Displaying items by tag: joslyn art museum

Joslyn Art Museum has installed a new bronze work in its Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden — Magdalena Abakanowicz’s "Single" (1994). A recent gift of Gail and Michael Yanney, Lisa and Bill Roskens, and Mary and Charlie Roskens, the work is the first by Abakanowicz in Joslyn’s collection.

Born in Falentyn, Poland, in 1930, Abakanowicz began making sculptures in the 1950s as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She quickly garnered critical acclaim for her fiber-based installations and hanging textiles that reflected on her childhood experiences living in Nazi and Soviet-occupied Poland. In the 1970s, Abakanowicz turned her attention toward the human form. She is perhaps most well-known for portraying headless bodies, which are meant to echo the human inclination to follow charismatic leaders blindly, a phenomenon the artist witnessed first-hand during World War II.

After 15 years in storage, a Dutch painting long slighted in the academic literature dramatically returned to public display on Monday at this city's Joslyn Art Museum as an authenticated work of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). The "Portrait of Dirck van Os" (c.1658) was recently confirmed as a work of the master by the world's foremost authority on Rembrandt, Amsterdam University professor Ernst van de Wetering, following conservation efforts to remove extensive repainting and layers of discolored varnish that previously obscured the picture's original paint surface. The culmination of a decades-long campaign by the Joslyn's staff to interest outside specialists in the painting's attribution, the unveiling marks a proud moment for one of America's outstanding regional museums. "People here sensed the underlying quality," says the Joslyn's executive director, Jack Becker, "but you need the scholarly community to rehabilitate a picture like this."

The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, announced that a painting that had been relegated to storage for a decade has been authenticated as a work by Rembrandt. The canvas, which has been in the museum’s collection for 72 years, was previously attributed to “The Circle of Rembrandt.” A recent reassessment by Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering proved that the painting was made by the Dutch master himself.

“Portrait of Dirck van Os” was purchased by the Joslyn Art Museum in 1942 from a private collection as an authentic Rembrandt. A later assessment saw the painting reclassified as a work by one of Rembrandt’s students. After a visit to the Joslyn Art Museum in 2010, Van de Wetering had the work sent to Amsterdam for restoration. After later additions of paint were removed, a very different portrait was revealed, leading the scholar to deem the work a late painting by Rembrandt.

There are approximately 300 Rembrandts known to exist. “Portrait of Dirck van Os” will go on view at the Joslyn Art Museum in May.

49 paintings from the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, TN are now on view at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, NE. Renoir to Chagall: Paris and the Allure of Color focuses on Paris’ emergence as the hub of the art world during the 19^th century and its role in shaping the Impressionist movement in France.

Between 1853 and 1870, under the command of Napoleon III, Paris was transformed from a quaint city to one of grandeur. Narrow streets and crowded houses were demolished in favor of striking boulevards, lush public gardens, and modern buildings. While the population and prosperity of the city soared, artists flocked to Paris to be inspired and thrive, ultimately defining the city’s modern era. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pierre Auguste Renoir (1885-1952), and Edgar Degas (1834-1917) all nurtured their artistic visions in Paris during this period. In 1874, the artists held an independent exhibition, which led to their classification by critics as Impressionists. The plein air technique and unblended painterly style of Impressionism eventually influenced future generations of avant-garde artists include Neo-Impressionists, Fauves and Cubists.

The museum’s founders, Hugo and Margaret Dixon, formed the institution’s magnificent collection of French paintings themselves. John Reward, a leading scholar of Impressionism, advised the couple. Renoir to Chagall offers the finest works from their holdings and is on view at the Joselyn Art Museum through September 1, 2013. Admission to the museum and exhibition is free.