Author: Ginger Jenne

Convergence: Contemporary Art from India and the Diaspora

Oct 22 – Dec 15, 2013

Convergence: Contemporary Art from India and the Diaspora

Guest curator Kathryn Myers, UConn Professor of Art, brings together in this exhibition fifteen contemporary artists who, through diverse creative approaches, explore issues of identity and the continued power of place in our global World. The artists represented are Ravi Agarwal, Sanarth Banerjee, Siona Benjamin, Neil Chowdhury, Sunil Gupta, Hanuman R. Kambli, Bari Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Sachin Naik, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Madhvi Parekh, Sujith SN, Anupam Sud, Avinash Veeraraghavan, and Waswo X. Waswo.

Kathryn Myers, Professor of Painting at the University of Connecticut, curated this exhibition with support from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation, Office of the Arts in the Department of Economic and Community Development and the Fulbright-Nehru Foundation.

Download Exhibition Catalogue

The 47th Annual Art Department Faculty Exhibition

Sept 3 – Oct 13, 2013

This year’s exhibition features works by faculty artists Kathryn Myers and Judith Thorpe who have recently returned from sabbatical.

 

Judith Thorpe, Annunciation No. 1, 2013,  Archival Pigment Print on Epson exhibition fiber
Judith Thorpe, Annunciation No. 1, 2013, Archival Pigment Print on Epson exhibition fiber
Judith Thorpe, Annunciation No. 5, 2013, Archival Pigment Print on Epson exhibition fiber
Judith Thorpe, Annunciation No. 5, 2013, Archival Pigment Print on Epson exhibition fiber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Myers2Kathryn Myers, Darshan, video still, 2013
Myers2Kathryn Myers, Darshan, video still, 2013
Kathryn Myers, Half Remembered, 2013, Gouache on paper
Kathryn Myers, Half Remembered, 2013, Gouache on paper

Handstitched Agendas: Art and Politics of the Kuna Indian Molas

Sept 3 – Oct 13, 2013

The term mola refers to the type of shirt worn by Kuna Indian women. Mola is also the word for the decorative panel that adorns either the front or back of a shirt. This exhibition highlights molas of a political nature from the Elisabeth Hans Collection and considers the cultural history of Panama.

Mola depicting the Panamanian flag. Gift of Theodor Hans, in memory of his wife, Elisabeth Hans
Mola depicting the Panamanian flag. Gift of Theodor Hans, in memory of his wife, Elisabeth Hans

20/21: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Benton’s Collection

June 4-August 4, 2013

A continuation of From Old Masters to Revolutionaries, this exhibition introduces some of the Benton's newest acquisitions including a painting by Mike Bayne and a mixed media portrait by Keun Young Park, both active contemporary artists. They join the illustrious company of Dieter Roth, Willem De Kooning, and Richard Diebenkorn. Also exciting about this exhibition are the number and types of photographs on display. From the overtly political images of Sebastio Salgado and Graciela Iturbide to the aesthetic beauty of Candida Hfer or Shimon Attie's site-specific projections, the photographs in this exhibition demonstrate the versatility of the medium and invite viewers to question its objectivity and truthfulness.

Art speaks! Tell us what you hear. As part of this exhibition, visitors are invited to share their responses to selected works on display. Paper and pencils will be provided so that guests can write a caption, tell a story, or just get creative. Visitors are welcome to post their contributions in the gallery and become part of the exhibition themselves.

Bayne

Mike Bayne (Canadian, born 1977) Untitled [station wagon], 2008. Oil on panel. The Esther and James Barnett Fund for American Paintings and Directors Fund. 2012.22

 

 

 

Morimura
Yasumasa Morimura (Japanese, born 1951). Daughter of Art History (Little Princess A), 1990. Chromogenic print. Contemporary World Art Fund. 2003.26

 

 

 

 

 

RossDieter Roth (Swiss, 1930-1998). Daheim (At Home), 1970. Color silkscreen. Contemporary World Art Fund. 2012.20

 

 

 

 


Attie

Shimon Attie (American, born 1957). Behind Piazza Mattei, On-location slide, 2002. Lambda print. Contemporary World Art Fund. 2005.26 

 

 

 

 

EssyadiLaila Essaydi (Moroccan, born 1956). Converging Territories #2, 2003. Chromogenic print on aluminum. The Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund. 2006.11

 

 

 

 

 

DiebenkornRichard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993). Untitled, 1977. Charcoal on graph paper. Purchased with the Aid of Funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and Contributions from Alumni to the University of Connecticut Alumni Association Annual Giving Program. 1979.19.2

 

 
 
 
StellaFrank Stella (American, born 1936). Swan Engraving VI, 1982. Intaglio and relief-printed etching. Gift of Howard Ganek. 2012.33

Elisions: The 2013 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition

April 6-May 12, 2013

The MFA program in Studio Art at the University of Connecticut features an intense, multidisciplinary approach to the developments of work in a wide range of art media. Graduation requirements include a thesis, an oral exam, and a collective exhibition of their recent artwork. The Benton is pleased to be presenting this year’s degree candidates: painters Daniel Bohman and Russell Shoemaker, photographer Kathleen Deep, printmaker Christina Goncalves, and photographer/videographer Allison Hale.

Christina Gonsalves, untitled, monotype, 2013
Cristina Goncalves, untitled, monotype, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Bohman, Patchwork, oil on camvas, 2012
Daniel Bohman, Patchwork, oil on canvas, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Russell Shoemaker, Rock Game, oil, acrylic, faux granite, and enamel on canvas, 2013
Russell Shoemaker, Rock Game, oil, acrylic, faux granite, and enamel on canvas, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invitation to the Elisions exhibition

The Secret Paris of the 1930s: Vintage Photographs by Brassaï

March 26-May 12, 2013

Early 20th-century Paris was the setting for one of the great periods of innovation in photography. As with painters and sculptors, ambitious young photographers from around the world flocked to interwar Paris, where together they formed a fertile artistic milieu. Among them was Brassaï (1899-1984), whose evocative, inky-black, and extremely rare vintage photographs of nighttime Paris are assembled in this exhibition.

After attending art school in Berlin, Brassaï moved to Paris in 1924 where he spent the remainder of his life. Born Gyula Halsz, he adopted the nom de plume Brassaï, meaning from Brass, an ode to his Hungarian birthplace in the Transylvanian region, Brassaï focused his camera on Paris’s crepuscular demimonde, which he explored compulsively from the first moment of his arrival. Sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by friends including the writers Henry Miller and Jacques Prévert, Brassaï captured aspects of Parisian nightlife never before seen on film. In addition to Brassaï’s photographs of Paris, a selection of his experimental prints or transmutations, which he produced by using the cliché-verre technique combining photography and etching, is on display. Photographs the Brassaï Estate. All works are from the collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg. This exhibition was organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions.

Brassaï, Fille de Montmartre playing Russian billiards,Blvd Rochechouart, 1932-33, Gelatin silver print.
Brassaï, Fille de Montmartre playing Russian billiards,Blvd Rochechouart, 1932-33, Gelatin silver print.
Brassaï, At Suzy's, fille de joie in mirror, 1932, Gelatin silver print
Brassaï, At Suzy’s, fille de joie in mirror, 1932, Gelatin silver print
Brassaï, Fog, avenue de l'Observatoire, 1934, Gelatin silver print.
Brassaï, Fog, avenue de l’Observatoire, 1934, Gelatin silver print.
Brassaï, Lovers, Bal Musette des Quatre Saisons, rue de Lappe, ca. 1932, Gelatin silver print.
Brassaï, Lovers, Bal Musette des Quatre Saisons, rue de Lappe, ca. 1932, Gelatin silver print.

Garth Evans: Selections from the Studio

February 2-April 28, 2013

Garth Evans, Little Dancer No. 48, 2008, ceramic.
Garth Evans, Little Dancer No. 48, 2008, ceramic.

 

 

 

 

Garth Evans' studio view, 2012.Garth Evans’ studio view, 2012.

 

 

 

 

Garth Evans: Selections from the Studio highlights the artist’s sculptures from the 1990s to the present day, a period during which he turned to using clay as his primary material. Also on exhibition are watercolors by the artist that carry forth a sculptural exploration of line and shape in a contained, two-dimensional picture plane. Evans’ attenuated Little Dancers and hollow, biomorphic forms, whether rendered tangible or on paper, inspire a multitude of associations. Yet, full understanding of the work results when one no longer attempts to pin the forms down, but lets them run free in the space between generalization and specification.

Garth Evans began his career as a sculptor and instructor in London in 1960 following completion of his studies at Slade School of Fine Art. He relocated to the United States in 1979 for an artist’s fellowship and eventually settled in New York City. He currently lives in Woodstock, Connecticut where, when not commuting to the City to teach at The New York Studio School, he spends his time in his home studio.

These Groves Were Once the Home of Fauns and Nymphs: People and Places from the Classical World

January 22-March 17, 2013

This exhibition of works with a Classical theme is drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection and has been curated to coincide with the Classical Association of New England Annual Meeting being held at the University of Connecticut in March. These Groves Were Once the Home of Fauns and Nymphs takes its title from the description of Arcadia by Evander, King of the Tuscans, to Aeneas in Book 8 of Virgil’s Aeneid. The selected paintings, drawings, and prints depict not only Classical gods, goddesses, and heroes but also the settings of Classical myths and epic poetry. Reginald Marsh, Pietro Testa, Angelica Kauffmann, and Frederick Garrison Hall are among the featured artists.

Angelica Kaufmann, Penelope Weeping Over the Bow of Ulysses, ca 1779, oil on wooden panel. Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund.
Angelica Kaufmann, Penelope Weeping Over the Bow of Ulysses, ca 1779, oil on wooden panel. Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund.

 

Millionaires and Mechanics, Bootleggers and Flappers: Speaking of “The Great Gatsby”

January 22 – March 17, 2013

“The Roaring Twenties” as represented in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, the book selected for the second annual UConn Reads program, was a gilded age marked by overt displays of wealth, widespread urbanization, and dizzying modernity. This exhibition of early 20th-century paintings and works on paper from the Museum’s permanent collection gives visual form to the era in which Fitzgerald’s story of Jay Gatsby and his dark secret unfolds. Featured works include paintings by Reginald Marsh and Everett Shinn, photographs by Paul Stand, and prints by Peggy Bacon and Edward Hopper.

Adolf Dehn (American, 1895-1968). We Nordics, 1931. Lithograph. 13-3/4 x 11-1/4 inches. Gift of Andrew and Andrea Lowe.
Adolf Dehn (American, 1895-1968). We Nordics, 1931. Lithograph. 13-3/4 x 11-1/4 inches. Gift of Andrew and Andrea Lowe.
Walt Kuhn (American, 1880-1949). Study for Bareback Rider, 1926. Oil on board. 36 x 24-3/4 inches. Gift of Helen Benton Boley.
Walt Kuhn (American, 1880-1949). Study for Bareback Rider, 1926. Oil on board. 36 x 24-3/4 inches. Gift of Helen Benton Bol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967). Night Shadows, 1921. Etching. 6-7/8 x 8-1/4 inches. The Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund.
Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967). Night Shadows, 1921. Etching. 6-7/8 x 8-1/4 inches. The Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund.

 

 

 

 

Everett Shinn, The Dancer, 1909, oil on board. Gift of Charles and Marjorie Benton.
Everett Shinn, The Dancer, 1909, oil on board. Gift of Charles and Marjorie Benton.

Director’s Cut

January 22-March 17, 2013

Over the past thirty plus years that I have been at the Benton, many works of art have entered its collections, and the nature of these works has significantly changed. Geographically, the once predominantly European and American emphasis had by the mid-1990s broadened to include Asian, Latin American, and African art. Chronologically, the collections that once spanned only the period from the 15th to mid-20th centuries today extend to the present. The only media represented in the 1970s in significant numbers were painting, sculpture, prints, and drawings; today a fifth major area of collecting is photography. Many of these works have come in as gifts, but the growth since 1980s in the number of endowments specifically designated for purchasing art has been a major factor.

The selection of works for this exhibition is my choice. They represent my eye, which is biased towards European and 19th-century American art. There are prints, drawings, and photographs with only an occasional painting, a preference that reflects my own scholarly and collecting interests. Some names are familiarRembrandt, Drer, Homer, and Boucher; others like Nanteuil, Vernet, Roth, and Zingg perhaps not so. However, each work is a part of the collections for a reason, and invariably that reason is pedagogical. Nonetheless, each work of art also has a role to play as visual pleasure, intellectual stimulation, historical artifact, and perhaps moral and ethical enlightenment. For me, each work represents a specific moment because I bought it or because I knew the collector from whom it came. But institutional collecting is not about the individual, and what I would ultimately hope is that each work might not only play a role in future exhibitions, but always be there to excite a student’s interest in things historical, social, cultural, and artistic. After all, isn’t that the best of reasons for working in a university art museum?Thomas P. Bruhn, Interim Director and Curator.

Claude Lorrain, La Pont de bois / Rebecca and Eliezer, ca. 1638-41, etching. Robert S. and Naomi C. Dennison Fund.
Claude Lorrain, La Pont de bois / Rebecca and Eliezer, ca. 1638-41, etching. Robert S. and Naomi C. Dennison Fund.