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California Classicism & Southern Printmaking
SPRING EXHIBITIONS AT THE GEORGIA MUSEUM
By Jessica Smith arts@flagpole.com
DAVID LIGARE: Nowadays, virtually anything can be
evaluated or appreciated as art if presented as such,
creating an endless, albeit shallow, stream of new
works to rapidly consume and quickly forget. David
Ligare, however, is radical in his rejection of the
contemporary art world, opting to counter-balance
the predictability of fleeting trends with a return to
intense mastery.
A self-proclaimed classicist, Ligare’s work ranges
in content from sublime landscapes to delicately
balanced still lifes to architectural and figurative
paintings heavily influenced by antiquity and
idealism. His paintings often transcend time and
place by presenting narratives that, while rooted in
ancient history, have contemporary applications.
On view through Sunday, May 8, the retrospective
exhibition “David Ligare: California Classicist” fea
tures nearly 80 paintings representing the artist’s
unique attempt at time traveling.
Motivated by the writings of John Steinbeck
and Robinson Jeffers, Ligare moved to Monterey
County, CA in his early 20s and found a home in Big
Sur where he could be immersed within the misty
landscape of seaside cliffs he had read about. Four
decades later, the artist returned to the sun-soaked
coastline as a major source of inspiration, finding
that while many art trends had come and gone, Big
Sur had remained virtually unchanged. This time
lessness has been of great interest to the artist, and
while many of his paintings are specific to a present
time and place in California, they remain remark
ably universal.
Breathtakingly illuminated by the sun and
nearly photographic in precision, his subjects are
peculiarly surreal through their homage to history.
Very early in his career, Ligare sought to under
stand the underlying principles of Greco-Roman
culture—admiring its intense curiosity and thirst
for knowledge—and found that many fundamental
concepts have resurfaced in various forms over the centu
ries. In his search for the source of Western art, he has cre
ated narrative paintings that return to origins through an
abstraction of history. Figures from classic mythology may
appear in modern-day settings, beautifully balancing the
past and present.
Ligare will visit the museum to discuss his body of work
and exhibition on Thursday, Apr. 28 at 5:30 p.m. During
an additional Gallery Talk held the following afternoon at
2 p.m., the artist will describe the influence poet Robinson
Jeffers has had on his paintings. Part of the The Big Read
supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, this
‘Landscape with an Archer” by David Ligare
lecture is one of many events spotlighting Jeffers, who is
considered an early pioneer of the environmental move
ment. On Saturday, Apr. 30 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., the
museum will offer Family Day: Poetry and Art, further
exploring the connection between Jeffers and Ligare. On
Thursday, May 5 from 5:30-8:30 p.m., the museum will
host a wine tasting night inspired by Ligare’s exhibition.
FRANK HARTLEY ANDERSON: The only major graphic arts soci
ety to exist in the Southeast during its time, the Southern
Printmakers Society enabled etchers, lithographers and
wood engravers from across the country to share resources
and contribute to touring exhibitions in a region with
few venues for viewing art. Founded in 1935 by Frank
Anderson and his wife, Martha Fort, the society circulated
dozens of shows and published fine editions of selected
works for catalog sale over the course of a full decade.
Anderson’s daughter, Martha Fort Prince, placed more
than 70 of the society’s prints on long-term loan at the
Georgia Museum of Art in 1994, making the gift official in
2008. On view through Sunday, June 19, “Frank Hartley
Anderson: Forging the Southern Printmakers
Society” showcases an impressive variety of styles,
subjects and techniques in print media.
Organized by guest curator and scholar on
Southern prints Lynn Barstis Williams Katz, the
exhibition is thoughtfully arranged, with many
works complementing their neighbors. Some
images are grouped together by subject—four por
traits stare across the gallery at four wintery rural
scenes—while others are intuitively paired based
on their compatible compositions.
John Alexander Brandon’s lithograph “Out of
the Rocks” depicts a sturdy albeit bare-limbed tree
doing its best to survive in a terrain with little
water or soil. To the left, Warren Mack’s “Indian
Summer” and “Willows on the Water” touch on
another challenge: human intervention’s influence
on nature through agricultural control and aes
thetic interest.
The vaulted ceilings and arched windows within
Leon Pescheret’s etching “Great Tapestry Hall,
Hampton Court Palace” are beautifully echoed by
the sharp horizon of snow-capped mountain peaks
in Frances Gearhart’s colored woodcut “Austerity.”
Though wildly different environments—one
indoors and manmade, the other expansive and
untouched—both settings are presumably quiet
and revered.
Carl Werner Holt’s “Skipper’s Address” is an
unusual nautical scene, a complex composition
that focuses more intently on the busy, abstract
patterns created on the surface of the water by
anchors, chains and ropes than by the boats float
ing above. Beneath his etching, a lithograph by Ella
Sophonisba Hergesheimer similarly captures swirl
ing reflections near a dock.
In-house curator Sarah Kate Gillespie will lead a
Tour at Two on Wednesday, May 25 at 2 p.m.
ART PARTIES: Both “David Ligare” and “Frank
Hartley Anderson” will be focal points of Museum Mix on
Thursday, Apr. 21 from 8 p.m.-12 a.m. and 90 Carlton:
Spring on Friday, Apr. 29 from 6-9:30 p.m. The thrice-
annual party Museum Mix will feature D Js Lunar Landers
and Jack Jigglez spinning 45 RPM records, complimentary
refreshments and late-night access to galleries. The Friends
of the Georgia Museum of Art’s quarterly reception will
offer gallery activities, door prizes and an “Ask the Experts”
hour. Other exhibitions currently on view include “WOX:
Refining Realities,” “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates
Exhibition,” “George Segal: Everyday Apparitions” and
“Twists and Turns: Sculptures by Alice Aycock.” ©
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16 FLAGP0LE.C0M-APRIL 20, 2016