EXHIBITIONS
Curiosity and Wonder:
The Collection of Dr. Marion C. Korstanje
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Alexander Wilson (American, b. Scotland, 1766-1813). Plate 44 from American Ornithology, Philadelphia, 1801-1814. Drawn from nature by A. Wilson, Engraved by J.G. Warnicke. 1. Passenger Pigeon 2. Blue Mountain Warbler 3. Hemlock Warbler Hand-colored engraving. Gift of Marion C. Korstanje 1996.19.38 |
June 12 – September 26, 2010
Switzer Gallery
Opening reception takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 18, 2010. Admission is free.
Lecture by Joel Oppenheimer from Joel Oppenheimer Gallery in Chicago takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday, August 1, 2010. This event is sponsored by HMA’s Fitzpatrick Society.
Born in 1930, Dr. Marion C. Korstanje was the son of immigrants who came to the United States from the Netherlands to establish a bulb and flower business in Sybene, Ohio. He lived his life as a true renaissance man and became a noted ophthalmologist in Huntington, practicing for more than 40 years. He spoke many languages, loved reading, nature, travel and art, especially Asian ceramics, natural history and old master prints.
Beginning with the age of exploration in the 14th-17th centuries which took adventurers to uncharted territories, many new plant and bird species were also “discovered” and studied, especially by naturalist artists from Germany,
the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, and the United States. Dr. Korstanje’s interest in, and decision to collect natural history prints is so logical it seems almost providential; combining his love of both art and science. He was a kindred spirit to, and shared many traits with the men and women who followed their passion in observing, classifying, and visually documenting these exotic
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Crispyn van de Passe (Dutch, 1597 – 1670). Plate 13, from Hortus Floridus, 1614: L. Anemone coccineo; L. Anemone tenuifolia violaceo; I.G. Anemone princess sangui Hand-colored copper plate engraving. Gift of Dr. Marion C. Korstanje, 1999.1.31 |
new species. He was also a true philanthropist, and took great satisfaction in sharing his passion for art with others. He was an active and dedicated HMA board member for 12 years, and a knowledgeable member of the Museum’s Collections Committee.
This exhibition will present a selection of works from the more than 250 donated to the Museum’s permanent collection by Dr. Korstanje between the years 1969 and his death in 2007. On view will be works by the top artists working in the field of botanical and bird prints, including Mark Catesby, John Gould, John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, Crispyn van de Passe, Pierre Joseph Redoute, and many others. It will also include Asian ceramics, and his small but choice collection of old master prints which he began just prior to his sudden passing.
This exhibit is generously sponsored by The Huntington Museum of Art Fitzpatrick Society; The Katherine & Herman Pugh Exhibitions Endowment; W. Bart Andrews In Honor of Doris Andrews; Anonymous; Warren and Judith Dumke In Memory of Anne Csernica; Dr. and Mrs. Michael Fiery; In Honor of Katherine Gleaton; Janina Michael In Memory of Adam Johnson; Dr. and Mrs. Joseph A. LoCascio; Mrs. Ruth I. Morris In Memory of Charles B. Morris, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. Leon K. Oxley; Tully S. Roisman, M.D.; Dr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Scott.; and West Virginia Division of Culture and History and West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
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Centuries of Progress:
American World’s Fairs, 1853-1982
June 5 – August 15, 2010
Daywood Gallery
Opening reception takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 6, 2010, with musical performance. Admission is free.
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The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules poster, 1915, paper, 18 3/16 x 12 inches, on view at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco; courtesy Hagley Museum and Library. |
What do the telephone, the Ferris Wheel, a 28,000-pound typewriter, ice cream cones, and nylon stockings have in common? They were just a few of the thousands of products, curiosities, and inventions that made their debut at one of 17 international festivals on American soil.
The exhibition Centuries of Progress: American World’s Fairs, 1853-1982, presents a remarkable overview of more than a century of American World’s Fairs. This exhibition includes more than 125 objects, photographs, and ephemera that detail progress, promotion, and public response. Beginning with the 1853 Crystal Palace exhibition in New York through the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, World’s Fairs have emphasized the technological, cultural, and political advances that form the American society that we enjoy today.
History of the fairs is related through six thematic categories: Progress as a Way of Life introduces the rationale for the creation of World’s Fairs. Marketplace of Ideas demonstrates the immense opportunity manufacturers had to market new technologies, while Consumerism depicts fair-goers as an eager audience for innovative goods, from Juicy Fruit to Wonder Bread and Dr. Pepper. Art, Architecture, and Music and Popular Amusements illustrate the vast entertainment options available to fair-goers, from colossal buildings and sculptures to carnival rides and exhibitions of “exotic” lands and cultures. Finally, Remembering the Fair includes souvenirs and commemorative items. After all, who could go home empty-handed after experiencing the wonders of a World’s Fair?
The exhibition is organized by the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, and is toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.
This exhibit is generously sponsored by Cabell Huntington Hospital; Camden Park; The Herald-Dispatch; The Katherine & Herman Pugh Exhibitions Endowment; West Virginia Division of Culture and History & West Virginia Commission on the Arts; Dr. and Mrs. William L. Grimes In Honor of James Grimes; Arthur and Iris Malcom In Memory of Anne Csernica; Robert Olson; Raymond G. Pollard, III In Memory of Denvil Chandler; and Richwood Industries, Inc.
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Honoré Daumier Lithographs:
Gifts from the Armand Hammer Daumier Collection
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Honore Daumier, French, 1808-1879. Je ne loue pas aux gens qui ont des enfants! (I Don’t Rent to People with Children!). Charivari, 24 June 1847, Second state, plate 14 from the series Locataires et Proprietaires (Tenants and Landlords). Lithograph. Gift of The Armand Hammer Foundation, 1987.56.21 |
May 15 – August 8, 2010
Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Gallery
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Honore Daumier, French, 1808-1879. Quinze centimes un bain complet . . .parole, e'est pas paye! (Fifteen centimes for a whole bath ... my word, what a bargain!) Charivari, 30 August 1856, Second state, plate 12 from the series Croquis Parisiens (Parisian Sketches). Lithograph. Gift of The Armand Hammer Foundation, 1987.56.31 |
Armand Hammer began collecting Daumier’s work in 1971 and eventually acquired George Longstreet’s and Hans Rothe’s impressive collections, which had been accumulated over many decades. In 1987, three years before his death, and before the opening of a Museum to house his collection in Los Angeles, California, Armand Hammer made a gift of 40 lithographs to HMA. Former curator Louise Polan was given the opportunity to select which 40 works came to Huntington.
Daumier’s lithographs provide a window into 19th century French life, and yet his images also retain a timeless quality, exploring aspects of the human experience that are still very relevant today. Besides his many political caricatures, Daumier also covered subjects as far reaching as literature, the theater, transportation, the justice system, personal relationships and gender roles, education, landlords and tenants, foreigners and other cultures, science and technology, and the art world. In other words, no one was safe from Daumier’s prolific grease crayon. In almost four thousand lithographs (usually seven per week) produced between the years 1829 and 1872, he made his audience laugh, smile, cry, and ponder the human condition with a wicked satirical style that required little or no written explanation.
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Docents Select
May 1 – August 22, 2010
Gallery Three
Opening reception 2 p.m. May 16, 2010. Admission is free.?
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Charles Webster Hawthorne, American, 1872-1930. The Clipper Ship Captain, 1921. Oil on canvas Funds provided by the Sarah Wheeler Charitable Trust in Memory of Harold R. (Steve) Wheeler and Sarah Slack Wheeler, 1999.13. This image was chosen by Bob Csernica in Memory of Anne Csernica.. |
The Museum’s volunteer docent corps is the lifeblood of the Museum. They are passionate about what they do, proud to be part of the Museum Family, and feel a certain ownership of the institution and the objects it houses.
They are usually the initial contact between the Museum and our young visitors. Each year, via hundreds of tours, the docents guide thousands of area students through the Museum. Each tour is fashioned to fit the group’s individual needs, and range in content and focus from a general highlights tour, to those focusing on visual arts and math, or a custom tour designed for high school students taking Advance Placement Literature classes.
Of the more than 40 docents who make up the current group, some have been integrally involved with the Museum for more than 50 years, while some are just beginning their association with the Huntington Museum of Art.
Each docent spends three hours in the Museum each Monday morning for training sessions. Once they complete their two semester training requirement, they have become familiar with the permanent collection, multiple traveling exhibitions, and have shadowed veteran docents on tours. They are ready to share their knowledge with our public.
This exhibition includes 37 thoughtfully selected objects. Each docent searched the more than 15,000 objects on the Museum’s computer catalogue system, and narrowed their search down to the one piece that spoke to them. An appointment was made to view the work in the vault, and the object file, and the docents each wrote a label for their selection. The range of selected objects is fascinating and almost as wide ranging as the docents themselves.
Docents Select is presented in memory of Anne Csernica who passed away on January 30, 2010. This exhibit is generously sponsored by Friends of Anne Csernica through memorial gifts to the Museum.
