Ongoing Exhibitions
- Photo Mandalas: Bill Armstrong and Milan Fano Blatny
Through February 1, 2009
An aid to focus and meditation long used in Buddhist and Hindu religious practices, a mandala (literally "circle") is a schematic depiction of the divine palace or realm of a deity. More broadly, it is a visualization of the entire cosmos. While many historic mandalas are painted or drawn, a mandala can also be represented in sculpture, architecture, textile art, or even, in the case of this exhibition, as a photograph. Photo Mandalas, a visually bold exhibition of more than thirty photographs, brings together two contemporary artists whose work has been inspired by the ancient form of the mandala. These photographic mandalas, made in color by Bill Armstrong (American, b. 1952) and in black-and-white by Milan Fano Blatný (Czech, b. 1972), are not meant specifically for sacred use, but are meant to inspire contemplation. “The more you look at the image, the more you see,” Blatný writes about his dense, constructed images. “New worlds, new levels come up from the center of the picture and you can go deeper and deeper inside the image.” Armstrong, by contrast, uses rings of saturated color to interpret the form: “The mandalas are meant to be meditative pieces – glimpses into a space of pure color, beyond our focus, beyond our ken. Their essential purpose is to create a sense of transcendence, of radiance, of pure joy!” Curator: Katherine Ware, former Curator of Photographs and Darielle Mason, The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Julien Levy Gallery Press Release | Press Images - The Fix on Colonial Philadelphia Furniture: A Secret Guide to Cabinetmakers’ Prices
Through February 22, 2009
This exhibition showcases the only remaining copy of the world’s first published furniture price book alongside the very works of art it lists. Philadelphia’s 36-page printed price book will be on display for the first time, along with enlargements of selected pages to help visitors decode the price lists. As a price guide, the book reveals the array of furniture — ranging from tables, chairs, chests and bookshelves to picture frames, ironing boards, and even coffins — and the values craftsmen assigned to various sizes and embellishments. The exhibition spans two American art galleries and features 23 pieces of colonial furniture, including items from the Museum’s famous Cadwalader collection. Visitors to Gallery 286 will see the price book along with 12 pieces of furniture that correspond closely to forms delineated in it. On its first five pages, the price guide lists high-ticket case pieces that colonial Philadelphians used for work and storage. A Chest on chest created by the freed African-American cabinetmaker Thomas Gross of Germantown between 1805 and 1810 precisely matches an item included in the guide more than 30 years earlier — a testament to the enduring demand for its design. Made of highly figured mahogany yet void of other decoration, the chest on chest would have commanded far less money than more elaborate pieces, such as the highly ornamented eight-foot-tall mahogany Desk and bookcase (c. 1762) or a scroll-headed walnut High chest (c. 1770), both also on view. The exhibition also showcases tables, chairs and household “basics,” such as a cradle, a writing table and a bottle case. In Gallery 287, visitors will step into the second-floor front parlor of Samuel and Elizabeth Powel’s Third Street house, which now exhibits treasures from the Powel’s friends and neighbors John and Elizabeth Lloyd Cadwalader, including their impressive portrait with their daughter, by Charles Willson Peale. The Cadwaladers commissioned the mahogany furniture now in the Powel Room in 1770 from Philadelphia cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck to harmonize with the English furniture, silver and decorative arts the couple had inherited from Elizabeth Lloyd Cadwalader’s parents. Carved by highly specialized artisans, the furniture is considered the most elaborately ornamented pieces made in the colonies. Using a copy of Affleck’s bill, more than 235 years later, nearly all the furniture in the Cadwalader room can be matched in form and price to works listed in the price book. Sponsor:The exhibition was funded by a grant from The Getty Foundation.
Curator: Alexandra Kirtley, Associate Curator of American Art
Location: American Art galleries 286 and 287
Press Release | Press Images - Quilt Stories: The Ella King Torrey Collection of African American Quilts and Other Recent Quilt Acquisitions
Through March 1, 2009
A recent gift to the Museum, this extraordinary collection includes 13 works by leading Southern quilt makers. Among its highlights are an appliquéd “word quilt” by the Mississippi artist Sarah Mary Taylor (1916-2004) and one of her “hand” quilts, a version of which was commissioned for the film The Color PurpleA recent gift to the Museum, this extraordinary collection includes 13 works by leading Southern quilt makers. Among its highlights are an appliquéd “word quilt” by the Mississippi artist Sarah Mary Taylor (1916-2004) and one of her “hand” quilts, a version of which was commissioned for the film The Color Purple. Two quilts are by Taylor’s mother, Pearlie Posey (1894–1984), who in 1980 followed her daughter’s lead and began creating rainbow-hued figurative appliqué quilts. A boldly-colored quilt by Arester Earl (1892–1988) of Georgia is constructed of individually padded and pieced squares sewn together, a style unique to the artist. Several are by artists from the celebrated community of quilters in Gees Bend, Alabama. A Philadelphia native, the late Ella King Torrey was a leading figure in the art world, having served as director of Pew Fellowships in the Arts and President of the Art Institute of San Francisco prior to her death in 2003. Ms. Torrey assembled her quilt collection between 1981 and 1983 while conducting fieldwork on African American quilt-making with Maud Southwell Wahlman. Several of the quilts were included in one of the first exhibitions of its kind, Ten Afro-American Quilters, held at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture in 1983. Curator: Dilys Blum, Curator of Costume and Textiles
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Joan Spain Gallery
Press Images - Clay, Wood, + Paper: Materials for Korean Art
Through Spring 2009
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
- Hello! Fashion: Kansai Yamamoto 1971 – 1973
Through Spring 2009
From the bold graphics and bright colors of a Kabuki-inspired bodysuit to the iconic ‘Ziggy Stardust’ costumes of pop star David Bowie, Kansai Yamamoto (b. 1944) has earned a reputation as one of Japan’s most dynamic and inventive fashion designers since his work first appeared in the early 1970s. In contrast to the Zen-like simplicity and deconstructed silhouettes favored by many of his contemporaries – designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, and Issey Miyake – Kansai’s work is characterized by a spirit of audacity and exuberance. His designs embrace mass entertainment and popular culture, and his inspirations range from the colorful art of Japan’s Momoyama period (1568–1615), to the extravagant costumes and makeup of traditional Kabuki theater, to firefighter’s uniforms. A select exhibition of 15 works and two videos that have entered the Museum’s collection document the creative brilliance of this founding father of Japanese contemporary fashion. Among the highlights of the installation are a dramatic 1971 ensemble that includes a bodysuit knitted with the face of a Kabuki samurai actor, a pair of high-heeled clogs modeled after traditional Japanese okobo - black lacquered platform geta with red straps worn during the summer by apprentice geisha - and a cape with appliqués depicting popular Kabuki characters and a Japanese mask kite. A satin evening dress from the same year features a bold graphic pattern inspired by large tattoos called irezumi that were popularized in the Edo period (1615–1868), then outlawed during the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century before becoming legalized again after World War II. A native of Yokohama, Japan, Kansai studied civil engineering and English at Nippon University before graduating from Bunka College of Fashion in 1967. The following year he opened his first boutique in Tokyo and eventually expanded worldwide. Kansai’s collections debuted in the United States in 1971 at Hess Department Store in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a department store known for its forward-thinking and sometimes controversial fashion shows of American and European styles selected for their potential to influence ready-to-wear clothing designs. Curator: Dilys Blum, the Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Curator of Costume and Textiles
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Costume and Textile Study Gallery, Second Floor Press Images - Frank O. Gehry: Design Process and the Lewis House
Through April 5, 2009
On view in the Collab Gallery of the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman building, this is a small exhibition focusing on architect Frank Gehry’s design process and the Lewis House. A residential plan created for a site owned by Peter B. Lewis in Lyndhurst, Ohio, the 10-year project (1985-1995) gave Gehry a unique opportunity to experiment, and ultimately to achieve the formal and technological breakthroughs that have made him among the most famous architects working today. In collaboration with Gehry Partners, LLP, the Museum will present some 75 architectural models, drawings and photographs, together with furniture, and decorative arts that emerged from his work on the Lewis House. While the project was not ultimately realized, the process deeply informed Gehry’s concurrent and subsequent designs, from Bilbao to the Venice Gateway, from his bent wood and cardboard furniture to a metal teakettle. Sponsor: The exhibition is supported in part by Collab, the Group for Modern and Contemporary Design at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Curator: Kathryn Hiesinger, Curator of European Decorative Arts After 1700
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Collab Gallery - Cultural Convergence: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Craft
Through April 19, 2009
This exhibition presents 34 works which have been added to the collection since 2000 and range in medium from glass and metal to fiber, clay and wood. These works, most of which are on view for the first time, were created in Japan, Australia, Kenya, Colombia and other countries, and illustrate the ways in which the art of contemporary craft is interpreted across the globe. The Museum’s craft collection is one of the oldest in the country, and includes nearly 600 craft objects in a variety of mediums including clay, glass, fiber, wood and metal. The collection features some of the earliest works in the American craft field, along with a wide sampling of objects by well-known masters associated with the Philadelphia region, including Rudolph Staffel, Olaf Skoogfors, George Nakashima and Wharton Esherick. Curator: Elisabeth Agro, The Nancy M. McNeil Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts
Location: North Auditorium Gallery
Press Release | Press Images -
The Privilege of Paint: Portraits from the Courts of India
Through May 2009
Selected from the Museum’s rich collection, this exhibition explores the depiction of identity, expressions of court life and royal lineage, how artists painted themselves, and Mughal portraiture. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Mughal painting workshops introduced to the Indian subcontinent a type of portraiture based on accurate renderings of physiognomy and individualized facial features. This new, naturalistic manner was at the same time highly idealized and formulaic. Subjects were frequently portrayed in strict profile with rigid postures and unwavering stares, which lent a sense of timelessness and distance to the overall composition. Artists focused especially on details of costume as well as swords, jewels, and other objects associated with royalty in order to emphasize the subject’s wealth and prestige. Far from being candid likenesses taken from ordinary life, Indian portraits of this period were flattering depictions of members of the royal courts. Women of the court, meanwhile, were avid collectors of portraits, but were generally excluded from the privilege of direct portrayal themselves. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, portraiture was a major component of the courtly arts across India. More than representations of pretty faces, portraits were powerful tools of persuasion. Both Muslim rulers (the Mughals and the Deccani sultans of central India) and Hindu Rajput kings in the north and west relied on the portrait medium to present convincing statements about their military prowess and legitimacy. Curator: Darielle Mason, The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Location: Gallery 227, second floor Press Images - Peaks of Faith: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas
Through May 2009
The exhibition encompasses nearly a millennium of art from across the Himalayan region (centered on Tibet and Nepal) and from neighboring areas under its cultural influence. Highlights include a sublime 9th-century bronze of Ratnasambhava Buddha from northern India and the monumental 18th-century painting Banquet for Dharmapalas from Mongolia. All were created for the form of Buddhism that developed in the area called Vajrayana “the indestructible path”. Using an array of potent images as well as words and actions, the practitioner evokes within him or herself the steps leading toward enlightenment. The works of art in this exhibition depict buddhas, deities and holy men in many materials and styles. Whether in metal, paint or wood, whether beautiful or terrifying, simple or intricate, each was created as a guide to help progress along the path. Curator: Darielle Mason, The Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art
Location:Himalayan Art gallery 232
Press Images - Philadelphia Treasures: Thomas Eakins’s “Gross Clinic” and Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s “Angel of Purity”
Through June 2009
In 2005, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Angel of Purity (Maria Mitchell Memorial), which had been commissioned for a church in Philadelphia where the stately marble was installed for over 100 years. A year and a half later, the Museum together with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts acquired Thomas Eakins’s 1875 masterpiece, The Gross Clinic. In each case, a major work of art that might easily have been sold outside the city was identified as an important icon to keep for Philadelphia. In a triumph for the community, institutions and dedicated individuals successfully secured both treasures. Thomas Eakins and Augustus Saint-Gaudens were close contemporaries and friends. They trained in Paris and traveled in Europe before returning to the United States around 1870 to begin distinguished careers. Sharing a belief in the expressive power of the human body as a subject for modern painting and sculpture, they developed different styles. Eakins, committed to the depiction of contemporary life, celebrated the heroes of his own day—as in The Gross Clinic—in a grand and unsparing realism evoking the Dutch and Spanish masters of the 17th century. Saint-Gaudens, trained in the same tradition of naturalism and life study, fused the real with the ideal—as in The Angel of Purity—following the poetic spirit of neoclassicism. At the peak of their accomplishment in these two works, both masters demonstrate the power of great public art to stir profound and complex emotions grounded in themes of human life and death. Installed in public spaces in Philadelphia for more than a century, these two extraordinary works of art will continue to inspire audiences here, thanks to the support of many donors rallied by the Museum’s dedicated director, Anne d’Harnoncourt (1943-2008), who worked tirelessly to secure both treasures for the city. Curator: Kathleen Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Curator of American Art
Location: American Art gallery 119, first floor Press Release | Press Images - The Art of Japanese Craft: 1875 to the Present
Through Fall 2009
Japan is one of the few cultures that fully appreciated and fostered its craft art traditions in the 20th century by instituting a system of national competitive exhibitions, commissioning and purchasing crafts through the Imperial Household Agency, and supporting artists as “holders of important intangible cultural property.” The exhibition features work by six artists who have been awarded this designation, and are popularly referred to as “living national treasures.” Almost all of the works are on view for the first time outside of Japan. The exhibition is divided into themed sections such as animal, floral, and geometric motifs, and spans more than 120 years. Among the many remarkable objects on view are a superbly crafted lacquer box made around 1875, examples of Art Deco-influenced metalwork, and an abstract contemporary celadon vase. This comprehensive overview is among the first of its kind, and presents a group of 70 gifts and promised gifts to the Museum from a single donor, Mr. Frederick R. McBrien III – a collection that makes Philadelphia one of the premier sites for the study and enjoyment of the stunning craftsmanship of Japan’s modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition includes several less-explored areas such as metal crafts of the prewar period. Catalogue: A fully illustrated catalogue (60 page with nearly 150 color images, $19.95), published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press, accompanies the exhibition. An introductory essay by Felice Fischer discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of crafts in 20th-century Japan, and illustrated entries explore distinctive qualities of 25 objects. A comprehensive checklist includes color illustrations of objects not reproduced elsewhere in the publication. The book also will include a section on artists’ biographies and reproductions of their marks. The book is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Fund for Scholarly Publications and a generous individual. It is available for purchase in the Museum Store, or by calling 800-329-4856 or online at www.philamuseum.org
Curator: Felice Fischer, Luther W. Brady Curator of Japanese Art and Curator of East Asian Art
Location: East Asian Art Galleries: 241, 242, 243
Press Release | Press Images - Notations: The Closing Decade
Through November 2009
This exhibition includes works from around the world made by 13 artists in the last years of the 20th century. Taking the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 as a starting point and leading up to the events of September 2001, the exhibition highlights the range of artistic pursuit during this period of transformation. It includes painting, sculpture, and video from the Museum’s collection complemented by a small number of loans. The 13 works on view vary dramatically in scale, medium and mood - from the meditative to the exuberant and from the elegiac to the surreal - reflecting both the anxieties and the expectations that marked the end of a millennium through the lens of Francis Alÿs, Gabriel Orozco, Peter Doig, Sherrie Levine, Glenn Ligon, Jeff Wall and others. Curator: Adelina Vlas, Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art
Location: Modern and Contemporary Art gallery 176 Press Release | Press Images - Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera
Through November 1, 2009
The winding stretch of Mediterranean coastline extending from Marseilles to Menton – the so-called French Riviera – has inspired artists since becoming a tourist resort in the 1860s. Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), one of modern art’s great colorists, moved there in 1917, attracted by the area’s scenic beauty and radiant light. Matisse stayed in Nice, the center of artistic and intellectual life in the South of France, until the end of his life, in 1954. His “Nice period” consists primarily of the works he completed in the 1920s, when he painted richly decorated hotel interiors, suffused with light, and inhabited by languorous odalisques. The sun-drenched region encouraged other artists, such as Pierre Bonnard, Raoul Dufy, and Chaim Soutine to move there in search of light and color. Including approximately 35 paintings and sculpture from the Museum’s collection and local private collections, this installation celebrates the mythic allure for modern artists. Curator: Michael Taylor, The Muriel and Phillip Berman Curator of Modern Art
Location: The Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, Exhibitions Gallery 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.
