|
| For
a larger view of works of art click on images. |
|
Current
Exhibitions
Janet Fish: Into the Light
12
February–22 June 2008
 |
Have you ever been captivated by a cabbage
or stunned by salad dressing? Are you aware that the canned
vegetables that line the shelves of your pantry and the glass
dishes that hide behind your cupboard doors secretly possess
the power to excite your senses? Visitors to Janet Fish:
Into the Light, a retrospective exhibition organized in collaboration
with the Southern Vermont Arts Center, will never again overlook
inconspicuous household objects. On display are nearly 30
works by the artist, including oil paintings, watercolors,
and pastel drawings that exemplify her enduring fascination
with light and reflections. |
Janet Fish is a highly acclaimed artist and recipient of numerous
awards, including the William A. Paton Prize from the National
Academy Museum, and the American Artist Achievement Award. Her
work has been exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
Born
into a family of artists, Fish demonstrated
artistic talent at an early age.
She graduated from Smith College
and went
on to earn a Master of Fine Arts
degree at Yale. While it was her
ability that
guided her through school, it was
her strong will and self-confidence
that
helped her forge a successful career.
In the 1960s, when Abstract Expressionism
dominated the art scene, Fish defiantly
dove headlong into realism. She emerged
as a “painterly realist,” projecting
the physicality and dynamism of Abstract
Expressionism onto realist subject
matter. |
 |
Vincent
Katz, an independent curator, describes her paintings as “dazzling, gossamer tours de force of glass, light,
and shadow.” He explains: “She has frequently chosen
subjects considered to be off-limits, boldly flouting received
opinion. Her paintings of things can be seen as pure delight,
beautiful objects that convey no message, that cause the mind
to stop thinking and to contemplate the marvel before one’s
eye. That contemplation can go on for many years. “Her “unmistakable
style” has been described by art critic Dottie Indyke as “realism
injected with a dose of expressionistic passion.” Each
of her large canvasses— which typically, measure between
four and eight feet in length—burst with lushly saturated
colors, energy, motion, and vivid light.
SIDE
BY SIDE Docents' Choice: Works on Paper
4 March-1 June 2008
 What
is it that makes comparing two works of art so powerful? What
do we see when we examine things side by side that we don’t
see when we look at objects individually? The docents of the
Mount HolyokeCollege Art Museum set about answering that question
during the fall of 2007 and the exhibition Side By Side is the
result of their investigations.
Since the early 1970s, an active corps of volunteer docents
has been integral to the Museum's efforts to serve its diverse
constituencies. Besides providing tours of the permanent collection
and special exhibitions to visiting groups, these volunteers
offer educational initiatives to school children of all ages.
Meeting each week to discuss works of art and to hone their pedagogical
skills, these volunteers are engaged in all aspects of museum
work and serve as a link to the community beyond the walls of
the Museum and the College.
This year in addition to their regular duties, the docents were
challenged not only to learn about the Museum’s permanent
and changing exhibitions, but to create one of their own. Delving
into the myriad works on paper in the Museum’s collection
that are not regularly on view, the docents were asked to select
two objects, to find a way to compare them and to share with
each other and the public what that process of comparison reveals.
Do they extend, corroborate, complicate, contradict, correct,
or debate with one another? That conversation was at the heart
of our venture.
Articulating the similarities and differences was an integral
part of the process. As Susan Woodford writes in her book, Looking
At Pictures, “…odd as it might seem, looking on its
own is frequently not enough. Finding words to describe and analyse
pictures often provides the only way to help us progress from
passive looking to active, perceptive seeing.” Presentations
based on their research provided the background for writing the
wall texts for the exhibition. The docents soon learned that
condensing extensive research into a few hundred words is much
more challenging than it first seemed. They had t decide whether
they wished to focus on the formal properties of a work, such
as design and composition, or whether they wished to examine
content, context, or method of making.
The thirty works in the exhibition selected by fifteen docents
include drawings, etchings and prints, photographs, paintings,
silhouettes, and collage. Two quite different crucifixion images
by Romare Bearden and Ricco LeBrun each use the imagery to reflect
the unprecedented brutality and suffering perpetrated during
World War II. Other comparisons include photographs of artists
at work, cityscapes, nudes, and landscapes from both western
and eastern traditions and from the 18th century through contemporary
times.
Anita Page, who has recently joined the docent group remarked, “Doing
research on two works creates a third entity—the interconnectedness
of the two, unintended but vital to the art viewing process.
It’s very exciting!” Adds veteran docent Sheila McElwaine, “selecting,
researching, and presenting works on paper from the collection
has been a powerful learning experience and has given docents
more appreciation for issues the museum staff confronts year
in and year out. Being entrusted with backstage access and direct
contact with museum objects sends a strong message about our
place on the team.”
Asian
Art from the Sackler Foundation
Ongoing
| 
Chinese
guanyin
|
This
remarkable selection of Asian art, on long-term loan from the
Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in New York, is on view in
the Norah
Warbeke Gallery. In 1965, Dr. Sackler (1913-1987), a research
psychiatrist, medical publisher, connoisseur and collector
of
art, established the foundation to make his extensive art collections
accessible to the public by lending art to museums and creating
traveling exhibitions to promote understanding and enjoyment
of Asian art.
Following the museum's
recent expansion and renovation, curator Wendy Watson received
a call from Trudy S. Kawami, director of research for the Sackler
Foundation. Kawami wondered if Mount Holyoke would be interested
in a long-term loan of several works of art to display alongside
its own growing Asian collection. Watson and director Marianne
Doezema traveled to New York to investigate. After consultation
with various faculty members about curricular applications, a
list of possibilities was forwarded to the foundation.
Chinese
Camel |
Soon afterwards 16
works of art were conserved and packed for the trip to South Hadley.
Among them are four sculptures: a spectacular Thai bronze Buddha
(15th-16th century); a Chinese polychrome wood Guanyin figure,
probably dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD); and two stunning
glazed ceramic Tang funerary sculptures (618-908 AD), one representing
a camel and the other a court official. Ten other ceramic objects
include a dramatically-patterned Neolithic Chinese storage jar
(2nd-3rd millennium BC), a green glazed censer vessel of the Han
Dynasty (25-220 AD), and two beautiful stoneware vases of the
Song dynasty.
Six additional ceramics
represent the artistic achievements of Iran, and range in date
from the first millennium BC to the Seljuk and Safavid periods
(13th and 17th centuries). Those are installed in the museum's
Carson Teaching Gallery.
Chinese
Funerary storage jar |
All of these objects
will enrich the college's curriculum in several departments
and
programs including art history, religion, history, and Asian
Studies. Jonathan Lipman, professor of East Asian history
at Mount Holyoke,
examined the objects during their installation recently and remarked
"I can easily imagine using these marvelous works of art
to study the transmission and visual presentation of Buddhism,
the interaction of Chinese and Central Asian cultures, and the
aesthetics of everyday life in East Asia. We'll visit the museum
at least two or three times this semester as part of my Introduction
to Chinese Civilization course."
Throughout his life,
Arthur Sackler was an avid student of art and art history. "One
wonderful day in 1950," he wrote, "I came upon some
Chinese ceramics and Ming furniture. My life has not been the
same since." Asian art, especially Chinese bronze and jade,
came to form the core of the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Ultimately,
they included art from China, Korea, Cambodia, India, Japan, and
ancient Iran, as well as Italian Renaissance maiolica and European
terracotta sculpture from the 14th to the 20th centuries.
Furthering his commitment
to the arts, Sackler endowed galleries at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and Princeton University and supported the construction
of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard. With his brothers,
he funded the Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to
house the renowned Temple of Dendur. In 1987 he was the principal
benefactor of the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., a national
museum of Asian art and part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Parking
and Restaurant Guide
Top
of page
|
