Portland Museum of Art 2010 Exhibition Schedule

Portland Museum of Art announces its 2010 exhibition schedule. 

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Modernism and Masquerade: Max Beckmann (1884–1950)
Through May 23, 2010

This exhibition features the graphic work of German print master Max Beckmann (1884–1950), providing important focus on the artist whose powerful approach to the human condition continues to move and inspire viewers. Featuring approximately 40 prints from the Museum’s permanent collection and from private collections, the exhibition explores Beckmann’s portrait work as well as his treatment of scenes of both gaiety—the circus and theatre—and alienation.
Exhibition information: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4812.shtml

Objects of Wonder:
Four Centuries of Still Life from the Norton Museum of Art
Through June 6, 2010

Still-life works embrace a moment in time and create a memory that combines real life and its representation in art. Objects of Wonder: Four Centuries of Still Life from the Norton Museum of Art is a selection of more than 50 paintings, sculptures, and photographs from the 17th through the 20th centuries that focuses on the depiction of inanimate objects. Featured artists include Marsden Hartley, Henri Matisse, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pablo Picasso, and Marc Chagall. This exhibition presents important works that illustrate both aspects of the genre—objects as stand-alone imagery and those serving as one element of a larger composition. The out-of-the-ordinary assortment of works come together to form such themes as table settings, flowers, fruits and vegetables, fish, and works in three dimensions.
Exhibition information: www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4290.shtml

Division and Discovery: Recent Work by Frederick Lynch
Through July 11, 2010

As an abstract painter, Maine artist Frederick Lynch (born 1935) uses a system of repeated geometries and mathematical divisions to explore a multitude of visual possibilities. His paintings evoke the type of order and chaos found in patterns of nature—branching, veining of leaves, and molecular systems. This exhibition of 25 recent works by Lynch pairs his large painted canvases with smaller sections of each of his paintings.
Exhibition information: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4684.shtml


UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Winslow Homer and the Poetics of Place
June 5 through September 6, 2010

The relationship between Winslow Homer (1836–1910) and the Portland Museum of Art is long-standing and intimate. Homer exhibited at the Museum in his lifetime and in the course of the 20th century the Museum has become a symbolic home for the artist. In honor of the centennial of Homer’s death, this exhibition will showcase the Museum’s collection of Homer watercolors and oils on canvas. Featuring approximately 20 works, it will be the first time since 1988 that all of these works will be on view in the Charles Shipman Payson Building. In 2006, the Museum purchased his studio at Prouts Neck and is currently involved in a major conservation and restoration project at that storied site. The Winslow Homer Studio restoration will be completed in 2012.
Exhibition information: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4788.shtml

American Moderns:
Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1910–1960
June 24 through September 12, 2010

American Moderns will showcase more than 100 works on paper from the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, by nationally recognized artists such as Edward Hopper, John Marin, and Rockwell Kent. This is the first in-depth examination and presentation of the Atheneum’s American modernist works on paper. Beginning with the Ashcan school, including works by John Sloan and William Glackens, the exhibition will trace the emergence of American modernism with John Marin and Georgia O’Keeffe, concluding with strong examples of postwar realism, with works by Ellsworth Kelly and Andrew Wyeth. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see paintings by Edward Hopper depicting scenes of Maine in the state.
Exhibition images: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4746.shtml

Anna Hepler: Makeshift
July 24 through October 17, 2010

In July, Maine artist Anna Hepler will construct a monumental installation inside the Museum’s Great Hall. Made from a nest-like mesh of salvaged and sewn sheet plastic, The Great Haul will take advantage of the Museum’s expansive entry space. A second exhibition of Hepler’s work, on view in the fourth floor gallery, will feature a series of cyanotype prints (or blue prints) made from digital photographs of small sculptures, and like her large installations, these works are defined by light. This will be Hepler’s first solo exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, and this exhibition is the first in a series called Circa that will explore compelling aspects of contemporary art in the state of Maine.
Exhibition information: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4957.shtml

John Haberle: Master of Illusion
September 18 through December 12, 2010

Combining a masterful technique with sly, witty historical and personal references to American life from 1870 to 1910, today John Haberle (1856–1933) is considered one of the most accomplished American trompe l’oeil (meaning to “fool the eye”) painters. This exhibition will feature approximately 20 paintings and drawings from the New Britain Museum of American Art along with works from our collection, other museums and private collections. Alluding to the moral and political issues of the time, Haberle’s paintings juxtaposes newspaper clippings, tickets, and money with objects such as a pocket watch, playing cards, and rosary beads. The slight but ingenious details make each of Haberle’s paintings exceedingly complex. He spent most of his life in or near his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked as an engraver, draftsman, lithographer, and as a custodian and preparator at Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Exhibition images: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4972.shtml

Debating Modern Photography: The Triumph of Group f/64
September 30 through December 5, 2010

In the 1930s, a small group of California photographers challenged the painterly, soft-focus Pictorialist style of the day. They argued that photography could only advance as an art if its practitioners exploited characteristics inherent to the camera’s mechanical nature. This small association of innovators created Group f/64, named after the camera aperture which produces great depth of field and sharp focus. The exhibition will revisit this debate and includes images by photographers in Group f/64 such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Sonya Noskowiak, and Willard Van Dyke, as well as images by such Pictorialists such as Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen, and Karl Struss. With more than 100 works by 16 artists, Debating Modern Photography will offer a feast for the eyes while illustrating both sides of a high-stakes debate. Outstanding examples of the clean edges and bold forms of Group f/64 will stand in sharp contrast to the romantic, hand-crafted Pictorialist work that includes ¬elegant portraits, tonalist landscapes, and allegorical studies.
Exhibition information: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4849.shtml

False Documents and Other Illusions
October 30, 2010 through January 2, 2011

Trompe l’oeil, meaning to “fool the eye,” in the traditional sense usually references painting in which objects appear to be real rather than rendered. It is only upon closer investigation, if at all, that the illusion may be revealed. Contemporary artists have employed trompe l’oeil tactics as a tool for deception in works of all media, ranging from performance and video, to sculpture and installation. This exhibition will showcase a spectrum of approaches with works by artists from Maine and beyond, drawn from both the permanent collection and loans. This exhibition is part of the new series called Circa that explores compelling aspects of contemporary art in the state of Maine.

Rackstraw Downes: Onsite Paintings, 1972–2008
December 16, 2010 through March 20, 2011

This is the first major survey of paintings by the MacArthur Foundation “genuis” award-winning artist Rackstraw Downes (born 1939). Featuring more than 30 works, many of them multiple-part canvases, the exhibition will showcase his minutely detailed paintings of exterior and interior panoramic scenes of the American land- and urbanscape during from 1972 to 2008. The exhibition will trace the artist’s career through major examples of his work that were painted in Maine, Texas, New Jeresy, and New York, including two haunting depictions of the untenanted interior spaces in the World Trade Center in 1998.
Exhibition images: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Content/4975.shtml

The Portland Museum of Art is located just across the street from the Eastland Park Hotel.  Make plans to come visit Beautiful Portland, Maine, and stay at the Historic Eastland Park Hotel.