The Speed Art Museum Showcases Modern French Masters from the Dixon Gallery & Gardens Collection

Written by Graham Hayward Friday, 10 February 2012 21:35

Louisville, Kentucky.- The Speed Art Muiseum is proud to present "Renoir to Chagall: Paris and the Allure of Color" on view at the museum until May 6th. the exhibition presents an extraordinary exhibition of modern French masters featuring 55 paintings from the Dixon Gallery and Garden s in Memphis, Tennessee and nearly 30 works from Speed’s collection and public and private collections throughout Kentucky. This major exhibition features French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, as well as key artists who came immediately before and after them. Among the who’s who of painters included in the exhibition are Edgar Degas , Claude Monet , Pierre-Auguste Renoir , Camille Pissarro , Mary Cassatt , Henri Matisse , Paul Cézanne , Paul Gauguin , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , Georges Braque , and Marc Chagall . Renoir to Chagall demonstrates how Paris as the art capital of the Western world, produced and attracted artists of great accomplishment.

On view will be portraits, scenes of daily life, still lifes, landscapes, interiors, and the fascinating worlds of the ballet, cafés, boulevards, and other aspects of modern city life that made Paris a magnet for artists. The diverse subjects and styles of the magnificent works in this exhibition will illustrate the critical developments in French painting during this period that profoundly changed the direction of modern art. While the Impressionists experimented with color and light effects to capture the fleeting sensations of reality, the Post-Impressionists loosened ties to realism altogether by emphasizing abstract elements of form and color, and occasionally the inner world of feelings and emotions.


The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, is Kentucky’s oldest and largest art museum. It was founded in 1925 by Hattie Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband, James Breckinridge Speed, a prominent Louisville businessman and philanthropist. Designed by Louisville architect Arthur Loomis, the museum opened its doors on January 15, 1927, with an exhibition sponsored by the Louisville Art Association. Over a hundred American and European painters were represented and nearly two thousand visitors attended the opening. In 1941, Dr. Preston Pope Satterwhite made a significant gift to the museum - his collection of 15th century and 16th century French and Italian Decorative Arts including tapestries and furniture. In 1944, he donated the English Renaissance room, which was moved in its entirety from Devonshire, England. Dr. Satterwhite’s gift necessitated an enlargement of the museum and in his will he provided for the addition that bears his name. Completed in 1954, it was the first of three additions to the original building. After another major addition to the building in 1973, the Speed celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1977 with the acquisition of Rembrandt's magnificent "Portrait of a Woman".

While the museum was closed for a dramatic renovation project in 1996, the museum received a life-changing gift, a bequest of more than $50 million from Alice Speed Stoll, granddaughter of James Breckinridge Speed. The bequest marks one of the largest given to any art museum and significantly increased the Speed's endowment, ranking it among the top 25 in the United States. Mrs. Stoll’s bequest secured the museum’s future and has allowed for several significant acquisitions including Jacob van Ruisdael ’s "Landscape with a Half Timbered House and a Blasted Tree", (1653), and Paul Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist masterpiece, "Two Apples on a Table" (about 1895-1900).

Since reopening in November 1997, the Speed has dazzled the region with exciting traveling exhibitions, new acquisitions to the permanent collection, and a new parking garage. It has also benefited greatly by a bequest from the estate of long-time Board of Governors member General Dillman A. Rash who left the museum works by Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet , Paul Klee , Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso , and Maurice Utrillo .  The museum is supported entirely by donations, endowments, grants, ticket sales, and memberships. The focus of the collection is Western art, from antiquity to the present day. Holdings of paintings from the Netherlands, French and Italian works, and contemporary art are particularly strong, with sculpture prominent throughout. Representative artists include Rembrandt van Rijn , Peter Paul Rubens , Giovanni Tiepolo, Henry Moore , Thomas Gainsborough , Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and contemporary artists Frank Stella , Helen Frankenthaler , Alice Neel , Petah Coyne, Yinka Shonibare, Vito Acconci, and Juan Munoz . Today, The Speed Art Museum has come a long way since Mrs. Speed first opened the doors to the original museum over 80 years ago. Its magnificent building and impressive collection serve more than 180,000 visitors each year, making it a nationally recognized institution. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.speedmuseum.org

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