Ongoing Exhibitions
- Renoir Landscapes
Through January 6, 2008
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents the first exhibition to explore the inventiveness and importance of the landscape painting of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) during the first 30 years of the artist’s career. Renoir was the single most celebrated painter among the French Impressionists to be associated with figure painting, but his landscapes—remarkable in their freshness and immediacy—demonstrate the deep sources of his inspiration in nature and his fascination with the effects of natural light. Drawn from public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad, Renoir Landscapes examines the painter as one of the most original landscape artists of his age. The exhibition begins with works from the 1860s, shortly after Renoir met Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley in the studio of Charles Gleyre and with them began absorbing the tradition of plein-air painting. Such early works as The Clearing in the Woods (The Detroit Institute of Arts, about 1865), painted in the forest of Fontainebleau, respond to the tradition of Barbizon painting, as well as to the mid-century luminaries Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. In the 1870s Renoir continued to work with Monet, painting such scenes as Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1875) with its sunny view of boaters plying the Seine at Chatou, and in the nearby Paris suburb of Argenteuil where the two artists together developed a technique of broken brushstrokes to register fleeting impressions of light and transitory natural phenomena. Renoir and Monet encouraged each other to ever more impressive feats of painterly experimentation, the results of which were first seen in the initial so-called Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874. Toward the end of the 1870s, Renoir experimented extensively with color and composition, challenging his contemporaries with a move towards an astonishing painterly freedom. In the 1880s, Renoir’s travels in Algeria and Italy exposed him to new landscape motifs and encouraged his use of a more intense color palette. He adapted to these new subjects by developing a landscape technique composed of shimmering screens of color, as reflected in Algerian Landscape, Ravine of the Wild Woman (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, 1881). While his experimentations with crashing waves and other water imagery during this period make daring strides toward abstraction, the artist himself steadfastly maintained that nature remained the ultimate source of his inspiration. In an unpublished treatise, Renoir wrote in 1883-84 that “any individual wishing to make art must be inspired solely by works of nature.… She alone can give us the variety of composition design and color necessary to make art.” Catalogue: The National Gallery, London, has published a lavishly illustrated catalogue, including essays by Professor John House, of the Courtauld Institute, London, Colin B. Bailey and Christopher Riopelle, and contributions by John Zarobell and Simon Kelly, Associate Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Catalogues may be purchased from the museum store. For more information, call (215) 684-7960.
Sponsors: This exhibition is made possible by GlaxoSmithKline. Generous support is also provided by Bank of America. Additional funding is provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia, the Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Robert Montgomery Scott Fund for Exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with major foundation support from the Robert Lehman Foundation. An indemnity is provided by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Promotional support is provided by NBC 10 WCAU; The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com; and Amtrak.
Organizers: National Gallery, London, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Curator: John Zarobell, Associate Curator of European Painting before 1900
Location: Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries, first floor
Itinerary: The National Gallery, London (Through May 20, 2007)
The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (June 8–September 9, 2007)
Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 4, 2007 - January 6, 2008) Press Release | Press Images - Antonio Mancini: Nineteenth Century Italian Master
Through January 20, 2008
One of the most prominent Italian painters of the late 19th century, Antonio Mancini (1852-1930) was at the forefront of Verismo, the Italian response to French realism. This exhibition of some 40 works by Mancini focuses on a group of paintings and pastels that recently entered the Museum’s collection as a gift from the estate of the American art collector and dealer Vance N. Jordan (1943-2003). The exhibition surveys the major themes of Mancini’s career, from the street musicians, dancers and homeless children of Naples he painted in the years following his graduation from the Istituto di Belle Arti, to his flamboyantly decorative society portraits and his prodigious output of reflective, experimental self-portraits. The first solo exhibition devoted to Mancini in the United States, it highlights the paintings from the Vance Jordan Collection alongside important works from museums and private collections in the U.S. and Europe. The 15 paintings and pastels by Mancini in the Vance Jordan Collection survey Mancini’s output over more than 30 years and include genre pictures and the vigorously painted portraits for which he was later known. Mancini experimented with techniques and materials, mixing broken glass and silver foil with his paint and growing increasingly free in his use of color and brushwork. Self-portraits in a variety of mediums are a common theme in his work and two striking self-portraits, one in pastel and the other on panel, are on view. Catalogue: This exhibition is accompanied by a breath-taking catalogue, which, in addition to photographs of Mancini himself, includes a foreword by Anne d'Harnoncourt, Director, and Joseph Rishel, Senior Curator of European Painting before 1900. This book was made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Fund for Scholarly Publications at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Curator: Guest curator Dr. Ulrich W. Hiesinger
Sponsors: This exhibition is supported in part by The Robert Montgomery Scott Fund for Exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Location: European Art Galleries 153 and 155 Press Release | Press Images - Alfred Stieglitz at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Through February 17, 2008
A preeminent figure in 20th-century photography, Alfred Stieglitz changed the face of the medium with his well-crafted prints, his passionate efforts to establish photography as a fine art, and his daring Manhattan art gallery known as 291. After his death in 1946, his wife Georgia O’Keeffe carefully selected a handful of institutions to receive representative gifts of his work. Her 1949 donation to the Philadelphia Museum of Art formed the foundation for the Museum’s collection of photographs, now numbering around 29,000 images. The inaugural exhibition in the new Julien Levy Gallery pays tribute to this integral and treasured holding by featuring approximately 40 images drawn from the Museum’s collection of 600 photographs by the artist. In addition to O’Keeffe’s gift in 1949, the exhibition will feature work by Stieglitz from the collection of Philadelphia-born photographer Dorothy Norman, a student and close associate of Stieglitz’s who donated her personal collection to the Museum and founded its Alfred Stieglitz Center in his honor. Also included are recent gifts from the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation that have not been exhibited previously. Demonstrating the range of Stieglitz’s career, the exhibition includes large photogravures, portraits of artists, selections from the series Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait and Equivalents, a group of portraits of Dorothy Norman, images of poplar trees at his family retreat at Lake George, and views of New York City photographed from the artist’s apartment in the Shelton Hotel. Curator: Katherine Ware, Curator of Photographs
Sponsors: Inaugural exhibitions at the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building are made possible by Wachovia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, The Julien Levy Gallery Press Release | Press Images - Ellsworth Kelly
Through February 24, 2008
In 1948, following his military service in World War II, the 25-year-old American artist Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923) moved to Paris, where he lived for six years before moving to New York in 1954. The paintings in this exhibition illustrate the significant changes in his work during this formative period, when the artist experimented with strategies that would prove to be instrumental to his artistic development. It was in Paris that Kelly abandoned figuration and easel painting, made his first shaped wood cutout canvases, embraced white monochrome and then primary colors, and developed the intensely felt abstraction for which he is known. Although Kelly’s works do not appear at first glance to make any reference to reality, they are rooted in his close observation of the world, as seen in his drawings of plant forms and in his renderings of the buildings and bridges of Paris. Kelly began to employ chance in the composition of his works, and at the same time started to use the grid—devices evident in his collages from 1951. In the painting Seine, he creates a tension between systematic and chance procedures in his abstract evocation of shifting light and shadow on the river surface. In the 1950s, Kelly made an important shift from small object-like works toward larger-scale paintings that command a wall. The titles of these later works often reflect the artist’s growing emphasis on the formal qualities of his compositions. Kelly’s work resonates with earlier painting and sculpture in the Museum’s collection by artists he knew and admired. His playful use of the grid and black, white, and primary colors in his compositions recall those of Piet Mondrian, and his interest in chance connects to the work of Marcel Duchamp and Jean (Hans) Arp. While in Paris, Kelly visited Constantin Brancusi’s studio, among many others, and he was particularly drawn to the sculptor’s abstract interpretations of observed reality, which have clear connections with his own work. The Museum’s fine collection of Juan Gris paintings has particular importance for Kelly, who once saw a number of Gris’s small compositions hung together in a manner that suggested the possibility that a single painting might consist of several separate panels. The works in this installation trace Kelly’s remarkable artistic path in the early stages of his career and demonstrate why he is today considered one of the most eminent artists of our time. Curators: Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art; Michael Taylor, The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art; and Emily Hage, Project Curatorial Assistant
Location: Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery 175 Press Release | Press Images - Pop Art and Its Affinities
Through February 29, 2008
Highlighting works from the 1960s and early ‘70s, this exhibition captures a pivotal moment in the history of American art. An International movement that originated in London and New York, Pop Art, or what artist James Rosenquist called “the world of supermarket junk and plenty,” began as a response to the explosion of mass culture in the 1960s. In its creation, artists appropriated imagery from billboards, newspapers, films, comic books, and other media, and used commercial materials and techniques such as silkscreening, often enlarging images to colossal proportions. Featured in this exhibition, Pop artists Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg, and predecessors such as Robert Raushenberg, transgressed the assumed boundary between fine art and graphic design, raising provocative questions about the nature of creativity and originality in an age of mechanical reproduction. Also included in this examination of Pop Art are paintings by Op Artists such as Edna Andrade, Richard Anuszkiewicz, and Josef Albers, who were among the first artists to base their work entirely upon the optical impressions examined in the science of perceptual psychology. Curators: Michael R. Taylor, The Muriel and Phillup Berman Curator of Modern Art and Emily Hage, Project Curatorial Assistant
Location: American Art Gallery 119, first floor Press Release | Press Images - Costume and Textiles: Recent Acquisitions from A to Z
Through March 2008
The inaugural installation in the Costume and Textiles Study Gallery features a selection of the textiles, historic costume and contemporary fashion acquired by the Museum in the past decade. The exhibition illustrates the encyclopedic nature of the costume and textiles collection as a whole. The objects on view include works of amazing beauty and rarity, examples of exquisite workmanship and design, items of historic significance—and sometimes the unexpected. Garments in the exhibition range from haute couture – a feather-trimmed ensemble from c. 1890 by John Redfern and Sons of Paris and a sequined 1982 Givenchy evening gown – to a “deconstructed” dress from 2000 by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons. Textile examples include a Burmese kalaga (hanging) with appliqué figures, American samplers, and resist-dyed ndop cloth from Cameroon. Also on view: a pair of Vivienne Westwood's extreme platform shoes, a girl's hoop skirt from the 1860s, and a variety of headwear, footwear, bags, and other accessories. Curator: Kristina Haugland, Associate Curator of Costume and Textiles
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Costume and Textiles Study Gallery, second floor Press Images - A Passion for Perfection: James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, Ralph Rucci
Through March 9, 2008
The exhibition in the new Joan and Bernard Spain Gallery highlights works from the Museum’s costume collection by three award-winning fashion designers hailing from Philadelphia: James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, and Ralph Rucci. Connected by a web of personal influence in addition to shared Philadelphia roots, each has brought to ready-to-wear the craftsmanship and attention to detail that marks Paris haute couture. A master couturier, Galanos worked briefly for Robert Piguet in Paris before moving to California where he produced luxurious and elegant clothing “off the peg” from 1951 until 1998 for an exclusive clientele including Nancy Reagan and Rosalind Russell. Galanos encouraged Tassell, who had studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, to move to Los Angeles in 1956, where he opened his own firm. Tassell’s refined designs appealed to clients such as Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Grace of Monaco. On the death of designer Norman Norell in 1972, Tassell moved to New York to take over the house of Norell until its closure in 1976, when he returned to California to design for private clients. Rucci, who describes Galanos as the “Dean of American Fashion,” is currently celebrating 25 years as a fashion designer. In 2002 he became the first American since Mainbocher to be invited to show with the Paris haute couture. Curator: Dilys Blum, Curator of Costume and Textiles
Sponsors: Inaugural exhibitions at the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building are made possible by Wachovia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Joan Spain Gallery Press Release | Press Images - Eighteenth-Century English Silver from the Collection
Through March 23, 2008
Drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition presents some 30 pieces of silver by such important 18th-century English silversmiths as David Willaume and Paul De Lamerie. It also includes examples of the major 18th-century styles, from the simple forms of the Queen Anne style in the early years of the century, to the exuberant shapes and decoration of the Rococo style at mid-century, to the refinement of the antique as represented by the neoclassical style at the century’s end. This installation is the first in a newly renovated gallery devoted to European Decorative arts, made possible by a grant from Museum’s Women’s Committee. Curator: Donna Corbin, Associate Curator of European Decorative Arts
Location: Gallery 277a, second floor Press Images - Designing Modern: 1920 to the Present
Through April 30, 2008
Celebrating the opening of the Collab Gallery, devoted to modern and contemporary design, this opening exhibition in the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building surveys the collection with highlights of furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, and works on paper. Some of these works are housed in the departments of Costumes and Textiles, Prints, Drawings and Photographs, and the Library, crossing departmental boundaries and drawing from all the collections that newly occupy the Perelman Building. The exhibition is presents benchmark examples from pivotal movements in the evolving history of twentieth- and twenty-first-century design: Art Deco and the Bauhaus (1920 to 1940), American and Scandinavian Modernism (1940 to 1960), the new Italian domestic landscape (1960 to 1980), and Post Modernism (1980 to the present). Curator: Kathryn Hiesinger, Curator of European and Decorative Arts after 1700
Sponsors: Inaugural exhibitions at the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building are made possible by Wachovia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Collab Gallery Press Release | Press Images - Clay, Wood, +Paper: Materials for Korean Art
Through Summer 2008
Clay, wood, and paper are essential materials employed for Korean art and craft. They are extremely versatile, allowing for the creation of a wide range of objects, including fine arts, crafts, and wares for everyday use. This exhibition from the Museum’s Korean art collection, which spans over 1,500 years, explores the diverse applications of these materials, both in traditional and contemporary arts. The clay section features early stoneware vessels and fine selections of clay roof tiles from the 7th century. An 18th century sculpture, Boy Attendant, provides an example of wood used as a fine art material, and furniture pieces will show its use in everyday life. Among the works on paper are a ten-panel orchid screen painting from the early 20th century and contemporary woodblock prints on Korean mulberry paper made according to traditional methods. Curator: Hyunsoo Woo, Associate Curator of Korean Art
Location: The Baldeck Gallery (238), second floor - Imagining Cathay: Eighteenth-and early Nineteenth-Century Chinoiserie Textiles and Embroideries from the Collection
Through Summer 2008
For Europeans during the 18th and early 19th centuries, China—or “Cathay” as it was sometimes called—was a magical place, full of intrigue fueled by travelers’ accounts including Marco Polo’s published adventures, and Asian imports such as precious silks and fine porcelains. The growing vogue for things Oriental and the spread of its popularity to all economic classes stimulated European imitations: as early as the middle of the 14th century the silk weavers of Lucca, Italy, the center of European luxury textile production, modeled their patterns after Chinese designs. This style would come to be known as “Chinoiserie,” popularized by the French court and later by English tastemakers. In addition to fine and decorative arts, Chinoiserie inspired ephemeral architecture such as teahouses, landscape design, interior decoration, court entertainments, and operas. It continues to be one of history’s most enduring and fanciful decorative styles. Imagining Cathay is comprised of nine works representative of Chinoiserie, including a copperplate-printed cotton weave modeling Chinese architecture of the period, as well as a silk moiré plain weave with watercolor—painted silk decorated with Chinese women, deer and flowers. Curator: Dilys Blum, Curator of Costume and Textiles
Location: Costume and Textile Gallery 271 Press Images - A Conversation in Three Dimensions: Sculpture from the Collections
Through May 25, 2008
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s holdings in modern and contemporary sculpture are the product of years of ambitious collecting in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a particularly radical period in the history of sculpture. Because of limitations in gallery space in the main Museum, many of the masterworks of this collection are not always on view, and some have only rarely been exhibited. With the opening of the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, a new special exhibitions gallery will provide a beautiful light-filled space, characterized by floor-to-ceiling arched windows that line opposite sides of the gallery, ideal for the display of sculptures. The works in the inaugural exhibition, have been selected from the modern and contemporary art collection to take advantage of the spectacular new space and literally bring to light infrequently seen sculptures from the Museum's diverse collections. This exhibition highlights the many ways in which artists have pushed the limits of this medium and explored its relations with other art forms, through variations in surface, color, and the handling of light. Jean Dubuffet’s Landscape with Tree (1968) is an example of a work that blurs traditional boundaries, employing the formal language of not only sculpture, but painting and drawing as well. Other works-such as Richard Long’s Limestone Circle (1985) and Sol LeWitt’s Splotch (2003) - sit directly on the floor rather than on a pedestal, and have a horizontal rather than a vertical orientation. Untitled (Petit Palais) (1992) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres can be displayed differently with each installation, thereby challenging the general understanding of sculpture as a static and rigid form. The public spaces of the Perelman Building also provide other opportunities to display sculpture from the Museum’s collections. Paul Manship’s intricate gilt bronze reliefs of 1914 symbolizing The Four Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water (originally designed for the American Telephone &Telegraph building in New York City) are displayed in the spacious reading room of the Museum’s new Library. Sponsors: Inaugural exhibitions at the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building are made possible by Wachovia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Exhibition Gallery Press Release | Press Images - Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand by Thomas Eakins
Through May 31, 2008
The first celebrated series by Thomas Eakins to focus on physicians and scientists, this magnificent portrait is on loan from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is being shown at the Museum in context with major works by Eakins and his contemporaries, including Cecilia Beaux, Thomas Moran, and Henry Ossawa Tanner. Eakins (1844 – 1916) portrayed the popular Jefferson Medical College professor lost in concentration at his desk, which is shown cluttered both with objects of science and academia and those of domestic life. Absently stroking his pet cat, Rand is poised between the world of intellectual endeavor and the comforts of home. This portrait earned Eakins a place at the Philadelphia Centennial’s (1876) international art exhibition, where it won critical acclaim. Curator: Kathleen Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art
Location: Gallery 111, first floor Press Images - Precious Possessions: The American Craft Collection
Through June 29, 2008
This exhibition celebrates the breadth of the Museum’s American craft collection, with its luxurious works of art in glass, metal, clay, fiber, and wood. The works demonstrate the Museum’s early commitment to contemporary craft, as seen in the ceramics of Gertrud and Otto Natzler acquired in 1945, and encompass a wide range of highlights: old favorites that have not been displayed for some time and several works that are making their first appearance in the galleries. Many were received as gifts from generous collectors, relatives of artists, and in some cases, the artists themselves. Others were purchased with funds raised by the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art through its highly successful and esteemed annual Craft Show. In mid-winter, a selection of fiber art from the Museum’s craft collection will be rotated into this gallery to coincide with the University of the Arts’ international fiber symposium Materiality and Meaning: Examining Fiber and Material Studies in Contemporary Art and Culture in March 2008. Precious Possessions salutes the many generations of donors, and most especially the Women’s Committee, in their commitment to the growth of the Museum’s American craft collection. Curator: Elizabeth Agro, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Art
Location: North Auditorium Gallery, first floor Press Release | Press Images - Cornucopia: Recent Acquisitions of Japanese Art
Through Fall 2008
The steady growth of the Museum’s collection of Japaense art is celebrated in this exhibition. Among the most important objects featured is an exemplary 17th century painting of a Deer Mandala (artist unknown) rendered on silk and mounted as a hanging scroll and showing the sacred animal messenger of the Shinto deities. A display of lacquer vessels made for both ritual and secular uses represent another significant area of collection expansion during the past six or seven years. Likewise, a selection of contemporary artworks reflect the Museum’s increasing interest in the extraordinary crafts of basketry, metalwork and ceramics that has guided acquisitions of pieces made by the living artists of Japan. Curator: Felice Fischer, The Luther W. Brady Curator of East Asian Art
Location: East Asian Art galleries 241, 242, 243; second floor Press Images - At Mount Pleasant: Lifestyle, Craftsmanship and Biography
Ongoing
Three new installations in Fairmount Park’s remarkable historic mansion, Mount Pleasant, are opening visitors’ eyes to little-known aspects of Philadelphia’s past. The newly furnished rooms focus on Lifestyle, Craftsmanship and Biography, providing useful contexts for the stunning house John Adams once described as “the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania.” Through 18 objects and nearby text panels, visitors to Mount Pleasant will gain a broad understanding of the mansion’s creators and early inhabitants, and of everyday life in Philadelphia during the second half of the 18th century. Curator: Justina Barrett, the Museum Educator for American Art
Location: Mount Pleasant Mansion, Fairmount Park Press Release | Press Images - New York Dada
Ongoing
The New York Dadaists were an international group of artists, writers, and musicians who gathered at the Manhattan apartment of art collectors Walter and Louise Arensberg. The group exhibited together and produced a number of eccentric little magazines between 1915 and 1921. Although they did not officially adopt the Dada name until 1921, they used irony and irreverence to topple artistic conventions they found obsolete, much like their contemporaries in Germany, France, and Switzerland (where the nonsense term “Dada” was coined). Paintings and sculptures created by Dada artists often reflect the group’s shared interest in everyday, readymade objects, as expressed in Marcel Duchamp’s declaration that the United States’ greatest contribution to art was “her plumbing and her bridges.” Many of the paintings explore the erotic possibilities of abstracted and mechanical imagery, while others range from animated figural scenes to machine forms, demonstrating the extraordinary stylistic diversity of the group. The New York Dadaists disbanded shortly after the Arensbergs moved to California in 1921, but their impact reached far beyond their brief existence as an avant-garde group. Curator: Michael R. Taylor,The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art and Emily Hage, Project Curatorial Assistant
Location: Modern and Contemporary Gallery 168, first floor Press Images - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Permanent Collection
Ongoing
In the 18th century, Chinese emperors and other elites began collecting snuff bottles, which they valued both as precious objects and as containers for powdered tobacco (snuff). They first used cylindrical medicine bottles to hold this new “medicine” and then experimented with new bottle shapes and added stoppers with ivory spoons attached. The Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1736 to 1795) was particularly fond of these miniature containers, favoring the carved glass bottles made in the Imperial Glassworks that his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, had established in 1696. With the encouragement of the Qianlong ruler, production reached new aesthetic and technological heights, and their popularity continued through the late 19th century. The bottle shown here exemplifies the glass overlay wares made at the Imperial Glassworks during the early 18th century. It was probably intended as a gift for an official: the high-relief carving of herons in a lotus pond symbolizes purity and the incorruptible statesmen. The 137 snuff bottles on view in gallery 236 encompass many decorative designs, including floral, figural, and landscape motifs, auspicious symbols, and poetry. Made from glass, porcelain, gourds, seeds, semiprecious stones and hard stones, these bottles represent the versatility and expertise of the artisans who produced them and show the richness of the Museum’s holdings. Curators: Felice Fischer, The Luther W. Brady Curator of Japanese Art and Curator of East Asian Art, Dr. Maris Gillette, Research Associate
Location: Gallery 236, second floor Press Images - Irish Silver
Ongoing
The period from the closing decades of the 17th century until the years shortly after the Act of Union of 1800, which merged Ireland into the single kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was the great age of Irish domestic silver. At that time, Dublin, the second largest city in the British Empire, was the political, economic, and social center of Ireland. The Protestant gentry who came to prominence under the reign of William III (1689-1702) entertained lavishly, and like their English counterparts they sought to accumulate possessions, including silver that demonstrated their wealth and status. Due to the obvious political and geographical connections in this period, Irish silver relied heavily on English styles; however, Irish silversmiths originated a number of their own forms and types of decoration. Two-handled cups, which by this period were reserved for ceremonial occasions, were a favorite among Irish silversmiths, and the installation includes a number of monumental examples of this form. One gilded example features handles in the shape of harps, a common symbol of the Irish nation. Curator: Donna Corbin, Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts
Location: Gallery 281, second floor Press Images
In the Video Gallery
- Live Cinema/Return of the Image: Video from Central Asia
Through February 17, 2008
This survey of video and film by contemporary artists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is the first of its kind in the United States. Live Cinema/Return of the Image: Video from Central Asia looks at recent developments in the artistic production of a region underrepresented in the international art world. In the Search of Place, The Dervish Way and Eccentricity and Melancholia, investigate the unique history of this turbulent region and its effect upon artistic production. Viktor Misiano, guest curator and founder and editor-in-chief of Moscow Art Magazine, credits Central Asian artists with retaining trust in what he describes as “the figuratively authentic and immediately suggestive ‘image.’” Schedule Program 1: In Search of the Place
Through December 16, 2007- Rustam Khalfin and Yuliya Tikhonova, Northern Barbarians, Part 1: A Groom and a Bride
- Rustam Khalfin and Yuliya Tikhonova, Northern Barbarians, Part 2: Lover Races
- Almagul Menlibayeva, Jihad
- Roman Maskalev and Maxim Boronilov, Paris
Program 2: The Dervish Way
December 18, 2007- January 20, 2008
- Said Atabekov, Walkman
- Vyacheslay Akhunov and Sergey Tichina, Askent
- Vyacheslay Akhunov and Sergey Tichina, Corner
- Ulan Djaparov, E la nave va…
Program 3: New Generation: Crankiness and Melancholy
January 22- February 17, 2008
- Alexander Ugay and Roman Maskalev, Mourning
- Ulan Djaparov, Ernst Abdarazakov, Chingiz Tokochev, and Roman Maskalev, Pancake-Monsters
- Natasha Dyu, Melancholy
Curator: Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art
Location: Video Gallery 179 Press Release | Press Images
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest museums in the United States, with a collection of more than 227,000 works of art and more than 200 galleries presenting painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, decorative arts, textiles, and architectural settings from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Its facilities include its landmark Main Building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Perelman Building, located nearby on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Rodin Museum on the 2200 block of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and two 18th-century houses in Fairmount Park, Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove. The Museum offers a wide variety of activities for public audiences, including special exhibitions, programs for children and families, lectures, concerts and films.
For additional information, contact the Marketing and Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at (215) 684-7860. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call (215) 763-8100, or visit the Museum's website at www.philamuseum.org.
