NORMAN ROCKWELL
BEHIND THE CAMERA
June 5 | September 1

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera is a landmark exhibition exploring in depth Rockwell’s richly detailed study photographs, commissioned by the artist as references for his iconic paintings. Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, this presentation reveals a rarely seen yet fundamental aspect of Rockwell’s creative process, and unveils a significant new body of Rockwell imagery in an unexpected medium.

Bringing together paintings, drawings, tear sheets, magazine covers, and prints of Rockwell study photographs results in a frame-by-frame view of the development of some of Rockwell’s most indelible images.

Early in his career, Rockwell hired professional models to pose for the characters in his paintings. Beginning in the mid-1930s, however, the evolving naturalism of his work led him to embrace photography. For Rockwell, the camera brought a new flesh-and-blood realism to his work, and opened a window to the keenly observed authenticity that defines his art. Working with friends and neighbors rather than professional models fired Rockwell’s imagination by providing a wide array of everyday faces.

Rockwell’s studio sessions allowed him to carefully orchestrate each element of his design for the camera, selecting props and locations, choosing and directing his models, even getting in on the action to pose and perform. Rockwell staged his photography much as a film director works with a cinematographer, instructing his cameramen when to shoot, yet never personally firing the shutter. He created dozens, perhaps hundreds of photographs for each new subject, sometimes capturing complete compositions and other times jigsawing together separate pictures of individual elements.

Click HERE for exhibition related programs and events

This exhibition has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992 is generously giving major funding.

The Director’s Circle and the Host Committee are providing additional support.

Norman Rockwell, The Runaway (detail), 1958. Oil on canvas. Cover study for The Saturday Evening Post, September 20, 1958. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.

Norman Rockwell, The Runaway (detail), 1958. Tear Sheet. Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, September 20, 1958. ©1958 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections.

MAJORITY RULES 
A DECADE OF CONTEMPORARY ART ACQUISITIONS
January 23 | September 15, 2013

Supporting acquisition of contemporary art for the McNay Art Museum is a vital part of the mission of the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum (MCCF). Since 2003, MCCF has purchased one or two works of art for the McNay’s collection at the group’s annual fall View & Vote. To date, MCCF has acquired 12 contemporary works in various media. Acquisitions include works by:

2003     John Miller
2004     Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz
2005     John Fraser; Susie Rosmarin
2006     Lesley Dill; Sandy Skoglund
2007     Chakaia Booker
2008     Roger Shimomura
2009     Lance Letscher
2010     Whitfield Lovell
2011     Radcliffe Bailey
2012     Vik Muniz

MCCF’s selection for 2012 is a large color photograph by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz (born 1961). To create this vibrant work titled Pictures of Pigment: Mill in Sunlight, after Piet Mondrian, the artist sprinkled powdered pigment over a reproduction of a work by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944). Muniz then photographed and printed the image on such a massive scale that viewers can see individual particles of pigment and shadows cast over the composition. Mondrian’s reproduced painting that underpins Muniz’s photograph is one of the first in which the Dutch artist used bold primary colors with black and white—an element that came to define his work. An illustrated gallery guide accompanies Majority Rules: A Decade of Contemporary Art Acquisitions.

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This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

THE HUMAN FACE AND FORM
February 13 | September 1, 2013

Focusing on the most universal of subjects, the human body, The Human Face and Form brings together nearly 40 modern sculptures, ranging from the early 1800s to the present day. Nearly all are from the McNay’s collection, with a few from private lenders. Organized by type rather than chronologically or stylistically, the exhibition shows ways that sculptors deal with different aspects and moods of the body, from portrait busts and other fragmentary forms such as torsos; to full reclining or standing figures, as well as human bodies in action.

Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Aristide Maillol, Henry Moore, and Auguste Rodin are among the European artists in the exhibition. American sculptors include Malvina Hoffman, Paul Manship, George Segal, Kiki Smith, and Charles Umlauf. Only the second exhibition devoted exclusively to sculpture in the Stieren Center, The Human Face and Form follows upon the George Rickey kinetic sculpture exhibition in 2008. The Stieren Center’s adaptable lighting system allows us to see these varied works under natural light.

Click HERE for exhibition related programs and events

This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions are generously funding this exhibition.

 

LISA HOKE
“The future ain’t what it used to be”

Sculptor Lisa Hoke uses found materials in her large, brightly colored wall and window works, creating joyous, swirling compositions from plastic cups, cereal boxes, six-pack holders, pinwheels, and other everyday objects. Working in her New York studio, Hoke selects materials from color-sorted bins of salvage and arranges items on the floor through an intuitive working process. Titled “The future ain’t what it used to be,” the installation was commissioned by the McNay to initiate a new series of wall works in the Stieren Center for Exhibition’s AT&T Lobby. The title is a nod to baseball player Yogi Berra’s paradoxical prediction, as well as to the installation’s ephemeral images of consumer excess.

Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1952, Hoke received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1974, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1978. She has created temporal works for many exhibitions, including the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), North Adams; the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts; New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas; and Serpentine Gallery, London, England. In 2013, Hoke premiers another new work at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

This installation was commissioned by the McNay Art Museum.

THE AMERICA OF GRANT WOOD AND THOMAS HART BENTON
May 29 | September 8

Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton—two great American artists whom the McNay has collected in considerable depth—attempted to define what was American about American art in the early 20th century. Along with John Steuart Curry, also represented in the show, these artists generally shunned European prototypes and influences, turning their attention to the still predominately rural culture of the nation to find the truth of the American experience. Quite leery of big cities, their anti-urban sentiments could be surprisingly strong. Wood once quoted Thomas Jefferson, saying cities were “ulcers on the body politic.”

Because of their focus on specific landscapes and cultures throughout the Midwest, Wood and Benton were often referred to as “Regionalists.” Wood’s masterpiece Sultry Night (1939) is typical of their aesthetic. A nude farmer stands next to a watering trough about to cool himself off with a bucket of water after a long day of labor in the fields. The image is suffused with a sense of quiet, as well as reverence for nature and the working man.

Benton’s Letter from Overseas (1943) reveals the dramas that war unleashed on American farms. A woman in a simple dress and bare feet reads a letter by kerosene lamp as the postman delivers mail to the next homestead down a winding road. The woman’s solitude as well as the swirling, tumultuous sky hint that a loved one—a son or husband, perhaps—has gone to fight in World War II.

Wood and Benton had a tremendous influence on American art in the 1930s and 40s. Illustrating this influence are works by George Schreiber, John de Martelly, Louisiana artist John McCrady, and Texas artists Blanche McVeigh and Edward Eisenlohr.

This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions are generously funding this exhibition.

Gallery Talk: The America of Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton
Thursday, July 11, 6:30 pm, Lawson Print Gallery
Lyle Williams, Curator, Prints and Drawings

FROST OCTAGON VIDEO
DAVID SULLIVAN: ANIMATIONS
May 21 | September 1

This two-part video installation features high-definition animations by New Orleans-based artist David Sullivan. Program 1 is comprised of four separate animations: Sunset Refinery (2008), Swamp Gas (2009), Bubble Pop (2010), and an excerpt from Fugitive Emissions (2011). Program 2, Under Pressure, is a 2012 collaboration with composer Alec Vance. The series as a whole explores the relationship between the industrial and the natural worlds, while mixing in elements of abstract and painterly animation.

In addition to his digital animations, Sullivan works in a variety of other forms, including drawing and printmaking. The vibrant colors and biomorphic elements found in Sullivan’s drawings and prints reflect his animations, creating connections between and consistency throughout the artist’s work. Pump Me Up (left) features motifs that could be interpreted as references to humans’ negative effect on the environment, including dripping oil, plumes of toxic smoke, and drops of contaminated water.

Born in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in 1966, David Sullivan earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Since 1988, Sullivan’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the United States and internationally.

Image: Pump Me Up, 2012, acrylic and glitter on inkjet print, 15” x 24” x 3” David Sullivan: Animations is presented courtesy of the artist.

Fiesta, Fête, Festival
Selections from the Tobin Collection
January 16 | June 9, 2013

Fiesta, Fête, Festival moves from San Antonio to Seville, Venice, Versailles, St. Petersburg, and other cities to celebrate some of the world’s great festivals. Scene and costume designs from the Tobin Collection reveal that San Antonio’s own Fiesta—from NIOSA and Charreada to the Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo and Cornyation—belongs to a rich tradition of popular and court celebrations. The exhibition focuses on festivals in Spain, Italy, and Russia: Feria de Abril, with its flamenco dancers and matadors; pre-Lenten Carnevale, with its masked balls; and Shrovetide Fair and Yarmarka (yearly markets), with their fairground amusements. Full of human drama and local color, festivals inspired modern ballets and operas by Bizet, Ravel, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, and Verdi. These musical works are brought to life in scene and costume designs by some of the Tobin Collection’s most famous artists, including Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, and Natalia Gontcharova. Other showcased treasures from the Tobin Collection are festival books from the 1600s to the 1800s that resonate with Fiesta today. European courts—the Medici, the Bourbons, the Hapsburgs, and the Romanovs—all used elaborate pageantry as tools of domestic politics and international statecraft. Engravings record a river parade on the Arno in Florence, fireworks in the gardens at Versailles, and the coronation of Tsar Alexander II in Kremlin Square. These and other courtly fêtes offer fascinating parallels with San Antonio’s Fiesta events.

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This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum and is a program of the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund.

PRINTING PERFECTION
THE ART OF BETH VAN HOESEN
May 29 | September 29


Beth Van Hoesen, who lived and worked for most of her life in San Francisco, was born in Boise, Idaho, in 1926. After graduating with a BA from Stanford in 1948, she went on to study in Paris and Mexico City. She dedicated herself exclusively to printmaking in 1956 and excelled at the intaglio processes of etching, drypoint, and aquatint. In 1959, Van Hoesen and her husband, artist Mark Adams, purchased a 1910 firehouse in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood and made it their home and studio. Along with fellow artists, including Wayne Thiebaud, Van Hoesen and Adams hired models for weekly drawing sessions in the firehouse, making it a nexus for the Bay Area’s art community.

Van Hoesen’s prints are first and foremost examples of great technical achievement. Renowned for her perfectionism, Van Hoesen often created many working proofs with detailed notes for changes she wanted made, before finally getting an image that met her incredibly high standards of refinement and finish. Typical of her method is Sally, a complicated combination of etching, drypoint, aquatint, and roulette; the image went through at least twelve revisions, what the artist called “stages,” before getting what she wanted. Van Hoesen combined this technical virtuosity with her keen eye for texture, color, and line to create her alluring prints.

In 2011, the Trustees of the E. Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen Adams Trust approached the McNay about a donation of the artist’s works to the museum. The gift was particularly welcome since it included numerous preparatory drawings and working proofs that are so essential to teaching our public about the sometimes difficult printmaking processes. This is the first time these generous gifts have been exhibited publicly.

This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions are generously funding this exhibition.

Gallery Talk: Printing Perfection: The Art of Beth Van Hoesen
Sunday, July 21, 2:00 pm, Butt Paperworks Gallery
Lyle Williams, Curator, Prints and Drawings