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Hidden Treasures
Jun 27, 09 thru Sep 20, 09
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As the oldest public art museum in the United States, the Wadsworth Atheneum has built one of the most distinguished and wide-ranging art collections in America over a period of more than a century and half. At present the collections number approximately 50,000 objects that range across time and space. The Atheneum’s curators have delved into the museum’s art storage spaces selecting objects of great quality that will undoubtedly surprise and intrigue our visitors. An effort has been made to present art from many countries and cultures across the broad expanse of time. Many of the works of art chosen for this show are extremely fragile and light sensitive, which explains why they have rarely been on view in the galleries.
Hidden Treasures will highlight works on paper including a masterful watercolor by Paul Cézanne, The Bather, c. 1885; a drawing by Gustave Doré, The Virgin of the Apocalypse, c. 1865; and engravings by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). A selection of celebrated prints by modern American masters will include examples by George Bellows, Edward Hopper, and John Sloan. A selection of exquisite miniature portraits by such noted English and American painters as George Engleheart (1752-1829), John Singleton Copley (1739-1815), and John Trumbull (1756-1843) will be shown. Rare examples of Asian art include the grand scale and complex painting by Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro (?-1806) entitled Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara, c. 1793, and a Chinese Qing Dynasty porcelain “Vault of Heaven” Vase of the Ch’ien-lung period, 1736-1795. The art of Africa will include an important Reliquary Guardian Figure, late 19th or early 20th century, from Kota, Eastern Gabon, Africa. An ancient Mexican figure of a seated man from the Olmec culture, 900-600 B.C., carved from the mineral hematite will be on view along with an 18th century painting by an unidentified Puruvian colonial artist entitled Three-Faced Trinity. A group of box constructions by the surrealist-inspired American artist Joseph Cornell will be installed along with a surrealist photograph of Cornell by photographer Lee Miller. A limited edition silkscreen print series by leading American artists produced by the Atheneum in 1964 entitled Portfolio of Ten Works by Ten Painters will include examples by Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. Finally, works of contemporary art will include examples by Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Robert Longo, and a video by Andrea Fraser. Funders
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