The El Paso Museum of Art announces Into the Desert Light: Early El Paso Art 1850-1960 January 24 – March 14, 2010
Nicols, Audley Dean (1875-1941)
Untitled
oil on canvas 20 ¼ x 30 ½”
canvas, 27 ¼ x 37 ½” framed
Susan H. & Claude C. Albritton Collection
Into the Desert Light: Early El Paso Art 1850-1960
In honor of the El Paso Museum of Art's fiftieth anniversary of its founding it is presenting an exhibition of over 50 artists who worked in this region from 1850-1960. Primarily consisting of landscape paintings of the desert, this exhibition demonstrates the popularity of this subject inspired by the light of the Chihuahua desert. In addition to numerous, important desert vistas, also included are other works influenced by European modernism, portraits, still-life paintings and images of the city as it grew. Well-known artists such as Tom Lea, Fremont Ellis, Jose Cisneros, Peter Hurd and Manuel Acosta are included, but also under-recognized artists such as Lewis Teel, Hari Kidd, Jose Aceves, Eugene Thurston and Berla Emeree.
An associated exhibition catalog/book funded by the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (C.A.S.E.T.A.), The El Paso Museum of Art Foundation, and many other private donors is being concurrently published for this occasion. This catalog/book will be available in the Museum Store for purchase beginning January 24, 2010.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919) Ambroise Vollard
Lithograph 9 1/2 x 7
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1921
El Paso Museum of Art Collection, Gift of Mr. W.O. Gross, Jr.
Because of the popularity of Impressionism and because the printmaking of the Impressionists is not as well known the El Paso Museum of Art is presenting Impressionism in Print, an exhibition of fourteen prints from the museum's permanent collection. Including artists such as Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Jean-Louis Forain, and the French Impressionist artist known mostly for his experimental, painterly printmaking techniques Félix-Hilaire Buhot, this exhibition transports the visitor to 19th century France and Paris.
The Impressionism movement mid to late 19th century
A major art movement of the mid to late 19th century, Impressionism, developed in Paris as various painters endeavored to capture the changing effects of light on everyday subject matter. These artists, led by Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas, were seen as deviating from the accepted academic norms of their time and preferred to paint images of modern life outdoors and to exhibit their work independently. At first ridiculed, the Impressionists soon gain prominence and their work is now highly acclaimed and regarded as initiating an aesthetic revolution.
Associated documentary films will be shown continually in the Ginger Francis Seminar Room during normal Museum operating hours 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Tuesday – Saturday, extended hours 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM Thursday evenings, and 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM Sundays.
Documentary Series
January 5-10, 2010: Printmaking Processes (24 minutes)
January 12-17, 2010: Paul Cezanne: Portrait of an Artist (60 minutes)
January 19-24, 2010: The Impressionists: Renoir (50 minutes)
January 26-30, 2010: The Impressionists: Toulouse-Lautrec (50 minutes)
February 2-7, 2010: Impressionists on the Seine (30 minutes)
Rosamond Bernier – Live at the Met Lecture Series on film
February 9-14, 2010: French Impressionism: The Cast of Characters (60 minutes)
February 16-21, 2010: French Impressionism: Modern Art and Modern Manners (60 minutes)
February 23-26, 2010: French Impressionism: Paris by Day and by Night (60 minutes)
March 3-7, 2010: French Impressionism: An Accessible Paradise (60 minutes)
Parking is available at the Convention Center or the Camino Real for a fee.
FREE parking is available in the City Hall parking lot on Santa Fe Street on Saturdays and Sundays unless there is an event at The Plaza Theater or the Convention Center.
For more information please call (915) 532-1707
The El Paso Museum of Art announces La Virgen De Guadalupe September 13, 2009 – March 7, 2010
Anonymous (Mexico, 19th C)
Our Lady of Guadalupe (19th C)
Oil on tin
Gift of Dr. Steven McKnight in honor of Frank and Sara McKnight
La Virgen De Guadalupe
This exhibition features 14 retablos from EPMA’s permanent collection and explores the popularity of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a major religious and cultural icon in Mexican and Mexican American culture. The retablos are the gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Dorrance D. Roderick, Dr. Steven McKnight in honor of Frank and Sara McKnight, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard G. Miller.
Our Lady of Guadalupe – Background
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most popular and well known of all Mexican images. Since the 19th century, she has become a symbol of national identity for the Mexican people. The patron saint of curing illness, the Virgin of Guadalupe is a hybrid of both indigenous and Spanish iconography. Elements such as a dark complexion, the blue mantle dotted with golden stars and the mandorla (golden sun rays) are appropriated from indigenous iconography. The subject matter however, is from the Catholic Church. The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was used by the Church for the conversion of the indigenous folk to Catholicism.
According to legend, in a vision, the Virgin visited an Indian, Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac, near Mexico City. In her honor, the Virgin requested that a be church built on the site where she visited Diego, however the bishop was in disbelief. Only when the Virgin gave Diego a cloak with out of season roses and the Virgin’s image miraculously imprinted, did the bishop believe.
For more information please call (915) 532-1707
The El Paso Museum of Art announces James Drake August 23, 2009 – August 23, 2011
James Drake
An internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been honored with inclusion in both the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial, James Drake has explored political, social and universal themes through the media of sculpture, video, installation, photography and drawing. A prominent subject in Drake’s work is the relationship of people and animals – in particular, the animality that lurks in human behavior.
James Drake’s work is in the permanent collection of over thirty museums, including the El Paso Museum of Art. He has had over sixty one-person shows and has been invited to participate in more than one hundred group exhibitions. Drake is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and two National Endowments for the Arts grants.
