AMAM Exhibits Modern Landscapes from Collection

Written by Peter Gillam Friday, 11 February 2011 23:39

Oberlin, OH – The Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College presents The Modern Landscape, an exhibition of nearly 40 works drawn entirely from the AMAM’s outstanding collection that shows the complex interactions between people and the land around them. The Modern Landscape will be on view in the museum's John N. Stern Gallery from Sept. 4 to Dec. 23, 2007.

The exhibition highlights works by artists as diverse as Alexander Calder, Giorgio de Chirico, Arshile Gorky, Piet Mondrian and Claude Monet. All of these artists have taken up the subjects of the natural world and changing notions of its beauty, resources and man’s place within it.

One of the exhibition's highlights is Henri-Edmond Cross’s "The Return of the Fisherman" (1896). This painting is the result of Cross’s intense observation of the Mediterranean coastline at the small village of Saint-Clair.

With vibrant colors and a pointillist technique, Cross depicted the path to the beach, with the rocks known as “Les Baleines” (The Whales) visible in the surf and a fisherman in the foreground returning from a day’s work. Cross's combination of topographical accuracy, abstracted forms and brilliant tonalities is evidence of his attempt to resolve the tension between the use of specific natural motifs and his own inner vision.

Superb examples of late 19th-century views of the American landscape included in the exhibition are James McDougal Hart's "Peaceful Homes" (1868) and John Semon's "The Wheatfields" (1895). Both paintings were given to Oberlin College in 1904 by Charles Fayette Olney, a Cleveland citizen who donated a substantial group of American landscapes that became the foundation of the AMAM collection.

The Modern Landscape was organized by Andria Derstine, Curator of Western Art at the AMAM.

"It was a pleasure to be able to bring some of the Allen's treasures," says Derstine, "and to juxtapose these American works with masterpieces of French impressionism and an outstanding group of Dutch 19th-century landscapes, all done at about the same time."

 More experimental 20th-century works, including two very early Alexander Calder paintings, as well as scenes of the Himalayas, Tahiti and Mexico, demonstrate both the depth and breadth of the Allen's landscape holdings, Derstine says.

At 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9, 2007, as part of the museum's monthly Tuesday Tea series of talks, Steven Volk, Professor of History at Oberlin College, will discuss José Clemente Orozco's painting "Mexican House" (1929), from the exhibition. The talk is free and open to the public.

Four other new exhibitions are also on view at the AMAM this fall: On Line: European Drawings, 16th–19th Centuries, an exhibition of Old Master drawings from the Renaissance to the dawn of the 20th century; Repeat Performances: Seriality and Systems Art since 1960, a selection of the museum's important holdings of Minimalist art; From Africa to America, an exhibition that brings together traditional African art and works by African-American artists; and “Great Criticism”: Paintings from Modern China.

Founded in 1917, the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is one of the finest college or university collections in the United States. Comprising more than 12,000 works of art from virtually every culture and spanning the history of art, the AMAM's collection is a vital cultural resource for the students, faculty, and staff of Oberlin College as well as the surrounding community. Notable strengths include seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art, nineteenth and early twentieth-century European and contemporary American art, and Asian, European, and American works on paper. The collection is housed in an impressive Italian Renaissance-style building designed by Cass Gilbert and named after its founder, Dr. Dudley Peter Allen (B.A. 1875), a distinguished graduate and trustee of Oberlin College. In 1977, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates designed an addition that represents one of the earliest and finest examples of postmodern architecture in the United States. The Allen Memorial Art Museum is open to the public. Admission is free.

Allen Memorial Art Museum - Oberlin College - 87 North Main Street - Oberlin, OH 44074 - Phone: (440)775-8048 - Visit Website: www.oberlin.edu/amam