Not long afterwards, Horch closed the Roerich Museum, which subsequently moved to a new location at 319 West 107th Street in 1949.
In the Roerich Museum's former space, Horch established the Riverside Museum.
He became president of the new museum and appointed Vernon C. Porter as its director.
Open to the public free of charge, the new museum was devoted mainly to exhibitions of contemporary art by American artists.
At its opening in on June 4, 1938, the museum showed modern American paintings and work by Native Americans as well as Tibetan art objects that Roerich had given to Horch.
The American artists included Stuart Davis, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jack Levine, Marsden Hartley, George Luks, John Sloan, Philip Evergood, Reginald Marsh, Charles Burchfield, and Rockwell Kent.

In 1939 the museum began hosting the annual exhibitions of American Abstract Artists, a group devoted to expanding appreciation of non-objective art that had been formed in 1936.
The show included more than 300 oils, watercolors, pastels, collages, drawings, constructions, and sculpture.
That year it also began hosting exhibitions held by the New York Society of Women Artists, a group that had been founded in 1926 to promote the work of avant garde women artists.
Other 1939 shows included contemporary works by artists from Poland, documentary photographs of child laborers by Lewis Hine, an international exhibition of works by women artists, and a large display of Pan-American art.
Over the next few decades the museum would specialize in exhibitions by members of artists' groups.
In addition to the two already named, these included the Silvermine Guild of Artists (a Connecticut summer art colony), the Manhattan Camera Club, the Photo-Engravers' Art Society, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, the Artists Equity Group, and USCO (a collective from the Woodstock, New York art colony and Garnerville, New York).
The museum was organized as a unit of the Master Institute of United Arts.
As it had previously done, the institute gave art classes, provided studio space, and sponsored lectures, concerts, poetry readings, art clinics, and other cultural events.

Porter served as the museum's director through the 1940s.
He was succeeded by Nettie Horch, who had been in charge of the Institute's cultural events since the building opened.
She was assisted by her daughter, Oriole, who took over direction of the museum and cultural events in the late 1960s.
Not long afterwards, Horch closed the Roerich Museum, which subsequently moved to a new location at 319 West 107th Street in 1949. In the Roerich Museum's former space, Horch established the Riverside Museum. He became president of the new museum and appointed Vernon C. Porter as its director. Open to the public free of charge, the new museum was devoted mainly to exhibitions of contemporary art by American artists. At its opening in on June 4, 1938, the museum showed modern American paintings and work by Native Americans as well as Tibetan art objects that Roerich had given to Horch. The American artists included Stuart Davis, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jack Levine, Marsden Hartley, George Luks, John Sloan, Philip Evergood, Reginald Marsh, Charles Burchfield, and Rockwell Kent.
In 1939 the museum began hosting the annual exhibitions of American Abstract Artists, a group devoted to expanding appreciation of non-objective art that had been formed in 1936. The show included more than 300 oils, watercolors, pastels, collages, drawings, constructions, and sculpture. That year it also began hosting exhibitions held by the New York Society of Women Artists, a group that had been founded in 1926 to promote the work of avant garde women artists. Other 1939 shows included contemporary works by artists from Poland, documentary photographs of child laborers by Lewis Hine, an international exhibition of works by women artists, and a large display of Pan-American art. Over the next few decades the museum would specialize in exhibitions by members of artists' groups. In addition to the two already named, these included the Silvermine Guild of Artists (a Connecticut summer art colony), the Manhattan Camera Club, the Photo-Engravers' Art Society, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, the Artists Equity Group, and USCO (a collective from the Woodstock, New York art colony and Garnerville, New York). The museum was organized as a unit of the Master Institute of United Arts. As it had previously done, the institute gave art classes, provided studio space, and sponsored lectures, concerts, poetry readings, art clinics, and other cultural events.
Porter served as the museum's director through the 1940s. He was succeeded by Nettie Horch, who had been in charge of the Institute's cultural events since the building opened. She was assisted by her daughter, Oriole, who took over direction of the museum and cultural events in the late 1960s.
Master Apartments