December Issue 1999
Asheville Art Museum Hosts Three Exhibits
into the New Millinneum
The Nature of Inspiration: Modern
Masters from the Whitney Museum of American Art: Georgia 0 'Keeffe,
Alexander Calder, Edward Hopper, Charles Burchfield, John Mann
and Marsden Hartley, will be on view
at the Asheville Art Museum, in downtown Asheville, NC, through
Jan. 23, 2000. Also on exhibit through Jan. 8, 2000, are two other
exhibits, Chaim Gross: The Fantasy Watercolors and Carrie
Mae Weems: Recent Work.
Throughout history, artists have turned to the natural world for inspiration, defining and interpreting it anew with each generation. In the United States, the scale and power of the natural landscape has always been central to our nation's identity and a source of inspiration for many. This landmark exhibition showcases 45 outstanding works of art that highlight the response of six of the 20th century's most important artists to their environment. Influenced by the modern styles emerging in Europe and America in the first decades of the century, these artists explored the potential of abstracted forms to signify intangible, essential aspects of nature and their emotional responses to it. The exhibition pairs the artists and in contrast to one another explores how organic forms and imagery of nature inspired them. Seen together, their work testifies to the expansive diversity of the American artistic imagination.
Edward Hopper (1882-1967) and Charles Burchfleld (1893-1967), two artists committed to a realist tradition, understood the potential of natural imagery to communicate symbolically. Their unique visions of American pastoral beauty are dramatic evocations of isolation, loneliness or emotional turmoil. Burchfield's belief in nature as both a manifestation and catalyst of spirituality reflects the tradition of 19th century American Transcendentalism, while Hopper saw the natural world in an increasingly problematic relationship to "civilization."
Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) and John Mann (1887-1953), freed themselves from the perceived constraints of realistic depictions and captured an immediate, visceral response to nature. Mann once explained, "You cannot create a work of art unless the things you behold respond to something within you... It is this 'moving of me' that I try to express... the different emotions that have been called into being." Throughout his career, and seen clearly through the works selected for this exhibition, Hartley shifted styles often in search of an artistic expression that conveyed the spiritual force of nature in which universal truths of man could be found.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976) and painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) used highly abstracted imagery to interpret the observed phenomena of nature. O'Keeffe's unique combination of abstraction and magnified realism conveys a sense of spiritual communion and of her respect for the expressive power of organic forms. Calder, less spiritually inclined than O'Keeffe, was interested in the interrelations and processes of the natural world. Calder's abstract, colorful sculptures mingle the representation of observed forms with the expression of ideas such as change and fluidity.
The Nature of Inspiration, Modern Masters from the Whitney Museum of American Art is the third in a series of four exhibitions presented by the Asheville Art Museum drawn from the Whitney's internationally-acclaimed collection of American art. This exhibition continues the Asheville Art Museum's 51 year tradition of bringing world class exhibitions to the Southeast to educate and inspire the creative spirit in individuals of all ages.
The Nature of Inspiration, is sponsored in part by the Asheville Art Museum Auxiliary.
Chaim Gross: The Fantasy Watercolors features the work of Gross, best known as a sculptor whose works included acrobats, jugglers and family groupings. The Fantasy Watercolor series offers another side to the talents of this multi-faceted artist.
Gross (1904-1991, American) was born in the village of Wolowa in Eastern Austria. After World War I, he and his brother Abraham moved first to Vienna, then to Budapest and finally to New York seeking a better life. These drawings and watercolors represent Gross's attempt to deal with the death of his elder sister, Sarah, and her family in the Holocaust. The exhibition also includes two of Gross's sculptures and two sketchbooks. Gross worked in a variety of sculptural media, wood, bronze and marble. Of the sculptures included in this exhibition one is a bronze cast from a carved wood piece and the other is a stone carving.
The watercolors and drawings on view in this exhibition were done between 1948 and 1952. Bright, Surreal, full symbolism -- hands, windows and barbed wire -- these works reflect his intense emotional response to learning of the death of his sister and her family.
The Asheville Art Museum is grateful to Mrs. Renee Gross, April Paul and The Chaim Gross Studio Museum in New York City for their support in this project.
The exhibit, Carrie Mae Weems: Recent Work, features the work of one of the leading conceptual photographers working today. Her photographic life incorporates a variety of approaches including documentary, still life, installations and manipulated images that may be combined with text to direct the viewer's attention to a concept or idea creating a richly layered approach to communication.
Weems' art explores provocative ideas such as the influence of gender relations and racism. She balances historical and contemporary themes of injustice as she explores diverse personal and familial situations, emotions and experiences. She challenges viewers by asking them to ponder how past behavior and mistakes may shape present social conditions.
The Sea Island (1992) series includes both found and staged images that examine the barrier islands along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. In the seventeenth century, these islands were the landing place for people brought over from West Africa, primarily Angola. Descendents of these slaves continue to live in this area, although their communities are increasingly threatened by tourism and development.
In the Kitchen Table (1990-91) series, Weems who plays the central character in each image explores the range of emotions and variety of experiences between men and women, mothers and daughters, and good friends. In each image, the viewer takes a place at the opposite end of the table to observe as conflicts arise over money, loyalty, politics and self worth.
In the Colored People (1989-1990) series, Weems intertwines themes of life including racial, sexual, and cultural identity and shared history. She helps us explore these issues through works that have overtones of humor and sadness, loss and redemption.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 828/253-3227
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