News
University of Richmond Museums
Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art * Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center
Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature
Richmond, Virginia 23173
http://museums.richmond.edu

Contacts: Heather Campbell, Curator of Museum Programs, University Museums,
804-287-6324, hcampbel@richmond.edu or Brian Eckert, Director of Media and
Public Relations, 804-287-6659, beckert@richmond.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 1, 2010

THE UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND MUSEUMS OPENS TWO NEW EXHIBITIONS
AT THE JOEL AND LILA HARNETT MUSEUM OF ART

The 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints and
Eye of the Collector: Works on Paper from the Sigmund R. Balka Collection

October 21 to December 5, 2010

The 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints is the ninth competitive national
exhibition organized by the University of Richmond Museums and is a
celebration of contemporary printmaking by artists throughout the United
States.  The juror, Laura Kruger, Curator of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish
Institute of Religion Museum, New York, selected forty-six artists from twenty
states from entries submitted by 131 artists.  The exhibition is on view from
October 21 to December 5, 2010.

In her juror's statement, Kruger says, "I have always understood that the
voice of a printmaker has a distinct resonance in the large world of fine art.
Far from being a matter of multiples, prints, with their range of techniques,
enable the artist to create subtle nuanced images which are different from
drawings, pastels, ink, watercolors, and other singular images. I was
privileged to consider the full vocabulary of printmaking including
monoprints, engravings, intaglios, photography as well as photomontage,
etching, lithographic processes, papiers colle, silkscreen, woodcut, and linocut."

Kruger continues, "Jurying material for inclusion in an exhibition is a
different procedure than curating an exhibition itself.  The former is a
selection process in which submissions are assessed for technical skill,
clarity of purpose, singularity of content and overall composition.  I am
generally interested in content driven art, asking myself what was the
artist's intent and has that message made an impact.  When written text has
been incorporated, is it elucidating, provocative, evocative of a special time
or place?"

The participating artists are:  Audrey Anastasi (Brooklyn, NY), David Avery
(San Francisco, CA), Karen Butler  (Norwalk, CT), James Crable  (Harrisonburg,
VA),  Michael Dal Cerro  (Lyndhurst,  NJ), S. L. Dickey (Columbus, MS), Carrie
Ida Edinger (Newark, DE), Alan D. Entin (Richmond, VA), Richard Finch
(Bloomington, IL), Julie Floss (Laurinburg, NC), Robin Gibson (Huntingdon,
PA), Leslie A. Golomb (Pittsburgh, PA), Dirk Hagner (San Juan Capistrano, CA),
Andrew Hershey (Omaha, NE), Alan Hobscheid (Chicago, IL), Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin
(Long Lake, MN), Louis Joyner (Richmond, VA), Bizhan Khodabandeh (Richmond,
VA), Brian Kreydatus (Williamsburg, VA), Anthony Lazorko (Mesilla, NM),
Stephen Marc (Tempe, AZ), Anne May (Virginia Beach, VA), Dan McCormack
(Accord, NY), Lindsay McCulloch (Silver Spring, MD), Nancy McIntyre
(Alexandria, VA), R. Bruce Muirhead (Clinton, NY), Jake Muirhead (Takoma Park,
MD), Frances Myers (Hollandale, WI), Alkan Nallbani (Maplewood, NJ), Thomas
Nawrocki (Columbus, MS), Lee Newman (Kensington, MD), Frederick Nichols
(Barboursville, VA), Akemi Ohira (Charlottesville, VA), Tom J. Raneses
(McLean, VA), Mark Renner (Arlington, TX), Ronald Rigge (Pleasanton, CA),
Deborah Rosenthal (New York, NY), Merrill Shatzman (Durham, NC), Gordon K.
Sherman (Hays, KS), Ralph L. Steeds (Red Springs, NC), Ephraim Steinberg
(Richmond, VA), D. B. Stovall (Rockville, MD), Tracy Templeton (Ashland, OR),
Caroline Thorington (Bethesda, MD), Laura Yang (Wilmington, DE), and Ann Zahn
(Bethesda, MD).

Also on view in the Harnett Museum of Art, from October 21 to December 5,
2010, is Eye of the Collector: Works on Paper from the Sigmund R. Balka
Collection.  The exhibition features a selection of artworks from the Sigmund
R. Balka Collection at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
Museum in New York. Highlighted are works from artists such as Max Beckmann,
Isabel Bishop, Marc Chagall, Lyonel Feininger, Robert Motherwell, Larry
Rivers, and Rembrandt van Rijn.  The collection includes European and American
Jewish artists, as well as Jewish themes in art by other artists, and the
exhibition provides a glimpse, both secular and religious, into Jewish life
and culture.

Sigmund R. Balka, graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School, led a
distinguished professional career in the Kennedy and Johnson presidential
administrations, and held positions of leadership in the Greater New York
Metropolitan Food Council, American Corporate Counsel Association and
Foundation; and service on the Art Law and General Counsel Committees of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New York.  He currently serves as Vice
President, Public and Cultural Affairs and General Counsel of Krasdale Foods,
White Plains, New York.  He is also the Director and Chief Operating Officer
of the Krasdale Galleries in White Plains and New York City, where he has
curated more than 100 exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by
international artists.

Mr. Balka assembled the collection over a period of five decades, and he has
gifted the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum an
encyclopedic survey of the major European and American Jewish artists and
themes in Jewish art, primarily during the 19th and 20th centuries.  The
collection of more than 200 works represents the creativity of Jewish artists
and reads as a chronological history of Jewish life and experiences over time:
scenes of Jewish urban life, the practice of religion, politics, the
Depression, artistic responses to the Holocaust, and the work of Jewish women
artists.

Highlights of the exhibition include Pierrot and Mask, 1920, a lithograph by
Max Beckmann (German, 1884-1950); an etching by Isabel Bishop (American,
1902-1988), Three Men on Fourteenth Street, 1927-31; Mère et enfant à la Tour
Eiffel (Mother and Child at the Eiffel Tower), 1954, a lithograph by Marc
Chagall (Russian, 1887-1985); and an etching, engraving, and dry point by
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), The Flight into Egypt, 1651.

The exhibition was organized by the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of
Religion Museum, New York, and curated by Laura Kruger, Curator, Hebrew Union
College - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York.  The accompanying
book, The Eye of the Collector: the Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka,
published by Hebrew Union College, is available for purchase at the University
Museums.

Programming

Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 7-9 p.m.
7 p.m., Lecture, Cousins Studio Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts
Making a Mark: Twentieth-Century Jewish Artists,
Laura Kruger, Curator, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum,
New York, curator of the Eye of the Collector: Works on Paper from the Sigmund
R. Balka Collection, and juror of the 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints
8 to 9 p.m., Opening reception and preview of the exhibitions
Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts

All programs are free and open to the public.

Note: Images for press are available by contacting Heather Campbell,
804-287-6324 or hcampbel@richmond.edu

University of Richmond Museums comprises the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of
Art, the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center, and the Lora Robins Gallery
of Design from Nature. Admission to all museums is free and open to the
public. For group visits and tours, please call 804-287-6424 at least two
weeks prior to your visit for reservations. Call 804-289-8276 for information
and directions or visit our website at museums.richmond.edu

The Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art is located in the George M. Modlin
Center for the Arts. Museum hours beginning August 18, 2010: Tuesday through
Sunday, 1 to 5 pm. Closed Football Gamedays (10/23, 11/6, 11/13, and 12/4),
Thanksgiving Week (11/20-29), Semester Break (12/6-1/10/11), and Spring Break
(3/5-14/11) .

The Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center is also located in the George M.
Modlin Center for the Arts. Museum hours beginning August 18, 2010: Wednesday
through Saturday, 1 to 3 pm., and by appointment (804-287-6424). Closed same
schedule as above.

The Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature is located in a separate wing of
the Boatwright Memorial Library with its entrance on Richmond Way. Museum
hours beginning August 18: Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 5pm; Saturday and
Sunday, 1 to 5 pm. Closed Football Gamedays (10/23, 11/6, 11/13, and 12/4),
Thanksgiving Week (11/20-29), Semester Break (12/13/10-1/3/11), and Spring
Break (3/5-14/11).