The Hillstrom Museum of Art at Gustavus Adolphus College will open two concurrent exhibitions on Monday, Feb. 20, including Reflections & Undercurrents: Ernest Roth and Printmaking in Venice, 1900-1940, and Now and Then: Works by Studio Art Faculty, Past and Present. An opening reception for the new exhibits will take place between 7-9 p.m. on Feb. 20. They will remain on view through April 22 and are free and open to the public.
Reflections & Undercurrents features prints by artists who, following the lead of the great American aesthete and expatriate artist James Abbott MacNeill Whistler (1834-1903), explored in their art the picturesque aspects of Venice. The artists represented in the exhibit include German-born American painter and etcher Ernest Roth (1879-1964), who trained at the National Academy of Design and was one of the foremost etchers of the early twentieth century; John Taylor Arms (1887-1953), known for his technically –accomplished etchings that include astonishing levels of detail; Joseph Pennell (1860-1926), who, in addition to having made many prints in a variety of media also was a devoted follower and biographer of Whistler; and Whistler himself, who is represented both by a print in the exhibition proper as well as by the Museum’s addition of its own etching, an example of the 1879-1880 Long Venice, which depicts the familiar Venetian skyline from a distance.
Reflections & Undercurrents is based on the extensive research of Eric Denker, Senior Lecturer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Denker will be at Gustavus to present a public lecture on the exhibit and his collection at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in Wallenberg Auditorium. Denker will also give a gallery talk the evening of Monday, April 16 in the exhibition space. These events are also free and open to the public.
Now and Then: Works by Studio Art Faculty, Past and Present features works in a variety of media by current Gustavus studio art faculty members, including Priscilla Briggs, Betsy R. Byers, Nicole Roberts Hoiland, Kristen Lowe, Lois Peterson, Dave Ryan, and Stanley J. Shetka. The exhibition also has works by a number of past Gustavus studio art faculty members, including Don Palmgren, Donald Gregory, Paul Granlund, and Lorena Daeschner Hall, the College’s first art instructor, who taught at the College from 1938-1946.
Now and Then is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue that includes an essay reminiscing about the history of the art department at Gustavus, written by Professor Emeritus Bruce A. McClain, whose own work is represented in the exhibit. McClain retired in 2011 after 45 years of teaching at the College. In his essay, he recounts how when he started at the College in 1965, the faculty consisted solely of Donald Gregory, who took over in 1946 after Lorena Daeschner Hall left, and how the department slowly grew into its current form.
The Hillstrom Museum of Art is located on the lower level of the College C. Charles Jackson Campus Center. Regular museum hours at 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on weekends.
For more information about these exhibitions or the Hillstrom Museum of Art, go online to gustavus.edu/finearts/hillstrom or call 507-933-7200.
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