NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
October 21, 2018 through May 19, 2019
William J. Glackens, Lenna Dressed as Toy Soldier, c. 1923, Oil on canvas, Private Collection.
Pierre‑Auguste Renoir, The Young Soldier, c. 1880, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
William Glackens and Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Affinities and Distinctions fills this void by bringing together 25 works by each artist that illuminate Renoir’s influence on Glackens’ artistic development. It also reveals how changes in Glackens' work after 1920 illustrate his response to Renoir's late work, as well as that of other important European modernists in Barnes' collection in order to forge his own distinctive American modernism. On view at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale from October 21, 2018 through May 19, 2019, the exhibition defines Glackens’ late style for the first time (c.1920 to 1938), and also sheds light on the history of taste in American collecting from the late-19th to the mid-20th century.
William J. Glackens and Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Affinities and Distinctions
is organized by NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale and is curated by
Barbara Buhler Lynes, Ph.D., Sunny Kaufman Senior Curator. Following its
presentation in Fort Lauderdale, the exhibition will also travel to
other venues to be announced.
The
exhibition demonstrates Glackens’ response to Renoir’s Impressionistic
work from 1860 to the mid-1880s, which was avidly purchased by a wide
variety of American collectors. Renoir’s late work from the mid-1880s to
1919 appealed to other influential collectors such as Leo Stein and
Barnes. Glackens, who traveled to Paris in 1912 on behalf of Barnes,
purchased works for his then fledgling collection. Glackens was the only
American artist who subsequently had nearly carte blanche access to
Barnes’ increasingly important collection of American and European
modernist art, which consequently had a profound influence on Glackens'
painting as demonstrated by Dr. Lynes in this exhibition.
Glackens
presumably became aware of Renoir’s art as early as 1895, when he first
visited Paris. However, his knowledge of Renoir did not play a role in
the development of his work until after he attended the 1908 exhibition
of 41 Renoir paintings at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, New York. When he was
sent to Paris by Barnes in 1912, Glackens’ purchases included works by
Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and
others. These acquisitions sparked Barnes' growing interest in modem
European art as well as his enthusiasm for the late work of Renoir.
Glackens’ study of the late Renoirs and the other works in Barnes’
collection by Cezanne, Matisse and Charles and Maurice Prendergast,
shaped his continuing realization of his own conception of the modern.
Publication
The
exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue
published by Skira, with essays by Bonnie Clearwater, Barbara Buhler
Lynes of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Avis Berman, independent
scholar, and Martha Lucy, Deputy Director and Curator of the Barnes
Collection.
Affinities and Distinctions
Affinities and Distinctions
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
Essays by Avis Berman, Barbara Buhler Lynes, Bonnie Clearwater, Martha Lucy
Essays by Avis Berman, Barbara Buhler Lynes, Bonnie Clearwater, Martha Lucy
Published by Skira Editore
Hardcover, 144 pages with 101 color illustrations and 148 b/w illustrations Price: £ 28 / $ 35 US |
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The first book to reference and compare the works by two masters: Glackens and Renoir.
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William
James Glackens (1870-1938) was an American painter and a founder of the
Ashcan School of American art. He is known for his work in helping
Albert C. Barnes to acquire the European paintings that form the nucleus
of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.
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In
1912, Barnes sent Glackens to Paris to purchase works for his
collection. This trip was just the beginning of Glackens' deep
admiration and study into the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
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This
book sheds new light onto Glackens' sensitivity to the works of
specific artists whom precipitated his late style. In particular, his
fascination with Renoir alongside artists such as Cézanne, Matisse and
Charles and Maurice Prendergast, whom all can be found in Barnes'
collection. Such admirations shaped Glackens' realization into his own
conception of the modern.
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