Exhibition Status: Past

Mort Künstler: “The Godfather” of Pulp Fiction Illustrators

Mort Künstler: “The Godfather” of Pulp Fiction Illustrators

"Nobody captured hard-boiled action better than Mort Künstler. His full-throttle, action-packed, in-your-face images represent the very essence of the pulp era.”

- Michael W. Schantz, Director, The Heckscher Museum of Art

Featuring the work of one of the most prolific illustrators of the twentieth century, Mort Künstler: “The Godfather” of Pulp Fiction Illustrators includes more than 80 original paintings that graced the covers of American publications throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. This exhibition also explores Künstler’s collaboration with Mario Puzo, resulting in the first visual character studies of The Godfather’s Corleone family. Vivid, provocative, and boldly kinetic, this exhibition offers museum visitors an action-packed odyssey through a classic American cultural landscape that has all but vanished.

This exhibition was organized by The Heckscher Museum of Art and curated by Michael W. Schantz and Lisa Chalif.

Bernini and the Roman Baroque: Masterpieces from Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia

Bernini and the Roman Baroque: Masterpieces from Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia

“A rare man and sublime talent, he was born for the glory of Rome with the Divine Disposition to bring light to that century.”

— Domenico Bernini, Life of the Cavalier Gio. Lorenzo Bernini, 1713

The term Baroque connotes an abundance of detail, a sense of irregularity, and a sort of eccentric redundancy—all emblematic of an extraordinary generation of artists who converged in Rome at the dawn of the seventeenth century. This artistic style became a cultural phenomenon, spreading concurrently from Naples to Venice, Vienna to Prague, and Bohemia to St. Petersburg, finally assuming its full global dimensions when it reached the Americas. Bernini and the Roman Baroque: Masterpieces from Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia explores the genesis of this one-of-a-kind artistic movement. Through a selection of 55 works from 40 artists, including 10 works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, this exhibition illuminates Bernini’s influence and explores how it resonated across the Baroque movement.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, artists definitively set aside the Caravaggesque model for a more transversal dialogue between the real and the supernatural, the superfluous and the necessary. After the death of the famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, the debate between “naturalists” and “classicists” (respectively, followers of the styles of Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci) originated a new figurative language, namely the “Baroque,” which found in Gian Lorenzo Bernini its undisputed protagonist. Thanks to the masterpieces conserved in Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, we can trace the spectacular path by which the “Baroque” became a universal vernacular expression.

Bernini and the Roman Baroque comprehensively maps the rich spectrum of genres and pictorial styles that characterize Baroque aesthetics. Its many luminous examples of these diverse categories—not only history painting but also alternative genres such as portraiture, self-portraiture and landscaping, as well as preparatory sketches used for large decorative frescoes—epitomize Baroque’s ultimate goal of elevating the viewer in mind and soul, communicating the moral and spiritual messages of the Catholic Church.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists 1936-Present

Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present

“The stamp of modern art is clarity: clarity of color, clarity of forms and of composition, clarity of determined dynamic rhythm, in a determined space. Since figuration often veils, obscures or entirely negates purity of plastic expression, the destruction of the particular form for the universal one becomes a prime prerequisite.”

- Perle Fine (1905-1988)

The hierarchy of distilled form, immaculate line, and pure color came close to being the mantra of 1930s modern art—particularly that of American Abstract Artists (AAA), the subject of a new exhibition entitled Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936 – Present. From the outset—due as much to their divergent status as abstract artists as to their gender—women of American Abstract Artists were already working on the periphery of the art world. In contrast to the other abstract artist collectives of the period, where equal footing for women was unusual, AAA provided a place of refuge for female artists. Through fifty-six works, Blurring Boundaries explores the artists’ astounding range of styles, including their individual approaches to the guiding principles of abstraction: color, space, light, material, and process.

More than eighty years after its founding, AAA continues to nurture and support a vibrant community of artists with diverse identities and wide-ranging approaches to abstraction. In celebration of this tradition, Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists traces the extraordinary contributions of the female artists within AAA, from the founders to today’s practicing members. Included are works by historic members Perle Fine, Esphyr Slobodkina, Irene Rice Pereira, Alice Trumbull Mason, and Gertrude Greene, as well as current members such as Ce Roser, Irene Rousseau, Judith Murray, Alice Adams, Merrill Wagner and Katinka Mann.

An awe-inspiring celebration of this intergenerational group of artists—one that is both comprehensive and long overdue—Blurring Boundaries highlights the indelible ways in which the women of AAA have, for more than eighty years, shifted and shaped the frontiers of American abstraction.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

Urban Mapping: Public Space through the Lens of Contemporary Iranian Artists

Urban Mapping: Public Space Through the Lens of Contemporary Iranian Artists

By turning our gaze to public and private spaces, Urban Mapping: Public Space Through the Lens of Contemporary Iranian Artists shines a light on depths of the Iranian experience normally hidden from the outside world. In Iran, the tumult of modern history has coincided with an explosion in urbanization. Comprising 40 photographs and four video installations, the exhibition features the work of 10 essential voices in contemporary Iranian art who explore the notion of urban space as a nexus of social communication and political transformation: a place where personal and collective identity converge.

Curated by Gohar Dashti and toured by IA&A, Urban Mapping portrays the streets, squares, alleys, and private spaces of the city where particular and collective identity mingle, evolve, and are expressed in the shadow of oppressive forces. The result is a nuanced chronicle of urban life in Iran, where physical sites and urban environments become corollaries for shared experience—as well as unique access points to the inner lives and evolving collective consciousness of its citizens.

Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.

Post Secret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God

PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God

“There are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from others, and the ones we hide from ourselves.”

– Frank Warren, founder and curator of PostSecret

“Warren’s archive of conscience-clearing confessions have arrived at his doorstep on everything from coffee cups and Rubik’s Cubes to funeral announcements, sonograms and naked Polaroids.”

– Carolin Vesely, WhatsOnWinnipeg

Following the success and popularity of the first PostSecret exhibition, International Arts & Artists presented PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, a second exhibition of Frank Warren’s project, this one focusing exclusively on the subject of faith.

 

Frank Warren began the PostSecret Project in 2004 when, on a whim, he began handing out blank, self-addressed postcards to strangers, inviting them to “Send Frank a secret.” The only requirements were that the secret be truthful and not previously disclosed to anyone. The results were, to Frank, revelatory: the unsigned postcards, many of them embellished with drawings, prints, or magazine cut-outs, are funny, profound, disturbing; sometimes all at once. Warren’s unique public confessional appeals to our need for contrition and to our perennial curiosity about our fellow humans. He now receives over 1,000 anonymous secrets a week, and the blog he created to showcase them draws six million visitors a month.

 

PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God featured more than 270 confessional postcards, unveiling a myriad of private thoughts, doubts, and feelings concerning spirituality and religion. This exhibition was inspired by a recent installation, All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism, Respect for Diversity of Belief, at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Expressing the spirit of this new exhibition, museum director Rebecca Hoffberger states: “Whereas much has been made of interfaith discussion (surely meritorious) the deeper reality is that faith is never a monolithic thing, but rather a more personal, individualistic phenomenon.”

 

Visit the website at http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/lifedeathgod/

Carl Milles

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Carl Milles: Sculpture

“Carl Milles [is] acknowledged as the greatest Swedish sculptor of the 20th century.”

– Adam Dutkiewicz, Adelaide Metropolitan

“Milles mastered many forms of sculpting—from his first rough-hewed works influenced by Rodin, to later classical figures influenced by Greek and Roman sculpture and finally totally modern works.”

– Priscilla Fleming Vayda, San Gabriel Valley Newspapers

A Carl Milles retrospective of more than 40 sculptures, this exhibition traveled to venues in Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Russia, and Italy, among others. International Arts & Artists presented this extraordinary exhibition to venues in the U.S. and Canada.

A highly sought-after sculptor in Sweden and abroad, Milles was a dominant figure in the Swedish art world during the first half of the 20th century.

“Carl Milles may be described as a traditional as well as an innovative artist. In his choice of motifs he was traditional. Ancient Greek, Roman and Christian mythology as well as Swedish history were often his sources of inspiration. His art was always figurative and often narrative. The innovation was to be found in his personal interpretation of the motifs and that he, especially in his later years, raised up the sculptures, and with the aid of hidden steel constructions had them appear to be floating in the air.”
—Excerpt from www.millesgarden.se)

James McNeill Whistler

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James McNeill Whistler: Selected Works from the Hunterian Art Gallery

“One hundred years after his death, James McNeill Whistler remains a fascinating, complicated, and controversial figure.”

“’James McNeill Whistler’…presents a full picture of his creative output.”

— Peter Black, American Art Review

For the first time, selected artworks from the estate of James McNeill Whistler toured the US. The 129 works—all personal favorites of the artist and his heirs—included 12 paintings, more than 50 prints, watercolors, designs, and manuscripts, as well as personal belongings such as silverware and porcelain. Central to this collection are the remarkable etchings that may represent his most potent influences on 19th and 20th century art. By synthesizing his knowledge of Chinese and Japanese print art with his own, impressionistic aesthetic, Whistler rescued copper-plate etching from its bookish antecedents, transforming it into a fine art to be signed, framed, and hung beside his other masterpieces of oil and watercolor art. His innovations encompassed theme as well as technique: in these works and others, he often eschews the conventional “storytelling” aesthetic of 19th century pictorial art in favor of atmospheric effects and abstract impressions that have lost none of their vividness over time.

This informative, biographical exhibition spanned nearly 40 years of Whistler’s life, highlighting the locations, personalities, and aesthetic breakthroughs that both influenced his artistic vision and immortalized Whistler the man as an iconoclastic American artist.

Leaded

Leaded

Leaded: The Materiality and Metamorphosis of Graphite

“New work from young professional artists, a contemporary approach, and phenomenal experimentation. It’s a win-win for art lovers as well as curiosity seekers.”

— Barbara Satterfield, director, Baum Gallery of Fine Art

“It’s as if the exhibit’s curator…handed out pencils to a group of artists and said, ‘Show me what you can do.'”

— Robert Taylor, Contra Costa Times

Leaded featured more than 40 contemporary artworks by 16 internationally renowned artists who utilize the physical nature and visual characteristics of graphite and pencils as content in their two- and three-dimensional work. Engaging with the medium in one (or more) of three conceptual themes—Graphite as Content, Graphite as Transformative Agent, or Graphite as Sculpture—each artist delved into the limitless possibilities of graphite art. Curated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, deputy director and curator of exhibitions at the University of Richmond Museums, Virginia, Leaded looked beyond drawing to explore the many exquisite forms graphite can take.

The exhibition featured works by The Art Guys (American), James Busby (American, born 1973), Hsin-Hsi Chen (Taiwanese, born 1969), Christopher Cook (British, born 1959), Meghan Gerety (American, born 1970), Michael Joaquin Grey (American, born 1961), Sarah Lovitt (American, born 1969), Marco Maggi (Uruguayan, born 1957), Stephana McClure (N. Ireland, born 1959), Creighton Michael (American, born 1949), Shimon Okshteyn (American, born in the Ukraine, 1951), Gloria Ortiz-Hernandez (Colombian, born 1943), Mark Sheinkman (American, born 1963), Stephen Sollins (American, born 1967), and Molly Springfield (American, born 1977).

Inspiring Beauty

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Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair

“An unprecedented opportunity to show how fashion became a vehicle for African American empowerment, pride, and achievement.”

– Gary T. Johnson, President, Chicago History Museum

The first-ever exhibition to celebrate the Ebony Fashion Fair, Inspiring Beauty explores the 50-year history of the charity fashion spectacle that redefined the concepts of beauty, style, and empowerment for African Americans, by examining the history of the show as well as the life and career of its director/producer, Eunice W. Johnson. Inspiring Beauty showcases nearly 100 objects—including ensembles and accessories displayed on fully stylized mannequins—along with a cache of archival photographs, video, and Johnson’s personal effects, to recreate the runway experience and tell the full story of these unparalleled events. At the center of this dynamic show are the stunning gowns, feathered coats, and statement designs seen in the 40 garments selected from a collection of thousands amassed by Johnson over five decades. Works by world-class designers Stephen Burrows, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Bob Mackie, Missoni, Jean Patou, Sarli, and others illustrate themes of vision, innovation, and power as exemplified by Johnson’s entrepreneurial spirit, flair for fashion, and philanthropic goals as co-founder of Johnson Publishing Company, the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.

Exhibition highlights include garments from fashion greats such as Valentino, Pierre Cardin, and Alexander McQueen for Givenchy, before they reached world-renowned status. An Yves Saint Laurent “Picasso” cocktail dress, Nina Ricci evening ensemble of a shirred jumpsuit and ruffle coat, Karl Lagerfeld for Chloébeaded gown, Vivienne Westwood animal print evening gown, and Emanuel Ungaro two-piece bridal gown are prime examples of the spectacular trends of fashion in all their exquisite attitude and style.

Developed by the Chicago History Museum in cooperation with Johnson Publishing Company, Inspiring Beauty offers an unprecedented multisensory experience for visitors who have never attended an Ebony Fashion Fair, while reconnecting those who experienced it first-hand.

Zigi Ben-Haim

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Zigi Ben-Haim: Journey With Me

“Nothing is safe from the hands and wickedly humorous and tantalizing imagination of Ben-Haim.”

— Vivienne Thaul Wechter

“The essence of my work lies in balancing the tension between surviving and vanishing. To my work, this is the seed of inspiration—capable of bringing new life.”

– Zigi Ben-Haim

Journey With Me showcased internationally renowned American-Israeli sculptor and painter Zigi Ben-Haim’s artistry and philosophy. In this exhibition, Ben-Haim evoked his heartfelt views on migration, with allusion to his own experiences as an émigré to the US. Ben-Haim’s sculptures are dynamic hybrids, most of which meld diverse materials (copper, concrete, steel mesh, acrylic urethane) and antithetical textures (softness and toughness, organic and urban) to suggest the perpetual balancing act of a divided identity.

Born in Baghdad, Ben-Haim grew up in Israel and studied at the Avni Institute of Fine Arts in Tel-Aviv from 1966 to 1970. After moving to the US, he went to California College of Arts & Crafts in 1971, receiving his MA from JFK University in 1973 and his MFA from San Francisco State University a year later. An accomplished artist, Ben-Haim has works in many public collections, including Haifa Museum, Haifa, Israel; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; World Bank, Washington, DC; Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY; University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Phillip Berman Museum, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA; and many others.