Around the Galleries: DownstairsSeven prints by Russian-born American artist Raphael Soyer are on view near the auditorium through April 22. The grouping includes five self-portraits Soyer did between 1933 and 1982, among them the hand-colored lithograph at left, which dates from 1954.
Five of the works were recent gifts from UR alumna Diane Ambler ’71 and her husband Ethan Grossman. The couple also donated funds for a brochure that visitors may pick up. See the brochure
As visitors to the 2006 exhibition Extreme Materials may remember, Devorah Sperber’s stunning installations explore the ways we see and perceive our world in the digital age. Using special software, Sperber scanned a photo of Grant Wood’s iconic painting, American Gothic. The resulting heavily-pixilated, inverted image was her blueprint to assemble 4,596 spools of thread. From close up, the viewer sees only fields of color, but upon stepping back and looking through an acrylic sphere (or is it a crystal ball?), the scene magically rights itself. See for yourself, in the exhibition corridor near the Lockhart Gallery.
Pictured: (Above left) Curators installing the work and (above right) the work itself, complete with “crystal ball.”
With funds generously provided by the Gallery Council, the two second floor galleries devoted to 19th- and early 20th-century European art reopened November 23 following a complete makeover. The work included a new floor and paint for the Gold Gallery and—last but not least—a complete reinstallation of the artwork in this space and the adjacent Green Gallery. Learn more about the art on view
Pictured: On October 25, Love’s Mirror, by Italian artist Nicola Cantalamessa-Papotti. was disassembled for safekeeping during the project.
Two South Austrian Baroque angels (ca. 1700) have been installed in the Fountain Court, on either side of the Italian Baroque organ. Long off view, the pair (including the one pictured) was recently restored by conservators Barbara Moore and Mimi Leveque with funding from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. Bertha Buswell Bequest.
The 16th-century armor that used to face the school tour entrance has moved to the second-floor Renaissance Gallery. Acquired by MAG in 2006, the beautifully detailed pieces were once worn by knights of the Dukes of Brunswick.
Nearby in the Medieval Gallery, see another recent acquisition—a 15th-century German Minnekästchen, or marriage chest, that once held jewels and other treasured objects. Carved from fruitwood, it’s richly illustrated with heraldic symbols and animals both real (lions, camels and monkeys) and imaginary (unicorns and griffins). It’s pictured at right.
Also in the Medieval Gallery is a recently acquired set of Renaissance wedding cutlery with a stamped leather case in the form of a fish. Four of the knives represent courting couples, two others most likely a groom and his bride.
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