FALL
A CENTENNIAL RETROSPECTIVE
2012
EXHIBITION SEASON NEWSLETTER VOL. V
Memories and Premonitions AUGUST 30 THROUGH OCTOBER 21, 2012 SUART GALLERIES
THE WAREHOUSE GALLERY
THE PALITZ GALLERY
ART COLLECTION
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part of our Exhibitions like Drawn to Paint: The Art of Jerome Witkin, Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth, and Karl Schrag: Memories and Premonitions are only possible due to the generous help of donors and friends of the SUArt Galleries. Please do your part and support the high caliber exhibitions, publications and influential community programs that you’ve come to expect from the Syracuse University Art Galleries.
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NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR
Domenic J. Iacono Director, SUArt Galleries Once again the SUArt Galleries is planning an ambitious year of exhibitions and programming for our students, faculty, staff, and local community. We begin the academic year with the August 30th opening of the retrospective exhibition Karl Schrag: Memories and Premonitions. 2012 is the centennial of Schrag’s birth and we are celebrating his career with a display of more than 70 paintings, prints, and drawings. Included in the exhibition will be a 1961 United States Information Agency (USIA) film titled Printmakers that highlights the work of five important American artists, including Schrag. The Schrag exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated monograph. In addition to my essay are contributions by former Whitney Museum of Art curator John Gordon, former Brooklyn Museum prints and drawing curator Una Johnson, and art critic Carl Little. The book will also contain several commentaries by Karl Schrag illuminating his thoughts on art and life as an artist. Beautifully designed, the book will be available beginning in late August at our Gallery Store. Also on view this fall will be the work of eight upstate New York artists as part of the The Other New York: 2012 (TONY 2012) exhibition that is being held in conjunction with the Everson Museum and other Central New York art venues. Both the Schrag and TONY exhibitions will be on view until October 21, 2012. Our Permanent Collection Galleries will feature new exhibitions that highlight both well-known and unfamiliar treasures. In the Gallery of American Art, we are excited to present Ben Shahn and The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti. You may recall from our Spring 2012 Newsletter that we had the mosaic mural- possibly the most recognizable piece of artwork on campus- conserved last summer. continued on page 5
RIGHT Ben Shahn detail: The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1967 COVER Karl Schrag Overgrown Path, 1962
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EXHIBITION
Memories and Premonitions is the first major examination of the artist’s work since his death in 1995. Reflective of his masterful handling of the figure, landscape, still-life scenes, and the evocative power of his vision, this exhibition includes more than 70 of Karl Schrag’s paintings, prints, and drawings. Most importantly, the art selected for this exhibition will convey the artist’s ability to see the landscape as if for the first time, the surprise of that special view, the recognition of his ability to feel wonder when looking at nature or figure, and the reward associated with seeing the world through his eyes. Roberta Smith, of the NY Times, said in 1995 “Mr. Schrag came to specialize in a painting style characterized by loose, energetic brushwork and resonant colors that restated the concerns of van Gogh, Matisse and Kirchner in contemporary terms.” CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
The SUArt Galleries opens the exhibition on August 30 and it will close October 21.
Karl Schrag Katherine (in Red), 1967 Loan, Courtesy of Katherine and Lawrence Wangh Delphiniums and Peonies, n.d. Loan, Courtesy of Peter and Jeanette Schrag Miriam Caravella Karl Schrag, 1976
NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR In addition to a selection of Shahn works from the permanent collection, a reproduction of the mural illustrates a didactic timeline explaining the accusation and trial of the Italian-American immigrants, the history of Shahn’s development of the mural, and the restorations that have taken place over its more than 45-year history. Also featured is a 16mm film made in 1967 documenting the mural’s installation and dedication. It contains a unique interview with Shahn, and has additional footage and interviews with the conservation team who cleaned and restored the mosaic in 2011. This display was researched by our second year Ph.D. graduate assistant Jaimeson Daley who worked with our staff to develop this insightful historical overview. The East Galleries will be showing recent acquisitions to our Print and Photography collections. Collecting Focus: New Prints and Photographs highlights impressive additions to those collections. In the past five years, the Syracuse University Art Collection has proactively expanded the Print and Photography collections through generous donations from alumni, friends and institutions, as well as specific purchases made by SUArt. See more in our Collections section, page 10. On November 8th the Galleries will reopen with two exhibitions- Pulled, Pressed and Screened: Important American Prints and Jeff Davies: Straight from the Heart, an exhibition highlighting the work of a local Syracuse artist who passed away in 2006. Probably best known in our community for his public murals that can be seen at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and on the south wall of the Boom Babies clothing store on Westcott Street, this exhibition highlights the artist’s smaller and more personal work. These shows will be on view from November 8, 2012 through January 6, 2013.
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RIGHT Robert Cottingham Orph, 1979
Pulled, Pressed and Screened is a traveling exhibition organized by the SUArt Galleries that will be seen, among other places, at the Juliette and Fred Turner Memorial Gallery in the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. They will also be displaying another SUArt Galleries exhibition, Winslow Homer and the American Pictorial Press, in 2014.
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SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERIES
2012 FALL
CALENDAR
SUArt Galleries Shaffer Art Building, Main Campus
August 30 – May 12, 2013 Permanent Collection Exhibitions
Ben Shahn and The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti Collecting Focus: New Prints and Photographs August 30 – October 21, 2012
Karl Schrag: Memories and Premonitions The Other New York: 2012 Opening Reception Thursday, August 30 5:00-7:00 p.m. November 8, 2012 – January 6, 2013
Pulled, Pressed and Screened: Important American Prints Jeff Davies: Straight from the Heart Opening Reception Thursday, November 8, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
The Warehouse Gallery 350 West Fayette Street, Downtown Syracuse
September 13 – October 27, 2012
Luv U: Senga Nengudi Windows Project: The Other New York: 2012 (Jeff Einhorn) Opening Reception Thursday, September 13, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. November 15 – February 9, 2013
Wilderness 24/7: ecoarttech
Those Who Can: Syracuse University Lubin House 11 East 61st Street, NYC
Palitz Gallery
Louise and Bernard
August 8 – September 13, 2012 New Work from The School of Art and Design September 20 – October 11, 2012
40 Years in the Making:
Celebrating Community Folk Art Center’s History and Collection October 15 – December 6, 2012
Emilio Sanchez: No Way Home December 10, 2012 – February 7, 2013
The Art of Stone Canoe
LECTURES, PROGRAMS & EVENTS
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Karl Schrag and Atelier 17 Lecture by Domenic Iacono Sunday, October 7, 2:00 – 3:30 P.M. Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
Witkin On Schrag: A Conversation with Jerome Witkin
Tuesday, September 18, 5:00 P.M. Room 121 Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
TONY 2012: An Evening with video artist Tammy Brackett Thursday, October 4, 6:00 P.M. 001 Life Sciences Building
Senga Nengudi
Tuesday, September 11, 6:30 P.M. Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
ecoarttech: Art in the biological, cultural and digital wilderness Tuesday, November 13, 6:30 P.M. Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
Emilio Sanchez: No Way Home Images of the Caribbean and New York City Emilio Sanchez moved to New York City in 1944 to take art classes at Columbia and by 1952 decided to relocate there. His early images were inspired by the landscape surrounding his father’s plantation in Cuba and described cane fields dotted with palm trees or working class residences and villages. Apparent in them is an interest in pattern, color and strong lighting contrasts that came to characterize his mature style. New York provided different and endless opportunities to explore light and pattern combinations. An Old Warehouse in Brooklyn, 1975, and a view of a sunset from West 15th Street titled Crosstown New York Sunset from the late 1970s are among the paintings Sanchez made of the city that were inspired by earlier artists like Charles Sheeler, Georgia O’Keefe and Edward Hopper.
An interactive art gallery experience that includes guided exhibition tours and projects geared specifically toward engaging your family with the exhibitions we bring to the Syracuse community.
September 29 & 30, 2:00 P.M. November 17 &18, 2:00 P.M.
SPECIAL EVENT WEEKENDS FREE GUIDED TOURS AT SUArt Parents Weekend 1:00 p.m. October 5 & 6 Orange Central 1:00 p.m. November 9 & 10
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NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR
The Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery Of course we will also be presenting an ambitious schedule for the Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery at Lubin House in New York City. Currently on view is the College of Visual and Performing Art’s faculty exhibition Those Who Can: New Work from the School of Art and Design. The work selected for this exhibition represents the gamut of processes utilized by artists today, and also exemplifies the strength of a department that heavily influences many of the young artists studying the visual arts at Syracuse University. Defying the adage that “those who can’t…teach”, the six faculty members included in Those Who Can demonstrate that being an effective educator can coincide with success as an artist. We will also be displaying a 40th anniversary show from the Community Folk Art Center beginning September 17th. In mid-October we will reprise the Emilio Sanchez exhibition, No Way Home: Images of the Caribbean and New York City that opened in our main campus galleries last year. This display will be open during the annual International Fine Print Dealers Association fair in November at the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue where more Sanchez art can be seen. In December we will host our first display of art from the Syracuse University arts, literature and commentary journal Stone Canoe. The Art of Stone Canoe will highlight work that was featured in the publication during the last 6 years and includes objects by such notables as David MacDonald, Gail Hoffman, and Yvonne Buchanan. If you happen to be in NYC during the Holidays check with the staff at Syracuse University Lubin House to see if the Palitz Gallery will be open.
The Warehouse Gallery The Warehouse Gallery will begin its 5th season with the exhibition Lov U, a mixed media installation by Senga Nengudi, a key figure of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s-1970s. Known primarily for performance-based art installations, her work focuses on movement and the human body and is multidisciplinary in nature and international in scope, with cultural references to Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. In Lov U, Nengudi explores the physical senses, and includes photographs and video to reflect on love throughout cultures and times. Drawn to discarded, everyday materials, the ephemerality of Nengudi’s work is a metaphor for life’s transience. Jeff Einhorns’ Window Project A Portrait of the Artist As A Giant Deflating Head is part of The Other New York: 2012. For this project, Einhorn creates a site-specific installation addressing the fine line between performance art and sculpture while wittily emphasizing the unstable state of things and systemic disorder. The artist’s portrait is printed on a large balloon-filled inflated head made out of poly lyra, which floats in the space facing West Fayette Street. Over time, the work will deflate, a process that is tracked by a vinyl ruler fixed to the wall. These shows will open September 13th and run through October 27th. The Warehouse Gallery will reopen in November with an exhibition by ecoarttech who are well known for exploring environmental issues and media from an interdisciplinary perspective. Most recently you may have heard about their work at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City where they created an interactive app called Indeterminate Hikes+ that, as they say, transforms everyday landscapes into sites of bio-cultural diversity and wild happenings. ecoarttech will be on view from November 15, 2012 until February 9, 2013.
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Senga Nengudi in her studio
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EXHIBITION
The Other New York: 2012 is a community-wide, multi-venue biennial exhibition organized by the Everson Museum of Art that is the result of a major collaboration among 14 art organizations in Syracuse collectively presenting work by 63 artists. The SUArt Galleries is exhibiting work by eight upstate artists selected from over 200 applicants. Included are finely cast and delicate sculptural porcelains by Ithaca native Matthew Glaysher, a two channel video by Tammy Brackett exploring an artificial landscape made from pages from books, and a series of small paintings examining local abandoned houses by Buffalo artist Amy Greenan. The other participants, Juan Cruz, Sara DiDonato, Sue Huggins Leopard, Barbara Page and James Skvarch are exhibiting works on paper, reflecting the strength and longtime collecting interest of the Syracuse University Art Collection.
AUGUST 30 – OCTOBER 21, 2012 OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: James Skvarch The Consumption of Risk, 2012 Amy Greenan Sometimes I Can’t Believe It, 2011 Barbara Page Grand Junction, 2010 photo of Jeff Davies
Jeff Davies: Straight from the Heart Jeff Davies (1938-2006) was a Syracuse resident who, as a self-taught artist, gained a near cult status among local collectors. He began his artistic career by making small, quickly conceived and finished line drawings for coworkers at the Onondaga County Water Authority where he worked as a draftsman. Davies developed a style that incorporated elements of Surrealism with Rube Goldberg inspired machines often in service to a sexually charged theme. In the 1970s he gave up a life and family in the suburbs to devote himself full time to making art. As he gained experience he enlarged the size of the images, ultimately making murals, the most famous of which are on the interior and exterior walls of the Dinosaur Bar-B-Q restaurant in downtown Syracuse. Eventually, he worked out an arrangement with the owners of Pastabilities Restaurant in Armory Square where he was a regular that they would install a new painting of his every other week.
OPENING NOVEMBER 8, 2012
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COLLECTION
Collecting focus: new prints and photographs in the syracuse university art collection Andrew Saluti and Emily Dittman, SUArt Galleries Syracuse University has been actively collecting artwork since 1873, and has amassed an impressive and important collection of paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs. Since 1978, special attention has been placed on the acquisition of works on paper- the graphic arts, photographs and drawings- resulting in an encyclopedic collection of works that outline the history of the various media dating back to the fifteenth century. Collecting Focus: New Prints and Photographs exhibits the most recent acquisitions to the Syracuse University Art Collection. The past two years have been particularly beneficial to the print collection. Major collections of artwork were given by the Seong Moy family and the Emilio Sanchez Foundation to be cataloged and maintained by the SU Art Collection. Private collectors acknowledged the collection’s importance by making donations. Most notable was the addition of the Hamilton Armstrong collection, a gift that included over 200 prints with artists like Rembrandt, Käthe Kollwitz, John Taylor Arms, as well as local printmaker James Skvarch. Living artists, such as letterpress artist Amos Kennedy Jr., added selections of their current work to count among the hundreds of printmakers represented. The SUArt Collection has also built relationships with important print publishers, among them Bill Goldston, Master Printmaker and Director of the famed Universal Limited Art Editions. From ULAE we added a collaborative portfolio by Robert Rauschenberg and Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky. For the 2011 exhibition Sources and Structures: The Art of Robert Stackhouse, the SU Art Collection purchased Stackhouse’s imposing Blue Flyer from Tandem Press at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, one of the most active contemporary print workshops today. Since 2007 the Syracuse University Art Collection has proactively expanded the Photography Collection; placing a collecting focus on a medium that has not gained numerous acquisitions since the mid- 1980s. The photographs highlighted in Collecting Focus represent how these recent gifts have aided in broadening our holdings to help illuminate photography’s rich and evolving history. For example, the concept of landscape and its effect on the people and environment that surround it are highlighted in the images of the contemporary master Robert Giard (1939-2002). South Fork Portfolio: Ten Photographs by Robert Giard captures a geographic region of Long Island the artist felt was integral in documenting the people and places that have particular importance to the gay and lesbian community. Collecting Focus: New Prints and Photographs not only illustrates the notable works that have been added to the SUArt Collection, but also acknowledges the variety of avenues that artwork makes its way to Syracuse University. Most important are the donors, alumni, and friends of SUArt that enable the print and photography collections to grow in scope and depth- offering new opportunities for students to examine important original works of art and build on the already remarkable collection that is the cornerstone of the Syracuse University Art Collection.
TOP Robert Ruaschenberg Darkness Mother, 1978 BOTTOM Donna Ferrato Tribeca’s Heroes, 2008
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A PERSONAL TOUR IN YOUR POCKET Syracuse University has a long history of placing important works of art on its campus for the enjoyment and education of visitors, students, faculty, and staff. Now, with a new interactive webbased application, visitors to the campus can enjoy more in-depth
information about the art on campus and the artists who made the work, using QR reader technology in their smart phones. Simply scan the QR code on the artwork’s descriptive label and your handheld device will be redirected to a portal that has information about our public sculpture. The Art on Campus application can assist visitors to Syracuse University on a walking tour of more than 30 artworks that are placed both outdoors and inside many of our buildings. check out the mobile web app at
artoncampus.syr.edu
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Check out the newly renovated and redesigned Gallery Shop now located in the front of the SUArt Galleries.
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Ben Shahn, Houses by a Railroad, n.d.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERIES
Wynn Bullock, Half an Apple, 1953 Gift of Robert B. Menschel