2009.11.03
Rembrandt etchings coming to the Taubman Museum
Wow! I asked for feedback about the Taubman Museum of Art yesterday, and I'm definitely getting it. Thanks so much, readers, and feel free to keep those comments coming.
Whether you think the Taubman deserves cheers or boos, they have been around a whole year and they have big plans for commemorating their anniversary, with a concert by cult rock icons with Roanoke ties, Southern Culture on the Kids (music reporter Tad Dickens has details here) and the opening of four new exhibits, including a long-promised display of historic Rembrandt etchings. Here's a whole heap of details, provided by the museum.
TAUBMAN MUSEUM OF ART TO OPEN EXHIBITION
OF IMPORTANT REMBRANDT ETCHINGS ON NOVEMBER 20
Exhibitions of works by Mike Houston and Martin Mazzora,
Russell Richards and Peter Eudenbach also to open on November 20
ROANOKE, Va., October 30, 2009 – "Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt’s Etchings" will be on view at the Taubman Museum of Art beginning November 20, 2009 through February 7, 2010. The exhibition features 35 rare etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn created between 1629 and 1648.
Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669), Sheets of Studies, Head of Rembrandt, Beggars (1632), Etching, Landau Traveling Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA.
As one of the towering figures in the history of art, Rembrandt, a miller’s son from the university town of Leiden, was an artist of unmatched genius. Equally gifted as a painter, printmaker, and draftsman, Rembrandt proved himself to be as skillful at making portraits as he was at creating religious and mythological narratives. His landscapes are just as remarkable as his rare still lifes and subjects detailing everyday life.
Widely recognized as the greatest practitioner of the etching technique in the history of art, Rembrandt created 300 prints that constitute a body of work unparalleled in richness and beauty. Rembrandt repeatedly chose beggars as the subject for his etchings. Many of Rembrandt's etchings sympathetically portray beggars as biblical figures. These etchings of beggars also played an essential role in Rembrandt's formative years as an artist.
In his essay for the exhibition catalog, Dutch author and art historian Gary Schwartz writes “The image of the beggar in Netherlandish art was no better than in society as a whole. It would not then have been out of line with the convictions of his society, with Netherlandish artistic tradition or classical art theory, had Rembrandt depicted beggars as contemptible or loathsome creatures. Indeed, some of his work fits perfectly well into this picture." Schwartz is also the editor of The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt published by Dover Publications in 1994.
However, many of Rembrandt's etchings are of biblical scenes with biblical figures portrayed as beggars. Schwartz writes, “This kind of crossover between street life and sacred history matches a pattern that is found elsewhere in Rembrandt's work. Mean and sordid though they may have been in life and in art theory, in Rembrandt's etchings beggars are bestowed with sanctity and individuality.”
He continues. “This constellation of images and of markets — from the pennies paid for small etchings of beggars to the veritable fortunes Rembrandt earned for paintings for the stadholder — shows how essential Rembrandt's etchings of beggars were in his formative years as an artist. The way he imagined the beggar is inextricable from the way he imagined himself, the way he imagined Christ, the way he conceived of imagery itself.”
"Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt’s Etchings" is drawn from the John Villarino Collection and organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA.
Also opening on November 20:
"Jumpstart and Holler: Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra"
Through February 14, 2010
Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra are master printers whose gigantic two and three-dimensional multi-paneled composite woodcuts might be something that Rembrandt would be involved in if he were alive today. In addition to works previously created by Houston and Mazzora over the past several years, the exhibition will showcase a new series of more than 20 unique large-scale works in the form of a three-dimensional “tent city” based on the theme of the beggar in modern society.
"Russell Richards: Thoughts About Life and Death"
Through February 7, 2010
Charlottesville-based Richards works primarily in printmaking, developing multi-plate methods in etching and lithography and lately, exploring painting techniques. He is known for fantastical and imaginative imagery that is electrifying, sometimes brutal, and always uncompromising. The exhibition will feature works from several of Richards’ recent series, including City, Dinosaurs, and the topsy-turvy Inaccurate Maps.
"Peter Eudenbach: Cause and Effect"
Through February 14, 2010
Eudenbach is a conceptual artist who incorporates a variety of media in his investigations that transform the function and design of ordinary objects in to serious play. Inspired by the Surrealists and DADA art movements from the early part of the 20th century, the exhibition will showcase Time Transfixed, a re-do of the famous Rene Magrite work, and Tours de Revolution, which mixes Ferris Wheels and Marcel Duchamp with Gustave Eiffel’s Tour Eiffel, among other works.
Dennis Weller, the curator of Northern European Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, will give an Art Talk on November 19 at 6 p.m. in the museum’s Taubman Theatre. The cost is free for members and $5 for non-members. Seating is limited. Tickets are required and may be purchased by calling (540) 204-4122.
Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra, Russell Richards and Peter Eudenbach will speak briefly about their works during the Members’ Preview and Opening Reception on November 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mike Houston and Martin Mazzora will speak at 7:15 p.m. in Gallery 1. Peter Eudenbach will speak about his work at 7:30 in the MediaLab, and Russell Richard will speak at 7:45 p.m. in the museum’s Regional Gallery. The cost of the Members’ Preview and Opening Reception is free for members and $5 for non-members. Tickets are required and may be purchased by calling (540) 204.4122.
About the Taubman Museum of Art
The Taubman Museum of Art showcases American art, modern and contemporary art, design and decorative arts, folk and visionary art, and works on paper, and features a changing array of both national and international exhibitions. Tours, gallery talks, musical performances, films, family days, classes, camps, and special events are part of the museum’s diverse offerings.
Designed by architect Randall Stout, the Taubman Museum of Art is a dramatic composition of flowing, layered forms in steel, patinated zinc and high-performance glass paying sculptural tribute to the famous Blue Ridge Mountains that provide Roanoke’s backdrop and shape the region’s spirit. The 81,000 square foot structure houses four special exhibition and five permanent collection galleries, a dramatic atrium, education spaces including a studio classroom and a library, an interactive gallery and art center for children, a flexible theatre/programming space, a multi-purpose auditorium, and a works on paper study room. Norah’s offers simple yet upscale dining in a sleek contemporary café setting. The Museum Store showcases an exciting assortment of museum and exhibition-related merchandise, regional fine crafts, and unique and imaginative gifts from around the world.
The Taubman Museum of Art is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the galleries and Art Venture is $10.50 for adults, $9 for seniors, $8.50 for students, $5.50 for children ages 4-12, and free for children 3 and under.
For more information, visit www.taubmanmuseum.org or call (540) 342-5760.
