Spring/SUMMER 2017 ARTVIEWS
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Huntsville Museum of Art Spring/SUMMER 2017 ARTVIEWS Museum Board of Directors Chairman: Richard Crunkleton Dear Museum Members, Vice Chairman: Walter (Tod) Dodgen Secretary: Charlie Bonner ith summer on its way, the Huntsville Museum Treasurer: David Nast Wof Art looks forward to a season of wonderful Dorothy Davidson Betsy Lowe exhibitions and events. From Burchfield Botanicals Sarah Gessler Virgina Rice Joyce Griffin Herman Stubbs and The Birds of America: Aquatints from the Kathy Patsy Haws John Wynn and Michael Mouron Collection to an Evening of Blues, Carole Jones HMA promises to enrich your summer. Ex-Officio Members Collections Committee: Rosemary Lee John James Audubon’s aquatints and descriptions Foundation Board President: Kerry Doran in the Birds of America remain the gold standard HMA Guild President: Kathi Tew GALA Co-Chair: Paige Prozan against which all ornithological portraits are judged. Docent Chair: Laurie Noojin His landmark work, Birds of America (1838), consisted Foundation Board of 435 life-size prints that were published in series of President: Kerry Doran Vice President: Blake Mitchell five editions over the course of thirteen years. Because the prints were extremely Secretary: Wendy Johnson large and had to be hand-colored by a team of painters, the cost of creating John Allen Parke Keith Heather Baker Rosemary Lee the original sets was exorbitant. The collection on display from Kathy and Caroline Bentley Darren Malone Michael Mouron, of Birmingham, AL, represents some of the finest examples Jane Brocato Dabsey Maxwell of Audubon’s Birds of North America, in a private collection. We are indebted Vicki Edwards Todd McBride Patrick Fleming Anne Pollard to Kathy and Michael for sharing their stellar collection with the residents and Cara Greco Sharon Russell visitors to Huntsville and invite you to join them at an exclusive Preview Party Laurie Heard Cathy Scholl Gary Huckaby Dana Town on July 22. Cindy Kamelchuk Lori Webber In 1939, American artist Luigi Lucioni Emeritus: Betty Grisham (1900-1988) put paintbrush to canvas Ex-Officio Members Collections Committee: Rosemary Lee in what would become one of the most HMA Guild President-Elect: Julie Andrzejewski significant and acclaimed portraits of his Museum Board: Joyce Griffin and Herman Stubbs career. Recognized for his lush verdant Guild Officers landscapes of Vermont and sumptuous still President: Kathi Tew President-elect: Julie Andrzejewski lifes, his portrait of the jazz and blues singer Secretary: Kristen Bodeker and actress, Ethel Waters, is an exquisite Corresponding Secretary: Kay Eastin Finance Chair: Stacey Goldmon portrait on many levels. During the early Parliamentarian:Amy Henrich to mid-20th century, very few African Verronica Mitchell Staff Liaison: American women commissioned portraits Museum Docents Docent Chair: Laurie Noojin of themselves. This portrait represented the Co-Chair: Jennifer Wu high level of success that Ms. Waters had Connie Wilson in front of Luigi Lucioni’s Museum Staff achieved. Luigi knew Ms. Waters, who came Ethel Waters, oil, 1939. Executive Director: Christopher J. Madkour to his New York studio when she was in New York starring in the Broadway play, Executive Assistant: Michelle Driggs Director of Curatorial Affairs: Peter J. Baldaia Mamba’s Daughters. She was the first African American to have a starring role on Curator of Exhibitions and Collections: David Reyes Broadway in 1939 and the second African American woman to be nominated for Curatorial Assistant: Katherine Purves Director of Education/Museum Academy: an Academy Award after Hattie McDaniel, for her role in Gone with the Wind. Laura E. Smith I knew Luigi Lucioni during my time in Vermont and last summer when Education Associate: Candace Bean Museum Academy Assistant: Amy Thomas I was organizing the Luigi Lucioni: An American Romantic exhibition, at the Director of Communications: Samantha Nielsen eleventh hour, Dr. Stuart Embury and I were successful in locating the owner of Communications Associate: Wiley Belew Director of Development: Andrea Petroff the exquisite portrait of Ethel Waters to be included in the show. This portrait Development Associate: Brianna Sieja was last on public display at Howard University in 1942! After our exhibition Membership/Development Operations Associate: Anita Kimbrough closed, the owners, Mrs. Grady Wilson and her daughter, Connie Wilson, of Accountant: Wendy Worley Charlotte North Carolina, graciously agreed to a private sale of the painting to Accounting Assistants: Tonya Alexander, the Huntsville Museum of Art. Thus, the Luigi Lucioni Acquisition Campaign is Mary Chavosky Facility and Event Manager: Lil Parton underway! To date, we have raised $70,000 toward a purchase price of $100,000. Facility Rental Assistants: Susan Dana, My heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed to this milestone Hayden Herfurth Interim Security Supervisor: Britney Burke acquisition, with a special acknowledgment to Rey and Cynthia Almodovar, for Security Guards: John Crissone, Steve McCoy, Shay being the Lead Donor, in our fundraising efforts. Thank you all! Pickett, Cyrus Smith, John Solari, Tabatha Thomas, Charlie Tolbert, Robert Walker Christopher J. Madkour Guest Services Supervisor: Linda Nagle Guest Services: Wendy Campbell, Emily Alcorn Executive Director Museum Store: Rachel Stone Museum Store Coordinator: Janell Zesinger On the cover: John James Audubon (1785–1851); Robert Havell (1793–1878), engraver, American Volunteers: Jerry Brown, Billie Muhl, Lynn Nelson, Flamingo, 1838, hand-colored engraving with aquatint, From Birds of America (plate CCCCXXXI) James Shelton, Mary Withington 49 x 37 in. (framed). 3 Burchfield Botanicals May 14-August 6, 2017 Wind-Blown Asters, 1951, watercolor on paper, 30 x 40 inches. Gift of Dr. Edna M. Lindemann, 1968. etween the years 1908 and 1911, city’s buildings, harbor, railyards and through inclusion in prestigious national BAmerican artist Charles E. Burchfield surrounding countryside, working in a exhibitions and received numerous (1893-1967) created nearly 500 botanical more realistic style. From this period, awards. His artistic achievement was sketches that illustrated the different his works showed an appreciation for honored by the inauguration of the wildflowers and plants he found in the the American scene and a complex Charles Burchfield Center at Buffalo State forests and fields around his childhood assessment of urban life in comparison College in 1966. The museum, now called home in Salem, Ohio. Using books from to the countryside and small town of his the Burchfield Penney Art Center, holds the local library, Burchfield identified youth. the world’s largest collection of his work. and documented these plants along with In the 1940s, Burchfield’s Burchfield Botanicals features the locations where he found them. The romanticism led him to paint fantasy Burchfield masterworks, paired with his artist’s fascination with plant life would scenes that often expanded into early botanical sketches and objects from remain strong throughout his career. transcendental landscapes. He followed the Marchand Wildflower Collection Many of the wildflowers he recorded this artistic vision until the end of his at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Paul during those early years would show up life, creating some of his greatest, most Marchand was well known throughout the again and again in paintings, and some mystical works. Burchfield gained acclaim world for his meticulous work, creating would be included in the titles of works. “scientifically accurate and artistically Burchfield’s early works were superb casts of flowers and imaginative, stylized landscapes and Lecture and Members’ Preview Party mushrooms” as well as dioramas for rural scenes that often incorporated Thursday, May 11, 2017 the museum throughout his career. a personal language of symbols. Lecture by Tullis Johnson: 6 p.m. Reception: 7 p.m. The exhibition is organized and After he moved to Buffalo, New Members: Free Non-members: $25 circulated by the Burchfield Penney York, he became engrossed in the Art Center. 4 Downy Yellow Violet (Viola Pubescens), c. 1911, ink on paper, 9 x 7 inches. White Violet (unscented), c. 1911, ink on paper, 9 x 7 inches . Charles E. Burch- Charles E. Burchfield Foundation Archives. Gift of the Charles E. Burchfield field Foundation Archives, Gift of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, 2006. Foundation, 2006. Summer Garden, 1916, watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 inches. Collection of the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York. EXHIBITION SPONSORS The Jurenko Foundation Sasha and Charlie Sealy ADDITIONAL SUPPORTERS Alabama State Council on the Arts Altherr Howard Design Huntsville Museum of Art Guild MEDIA SPONSORS Alabama Media Group hibu, Inc. 5 The Birds of America: Audubon Aquatints from the Kathy and Michael Mouron Collection July 23-November 19, 2017 About the Collection About the Collectors his exhibition presents 24 of the 435 oth Kathy and Michael Mouron Tprints comprising the best known Bgraduated from the University of work of 19th century American naturalist Alabama. Upon graduating, Michael John James Audubon (1785-1851): the went to work in Birmingham for Price, folio of engravings entitled The Birds of Waterhouse & Co. and was assigned to America. The execution of this series the Gulf States Paper Corporation in captivated Audubon’s imagination for Tuscaloosa. The CEO of Gulf over twenty-five years, with the actual States Paper Corporation, Jack engraving of the images