A selection of American artistic treasures that were acquired by the Yale University Art Gallery in the past quarter century will be featured in a special exhibit of drawings and highlighted throughout the museum's American galleries beginning Friday, May 15.
"American Art at Yale: 25 Years of Collecting" celebrates the founding in 1973 of Friends of the American Arts at Yale, a membership organization that supports research, collection and other activities of the museum's American arts departments.
"The very range of intention, subject-matter, scale, focus and style, and the very large numbers of American paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and decorative arts that have come to the Yale Art Gallery in but a quarter-century are remarkable testimonies to the breadth and vitality of all American studies at Yale," says Richard S. Field, curator of prints, drawings and photographs.
The anniversary celebration includes three separate components, and a number of special related events.
Drawings. Fifty drawings by American artists -- from familiar works to those that are seldom-seen, unexpected or new -- will be on view in a display in the museum's fourth floor.
The exhibit features John W. Casilear's "Drawing to the Constitution of the United States," a work that literally creates an object of America's political ideals, and also includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits and figure studies, urban scenes, contemporary abstractions and literary studies. The featured artists include Winslow Homer, John Trumbull, Edward Hopper, Jamie Wyeth, Thomas Eakins, Mark Rothko, Julia Couzens and Jennifer Bartlett.
This display, which was organized by Field, will close on Sunday, Aug. 16, although the other components of "American Art at Yale" will continue through the fall.
Paintings and sculpture. Visitors to "American Art at Yale" will also be directed to the museum's American galleries, where they will find examples of American portraits, landscapes and still lifes, as well as Impressionist and genre paintings.
According to Helen A. Cooper, the Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture and acting director of the Yale Art Gallery, "We chose to leave the works in their customary places in the American galleries to make clear the ways they relate to and enhance works already in the permanent collection."
Among the many works featured in this section of "American Art at Yale" are "Spinning by Firelight," a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, one of the first African-American artists to acquire an international reputation, and Thomas Hart Benton's "Weighing Cotton," the first major regionalist painting to enter the collection.
Decorative arts. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the museum's Mabel Brady Garvan Galleries, which were designed by Chermayeff and Geismar and showcase the Yale Art Gallery's collection of American furniture and other decorative arts.
Patricia E. Kane, the Friends of American Arts Curator of American Decorative Arts, noted that during this 25-year period "the chronological range in decorative arts has expanded considerably with the acquisition of late 19th- and early 20th-century silver and other decorative art objects and furniture."
Among the pieces highlighted in the Garvan Galleries are an 1877 coffee pot by Tiffany and Company; a New York side chair of the late 17th century; and "Revenge of the Deconstructionist Saw Chair," made by John Cedarquist in 1994 as part of the "Please Be Seated Collection."
Lecture and party. A lecture and a disco party will highlight the opening of "American Art at Yale" on Saturday, May 16.
Bryan Wolf, professor of American studies and English, will present a talk titled "From Cold War to Hot Peppers: 25 Years of American Art at Yale" at 11 a.m. in the gallery's lecture hall. The event is free and open to the public. Wolf has written and lectured on a wide range of subjects related to American material culture. He is the author of "Romantic Re-Vision: Culture and Consciousness in Nineteenth Century American Painting and Literature."
That evening, at 8 p.m., the Yale Art Gallery will host a gala disco party in the sculpture hall (which will be transformed into a discotheque for this occasion). A disk jockey will play the music of the 1970s by such artists as Roberta Flack, Helen Reddy, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips and more. There will also be artful treasure hunts with prizes, desserts, and wine and beer. Admission is $50 for adults, $25 for students. For further information or to make a reservation, call 432-0616.
The Yale Art Gallery, located on the corner of Chapel and York streets, is open to the public free of charge
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. A museum entrance for persons using wheelchairs is located at 201 York St. Call 432-0606 for further information about access. For general information, call 432-0600.
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