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PABLO PICASSO, |
The Art Museum opens the summer season with a big, bold, and bright look at our extensive print collection. From Picasso to Warhol: Modern and Contemporary Prints from the Collection showcases more than 50 stellar works from the over 1400 prints owned by the museum. Graphic images by major artists such as Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol will fill the galleries with intense color, bold images, and bravura techniques. From a simple image of John and Yoko by John Lennon to a large double-sided print about the destruction of the planet, there will be something on view to interest every visitor.Few people outside the museum’s walls know that, over the years, we have amassed a superb collection of prints. From 1939, when Edward Fisk, the Chair of the U.K. Art Department, purchased 38 graphic works, the art department, art gallery and, now, the art museum have been actively dedicated to building a collection of the highest quality and depth.
The museum’s holdings in modern and contemporary prints are particularly strong. Beginning in 1958 and continuing through the 1960s and 1970s, Richard B. Freeman, a professor in the art department, brought together the best artists of his own time in annual exhibitions entitled Graphics. He saw to it that the finest works from the shows were added to the collections. Ralston Crawford, Sam Francis, Stanley Hayter, Ben Shahn, and Carol Summers were just a few of the internationally known artists acquired.
After the museum was founded in 1976 and the building completed in 1979, John Gaines, a prominent Kentucky horseman, established a challenge fund to purchase art for the permanent collection. Many of the major graphic works in the collection were added at that time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the museum was awarded grants from The Herman Lee and Nell Stuart Donovan Memorial Endowment to purchase works by Eric Fischl, Al Held, Howard Hodgkin, and Nam June Paik, among many others.
It is important to note, however, that most of the print collection came to us by way of individual donors. During the 30-plus years of the museum’s existence, we have been fortunate to reap the benefits of the sophisticated eye and generous spirit of people who have given us wonderful modern and contemporary pieces by Robert Stackhouse, Frank Stella, and Joan Miró.
Whether purchased
or gifted, however, the print collection is a major asset for the museum,
the university, and the community. From classes who learn from them, researchers
who study them, and viewers who are inspired by them, the museum's graphics
collection—as seen in this exhibition— presents the best examples
of modern and contemporary printmaking.
For an indepth discussion of this exhibition visit the Museum's ART TALKS blog.
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| YVONNE JACQUETTE, Motion Picture (Times Square),lithograph |
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| JOHN LENNON, John and Yoko, lithograph. Gift of James J. Meeker |
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| ANDY WARHOL, Leonardo da Vinci: Annunciation, screen print |
