29/3/2002
H. Lee Hirsche
WCMA, Williamstown
Williams College Museum of Art will present H. Lee Hirsche: Purple Pop, a retrospective of the prolific artist's work. The exhibition will feature eight of the artist's paintings.
Purple Pop
Williams College Museum of Art will present H. Lee Hirsche: Purple Pop, a
retrospective of the prolific artist's work, opening March 30, 2002. The
exhibition will feature eight of the artist's paintings, and it will be on
view until August 4, 2002.
Hirsche, a Williams College professor of art from 1956 to 1985, produced art
in a wide variety of formats, and his painted portraits from the late 1960s
and early 1970s are the focus of this exhibition. In these images, Hirsche
added eye-popping patterns and psychedelic shading to a photo realist style
made popular by Don Eddy, Richard Estes, and Audrey Flack. Also, in
Hirsche's choice of subject and pose, there is a nod to Vargas, the photo
realist made famous in Playboy magazine. Although the works are wonderful
likenesses of the sitters, their real achievement is the portrayal of this
turbulent time in America when ideas about gender roles, sexuality, and race
relations shifted dramatically. All of Hirsche's work demonstrates skill and
inventiveness, but the portraits capture a particularly brilliant moment in
American life and are distinguished documents of it.
Purple Pop has been organized by Michael Glier, Assistant Professor of Art.
A portion of the museum's general operating funds for this fiscal year has
been provided through grants from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership, and a
lifetime of learning, and from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state
agency. The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and
the museum is wheelchair accessible.
The Williams College Museum of Art is a participating member in The Vienna
Project, a collaboration among eleven arts and cultural institutions in the
Berkshires.
Contact: Jonathan Cannon, Public Relations Coordinator
413.597.3178
WCMA
15 Lawrence Hall Drive, Ste 2, MA 01267
Williamstown