Royal tapestry exhibition travels to U.S. for the first time

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Friday, April 16, 2010
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Royal tapestry exhibition travels to U.S. for the first time
Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna
May 21 - September 19, 2010

Columbia, S.C. - Royal Renaissance tapestries from one of the premier museums of fine and decorative arts in the world, the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, will be on view in South Carolina's capital city. Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna opens at the Columbia Museum of Art on Friday, May 21 and runs through September 19, 2010. The exhibition marks the first time these centuries-old tapestries have traveled to the United States.Each of these eight exquisite tapestries, intricately crafted, measures from 11- to 12-feet high and from 12- to 18-feet long. The palace-sized tapestries came to the Kunsthistorisches Museum from the collections of King Matthias (Holy Roman Emperor 1612-1619) and King Francis I (1708-1765). A symposium, "Tapestries: Then and Now," will be a featured program on Friday, June 11. The presenting sponsor for the exhibition is Family Medicine Centers of South Carolina, P.A., with additional support provided by anonymous donors.

The 16th-century Flemish tapestry collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum is widely known as one of the greatest in existence. Richly woven with silk, wool, and gold and silver thread, these eight newly restored wall hangings were made for the Hapsburg emperors at the famous Brussels atelier of Frans Geubels. They depict one of the most beloved secular themes in the 16th-century repertoire of Flemish tapestry making: the legendary founding of ancient Rome by Romulus and Remus. The series begins with the birth of the two brothers, when they were placed in a basket and set afloat on the Tiber River, and ends with the legendary rape of the Sabine women.For King Matthias and subsequent Habsburg emperors, the tapestries, displayed prominently, also served as an important venue for relating powerful messages about the ancestral roots of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg family.

In the late Middle ages, Renaissance and Baroque, tapestry was the art form - far more costly and elite than art in any other medium (sculpture and painting included). Renaissance tapestries served a number of different purposes. They were symbols of rank, wealth and power and effective sources of propaganda, made to order for the religious and political elite. They could cost as much as a warship and be more expensive than great paintings by acknowledged masters. Michelangelo was paid less money for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel than the designers of a series of tapestries commissioned by Pope Leo X (Acts of the Apostles) were. Tapestries were taken along on campaigns and hung outdoors during festivals, as a way of uniting townspeople around their lord. Tapestries were not only beautiful works of art, and sometimes objects of propaganda (The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was even accompanied into battle by his court painter who made sketches at the site for later weaving), but they served a useful purpose as well, being transported from castle to castle, palace to palace, and placed on cold masonry walls for warmth as a form of insulation. They were colorful and lively backdrops in dark, dank, cold and windowless interiors. The most famous weavers were in France and Brussels - where these tapestries were woven.

Imperial Splendorshows the role tapestries played as a valuable and important tool of artistic production during the Renaissance. This international touring exhibition is organized by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which opened in 1891 and was built at the behest of Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of his expansion of Vienna. The museum was established to unite and appropriately represent the artistic treasures collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries. The Kunsthistorisches ranks as one of the great museums of Europe and among the premier fine arts museums in the world. It is a rare and special opportunity that the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is lending these magnificent works for a U.S. tour. This exhibition travels to only three cities, including Columbia, South Carolina.
This exhibition is developed by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and tour organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Related Programs

Gallery Tour: Imperial Splendor
Every Saturday             1:00 p.m.
A docent-led tour of Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna, offers insight into the works represented in the exhibition currently on view in the Dawn Helfont Christopher Galleries. Free with admission or membership.

Gallery Tour: Imperial Splendor
Friday, June 4                         7:00 p.m.
A docent-led tour of Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna, offers insight into the works represented in the exhibition currently on view in the Dawn Helfont Christopher Galleries. Free with admission or membership.

Member Exhibition Opening
Sunday, June 6             Noon - 3:00 p.m.
Members enjoy a celebration of the summer exhibitions, Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Viennaand Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the Ceramics Research Centerwith gallery talks, demonstrations and lectures. Members only. Individual membership admits one; all other levels admit two. Light hors d'oeuvres. For more information on how to become a member or to RSVP, visit columbiamuseum.org.

Symposium: Tapestries Then and Now
Friday, June 11             9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna, this symposium focuses on the history, manufacture, variety and splendor of tapestries as an art form. A distinguished group of speakers address issues of subject matter, use and display, the role of the artist in tapestry design, the revival of tapestry production in the early 20th century, weaving techniques and the conservation of these delicate and splendid works of art. This symposium is made possible through a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, with additional funding provided by Family Medicine Centers of South Carolina. $25 / $20 for members / $5 student tickets available at the door. To purchase tickets, visit columbiamuseum.orgor call 803.799.2810.

Speakers:
Todd Herman, Ph.D., Chief Curator and Curator of European Art, Columbia Museum of Art
Introduction, Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna

Carlton Hughes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Art History, University of South Carolina History, Metaphor, Narrative: Storytelling in the Romulus and Remus Tapestries

Ward Briggs, Ph.D., Professor (retired), Department of Classics, The University of South Carolina
Romulus and Remus: Origins of an Original Legend

Virginia Gardner Troy, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History, Berry College (Georgia)
Weaving Modern Art: The Marie Cuttoli Tapestries and the Pictorial Weavings of Anni Albers 1920-1960

Dirk Holger, tapestry artist and historian
The Art of Tapestry: Style Development through 2,000 Years

Olha Yarema-Wynar, Assistant Conservator, Department of Textile Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Art of Tapestry Conservation

Gallery Talk: How Were They Made?
Saturday, June 12             11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Medieval tapestry scholar Dirk Holger leads a gallery talk and artists Tommye Scanlin and Pat Williams present a weaving demonstration based on the exhibition, Imperial Splendor: Renaissance Tapestries from Vienna. Free with admission or membership.

Art School: Figure Drawing With the Gods!
Wednesdays, July 7 - August 11                        7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Students work from nude models amidst the Renaissance tapestries from the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna. This 6-week class focuses on figure drawing fundamentals and covers gesture, contour, value studies and comprehension of mass. All materials are provided, and no experience is necessary. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! $135 / 20% off for members. To register or more information, visit columbiamuseum.org.

Lecture: History, Metaphor, Narrative: Storytelling in the Romulus and Remus Tapestries
Sunday, August 22                        3:00 p.m.
Professor Carlton Hughes looks carefully at the imagery of the Renaissance tapestries from the Kunsthistorisches Museum and others in light of the circumstances and ambitions of their original owners. Educated at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Dr. Hughes has been assistant professor of Renaissance and Baroque art history at the University of South Carolina since 2004. His special interest is the way that works of art relate to the hopes, fears and dreams of their beholders. FREE courtesy of BlueCross BlueShield of SC.

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Museum Information

The Columbia Museum of Art is South Carolina's premier international art museum and houses a world-class collection of European and American art. Founded in 1950, the Museum opened its new building on Main Street in 1998 with 25 galleries. The collection includes masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, porcelain and works by significant furniture and silver makers, as well as American, Asian, and modern and contemporary art. In recent years the Museum's collection of Asian art and Antiquities has grown through generous gifts to the collection. Of particular interest are Sandro Botticelli's Nativity, Claude Monet's The Seine at Giverny, Canaletto's View of the Molo, and art glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The Museum's newly commissioned Chihuly chandelier is now on view in the Museum's David Wallace Robinson, Jr. Atrium. The Museum offers changing exhibitions from renowned museums as well as educational programs for all ages that include art classes, art camps, lectures, films and concerts. It is the recipient of a National Art Education Association award for its contributions to arts education and an Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for the Arts for outstanding contributions to the arts in South Carolina. Generous support to the Museum is provided by the City of Columbia, Richland County, the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties.

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