• Press Release Contact: Andrea Allen (585) 276-8932 / [email protected] Shirley Wersinger (585) 276-8935 / [email protected] March 21, 2006
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Memorial Art Gallery 500 UNIVERSITY AVENUE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14607 585.276.8900 585.473.6266 FAX MAG.ROCHESTER.EDU • Press Release Contact: Andrea Allen (585) 276-8932 / [email protected] Shirley Wersinger (585) 276-8935 / [email protected] March 21, 2006 MEMORIAL ART GALLERY OPENS MAJOR REINSTALLATION OF AMERICAN COLLECTION ROCHESTER, NY — “Seeing America,” a major reinstallation of the Memorial Art Gallery's noted American collection, is now open to the public. Spanning four centuries and occupying 7,000 square feet on MAG’s first floor, the new installation brings together some of the finest works in the collection as it constitutes what chief curator Marjorie Searl calls “a journey in space and time.” The 114 works range from the Colonial era, exemplified by John Singleton Copley’s unfinished portrait (ca. 1762) of Boston silversmith Nathaniel Hurd, to politically charged mixed-media pieces by contemporary artists Jaune Quick-to- See Smith, Christian Boltanski and Binh Danh. In between are works by such masters as Thomas Cole, Winslow Homer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Thomas Eakins, John Sloan, George Bellows, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, Jacob Lawrence and Dale Chihuly. (A com- plete checklist is attached.) Of particular interest, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jawbone and Fungus (1937) is displayed for the first time in a plexiglas case that allows visitors to see the brightly colored, unfinished abstract painting on the reverse—a painting that dates to the 1920s and that the artist abandoned for reasons unknown. Three galleries are grouped chronologically—“Art of a Young Nation” (Colonial era–1900); “Controversy and Change” (1900–1950); and “Art and Ideas” (1950–the present). A fourth, “Focus on Rochester,” brings together such works with local connections as Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, Maxfield Parrish’s Interlude (The Lute Players), Fritz Trautman’s Galaxy and Wendell Castle’s Last Judgment. An adjacent 2,000-square-foot gallery, renovated in 2002, houses American decorative and folk arts. A century of commitment ‘Seeing America’ documents the Gallery’s longstanding commitment to building an outstanding collection of American art. As early as 1913, the year of its founding, MAG was championing and ABOVE: Visitors to “Seeing America” are greeted by Thomas Ridgeway Gould’s dramatic 1876 sculpture The West Wind. more… Memorial Art Gallery page Seeing America acquiring such major works as John Twachtman’s masterful White Bridge. Nearly a century later, the American collection continues to grow and diversify, as illustrated by three newly acquired works—an 1800 tall case clock by Simon Willard, a 1937 modernist painting by Irene Rice Pereira, and photo- documentary print by Binh Danh from the 2006 exhibition Extreme Materials. A large part of the collection has been on storage in recent months, while the Gallery utilized two of the galleries in “Seeing America” for My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection, 1900– 1955. This major traveling exhibition was on view in fall 2006, concurrently with Georgia O’Keeffe: Color and Conservation. The unprecedented need for exhibition space offered a perfect opportunity to plan for an enhanced presentation of one of MAG’s pre-eminent collections. Catalog Many of the works in “Seeing America” are highlighted in a catalog published by the Gallery in July 2006. Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester examines 82 objects and their connections to American history, culture, litera- ture and politics. The 336-page, coffee-table size book is available in hardcover ($65) or softcover ($40) and is available in the Gallery Store (585-473-7720, ext. 3057). An online version is also available at http://mag.rochester.edu/seeingAmerica/. Hours and admission The Memorial Art Gallery is open Wednesday-Sunday 11 am to 5 pm and Thursday until 9 pm; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. General admission is $7; college students with ID and senior citizens, $5; children 6-18, $3; always free to MAG members, UR students and children 5 and under. Reduced general admission from 5 to 9 pm Thursdays is $2. Reduced Thursday evening admission made possible by the Democrat and Chronicle/Gannett Foundation, with additional support from ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Thomson West and Monroe County. ### Memorial Art Gallery 500 UNIVERSITY AVENUE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14607 585.276.8900 585.473.6266 FAX MAG.ROCHESTER.EDU • Press Release WORKS ON VIEW: “SEEING AMERICA” INSTALLATION THE ART OF Gilbert Stuart Thomas Cole A YOUNG NATION Russell Sturgis Genesee Scenery ca. 1806 1846–1847 John Burt Oil on canvas Oil on panel Porringer Purchased through the Gift of Howard and ca. 1730 R. T. Miller, Jr. Fund Florence Merritt Silver Gift of Andrew D. Wolfe Gilbert Stuart Lilly Martin Spencer Elizabeth Perkins Sturgis Peeling Onions John Burt ca. 1806 ca. 1852 Tankard Oil on canvas Oil on canvas Silver Purchased through the Gift of the Women's Council in Anonymous donor R. T. Miller, Jr. Fund celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Memorial Art Gallery Nathaniel Hurd Benjamin West Two Spoons Study for “Christ Rejected” Rubens Peale ca. 1760 1811 Still Life Number 26: Silver Oil on paper laid down on panel Silver Basket of Fruit Maurice R. and Maxine B. Marion Stratton Gould Fund 1857–58 Forman Fund Oil on tin William Sidney Mount Gift of Helen C. Ellwanger John Singleton Copley Antoinette Pierson Unfinished Portrait of 1830 Asher Brown Durand Nathaniel Hurd Oil on canvas Genesee Oaks ca. 1765 Bequest of Antoinette Pierson 1860 Oil on canvas Granger Oil on canvas Marion Stratton Gould Fund Gift of the Women's Council George Harvey in honor of Harris K. Prior Simon Willard Pittsford on the Erie Canal Tall Case Clock 1837 John Frederick Kensett ca. 1800 Oil on panel A Showery Day, Lake George Mahogany, glass, brass Gift of the Margaret M. ca. 1860 and painted face McDonald Memorial Fund Oil on canvas Bequest of Jean Craig Marion Stratton Gould Fund DeWitt Clinton Boutelle Unknown, American The Indian Hunter Windsor Armchair 1846 Maple, pine and oak Oil on canvas Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marion Stratton Gould Fund James Conmey more… Memorial Art Gallery page Seeing America Martin Johnson Heade Leonard Wells Volk George Grey Barnard Newbury Hayfield at Sunset Life Mask and Hands Abraham Lincoln 1862 of Abraham Lincoln ca. 1918 Oil on canvas 1886 Marble Marion Stratton Gould Fund Gift of Jacqueline Stemmler Bronze Adams in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Gift of Thomas and Marion Hawks, Hale Woodruff Frederick M. Stemmler by exchange Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln Discussing Emancipation David Gilmour Blythe John Haberle 1942–1943 Trial Scene Torn in Transit Tempera on masonite ca. 1862–63 1888–89 Marion Stratton Gould Fund Oil on canvas Oil on canvas Marion Stratton Gould Fund Marion Stratton Gould Fund CONTROVERSY AND James Henry Beard Frederick W. MacMonnies CHANGE 1900–1950 The Night Before the Battle Nathan Hale John Henry Twachtman 1865 1890 The White Bridge Oil on canvas Bronze ca. 1900 Gift of Dr. Ronald M. Lawrence Marion Stratton Gould Fund Oil on canvas Albert Bierstadt John Frederick Peto Gift of Emily Sibley Watson The Sierras Near Lake Tahoe, Cali- Articles Hung on a Door Everett Shinn fornia after 1890 Sullivan Street 1865 Oil on canvas 1900–05 Oil on panel Marion Stratton Gould Fund Oil on canvas Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Fund Marion Stratton Gould Fund and Marion Stratton George Inness Gould Fund Early Moonrise in Florida Thomas Eakins 1893 William H. Macdowell Mortimer Smith Oil on canvas ca. 1904 Home Late George Eastman Collection of the Oil on canvas 1866 University of Rochester Marion Stratton Gould Fund Oil on canvas Marion Stratton Gould Fund Winslow Homer John Sloan The Artist's Studio Election Night Thomas Ridgeway Gould in an Afternoon Fog 1907 The West Wind 1894 Oil on canvas 1876 Oil on canvas Marion Stratton Gould Fund Marble Gift of the Isaac Gordon R. T. Miller Fund Estate through the Lincoln Jerome Myers Rochester Trust Company Frederic Remington Sunday Morning The Broncho Buster 1907 Eastman Johnson 1895 Oil on canvas Back from the Orchard Bronze Marion Stratton Gould Fund ca. 1876 Gift of a friend of the Gallery Oil on board Thomas W. Dewing Marion Stratton Gould Fund Augustus Saint-Gaudens Portrait in a Brown Dress Shaw Memorial, Soldier Heads ca. 1908 Randolph Rogers ca. 1897 Oil on wood panel Indian Group—The Last Shot Bronze on wood base Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander 1880 Gift of Richard Brush and Maurice Millar Lindsay III, in memory Bronze and Maxine Forman Fund in honor of Jesse Williams and Grace Extended loan from the Metropolitan of the 20th year of Grant Holcomb’s Curtice Lindsay and their daughter, Museum of Art, New York; Bequest directorship Carolyn Lindsay White of Henry H. Cook, 1905 (returning soon) more… Memorial Art Gallery page Seeing America John Sloan George Bellows Stuart Davis Chinese Restaurant Autumn Brook Composition 1909 1922 1931 Oil on canvas Oil on panel Oil on canvas Marion Stratton Gould Fund Bequest of Muriel Englander Klep- Gift of Mr. and Mrs.Thomas (returning soon) per and Marion Stratton Gould Fund G. Spencer temporary installation replacing Kathleen McEnery Cunningham Harold Weston Boomtown (above) Woman in an Ermine Collar Three Trees, Winter 1909 1922 John B. Flannagan Oil on canvas Oil on canvas The Fawn Gift of Joan Cunningham Gift of Emily Sibley Watson 1928 Williams, Peter Cunningham, and Granite Michael McEnery Cunningham Georgia O'Keeffe Marion Stratton Gould Fund Untitled (Abstraction) Mary Abastenia St. Leger Eberle ca. 1923 Georgia O'Keeffe Windy Doorstep Oil on canvas Jawbone and Fungus 1910 Marion Stratton Gould Fund 1931 Bronze Oil on canvas Maurice R.