calendario eventi  :: 

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28/9/2009

Two exhibitions

National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850–1900

The private worlds of late 19th-century Paris, London, and Berlin are reflected in some 120 beguiling, often enigmatic prints, drawings, illustrated books, and small sculptures in The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850–1900. On view at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in the West Building, from October 1, 2009, through January 18, 2010, the exhibition reveals a late romantic sensibility, an art for collectors who kept their prints and drawings under wraps, compiled in albums and portfolios; who stored bronze medals in cabinets; or set a statuette on a table in the stillness of the library.

The Darker Side of Light also explores the intellectual pursuits and techniques of artists whose works share the dark naturalism and rebelliousness of the writings of Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, among other literary figures of the time.

"This exhibition offers the public an opportunity to see a far less familiar repertoire of late 19th-century art," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "It is drawn primarily from the Gallery’s own substantial collection of prints, drawings, and sculptures. The National Gallery is also grateful to private collectors and public institutions who loaned their exceptional works."

The Darker Side of Light has been organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Previously on view at the Hammer Museum, at the University of California, Los Angeles, from April 5 through June 28, 2009, the exhibition will continue from Washington to be seen at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, from February 11 through June 10, 2010.

The Arts of Privacy in the Late 19th Century
Although the art of this period is most often associated with impressionism—a celebration of the open air and the café-concert, evoking the pleasures of the landscape and the radiance of Paris, city of light—there is another side to the story. That is, an art of sober contemplation, of recherché, often poetic and melancholy subject matter that explores an altogether different dimension of human experience.

Due to the fact that they tended to be stored away and viewed discreetly on chosen occasions, prints in particular encouraged the investigation of suggestive, sometimes disturbing themes, including complex states of mind and expressions of deep social tension: opium dreams, the obsessions of a lover, the abject despair of an impending suicide, meditations on violence, the fear of death. In turn, the print medium drew the attention of many artistic camps that saw it as an ideal medium for experimentation—academic painters, realists, impressionists, and symbolists alike.

Etching societies were formed with the idea of publishing prints in order to cultivate and improve the tastes of the urban bourgeoisie. Partly as a result of such organized efforts there were many independent dealers and book shops in Paris, London, Berlin, and elsewhere that sold such prints as well as drawings and small sculptures by artists of various schools.

Through the medium of prints, artists such as Mary Cassatt, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Victor Hugo, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Adolph Menzel, Charles Meryon, Edvard Munch, Odilon Redon, James McNeill Whistler, and Anders Zorn became more widely known, and the often radical and exploratory aspects of their art found a public.

This exhibition focuses on works of art that were not recommended for display in the parlor, sometimes because they were unsuitable, but mainly because they were meant for private contemplation much as one would approach a book of verse or a novel. The desire for private aesthetic experience and the art made to satisfy it constitute an important chapter in a long history of collecting as a secluded endeavor.

The Exhibition
Through eight themes—possession, nature, the city, creatures, reverie, obsession, abjection, violence, and death— The Darker Side of Light reveals highly engaging, often mysterious and beautiful works, mainly from France and Germany, but also Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden and Norway. A few examples include:

Possession: Sagot’s Lithography Gallery (1898) is Georges Bottini's witty depiction of a well-dressed woman looking disapprovingly at a lithograph of a prostitute displayed in a window of the renowned publisher's shop.

Nature: An accomplished painter, Adolph Appian devoted his life's work to often darkly moody landscapes, from the forest of Fontainebleau to the area near his home in Crémieu in southeastern France, seen in the etching At Valromey (1868).

The City: In Cholera in Paris (1865), by François Nicolas Chifflart, the artist evokes the devastation of the 1849 cholera epidemic—the second of two major outbreaks in Paris during the 19th century—which resulted in 20,000 deaths.

Creatures: Félix Bracquemond, among the most celebrated masters of etching in the period, was an animal specialist whose images range from the conventional to the unnerving, seen in The Moles (Les taupes) (1854).

Reverie: Albert Besnard made two quirkily innovative etchings on the theme of female reverie: The Cup of Tea (1887) and In the Embers (1887), where the emotional states of the women depicted are subtly evoked through complex etching techniques.

Obsession: The bizarre and fanciful elements in the work of symbolist Max Klinger come to life in Abduction (Entführung) (1878/1880), from a suite of dreamlike etchings involving a lover's fixation on a lost glove.

Abjection: Inspired by the social depravity she saw around her, and particularly the plight of women, Käthe Kollwitz's work expressed empathy for the less fortunate, such as the alarming depiction of despair in Woman with Dead Child (Frau mit totem Kind) (1903).

Violence: In his etchings, the Belgian symbolist James Ensor vehemently rejected the conventions of academic art and expressed his sense of impending disaster in a highly individual and fantastic way, as seen in The Exterminating Angel (1889).

Death: Civil War (1871) by Edouard Manet commemorates with blunt realism the victims of the Paris Commune of 1871, a popular uprising against the provisional French government immediately following the disastrous Franco-Prussian War.

Additional works include books such as Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven (Le Corbeau) (1875), translated by Stéphane Mallarmé with ten transfer lithographs by Edouard Manet, and sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier, among others.

Curator, Catalogue, and Lecture
Peter Parshall, curator of old master prints, National Gallery of Art, is curator of the exhibition. Co-published by the National Gallery of Art in association with Lund Humphries, the exhibition catalogue features essays on late 19th-century art and collecting by S. Hollis Clayson, Northwestern University; Christiane Hertel, Bryn Mawr College; Peter Parshall; and Nicholas Penny, National Gallery, London. The 160-page hardcover catalogue features 90 color illustrations and retails for $50.00, and is currently available for purchase in the Gallery Shops. To order, call (800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; fax (202) 789-3047; or e-mail mailorder@nga.gov.

On Sunday, October 4, 2009, at 2:00 p.m., Parshall will deliver the lecture "The Darker Side of Light: Prints and Privacy in the Nineteenth Century" and sign copies of the exhibition catalogue.

Four concerts honoring The Darker Side of Light explore the theme of symbolism: The Poulenc Trio (September 27 at 6:30 p.m.), the National Gallery Wind Quintet (October 7 at 12:10 p.m.), the Chiara String Quartet (October 14 at 12:10 p.m.), and the National Gallery Piano Trio (October 18 at 6:30 p.m.).

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Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500–1800

Washington, DC—Some 135 of the most significant and beautiful drawings made over a period of three centuries by the best French artists working at home and abroad and by foreign artists working in France will be on view in Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500–1800 in the Gallery's West Building from October 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010. This is the first comprehensive exhibition and catalogue to focus on the Gallery's permanent collection of French old master drawings, which is remarkable for its breadth, depth, and individual masterpieces.

"One of the true glories of the National Gallery of Art's holdings of graphic art is its outstanding collection of French old master drawings," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "The exhibition Renaissance to Revolution and the accompanying catalogue celebrate the singular originality, elegance, and spirit of French draftsmanship."

French Drawings at the National Gallery of Art
Among the National Gallery of Art's extensive holdings of approximately 100,000 works on paper, the collection of 6,000 European drawings includes more than 900 French old master drawings which stand out as a particular treasure. The French group has deep roots in the earliest days of the museum's existence, with the first of these works arriving in 1942, just a year after the Gallery opened its doors to the public. Over the next 67 years, thanks to the generosity of innumerable donors, the collection has evolved into one the Gallery's strongest and most comprehensive, and one of the finest in the Western Hemisphere.

The Exhibition
Organized chronologically, Renaissance to Revolution presents a visual journey through the development of drawing in France, from its first flowering during the Renaissance through its neoclassical incarnation during the political and social upheavals of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century.

Lorrain, and Antoine Watteau, as well as many less well-known artists. All major stylistic trends and many of the greatest and best-known artists from these centuries are represented by a rich array of works executed in a variety of styles and media and covering a wide range of functions, subjects, and genres.

Many rare and extraordinary masterpieces are featured, such as the exquisite landscape watercolor that is the oldest work in the exhibition—The Coronation of Solomon by the Spring of Gihon by the miniaturist Jean Poyet (c. 1500), who worked for Anne of Brittany, queen of France.
Sixteenth-century highlights include Benvenuto Cellini's drawing of A Satyr (1544/1545), made in connection with a sculpture he designed for the entrance to King François I's chateau of Fontainebleau but never completed, and beautifully wrought designs for pieces of parade armor by Cousin and Étienne Delaune.

Works from the 17th century include an excellent representation of the exaggerated version of mannerism that sprang up in the duchy of Lorraine, with important works by Jacques de Bellange and Claude Deruet, and an appealing group of studies by the exceptionally inventive printmaker Jacques Callot.

The turn to French classicism is demonstrated in stellar works by Simon Vouet and Laurent de La Hyre, while the timeless calm of Claude Lorrain's classical landscapes is beautifully represented in a group of drawings that includes the serenely evocative Landscape with Ruins, Pastoral Figures, and Trees (c. 1650).

Within the exceptionally rich collection of 18th-century drawings, the major artists— Boucher, Fragonard, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Hubert Robert, and Watteau, among many others—are each represented by several works of outstanding quality. Some magnificent pieces by less familiar masters are featured as well, including François-André Vincent's Drawing Lesson (1777), arguably the most perfect representation of 18th-century French elegance, taste, and gallantry; Étienne-Louis Boullée's monumental neoclassical design for a metropolitan church from 1780/1781; and a large and beautiful pastoral scene executed in pastel and gouache, Shepherds Resting by a Stream (1779) by Jean-Baptiste Pillement.

Also noteworthy is a striking group of portraits by several of the leading pastellists of the period, including outstanding examples by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour and Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, as well as a particularly dashing portrait of a young woman by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard from 1787. One of the youngest drawings in the exhibition is the neoclassical portrait Thirius de Pautrizel (1795) by David, an active participant in the revolution, made when he was imprisoned for his radical politics.

A particular strength within the Gallery's collection of French drawings is the genre of book illustration. This is represented throughout the exhibition beginning with the work by Poyet and includes distinctive pieces by such famous masters as Boucher, Fragonard, Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger, and Saint-Aubin, as well as outstanding examples by other supremely gifted but less widely known artists, such as Hubert-François Gravelot and Charles Eisen.

Curator, Catalogue, and Lecture
Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator of old master drawings, National Gallery of Art, is curator of the exhibition.

Published by the National Gallery of Art in association with Lund Humphries, Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800 features an introductory essay and comprehensive entries on the exhibited drawings by Grasselli with 260 full-color illustrations. The 320-page hardcover catalogue will be available mid-September for purchase in the Gallery Shops. To order, please visit our Web site at http://shop.nga.gov/; call (800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; fax (202) 789-3047; or e-mail mailorder@nga.gov.

On Sunday, December 13, 2009, at 2:00 p.m., Grasselli will deliver the lecture "Playing Favorites: A Personal Selection of French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art" and sign copies of the catalogue.

Image: Antoine Watteau, A Man Reclining and a Woman Seated on the Ground, c. 1716
red, black, and white chalk on brown paper overall: 24.1 x 35.9 cm (9 1/2 x 14 1/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, The Armand Hammer Collection

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Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov
Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353

Press tours and previews Tuesday, September 29, at 10 a.m.

The National Gallery of Art
National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW
open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1.

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