with his wife, Kay, in a tudor house overlooking the old Finktown neighborhood in Peekskill.