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Art News:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 17, 2011
Contacts
Katie Kazan, Director of Public Information
608.257.0158 x 237 or katie@mmoca.org
Stephen Fleischman, Director
608.257.0158 x 225 or flash@mmoca.org
Richard H. Axsom, Curator of Collections
608.257.0158 x 249 or
rick@mmoca.org
Images
Representative artworks may be viewed at
http://www.mmoca.org/documents/ChicagoImagistphotos.php.
High-resolution image files are available to the media upon request.
Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of
Contemporary Art
September 11, 2011-January 15, 2012
MADISON, WI--The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) will present
a major exhibition of works by the Chicago Imagists beginning September
11, 2011, and continuing through January 15, 2012. On view in the
museum’s main galleries, Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of
Contemporary Art will include more than 75 works in a variety of
media: paintings; watercolors; collages; prints; sculptures; and artists’
ephemera, including comic books and decals. The exhibition will be
accompanied by a series of talks and documentary films, a complementary
exhibition of works by artists who influenced or were influenced by the
Imagists, and a major publication.
A key component of Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of
Contemporary Art are consummate paintings, sculptures, and unique
works on paper from the museum’s Bill McClain Collection of Chicago
Imagism. Many of the nearly 100 works made available to the museum by
Bill McClain in 2010 will be presented to a public audience for the first
time as part of the exhibition. William H. McClain, Halvorson Professor
of Bacteriology, Emeritus, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, built
his exceptional holdings of Chicago Imagist works over thirty years of
close contact with the artists. The exhibition also features a number of
major gifts to MMoCA from the Raymond K. Yoshida Living Trust and Kohler
Foundation, Inc.
Imagist History
In the late 1960s, art audiences were introduced to a vibrant new group
of artists who would soon be identified collectively as the Chicago
Imagists. The Imagists initially showed their work between 1966 and 1971
at the Hyde Park Art Center. Don Baum, artist and director of the center,
facilitated several exhibitions that included the work of, most
significantly, Roger Brown, Sarah Canright, James Falconer, Ed
Flood, Art Green, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke,
Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, and Karl Wirsum. These
young artists banded together variously to present their art in a series
of exhibitions with titles such as Hairy Who, Nonplussed
Some, False Image, Marriage Chicago Style, and
Chicago Antigua. Most of the artists were native to Chicago, in
their later twenties, and current or former students at the School of the
Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). One-third of the artists group were
women, an unusual percentage for the period, and a marked contrast to the
male-dominant field of modern art in New York City and elsewhere.
Pivotal to the Imagists’ development were the SAIC instructors who urged
their students to explore a great variety of traditions in art, both
western and non-western. Most notable in this respect was the artist Ray
Yoshida, who began teaching at the school in 1959. Yoshida encouraged his
students to seek visual experiences outside of the fine arts--drawing
especially from popular culture as exemplified by magazines, comics, and
what Yoshida called “trash treasures” gathered from outdoor flea markets
such as Chicago’s Maxwell Market.
Although the Pop artists in New York, Los Angeles, and London, who were a
generation older, also drew inspiration from the everyday urban world and
popular culture, the Imagists nevertheless crafted an original art. Their
works were characterized by personal fantasy and executed with brilliant
color, graphic strength, free line, and exceptional workmanship. With
broader sources of inspiration than the Pop artists, and a brand of
exuberant and irreverent satire all their own, the Imagists spoke to the
political and social foibles--as well as the absurdities and whimsy--of
the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s. Audiences quickly
caught the unique character of their art.
Characteristics of Imagist Art
Comic-book style plays an important role in Roger Brown’s Sudden
Avalanche (1972), where a cartoon town of brightly colored, toylike
structures, is threatened with a natural disaster that does not seem to
interfere with the self-absorbed dramas of the men and women silhouetted
in the windows. Although amusing, the scene is disquieting, a frequent
state of things in Imagist art that is also true for Philip Hanson’s
Mezzanine (1969). In a mysterious and child-like setting
reminiscent of Giorgio di Chirico’s empty, surrealist plazas, the four
steps of a blue staircase may lead to a mezzanine. Beckoned to ascend,
the viewer is unsure of what lies beyond: is it danger or pleasure?
Other important aspects of Chicago Imagism are seen in Jim Nutt’s
freewheeling portrait Rosie Comon (1967-1968), which catches the
spontaneous line, love of caricature, and high wit of Imagist art. Rosie
Comon (the title a pun on County Roscommon in Ireland and a reference to
the Chicago Irish) is a brawling kind of reddish-haired guy, bare-chested
with tattoos on his back. Both human and slightly bestial in the face, he
has a nose sprouting a grotesque appendage of unknown function. If
“Rosie” is a perfectly acceptable Irish nickname for a boy, carrying it
must nonetheless encourage a certain toughness to succeed.
Reflecting feminist concerns, the tightly corseted figure cut off at the
neck and legs in Ramberg’s Untitled #15 (1982) is a
recurring motif in the artist’s work that explores gender stereotypes. In
brash comic-book simplifications, the figure’s iconic presentation speaks
to the fetisizing of the female form that produces both allure and
cruelty.
Components of MMoCA’s Chicago Imagist Project
Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art will be
accompanied by a complementary exhibition in the museum’s State Street
Gallery. Titled Chicago School: Imagists in Context, this concurrent
exhibition features works by artists who were geographically,
philosophically, and artistically associated with the Imagists,
including Robert Barnes, Phyllis Bramson, Don Baum, Leon Golub, Miyoko
Ito, Ellen Lanyon, June Leaf, Robert Lostutter, Peter Saul, Hollis
Sigler, and H.C. Westermann, among others. Both exhibitions
were organized by the museum’s curator of collections, Richard H.
Axsom; director, Stephen Fleischman; curatorial associate, Leah Kolb; and
former curator of exhibitions, Jane Simon.
Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art will be
accompanied by a major publication titled Chicago Imagists.
This richly illustrated 168-page book is the most extensive reference
available on the artists, their works, and the context within which the
group emerged and flourished. The volume includes essays by Lynne Warren,
curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Cécile Whiting,
professor of art history at the University of California, Irvine; and the
exhibition curators. Copies will be available at the Museum Store and
Amazon.com in September.
In conjunction with the book and exhibition, the museum will present a
series of lectures, gallery talks, and short documentaries. Encompassing
in scope and scholarship, MMoCA’s Chicago Imagists project provides new
insight and critical analysis of Chicago’s major artistic movement, while
introducing new audiences to the significant visual pleasures of Imagist
artworks.
Opening Celebration
A special MMoCA Nights opening celebration for Chicago Imagists at the
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and Chicago School: Imagists in
Context will take place on Saturday, September 10, from 6:30-9:30 pm.
The evening will feature Imagist artists Art Greene and Gladys Nilsson in
conversation with MMoCA director Stephen Fleischman in the museum’s
lecture hall from 7-8 pm. The event is free for MMoCA members and $10 for
the general public.
Related Programming
September 11, 2011-January 15, 2012 • Continuous
Imagist Documentaries
Artists in America: Roger Brown (1983) and Pigmentata
(1990), a documentary about Ed Paschke, will screen continuously in the
museum’s New Media Gallery during the course of the exhibition Chicago
Imagists at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The New Media
Gallery is on the second floor, adjacent to the main galleries.
Saturday, September 10 • 7-8 pm
A Conversation with Art Green and Gladys Nilsson
A Lussier Family Lecture
Imagist artists Art Green and Gladys Nilsson will discuss the history
of the group with MMoCA director Stephen Fleischman in the museum’s
lecture hall.
Friday, September 23 • 6:30-7 pm
William H. McClain on Collecting the Imagists
The Bill McClain Collection of Chicago Imagism includes consummate
works acquired over a period of 30 years. In this talk, Bill McClain will
offer his perspective on the qualities of Chicago Imagist art that
inspired his early and enthusiastic desire to collect their work.
Saturday, October 8 • 11-11:30 am
Drop-in Tour
Docent Teresa Getty will discuss ways in which counter-culture ideas
shaped the visual vocabulary of the Chicago Imagists.
Thursday, October 13 • 12:30-1 pm
Richard H. Axsom on the Chicago School
Richard H. Axsom will discuss the advent and development of a Chicago
School in the visual arts. Axsom is MMoCA’s curator of collections;
professor emeritus of art history, University of Michigan; and author of
a forthcoming two-volume catalogue raisonné of Ellsworth Kelly’s prints,
among other books.
Thursday, October 27 • 12:30-1 pm
Fred Stonehouse on the Chicago Imagists
Fred Stonehouse will discuss works on view in Chicago Imagists at
the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, focusing on the artists’
references to popular culture and their appreciation for surrealism and
art outside of the mainstream. An assistant professor in the University
of Wisconsin-Madison Art Department, Fred Stonehouse is nationally known
for his distinctive, finely crafted, and highly symbolic paintings.
Saturday, November 12 • 11-11:30 am
Drop-in Tour
Docent Marie Wunsch will discuss the Chicago School’s contributions
to American culture.
Exhibition Sponsors
Generous support for Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of
Contemporary Art has been provided by the National Endowment for the
Arts; The DeAtley Family Foundation; Ellen Rosner and Paul Reckwerdt;
Perkins Coie LLP; Daniel and Natalie Erdman; J.H. Findorff & Son
Inc.; MillerCoors; Tim and Mary Erdman; McGladrey; Hooper Corp. / General
Heating and Air Conditioning; The Terry Family Foundation; the Madison
Arts Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board; the
Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission; a grant from the Wisconsin Arts
Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment
for the Arts; and MMoCA Volunteers.
___________
Hours at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art are Tuesday–Thursday
(noon–5 pm); Friday (noon–8 pm); Saturday (10 am–8 pm); and Sunday
(noon–5 pm). The museum is closed on Mondays.
Admission to exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art is
free of charge. MMoCA is supported through memberships and through
generous contributions and grants from individuals, corporations,
agencies, and foundations. Important support is also generated through
auxiliary group programs; special events; rental of the museum’s lobby,
lecture hall, and rooftop garden; and sales through the Museum
Store.
# # #
Katie Kazan
Director of Public Information
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
227 State Street
Madison, WI 53703
608.257.0158 x 237
Sign up for MMoCA email updates
at
www.mmoca.org.
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