William King Museum teaches art history lesson

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William King Museum
teaches art history lesson
William King Museum of Art, Abingdon, Virginia, has a mission to share world art with
the community. Its “Schools of Thought: Paintings and Drawings from the King University
Museum of Fine Arts” does just that.
“We seek out other collections both private and public that will allow us to showcase
works from different artists, time periods and places so that we can provide the most comprehensive and inclusive sampling of world art that we can,” says Callie Hietala, director of
exhibitions at the museum.
“This exhibit is an opportunity for us to both further that mission and to partner with a
community institution to do so. It is the result of several years’ collaboration, meetings and
discussions. Dee Sproll, a member of King’s art department, is on our artistic direction committee. When we gathered to discuss exhibition and programming ideas for the future, she
mentioned that King had an incredible collection of work but didn’t have a dedicated space to
exhibit it.
“We always seek out partners within our community whenever possible and with this we
saw an opportunity to simultaneously assist King, fulfill our own mission of bringing world fine
art to this area and give these fantastic pieces an audience and a gallery space. King University has been extremely generous with their collection. Over the course of several meetings in
the past few years, we got a good idea of what was included in the collection and then began
thinking about the story we wanted to tell with it.”
Leila Cartier, former curator at the museum, selected the art. The story she decided
to tell was essentially an art history lesson focusing on pre-modernism, works completed in
the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She decided to choose one or two pieces that she felt
were the best examples of each style they wanted to include. There will be between 40 and
50 pieces of work displayed in the gallery.
“With these pieces, you can see the transition from the influence of the Academy, which
dominated the artistic landscape and set the standard for public taste in the late 18th century, into more avant-garde movements.
“We also examine the question of how artists gain fame, how they are remembered.
Many of the artists in this show are lesser-known talents who studied under the masters.
We’re showing artists who may have had more popularity in their lifetime than they do now,
whereas some of the artists we all know today were dismissed in their time,” Hietala says.
August 20155
About the Exhibit
Some of the artwork chosen for the William King Museum of Art’s “Schools of
Thought Paintings and Drawings from the King University Museum of Fine Arts” include a
landscape attributed to Constable and one of Guardi’s architectural paintings. The paintings were chosen because they were good examples of the different styles in the show.
“Landscape with Figures,” which is attributed to John Constable, is an example of
English Romanticism. In most of his work, Constable used symmetrical compositions or
scenes that focused on either a man made building or a body of water. True to the style of
Romanticism during the 19th century, human beings are overshadowed by the magnificence of nature.
Francesco Guardi’s “Architectural Archway with Figures Looking” illustrates vedute, (Italian for view), a highly-detailed cityscape similar to a landscape. Guardi was a
member of the Venetian school. Although much of the architecture in his paintings was topographically correct, he altered lighting and rearranged elements to improve the scene.
Oftentimes his imagination would show in his many works known as “capriccio,” which are
architectural fantasies.
Victor Edouard Stanislas Lepine, was a French artist who was recognized for joining
the pre-Impressionists with the Impressionists. Lepine painted landscapes that were small
in size and tranquil in mood, such as “Landscape with Mill.” He uses very light, cool colors
with textured brush strokes to create depth and a three-dimensional illusion.
Anton Mengs was one of the precursors of Neoclassicism. Mengs’ “Turkish Battle
Scene” is an example of military art. The aim of such artwork was self-glorification and
intimidation of potential enemies. The painting possibly could show the victory of Prince
Eugene of Savoy in 1717 during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718.
George Loftus Noyes was an American Impressionist painter and highly respected
landscape and still life painter in Boston in the early 1900s. Noyes had a fondness for
Venice, where he painted canal or harbor scenes, often in early morning light. It is possible that “Misty Harbor” was created on one of those trips. This painting was done in the
pittura style, characterized by a dreamlike quality, which flourished in Italy.
“Barbizon Landscape,” is attributed to Théodore Rousseau, who was a member of a
group of 19-century French artists called the Barbizon School, whose preferred subject
was the primeval Forest of Fontainebleau. These painters were greatly influenced by the
Romantic Movement producing works inspired by the powerful forces of nature.
“The Concert” is by Ettore Simonetti. He was a member of a group of Orientalists
who worked mostly with watercolors. He specialized in highly detailed scenes. In “The
Concert,” he returns to the 18th century and portrays the extravagance and elegance of
that time.
The painter of “Jesus with Woman at the Well” is unknown, but it is believed to be
Italian from the 18th or 19th century. Baroque artists, such as Veronese, Tiepolo, Guercino and Carracci also painted this subject during the 17th and 18th centuries.
“Through these pieces, we can explore how artists were trained. In the past, if you
wanted to train as an artist, you became an apprentice. In that master/apprentice relationship, your goal was to make your work
look as much like your master’s as
possible. Now, you go to art school and
work to gain an independent voice,
to make art that’s uniquely your own.
The pieces in this exhibit are right in
that transition period when the former
method was losing popularity, and the
latter was just beginning to gain favor.
“We’re showcasing works that
were created before, during, and after
that crucial transition period. You can
see the aesthetics, the subject matter, even the methods of art-making
shift through the works on our walls.
The gallery guide, written entirely by
students at King University, will help to
illuminate the particular artistic movements and methods behind each piece.”
Hitala says.
The opening reception for the
exhibit is Thursday, Sept. 3, from 6-8
p.m., and includes a gallery talk by representatives from King University.
“Madonna and Child” by Francesco Dolci
“Landscape with Figures,” attributed to John Constable, is on exhibit in Abingdon.