In 1995, renowned Buffalo artist Rita Auerbach completed a painting depicting the USS Little Rock. That work has now found a home aboard that very vessel.
After Auerbach’s passing in 2024, her family went through her work — much of which had already found permanent places in galleries and museums across Western New York and the wider world. Rita Auerbach’s daughter, Carrie Auerbach, said she thought of what her mother would have wanted when deciding where to send paintings.
“I started looking at [the works] and making some choices of who would appreciate them and how they would fit, and I can't even imagine a more fitting place for this,” said Carrie Auerbach.
Carrie Auerbach spoke aboard the USS Little Rock, where the painting now rests at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. She visited for the unveiling of the piece in the ship’s admiral's quarters.
The USS Little Rock is the last surviving vessel from the Cleveland-class of light cruisers, according to the naval park. It was originally commissioned in 1945 and patrolled the Atlantic, Arctic Circle, South America and Mediterranean Sea during its lifetime. The Little Rock arrived at the park in 1977 and has remained there ever since.
Naval president and CEO Brian Luallen said the admiral’s quarters are the best place on the Little Rock to display the painting. When the ship was in service, he said the admiral would have hosted everyone from heads of state to military adversaries in the space.
“To have a painting inspired by the Little Rock on display in here [...] is really meaningful,” said Luallen. “It was a privilege to do that, and it's certainly a privilege to be able to host this for hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, for the years to come.”
Luallen said when Auerbach’s family approached the park with the idea for the donation, he was honored.
“Rita's artwork hangs in incredible spaces, other national historic landmarks, places like Buffalo's City Hall,” said Luallen. “But to take this piece, which was inspired by the vessel we're standing on right now, and now see it permanently displayed in this beautiful admiral's quarters is so significant.”
When Carrie Auerbach saw the piece on display, she teared up. She said it was the first time she had seen the painting with its new gunmetal frame and dedication.
“I am just so honored to donate this painting that my mother did of the USS Little Rock, and to honor her painting legacy of her artistic talent, and then to honor my father's service in the U.S. Navy,” she said. “It's just obviously an emotional time for me, and I'm just so happy that this is happening today.”
While speaking at the unveiling, Carrie Auerbach wore a star-spangled scarf of her mother’s and her father’s dogtags. She described the scene of the painting hanging on the ship it was made to depict as “wonderful.”