All Things Bright and Beautiful: California Impressionist Paintings from the Irvine Museum
July 25 – October 17, 2010
Third Floor Galleries

At the beginning of the 20th century, a distinctive artistic style that combined aspects of European and American Impressionism developed in California. This style was called California Impressionism or California Plein Air painting, from the French for "in the open air."  California, with its temperate climate, liberal sunshine and striking landscape, was an especially popular locale for painters who worked outdoors, seeking to infuse their canvases with intense light and color. 

Curated by William H. Gerdts, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of the City University of New York, and Jean Stern, Executive Director, the Irvine Museum, All Things Bright and Beautiful is a tribute to the Irvine Museum’s dedication to preserving California’s rich Impressionist heritage.  The exhibition includes 57 paintings and one porcelain vase, and the works are displayed in thematic groupings dedicated to Spanish missions, flora and figures, the California coastline, mountain grandeur, scenes from home and abroad, and Post-Impressionist styles.  Adjacent to the exhibition will be a “Discovery Room” that explains the development of Impressionism in France and how it came to America and California. This section will feature works from the Columbus Museum’s collection, including Sara and her Mother with the Baby (no.1) by Mary Cassatt. 

San Juan Capistrano Mission Yard, ca. 1922, oil on canvas, Franz Anton Bischoff, born Bomen, Austria 1864, died Pasadena, Calif. 1929, Private Collection, Courtesy of The Irvine Museum



Pergola at Samarkand Hotel, Santa Barbara, ca. 1921, oil on canvas, Colin Campbell Cooper, born Philadelphia, Pa. 1856, died Santa Barbara, Calif. 1937, Private Collection, Courtesy of The Irvine Museum

Photorealist Watercolors: The PieperPower Collection
April 18 to July 18, 2010
Sidney H. Yarbrough III Gallery
 
Richard Pieper, Sr., founding chairman of PPC Partners Inc., wanted to collect art that would reflect three goals:

Represent and preserve the work of a historic American art movement

Reflect the respect for excellence and craft embodied in his company

Have broad appeal to the public

This collection consists of some of the best examples from premier, first-generation Photorealist artists, including works by John Baeder, Chuck Close, Robert Bechtle, and Ralph Goings. As representational art that reproduces the images of popular culture, Photorealism has attracted a wide audience while at the same time remaining intensely modern and thought-provoking.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, these artists burst upon the scene with their ardently factual depictions of images that had been photographically recorded and then painstakingly translated into paint on canvas. With their disarmingly straightforward and exquisitely factual renderings of their photographic source, Photorealist artists consciously challenged assumptions about what makes a work of art, what constitutes an original, and of originality.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Landrum Educational Endowment Fund.

Made In Columbus III
March 14 - September 19, 2010
The Galleria Cases

This is the third exhibition in the Made In Columbus series that celebrates the Columbus area’s manufacturing and business heritage. Producing items ranging from bricks to cannons, Columbus’ industries have always played a vital role in the city’s economy and helped form its identity as a Deep South industrial town.  Many other businesses, from long-lived retail stores to prominent insurance companies, also contributed to the city’s character and development. The businesses that will be highlighted in this exhibition are the W.C. Bradley Company, Goldens' Foundry, The Columbus Times, Litho-Krome, Aflac, and Boral Brick Products.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Mr. Alan F. Rothschild, Jr. through the Fort Trustee Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley and Publix Super Markets Charities.

For gifts and educational items related to this exhibition, visit our Museum Shop.