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February Issue
2009
Ackland Art
Museum in Chapel Hill, NC, Offers the Story of Coal
The Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, presents a special exhibition drawn from one of the most extensive private collections of prints and posters associated with industry and labor. At the Heart of Progress: Coal, Iron, and Steam since 1750 - Industrial Imagery from the John P. Eckblad Collection on view through May 17, 2009, includes approximately seventy-five pieces selected from the collection of Dr. John P. Eckblad.
The exhibition includes
works that explore the world of coal production and consumption,
featuring such artists as Camille Pissarro, Theophile Steinlen,
Constantin Meunier, Joseph Pennell, C. R. W. Nevinson, and Craig
McPherson, as well as a wealth of commercial and documentary imagery.
Curated by Ackland Curator of Collections Timothy Riggs, At
the Heart of Progress surveys the Faustian bargain between
humanity and carbon. Though the trinity of coal, iron, and steam
supports industrial civilization, its enormous benefits are counterbalanced
by equally enormous tolls. These tensions are apparent in the
works included in the exhibit, pitting capitalist pride against
social unrest, groundbreaking industrial development against the
profound human and environmental consequences.
The exhibition focuses on seven primary themes, including mining,
iron and steel making, smokestack landscapes, and images of labor
and life. In addition, At the Heart of Progress will include
an installation in the Ackland's Education Resource Center exploring
the various industrial processes depicted in the images and the
history of industry in North Carolina and elsewhere.
"Unique in its scope and focus, the Eckblad Collection is
important for both its aesthetic and historic value," said
Ackland Director Emily Kass. "The Ackland is honored to have
the opportunity to be the first to present a major exhibition
of this extraordinary group of images."
Dr. Eckblad amassed this singular collection over the last three
and a half decades. Eckblad, who divides his time between Paris
and Chapel Hill, spent much of his childhood in the coalmining
hills of western Pennsylvania and for decades worked as a management
consultant to large petrochemical complexes in northeastern England
and northern Europe. In his work, Dr. Eckblad was surrounded by
landscapes marked by cooling towers, pipe bridges, cat crackers,
methane fermenters, machine works, and nuclear power plants. "Having
had the privilege of working in heavy industry, my collection
helps me recall the rhythms, colors, sounds, and feel of these
places and times," said Eckblad. "The memories have
become a constant reference. For over thirty-five years I've continued
to search for similarly captivating views in life and art."
At the Heart of Progress is part of the Ackland's ongoing
fiftieth anniversary celebration and will be joined in the spring
by other installations in the Museum honoring the importance of
collectors and collecting.
During the exhibition the museum will offer many related events,
call for info about the programs.
Curator of Collections
Timothy Riggs (PhD, Yale University) has worked at the Ackland
Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
since 1984. Formerly Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Worcester
Art Museum and researcher for the Print Council of America, Riggs
has over thirty years of museum experience. In addition to the
catalogue for At the Heart of Progress, Riggs authored
the definitive text The Print Council Index to Oeuvre-Catalogues
of Prints by European and American Artists, as well as several
catalogues, including The Second Fifty Years: American Art,
1826-1876 and Three Sides to a Sheet of Paper: How Prints
Communicate, Represent and Transform. He coauthored Visions
of City and Country: Prints and Photographs of Nineteenth-Century
France, and has contributed to many more catalogues and publications.
At the Heart of Progress is accompanied by a richly illustrated
catalogue featuring twenty-nine full color illustrations. It will
include an introduction by Ackland Director Emily Kass, a collector's
statement from John P. Eckblad, and critical essays by Curator
Timothy Riggs. It will be available for purchase through the Ackland
and distributed through UNC Press, (www.uncpress.unc.edu), or
call 800/848-6224.
The Ackland Art Museum is located on the historic campus of The
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an academic unit
of the university, the Ackland serves broad local, state, and
national constituencies. The Ackland Collection consists of more
than 15,000 works of art, featuring significant collections of
European masterworks, twentieth-century and contemporary art,
North Carolina's premier collections of Asian art and works of
art on paper (drawings, prints, and photographs), as well as African
art and North Carolina pottery and folk art.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery
listings, call the Museum at 919/966-5736 or visit (www.ackland.org).
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