Huntsville Museum of Art Summer 2014 artViews Janet Fish: Master of Light and Shadow Now through July 27, 2014 welcome Dear Museum Members, Museum Board of Directors Chairman: John Wynn t’s been said that each of us, at one time or another, Vice Chairman: Richard Crunkleton Iexperiences a “six degrees of separation” moment. In Secretary: Walter (Tod) Dodgen some cases it’s fewer than six degrees, and it can happen Treasurer: Charlie Bonner more than once. Dorothy Davidson Betsy Lowe As our summer season kicks into high gear with the Sarah Gessler David Nast Joyce Griffin Virgina Rice opening of two milestone exhibitions, Janet Fish: Master Patsy Haws Herman Stubbs of Light and Shadow and Al Hirschfeld: A Celebration Carole Jones of Hollywood and Broadway, I’m reminded that my encounters with both artists and their works are tied Foundation Board President: Bobby Bradley to two individuals that I’m proud to call my friends – Buddy Teich and the late Vice President: Dee Kowallik Elaine Kend. Our lives have crossed paths many times over the years, and nearly Secretary: Parke Keith each time it has led to something Heather Baker Blake Mitchell momentous. Dane Block Bronwen Murray I first became acquainted with Kerry Doran Melanie Murray Micah Fisher Shannon Raleigh Janet Fish and her visually energized Patrick Fleming Keyke Reed still life paintings when I curated Greg Gum Dianne Reynolds a show of hers at the Southern Tharon Honeycutt Mark Spencer Vermont Arts Center in the Rosemary Lee Dana Town Susan Linn Lori Webber summer of 1989. I have since had Michele Lucas Charlotte Wessel the good fortune to work with Janet Dabsey Maxwell on numerous occasions, and it is an Women’s Guild Officers honor for me to introduce one of President: Suzanne Barnes America’s most noted living artists President-elect: Sasha Sealy to the residents of Alabama. (Left to right) Buddy Teich, Robin Williams and Secretary: Nancy Ferguson Both Elaine Kend and Buddy David Steinberg at the 92nd St Y, NYC Treasurer: Michele Rife Teich – stalwart benefactors of the arts in general and champions of Janet’s work Assistant Treasurer: Stacey Goldmon in particular – played major roles in facilitating the Fish exhibitions. Elaine shared Museum Travel Committee her exuberance for and lent her support to contemporary art and artists wherever Beth Biez Bill Emerson Jacalyn Butler Robbie Hallisey she roamed, from Vermont to Great Neck to Boca Raton to London and to Rome. In 2008, Buddy and I hosted a fundraiser at his apartment, overlooking Museum Staff Central Park in New York City. Honored Executive Director: Christopher J. Madkour guests included Janet Fish and designers Gloria Director of Curatorial Affairs: Peter J. Baldaia Development Director: Amy Cornelius Vanderbilt, Adolfo, Mary McFadden, and Director of Education/Museum Academy: Mario Buatta to name a few. Also in attendance Laura E. Smith was Louise Hirschfeld, the widow of the most Accountant: Wendy Worley celebrated caricaturist of the last century, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections: David Reyes Al Hirschfeld. For more than four decades, Communications Director: Stephanie Kelley, APR Hirschfeld’s drawings of stage and screen notables Education Associate: Libbie Adams Rentz delighted readers of the Arts and Leisure section Facility and Event Manager: Lil Parton of the Sunday New York Times – and kept many of Curator of Exhibition Interpretation/Registrar: us hunting for the “Ninas,”– his daughter’s name – Deborah Taylor Security Supervisor: Linda Berry that he wove into his works. Guest Services Representatives: Included in the Hirschfeld show is the Linda Nagle, Emily Alcorn, Wendy Campbell Elaine Kend illustration he did for the 1975 revival of The Executive Assistant: Amy Mata Glass Menagerie starring Maureen Stapleton and Rip Torn at the Circle in The Social Media and Online Coordinator: Katie Martin Square Theatre. Somewhat curiously, my mother thought that Menagerie would be Accounting Assistants: a good introduction to live theater for my sister and me (The Wiz it wasn’t, but I Tonya Alexander, Mary Chavosky Membership and Annual Giving Coordinator: was hooked on theater nonetheless), and off we all trooped to our first Broadway Andrea Petroff show. Now, 40 years later, it comes full circle. Membership Associate: Anita Kimbrough I don’t know how many degrees of separation have played a part in this Museum Academy Assistant: Lisa Roth summer’s slate of offerings, but I do know this: chance meetings and seemingly Facility Rental Assistants: random encounters can lead to life-long connections and enduring friendships. Markesia Carter, Christine Kennedy Enjoy the shows, stay open to possibilities, and have a wonderful summer. Museum Store: Rachael Stone Volunteers: Museum Store Coordinator Janell Sincerely, Zesinger; Jerry Brown, Billie Muhl, Gina Ceci, Christopher J. Madkour Linda Harris, Mary Withington Security Guards: Britney Boles, Hayden Herfurth, Executive Director Rich Krumrie, Jeanne Manley, Shaun Pass, On the cover: Anderson’s Fairy Tales, 1999, oil on canvas, 60 x 50 inches. Lent courtesy of the artist Laura Payne, John Solari, Charlie Tolbert and DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY; Art © Janet Fish/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY Custodian: Doug Crane 2 exhibitions Janet Fish: Master of Light and Shadow Now through July 27, 2014 elebrating the career of this C contemporary American artist who masterfully captures light, color and shadow, Janet Fish: Master of Light and Shadow presents 44 of Fish’s vibrant, large-scale paintings. The museum organized this unique retrospective with works executed between 1969 and 2008. It includes key pieces borrowed from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art in Texas, and The Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio, as well as other important institutions. “Janet’s signature style of capturing the nuances of light and shadow, as they interact with a collection of seemingly random and mundane objects, is nothing short of masterful,” Christopher J. Madkour, the museum’s executive director, said. “Very few contemporary artists’ works compare to Fish’s command of painterly technique in creating such 8 Vinegar Bottles, 1972-73; oil on canvas, 53 x 72 inches; lent by the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Gift arresting compositions.” of The 500, Inc. (1973.82). Art © Janet Fish/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY Fish is credited with invigorating the genre of still life, both by the energetic exotic vases filled with vibrant flowers, rendered in decisive yet fluid strokes of way she paints and the witty and ironic sumptuous rugs and textiles, and a variety intensely colored paint. combinations of objects that she depicts. of flea market finds and tasty treats are Born in Boston, she attributes her Glass bowls overflowing with fruit, among the objects that are arranged and fascination with light and intense color to having grown up amid the brightness and vibrant tropical colors of Bermuda. Being part of an artistic family also contributed to Fish’s early interest in art. Her grandfather was Clark Voorhees (1871–1933), an American Impressionist; her mother and uncle were sculptors; and her father occasionally taught Art History. She attended Smith College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in arts, before earning a master’s degree in Fine Art from Yale in 1963. Fish’s works can also be found in the permanent collections of museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Thanks to lead corporate co-sponsors PNC and Davidson Technologies for their support and Herb Tea, 1995; oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches; lent by Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA. Purchased with the Janet Wright Ketcham, Class of 1953, Art Acquisition Fund, the Class of 1990 Art Fund and with gifts made to DC Moore Gallery in New York in honor of President Mary Maples Dunn. Art © Janet Fish/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY City for lending most of the work. 2014 at HMA: American Beauty–Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. 3 exhibitions Al Hirschfeld: A Celebration of Hollywood and Broadway May 30-September 14, 2014 his new exhibition from the Al drawn from life from a Hirschfeld THirschfeld Foundation will feature interview in 1942. A sultry drawing of nearly 50 drawings and prints spanning Sophia Loren entwined with Anthony Hirschfeld’s long career. Icons from the Perkins from their 1962 filmFive Miles Great White Way and the Silver Screen To Midnight will also greet visitors to the include John Wayne, Carol Channing, exhibition. Richard Burton, Zero Mostel, Elizabeth The name Al Hirschfeld has virtually Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Marlon been synonymous with Broadway since Brando. The artwork covers a staggering his first theatrical drawing was published 71 years of popular culture in America in December 1926. The exhibition and brings the best of Hirschfeld to the highlights his contributions to both the Huntsville Museum of Art. theater and film worlds. Some of the exhibit highlights “Hirschfeld was the court artist for all include a lithograph of Marilyn Monroe’s the performing arts,” says David Leopold, famous sewer grate scene from The Seven archivist of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, Year Itch; Clark Gable as Rhett Butler; “but he drew more of Broadway and and a white haired Charlie Chaplin, Hollywood than anything else…or anyone else.” Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! (1964), 1977 print of 1964 drawing; 20 x 15 inches; collection of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation “ Al Hirschfeld was not the best at what he did, he was the only one who did what he did. He said his contribution was to take the character, created by the playwright and portrayed by the Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind (1939), 1983 actor, and reinvent it for the reader.” Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955), color etching; 20 x 15 inches; collection of the – David Leopold 1983 etching; 20 x 15 inches; collection of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation Al Hirschfeld Foundation VOICES OF OUR TIMES FINAL EVENT elebrate the genius of Al Hirschfeld C at an Opening Party for the Louise Hirschfeld Hirschfeld exhibit and hear from his President, Hirschfeld Foundation widow Louise Kerz Hirschfeld.