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2015 Exhibitions
Pan American Modernism: Avant-Garde Art in Latin America and the United States
September 24, 2015 – December 20, 2015
Developed by the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami (FL), this exhibition included paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photography and mixed media works, many of them exhibited for the first time outside of the Lowe. More than 70 works by over 60 artists from 12 countries highlight artistic exchanges between 1919 and 1979, revealing modernism to have been an international phenomenon across the Americas. Pan American Modernism demonstrates that Caribbean, Central, and South American artists were important contributors to the experimental and innovative nature of modernism.
Among the masters whose works are featured are Eduardo Abela, Wifredo Lam, Man Ray, Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, Adolph Gottlieb, Jacob Lawrence, Hans Hofmann, Knox Martin, Lee Krasner, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Matta, Romare Bearden, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Luis Cuevas, Rufino Tamayo, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Man Ray, Robert Motherwell, Olga Albizu, Luis Hernández Cruz, Fernando Botero, Enrique Castro-Cid, Richard J. Anuszkiewicz, Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Pierre Daura, and Jesús Rafael Soto, among others.
Curated by Dr. Nathan Timpano, Assistant Professor of Art History at University of Miami, the exhibition was accompanied by a bilingual, fully illustrated catalogue with scholarly essays by Dr. Timpano; Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, the Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of the History of Art at New York University; and Dr. Heather Diack, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Miami.
Pan American Modernism: Avant-Garde Art in Latin America and the United States was developed by Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, with tour organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. At the Art Museum, USJ, it was supported in part by Connecticut Humanities, an anonymous donor, Cigna, and the Karen L. Chase ’97 Fund. Media Sponsor: Hartford Business Journal.
IMAGE: Carlos Mérida. Abstract with Three Figures. 1961. Oil, sand, and pencil on wood. Collection of Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. ©Alma Mérida.
Shin Hanga Landscapes: 20th Century Japanese Prints
June 12 – September 6, 2015
The Art Museum at University of Saint Joseph opened Shin Hanga Landscapes: 20th Century Japanese Prints with a reception on Friday, June 12. The exhibition remained on view through September 6.
The Japanese art movement known as shin-hanga (“new prints”) flourished in the first half of the twentieth century. Coined by print publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962), the term “shin-hanga” referred to modern color woodblock prints produced in the traditional collaborative system involving print designer, carver, printer, and publisher. Although shin-hanga prints addressed the same subject matter as 19th-century Japanese prints – including landscapes, beautiful women, and kabuki actors – they reflect Japan’s assimilation of Western art movements as well as an interest in attracting a Western audience. Just as 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints had influenced the course of European art, increasing internationalization led 20th-century Japanese printmakers to adopt certain approaches pioneered by European artists. In shin-hanga prints this resulted in deep perspective, a focus on naturalistic light and 3-dimensional form, and subtle coloring that eschewed the use of black outlines.
The landscapes that constitute the majority of shin-hanga prints depicted views showing little evidence of the country’s modernization and therefore held considerable appeal to an audience seeking a romantic or nostalgic image of Japan. Examples in this exhibition include works by some of the most renowned artists working in the genre, foremost among them Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) and Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950).
This exhibition featured recent gifts from Judith and Norman Zlotsky as well as prints donated by John Crockett. It was scheduled in conjunction with West Hartford’s Japan Summer Festival (Saturday, June 13, 2015).
A Night at the Opera: Caricatures by Enrico Caruso
March 27 – June 7, 2015
The Art Museum at University of Saint Joseph will open A Night at the Opera: Caricatures by Enrico Caruso with a reception on Thursday, March 26 from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. The reception, which is free and open to the public, will include a performance of selected arias by Connecticut Concert Opera. The exhibition will remain on view through June 7, 2015.
Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) was not only one of the most famous operatic tenors of all time, he was also a compulsive caricaturist, whose droll images captured the essence of the many characters he encountered. Born in Naples, Italy, Caruso performed as a street singer before making his professional debut in opera at age 22. He secured a contract with Italy’s premier opera house La Scala in 1900 and just three years later came to New York under contract to the Metropolitan Opera. Shortly thereafter Caruso met Marziale Sisca, a founder of the Italian-language journal La Follia di New York, which began weekly publication of the great tenor’s caricatures. Caruso never accepted payment from Sisca or any other publisher, reportedly saying “I make my living with my voice. I draw for my pleasure.”
A Night at the Opera presents drawings made between 1907 and 1914. Many of them, first published in La Follia’s weekly journal, were later collected by Sisca in a book devoted to Caruso’s caricatures. Subjects range from Caruso’s operatic colleagues at the Met, to prominent members of the Italian community in New York and individuals encountered on his tours to other American cities.
This is the Art Museum’s first exhibition of the Enrico Caruso caricatures that entered the collection in 1966 with the bequest of the Reverend John J. Kelley. A Night at the Opera was organized with the assistance of Phylicia Stevenson ’15.
Project 35: Volume 2
January 15 – June 8, 2015
In 2010 ICI launched PROJECT 35, a program of single-channel videos selected by 35 international curators who each chose one work from an artist they think is important for audiences around the world to experience today. The resulting selection has been presented simultaneously in more than 30 venues around the globe, inspiring discourse in places as varied as Berlin, Germany; Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; Los Angeles, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Skopje, Macedonia; West Hartford, Connecticut; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tirana, Albania. Following the widespread popularity and success of Project 35, ICI has collaborated with 35 more international curators to produce Project 35 Volume 2.
ICI again draws from its extensive network of curators to trace the complexity of regional and global connections among practitioners and the variety of approaches they use to make video. A new selection of 35 curators from 6 continents each chose one work for this compilation of the latest approaches to the medium.
Curators include:
Leezy Ahmady (Afghanistan/US), Meskerem Assegued (Ethiopia), Daina Augaitis (Canada), Defne Ayas (Turkey/The Netherlands), Regine Basha (US), Valerie Cassel-Oliver (US), Rosina Cazali (Guatemala), Stuart Comer (US/UK), Veronica Cordeiro (Brazil/Uruguay), Christopher Cozier (Trinidad and Tobago), María del Carmen Carrión (Ecuador/US), Rifky Effendy (Indonesia), Özge Ersoy (Turkey), N’Goné Fall (Senegal), Amirali Ghasemi (Iran), Vít Havránek (Czech Republic), Hou Hanru (US/China), Virginija Januskeviciute (Lithuania), Abdellah Karroum (Morocco), Sun Jung Kim (South Korea), Pablo León de la Barra (Mexico/UK), Maria Lind (Sweden), Yandro Miralles (Cuba), Srimoyee Mitra (Canada), Nat Muller (The Netherlands), Sharmini Pereira (Sri Lanka), Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez (France/Slovenia), Kathrin Rhomberg (Austria), Mats Stjernstedt (Norway/Sweden), David Teh (Austrailia/Thailand), Philip Tinari (US/China), Christine Tohme (Lebanon), Raluca Voinea (Romania), Jochen Volz (Germany/UK), and Adnan Yildiz (Germany)
Artists include:
Jonathas de Andrade (Brazil), Marwa Arsanios (Lebanon), Zbyněk Baladrán (Czech Republic), Michael Blum (Israel/Canada) and Damir Nikšić (Bosnia/Sweden), Deanna Bowen (US/Canada), Pavel Braila (Moldova), Aslı Çavuşoğlu (Turkey), Park Chan-Kyong (South Korea), Josef Dabernig (Austria), Elena Damiani (Peru), Shezad Dawood (UK), Annika Eriksson (Sweden), Antanas Gerlikas (Lithuania), Annemarie Jacir (Palestine), Lars Laumann (Norway), Aníbal López (A-1 53167) (Guatemala), Reynier Leyva Novo (Cuba), Basim Magdy (Egypt), Cinthia Marcelle (Brazil), Bradley McCullum & Jacqueline Tarry (US), Ivana Müller (France/The Netherlands/Croatia), Ahmet Ögüt (Turkey), Jenny Perlin (US), Agnieszka Polska (Poland), Sara Ramo (Spain), Wok the Rock (Indonesia), Sona Safaei (Iran), Heino Schmid (The Bahamas), Prilla Tania (Indonesia), Alexander Ugay (Kazakhstan), Sun Xun (China), Jin-Me Yoon (Korea), Dale Yudelman (South Africa), Helen Zeru (Ethiopia), Chen Zhou (China)