Art History News

Monday, January 24, 2022

A Way Through: Abstract Art of the 1940s

Palmer Museum of Artthrough May 15, 2022

Lee Krasner (American, 1908–1984), Composition, 1949, oil on canvas, 38 1/16 x 27 13/16 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of the Aaron E. Norman Fund, Inc., 1959, 1959-31-1 © 2021 Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A captivating new exhibition at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State considers how some of the most provocative midcentury artists made the leap from figuration to abstraction. A Way Through: Abstract Art of the 1940s features major works by Suzy Frelinghuysen, Arshile Gorky, Paul Keene, Lee Krasner, Alice Trumbull Mason, Henry McCarter, George L. K. Morris, Irene Rice Pereira, Judith Rothschild, Charles Green Shaw, Esphyr Slobodkina, Hedda Sterne and John von Wicht. Many of these artists – including a significant number of women, whose contributions have too often been overlooked – were pivotal founders and early members of the American Abstract Artists group. The exhibition is organized by the Palmer Museum of Art and curated by Adam M. Thomas, curator of American art at the Palmer. It is now on view at Penn State, the sole venue, through May 15, 2022.

George L. K. Morris (American, 1905–1975), Composition, 1940, oil on canvas, 30 3/16 x 23 1/8 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art: A. E. Gallatin Collection, 1946, 1946-70-15

“A Way Through: Abstract Art of the 1940s is the most comprehensive look at mid-century abstraction in the Museum’s history,” said Palmer Museum of Art director Erin M. Coe. “As part of the Palmer’s year-long 50th anniversary celebration, this compelling exhibition brings together major loans from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and places them alongside works from the Museum’s collection. It provides us with unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the development of abstract art in the United States and how our programmatic partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made possible by the Art Bridges Initiative, can grow in new directions for the future, especially as we look to our new Museum facility.”

Abstract art proliferated in the United States during the 1940s and was engulfed by economic chaos, world war, the Holocaust and nuclear destruction. Midcentury American artists experimented with a broad range of abstraction and new modes of visual expression as a means of processing the societal upheaval of the era. The title of the exhibition derives in part from the closing lines of Clement Greenberg’s 1940 essay Towards a Newer Laocoön, in which the influential critic acknowledged and promoted the challenge of abstract art, arguing for the necessity of “fighting our way through it.”

Irene Rice Pereira (American, 1902–1971), Untitled (Two Triangles), c. 1940, oil and pigmented varnish on canvas, 36 x 30 inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art, purchased with the J. Stogdell Stokes Fund (2011), 2011-10-1 © Estate of Irene Rice Pereira

Sunday, January 23, 2022

Swann Fine Photographs: Celebrating 70 Years of Photographs Feb 10

Over 70 years ago, Swann held the first auction dedicated to photography in the United States. This 1952 photography auction was astonishingly early for a sale devoted to a medium just 113 years old and still finding its artistic footing in the marketplace. Seven decades later, however, the landscape for this diverse and innovative medium has grown dramatically. The past few decades bore witness to a blossoming market, with numerous galleries, auction houses, and a vibrant, devoted, passionate group of collectors spread around the world.

In 1952, albums and books illustrated with photographs dominated the sale at Swann. The sales results are shocking to a contemporary reader: a nearly complete set of Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion (with duplicate plates) sold for $250, and William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature for $200. The catalogue had no illustrations or estimates, and though the offerings were diverse, the medium’s early association with the photobook field is apparent.

Lot 140: Robert Frank, *Café, Beaufort, South Carolina,* silver print, 1955. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000.

Now we see a full spectrum of photobooks, contemporary photographs made to occupy an entire wall, small classical gems, and modernist masterpieces exploring abstraction in our auctions. To date, our Department’s top lot is Edward S. Curtis’ The North American Indian, which sold for $1.44 million. This market has expanded and flourished, and our auctions at Swann continue the tradition of groundbreaking exploration of the medium, most recently in our photobook and vernacular photography sales (introduced in 2006 and 2014, respectively). These sales advance the boundaries of what is sought and reconsider the ways in which we view and discuss photographic output.

Today we look both forward and backward. Back, to marvel at what has grown. Forward, to imagine what we can still build.

Early Masters of Photography

This specially curated sale celebrates the history of the market for photography at auction while exploring the medium’s future. Classical highlights include the iconic Ansel Adams Oak Tree, Snowstorm, Yosemite Valley, 1948, a stunning print seemingly used as the master for his Portfolio I, as well as Robert Adams’s Entry, Methodist Church, Calhan, Colorado, 1966, printed circa late 1960s; a rare vintage example of Helen Levitt’s dynamic photograph of boys playing on city streets New York (Foreign Legion), 1940; printed 1940s—the cover image to her iconic A Way of Seeing); and two early Robert Frank masterworks: Caf , Beaufort, South Carolina,1955 and Los Angeles, 1956, both from The Americans. We also offer Josef Koudelka’s Rakusky,1964, printed 1980s; and work by Peter Hujar, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Danny Lyon’s important Civil Rights imagery.

Lot 54: Ansel Adams, *Oak Tree, Snowstorm, Yosemite Valley*, silver print, 1948. Estimate $20,000 to $30,000.

Lot 79: Helen Levitt, *New York (Foreign Legion)*, silver print, 1940. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.

Lot 141: Robert Frank, *Los Angeles,* silver print, 1956. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.

Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work Number 36, 1911, and Edward Curtis’s Three Chiefs, Piegan, 1900, showcase two early masters of photography as well as the medium’s rise as an art form. We also offer Emmet Gowin’s early book with photographs Concerning America and Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself, 1963-64, printed 1965. Early work includes Charles Marville’s Rue des Déchargeurs, de la Rue de Rivoli, circa 1865, Carleton Watkins’s The Pavilion on the Stump, Calaveras Grove, 1878–81, and Julia Margaret Cameron’s Baby Blossom (Alice Keown).

Lot 6: Julia Margaret Cameron, *Baby Blossom (Alice Keown),* albumen print from a wet collodion negative, circa 1866. Estimate $15,000 to $25,000.

Contemporary Photography

Groundbreaking women are well-represented, with Diane Arbus’ Female impersonator with jewels, NYC, printed and signed by Arbus, 1958, printed 1958–60; Barbara Kasten’s Construction 33, 1986; Laura Gilpin’s Medicine Man, Little Man, 1932; and early work by Katy Grannen. Further contemporary work includes Masahisa Fukase’s Nayoro, from The Solitude of Ravens, 1977, printed 1980s;, two large-format works by William Helburn; and Carrie Mae Weems’s May Flowers, 2002.

Lot 249: Carrie Mae Weems, *May Flowers*, c-print, 2002. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.

Lot 214: Barbara Kasten, *Construction 33*, cibachrome print, 1986. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.

Lot 205: William Helburn, *Dovima Under the El, Dior Creates Cosmopolitan Drama, Under 3rd Avenue Elevated Train, New York, NY*, pigment print, 1956. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.

Georgia O’Keeffe and American Modernism

McNay Art Museum

January 21 - May 8, 2022

San Antonio, TX (January 17, 2022) – Opening Friday, January 21, at the McNay Art Museum, Georgia O’Keeffe and American Modernism presents a wide-ranging view of the American Modernist movement through 65 diverse artworks from the McNay’s permanent collection, the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts, and rare loans from across the country.

Georgia O’Keeffe, From the Plains I, 1953. Oil on canvas. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Gift of the Estate of Tom Slick, 1973.22. © Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“At this time of great transformation in our country’s history, social norms and boundaries were challenged, and conventions on class, gender, religion, and race were increasingly blurred and redefined,” said Liz Paris, McNay Collections Manager and co-curator of the exhibition. “American artists were inspired by the diversity of immigrant cultures, and in many cases, their own experiences as first-generation American citizens.”

Georgia O’Keeffe, Summer Days, 1936. Oil on canvas. Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Calvin Klein 94.171. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Known as the “mother of American Modernism,” Georgia O’Keeffe emerged as a prominent artist in the movement through paintings and watercolors that applied contrasting styles of abstraction and realism to scenes of everyday life. Like her contemporaries Arthur Dove, Betty Tseng-Ecke, and Helen Torr, O’Keeffe blurred the natural and human-made, rendering landscapes, flowers, animal skulls, and rocks with the same precision as her images of houses, barns, and skyscrapers—at times reducing subject matter to fundamental shapes or focusing on individual elements with a wash of vibrant color.

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Leaf Motif, No. 2 1924

Oil on canvas

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.45

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American, 1893 – 1953. Waitresses from the Sparhawk 1924-1925. Oil on canvas.

Collection of the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Mari and James A. Michener. 1991.252

Jane Peterson, The Green Dress, ca. 1920s. Oil on canvas. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Museum purchase with funds gifted anonymously in memory of Madeline O’Connor, 2021.2

Georgia O’Keeffe and American Modernism combines key loans from the Blanton Museum of Art; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the San Antonio Museum of Art; the San Diego Museum of Art; Alice Simkins; The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund; and the Whitney Museum of American Art with works from the McNay collection. O’Keeffe is the thread through the exhibition that evokes the spirit of American Modernism in its diverse subject matter and unique style.

“American Modernists found unity in the disarray of this transformational time in history,” said Lyle W. Williams, McNay Curator of Prints and Drawings, Curator of Modern Art. “The diversity of the work they produced reflected this chaotic, rapidly evolving period.”

Marsden Hartley, Portrait Arrangement, 1914. Oil on canvas. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1959.2

Paul Cadmus, What I Believe, 1947-48. Tempera on panel. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin, 1999.86. © Jon F. Anderson, Estate of Paul Cadmus/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Complete list of works exhibited:

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Pink and Yellow Hollyhocks 1952

Oil on canvas

Bequest of Helen Miller Jones

1989.37

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Summer Days 1936

Oil on canvas

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Calvin Klein

Ida O’Keeffe

American, 1889-1961

Star Gazing in Texas 1938

Oil of canvas

Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund and Janet Kendall Forsythe Fund in honor of Janet Kendall Forsythe on behalf of the Earl A. Forsythe family

Constance Forsyth

American, 1903-1987

Bandera Sky (Clouds) 1959

Watercolor on paper

Gift of Alice C. Simkins

2018.16

Constance Forsyth

American, 1903-1987

Gulf Clouds ca. 1957

Watercolor on paper

Gift of Alice C. Simkins in honor of Robert L. B. Tobin

1998.7

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Evening Star No. V 1917

Watercolor on paper

Bequest of Helen Miller Jones

1989.36

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Red, Blue, and Green ca. 1916

Watercolor on paper

Collection of The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund

Georgia O’Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Untitled (Red, Blue, Yellow) 1916

Watercolor on paper

Collection of Alice C. Simkins

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

It Was Blue and Green 1960

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York;

Lawrence H. Bloedel Bequest

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

The Mountain, New Mexico 1931

Oil on canvas

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Betty Tseng Ecke

American, born China, 1925-2017

A Corner on Earth 1959

Collage and watercolor on paper, mounted on panel

Gift of the Estate of Tom Slick

1973.24

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

From the Plains I 1953

Oil on canvas

Gift of the Estate of Tom Slick

1973.22

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Leaf Motif, No. 2 1924

Oil on canvas

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.45

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Purple Hills 1935

Oil on canvas

Collection of The San Diego Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and

Mrs. Norton S. Walbridge

Alexander Calder

American, 1898-1976

Standing Mobile ca. 1940

Steel wire and painted aluminum

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.60

Frost 3

Charles Sheeler

American, 1883-1965

Barn Decorations 1959

Oil on canvas

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.52

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Barn with Snow 1934

Oil on canvas

Collection of The San Diego Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and

Mrs. Norton S. Walbridge

William Zorach

American, born Russia (now Lithuania), 1887-1966

Milking Time (Echo Farm, New Hampshire) 1917

Oil on canvas

Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin

1999.107

Ralston Crawford

American, born Canada, 1906-1978

Grey Street 1940

Screenprint

Gift of the Friends of the McNay

1989.29

Elsie Driggs

American, 1898–1992

Aeroplane 1928

Oil on canvas

Collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment Fund

Helen Torr, American

American, 1886–1967

Corrugated Building 1929

Oil on panel

Collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase funded by The Brown Foundation, Inc., and Isabel B. Wilson in memory of Peter C. Marzio

Milton Avery

American, 1885-1965

Sea Birds and Sand Spit 1959

Watercolor on paper

Gift of the Arthur T. Stieren Marital Trust, Jane Stieren Lacy, trustee, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the McNay Art Museum

2014.14

Arthur Dove

American, 1880-1946

The Brothers 1942

Tempera and wax emulsion on canvas

Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin through the Friends of the McNay

1962.3

Arthur Dove

American, 1880-1946

Study for The Brothers 1941

Watercolor on paper

Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin through the Friends of the McNay

1962.4.4

Arthur Dove

American, 1880-1946

Study for The Brothers 1942

Watercolor on paper

Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin through the Friends of the McNay

1962.4.7

Helen Torr

American, 1886-1967

Ice 1927

Oil on board

Gift of C. Thomas Wright

2016.115

Helen Torr

American, 1886-1967

White Feather 1930

Gouache on paper

Gift of Alice C. Simkins

2015.168

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Open Clam Shell 1926

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott

Art Fund, Inc., bequest of Mrs. Eugene McDermott

Georgia O'Keeffe

American, 1887-1986

Closed Clam Shell 1926

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott

Art Fund, Inc., bequest of Mrs. Eugene McDermott

Marsden Hartley

American, 1877-1943

Black Duck No. 1 1941

Oil on masonite

Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Robert H. Tannahill

Isamu Noguchi

American, 1904-1988

The Mirror 1958

Painted aluminum

Gift of the Estate of Tom Slick

1973.35

Yasuo Kuniyoshi

American, 1893 - 1953

Waitresses from the Sparhawk 1924-1925

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Mari and James A. Michener

Norman Lewis

American, 1909-1979

Man Smoking 1941

Oil on canvas

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts

John Sloan

American, 1871-1951

Self Portrait 1928

Oil on panel

Bequest of Marion Koogler McNay

1950.141

Jane Peterson

American, 1876-1965

The Green Dress ca. 1920s

Oil on canvas

Museum purchase with funds gifted anonymously in memory of

Madeline O'Connor

2021.2

Frank Gonzalez

American, born 1923

Mexican Girl 1954

Oil on canvas

Bequest of Madeline C. Todd

1965.13

Charles Louis Sallée, Jr.

American, 1911-2006

Girl with Pink Geranium 1936

Oil on canvas

The Harmon and Harriett Kelley Foundation for the Arts

Karl Zerbe

American, born Germany, 1903-1972

Penny-Gaff 1946

Encaustic on canvas

Gift of Mary and Sylvan Lang

1958.3

Joseph Delaney

American, 1904-1991

Clara 1937

Oil on canvas

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts

Ben Shahn

American, born Russia (now Lithuania), 1898-1969

Sing Sorrow 1946

Tempera on panel

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.49

Yasuo Kuniyoshi

American, born Japan, 1893-1953

Pie in the Sky 1945

Ink and watercolor on paper

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.40

Elizabeth Catlett

American, 1915-2012

Cabeza Cantando (Singing Head) 1968

Bronze

Museum purchase with the Victor and Peggy Barton Creighton Charitable Trust

2014.67

William Zorach

American, born Russia (now Lithuania), 1887-1966

Head 1952

Granite

Mary and Sylvan Lang Collection

1975.77

Marsden Hartley

American, 1877-1943

Portrait Arrangement 1914

Oil on canvas

Museum purchase

1959.2

Paul Cadmus

American, 1904-1999

What I Believe 1947-1948

Tempera on panel

Gift of Robert L. B. Tobin

1999.86

Martha Mood

American, 1908-1972

The Sunbather

Appliqué

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Droste

1982.52

Marion Greenwood

American, 1909-1970

Portrait of Leopoldo Méndez 1936

Charcoal on paper

Gift of Ann Tobin in honor of Alice C. Simkins' birthday

2000.7

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Mexican, 1896-1974

Portrait of William Spratling, Taxco 1939

Lithograph

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Burkhalter

1962.10

Marion Greenwood

American, 1909-1970

Portrait of Alfredo Zalce 1935

Charcoal on paper

Museum purchase

2007.14

Grant Wood

American, 1891-1942

Shrine Quartet 1939

Lithograph

Gift of the Friends of the McNay

1993.31

Kelly Fearing

American, 1918-2011

Boy Flying Kite, Fish Watching 1947-1948

Oil on canvas

Gift of Amy Freeman Lee in honor of Blanche and John Palmer Leeper

1990.15

Milton Avery

American, 1885-1965

Portrait of March, the Artist's Daughter 1950

Oil on panel

Gift of Mrs. Donald W. Saunders

1977.13

Paul Cadmus

American, 1904-1999

Study for Fantasia on a Theme by Dr. S 1946

Ink, graphite, and crayon on paper

Collection of The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund

31.2004

Malvina Hoffman

American, 1885-1966

Column of Life 1917

Bronze

Museum purchase in memory of John Palmer Leeper with funds from Marian Harwell, by exchange, and the members of the McNay

1996.37

Marsden Hartley

American, 1877 - 1943

New England Still Life ca. 1928-1929

Oil on canvas

Collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art. Purchased with funds

provided by The Painting and Sculpture Council, Mrs. Ferdinand P. Herff, and

Endowment Funds

Burgoyne Diller

American, 1906-1965

Still Life 1930

Oil on canvas

Gift of Victoria M. Tillman and Museum purchase with the

Alvin Whitley Estate

2003.40

Arshile Gorky

American, born Armenia, 1904-1948

Composition with Vegetables ca. 1928

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Albert Erskine to the Mari and James A. Michener Collection

Alfred Maurer

American, 1868-1932

Still Life with Watermelons and Shrimp 1930

Oil on panel

Gift of the Friends of the McNay

1960.4

Walt Kuhn

American, 1877-1949

Apple Basket 1933

Oil on canvas

Gift of Alice N. Hanszen

1976.38

Chester Toney

American, 1925-1960

Still Life

Oil on panel

Museum purchase

1962.5

Fannie Hillsmith

American, 1911-2007

The Portrait 1947

Watercolor and ink on paper

Gift of Alice C. Simkins

2018.18

Lois Mailou Jones

American, 1905-1998

A le Petit Dejeuner 1937

Oil on canvas

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts

Charles Sheeler

American, 1883-1965

Still Life 1931

Oil on canvas

Collection of the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Michener Acquisitions Fund

Rebecca Salsbury James

American, 1891-1968

Calla Lily in Vase ca. 1930

Oil on glass

Collection of The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund

Laura Wheeler Waring

American, 1887-1948

Still Life with Heather 1927

Oil on canvas

The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Foundation for the Arts

Charles Demuth

American, 1883-1935

From the Kitchen Garden 1925

Watercolor and graphite on paper

Bequest of Marion Koogler McNay

1950.33

Friday, January 21, 2022

Gift Of More Than 600 Photographs To The Portland Museum of Art

Richard Avedon (United States, 1923-2004), Audrey Hepburn and Art Buchwald, with Simone D’Aillencourt, Frederick Eberstadt, Barbara Mullen, and Dr. Reginald Kernan, evening dresses by Balmain, Dior, and Patou, Maxim’s, Paris, August 1959, 1959, gelatin silver print, 19 1⁄2 x 29 inches. Museum purchase with gift in honor of Judith Glickman Lauder, 2020.7. Photograph by Richard Avedon. © The Richard Avedon Foundation

The Portland Museum of Art (PMA) is proud to announce that Judy Glickman Lauder—photographer, collector, humanitarian, advocate, philanthropist, and community builder—has made a monumental gift of more than 600 works of art to the museum through a Promised Gift, immediately transforming and cementing the PMA as an international destination for photography.

Anchored by works from some of the most beloved and influential photographers of the 20th century, including Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Margaret Bourke-White, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Gordon Parks, and James Van Der Zee, the collection will become the center of a photographic collection at the Portland Museum of Art that will thrill audiences from around the world. The collection also includes photographs by critical contributors to the medium’s history, such as Irving Bennett Ellis, Graciela Iturbide, Lotte Jacobi, Alma Lavenson, Ben Shahn, and Glickman Lauder, the collector herself.

“The breadth and quality of this collection is remarkable,” says Mark Bessire, the Judy and Leonard Lauder Director of the Portland Museum of Art. “Judy’s lifelong love of photography and devotion to Maine comes together through this landmark gift, and our region’s future is immediately strengthened through the universal appeal of these artworks.”

The PMA envisions the collection’s impact to go far beyond the museum’s galleries and walls. Much like Charles Shipman Payson’s gift of seventeen Winslow Homer paintings in the 1980’s made way for campus growth and unification, expanded gallery experiences, and improved community engagement, the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection will serve as a keystone for the next great chapter in the museum’s 140-year history.

By creating a home for these works at the museum, Glickman Lauder enriches Maine’s already spectacular artistic legacy and pens an exciting new chapter. In the years to come, this moment will be looked back on as a tipping point for our region, the museum, and photography in Maine.

Gordon Parks (United States, 1912-2006), American Gothic, Washington, DC, 1942, gelatin silver print, 13 x 10 1/4 inches. Promised Gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection. Image courtesy of Luc Demers. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation.

Visitors to the PMA will get their first look into the collection in October 2022 when selections will be on view as part of the major exhibition Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder. The exhibition takes its name from the common thread that unites these works—presence of the photographer, the viewer, the
subjects, as well as the photographs themselves. Consisting entirely of works from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection, Presence captures the full spectrum of the human experience, from the anonymous to the celebrity and from the everyday to era-defining events such as the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights Movement. Through compassion and wonder, Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder immediately stands out as one of the most humanistic and affecting exhibitions of 2022.

The exhibition will be the first major exhibition curated by Anjuli Lebowitz, PhD, the PMA’s newly named and inaugural Judy Glickman Lauder Associate Curator of Photography. Dr. Lebowitz joined the museum from the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where she worked on several exhibitions and catalogues including Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work, 1940-1950 and the upcoming American Silence: The Photographs of Robert Adams. Previously, she was a Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where she curated Faith and Photography: Auguste Salzmann in the Holy Land. She has organized scholarly panels on the visual culture of caregiving and women-identifying artists in national collections.

A companion publication will be produced to commemorate Glickman Lauder’s generosity to the PMA. Published by Aperture and edited by Chris Boot, the book will include about 140 full plate reproductions with an introduction by Mark Bessire, the Judy and Leonard Lauder Director of the Portland Museum of Art, an essay by Dr. Anjuli Lebowitz, the Judy Glickman Lauder Associate Curator of Photography, and reflections from Judy Glickman Lauder on her life in photography.

Irving Bennett Ellis (United States, 1902-1977), Louise Ellis, circa 1936, gelatin silver print, 9 x 7 inches. Promised Gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection. Image courtesy of Luc Demers. © Judy Glickman Lauder Collection

ABOUT JUDY GLICKMAN LAUDER

Judy Glickman Lauder is internationally known as an acclaimed photographer, collector, humanitarian, advocate, philanthropist, and community builder. Her life’s work, whether through her art, her generosity, or her collecting, is defined by a deep appreciation for life and all its intricacies. This fascination with humanity, and the nuances and complexities therein, encompasses all her creative and spiritual endeavors, and has led her across the world in the pursuit of connecting people to one another.

Glickman Lauder has made indelible contributions to the field of photography in Maine and beyond. As a trustee of the Portland Museum of Art, Glickman Lauder’s transformative capacity has been on full display for decades, supporting the museum’s exhibitions, collections, galleries, mission, and more. Over the years, her collection has enabled countless presentations, exhibitions, and unforgettable moments at the museum. Her guidance and wealth of knowledge have supported the PMA’s photographic program and enabled the museum to develop a contemporary and photographic audience.

As an artist, Glickman Lauder’s photographs have been exhibited worldwide and are represented in over 300 public and private collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the United States Holocaust Museum. Numerous books of her work have been published, most recently Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exceptionwhich was published by The Aperture Foundation on the 75th anniversary of the remarkable rescue of the Danish Jews during the Nazi occupation in 1943. The publication features Glickman Lauder’s photographs over a 30-year span documenting concentration camps and portraits of both survivors of the rescue and the brave men and women who risked their own lives to help deliver the Jews in danger east to Sweden.

Judy Glickman Lauder was born in 1938 and raised in Piedmont, California before moving to Los Angeles as a teenager. She later attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she met and eventually married Albert B. Glickman.

Over the next fifty-four years, the couple developed a national reputation as committed philanthropists, and for Judy, an additional reputation as an advocate and champion for the photographic arts. Her involvement with fellow photographers at the Maine Photographic Workshops was a major turning point in her relationship with photography and the camera and would set her off on a new path exploring the medium’s unique qualities and characteristics. Albert Glickman passed away in 2013, and in 2015 Judy married her family friend and fellow art enthusiast and collector Leonard A. Lauder. Together, they have continued to build on Judy Glickman Lauder’s legacy of humanitarianism through the arts, supporting the Portland Museum of Art as well as a wide variety of arts and cultural organizations, receiving the Gordon Parks Patron of the Arts Award in 2016.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London

Worcester Art Museum

November 13, 2021 through March 13, 2022

Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London, is an exploration of the role of love in some of the greatest masterpieces of Western art. For over a year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled people around the globe to be physically separated from loved ones. In tragic cases they have experienced loss and suffering. It is thus a timely moment to reflect on how portraits sustain us during long periods apart and preserve the memory of those no longer with us.

As the first venue in an international tour organized while the National Portrait Gallery is closed for a major redevelopment, Love Stories at WAM is a rare opportunity for Americans to experience locally some of the National Portrait Gallery’s treasures normally only seen in London.

With around 100 masterpieces from the National Portrait Gallery, London—the most extensive portraiture collection in the world—Love Stories traces the role of portraiture on the changing face of love from sixteenth-century Renaissance-era painting to contemporary photography. Some of the world’s most famous passionate affairs, long-lasting companionships, and, sadly, also heartbreaks are captured in the love stories of couples including, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, and Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson, among others.

Whether as love tokens, historical records, or enduring images that outlast human mortality, the works in Love Stories serve as visual records of spring flings and slow burns. Moreover, they record the diverse expressions of human affection and attachment. Through these paintings, sculptures, photographs, and drawings—created over a span of five hundred years—we can see that love and the relationships it forges take many different forms.

“Portraits are a visual record of a relationship, celebrating key moments like engagements and weddings, serving as memorials to the deceased, or expressing adoration or disdain for an absent or scorned lover,” said Matthias Waschek, the Jean and Myles McDonough Director of the Worcester Art Museum. “But while much has been written or sung about love, Love Stories is an opportunity to dive into this complex history through the visual arts, drawing on some of the most remarkable portraits that reflect this love back to the viewer, decades or even centuries later. We are excited to be collaborating with the National Portrait Gallery, London, to bring these great works of art, and their stories, to American audiences.”

The exhibition is organized in five sections. In the first section, “The Artist and The Muse,” the exhibition explores both the role of artist-and-muse as it was traditionally conceived, while also presenting the ways in which many artists have upset these conventions by playing with societal norms in terms of age, gender, and race, among other elements.

George Romney, Emma Hamilton, c.1785, oil on canvas, 737 x 597 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased, 1870. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Ford Madox Brown, Henry Fawcett; Dame Millicent Fawcett, 1872, oil on canvas, 1086 x 838 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Bequeathed by Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Bt, 1911. © National Portrait Gallery, London

For example, the relationship between George Romney (1734-1802) and Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) would appear to exemplify the traditional artist-muse pairing, represented in the show with Romney’s 1784 selfportrait and a painting of Hamilton made in approximately 1785. Hamilton captured Romney’s imagination, and what initially began as a plan for commercial print-making using her image became a long-term artistic connection: over the following nine years, Romney depicted her more than 100 times, often as herself but also performing various roles, from naïve country girl to classical figures such as Medea, Circe or a Bacchante. Romney’s portraits enhanced the celebrity of both artist and sitter, and Hamilton can be viewed as an active performer and collaborator, not merely a passive muse.

“Love and Creativity” brings forward classic pairings, couples who were famous for their own works of art, and for their mutual inspiration as much as their affections.

Michele Gordigiani, Robert Browning, 1858, oil on canvas, 724 x 587 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Florence L. Barclay (Florence Louisa Barclay (née Charlesworth)), 1921. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Michele Gordigiani, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1858, oil on canvas, 737 x 584 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Florence L. Barclay (Florence Louisa Barclay (née Charlesworth)), 1921. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, 1853, bronze cast of clasped hands, 210 mm long. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Mrs Richard Fuller, 1943. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Kenneth Green, Peter Pears; Benjamin Britten, 1943, oil on canvas, 715 x 969 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Mrs Mary Behrend, 1973. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir Peter Lely, Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland with her son, probably Charles FitzRoy, as the Virgin and Child, c.1664, oil on canvas, 1247 x 1020 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, through the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), Camelot Group plc, David and Catharine Alexander, David Wilson, E.A. Whitehead, Glyn Hopkin and numerous other supporters of a public appeal including members of the Chelsea Arts Club, 2005. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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Wim Heldens, Harry Djanogly; Carol Ann Djanogly, 2017, oil on canvas, 1250 x 1400 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Commissioned, 2018. © National Portrait Gallery, London

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One such example is Mary Beale’s painting of her husband, Charles Beale the Elder (c. 1660) and her subsequent self-portrait (c. 1666). Beale was among a tiny number of successful and recognized female painters during this period; her adoring husband gave up his career to manage her studio. Notebooks from their family and work life reveal the extent to which business and love went hand in hand for the Beales: along with receipts and the preparations of art materials, Charles also described Mary as my ‘Dearest & Most Indefatigable Heart’. In her self-portrait, she rests her hand on a canvas showing unfinished portraits of the couple’s two sons.

Another infamous creative couple included in this section is Mary Wollstonecraft—author of the science fiction masterpiece Frankenstein—and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their turbulent, eight year relationship produced some of the most enduring and powerful works in English Literature, and ended tragically when Shelley drowned in 1822. They are shown here with Amelia Curran’s 1819 painting of Shelley and Richard Rothwell’s undated painting of Wollstonecraft.

In the third section, “Portraying Partnership,” the exhibition takes a deep dive into the role of portraiture in the shared lives and marriages of many couples, whether on their wedding day or in their later years. With the increased accessibility of photography—but long before camera phones and Instagram—artists could create images that were shared around the world, letting audiences feel like participants in the life events of celebrities. Photographs such as The wedding of Nellie Adkins and Ras Prince Monolulu (Peter Carl MacKay) (1931) taken by George Woodbine for the newspaper the Daily Herald, or The wedding of Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach (1981) photographed by Terry O’Neill, capture the happiness of these couples in the moment— and the images have become as much a part of history as the events themselves.

The fourth section is “The Trials of Love,” cataloging some of the most famous—and infamous—couples, people who found love amidst constrained circumstances, or whose love endured the deepest tragedy. The world may have been scandalized when King Edward VIII said he intended to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, but they were even more 3 surprised when he abdicated the throne in order to do so in 1937. Yet Dorothy Wilding’s 1943 photograph Wallis, Duchess of Windsor; Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) shows a couple smiling and quite clearly in love. Decades later there was a different, if equally infamous, love affair: copious public reports of friction within The Beatles as a result of the increasingly consistent presence of Yoko Ono. Tom Blau’s three photographs from 1969 of Ono and John Lennon preparing to kiss, staring into each other’s eyes, first with eyes open and then with eyes closed, give an alternative perspective: the depth of their love is evident to any viewer. These works demonstrate precisely the ways in which love can be challenging or constantly challenged by the surrounding society.

Kenneth Green, Peter Pears; Benjamin Britten, 1943, oil on canvas, 715 x 969 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Mrs Mary Behrend, 1973. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Wim Heldens, Harry Djanogly; Carol Ann Djanogly, 2017, oil on canvas, 1250 x 1400 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Commissioned, 2018. © National Portrait Gallery, London

George Woodbine, for Daily Herald, The wedding of Nellie Adkins and Ras Prince Monolulu (Peter Carl MacKay), 21 August, 1931, modern bromide print from original negative, 140 x 192 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Sidney Buckland, 2001. © Science & Society Picture Library / National Portrait Gallery, London

Humphrey Ocean, Linda McCartney; Paul McCartney, May 1976, bromide fibre print, 196 x 292 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Given by Humphrey Ocean (Humphrey Anthony Erdeswick Butler-Bowdon), 2006. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Graham Hughes, Helen Richardson-Walsh (née Richardson); Kate Richardson-Walsh (née Walsh), 30 August 2016, C-type colour print, 268 x 485 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased, 2016. © Graham Hughes

Angus McBean, Berto Pasuka, 1947, vintage bromide print, 145 x 107 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased, 2008. © Estate of Angus McBean / National Portrait Gallery, London

Gillman & Co, Oscar Wilde; Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, May 1893, gelatin silver print, 136 x 97 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased, 2006. © National Portrait Gallery, London

George Frederic Watts, Ellen Terry ('Choosing'), 1864, oil on strawboard mounted on Gatorfoam, 472 x 352 mm. National Portrait Gallery, London. Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1975. © National Portrait Gallery, London

David Hockney, George and Mary Christie, 2002, Watercolor on 4 sheets of paper (24 x 18" each) 48 x 36" overall, © David Hockney. Photo Credit: Prudence Cuming Associates. Collection National Portrait Gallery, London

The final section, all photography, delivers notable images of famous couples. “Love and the Lens,” includes photographs such as Richard Burton and Dame Elizabeth Taylor (1971) by Terry O’Neill, Mick Jagger and Bianca Jagger (1971) by Patrick Lichfield, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall (1981) by Norman Parkinson, and Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales (1981) by Patrick Lichfield, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and family (2018) by Alexi Lubomirski.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, said: “We’re very excited to be sharing some of the Gallery’s most cherished portraits with Worcester Art Museum while the building in London is temporarily closed for our Inspiring People redevelopment. Love Stories comprises some of the best portraits in our Collection dating from the sixteenth century to the present day and explores relatable themes, from romantic love, obsession and infatuation to tragedy and loss. At the heart of this exhibition are a series of real-life love stories that are universal and chronicle human experience. After such an unprecedented period of global change, we hope international audiences can come together in person and engage with this visual exploration of love in all its forms.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a beautifully illustrated book, published by the National Portrait Gallery, bringing these love stories to life through the perspectives of numerous authors, using material from the sitter’s own letters, diaries and poetry while highlighting their connection to triumphs of painting, photography, theatre, music and literature. Written by National Portrait Gallery curators and invited specialists, the book’s contributors include: Louise Stewart, former curator, 16th Century to Contemporary Collections, at the National Portrait Gallery, London; Simon Callow, actor, musician, writer and theatre director; Peter Funnell, former curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London; Marina Warner, novelist, short story writer and historian; and Kate Williams, author, historian and television presenter. The book is edited by Lucy Peltz, Head of Collections Displays (Tudor to Regency) and Senior Curator, 18th Century Collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

About the National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to encourage through portraiture the appreciation and understanding of the people who have made and are making British history and culture. Today it promotes engagement with portraiture in all media to a wide-ranging public by conserving, growing and sharing the world’s largest collection of portraits. The Gallery in London is closed until 2023, while works take place on its transformational Inspiring People redevelopment. During this time, the Gallery is continuing to share its unique Collection of portraits through a programme of partnerships and activities across the UK and internationally. www.npg.org.uk