Impressionist Master Paintings Highlights Major Exhibitions in New Searing Wing
Exhibition dates are subject to change.
Sarasota, Fl – March 30, 2007 – The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art announces the first season of exhibitions to premier in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing.
The February 2007 opening of the new wing offered a significant boon to the Museum’s schedule of traveling exhibitions.
“The improvements we have just completed have enhanced our international reputation and vastly expanded our ability to display outstanding art, with exhibitions of exceptional appeal just one of the many benefits,” said Executive Director Dr. John Wetenhall.
In addition, the Museum will be organizing exhibitions that feature its modern and contemporary collections showing them in a new context within the Searing Wing galleries. “This impressive offering of national and international exhibitions brings to Sarasota hundreds of works of art that will complement our permanent collections and greatly expand the visitor’s experience with art and culture at the Ringling,” said Curator of Collections Dr. Stephen Borys.
Because of the success of the first two exhibitions: Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry from the Walters Museum of Art (closing May 27) and Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art (closing April 29), the Museum is able to present several blockbusters in 2007-2008 including an exhibition of Impressionist paintings, Modern photography by Magnum Photographers, 18th-century Venetian views by Canaletto and Carlevaris, provoking Contemporary art from Cuba, Francisco Goya prints, the graphic work of Jacob Lawrence, and the captivating paintings of America’s Grandma Moses.
Inspired by a design approved by John Ringling himself, the new galleries expand the Ringling Museum’s ability to present major traveling exhibitions. It adds 30,000 square feet, expanding the total Museum gallery space to 122,560 square feet.
Exhibition Schedule
In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers
May 19 – Aug. 12, 2007
Celebrating 50 years of Magnum Photos, Inc., one of the world’s most renowned photographic agencies, this exhibition looks at the work of some of the most revered documentary photographers. They include Magnum founders Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, Robert Capa, and David Seymour, as well as noted contemporary photographers such as Sebastião Salgado and Susan Meiselas. The exhibition of more than 150 photographs, organized by George Eastman House, features the work of 60 photographers who covered the most momentous events of the recent past: World War II, Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, political upheavals in the Middle East, and the impact of communism in Europe and Latin America. But it also provides a look at the quieter side of human existence with scenes of family life, religion, cityscapes, and landscapes around the world.
Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
June 16- Sept. 16, 2007
This exhibition of some forty paintings includes many of the finest examples of 19th-century French and American landscapes from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Ranging in date from the 1850s to the early 20th century, this presentation provides a broad sampling of the evolution of 19th-century landscape painting, first in France and later, America. Composed of an impressive group of paintings that spans the major developments of the landscape genre, from Romanticism and Realism to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, this exhibition situates the Impressionist movement within the full context of the 19th century. Works by French artists such as Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Eugène Louis Boudin, Gustave Courbet, and Charles François Daubigny, as well as Americans, John Singer Sargent, William Glackens, John Henry Twachtman, Frederick Childe Hassam, and George Innis are featured in the exhibition.
Cuba Avante-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection
Oct. 6 – Dec. 30, 2007
This exhibition, organized by the Sameuel P. Harn Museum of Art, consists of 58 artworks created primarily during the 1990s and early 2000s by 42 Cuban-born artists. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are many internationally renowned figures such as José Bedia, Antonio Fernandez (Tonel), Los Carpinteros, Tania Bruguera, Carlos Garaicoa, Alexis Leyva (Kcho), Luis Cruz Azaceta, Magdalena Campos Pons and Elsa Mora. Approximately half of the artists included in the exhibition currently reside in Cuba, while the other half reside outside Cuba in countries like Spain, Mexico and the United States. The artworks in the exhibition encompass a broad range of media, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures and mixed-media installations. Collectively, the works represent the combination of utopian impulses and dystopian realities, the ruptures and new beginnings that have characterized Cuban art since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The exhibition is accompanied by a bi-lingual (English and Spanish) color catalogue.
Francisco Goya: Los Caprichos
Sept. 29, 2007 – Jan. 6, 2008
Enigmatic and controversial, the Los Caprichos series of etchings by Francisco Goya, was created in a time of social repression and economic crisis in Spain. Influenced by Enlightenment thinking, the great 19th-century Spanish artist, Goya set out to analyze the human condition and denounce social abuses and superstitions. Los Caprichos was his passionate declaration that the chains of social backwardness had to be broken if humanity was to advance. The series deals with such themes as the Spanish Inquisition, the corruption of the church and the nobility, witchcraft, and the frivolity of young women. “Capricho” can be translated as a whim or fantasy; however, in Goya’s use of the term, the meaning has deepened, binding an ironical cover of humor over one of the most profound indictments of human vice ever set on paper. Presented here is one of four original editions acquired by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, comprising 100 etchings, which include the entire Los Caprichos series.
Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation
Jan. 26 – April 13, 2008
This exhibition, representing the career of Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961), known to the nation as Grandma Moses, one of the most recognized and beloved American painters. Although she did not begin to paint until 1927, at age sixty-seven, within years she had accumulated accolades and achieved fame. As the United States reckoned with the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, Moses provided soothing images of rural life to a country beset with the greatest challenges of the twentieth century. While often represented as a folk or "outsider" artist, Moses was the darling of New York galleries and Washington politicians, and crafted a popular reputation that carried her far beyond her upstate New York village. Fifty years later, her vision of the simple life still strikes a resonant chord. Presented in this exhibition are more than 25 of the artist’s best-loved paintings of the American heartland and its people.
Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints Hiroshima, Genesis, and Toussaint L’Ouverture
Jan. 19 – May 4, 2008
Featuring 44 works including 31 color prints and 13 text pages from the three series, this exhibition offers a sampling of the work of Jacob Lawrence, among the best-known African-American artists of the 20th Century. Incorporating the figure of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture, Mr. Lawrence’s work invokes the power of liberation narratives, showing his strong grasp of social injustice, nationally and internationally, while maintaining fantastic artistic integrity.
Phantasmagoria: Spectors of Absence
May 24- August 10, 2008
Mist, breath, and fog are often associated with mystery; in their double status as perceptible yet almost nonexistent phenomena, they suggest evanescence or absence. The mysterious world of vapor evokes a dreamlike state inviting the viewer to suspend the harshness of reality for some otherworldly space. This show explores how artists are currently working in this challenging artistic medium, and engaging the viewer with their creations, and throughout the installations, the artists’ use of shadows and actual fog and mist evokes the alluring enigma and magic of Phantasmagoria. The artists, including William Kentridge, Christian Boltanski, Regina Silveira and Jim Campbell, are part of an international roster making for an impressive, groundbreaking presentation. An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with a text by curator José Roca of the Luis Ángel Arango Library, Bogotá, Colombia.
Pocket Exhibitions
Canaletto Paired: 18th-century Venetian View Painting
May 12 – July 29, 2007
Following the Frans Hals Reunited exhibition, as part of the Ringling Museum’s One Great Painting series, this exhibition introduces the art of vedute, or view painting, in 18th-century Venetian painting. Brought together are three pairs of exquisite views of Venice: two masterworks by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, the champion of the vedute, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and two other paintings by Canaletto and Luca Carlevaris from the Ringling Museum permanent collection. The beauty and allure of 18th-century Venice is captured by two of its greatest pictorial authors of the day. The exhibition highlights how little the city of canals and golden facades has changed in the last three centuries.
Josef Albers: Color Genius
Feb. 16 – May 18, 2008
This collection, the first of many traveling exhibitions organized by the State Art Museum of Florida, has been traveling throughout the state of Florida as part of the Ringling Museum’s initiative to spread the wealth of its collection with institutions state-wide. Josef Albers, through his work as the Dean at Yale University School of Art, is often said to be the father of Modern American art. Here, 27 Albers prints, including two of his themes, “Variants” and “Homage to the Square,” his most famous series, are featured.
New and Ongoing Opportunities Not To Be Missed
Experience the Permanent Collection Like Never Before
Opening new doors at the Ringling Museum also means updating the way visitors experience the world-renowned collection of European, American and Asian works of art. In conjunction with the completion of the Searing Wing, the Museum’s 21 permanent collection galleries have been reinstalled, presenting new hanging arrangements and colors, new thematic texts and labels, and an exciting Apple IPod audio tour. Creative educational and interpretation programs have been created for the galleries, and the docent-led tour schedule has been updated and expanded.
IPod Audio Tours, available May 2007
Get lost in the Ringling Museum’s permanent collection on a dynamic audio tour available on the Apple IPod. Tours are narrated by members of the Ringling Museum’s curatorial staff, the director, and other character voices, and highlight over 60 of the most important works in the Museum’s permanent collection. Guided by video images of each work, and set with period music, this state of the art 60-stop tour takes the visitor through the newly reinstalled galleries of the Museum of Art. The IPod audio tour is available for $5 and $4 for Museum Members.
The Life and Times of John and Mable Ringling, film presentation
This original film delves into late 19th-century America and the important role played by circus entertainment. It spotlights the Roaring Twenties, the Florida land boom and the Great Depression. Most of all, the film chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of two remarkable individuals: John and Mable Ringling. Viewers are raving that the film is “Inspiring”, “Emotional”, “A real tear jerker” and “Magnificently presented”. The film is presented in the Historic Asolo Theater for $5 for adults, $2 for children and free for Museum Members.
The World’s Largest Miniature Circus
The Howard Bros. Circus Model, the largest miniature circus in the world, is on permanent display in the Ringling Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center. The 3,800-square-foot, ¾-to-the-inch model features 55 railroad cars, 8 main circus tents, 130 circus wagons, 200-animal menagerie and 1,500 artists and workers and is an authentic replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during the late 1920s to the early 1930s. The Tibbals Learning Center is included in regular Museum admission.
Private Places Toursof the Cà d’Zan Mansion
For anyone who has ever desired to see more of the “House of John”, the Private Places Tour of the Cà d’Zan mansion is the ticket. This premium experience includes an hour-long, private-lead tour of the third and fourth floors of the Cà d’Zan mansion, and a tour of the 61-foot tower (weather permitting). This tour is offered to members at $10 and non-Members at $20, and is limited to seven people allowing for an intimate group for discussion and discovery.
General Information
Regular Museum admission includes the special exhibitions, Museum of Art,Cà d’Zan Mansion, Circus Museums including the Tibbals Learning Center and Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden and 66 acres of lushly landscaped grounds.
Adults are $15; senior citizens (65 and over) are $13; children ages 6-17 are $5. Free Admission for children 5 and under accompanied by an adult and museum members. Advance tickets are available by calling 941.358.3180. The Estate is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Visit www.ringling.org for more information.
All events and exhibitions are subject to change.