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The Red and Btacw • Thursday, January 25 1990 • S
■AMERICAN POETRY
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‘Painters of the Light’ focuses on tonalism, impressionism
By SUSAN HIRSCH
Contribute Writer
The beauty of natural light ia the
subject of the Georgia Museum of
.An’s exhibit, ‘Painters of Light:
Tonahsm and American Impres
sionism.’
The selection of paintings and
pastels focuses on tonalism and
America s most popular movement
in painting, impressionism.
The works on display are part of
the museum’s permanent collec
tion, which includes about 6,000
works of art. American art is the
collection’s strength.
“These works are priceless in
monetary value,’ said Bill Eiland,
museum director of public commu
nications and publications. “They
are an invaluable part of our cul
tural heritage.’
Tonalism emerged in the 1870s
and was the dominant style in
American landscape painting
during the last 20 years of the cen
tury. The style represents a break
from the British inspired Hudson
River School.
■Tonalism reflects a growing so
phistication as America was terri
torially expanding in the 1870s,”
said Donald Keyes, curator of
American paintings
“America was growing economi
cally and becoming more educated,
and these factors contributed to
the style known as tonalism,’ he
said.
During this period, Darwinian
theory challenged notions about
the fixed order of nature. Keyes
said, “social order upheaved* as a
result of rapid changes in thinking
and technology.
These paintings appeal to that
sense of flux. If you look closely at
the paintings, you will discover
that what you can’t see becomes
reality,” he said.
Also, the development of photog
raphy made image reproduction
cheaper and accessible.
“A photograph could document
an object, so artists became less in
terested in painting material
things,” Keyes said.
“Yet, pictures couldn’t record
color, so artists became interested
in painting light. Tonalism reflects
the artists’ attempt to capture a
fleeting mood that photography
couldn't depict.”
In this effort, artists turned
away from city scenes and used
‘Box’ premieres:
Hospice benefits
By BILL KENYON
Contributing Writer
The Town and Gown Players, a
theater group in Athens, will pre
sent the Pulitzer Prize winning
play, The Shadow Box,” beginning
Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Athens
Community Theater on Prince
Avenue behind the Taylor-Grady
House.
The opening performance,
Thursday, will be held to benefit
the Hospice of Athens, a service
center for terminally ill patients
and their families. The center gives
advice and support to families in
this situation and sometimes pro
vides service and care for termi
nally ill people.
The director of the play, Charlie
Medlin, felt the Hospice was an ap
propriate beneficiary for the pro
ceeds of the opening night, because
the play itself takes place in a hos
pice, said Lee Wenthe, the pub
licity chairman for the Town and
Gown Players.
The show on Thursday will
begin at 8:15 p.m. All the money
earned on the premiere night will
go to the Hospice. Season and com
plimentary tickets cannot be used
for the premiere.
The Shadow Box," written by
Michael Cristofer, won the Pulitzer
Prize for drama and a Tony Award
for best drama in 1977. First pro
duced in New York in 1977, the
play tells the story of Joe, Brian,
and Felicity, who are staying until
they die in three cottages of a hos
pice. All of them suffer from ter
minal diseases, with all hope of
treatment or recovery long gone.
Bound by common experience,
they and their families straggle to
make the best of the final days in
each of their lives.
Medlin said he chose the play
from several the theater company
presented him because it was a
drama instead of a common, rela
tively safe comedy.lt dealt with
relationships and characters in
stead of situations and action.
“Some people may think they
don’t want to see Shadow Box be
cause it’s a depressing, dark play.
But, it really isn’t a play about
death. It’s a play about life. I think
it’s positive and moving," he said.
The play contains adult situa
tions, including a bisexual love tri
angle. The subject matter itself is
difficult and provocative, dealing
with death and the absence of
hope. The naturalistic language
may offend some people, Medlin
said.
“But I don’t think it's offensive
at all,” he said. “It’s just the way
most people actually talk"
Medlin has lived and worked in
Athens since 1984. His last di
recting job was “Come Back To The
Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean.
Jimmy Dean."
“It was a great play, and nobody
saw it," he said.
’Golden Autumn, Rangely Lake, Maine’: Ralph Blakelock (1847-1919;. 0>; or car.as.
fluid brush strokes ar.d thick, dark
paint to convey murky forest inte
nors.
The impressionists also reacted
to technology ar.d materialism.
Yet, they dabbed brighter colors on
canvasses to allow the human eye
to blend the colors
Because they were painting abs
tractions, and thereby new con
cepts of space and time, these
artists are considered more mod
ernistic.
The impressionists replaced the
tonal:Sts’ dark, introverted land
scapes with bright scenes of urban
parks and suburban gardens.
“With more leisure time, people
began to travel and read more, and
artists attempted to portray a
brighter, happier world,’ "said
Keyes.
In the 1880s, American painters
went to work near and with the
French master, Claude Monet, at
Giverny. A painting in the exhibi
tion, Theodore Robinson’s ‘Gath
ering Plums,’ was painted there in
1891.
A group of these American
painters held a joint exhibition in
1398, and they became known as
the Ten American Painters,”
Members of the Ten’ included in
Painters of Light are well-known
artists Frank Ber.son, Childe
Hassam, John Twachtmar. and
William Merr.tt Chase. Also in
cluded are paintings by Maurice
Prendergast, Ernest Lawson.
Ralph Blakelock. Thomas Hill and
J. Francis Murphy.
Painters of Light will be on dis
play through March 4. Keyes will
discuss the works on display
Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2:00 p.m. The
Friends of the Museum will hoet a
reception after the lecture.
The Georgia Museum of Art is
located on North Campus. Hours
are 9 a.m, to 5 p.m.. Monday-
through Saturday: 1p.m. to 5 p.m.,
Sunday Admission :s free For in
formation, cal’. 542-3255
The Ga. Museum of Art presents African art;
Cameroonian works show diversity of culture
M Me » «r* *v 3c«8-: »
Buffalo Helmet Mask: Elite African artwork featured.
Trie exhibit will show different cultural traditions.
Courtesy: trie Spelman College Collection of African Art.
By INGRID REEVES
Contributing Wnter
The Georgia Museum of An
begins an exhibit of elite African
an from the Cameroon on Sat
urday.
The exhibit consists of 32 in
triguing works from the S pel mar.
College collection of African Art-
Don aid Keyes, curator of
American painting at the Georgia
Museum of .An, and Sharon
Pruitt, professor of an at East
Carolina University, selected the
various pieces for this exhibit.
The show will display masks,
horns, benches and sculptures of
wood, brass and bronze, which
were made for certain rituals or
ceremonial observances. The
pieces could be classified as
“Elitist art," which was made
specifically for a king or the
ruling council, according to
Keyes.
Keyes began working on the
exhibit last summer along with
Pruitt, who is a former professor
at Spelman College.
The exhibit will be a high
quality show, and it'll be an op
portunity to give this collection of
an more focus, Keyes said.
The show contains a large
number of bronze objects and a
significant amount of decora
tions, such as various animal mo
tifs.
All of the works in this exhibit
are from the Cameroon, a
country of diverse cultures in
West Africa. The an represents
important traditions of the dif
ferent ethnic groups of the Cam
eroon.
The exhibit should prove to be
a valuable cultural experience,
Keyes said.
“I like to have exhibits about
works of art that I know very
little about," he said. "If I’m
learning something, then I feel
others are learning also.
“Museums should keep in
mind that their audience is very
diverse. I believe in that diver
sity," Keyes added.
The Georgia Museum of An
will host the “African Spirit Cele
bration,* a special Family Day.
Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. The public is in
vited to celebrate the African
Spirit by participating in story
telling, mask-making and
dancing.
William Eiland, director of
public relations and publications
at the Georgia Museum, said
families will have an opportunity
to handle African objects, which
are pan of the museum’s special
teaching collection.
Participants will be able to use
clay and paints to design their
own African an, he said.
This program is presented free
by the support of the friends of
the Museum and the Heyward
Allen Motor Company, Inc.
A panel discussion, entitled
“Africa’s Cultural Legacy," will
be held March 3 at 10 a.m. in the
University Law Auditorium.
The panel will discuss cultural
traditions and special aspects of
African an.
The guest speakers will be;
Eric Robertson, collector and
dealer of African An; Jontyle
Robinson, professor of art history
at Spelman College, and Roelyr.
Walker, curator at the National
Museum of African An, at the
Smithsonian Institute.
The exhibit ends March 4. The
public is invited to share in this
cultural experience.
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