Press Release - Yale University Art Gallery

YA L E
UNIVERSIT Y
ART
PRESS
GALLERY
RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 2011
YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y A R T G A L L E R Y ’ S R E N O W N E D A M E R I C A N A R T CO L L E C T I O N
R E T U R N S F O R A Y E A R LO N G , T H R E E - PA R T E X H I B I T I O N
Paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, prints, and photographs—including many of the Gallery’s greatest treasures—
document two centuries of American culture.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery
Part One: We the People
July 29–December 31, 2011
The Yale University Art Gallery presents the
three-part exhibition Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit
of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University
Art Gallery. Drawing upon the Gallery’s renowned
collection of American paintings, sculpture,
decorative arts, coins and medals, and works
on paper, the exhibition seeks to illuminate the
diverse and evolving American experience from the
European colonial settlements of the 17th century
to the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.
John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, 1786–1820. Oil on
canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, Trumbull Collection
Originally organized as a traveling exhibition, it
returns to New Haven this summer with We the People, the first in a three-part presentation featuring
more than 100 works, on view from July 29 through December 31, 2011. The second installment, Defining
the Nation, will be on view January 31 through April 8, 2012; the third and final installment, America
Rising, will be on view May 8 through July 8, 2012. Patricia E. Kane, Friends of American Arts Curator of
American Decorative Arts, states, “Our hope is to do more than display the masterpieces of the American
collection. We want to present works that span several collections, side by side, allowing the visitor to see
the objects in a cultural context.”
The exhibition and accompanying publication have been organized by Helen A. Cooper, the Holcombe
T. Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, with Robin Jaffee Frank, the Alice and Allan
Kaplan Senior Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture; Elisabeth Hodermarsky, the
Sutphin Family Senior Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; and Patricia E. Kane,
Friends of American Arts Curator of American Decorative Arts, all of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Exhibition Overview
We the People begins with the arrival of the first English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and
explores the cultural blending that took place as a steady tide of European immigrants and enslaved
people of various religious and political affiliations brought new
energies and rich cultural heritage to the objects they created in
the New World. The enduring predominance of English religious
traditions is reflected in works such as John Smibert’s imposing portrait
of The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage), while the
heritage of America’s other cultural communities is preserved in objects
including a silver beaker engraved with moralizing allegories in the
Dutch tradition.
As the nation expanded across the continent, a distinctive
American artistic language emerged. With the colonists’ struggle
for independence from the British Empire, they found their voice
Cornelius Vander Burgh, Beaker, 1685. Silver.
in paintings, prints, and decorative arts. Mass-produced broadsides
Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady
Garvan Collection
and cartoons broadcast potent messages that galvanized revolutionary
sentiments. After independence, expressions of patriotism such as depictions of the bald eagle and the
female figure of Liberty became national symbols. Amplified by the rise of a “cult of Washington,” these
emblems found their way onto many domestic objects, including a stylish mantle clock from the early
1800s bearing Washington’s likeness.
By the mid-19th century, the presidential race between William Henry Harrison and Martin Van
Buren had sparked national interest in politics, as seen in John Sartain’s lithograph of George Bingham’s
The County Election (1854), which depicts a diverse group of men gathered to vote in an election. The
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 left its mark on a broad range of works of art–from a simple pitcher
commemorating a violent encounter between a Union officer and a Secessionist innkeeper to Winslow
Homer’s painting of wearied soldiers at rest–revealing the sectional loyalties of their makers. We the People
concludes with the new nation torn apart in the aftermath of the Civil War, as seen in Thomas Eakins’s
portrait The Veteran (Portrait of George Reynolds) (1885). Eakins depicts a former student and veteran as a
living monument to the war. With a visible scar on his forehead and serious mien, Reynolds conveys both
the history and the anxiety of a reunified and healing nation.
Exhibition Schedule
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness:
American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery
Part One: We the People
July 29–December 31, 2011
Part Two: Defining the Nation
January 31–April 8, 2012
John Smibert, The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage),
1728–39. Oil on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Isaac
Lothrop
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Part Three: America Rising
May 8–July 8, 2012
Exhibition Catalogue
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery is accompanied
by a fully illustrated catalogue, copublished by the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale University Press.
It contains an introduction by David McCullough and essays by Yale professors Jon Butler, Joanne B.
Freeman, Howard R. Lamar, and Jules David Prown.
Audio Tour
Produced by the Yale University Art Gallery in association with Antenna Audio, a free audio tour is
available for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The tour for the first installation, We the People,
features commentary by Gallery curators Helen A. Cooper, Robin Jaffee Frank, and Patricia E. Kane, along
with David McCullough and Yale professors Jules Prown, Robert Farris Thompson, and others.
Exhibition Support
Made possible by generous funding from Happy and Bob Doran, b.a. 1955; Carolyn and Gerald Grinstein,
b.a. 1954; Mrs. William S. Kilroy, Sr.; Mrs. Frederick R. Mayer; Nancy and Clive Runnells, b.a. 1948;
Ellen and Stephen D. Susman, b.a. 1962, for their special support of the audio tour; the Eugénie
Prendergast Fund for American Art, given by Jan and Warren Adelson; and the Friends of American
Arts at Yale, and supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Additional support for the presentation at the Yale University Art Gallery is provided by Barbara G.
and James E. Duffy, b.s. 1951; Laura M. and James A. Duncan, b.a. 1975; Teresa Heinz and the Heinz
Family Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Alexander K. McLanahan, b.a. 1949; Jennifer W. Monsky, b.a. 1981,
m.a. 1984, and John Monsky, b.a. 1981; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar L. Tang, b.a. 1960; and the S. Alexander
Haverstick II Director’s Resource Fund at the Yale University Art Gallery.
Yale University Art Gallery
The Yale University Art Gallery, America’s oldest and one of its most important university art museums,
was founded in 1832, when patriot-artist John Trumbull donated more than 100 of his paintings to
Yale College. Since then, the Gallery’s collections have grown to number more than 185,000 objects,
spanning the globe and ranging in date from ancient times to the present day. In addition to its celebrated
collections of American paintings and decorative arts, the Gallery is noted for its important holdings of
Greek and Roman art; early Italian paintings; later European art; Asian art; African art; Indo-Pacific art;
art of the ancient Americas; and Impressionist, modern, and contemporary works. Located at the corner
of Chapel and York Streets in New Haven, Connecticut, the Gallery is open to the public free of charge:
Tuesday–Saturday 10:00 am–5:00 pm, Thursday until 8:00 pm (September–June); Sunday 1:00–6:00 pm.
Closed Mondays and major holidays. For additional information, visit www.artgallery.yale.edu, or call
203.432.0600.
* * *
For additional press materials, please contact Maura Scanlon, Director of Public Relations, at 203.432.0611
or [email protected].
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YA L E
UNIVERSITY
ART
I MAG E
GALLERY
SHEET
L I F E , L I B E R T Y, A N D T H E P U R S U I T OF HAPPINESS: AMERICAN ART FROM THE YALE
U N I V E R S I T Y A R T G A L L E RY
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LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: AMERICAN ART FROM THE YALE
UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
[01]
John Smibert, The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkeley and His Entourage), 1728–39. Oil on canvas. Yale University
Art Gallery, Gift of Isaac Lothrop
[02]
Paul Revere, The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Regt.,
March 1770, 1832 restrike. Hand-colored engraving. Yale University Art Gallery, The John Hill Morgan,
b.a. 1893, ll.b. 1896, hon. 1929, Collection
[03]
Cornelius Vander Burgh, Beaker, 1685. Silver. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
[04]
Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave, 1851, after an original of 1844. Marble. Yale University Art Gallery, Olive Louise
Dann Fund
[05]
John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, 1786–1820. Oil on canvas. Yale University Art
Gallery, Trumbull Collection
[06]
Stephen Badlam, Chest-on-Chest, 1791. Mahogany, mahogany veneer on chestnut, eastern white pine, and red
pine. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
[07]
John Sartain, after a painting by George Caleb Bingham, The County Election, 1854. Engraving, mezzotint, and
etching with stippling. Yale University Art Gallery
[08]
Johann Christoph Heyne, Flagon, 1771. Pewter. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
[09]
N. Currier after Louis Maurer, Life of a Fireman: The Ruins. — “Take Up.” — “Man Your Rope.” 1854. Handcolored lithograph. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection
[10]
William H. Townsend, Bungair, ca. 1840. Graphite. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University
[11]
Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, 1829–30. Oil on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest of Robert
W. Carle, b.a. 1897
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Probably Nicolas Debuc, Mantel Clock, 1809–19. Gilt bronze. Yale University Art Gallery
For additional press information, please contact Maura Scanlon, Director of Public Relations, Yale University
Art Gallery, at 203.432.0611 or [email protected].
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