"Intimate Expressions: Two Centuries of American Drawings"
2000-06-25 until 2000-08-13
Columbia Museum of Art
Columbia, SC, USA

The exhibition, Intimate Expressions: Two Centuries of American Drawings will be on view at the Columbia Museum of Art from June 25 through August 13, 2000. This exhibition, drawn entirely from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Philip Brewer of Columbus, Georgia, is comprised of over 100 American works-on-paper, including pencil drawings, silver point, gouaches, watercolors and monotypes. Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to see a full spectrum of American drawings, from classical studies for great history paintings of the 19th century to startling contemporary works of the 20th century.

Among the many artists represented in the exhibition are Milton Avery, George Bellows, Charles Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Philip Pearlstein and Benjamin West. Through drawings, the viewer can experience the artist's touch and style – the hand of the artist – and thus the essence of the work. Beginning with the Italian Renaissance, drawing has formed a basis for all of the visual art, says Donald Keyes, former curator of paintings at the Georgia Museum of Art, the organizer of the exhibition. This was no less true for American artists, particularly painters. Whether they created quasi-scientific documents, like the early landscape painters in New England and soon thereafter Far west or Romantic imagery, the making of drawings and sketches was a universally accepted operating mode for all trained American artists.

In the later 19th century, when artists sought to capture not the fixed details of nature, but rather images of light and color, watercolor and gouache (opaque watercolor) became common media. Even with the modern artists of the 20th century, drawings remained a fundamental and vital form of artistic expression, capturing the essence of the artist’s inspiration.

An illustrated scholarly catalogue, with essays by Henry Adams and Douglas Dreishspoon and published by the Georgia Museum of Art, will accompany the exhibition. Organizer: This exhibition was organized by the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens.

The Columbia Museum of Art is located on the corner of Main and Hampton streets in the heart of downtown Columbia, South Carolina. The museum’s hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Wednesday until 9:00 p.m. and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. General admission is $4 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens, ages 60 and over. Admission is free for museum members and children 5 and under and is free to all on the first Saturday of every month.

IMAGE:
Hananiah Harari, b. 1912,
218 E. 12th St., 1945
ink, gouache and crayon on paper

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of South Carolina

Other Important Exhibitions in Columbia