German Expressionist exhibition at IU Art Museum

I'm writing now to let you - and the whole Germanic Studies department

- know about an upcoming exhibition at the museum that should be of interest to your students and faculty. Next Friday evening, Oct. 5, we are opening three exhibitions at the museum, including "Pioneers and

Exiles: German Expressionism at the Indiana University Art Museum."

This exhibition features 48 works from our German Expressionist collection, which is one of the strongest at a university art museum.

The exhibition also looks at how the collection was developed, thanks in part to connections the museum established with German emigre artists, collectors, and art dealers.

 

The exhibition will be on view beginning with an opening reception at

6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5, and continuing through December 23. The following events have been scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition:

 

1) Gallery Talk: "Patrons and Purveyors of Culture: Jews in Pre-World War II Germany"

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Special Exhibitions Gallery

12:15-1:00 p.m.

 

Michelle Facos, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Adjunct Professor in the Jewish Studies Program, will speak on Jewish collectors, patrons, and dealers of German Expressionism in Germany before World War II.

 

2) Educators' Workshop: “Exploring the ‘Isms’: Late 19th and early 20th Century Art Movements”

Saturday, October 27, 2012

10:30-12:30 p.m.

Includes an introduction to German Expressionism presented by Jenny McComas, Class of 1949 Curator of Western Art after 1800, IU Art Museum

 

Open to anyone who can be described as an educator, including professors, AIs, etc. Free, but pre-registration required by emailing gmaxedon@indiana.edu.

 

 

3) Lecture: "Kokoschka’s List: Curating the Self for London"

Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Fine Arts, room 102

 

This lecture is presented by Dr. Keith Holz, Associate Professor of Art History at Western Illinois University. Holz will discuss a recently discovered list of four paintings compiled in late 1937 by the Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka to represent himself in the 1938 London exhibition Twentieth Century German Art. This lecture examines this artist’s proposed ensemble of artworks from many perspectives to consider what can be understood of an artist’s identity and efforts at self-representation under specific historical circumstances (i.e., in the wake of the Degenerate Art exhibition). The lecture is co-sponsored by the Robert and Avis Burke Lecture Series, Department of the History of Art.

 

The lecture will be followed by a reception featuring light refreshments in the Thomas T. Solley Atrium of the IU Art Museum from

8:30 to 9:30 p.m.

 

4) Symposium: "Bringing the World to Bloomington: Henry Hope, Paul Sachs, Herman B Wells and Modern Art in the University Museum"

Friday, November 9, 2012, 2:00‒5:00 p.m.

Fine Arts, room 015

 

This symposium brings together scholars whose work on Henry Hope, Herman B Wells, and Harvard professor Paul Sachs reveals the close connections between the university and the university art museum, as well as the historical role played by university museums in disseminating information about modern art after World War II. Speakers include Carrie Schwier, IU Archives; James H. Capshew, Associate Professor, Department of History and Philosophy and Science, Indiana University; David Alan Brown, Curator of Italian Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington; and Jenny McComas, Curator of Western Art after 1800, Indiana University Art Museum.

 

5) Gallery Talk: "Collecting German Expressionism: An Ethical Dilemma"

Wednesday, December 5, 2012, 12:15‒1:00 p.m.

Special Exhibitions Gallery, first floor

 

This talk, which focuses on the ethical dilemmas facing American collectors of German Expressionism after the Nazis’ sales of modern art from German museums in 1939, is presented by Jenny McComas, Class of

1949 Curator of Western Art after 1800, and curator of the exhibition Pioneers and Exiles: German Expressionism at the Indiana University Art Museum.

This talk is held in conjunction with Themester 2012: Good Behavior, Bad Behavior.

 

A catalogue for the exhibition will also be available.