The Path to Paradise is the first survey and major scholarly assessment of this groundbreaking artist’s 37-year career. Organized by the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, the exhibition travel to two additional venues in the United States. Drawn from both private and institutional collections, The Path to Paradise will feature approximately 45 of Judith Schaechter’s stained-glass panels along with a selection of related drawings and process materials.
shown: Judith Schaechter, The Battle of Carnival and Lent, (detail) 2010-2011, stained, engraved and painted glass.
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Ja’Tovia Gary’s Giverny I (NÉGRESSE IMPÉRIALE) film installation re-contextualizes archival images by combining documentary elements and direct animation, connecting the artist’s everyday experience as a Black woman with art history. By contrasting the luxury of Claude Monet’s historic gardens with the vulnerability of her own body, Gary shows how connections between colonialism, state violence, and media shape visual perception: how we see, experience, and understand the visual world.
Shown: Ja’Tovia Gary (American, b. 1984) Still from Giverny I (NÉGRESSE IMPÉRIALE), 2017 © Ja’Tovia Gary. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.
July 31–October 11, 2020
The vision of one … the dedication of many.
The exhibition 1940/2020 celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery. From its origins in 1940 as the Women’s Council, the organization has served as the primary auxiliary arm of MAG by raising funds for exhibitions and collections and providing volunteers for outreach programs. Beginning in 1956, the Council also raised funds to enrich MAG collections through dozens of new acquisitions. These include works as varied as Rachel Ruysch’s Floral Still Life, Hyacinthe Rigaud’s 1731 portrait of the Archbishop of Paris, tapestries by Fernand Léger and Alexander Calder, and Mortal, a portfolio of woodcuts by the major contemporary artist Kiki Smith. This exhibition, held in the Lockhart Gallery, showcases about 30 of these works acquired over the course of the past 60 years.
Rachel Ruysch, Floral Still Life, detail, 1686
By 1900, many women wanted rights as men, and that meant the ability to vote. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, postcards were a cheap, accessible, and exceedingly mobile media for spreading the messages of women’s suffrage. Some postcards provide the short, thought-provoking power of a pithy contemporary tweet.
Watch Rochester Author Writes Book Highlighting Women’s Suffrage via Spectrum News.
now on view in the Hurlbut Gallery
Rochester has its own graffiti legends, none more esteemed than the collective FUA (pronounced “fwah”) Krew. Though many members of FUA Krew have dispersed over the years, becoming ambassadors for Rochester and building their international recognition, our city remains the center of their work.
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Argentum: Double-Positive by Jim Sanborn consists of two bronze projection cylinders in front of MAG’s 1913 building. These cylinders are perforated with a series of texts that light up at night and project onto the facade and surrounding landscape at MAG. The texts highlight the creativity and invention that have been the core industry of the City of Rochester for decades.
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Always open – always free.
Four major artists were commissioned to create site specific work for Centennial Sculpture Park. Wendell Castle’s Unicorn Family provides an outdoor grouping of chairs, a table, and a lamp for visitors who like to sit and enjoy the passing scene. Jackie Ferrara created Marking Crossways, geometric pathways and cameos leading from the ‘quarry’ area to the front entrance of MAG. Tom Otterness, known internationally for his engaging installations created Creation Myth, two heroic figures at the corner of Goodman and University Street as well as 17 diminutive bronze muses scattered throughout the Park. Albert Paley installed Soliloquy, a colorful 25-foot stainless steel sculpture at the Goodman Street entrance. shown: detail, Albert Paley, Soliloquy (2013). Gift of the Cameros Family and Ann Mowris Mulligan, with additional support from Bank of America Charitable Foundation, FULL MEA5URE, the Herdle-Moore Fund, the Rubens Family Foundation, and the Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Fund.
photo: Brandon Vick.
