| NOVEMBER
9, 2003-FEBRUARY 14, 2004 SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION Exhibition GALLERIES 6 |
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This gallery presents an array of artwork representing four decades of exploration by such contemporary artists as Matthew Barney, Chuck Close, Rineke Dijkstra, Sigmar Polke, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Ray, Kara Walker, and Andy Warhol. A special highlight is the premiere installation of important works by Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein, which have recently been placed on long-term loan to the Walker. |
| NOW
ON VIEW: WORKS BY JOHNS, WARHOL, AND LICHTENSTEIN FROM CASTELLI'S HISTORIC
COLLECTION When the legendary art dealer Leo Castelli died in 1999, his private collection included important works by some of the most renowned American artists of the 1960s and 1970s, many whom he represented. Jean-Christophe Castelli, his son, has generously placed four important works by Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein on long-term loan to the Walker, which offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience these historic pieces--never before seen in the Twin Cities--in the context of the Walker's collection. Johns' work of the 1960s has a critical place in the history of contemporary American art, and among his best-known works of the period is Fool's House (1962). This assemblage of painted canvas and found objects mixes references to the studio and the kitchen, suggesting the seamless connection between art and life. Its title may be a wry commentary on the nature of artistic activity. Bronze (1960-1961), a sculpture of a lightbulb broken into three parts and displayed on a gridded base, is typical of Johns' exploration of the relationship between the fragment and the whole. Works by Pop artists Warhol and Lichtenstein exemplify their signature styles. Self-Portrait (on red) (1964) is Warhol's iconic silkscreened painting based on a famous photo of the artist staring directly into the camera. The impersonal nature of the mechanical processes of photography and screenprinting created a new paradigm for the genre of portraiture. Lichtenstein's lively Purist Painting with Pitcher, Glass, and Classical Column (1975) is one of his playful homages to art-historical movements of the early 20th century--in this case, Purism. A post-Cubist celebration of functional objects such as basic tools and utensils, Purism favored precision and an abstracted style without emotion or expressiveness. Lichtenstein and other Pop artists took up similar themes some 50 years later in their renderings of advertisements, comics, and consumer goods. Johns' Fool's House and Bronze and Lichtenstein's Purist Painting with Pitcher, Glass, and Classical Column are on view in the Gallery 6 exhibition Selections from the Permanent Collection, through February 14, 2004. Warhol's Self-Portrait (on red) can be seen in the exhibition Pop3: Oldenburg, Rosenquist, Warhol, on view in Gallery 7. |
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