#fairfielduam

[fairfielduam]

Direct from the Director Late Fall 2023

It has been an exceptionally busy season at the Museum! It has been a privilege for us to present the landmark exhibition In Real Times. Arthur Szyk: Artist & Soldier for Human Rights this fall. Since the exhibition opened on September 28, we have:

Offered free admission to over 3,700 visitors

Hosted more than 70 free online and in-person Szyk-related events, including exhibition tours led by the Director, the Exhibition Coordinator, our Educators, and a fantastic corps of community volunteers, which have been attended by over 2,000 people;

Received 20,000+ YouTube views of the Szyk video tour and recorded programs.

The Season of Giving is upon us, and we need your support to continue this good work!

The Museum operates on a modest annual budget, and exhibitions like the Szyk show are very expensive to produce. We depend on the contributions of generous donors like you to keep our museum offerings free and accessible both in person and online, in both English and Spanish.

If you participated in one of our numerous events this fall, enjoyed our virtual programs, or simply believe in the power of the arts in our community, will you please make a gift today to help enhance our exhibitions, ensure our unwavering commitment to excellence, and continue to inspire young minds?

Please take a minute and DONATE now.

Museum Accreditation News: Last week we had the privilege of hosting John Wetenhall, Director of the George Washington University Museum of Art, and The Textile Museum and Megan McAdow, Director of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University. They spent two days with us on campus as our Site Reviewers for the American Alliance of Museums Accreditation process. They met with University students, faculty, staff, alumni, members of our Collections Committee, and of the University Board of Trustees, as well as foundation funders, community collaborators, and other Fairfield County arts and culture professionals. Their primary role was to confirm that all of the information that we had shared in our Self-Study was correct. They will write a report based on their findings which will be submitted to the AAM Accreditation Committee at their February 2024 meeting where they will vote on whether to grant us accreditation. We will certainly let you know!

Upcoming Winter 2024 Exhibitions: We are very excited about the two exhibitions we are opening in late January/early February, both of which focus on environmental and climate-related themes. In the Walsh Gallery, we are presenting Streaming: Sculpture by Christy Rupp. Understood as one of the early pioneers in the field of ecological art activism, the artist, activist and thought-leader Christy Rupp has an international reputation. Streaming will feature a survey of Rupp’s wall installations and free-standing sculpture created with detritus gathered from the waste stream, which chronicle the ongoing tension between natural systems and the environment in transition, and call our attention to our interconnectedness with non-humans and habitat. Informed by science and the historical representation of natural history, the artwork in this exhibition examines the way we frame our opinions of nature, using irony and wit to represent the human impact on our natural habitat.

In the Bellarmine Hall Galleries, we will present Helen Glazer: Walking in Antarctica. This interdisciplinary exhibition includes photography and sculpture made from 3D scans of ice and rock formations, inspired and informed by Glazer’s experiences as a grantee of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. It also includes an audio tour which takes the visitor on a series of “walks” through the Antarctic landscape, narrated by the artist.

Please come see the Szyk exhibition before it closes if you have not yet had a chance to see it – it truly is a remarkable and timely collection of works. It is only open through December 16th! Keep in mind that thanks to a recent generous grant from the Art Bridges Foundation, we are now open for extended hours on Thursdays until 8pm.

Wishing you and yours a very happy Holiday season.

Artfully yours, Carey

Captions: Christy Rupp, Petroplankton, 2019-2021. Collected single use plastics. Courtesy of the artist. Helen Glazer, Cloudburst, Erebus Ice Tongue Cave, Antarctica, 2015/2017; photograph. Courtesy of the artist.

[fairfielduam]

We started this new page on Tumblr to reflect our name as the Fairfield University Art Museum! You can find old blog posts copied below (or visit our former Tumblr page at https://bellarminemuseum.tumblr.com/).

[bellarminemuseum]

Fairfield University Art Museum has started a new blog page to reflect our name change from the Bellarmine Museum. For future blog posts, visit us at https://fairfielduam.tumblr.com/!

[fairfielduam]

Direct from the Director, Winter 2017-18

Greetings!

           Rome is my favorite city, and home to some of my favorite artwork, so I am fortunate in being able to visit the Eternal City on occasion.  My most recent trip, in October, was to speak at a symposium on the history of collecting Raphael—the great High Renaissance painter who was all the rage for centuries. My topic was Raphael in America, a story that is mostly about copies: the first real painting by that great Raphael only arrived in America at the very end of the 19th century; before that, American collectors satisfied their hunger for works by the “Prince of Painters,” as Raphael was long known, with replicas–some good, some less so.  The first such copy to arrive on these shores was acquired by Thomas Jefferson, and untold hundreds entered American libraries, atheneums, universities and museums in the course of the nineteenth century. In fact, right here at Fairfield, we have copies of two of Raphael’s most famous compositions.  

          Just as Raphael, surprisingly, has a presence here, so, too, will one of the defining landmarks of Rome—if only briefly—beginning on February 2, when the Fairfield University Art Museum will open our ground-breaking exhibition: The Holy Name. Art of the Gesù: Bernini and his Age.  Located in the very center of the city near the ancient Roman forum, the Gesù is one of the city’s most beautiful and important churches, and it house some of most glorious artistic masterpieces of the Baroque period.  Five of these treasures, including a marble portrait bust by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the greatest artist of the period and one of the towering personalities in the history of western art, will be on view in our galleries.  None has ever before travelled to America (the Bernini has never even left Rome until now), so this is truly a historic moment.  The exhibition also presents over 50 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, rare books, documents and precious objects lent by major American museums and generous private collectors.  Together, the assembled works recount the fascinating stories of the foundation of the Jesuit order in Rome; the long and challenging road to construct and embellish it glorious mother church, the Gesù; and the creative, powerful and formidable personalities—artists, patrons, theologians–who made it all happen, headlined by Bernini, who was attached to the Jesuits and the Gesù for much of his long life.  After May 19, these treasures from the Gesù return to Rome.  Of course, you can always travel there to see the church and its artistic masterpieces, but I’m confident you won’t want to miss this extraordinary exhibition that brings them all to your own doorstep at the Fairfield University Art Museum.  And be sure to attend some of the marvelous lectures, gallery talks, and other events we’re offering during the run of the show.  As always, the exhibition and all our programs are free and open to the public.            

See you in the galleries!  

Artfully yours,                                                                         Linda

Image: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, 1623-24. Marble. Church of the Gesù, Rome. Photo © Zeno Colantoni.

Original Post: December 12, 2017

[fairfielduam]

Direct from the Director, Winter 2017

Happy New Year from all of us at the Fairfield University Art Museum, where 2016 closed on a high note!  Some marvelous works of art entered the permanent collection as year-end gifts, among them a photograph by the renowned 20th-century American photographer Berenice Abbot of the Irish novelist James Joyce, and three striking contemporary Japanese ceramic pieces.  In addition, thanks to our Patrons Circle members and a generous friend of the museum, we were able to purchase a magnificent 19th-century Japanese lacquer writing box.  These new acquisitions are all on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries, as are a selection of prints and medals that also entered the collection during the past year and a beautiful 16th-century French enamel pax (a liturgical object used in the celebration of mass), on long-term loan from a New York collection.

Last year ended with our first Annual Appeal, launched in November.  We asked for your support and many of you responded, for which we are immensely grateful!  If you had intended to make a year-end gift but just didn’t get to it in the flurry of the holiday season, fear not—it’s never too late to make a contribution to help sustain the museum and our program!  (See our website for information: www.fairfield.edu/museum.) With your continued support, your visits to see our exhibitions in the Bellarmine Hall and Walsh Galleries and our ever-growing permanent collection, and your participation in our many events and programs, 2017 promises to be another stellar year!  And did I mention that some exciting surprises lie ahead? I’ll tell you more in the next issue….

Artfully yours,

Linda Wolk-Simon Director and Chief Curator

Image: Michikawa Shōzō, [Twisted Pot, White Kohiki Glaze], 2009. Gift of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, 2016. Photography by Ben Bocko.

Original Post: January 13, 2017

[bellarminemuseum]

Direct from the Director, Winter 2017-18

Greetings!

            Rome is my favorite city, and home to some of my favorite artwork, so I am fortunate in being able to visit the Eternal City on occasion.  My most recent trip, in October, was to speak at a symposium on the history of collecting Raphael—the great High Renaissance painter who was all the rage for centuries. My topic was Raphael in America, a story that is mostly about copies: the first real painting by that great Raphael only arrived in America at the very end of the 19th century; before that, American collectors satisfied their hunger for works by the “Prince of Painters,” as Raphael was long known, with replicas--some good, some less so.  The first such copy to arrive on these shores was acquired by Thomas Jefferson, and untold hundreds entered American libraries, atheneums, universities and museums in the course of the nineteenth century. In fact, right here at Fairfield, we have copies of two of Raphael’s most famous compositions.  

           Just as Raphael, surprisingly, has a presence here, so, too, will one of the defining landmarks of Rome—if only briefly—beginning on February 2, when the Fairfield University Art Museum will open our ground-breaking exhibition: The Holy Name. Art of the Gesù: Bernini and his Age.  Located in the very center of the city near the ancient Roman forum, the Gesù is one of the city’s most beautiful and important churches, and it house some of most glorious artistic masterpieces of the Baroque period.  Five of these treasures, including a marble portrait bust by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the greatest artist of the period and one of the towering personalities in the history of western art, will be on view in our galleries.  None has ever before travelled to America (the Bernini has never even left Rome until now), so this is truly a historic moment.  The exhibition also presents over 50 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, rare books, documents and precious objects lent by major American museums and generous private collectors.  Together, the assembled works recount the fascinating stories of the foundation of the Jesuit order in Rome; the long and challenging road to construct and embellish it glorious mother church, the Gesù; and the creative, powerful and formidable personalities—artists, patrons, theologians--who made it all happen, headlined by Bernini, who was attached to the Jesuits and the Gesù for much of his long life.  After May 19, these treasures from the Gesù return to Rome.  Of course, you can always travel there to see the church and its artistic masterpieces, but I’m confident you won’t want to miss this extraordinary exhibition that brings them all to your own doorstep at the Fairfield University Art Museum.  And be sure to attend some of the marvelous lectures, gallery talks, and other events we’re offering during the run of the show.  As always, the exhibition and all our programs are free and open to the public.             

See you in the galleries!   

Artfully yours,                                                                         Linda 

Image: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bust of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, 1623-24. Marble. Church of the Gesù, Rome. Photo © Zeno Colantoni.

[bellarminemuseum]

Direct from the Director - Winter 2017

Happy New Year from all of us at the Fairfield University Art Museum, where 2016 closed on a high note!  Some marvelous works of art entered the permanent collection as year-end gifts, among them a photograph by the renowned 20th-century American photographer Berenice Abbot of the Irish novelist James Joyce, and three striking contemporary Japanese ceramic pieces.  In addition, thanks to our Patrons Circle members and a generous friend of the museum, we were able to purchase a magnificent 19th-century Japanese lacquer writing box.  These new acquisitions are all on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries, as are a selection of prints and medals that also entered the collection during the past year and a beautiful 16th-century French enamel pax (a liturgical object used in the celebration of mass), on long-term loan from a New York collection.

Last year ended with our first Annual Appeal, launched in November.  We asked for your support and many of you responded, for which we are immensely grateful!  If you had intended to make a year-end gift but just didn’t get to it in the flurry of the holiday season, fear not—it’s never too late to make a contribution to help sustain the museum and our program!  (See our website for information: www.fairfield.edu/museum.) With your continued support, your visits to see our exhibitions in the Bellarmine Hall and Walsh Galleries and our ever-growing permanent collection, and your participation in our many events and programs, 2017 promises to be another stellar year!  And did I mention that some exciting surprises lie ahead? I’ll tell you more in the next issue….

Artfully yours,

Linda Wolk-Simon Director and Chief Curator 

Image: Michikawa Shōzō, [Twisted Pot, White Kohiki Glaze], 2009. Gift of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, 2016. Photography by Ben Bocko.

[bellarminemuseum]

Met Curator to Lecture on Leonardo Cremonini

The Fairfield University Art Museum is pleased to host Dr. Stephan Wolohojian, Curator of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who will present a lecture entitled Leonardo Cremonini: Obstacles, Journeys and Reflections on Thursday, February 9 at 5 p.m. in the Diffley Board Room in Bellarmine Hall.

Previously the Landon and Lavinia Clay Curator and head of the division of European and American Art at the Harvard Art Museums, Dr. Wolohojian is the recipient of a Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome and was recently a visiting Fellow at I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence.

This lecture is part of the Edwin L. Wiesl, Jr. Lectureship in Art History, funded by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

A gallery talk on Leonardo Cremonini entitled Leonardo Cremonini: Timeless Monumentality by Dr. Linda Wolk-Simon, Frank and Clara Meditz Director and Chief Curator, will take place on Tuesday, January 31 from 5-6 pm in the Walsh Gallery, Quick Center for the Arts.

Image: Leonardo Cremonini, Obstacles, parcours et reflets (Obstacles, Routes, and Reflections), 1975-1976. Courtesy of The William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation Inc.