Curator's Corner

Political Posters as Art

2012-01-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

As we enter into anelection year, political ad campaigns run rampant. You can’t turn on the TV orlisten to the radio without hearing some election buzz. In the spirit ofthings, here are two propaganda posters from World War II that have beenmemorialized.

This poster was created in 1939 and displayed during WorldWar II in an attempt to raise the morale of British citizens. Many peoplefeared invasion by German armies, and the “Keep Calm and Carry On” logo wasdesigned to inspire a sense of trust in the government. The poster was lost for61 years, only being rediscovered in 2000. Since then, it has been reproducedon everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs and planners. GMOA even uses aversion of it in a sign we put up in the lobby while setting up for events!

Designed and produced in 1942 by artist J. Howard Miller,Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to become involved in the war effort. Manywomen worked in factories producing weapons, munitions and other war materials.

When it was first produced, this image was known as the “WeCan Do It!” poster rather than Rosie the Riveter. The poster was rediscoveredin the early 1980s. It was renamed “Rosie the Riveter” based on a popular songof the same name written by Redd Evans in 1942. The poster has since become animage of women’s empowerment and feminism.

Although these images were originally intended as propagandapieces, they have become internationally known works of art. Images of popularculture can often transform into art when they comment on importantcontemporary social issues. The Georgia Museum of Art currently displays anumber of works relating to political and social issues, including many in the MarilynOverstreet Nalley Galleries in particular.

Virtual Mount Rushmore

2012-01-25T12:16:00.003-05:00

If a quick trip to South Dakota seems a little out of reach, have no fear. With the help of three-dimensional laser technology, Internet goers are now able to take an in-depth tour of Mount Rushmore from the comfort of their own home. The monument was scanned in 2010 as a part of a five-year project with help from the Kacyra Family Foundation. The foundation has documented nearly 50 different historical sites in an effort to promote education and aid in preservation. What’s interesting is that cyber visitors may, in fact, have a more in-depth experience than those who visit the actual site. Even the most remote locations are available for exploration online.

Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art Present "An Evening with the Blues"

2012-01-24T11:59:00.000-05:00

Jay Robinson's "Billie Holiday Singing the Blues"

The Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art are excited topresent “An Evening with the Blues.” The Feb. 16 dinner event will celebrateBlack History Month and honor Larry and Brenda Thompson.

Kicking off with cocktails at 6 p.m., the evening willinclude a gallery talk by chief curator and curator of American art PaulManoguerra. The talk focuses on Jay Robinson’s painting “Billie Holiday Singingthe Blues.” Dinner will be catered by The National and followed by aperformance by Kyshona Armstrong in the M. Smith Griffith Grand Hall.

Larry and Brenda Thompson will be honored for their recentdonation to the museum. The donation consists of works of art by AfricanAmerican artists, many of which were featured in the exhibition “TraditionRedefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art.” Thecouple has also graciously funded an endowment to create a new curatorialposition at the museum. GMOA honors an African American leader in northeastGeorgia every year, selecting those who have given back to the African Americancommunity and supported the arts.

The cost of the evening is $40 per person. Be sure to RSVPto 706.542.0830 by Thursday, Feb. 9 if you are interested in attending!

For more of Kyshona Armstrong's music, visit http://www.kyshona.com/

“An Evening with the Blues” is generously sponsored by the AthensChapter, The Links, Incorporated, in memory of Lillian Lynch; Mr. Todd Emily;Julie and Ira Roth; UGA Alumni Association; UGA's Office for Institutional Diversity;and Ashford Manor B&B and Event Facility.

Family Day Photos

2012-01-23T14:57:00.003-05:00

Larry Forte took all these great pictures at Family Day: Let's Move! Art, Animals and Yoga this past weekend (Jan. 21, 2012). He also made a video that features many of them. Kids learned about animals in art in the permanent collection, did yoga poses based on animals, ate produce from local farms (after being bribed with stickers), had fun with Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful and created their own animals out of clay you could color.

The Red & Black was on hand to take photos, too.

The weather didn't cooperate, but we still had 315 people show up! Thanks to everyone who participated (we hope to see you back for the next Family Day: Discover the Decorative Arts, Feb. 18) and helped to make it happen.

Suitcase Tours

2012-01-19T12:39:00.002-05:00

Docent Kitty Donnan got us this wonderful photograph of Mrs. Worthington's first-grade class at Oconee County Primary School, where our docents have been visiting all the first-graders for the last two weeks, bringing our Suitcase Tours to teach kids about art.

Suitcase Tours are a traveling tour for elementary schools in the Athens area inspired by hthe museum's founder and first director, Alfred Heber Holbrook. Mr. Holbrook used to take his collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings throughout Georgia in his “Artmobile” and share them with schools and communities around the state. Suitcase Tours are designed for students in grades K-3 and feature the works of five artists from the museum's permanent collection. Through a discussion of these paintings and related hands-on activities, students learn about the elements of art and gain a better understanding of how to look and talk about art. Follow-up activities and information about the museum are included. These presentations are 50 minutes long, free and limited to 30 students per presentation. For more information or to schedule a Suitcase Tour, please contact the education department at the Georgia Museum of Art at 706.542.GMOA (4662).

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Inc. presents “Southern”

2012-01-17T08:45:00.000-05:00

Sam Seawright, The Poet's House (Moth), 2001

ATHICA is showing its 44th exhibition, “Southern,” beginningthis Saturday, Jan. 21, and running through Sunday, March 4. The exhibitionfeatures many new works exploring the emotional depth and aesthetic diversityof nine artists across four generations.

Through photography, video and sculpture, the artistspresent a visually rich installation that tests the boundaries between art andreligion, aesthetic and documentary practice and folk and fine art.

Exhibition highlights include documentary photographs of theinterior and exterior grounds of the St. Paul Spiritual Holy Temple in Memphis,Tenn.; a multimedia work addressing the relationship between the HopeScholarship and the Georgia Lottery; and a controversial painting referencingthe Ku Klux Klan that was once removed from a faculty exhibition at GainesvilleCollege by its president.

Participating artists are Stanley Bermudez; Drék Davis; HopeHilton; Ted Kuhn; Michael Lachowski; Judy Rushin; Sam Seawright; JohnSeawright; Steven Thompson; and James Perry Walker and the family of WashingtonHarris of the Saint Paul Spiritual Holy Temple.

The exhibition’s opening reception will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21,from 7 to 9 p.m. The curator and assistant curator of “Southern” are JudithMcWillie and Lauren Williamson.

"Georgia Bellflowers" photos

2012-01-17T08:18:00.002-05:00

We had an amazing crowd for the "Georgia Bellflowers" opening reception on Sunday, including one of the most packed gallery talks ever. Many of Gene Thomas's family members were there, and the Athens Historical Society folks were a lot of fun. Lots of cookies were eaten and punch consumed. Photos are above, including several of lenders to the exhibition posing with their furniture. Also, the books are now available in the shop, for a mere $16.

Backpack Tours (Again)

2012-01-12T13:08:00.002-05:00

Remember our last post about GMOA's Backpack Tours? Well, they keep growing in popularity, and we're posting more photos to our Flickr page of cute kids interacting with art. The felt board seems to be especially popular. Why not stop by the museum with your kids or grandkids and check it out? It's 100% free, and snacks are available for purchase from Ike & Jane Café in the lobby.

Helen Frankenthaler’s Pools of Color

2012-01-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

Prominent color field painter Helen Frankenthaler was aleading force behind the visually engaging and dynamic American paintingmovement known as abstract expressionism. Frankenthaler’s new way of making artsets her apart from fellow abstract expressionist painters such as JacksonPollock and Willem de Kooning.

Frankenthaler’s unorthodox technique in thinning oil paintwith turpentine and then applying it to an unprepared canvas achieves an effectsimilar to light and airy watercolors. By diluting the oil paint and pouringthe mixture directly from a coffee can onto the surface of the canvas,Frankenthaler was able to create a distinctive and unique oil on canvas incontrast to the dense and often dark works of Pollock and Mark Rothko.

Frankenthaler’s breakthrough painting entitled “Mountain andSea” (1952) was inspired by the landscapes she encountered on her travels toNova Scotia. The oil and charcoal on canvas is lyrical in its depiction of thesky, forest and water. The pale and mellow blues and greens defined lightly bysporadic charcoal lines are active, yet calming in appearance.

Bright pools of color that make up large, yet invitingcanvases define the paintings and legacy Frankenthaler left behind when she passedaway Dec. 27.

Obituary here

5th grade Thank You notes

2011-12-15T10:44:00.002-05:00

The Thank You notes from Whit Davis Elementary 5th graders for their GMOA field trip are great again. This year, we got two drawings from memory of our Georgia O'Keeffe painting "Red Barn, Lake George, New York" as Thank You illustrations.

Backpack Tours

2011-12-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

GMOA added free Backpack Tours for children this fall, and the initiative is starting to take off. First, the Red & Black wrote an article about it. The AP picked up the press release. Georgia Magazine featured it. And now we have kids coming to take them, as documented in the photos above. Warning: they are extremely cute.

To learn more about the backpack tours, click here.

Kress Project entries

2011-12-07T11:00:00.003-05:00

We just hit 73 entries with the most recent, from Meredith Lachin, of Winterville, a wonderful oil portrait that responds to "Portrait of Giulio Romano." Click here to view all the Kress Project entries. If you know creative folks, please encourage them to enter. Questions? Email kressprojectgmoa at gmail.com and someone will respond to you quickly!

"Georgia Bellflowers" advances in

2011-12-05T14:08:00.003-05:00

The video above shows us flipping through an advance copy of the book for our upcoming exhibition "Georgia Bellflowers: The Furniture of Henry Eugene Thomas." The rest of the books should be in stock in early January, in time for the exhibition, but we will be offering special pre-orders in the Museum Shop (in-person only, not online) until then. The book is only $16 and makes a great holiday gift for anyone interested in decorative arts, local history, woodworking or great stories.

Carl Mullis honored at Emory as distinguished alum

2011-12-05T14:02:00.002-05:00

We've been a little light with the blogging lately (busy busy!), but we would be remiss not to call your attention to this small photo set on our Flickr page that documents Emory University's honoring of Carl Mullis, the chair of GMOA's Board of Advisors, as a distinguished alumnus of that institution. You can find more details here. We already know what an asset Carl is, but it was nice to see him recognized in a larger forum.

A Wonderful Gift

2011-11-22T16:36:00.003-05:00

We keep forgetting to post something about this, but a few weeks ago, Valeria Gennaro Lerda, wife of the late artist Piero Lerda, stopped by the museum with her family, visiting from Italy, to give several works by her husband to GMOA. We documented the signing of the deed of gift, and Valeria held forth on the four works: "La creazione del mondo," "Art Blakey: On the Street Where You Live," "Personaggio--Schermo" and an untitled work. She was an engaging speaker, and it was interesting to hear her take on her husband's inspiration, which was frequently musical but also engaged with and commented on popular culture (e.g., television) and made use of collage.

Holiday Hours

2011-11-22T16:13:00.002-05:00

If you haven't received notice of our holiday hours, please note them below. Also, the Museum Shop will be closed Black Friday but open for Small Business Saturday (Nov. 26). If you want to support small businesses and support the museum, come see what we have in the shop!

The galleries at the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia will be open Nov. 23, Nov. 25, Dec. 24 and Dec. 28-31. The museum will be completely closed Nov. 24, Dec. 25-27 and Jan. 1-2. The museum’s galleries are normally closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, with its shop, lobby and café open on Tuesdays.

The museum will resume normal hours Jan. 3.

GMOA special holiday events include:

· The GMOA Book Sale: Dec. 8-9, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., retailing both GMOA and other publications. The sale is free and open to the public.
· Family Day: Dec. 10, 10 a.m. to noon. Families can make holiday cards inspired by the permanent collection and listen to a performance by Meridian Women’s Chorus. The event is free and open to the public.
· Buon Natale: Holiday Prints by Libby Bailey: The exhibition is on view through Jan. 8.

Also, beginning Nov. 19, Ike and Jane Café at GMOA will no longer be open on Saturdays. Its new hours will be Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquires Rare Work

2011-11-04T13:17:00.004-04:00

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York recently acquired a two-sided panel by German Renaissance artist Hans Schäufelein, a pupil of Albrecht Dürer.

The panel has aroused some excitement due to the slim holdings of works by Dürer in the Met. Since the chances of acquiring any more substantial works by Dürer are slim, his student’s panel is of great importance.

The two-sided panel was part of a winged alterpiece dating from around 1510. One side depicts the “Dormition of the Virgin,” or death of the Virgin, a subject well rehearsed by Dürer. The opposite side is “Christ Carrying the Cross,” which art historians suspect to be jointly painted by Schäufelein and another artist known as the Engerda Master.

The panel is currently in the Met’s conservation department for cleaning and is scheduled to be on view next year.

Article here.

Goblins, Ghosts and Goya

2011-10-31T13:57:00.003-04:00

Witches' Sabbath, 1821–1823. 140cm x 438cm, (55 x 170 inches), Museo del Prado, Madrid

Spanish artist Francisco Goya completed “Witches’ Sabbath” in 1823. The painting shows Satan in the form of a hybrid goat-human figure surrounded by witches, who quiver before him in fear.

The work is thought to be a satire mocking the superstitious nature of Spanish culture during this era and the witch trials of the Spanish Inquisition. Spanish royalists and conservatives would use accusations of witchcraft as a way to demean the lower class.

The painting was one of Goya’s 14 Black Paintings, all of which were done in oil directly on the plaster walls of his house. Goya did not intend for the paintings to be exhibited. He never wrote or spoke of them, and it was not until nearly 50 years after his death in 1874 that they were removed from the house and transferred to canvas.

“Witches’ Sabbath” was damaged in its transfer and lost approximately 140 cm on the right, which explains its unusually tight cropping. Today this work and the 13 other Black Paintings are on permanent display at the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

More Kress Project Entries

2011-10-31T09:10:00.002-04:00

We're up to 58 Kress Project entries, with four coming in over the weekend. Our latest batch comes from Adel Gorgy (above), who reworks existing images with digital technology, then prints them at a large scale. Click here to see all the entries (now sorted with the most recent ones listed first).

Steiglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe

2011-10-24T13:28:00.003-04:00

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is now showing “Steiglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O’Keeffe,” through Jan. 2, 2012. This exhibition of Alfred Steiglitz’s collection, acquired by the Met in 1949, includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Georgia O’Keefe and Charles Demuth to name a few.

The exhibition features more than 200 works by American and European modern artists as well as publications by Steiglitz and several photo-secessionist photographs.

Alfred Steiglitz (1864-1946) was an advocate of modernist art and owned numerous galleries in the first half of the 20th century promoting influential artists of the time.

Steiglitz’s personal collection is the foundation of the Met’s modern American and European art holdings as well as a testament to his role in the promotion of modern art in the United States and abroad.

Jim Clark visits "All Creatures"

2011-10-24T10:05:00.002-04:00

Our exhibition "All Creatures Great and Small" is still on view at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport through April 2012 (across from T gates 12 through 14), and if you haven't made time to go see it yet while passing through the airport, please do. Our photographs don't convey what fun it is. Jim Clark, who created the pike he's posing with above, and his wife, Jean Walbridge, recently sent us these pictures of their visit to the exhibition. She also informed us that the Folk Art Society of America is having its conference in Atlanta next year (Oct. 11-15) and is planning a trip to GMOA. We'll be excited to see the attendees! Thank you, Jim and Jean, for letting us know you enjoyed seeing the exhibition.

WUGA--The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

2011-10-21T15:27:00.003-04:00

WUGA-TV used to be WNEG and now is affiliated with PBS and based on the University of Georgia campus. They recently approached us about partnering on creating some content, and above is our first effort. We're working on doing something longer at some point, but for the moment, we're putting together one-minute features on an exhibition each month that will run regularly on the station. This month's focuses on "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print" and features chief preparator and in-house curator of the exhibition Todd Rivers.

Here's a list of channels, depending on your location and cable package. Unfortunately, WUGA isn't available on all satellite providers yet, but the station is working on it.

So look out for us on your TV and let us know if you see the promo.

GMOA Student Night: All Shook Up

2011-10-21T08:49:00.002-04:00

Our quarterly student night was last night and, as ever, it was tremendous fun. Students made their own stickers with stamps (to mimic Hatch Show Print's offerings), toured exhibitions, listened to music by The Darnell Boys and Grinnin' Bear, chowed down on chicken from Zaxby's, posed with Elvis in our photo both and more. Slideshow above.

The Charleston Museum presents "Threads of War"

2011-10-20T11:24:00.005-04:00

The Charleston Museum in Charleston, S.C. is showing “Threads of War: Clothing and Textiles of the Civil War” through Oct. 30, 2011. Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, uniforms and other textiles are accompanied by period magazines, newspapers, daguerreotypes and diaries to describe the abrupt change in lifestyle for those on the southern frontlines of the Civil War.

Exhibition highlights are day dresses, such as a brown silk dress belonging to a member of the Jervy family and a wedding dress of Charleston native Frances Ann Harcastle. Frances and her husband, William Henley Smith, married quickly after the bombing of Fort Sumter due to the precarious war time conditions.

Among the crinoline cages and hoop skirts of antebellum fashions, another piece draws from international inspirations, a Zouave-style jacket belonging to Isabela Woodruff Holst. Zouave jackets, inspired by the military jackets that French military men wore in North Africa, became popular around this time.

Other pieces in the exhibition are a uniform worn by Captain Warren R. Marshall of Charleston made with wool, silk and locally grown Sea Island cotton.

Founded in 1773, The Charleston Museum is America’s first museum with a focus on the history and culture of Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry.

To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America

2011-10-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

“To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America,” a traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum that just opened at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., will be on view at the Georgia Museum of Art from Feb. 18 to April 16, 2012.

George Ault’s paintings exemplify personal worlds of clarity he used to offset the turbulent 1940s and a real world he felt was in crisis. Many of his works of art, which are some of the most original paintings made in America during those years, have yet to be seen. Ault and other artists, such as Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth, confronted the chaos and devastating uncertainty of the war-time turmoil of those years through their paintings, revealing an aesthetic of 1940s American art that has not been previously identified.

This is the first major exhibition of Ault’s work in more than 20 years and includes 47 paintings and drawings by Ault and his contemporaries. It centers on five paintings Ault made between 1943 and 1948 depicting the crossroads of Russell’s Corners in Woodstock, N.Y.

This exhibition will also be featured at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about this exhibition here.

Image Caption:

George Ault (1891–1948)

Bright Light at Russell's Corners, 1946.

Oil on canvas. 19 5/8 x 25 inches.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Lawrence

Highfalutin' Hootenanny

2011-10-17T08:46:00.004-04:00

Well, Highfalutin' Hootenanny has finally come and gone, and we had a great time this past Friday night, as you can see from the slideshow above. There aren't any pictures in it yet of people getting down on the dance floor, but some serious rugs were cut. Here are the folks who sponsored the event:

Champagne

Ms. Karen Benson & Mr. Howard Scott
Burns Studio Art/Van Burns
Mr. & Mrs. E. Davison Burch
Dr. & Mrs. James W. Cooper Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Dolson
Mr. & Mrs. Bertis E. Downs IV
Dr. & Mrs.Mark A. Ellis
Mr. Todd Emily
Fat Mosquito Press
Mr. & Mrs. Edgar J. Forio Jr.
Col. & Mrs.Thomas N.Gibson III
Mr. Richard & Dr. Anne Hathaway
Mr. & Mrs. Stan Henderson
Ms. Clementi L-B Holder & Mr. Robert Saveland
Mrs. Lidwina G. Kelly
Dr. & Mrs. D. Hamilton Magill III
Mr. & Mrs. David W. Matheny
Mr. & Mrs. Mark McConnell
John F. & Marilyn M. McMullan
Mr. & Mrs. H. Daniels Minor
Mr. C.L. Morehead Jr. & Flowers, Inc., Retail
Mr. & Mrs. Edgar B. Myrtle
Mr. & Mrs. Dennis O’Kain
Drs. Gordhan L. & Virginia B. Patel
Mr. & Mrs. Alexander W. Patterson
Dr. & Mrs. William L. Power
Karen Prasse, M.D.
Bill & Pamela Prokasy
Mrs. Doris Ramsey
Mr. & Mrs.Walter A. Sams III
Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. & William E. Torres, M.D.
Mr. & Mrs. John D. Scoggins
Mr. Lewis Scruggs Jr.
Southeastern Color
Hon. & Mrs.Homer M. Stark
Mrs. Dudley R. Stevens
Mr. & Mrs. W. Rhett Tanner
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Winthrop II
Dr. & Mrs. Norman J. Wood
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Woodruff

Moonshine
Mr. John Ahee & Dr. Paige Carmichael
George Gregory Barnard
Mr. & Mrs. Randolph W. Camp
Mr. & Mrs. A. Blair Dorminey
Mr. & Mrs. C. Michael Evert Jr.
Dr. & Mrs. Henry Garrard IV
UGA Alumni Association

Beer
Mr. & Mrs.Woody Chastain
Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Coleman
Drs. Stephen & Cynthia Deas
Mr. & Mrs. Dan H. Magill
Mr. & Mrs. Gerry Whitworth
Kathy Prescott

String Theory played bluegrass and old-time music in the sculpture garden, and Good Vibrations supplied tunes inside. Harry's Pig Shop and Epting Events did the food and catering, Terrapin donated beer and Lewis Scruggs Jr. was responsible for the wine. King of Pops was on hand, too, supplying gourmet popsicles for dessert. Van Burns designed the invitations and programs. Fat Mosquito Press donated the printing of the save-the-date cards, and Southeastern Color printed the invitations.

Event chairs were Ann Scoggins and Michael Montesani. David Matheny was in charge of fundraising. And Tami Ramsay took charge of flowers, with the help of Lucy Allen, Gay Crowe, Tracey Crymes, Chad Erwin, Carolyn Garrard, Suzanne King, Amburn Power, Bev Sams, Alice Spratlin and Fran Thomas.

Thank you to everyone who donated time or funds!

"Daumier: Art for the Masses"

2011-10-14T14:48:00.009-04:00

Jean-Honore Daumier, (French 1808-1879), Les Etrangers a Paris, n.d. Lithograph, 8 1/2 x 7 inches.

Art Daily recently featured the Birmingham Museum of Art and its exhibition "Daumier: Art for the Masses," a collection of 169 lithographs produced by artist, painter and sculptor Jean-Honore Daumier.

Daumier was one of France's most popular and influential artists. As a printmaker, he produced over 4,000 lithographs. His illustrations, most of which were published in popular daily newspapers, expressed his satirical take on French politics, society and culture.

Of the lithographs on display in the Birmingham Museum of Art's Jemison Galleries, 14 remain intact in the original newspapers they were printed, while the other prints were cut out long ago to be appreciated as stand-alone works.

"Art for the Masses" will run through Dec. 31.

Click here for more information on this exhibition.

UGA Study Abroad Costa Rica Exhibition

2011-10-13T12:25:00.003-04:00

The UGA Study Abroad Program in Costa Rica Exhibition opens today in the third floor suite gallery in the Lamar Dodd School of Art building. The exhibition features student and faculty drawings, paintings and photography from the 2010 Maymester Art and Culture program.

Three full weeks in May and June offer students an opportunity to focus on Costa Rican art and culture through studies, observation and interaction with the natural and built Costa Rican environment and its people.

There will be a reception this evening from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and the exhibition is on view through Oct. 27, 2011.

Creative Genius

2011-10-12T12:42:00.003-04:00

Here at the Georgia Museum of Art we are surrounded by products that stemmed from the creative thoughts and innovations of Steve Jobs and his coworkers. On Wednesday, we lost a great man and technological hero of several generations, but his insight and drive will continue to inspire us in the years to come, not only through technology, but through creative innovation in general.

The Georgia Museum of Art is filled with Macintosh products, from desktop computers and laptops to the iPads our docents now use to facilitate museum tours and the pending iPhone application that will turn our art mobile.

Steve Jobs made it well known that he appreciated the art of design and technology. His streamlined styles and view of how technology should work and be used stemmed from a belief that the art of computers was a universal one.

In a 1996 interview with NPR’s Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, Jobs said, “I think our major contribution [to computing] was in bringing in a liberal arts point of view to the use of computers. If you really look at the ease of use of the Macintosh, the driving motivation behind that was to bring not only ease of use to people—so that many, many more people could use computers for nontraditional things at that time—but it was to bring beautiful fonts and typography to people, it was to bring graphics to people . . . so that they could see beautiful photographs, or pictures, or artwork, et cetera . . . to help them communicate. . . . Our goal was to bring a liberal arts perspective and a liberal arts audience to what had traditionally been a very geeky technology and a very geeky audience.”

That same geeky technology is helping the museum bring art to new audiences. The museum will always be a cultural institution, a home of art and creative cultivation, but with the inspiration that Steve Jobs has given the prospects for us to expand our audiences are endless.

Thank you to Steve Jobs, a man of possibility who gave us all the tools to create our own artistic future.

Video: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech, 2005

Where in the World Is Bill Eiland? (redux)

2011-10-12T12:38:00.003-04:00

Our director is still traveling. Above, he's posing in front of a horse sculpture by Ed Mell in Scottsdale, Ariz., and below he sent us a photo of Mary Koon, in our department of publications, eating a whoopie pie in Phoenix. Mary joined Bill there to do research on fashion at the Phoenix Art Museum.

ATHICA Mystery Selections

2011-10-11T17:06:00.004-04:00

The Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA) is currently showcasing its “Mystery Selections” exhibition featuring the works of six local artists. The exhibition, which opened Sept. 30, will run through Nov. 6.

Selected artists include Rebecca Brantley, Will Eskridge, Missy Kulik, Darcy Reenis, Jorie Berman and Cindy Jerrell, who were chosen from 124 artists who donated 244 works anonymously for the “ATHICA Mystery Triennial” small works fundraiser.

According to the ATHICA website, the works “convey the enormous variety and quality of Athens’ artistic fecundity.”

“Mystery Selections” gives the artists’ fans a closer look at some of their individual works that were included in the ATHICA Mystery Triennial. Bodies of work include drawings, dioramas, large-scale paintings, sculptures and graphic design.

For more information on “Mystery Selections” click here.

Where in the World Is Bill Eiland?

2011-10-10T13:41:00.003-04:00

Sometimes we think we could make our own globetrotting quiz show about the peregrinations of our director, Bill Eiland. The first photo here comes from the reopening of the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. You can browse the rest of the set here.

Then, a few minutes ago, we got the following photo from Bill's phone, featuring Pierre Daura Curator of European Art Lynn Boland. Knowing that this week he's on the West Coast, we guessed but got it wrong.

It turns out that they're at the Japanese American National Museum, browsing an exhibition of works by cartoonist Stan Sakai. Lynn and Bill are out in California working on our upcoming exhibition of large-scale resin sculptures by the artist De Wain Valentine, about whom we've posted here before.

"David, Delacroix, and Revolutionary France: Drawings from the Louvre"

2011-10-06T12:10:00.004-04:00

The Morgan Library and Museum in New York City recently welcomed "David, Delacroix, and Revolutionary France: Drawings from the Louvre," which will be on display through Dec. 31.

The exhibition highlights a period in French history between the French Revolution in 1789 and King Louis-Philippe's reign in 1852. A turbulent time in French history, its artistic products are equally interesting.

Jacques-Louis David, Theodore Gericault, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Eugene Delacroix and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot are among the artists whose 80 drawings will visit the Morgan Library and Museum.

The Georgia Museum of Art's extensive works on paper in the Ceseri Collection also include drawings by Delacroix and Ingres. If a trip to New York for the exhibition is not in the cards this year, consider touring the Ceseri Collection, which is open to the public by appointment.

Family Day: The Art of Hatch Show Print

2011-10-04T14:31:00.003-04:00

This Saturday (October 8), from 10 a.m. to noon, join us for Family Day: The Art of Hatch Show Print. This Family Day celebrates the exhibition "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print," which is on view at GMOA through Nov. 6. The craft projects for Family Day are always one of the most fun things about it, and this week's involves using rubber stamps to create posters that look like the ones made by Hatch Show Print, in Nashville, Tenn.

We hope to see you at this fun event! Family Day programs are sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota, YellowBook USA and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.

Picasso to Warhol at the High

2011-10-03T13:28:00.003-04:00

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)

Girl before a Mirror, 1932

Oil on canvas, 64 x 51 1/4" (162.3 x 130.2 cm)

The Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Mrs. Simon Guggenheim

Later this month, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta will open Picasso to Warhol, an exhibition of more than 100 works by 14 of the most influential artists from the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.

The exhibition will run from Oct. 15, 2011–April 29, 2012 and will be one of the largest concentrations of modern art to ever be on display in the southeastern United States.

Visitors who purchase tickets to this exhibition online by Oct. 14 will be entered into a raffle to win a Warhol Weekend Getaway to New York City, which includes round-trip airfare for two, two nights of hotel accommodations, two tickets to the Museum of Modern Art, a private Warhol walking tour of the city, and $200 for meals. A winner will be chosen Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.

For full raffle rules and more information about this exhibition, click here.

GMOA in the News

2011-10-03T08:54:00.004-04:00

Wendell Scott, UGA student and young media entrepreneur, has his own talk show, "The Wendell Show." He recently dropped by GMOA to chat with PR coordinator Jenny Williams about the new expanded Georgia Museum of Art. To learn more about "The Wendell Show," click here.

S L O W Invitational Exhibit

2011-09-30T13:45:00.007-04:00

Gallery 307 in Lamar Dodd School of Art is currently full of works that make up the exhibition: S L O W. On view from Sept. 23 through Oct. 17, 2011, the S L O W 2011 Invitational exhibit features Stefan Chinov (photography), Brian Dettmer (book arts/sculpture), Dawn Gavin (mixed media installation), Claire Hairstans (printmaking), Zack Mory (drawing) and Annie Strader (sculpture, video, installation).

According to the Lamar Dodd website, the six featured artists are "exploring the idea of time through various media and conceptual approaches." Each work captures the intricacies of a moment in varying mediums such as graphite drawings, pinhole photographs, prints, sculptural books, video installations and installations in other media.

The gallery is open Mon. through Fri. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is curated by assistant professor of art at Lamar Dodd Jon Swindler, Dr. Nell Andrew and Gallery Director Jeffrey Whittle.

Lewandowski at Work

2011-09-29T07:53:00.002-04:00

We just found this great short film on YouTube that shows Edmund Lewandowski, subject of our current exhibition "Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond," at work on a mural of the S.S. President Van Buren. It's silent but in color, and titles announce the different sections: preparatory drawing, squaring, underdrawing (by far the longest section) and finally painting in of the mural. Lewandowski also holds a pipe in his teeth for much of the process.

Paul Manoguerra, in-house curator of the exhibition, which was organized by the Flint Institute of Arts, also put together this slideshow of images from its installation in our galleries.

GMOA welcomes Jim Sherraden of Hatch Show Print

2011-09-28T12:33:00.006-04:00

Join us tomorrow from 5:30–7 in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium for a lecture with Jim Sherraden, manager, curator and chief designer of Nashville's Hatch Show Print.

In conjunction with GMOA's current exhibition, "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print," Sherraden will speak about Hatch's new and vintage works, as well as the future of printmaking and letterpress.

Hatch has been in the poster-making business since the 1870s, and was recently admitted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Sheryl Crowe, Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks and Wynonna Judd are only a few members of Hatch's prestigious client list.

"American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print" will be on display through Nov. 6, 2011.

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Thanks to R.E.M.

2011-09-28T12:29:00.002-04:00

Every Athenian and music lover is well aware that R.E.M. has decided to call it quits after playing together for 31 years. The alternative rock band has donated endless time and nods to Athens in its long career, and we at the Georgia Museum of Art could not be more thankful.

Here at GMOA, R.E.M. has continued its support throughout the years with donations and sponsorships and by showcasing the permanent collection. In 1991, R.E.M. used three paintings from the Georgia Museum of Art’s permanent collection in its video for “Low,” including “La Confidence” by Elizabeth Jane Gardner. The paintings were intertwined with real models and editing technology to enliven the images and helped to attract a new audience to the museum.

Among numerous Elegant Salute events at the museum, the band also sponsored several exhibitions over the years: “Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection” in 2009, “Weaving His Art on Golden Looms: Paintings and Drawings by Art Rosenbaum” in 2006 and “Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State” in 2003.

To Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Mike Mills and Peter Buck, thank you for years of support and artistic interpretations of this beautiful town of Athens.

Here is a last look at the "Low" music video including images from the Georgia Museum's permanent collection.

GMOA Images on the Move

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's not just the Paolo Schiavo that's out seeing the greater world. Several other of our images are on the road. Art Rosenbaum's "McIntosh County Shouters," last seen on the GMOA billboard pictured somewhat blurrily above, is currently at the Morris Museum of Art, in Augusta, Ga. The exhibition "Down South: Paintings by Art Rosenbaum, Photographs by Margo Newmark Rosenbaum" is on display there through Nov. 6. Our Romare Bearden, usually on display in the new permanent collection galleries, is temporarily out of the building too. It's appearing in "Romare Bearden: Southern Reflections," a centennial celebration of the artist, at the Mint Museum of Art, in Charlotte, N.C.

Willem de Kooning Retrospective at MOMA

2011-09-27T23:09:00.006-04:00

The Museum of Modern Art recently opened a retrospective exhibition that will last through Jan. 9th on the life and works of Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), an infamous modern artist who swept his frantic paint strokes across canvases throughout the 20th century.

The exhibition takes up the entire 6th floor of the Museum of Modern Art filling seven galleries with seven decades of work. “Most usefully the show lets de Kooning be complicated: it presents his art as a bifurcated yet unitary phenomenon,” wrote Holland Cotter, New York Times art critic.

More than 200 works including paintings, drawings and sculptures span de Kooning’s lengthy career. The show begins with a still-life painting that de Kooning finished at age 12 when he was still living in his hometown of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and continues well into the late 20th century.

The exhibition, among many others, includes several landmark paintings such as “Pink Angels,” “Excavation” and the “Woman” series.

More Kress Project Entries

2011-09-27T08:02:00.003-04:00

As of this morning, we've hit 40 entries in the Kress Project. Mary Padgelek sent in a whole series of Madonna paintings (see above for one example), and we finally got our first audio entry, "Awake to the Terror," by Brian Connell. Browse through the entries so far and get inspired.

Unfortunately for our in-person visitors, our Paolo Schiavo is traveling to the Allentown Art Museum, which is about to reopen following its own major renovation and expansion. The Schiavo will be featured in an exhibition titled “Shared Treasure: The Legacy of Samuel H. Kress,” on view October 16, 2011 – January 15, 2012. Kress grew up in Cherryville, very near Allentown, and made one of his largest gifts to that museum. The exhibition will feature 40 key selections from its permanent collection as well as 30 additional works on loan from Kress Collections around the country. The Allentown Art Museum will reciprocate with a loan from its Kress Collection. If you're looking to get inspired by that painting specifically, you can still download a high-resolution image from the Kress Project site, or if you happen to be in the Allentown area, please visit it there.

Watch the "Horizons"

2011-09-26T11:27:00.004-04:00

The weather is changing outside and grey skies spread eerie shadows over the cast-iron figures in the Georgia Museum of Art’s “Horizons” exhibition. Twelve life-size sculptures have held their gaze over the sculpture garden and around the museum since last January, but the exhibition will close this November 30th.

Fall skies provide a perfect time to catch the glow of the rusted iron and inset glass. Steinunn Thorarinsdottir is an Icelandic artist who studied sculpture in England and Italy, but now lives and works in Reykjavik, Iceland. Her stoic depictions of the human form in “Horizons” have appeared in fields, forests and gardens since 2007 before arriving at their sixth destination, the Georgia Museum of Art.

Another outdoor exhibition of Thoraarinsdottir’s recently closed in New York City’s Hammarskjold Plaza, a dynamic area of the city known for its political energy and as a rally local. Thorarinsdottir told the Wall Street Journal, “Often the figures have become silent witnesses and participants in deeply serious demonstrations as well as more light-hearted festivals.”

The Georgia Museum of Art’s sculpture garden on the other hand has afforded “Horizons” a calm place to land. However, with events coming up such as the High Falutin’ Hootenanny, a celebration with live music, barbeque and beer, these sculptures may get a little more action.

Come enjoy the cooler weather and true colors of the “Horizons” exhibition before the end of November. A list of exhibitions and events such as the High Falutin’ Hootenanny can be found on our website.

Happy Workers

2011-09-23T14:30:00.003-04:00

How do we raise funds when we have a fundraiser? One way we do so is by recruiting staff and volunteers to assemble invitations and stuff envelopes. These happy folks helped us get the invitations for A Highfalutin' Hootenanny out the door unbelievably fast last week, and they should have arrived in your mailboxes by now.

For more information about the event, click here to read the full press release.

GMOA Employees Forklift Certified

2011-09-22T09:16:00.009-04:00

As of Wednesday, GMOA's own Todd Rivers, Chief Preparator, and Larry Forte, Art Handler, are certified forklift drivers.

"We got certified to help provide the skills needed to load off large art shipments that arrive in crates," said Rivers.

The museum most recently received a sizable load from Nashville, TN containing the materials for "The Art of Hatch Show Print" exhibition, which runs through Nov. 6, 2011.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens Parisian exhibition

2011-09-21T10:10:00.002-04:00

François Boucher, (French, 1703–1770), Lady Fastening Her Garter (also known as La Toilette), 1742. Oil on canvas. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. (Via Art Daily).

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston was recently featured in Art Daily for the opening of their newest exhibition: Life and Luxury: The Art of Living in Eighteenth-Century Paris.

The exhibition allows viewers a glimpse of the day-to-day activities of elite 18^th century Parisians, including dressing, writing, collecting and evening entertaining.

Made up of nearly 160 objects, half on loan from 26 museums and private collections, the exhibition contains a wide range of paintings, sculpture, applied arts, drawings, metalwork, furniture, architectural fittings, lighting and hearth fixtures, scientific and musical instruments, clocks and watches, textiles and dress, books, and maps.

Click here to read the full article about this exhibition in Art Daily.

Evening for Educators

2011-09-20T13:43:00.000-04:00

This Thursday, September 22, GMOA will host Evening for Educators for K-12 educators. A wine and cheese reception will be provided as well as a performance from the Monsignor Donovan High School jazz band. Exhibitions will be available for preview with curators and docents. Educators are also invited to sign up for guided tours and new teaching packets.

Lewandowski the Precisionist

2011-09-15T09:58:00.009-04:00

Now open at the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA) is a traveling exhibition--Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond--organized by the Flint Institute of Arts. The exhibition has already been on display at Flint, at the Winthrop University Art Galleries, and the Mobile Museum of Art. For a nice, detailed definition of "Precisionism," see the Metropolitan Museum of Art's history of art timeline [here].

A few images from the exhibition at GMOA:

Of Polish ancestry, Lewandowski (1914-1998) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and remained a truly Midwestern artist throughout his career. The display features 44 works by Lewandowski ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s. Among the 44 images are two paintings from the permanent collection at the GMOA that return home to Athens after having toured with the exhibition since last summer:

Devil's Gateway, 1935-43, watercolor on paper, 15 1/2 x 21 inches
Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Transferred from the University of Georgia Department of Art
GMOA 1961.184

Third Avenue N.Y.C., 1941, gouache on paper, 22 1/16 x 29 15/16 inches
Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of the Friends of the Museum
GMOA 1990.1

After studying at the Layton School of Art, Lewandowski worked for the Federal Art Project and earned the notice of Edith Halpert, founder of Downtown Gallery in New York. Halpert added him to her stable of artists, which included Charles Sheeler. Lewandowski would visit Manhattan (where he painted Third Avenue N.Y.C.) to see Halpert and Downtown Gallery, but she continually insisted that he refrain from leaving the Midwest, emphasizing him as a regional and "American" painter.

His watercolor Fishermen's Village, featuring a Wisconsin town, is in this exhibition at GMOA. It was once exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1938, was seen there by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and was subsequently acquired for the Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park.

Fishermen's Village, 1937, watercolor and gouache over pencil on paper, 26 5/8 x 31 1/2 inches.
Collection of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York

Although he taught for a time at Florida State University, and spent the last years of his life living in South Carolina, Lewandowski throughout his career focused on the Great Lakes coastline, towns, farms, and industry. Ore boats re-appeared in his work from the 1940s to the 1980s. One of his most important nautical series began as a commission to paint the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1958. In 1975, the ship famously sank in Lake Superior in a horrible, sudden November storm. Lewandowski revisited the ship as subject several times after the sinking, including in this 1987 oil painting from a private collection:

The ship was memorialized in popular culture by Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond will be open at GMOA until December 3.

UGA Student Day this Thursday

2011-09-12T10:21:00.006-04:00

The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia will present a Student Day this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011. Throughout the day, UGA students are invited to learn about the Student Association of the Georgia Museum of Art and participate in many events starting at 1 p.m. Bring your UGA student ID and receive a free gourmet popsicle from Hip Pops.

GMOA Student Day Itinerary

1 p.m. – Behind-the-scenes Tour

Visit the areas of the Georgia Museum of Art you never get to see. Attendees should meet in the museum lobby.

2 p.m. – Panel Discussion

Meet some of GMOA’s staff and find out more about working in an art museum. The panel discussion will take place in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium.

3 p.m. – Behind-the-Scenes Tour

Meet in the museum lobby.

3:30 p.m. – Student-docent-led Tour

Learn about works in the collection from fellow UGA students. Meet in the museum lobby.

4 p.m. – Gallery Talk

Join GMOA director of communications Hillary Brown and chief preparator Todd Rivers as they discuss two new exhibitions, “Hot Metal and Cool Paper: The Black Art of Making Books” and “American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print.” Meet in the museum lobby.

4:30 p.m. – Student-docent-led Tour

Meet in the museum lobby.

5:30 p.m. – Hispanic Heritage Month Film Festival: Immigration and Transnational Experiences

Join us for the first film in this year’s annual Latin American Film Festival and meet the directors. Precious Knowledge (2010) – In this documentary directed by Ari Palos and Eren McGinnis, disenfranchised high school seniors become academic warriors and community leaders in Tucson, Arizona’s embattled ethnic studies classes while state lawmakers attempt to eliminate the program. Special guests Palos and McGinnis will speak about the film at 5:30 p.m. with the screening at 6:30 p.m. (75 minutes, NR).

This film festival is supported in part by the President’s Venture fund through generous gifts by the University of Georgia’s Partners, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute, the department of Romance languages, the College of Education, the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA Parents and Families Association, and the Office of Inclusion and Diversity.

Playlist

2011-09-09T13:03:00.003-04:00

If you've been wondering if that really was A Tribe Called Quest you heard while browsing our exhibition "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print," you've got a good ear. As part of the exhibition installation, we have music playing by many of the artists whose posters the show features. Here's a list of what's streaming.

Lamar Dodd Gallery

Nine Inch Nails, “The Fragile” & “Into The Void”
The Strokes, “Is This It?”
Squirrel Nut Zippers, “St Louis Cemetery Blues”
Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere” & “No Sleep till Brooklyn”
Pearl Jam, “Supersonic” & “Man Of The Hour” (Big Fish)
The Legendary Shack Shakers, “Swampblood”
A Tribe Called Quest, “Excursions” & “Rap Romoter”
Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind” & “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
The Rolling Stones, “Paint It, Black” & “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Beck, “Loser”
The Everly Brothers, “Run Around Sue” & “All I Have To Do Is Dream”
Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
Lucinda Williams, “Righteously” & “Howlin’ At Midnight”
Bob Marley & The Wailers, “No Woman No Cry” & “Rebel Music”
Rod Stewart, “Maggie May”
Mark Knopfler, “True Love Will Never Fade” & “Boom, Like That”
Etta James, “All I Could Do Was Cry” & “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”
Elvis Costello & The Attractions, “Alison” & “Everyday I Write The Book”
The Shins, “Know Your Opinion!” & “The Past And Pending”
Wilco, “Heavy Metal Drummer” & “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”
Weezer, “Island In The Sun”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Free Fallin’ ”
Motely Crue, “Home Sweet Home” & “Smoking in the Boys Room”
The Jon Spenser Blues Explosion, “Bellbottoms” & “Cowboy”
The Roots, “What They Do”
Ben Folds Five, “Battle of Who Could Care Less”
Tragically Hip, “Love is a First”
My Morning Jacket, “Off the Record” & “Lay Low”
Sigur Ros “Untitled 3” & “Untitled 4” (NOTE*: These songs may have a title but when they were sent to Lynn the title may not have been labeled on that person’s ipod…?)

Alfred Heber Holbrook Gallery

Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys, “Toy Heart” & “Wicked Path of Sin” & “Blue Grass Breakdown”
Ernest Tubb, “You Nearly Lose Your Miind” & “Waltz Across Texas”
Eddie Arnold “Cool Water” & “Cattle Call”
Elvis Presley, “All Shook Up” & “Mystery Train” & “Love Me Tender”
George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” & “Wine Colored Roses”
Waylon Jennings “Bob Wills Is Still The King” “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean”
The Original Crickets, “That’ll Be The Day” & “Rave On”
Buddy Holly, “Everyday”
Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton, “Holding On To Nothing” & “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me”
Merle Haggard, “Make-up and Faded Blue Jeans” & “Worning Mans Blues”
Tammy Wynette & her Country Gentlemen, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” & “Stand By Your Man”
Willie Nelson & the Recordmen, “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” & “Red Headed Stranger”
James Brown, “The Big Payback” & “Papas Got A Brand New Bag”
The Carter Family, “Single Girl, Married Girl” & “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes”
Loretta Lynn, “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin” & “Coal Miner’s Daughter” & “High On A Mountain” & “Van Lear Rose”
Kitty Wells, “Makin’ Believe”
Johnnie and Jack, “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely” & “Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight”
Emmylou Harris, “Red Dirt Girl”
Tony Bennett, “Rags To Riches”
Townes van Zandt, “Ain’t Leavin’ Your Love”
Johnny Cash, “Folsom Prison Blues” & “I Walk The Line” & “Ring of Fire”
Duke Ellington, “Mood Indigo” & “Take the A Train”
Louis Armstrong, “What A Wonderful World” & “La Vie en Rose”
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Chicago” & “Love The One You’re With”

Lecture Tonight

2011-09-08T10:34:00.002-04:00

Looking for something to do this late afternoon/early evening? Interested in a potential preview of an upcoming GMOA exhibition? Check out Dr. Asen Kirin's lecture "Exuberance of Meaning: The Art Patronage of Catherine the Great," which he will give as part of the Visual Culture Colloquium (VCC) Lectures at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, in room S150 of the Dodd, at 5 p.m. today (Thursday, Sept. 8). A description follows:

The lecture introduces an exhibition project the work on which has already commenced. This exhibition intends to make a contribution to the current knowledge of patronage in eighteenth-century Russia and to our understanding of the perception of Byzantine culture in the era of neo-Classicism. The plan of the curator is to accomplish this goal with a relatively limited number of objects—loans from a small number of museums in the U.S.A.

The exhibition will illustrate the complex dynamic between the collection of historical art and the commissioning of new works of art during the reign of Catherine the Great (1762-96). The focus of the exhibition is on the particular manner in which Catherine applied not only her knowledge of ancient and medieval glyptic art but also her collection of carved gems to new works of art that she commissioned. This was a deliberate continuation of the centuries-old tradition of placing pagan, Greek, and Roman carved stones onto sacred Christian liturgical and devotional objects. The empress not only shared the Enlightenment sentiment that carved gems were essential material vestiges from the past, but she was also fully cognizant of the cultural meanings associated with the practice of collecting cameos. Accordingly, she addressed these cultural meanings in her art patronage.

The title “Exuberance of Meaning” refers to a crucial characteristic that distinguishes Catherine the Great’s endeavors in the arts. Her innumerable projects—whether a new city, a church, a liturgical vessel, or a dinner set—were conceived in a manner allowing for multiple yet complementary interpretations covering a wide spectrum of meanings. Some of these meanings and references remained relevant only within a Russian context, thus forming unique aspects of this country’s neo-Classicism. This multiplicity of meaning is the direct outcome of the empress’s wish to assert her empire’s status as a key participant in the Project of the Enlightenment whose aim was to reform society and advance knowledge. The empress believed that accomplishing this goal in Russia necessitated not only knowledge of classical mythology, literature, and art, but also of Russia’s heritage of Byzantine theology, political ideology, as well as history. Catherine strove to add a neo-Classical stratum to Russia’s material culture and with it to expand the system of cultural references in her empire. The most ambitious trait of her ideological creativity consists of constructing an environment in which a learned audience would understand works of art, architecture, and literature through proficiency in the “languages” of both classical and medieval culture.

Dr. Kirin has worked with the museum before, perhaps most notably on the exhibition "Sacred Art, Secular Context," which examined Byzantine works of art from the collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

Hot Metal in motion

2011-09-06T15:21:00.002-04:00

"Hot Metal and Cool Paper: The Black Art of Making Books" is up in the Boone and George-Ann Knox I Gallery, leading into "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print," through Nov. 6. Here are a couple of short videos to give you a taste for the exhibition.

This one shows the printing of the rack cards that will soon be in the gallery, on a printing press owned by Todd Rivers, co-curator of the exhibition.

This one goes briefly through the gallery to show what the exhibition actually looks like. You can't read any of the text very well, though, so make sure to come see it in person.

Kress Project entries keep on coming

2011-09-02T13:08:00.002-04:00

We're up to 20 entries now for the Kress Project, and they're starting to arrive more quickly now. We have a video entry on the way, for example, and three new poems just went up on the site today. To see all the new entries since our last update, click here and keep clicking through to the next entry at the bottom of the page.

Remember, you can enter as many times as you like, and there is no fee.

De Wain Valentine

2011-08-29T16:02:00.002-04:00

We're sure many of you are familiar by now with De Wain Valentine's "Gray Ring" (seen above), which has a home in the overlook of GMOA's new wing. We are in the middle of planning a major show of Valentine's work, which will open late next year, but in the meantime, please enjoy the following video produced by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), which focuses on another of his sculptures, featured in its exhibition "Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface."

This longer video, also produced by MCASD, explains the exhibition in greater depth and shows some of the other works of art it includes.

GMOA in the News/Video Redo

2011-08-26T09:50:00.003-04:00

The Red and Black ran an article yesterday on our student docent program that we hope will encourage even more students to apply for it, especially as today is the deadline to apply for the year. Student docents, like community docents, must commit to one year of involvement with the program and 20 hours of service during the course of one semester. Click here to apply online.

We also had some small edits to make on the Family Day video that was up on the blog briefly before disappearing. Here it is again, courtesy of Larry Forte.

Hurricane

2011-08-25T14:36:00.006-04:00

With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the Northeast, the great Long Island Express hurricane of 1938 will get mentioned many times over the next few days.

[above: Philip Evergood (American, 1901-1973), My Forebears Were Pioneers, 1939. Oil on canvas, 50 x 36 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; University purchase. GMOA 1974.3190]

An excerpt [ed: links, obviously, not in the original] from 100 American Paintings, our book on the permanent collection:

Philip Evergood’s My Forebears Were Pioneers was on display in the Contemporary American Art Exhibition of the New York World’s Fair in 1939. In her review, noting that “American art and artists have come into their own,” Elizabeth McCausland described the painting in some detail:

In the background is a macabre Victorian Gothic dwelling; across the front yard lies an uprooted tree; in a fantastic rocking chair sits an old women, of the character typified by the phrase ‘D.A.R.’ The compositional integration of these elements and the final unification by a brilliantly bizarre palette of acrid purples, greens, and yellows would suggest that this is an invention of the painter’s fancy. Actually Evergood saw this subject in real life soon after the New England hurricane and through creative imagination transmuted the observed fact into mordant comment.

In many of his paintings, including My Forebears Were Pioneers, Evergood made use of actual events, often layering the image with symbols and allegory that intentionally transcended the precise happening. Ostensibly, the backdrop event for the painting was The Great New England Hurricane, also called The Long Island Express, of 1938 which struck the northeastern United States in late September and resulted in 564 deaths, 15,000 damaged homes, and 3,300 damaged boats. Evergood writes:

We were driving from Cape Cod to New York, going through a little village with all the trees blown down, lying on the lawns, and there was a beautiful, austere old lady—beautiful because she was so ramrod straight—sitting in her chair with an old dog at her feet and a Bible on her knee calmly looking out at the cars going by with the complete destruction of her house and trees lying all over the beautiful lawn. I was impressed by the way that old lady of pioneer stock was unperturbed by anything. Her grandfathers had fought Indians and come over on the Mayflower, and there she was with her Bible, not changed by all that turmoil of nature.

Discussing his reasons for the symbolic and allegorical tiering of meaning, Evergood continues:

Julian Levi, the painter, gave the picture its title. He and [fellow artist] Bruce Mitchell came into my studio while I was struggling with it, and one of them said, ‘It’s funny, Phil, how you seem to deal with topical subjects. I don’t see things that way.’ And I said, ‘Well, it is topical now because we’ve had a hurricane and I saw the old lady sitting there on her lawn, but I don’t like to feel that it will always be topical. I don’t paint to put over topical ideas. I feel very conscious when I develop a theme that it must have universal connotations before I want to put it down in paint.’

Those collective subtexts were noticed by critics when My Forebears Were Pioneers went on display in the late 1930s and 1940s. For example, McCausland, cited above, notes the “D.A.R.,” in this case a specific reference to Grant Wood’s Daughters of Revolution (1932; Cincinnati Art Museum) and the critical understanding of that painting as a populist but satirical comment on the absurdity of xenophobia in a nation of immigrants. Oliver Larkin, in an essay for A.C.A. Gallery’s 1946 show of Evergood’s paintings contrasts My Forebears Were Pioneers with “the crisp immediacy of Hopper” and “the warmly felt picturesqueness of Burchfield.” Larkin asks whether the woman and the scene remain one “of bleak pride, or refined decay,” with the house having “the same battered dignity as the lady” or “something quite different?” Perhaps, Larkin argues, the painting serves as a comment upon “contrast between pioneers to whom trees meant something to be cleared away” and their descendants for whom an old home means “respectable privacy.” Lastly, Larkin notes that perhaps Evergood “has felt and expressed the tragic-comedy” of averting complete destruction for man, but just “by the skin of his teeth.” Herman Baron contended that the painting contained “as much poignancy and social philosophy as is to be found in Chekov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard.’”

Evergood's painting is currently on display in the Nalley (North) Gallery in the new permanent collection wing at the Georgia Museum of Art.

GMOA in Flagpole Magazine

2011-08-24T13:13:00.007-04:00

GMOA's upcoming exhibition, "American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print" is featured today in Flagpole Magazine. This exhibition illustrates the fascinating fusion of art with popular culture and music history. Featuring the work of one of the nation’s oldest and continuously printing shops—Nashville, Tennessee’s Hatch Show Print—it highlights the uniquely American posters produced to advertise everything from vaudeville shows, state fairs and stock car races to the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley and Herbie Hancock. This exhibition opens this Saturday, August 27 and will run through November 6.

An image of Pierre Daura is also featured today on the magazine's calendar page. Established at the Georgia Museum of Art in 2002 with a gift from Martha Randolph Daura in honor of her father, the Pierre Daura Center contains a collection of paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures by the Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura (1896–1976), who co-founded the important artists’ group Cercle et Carré.

Lamar Dodd Reception

2011-08-24T13:05:00.003-04:00

Guests of all ages showed up at a reception hosted by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art last Friday in celebration of the exhibition, "Lamar Dodd Paintings and Drawings." Known as the "godfather" of GMOA, Dodd is Georgia's most renowned artist of the 20th century and the namesake of UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art. The exhibition will be on display through this Sunday, August 28.

Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond

2011-08-22T08:00:00.002-04:00

[Above: Edmund Lewandowski, American, 1914-1998, "Gas Company." Watercolor, 1937. Collection of the Racine Art

Museum, Works Progress Administration, Wisconsin Federal Art Project. 16 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches]

The exhibition "Edmund Lewandowski: Precisionism and Beyond" will open at the Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA) at the University of Georgia on Sept. 10 and will run through Dec. 4. Organized by the Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Mich., this retrospective is the first ever of the artist's work. The exhibition will examine all aspects of Lewandowski's oeuvre, which investigated a wide array of subjects in varied styles and media.

Lewandowski identified himself as a precisionist, a movement that emerged in the United States and reached its peak after World War I. Known for its precise, sharply defined geometrical shapes, precisionism combined cubism and realism and addressed themes, including American industrialization and modernization. Valerie Ann Leeds, Ph.D., who organized this exhibition, quotes Lewandowski as saying, "Our machines are as representative of our culture as temples and sculpture were of the Greeks. They are classically beautiful and represent physically the material progress that the nation has made."

Lewandowski also was an experimental artist, and the exhibition showcases his range, from representational to nonobjective, in his interpretations of subject matter. On display will be "Dynamo," an oil on canvas that combines the strong geometric lines of precisionism with the abstractions reminiscent of cubism. Also in the galleries will be more literal works, such as "Rock Hill Textile Plant" and "Milwaukee Brewery." Leeds also quotes Lewandowski as saying, "Rather than present reality, I try to treat these observations with personal honesty and distill these impressions to visual order."

In addition to industrial-themed imagery, this exhibition also showcases Lewandowski's more vernacular scenes and marine themes. "Marina II" shows a distinct interest in nautical life, gained from his childhood days on the shores of Lake Michigan.

This exhibition is a rare showcase of Lewandowski's work and its critical reception during his lifetime. Although Lewandowski identified himself with precisionism, his work went back and forth between styles throughout the course of his lifetime. His deep interest in industrial imagery was due to an "overwhelming desire through the years" to record "the beauty of man-made objects and [the] energy of American Industry." This exhibition will not only display his works, but also his career as a whole and his impact as a painter and educator. It will be sponsored by Katie and Ian Walker, the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.

The Art of Proposal

2011-08-19T14:47:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, August 18, Mark Chen asked his beautiful girlfriend Jing to marry him in the galleries of the Georgia Museum of Art! This marks the third engagement that has taken place in museum since the exhibition "The Ring Shows: Then & Now and Putting the Band Back Together" and the third that I have had the pleasure of facilitating.

It is a glorious feeling to watch two people, very much in love, get engaged! The nervous groom wanting everything to be perfect, the unknowing bride-to-be completely clueless then suddenly overwhelmed with excitement, anticipation and sheer joy – the whole experience is unforgettable, and one that I am honored to be included in.

Mark really had it down to an art, despite this being the first (and only) time he had ever proposed to someone. He called me a couple of weeks ago and told me his intention. I was immediately elated at the idea of another museum proposal. We met that weekend at Family Day and walked around discussing the details of the plan.

I was to pose as a security guard at the front desk and wait for them to arrive. When they did, Mark would inquire as to the location of the restrooms. After he walked off and Jing was distracted looking around the lobby, I would walk back to the bathroom hall, where Mark would hand off the ring. We executed it flawlessly!

I got the ring, wished Mark luck (not that he needed any) and hurried up to the second floor to the Radford Gallery to play the ring on a pedestal that I had placed there earlier that day with the help of the preparators. I waited in the gallery, posing as security and guarding the ring till they arrived.

Mark played it cool! He slowly moved his soon-to-be fiancée through the galleries until he brought her to the proposal pedestal. There was her beautiful, princess-cut diamond and platinum ring on display with a label bearing a tender description of the object on view that Mark had written himself.

The moment was so sweet! Mark allowed Jing to read, while they both giggled with childlike excitement, completely giddy, and Jing shook her head in disbelief. Then he slowly picked up the ring, got down on one knee, turned to his love and... well... some nerves always get in the way! He paused holding up the ring, speechless, and ever so sweetly Jing leaned forward and said, "Are you going to say anything?" He laughed, told her he loved her and asked her to marry him.

The reply – "Yes!"

GMOA's Booth at Folk Fest 2011

2011-08-19T10:27:00.002-04:00

Mary Koon and I had an adventuresome day yesterday setting up our table at Folk Fest! But, it turned out great and will hopefully catch people's eye and attention. We want as many as Folk Art buffs as possible to know about "All Creatures Great and Small" at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

Here are some pictures of the booth. More pictures to come of my adventures at Folk Fest!

– Jenny Williams, PR Coordinator

After Hours at GMOA

2011-08-18T15:09:00.003-04:00

In case you've missed it in our newsletter, on our website, in your mailbox, on Facebook and elsewhere, GMOA and the Lamar Dodd School of Art are hosting a free reception tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 19), from 5 to 8 p.m. at GMOA and 7 to 9 p.m. at LDSOA, to celebrate "Lamar Dodd: Paintings and Drawings" and "MMXI: Faculty Exhibition 2011." Come have a glass of wine and some snacks with us, then head upstairs to see our wonderful exhibitions and permanent collection before you cross the bridge to the art school to find out what its faculty has been up to lately. We hope we'll see you tomorrow. Remember, parking in lot E11 and surrounding surface lots is free from about 4 p.m., and if you have a UGA parking pass, you can park in the PAC deck for no cost after 5:30 p.m. Click on the invitation above to make it larger.

GMOA in the News

2011-08-18T13:01:00.003-04:00

[above: Pierre Daura (American, b. Spain, 1896–1976), The Harp of the Winds, 1940. Oil on beaverboard, 23 1/4 x 23 1/4 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura. GMOA 2003.299]

The Red & Black, UGA's student-run newspaper, ran a nice article this Monday on our most recently opened exhibition, "Introduction to the Centers."

Flagpole magazine mentioned us in articles about online resources for newcomers to Athens and about art around Athens in general. Its annual Guide to Athens is out now, too, both online and in print, and contains a nice blurb about GMOA.

Folk Fest

2011-08-18T10:09:00.002-04:00

Slotin Folk Art's annual Folk Fest begins tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 19) at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross and continues through the weekend. Friday admission costs $15, but you get a T-shirt and free weekend readmission. Folk Fest is always a lot of fun, and this year GMOA has a table (which two of our staff members are setting up right now) to promote "All Creatures Great and Small." Stop by and pick up a brochure!

Digging Daura: sketches

2011-08-18T09:00:00.007-04:00

Above: Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Farm cart, ca. 1940, pen and ink on paper

This installment of the Digging Daura series comes from one of our summer interns, Paul Blakeslee, a senior at Sewanne:

I’ll be honest: cataloging Pierre Daura’s sketches for GMOA has been a startling experience. I like to think that I’m somewhat familiar with 20th-century art. It is, after all, my concentration as an art history major at Sewanee. Before showing up to my first day of work at GMOA, I had had a nagging suspicion that the usual “Gorky begat Hofman begat Pollock begat Rothko begat Motherwell” storyline couldn’t have been the only art being made in the 1940s and ‘50s, but honestly, it makes for a compelling narrative to study.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that my summer would be spent working with works from an artist of whom I had never heard a single word. In first looking through the drawings and paintings I would be cataloguing, I tried to imagine them being shown as slides alongside pieces by Joan Miró or Francis Picabia in a Sewanee seminar room.

As I started working through the objects, studying them for signs of damage and also, from sheer curiosity, trying to figure out Daura’s style, I ended up discovering something entirely different from what I expected. The thing about Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm” or a Warhol soup can is its permanence and autonomy as an image. The works that are taught in art history classrooms exist in a state of semi-independence from their creators. Each work is at least as important as the person who made it. To a large extent, this seems to come from the artist’s efforts; the works that become famous are finished, polished, and intended to be viewed as art objects.

Pierre Daura’s sketches, on the other hand, are quick pen-and-ink or pencil sketches. Several were obviously drawn on whatever paper Daura had lying around the house. I flipped one piece over and found a picture his daughter had drawn on the back as a toddler. That moment, in particular, left me unsettled. I felt voyeuristic. Here I was, someone only recently introduced to Pierre Daura’s work, pawing through drawings he clearly never intended to display for an audience beyond his family. This wasn’t Art, that monolithic notion of human cultural achievement that I had learned about in the isolation of a college classroom in Tennessee; this was Pierre Daura drawing life as he encountered it, often probably for no other purpose than his own enjoyment.

My feelings of intrusion only intensified when I came across a sketchbook that Daura had filled with sketches of his daughter Martha as an infant. Almost every page bore a caption in imperfect English describing the Daura household from Martha’s point of view. Each picture also bore a date; most of the fifty-four sheets had been filled in the space of two weeks before Christmas of one year. A tangible sense of glee runs through the entire sketchbook.

A biography I read about Daura made it clear that he consciously withdrew from the European art world before World War Two to settle into family life in Lynchburg, Virginia. I live less than an hour from Lynchburg and, I’ll be honest, I think it’s kind of a boring place. I live in northern Virginia, within spitting distance of Washington, D.C., so I’ve always thought of the rest of Virginia as kind of a backwater. Pierre Daura’s landscapes of the countryside around Lynchburg, however, have changed my view. Everything he drew, from haystacks to headstones, is shot through with joy and contentment. Trying to title his landscapes is murderous, though; he often drew nearly identical scenes from nearly identical perspectives. I ended up nearly exhausting every combination of the words “Rockbridge Baths,” “cows,” “barn,” and “pasture” imaginable. However, it became clear as I saw more and more that the works had very little to do with the actual scene being drawn. Instead, the important aspect is the works’ almost transparent transmutation of Pierre Daura’s happiness into a landscape scene. After cataloging almost three hundred drawings, I feel confident in inferring that Pierre Daura had few, if any, regrets about uprooting his life and replanting it in rural Virginia.

My work at GMOA has given me a whole new perspective on art history in general. Studying one man’s unfiltered artistic output has been truly eye opening, and an experience that would have been impossible in a classroom setting.

Family Day Tomorrow

2011-08-12T13:00:00.003-04:00

Join us for "Family Day: Abstract Adventures" this Saturday, Aug. 13, from 10 am to noon.

What is abstract art? Visit GMOA’s permanent collection to see some of the museum’s abstract paintings, then head to the first-floor classroom to make an abstract work of your own.

Family Day programs are sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota, YellowBook USA and the Friends of Georgia Museum of Art and are free and open to the public.

Ike and Jane will be open selling snacks, and the Museum Shop has great toys and books for kids. Plus our air-conditioning is first-rate!

"Prints by Women" opens at Arts Clayton

2011-08-05T08:16:00.003-04:00

The Georgia Museum of Art, in addition to organizing exhibitions here at its Athens home, provides a slate of traveling exhibitions, available at a reduced cost to Georgia museums and galleries. We are in the process of revamping these, as the ones we had on offer had been around a long time and the works on paper featured in many of them needed some time in a dark, quiet place. The first new traveling exhibition, "Prints by Women: Selected European and American Works from the Georgia Museum of Art," opened at Arts Clayton, in Jonesboro, Ga., this week. First Lady Sandra Deal was in attendance, and she's posing above with GMOA registrar Christy Sinksen. For more on the opening, click here, and for a photo gallery, click here. "Prints by Women" will be at Arts Clayton through Sept. 23.

More Kress Project Entries

2011-08-03T08:23:00.003-04:00

Keep checking back to see new entries for the Kress Project, including the above sculpture by Bob Clements, in the Lamar Dodd School of Art.

The National Museum of Scotland

2011-08-02T14:24:00.001-04:00

A 47 million pound renovation, a full-scale replica of a T-Rex, and 8,000 artifacts on display. Good gracious, what could we be talking about? Why the reopening of the National Museum of Scotland, of course! After a three-year revamping, the museum has been taken back to its original Victorian glory. It first opened in 1866 with cutting-edge architecture at the time, but over the years most of its artifacts were tucked away to gather dust in cramped storage spaces. The renovation has changed this, though, said curator Alex Hayward, stating, “We just assembled objects because they were surprising, or beautiful, or thought-provoking.” The full restoration will be completed by 2020, though only small projects remain.

GMOA in the News

2011-07-29T09:42:00.001-04:00

Our press release about Holder Construction's Build Georgia Award for its work on the GMOA expansion and renovation project was picked up by the Athens Banner-Herald and Athens Patch.

Here's the full release, if you missed it:

JULY 14, 2011
Athens, Ga.– Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA) contractor Holder Construction Company recently received a 2011 Build Georgia Award for its work on the museum’s $20 million expansion project.

Build Georgia, a branch of the Association of General Contractors (AGC), honors the achievements of Georgia’s construction firms for their performance on some of the state’s most notable projects.

Each year, a panel of industry professionals selects construction projects to receive the Build Georgia Award.

The key judging criteria for the 2011 Build Georgia Award included: exceptional project safety performance, meeting the challenge of a difficult job, innovation in construction techniques and materials, excellence in project management and scheduling and excellence in client service.

Holder Construction Company was also awarded First Place in the Best Sustainable Building Practices division. The expansion of GMOA includes 16,000 square feet in new galleries, an outdoor sculpture garden, an expanded lobby, additional storage space and study centers.

GMOA reopened in January 2011 with nine days of festivities. The celebration included multiple ribbon-cutting ceremonies, a black-tie gala, UGA Student Night, Family Day and more.

“The success of our expansion and renovation project is in large part due to the commitment and dedication of the team members,” said Annelies Mondi, deputy director of GMOA. “Holder was key in making sure our project was on schedule, in budget and met the museum’s goals and expectations.”

Last few days for "Stone and Steel"

2011-07-28T14:27:00.003-04:00

If you haven't yet seen our exhibition "Stone and Steel: Small Works by Beverly Pepper," or if you have seen it and keep meaning to come back, you only have a few more days. The exhibition consists of small-scale sculptures in stone, Corten steel and other materials by the famed female sculptor, whose "Ascension" now stands at the entrance to the museum. The galleries in which it appears make use of natural light to bring out the sensory nature of the media. "Stone and Steel" has been sponsored by Helen C. Griffith, Mr. D. Jack Sawyer Jr. and Dr. William E. Torres, the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art. It closes Sunday, July 31.

Opening next in those galleries is "Introduction to the Centers," a two-part exhibition designed to introduce the public to the museum's four Study Centers in the Humanities, a crucial part of our mission that is nonetheless difficult to explain in a few words. Come join us in a few weeks to find out more about the Study Centers.

Marsden Hartley

2011-07-28T13:41:00.003-04:00

In advance of tonight's film:

Artists' Biographies Film Series Concludes Tonight

2011-07-28T09:22:00.002-04:00

Our three-part film series of documentaries on artists whose work appears in our collection finishes up tonight at 7 p.m. with "Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet," a film by Michael Maglaras of 217 Films. The director will be in attendance to do a Q&A, and chief curator and curator of American art Paul Manoguerra will introduce the film. Click here to watch the trailer. Films are screened in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium and are sponsored by the UGA Parents & Families Association. Stay tuned for more information coming soon about our annual Latin American Film Series, scheduled for the fall.

"The Art of Disegno" gallery talk

2011-07-26T10:32:00.002-04:00

If you missed the wonderful talk by Randy Coleman and Giuliano Ceseri in the galleries of the exhibition "The Art of Disegno: Italian Prints and Drawings from the Georgia Museum of Art," which was held July 12, 2011, you're in luck. Pierre Daura Curator Lynn Boland filmed the whole talk, and we've been uploading it to Vimeo. Unfortunately, we have a 500 MB limit per week, so it's broken into three parts, and we have two of the three uploaded so far and embedded below. Check back with us next week for the exciting conclusion.

Georgia Museum of Art "The Art of Disegno" gallery talk, part 1 of 3 from Georgia Museum of Art on Vimeo.

Georgia Museum of Art "The Art of Disegno" gallery talk, part 2 of 3 from Georgia Museum of Art on Vimeo.

"The Art of Disegno" is up through Aug. 7 at GMOA, so if you haven't seen it yet (or if you'd like to see it again), you still have time.

Senior Outreach Program 2011

2011-07-25T13:28:00.001-04:00

This year's Senior Outreach Program, organized by Diane Barret, focused on portraits. Seniors from Greene County, Athens-Clarke County and Winterville visited GMOA to look at the portraits in the galleries, then created their own collage self-portraits based on what they learned. Diane sent along these photos of some of the seniors with their work.

GMOA in the News

2011-07-25T10:37:00.002-04:00

In case you missed it, this painting by Lamar Dodd, in the exhibition we have on view currently, made the cover of Athens' alternative newsweekly Flagpole this week, along with a nice review of the show by Caroline Barratt.

Also, the press release about "Hot Metal and Cool Paper: The Black Art of Making Books," an exhibition that opens Aug. 27 at GMOA, went out through UGA's news service last week.

GMOA Lunch & Learn

2011-07-25T08:43:00.004-04:00

This past Thursday, July 21, GMOA held a Lunch & Learn for UGA faculty to come eat cookies and learn about how to use the permanent collection in their classes. Attendees included Sujata Iyengar and Richard Menke from the English department, Claiborne Glover from biochemistry and molecular biology, Jim Woglom from art education and several folks from the UGA libraries. Larry Forte put together this brief slideshow of pictures from the afternoon. We'll be holding more of these in the future, so remember that there were cookies.

Stieglitz and O'Keeffe

2011-07-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

He was a photographer. She was an up-and-coming painter. A 24-year age difference separated the two, but that was no matter for Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. From the 1915 to 1946, the pair exchanged more than 25,000 letters, often two or three a day and up to 40 pages long. This correspondence is a testament to their relationship, and just recently the first volume of those letters was published. My Faraway One, edited by Sarah Greenough, is more than 700 pages and depicts the ups and downs of their modern-day artistic romance. For O’Keeffe, what began as an infatuation soon turned into a deep love. She wrote, “I’m getting to like you so tremendously that it sometimes scares me,” even in the early stages of their relationship, nearly a year after they first met. Stieglitz should receive some of the credit for O’Keeffe’s fame, for he was the one who first exhibited her work. In 1918, he wrote, “your letter—it’s beautiful—it’s full of passion—the Woman’s Soul—Crying for Completeness—Heart Rending—Like your work—heartrendingly beautiful.” So if you’re looking for a good read head down to your local library and take a look at My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.

Traveling Snapshots

2011-07-22T13:30:00.002-04:00

Our director's on the road at the moment, as he often is, and he sent us this iPhone photo of himself with artist Joyce Wellman. Click around her website to see her wide-ranging work.

Qatar: The dark horse of contemporary art

2011-07-22T10:00:00.003-04:00

What country do you think is the biggest buyer in the contemporary art market? The United States? England? Perhaps even France? You could continue this guessing game for more than an hour and we are certain you would not have come up with the correct answer: Qatar. The small oil-rich country of Qatar is located in the Middle East and has a population hovering around 1.5 million, thus proving, without a doubt, that you don’t have to be big to be important. Over the past six years it is believed that Qatar has been behind most major sales and commissions of modern art. Just recently, Edward Dolman, the chair of Christie’s auction house of New York, was announced as an executive director in the office of the Sheikh. Dolman will join the board of trustees of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), who oversee many of the cultural initiatives of the country. Dolman stated, “Qatar is looking to deliver a series of exciting cultural projects in time for the World Cup in 2022.” The list of purchases and planned exhibitions to take place in Qatar is astounding. The country is planning a Jeff Koons exhibition and recently was part of a $310 million deal involving the purchase of 11 Rothkos. Other major acquisitions include works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst and William Hoare—quite the major accomplishment for a state that only technically became an independent country in the fall of 1971.

Summer 2012 Olympic Games

2011-07-21T10:00:00.001-04:00

London is abuzz, and no, we’re not talking about William and Kate news. Just recently, Sebastian Coe, chair of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), announced the 12 British artists who were chosen to design the official posters for the London Olympic Games 2012 and the Paralympic Games. The games will run for 12 weeks and take place from June 21 to Sept. 9, 2012. Fine artists had the upper hand over graphic artists when it came to making posters for something so momentous. As Michael Craig-Martin, one of the chosen artists, so deftly put it, “artists always bring something different, because you are bringing a personal language to it.” The goal of the committee was to have a set of posters that would display and celebrate the deep cultural history that London possesses. With a little less than a year left before the big event, these artists will certainly have a lot of work cut out for them.

Family Day photos

2011-07-20T08:16:00.002-04:00

If you missed our last Family Day ("The Kress Collection"), then check out the slideshow above. It was great fun for everyone there, and the kids made amazing picture frames with hand-tooled details. Thanks to our intern Mary Bowden Green for taking these pics, and mark your calendar for the next Family Day ("Abstract Adventures"), scheduled for Aug. 13.

Don't Try This at Home

2011-07-19T14:33:00.002-04:00

Hoboken, N.J.: home of baseball, Frank Sinatra . . . and Mark Lugo. “Who on earth is Mark Lugo?” you ask. Why, the man allegedly responsible for at least eight thefts of priceless art by masters like Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso. The striking aspect to this string of burglaries was that there was no elaborate planning involved. No late-night Oceans 11, rappel-from-the-ceiling-type maneuvers. Lugo, age 30, simply walked into galleries, lifted the priceless canvases off the walls and walked out with frame in hand. How is that even possible? William Ledford, managing partner of the William Bennet Gallery in Soho, stated, “we’ve got a Picasso installation downstairs and he sort of went right to the middle of it and basically just lifted the piece off the wall. Soho is such a retail-centric area, and everybody’s got shopping bags. Our best guesstimate is that he kind of just stuffed it in a shopping bag and off he went.” Police who raided Lugo’s home said that the works were prominently displayed around his home and he may not have even been planning on selling them. A drawing by Picasso was simply hanging on his dining room wall. All we can say is that thank goodness these works were found, and that hopefully this will lead to tighter security, and of course . . . don’t try this at home and certainly not at GMOA.

Cloudy

2011-07-14T14:50:00.003-04:00

Details of clouds in paintings on display in the permanent collection wing: (clockwise from top left) Robert Gordy, George Cooke, Childe Hassam, Georgia O'Keeffe, Thomas Doughty, and William Bradford.

What do Athens artist Chris Hubbard and Alexander Calder have in common?

2011-07-13T18:38:00.009-04:00

The Heaven and Hell Car at AthFest in Athens, GA 2011

If you were at AthFest a few weeks ago, you might have seen this car, along with a display of some of its owner’s other works of art. Or you might have seen it parked, unassumingly, in a space downtown any day of the week. If you aren’t in the area, you may have seen it on art blogs or in newspapers because this car has definitely made its rounds around the United States. Chris Hubbard’s Heaven and Hell Car is an excellent example of this self-taught artist’s experimentation with found objects and material art. The Kentucky native, now an Athens, Ga., resident, has no formal training in art since grade school and left his 20-year career as a microbiologist and environmental consultant to be “born again” as an artist. Hubbard took on the Heaven and Hell car project to participate in the art-car scene. He describes this work (the car he still uses daily, with 318,000 miles on it) as “a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek expression of the good vs. bad dichotomy of self, other people, and life in general.” Many of the stylistic elements shown on the car are influenced by his deep appreciation of “outsider/visionary artists” from the south such as R.A. Miller (some of his pieces can be seen in the permanent collection at GMOA), Howard Finster, and Edgar Tolson.

Hubbard with his art-car in 2000

But what about Hubbard’s connection with Alexander Calder? In 1975, Hervé Poulain, an auctioneer and racing driver from France was searching for a link between art and cars. He asked his friend Alexander Calder to paint a BMW 3.0 CSL that Poulain would race in the 1976 Le Mans endurance race. Poulain’s car was meant to “create a symbiosis between the world of art and the world of motorsport.” When Calder’s work was met at the speedway and in the art world with enormous enthusiasm, BMW decided to create a whole line of works on wheels called theArt Car Collection. Other contributors include Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons (the latest artist to enter a work into the collection), and many more. Calder’s original car was recently shown at the Bechtler Museum of Modern art in Charlotte, N.C. in anticipation of the release of Koons’ car. To see all of the works on wheels, visit the collection’s website.

Alexander Calder's Art Car

Jeff Koons with his Art Car

Gallery Talk tonight

2011-07-12T15:47:00.002-04:00

In case you missed seeing it elsewhere, there's a wonderful gallery talk scheduled for 5:30 p.m. tonight at GMOA. Robert Randolf Coleman, of Notre Dame, and collector Giuliano Ceseri will speak about GMOA's exhibition "The Art of Disegno." Randy served as co-curator of the exhibition, which was last on display at the Snite Museum of Art on Notre Dame's campus, and co-wrote the accompanying hardcover exhibition catalogue. Ceseri owns many of the works in the exhibition (16th- to 18th-century Italian prints and drawings), which are on long-term loan to the museum. In addition to collecting works of this era and many others, he is also a self-taught expert on period frames, many of which appear on the works in the exhibition. The museum's galleries are not normally open to the public on Tuesdays, but tonight is an exception, and we hope you'll join us.

Museum Barbie

2011-07-08T09:37:00.002-04:00

Lynn Boland, our Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, directed our attention yesterday to the fact that Mattel has just come out with "Museum Barbie." No, she's not a jumpsuited preparator, a fundraising director or an exhausted public relations coordinator. Instead, her ensembles are inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Night," Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch I" (pictured above and by far the most successful of the three) and Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." You can view all three here. Boland pointed out that it's a real shame the Van Gogh Barbie still has both her ears and, indeed, she does look awfully chipper.

Pilfering Picasso

2011-07-08T09:22:00.006-04:00

Le Guennec (left), Picasso (right)
photo courtesy independent.co.uk

How would you like to own a work by Picasso? How about 271 works?

For retired electrician Pierre Le Guennec, 71, and his wife Danielle, 61, that was a reality. Impossible, you say?

The couple has been accused of “concealing,” the French legal term for possession of stolen goods. The goods include lithographs, notebooks, collages, sketches, prints and 7 cubist masterpieces never before seen by the general public. However, Le Guennec claims that Picasso along with his wife Jacqueline gifted them to him as a thank you for the alarm system he installed on their estate. Huh? Makes you wonder what you would get if you ever picked up a pencil for Picasso. I mean if he got 271 works of art for good electrical work, I could at least get two sketches for a good deed, right? But I digress.

The 271 works, estimated to be worth over $102 million, were stashed––wait for it––in his dusty garage for over 40 years. How did he get caught? Le Guennec went to have the works authenticated at Picasso’s estate and as you could imagine this came as a major surprise to the people there. Especially Claude Picasso, son of the late artist, who was less than amused at the electrician’s claim that they were gifts. Claude explained that even though his father was a generous man (obviously), he made it a habit to date, dedicate and sign his works because he knew some of the recipients might try to sell them.

The fate of the electrician in possession of the art collection Musée Picasso would kill for is still unknown. If convicted, he and his wife could face up to ten years in prison. On the other hand, 40 years have passed since Picasso allegedly gifted the works to Le Guennec, and with the two star witnesses, Mr. and Mrs. Pablo Picasso, deceased, it could be more complicated than lawyers think.

Oh, and for the concerned art lovers out there, the 271 works are safe and sound in the French capital. GMOA’s Picasso, a work on paper, is currently resting in the vaults but will be on view again in January or February 2012. You can read more about it in the museum’s catalogue of prints and drawings, “Tracing Vision: Modern Drawings from the Georgia Museum of Art,” available in the Museum Shop or on our website.

For pictures of the discovered Picasso works click here.

Kress Project entries arriving

2011-07-07T10:13:00.002-04:00

The press release has gone out. The website is live. The media is picking up the story. And now we're starting to get entries submitted for the Kress Project! Check out the "view entries" section of the site here to get a closer look at the above and at the other entries that are coming in.

Art Thoughtz

2011-07-06T16:04:00.003-04:00

If you haven't been privy yet to the art-philosophical musings of Mr. Hennessy Youngman, consider yourself introduced. The video above (which--warning--contains some mild profanity) is titled "How to Make an Art" and includes his thoughts on Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. For more of his videos, check out his YouTube channel.

New Study Files for the Henry D. Green Center

2011-07-01T11:22:00.004-04:00

Georgia Rocking Chair

The Georgia Museum of Art has acquired new reference files for the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts. The Curry/Griffin chair collection is an eclectic collection of more than 100 Georgia chairs, some of which exhibit Franco-German influences. This collection, photographed by our curator of decorative arts, Dale L. Couch, is a valuable reference for comparing other chairs from the South and looking for similarities in like objects. It is also a great research aid for students and scholars. The Henry D. Green Library has approximately 1,000 volumes related to decorative arts, architecture and Georgia history and has more than 1,000 objects in its study files. These photographs are a fabulous and rich addition. So if you’re wondering if that antique chair in your house has as rich a history as these, then come on over to our study center and do some research of your own! The photographs will be available to study next week.

Physics and Pollock

2011-07-01T09:31:00.003-04:00

KurzweilAI.net, which sends out a weekly email of all things science and technology, posted something yesterday that incorporates both its usual concerns and fine art. Two scientists, "A mathematician at Harvard University and a physicist-art historian [?!] at Boston College," have been studying the way Jackson Pollock created his drip paintings and posit that the artist's use of physics was particularly impressive. Make sure to click on their links to read more.

Vanity Barcodes

2011-06-30T12:53:00.001-04:00

We’re not sure exactly how they work. We don’t know why they look the way they do. We’re not aware of who invented them or how. But one thing is for certain: barcodes are easily the ugliest aspect of product packaging. Those little black-and-white lines appear like a curse on what would ordinarily be a work of art in the packaging world. We search for hours in the self-checkout line for that little aggravating mark. So why has no one attempted to redesign this area of disdain? Most large companies are worried that if a barcode does not scan then retailers may drop their product entirely. But a trend has started to emerge among smaller food companies: vanity barcodes. Vanity barcodes are customized barcodes that bring a little personality, and even humor, into product packaging. Some aspects of the typical barcode design cannot be changed, like the coloring or the size, but graphic artists have found ways to design around these basic principles and bring beauty to a once ignored area of design. So cheers to functional art. Hopefully one day these vanity barcodes will be common and not just for daring companies.

Horizons on video

2011-06-24T08:17:00.003-04:00

Larry Forte, Daura art handler, made this video to document GMOA's installation of Steinnun Thorarinsdottir's "Horizons," which has been up since we reopened and will be leaving us soon, unfortunately. It's silent, but it shows how peaceful the garden can be when there aren't 100 children climbing all over everything.

Georgia Museum of Art announces the Kress Project and solicits international call for entries

2011-06-23T15:14:00.004-04:00

Georgia Museum of Art announces the Kress Project, a two-year initiative celebrating the 50th anniversary of the museum’s Samuel H. Kress Study Collection.

The Kress Project is soliciting responses to the 12 Italian Renaissance paintings in the museum’s Kress Collection through early 2012. Submissions may include a wide variety of forms, such as academic essays, visual art, choreography, fashion design or even a recipe inspired by a work in the collection.

GMOA encourages all ages and education levels to participate in the Kress project, and is soliciting entries from both within the United States and internationally. There is no fee to submit a response. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 1, 2012 and should be submitted via www.georgiamuseum.org/kressproject. The GMOA website will post entries throughout the year, and judges will select 24 winners. Each winner will receive a $500 prize and have his or her work published in a multimedia book.

The primary goal of the Kress Project is to promote the study of and response to these objects by the public at large and explore new ways to interpret the collection. The project will also be among GMOA’s most prominent efforts to enlarge and diversify the museum’s audience during its reopening year.

“We are excited at the opportunity to demonstrate the continued relevance of these paintings to a contemporary audience. We hope the array of different responses will surpass our imaginative limits of what is possible,” said Lynn Boland, GMOA Pierre Daura Curator of European Art.

Other aspects of the Kress Project include a family guide to the Kress Collection, available for free in the gallery, and an upcoming Family Day on Saturday, July 16. Relevant films, a lecture, a Senior Citizens Outreach program and a public and K–12 teaching packet are also forthcoming. An audio tour of the Kress Collection will be available this fall for download from the Kress Project website and will be accessible via smartphone while in the museum or on iPods available for checkout in the museum. The project also incorporates the museum’s biennial Trecento Symposium on early Italian art, which honors the memory of the late art historian Andrew Ladis, and will be held in the fall of 2012.

The project commemorates the gift of the paintings, in 1961, by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Since its arrival in Athens, and especially since the early 1990s, the Kress Study Collection has been the key motivation for GMOA’s research in early Italian art, including its most recent publication on the subject, the Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections: The South.

Today, the Kress Gallery prominently features 12 Italian paintings from the Trecento and Baroque periods, as well as drawings from the Giuliano Ceseri collection and paintings, sculpture and period furniture from the High Museum of Art’s Kress Collection, all on extended loan to GMOA.

The Kress Foundation was founded in 1929 by Samuel H. Kress as a part of his own initiative to distribute his collection of more than 3,000 works of art to museums across the nation. The Kress Foundation strives to provide greater access to works in the collection outside of major urban centers. The foundation is a generous sponsor of the Kress Project.

For details on how to submit entries, images of paintings and more information about the project, visit www.georgiamuseum.org/kressproject.

Restoration of St. Paul's Cathedral

2011-06-21T11:00:00.001-04:00

After 15 years, and £40m, the restoration of London’s treasured St. Paul’s Cathedral is now finished. Completed in 1711, St. Paul’s was the architectural masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren. The cathedral was originally commissioned by Charles II, though the site itself has remained the same since AD 604, when the original Cathedral of St. Paul was built. The city of London is known for its pollution, and after 300 years the façade of St. Paul’s had grown black with soot and dirt. During restoration, the entire west front was covered, but now the white Portland stone shines brightly and looks almost brand new. The dean of St. Paul’s stated, “the two million worshippers, pilgrims, and visitors who come to St. Paul’s each year can now witness Wren’s original vision and see the cathedral as fresh as the day it was completed.” In addition to restoring the outside, conservationists worked hard to repair damages to the interior of the cathedral and restore the grand organ. New lights now “flood” the building, giving visitors the opportunity to view the mosaics and sculptures in all their grandeur. On Tuesday, a service will be held to commemorate the cathedral’s 300-year anniversary and the completion of the project.

"You, Me and the Bus"

2011-06-17T13:47:00.009-04:00

If you live in the Athens area, you may have noticed that some of the bus shelters stand out a little more than others. These unique bus stops are part of “You, Me and the Bus.” The campaign is a collaborative effort between the Athens Area Arts Council (AAAC), The Athens Transit System and the Athens-Clarke Unified Government.

Recently, the bus shelters have received national attention. R.E.M. has donated their music and time urging public support to complete the bus shelters, which are intended to transform ordinary bus stops into creative, functional, public art that will inspire the people who use public transportation.

R.E.M. and AAAC have released a video highlighting the successful installation of the first nine artist-designed shelters in Athens. The video will be featured on the R.E.M. website for the month of June.

For more information, contact Valerie Aldridge, Valerie676@charter.net.

Barnes Foundation Closing

2011-06-17T11:23:00.004-04:00

The Barnes Foundation Gallery will close its long-time location in Merion, Pennsylvania, at the former estate of its founder, Dr. Albert Barnes, on July 3, 2011 and relocate to downtown Philadelphia.

The renowned private collection contains upwards of 9,000 works of art and is worth more than $25 billion. The collection consists predominantly of French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings by such artists as Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse, among others.

The relocation has been quite controversial. Opponents say that Dr. Barnes’ will contains instructions stating that the Foundation should always be an educational institution, and that the paintings may never be removed. The proponents for relocation have financial interests and also state that moving the collection will give more people the opportunity to see the collection.

A documentary, “The Art of the Steal,” chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation. The Collectors of GMOA presented this documentary at Ciné in July 2010.

Oh Baby!

2011-06-17T10:00:00.001-04:00

Do you find that your toddler is overly fascinated with the works of Pablo Picasso? I mean we’re all in the mood for the strong lines of Cubism every now and again, but is your baby clamoring at the sight of the “Three Musicians”? Have no fear. In a new study published by researchers at the University of Zurich, they found that babies around the age of 9 months prefer the works of Picasso to those of Claude Monet. Participants were shown works by both artists and judged based on the time they spent looking at a specific painting. Researchers credit Picasso’s bold colors and strong, contrasting lines as the reason for their appeal to infants. “Monet, on the other hand, used equiluminant colors to create blurry, shimmery effects. It is possible that infants prefer paintings with clear contrasts in luminance.” Perhaps, though, this is just proof that we begin developing a taste for the visual arts at an extremely young age. All the more reason to join us for Family Days at GMOA!