Family valued

Context drives perception. The person who is angry at, say, a civil rights' injustice and the person who is angry that the theater printed the wrong time for a movie screening are both angry. But the first is considered an instance of righteous anger, while the second is looked at as a kind of petty petulance.

In "DNA?: Artistic Legacies," at the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem, our reading of the similarities in the works of the Goodnoughs and in those of the Steins — two prominent Westchester families — is spurred by our recognition of their respective family ties.

Kathy Goodnough's luscious photograph on canvas "Red Paths" (2009) — a collaboration with Ross Barna the features shards of crimson — evokes her father Robert's "Upward IV" (1989), a signature work (above, left) — and her mother Miko's "One Summer Day" (2009), pictured right.

In the same vein, there is a strong formal connection between Fred Stein's black-and-white "Manhattan Skyline" (1946) and granddaughter Katherine Freer Stein's "Skyline" (2009), just as there is a thread of unvarnished humanity that runs between Fred Stein's famous portrait of Albert Einstein and son Peter's fanfare for the common man, "Charley".

But here's the question (as suggested by the question mark in the exhibit title): Would we notice a similarity in the Goodnoughs' and in the Steins' works if they were exhibited anonymously? We might. But we might be even more drawn to the dissimilarities.

Katherine Stein's "Skyline" (below, left) is light years removed from her grandfather's (below, right). Hers is futuristic to the point of being Surreal, while her grandfather's scintillating metropolis remains a real place.

And Kathy Goodnough's use of floating heads, while somewhat reminiscent of some of her mother's figurative work, has more in common with the 19th-century French Symbolist painter Odilon Redon.

Yes, of course, a family of artists couldn't help but influence one another. (The show includes a poignant letter from a 6-year-old Kathy Goodnough, in which she reveals a child's pride in being in her father's studio.)

Children, however, aren't their parents. While nature and nurture are important, time and place also have their roles in the development of the artistic mind.

"DNA?: Artistic Legacies" runs through Nov. 21. While you're there, you can check out Alison Palmer's high-fire anthropomorphic figures as well as Gen Konno's pregnant dreamers, made out of small pieces of wood. They're an unusual subject for a male artist (or maybe that's just my prejudice showing).

In any event, as with "DNA?," Konno's work reminds us that presumption can be a dangerous thing.

The Hammond season closes Dec. 5 with a cocktail party and fund-raising auction from 5 to 7 p.m. 914-669-5033, www.hammondmuseum.org

Photos courtesy of The Hammond Museum.