"The Nude in Contemporary Art The Nude in Contemporary Art"
1999-06-06 until 1999-09-12
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
Ridgefield, CT, USA United States of America

The Nude in Contemporary Art, an exhibition curated by director Harry Philbrick with assistant director Richard Klein and assistant curator Jessica Hough, specifically focuses on how the human form - a perennial art subject throughout history in painting, drawing, and sculpture - has been re-interpreted by emerging and influential contemporary artists.

According to Harry Philbrick, the chief curator, The exhibition gives us an opportunity to see how artists from America, Europe, and Japan - some young, some old - confront one of the greatest challenges in art: depicting the nude. The work in the exhibition deals with birth, aging, beauty, intimate domestic moments, nature, and cultural stereotypes: a wide range of topics all expressed through the human form. Some of the work in the exhibition may be considered deeply traditional in its furtherance of the practice of artists exploring issues of aesthetics, beauty, gender, and mortality through the depiction of the human form, but in all instances the work transcends convention. The exhibition includes painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, as well as the newer media of holography, video, and installation. Karen Finleys Go Figure, an installation that consists of a life drawing class with a model and instructor, will be held on a regular basis during the run of the exhibition in Gallery Nine on the third floor of the Museum. Newsprint pads and charcoal will be available for visitors who wish to participate in the class. Resultant drawings will be hung in the gallery as part of the Go Figure installation. Karen Finley will conduct a preliminary life drawing class on Saturday, June 5, the day before the exhibitions opening reception. All subsequent life drawing classes will be in conjunction with the Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, Wooster Community Art Center, Danbury, and Ridgefield Guild of Artists, Ridgefield, and will take place Tuesday through Sunday, 1 to 3 pm at the Museum. The exhibition will also include an off-site installation by Melanie Manchot. The curators have secured the use of a roughly 10-by-22-foot billboard in Manhattan (West 20th Street at Tenth Avenue) for a cropped nude portrait of the artists mother, who appears in the foreground of a panoramic Swiss mountain range. The full photograph will be included in the exhibition at the Museum. The following artists are scheduled for inclusion in The Nude in Contemporary Art: Laura Aguilar, Tina Barney, Lisa Bartolozzi, William Beckman, Brett Bigbee, Paul Cadmus, Sherry Camhy, David Carbone, Harriet Casdin-Silver, Joe Cavallaro, Eteri Chkadua, Chuck Close, John Coplans, RenČe Cox, Meg Cranston, James Croak, John Currin, Steven DiGiovanni, Jeanne Dunning, Karen Finley, Lucian Freud, Philip Grausman, Chris Habib, Anne Harris, Jacqueline Hayden, Kinke Kooi, Peter Krashes, Daniel Ladd, Jacob Lawrence, Harriet Leibowitz, Michael Leonard, Melanie Manchot, Denise Marika, John OReilly, Hanneline RŻgeberg, Karin Sander, Jenny Saville, Andres Serrano, Robert Stivers, Annelies vStrba, Jock Sturges, Robert Taplin, Spencer Tunick, Manabu Yamanaka, and Lisa Yuskavage.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Connecticut

Other Important Exhibitions in United States