Past Exhibitions

Eye on Water

1 February–3 July 2005

Vija Celmins Ocean Surface—Drypoint

Water is the most vital element life as well as creative and spiritual expression. Artistic renditions of water affirm our connection to it, just as water’s place in the world determines not only our existence but that of the planet and all its inhabitants. Organized in conjunction with the yearlong series of programs and events developed at Mount Holyoke College around the theme “Water Matters,” this exhibition in the Rodney White Print Room focuses on water as a subject for artists from a diversity of cultures in a variety of media.Selections on view from the museum’s collection include Ansel Adams’ magnificent photographs of waterfalls in American national parks, Vija Celmins’ stunning etching Ocean Surface—Drypoint, and Louisa Chase’s woodcut Red Sea that features hands reaching out of a purple-, black- and red-colored sea.

Visitors will see Fuji of the Waves by Katsushika Hokusai from the book One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, printed in 1836 (the year before Mount Holyoke was founded). In this image the artist has magically transformed the wave’s spray into a flock of birds. Reflecting that same period in history on the opposite side of the globe is the watercolor View of Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, and the Connecticut River by Elizabeth Goodridge. It depicts her interpretation of this famous scene practically in the College’s backyard. The view from and of the mountain, which in the 19th century was the second most visited tourist destination in the United States, continues to inspire artists. Among them are Martha Armstrong and Robert Aller. Visitors to the exhibition will see Armstrong’s 1993 painting Oxbow from the Summit House and Aller’s photograph View from Mount Holyoke, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 2001

Berenice Abbott Water Pattern

Best known for her documentary photographs of New York City, Berenice Abbott was also engaged in scientific interpretation. Included in the show is Water Pattern (from her Science Pictures) that reflects Abbott’s appreciation for the capacity of rigorously conceived images to convey information in an aesthetically engaging way. Sébah, J. Pascal’s 19th-century photographs of water-conveying devices in the Nile River artistically document for posterity how inhabitants of the arid region managed the collection of this life-sustaining liquid. An Italian albumen print of the same period shows a Roman aqueduct. Also on view is the recent acquisition Little Pigeon River, Tennessee by Justin Kimball, who received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 for distinguished achievement and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Of his work, Kimball writes, “I have been taking photographs at beaches, parks, campgrounds, and swimming holes around the country…places where people come to be directly involved with the landscape, to feel intimately connected with nature. By showing moments when my subjects and their environments seem vulnerable, I capture the deliberate or fortuitous tension between them. At such times, a physical connection to the landscape can be seen in a gesture or an expression, rendering visible the underlying emotional or psychological components of the moment.”

For details about the yearlong Water Matters program, cosponsored by the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum with the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts and the Center for the Environment, see www.mtholyoke.edu/go/water.

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