On the Move: Images of Travel from Everson Musuem of Art and Syracuse University Collections

February 1 - May 25, 2008

As a result of technological advancement and the human desire to explore and secure resources, travel has become a primary force in shaping contemporary life and global history. In today’s world, travel has become a normal part of everyday life. In fact, tourism and travel now drive several of the world’s largest economic sectors.

On the Move displays a wide range of objects focusing on travel as a universal experience from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. Featuring objects from the Everson Museum and the multiple collections of Syracuse University, the exhibition highlights dreams of idyllic travel as well as the harsher realities of getting from one place to another.

On the Move has been organized by Syracuse University students in the Graduate Program in Museum Studies, in the Masters in Fine Arts program and the History of Art program who are under the curatorial guidance of Professors Edward Aiken and Judith Meighan in collaboration with the Everson. The exhibition includes works from the Everson Museum of Art, the Syracuse University Art Collections, Light Work, and the Special Collections Research Center of Syracuse University Library. On the Move is supported, in part, by a grant awarded by the College of Visual and Performing Arts Interdisciplinary Committee.

 

 

Paper Arts in the Low Countries: 1600 - 1800

January 26 - May 25, 2008

The Low Countries, a region comprising present-day Holland and Belgium, was a site of truly spectacular art production during the so-called early modern period, ca. 1600 to ca. 1800. Indeed, some of the foremost artists in the history of European art practiced within this region, including Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens. Although the art-loving public is quite familiar with paintings by Dutch (Holland) and Flemish (Belgium) masters their drawings and prints are less known, despite the many outstanding examples of such work that survive. Some of the most memorable and impressive art during this period was made with ink and paper, as opposed to oil paint and canvases and panels. Paper Arts in the Low Countries, 1600-1800 consists of 35 noteworthy examples of drawings and prints by prominent masters of the Low Countries (including Rembrandt and Rubens), drawn from a number of private collections and from the holdings of the Syracuse University Art Collection and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.

Paper Arts in the Low Countries is curated by Dr. Wayne Franits, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Fine Arts, Syracuse University with the assistance of graduate students currently enrolled in the Fine Arts program.

 

 

Images of Vice and Virtue from the Syracuse University Art Collection

January 26 - May 25, 2008

Images of Vice and Virtue investigates how artists from different cultures and time periods visualized fundamental themes of good and evil. Early civilizations enacted codes of conduct believing that individual behavior benefited from these guidelines. The ancient Greeks developed a set of inspirational values that included prudence, justice, courage and temperance. Later, Christianity refined and enlarged these to the seven holy virtues against which were set seven deadly sins. Additionally, bible stories illustrated what would happen to individuals who either followed or violated church doctrine.

Western society’s growing secularization from the late 18th century onward gave artists greater freedom in interpreting biblical subjects and themes. Artists like Picasso strongly criticized the Spanish government in a pair of prints that depicted the ruler Francisco Franco as a biological polyp. Andy Warhol showed his support for the civil rights movement in a 1964 print of the Birmingham race riot. These examples further indicated the artist’s growing role as an individual commenting on good and evil.

Also included in the exhibition are several pieces by non-western cultures. Like their western counterparts, these pieces were inspired and informed by their culture’s historical beliefs about good and evil and were often drawn from stories used to explain those beliefs. All of the objects in the exhibition have been drawn from Syracuse University’s encyclopedic collection of over 45,000 objects.

Images of Vice and Virtue is curated by David Prince, Associate Director of Syracuse University Art Collection.