The Art of American Life:
Winslow Homer’s Graphics (1857–1877)
February 6–May 30, 2010
 Winslow Homer (1836–1910) is one of America’s most beloved artists, and his art captures the heart of the American spirit.  The Art of American Life celebrates Homer’s creative output in the medium of reportage and illustration with 32 prints installed in the Museum’s gallery devoted to works on paper.  Some of his most famous images are included: the civil war-era wood engraving A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, created for Harper’s Weekly when Homer served as a war correspondent; Homeward Bound made on Homer’s voyage across the Atlantic; the dynamic and iconic composition Snap the Whip, which corresponds to his famous painting; and On the Bluff at Long Branch, at the Bathing Hour, artfully documenting the newly monied seeking leisure on the Jersey coastline.  Also featured is his earliest image produced in 1857 for Ballou’s Pictorial of Boston, as well as a handful of his later graphics that served as illustrations to accompany literary works, including Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry.  Dramatic scenes of the Civil War, touching images of childhood, tranquil views of country life, and scenes of urban social activities, all converge to create a visually engaging and historically meaningful exhibition that reflects our national past.  These prints give voice to one of America’s greatest artists who, through the medium of illustrated magazines and books, reached a wide audience of readers and viewers relative to those who saw his paintings and watercolors in person.  The exhibition is drawn from an extensive group collection of over 125 wood engravings in the Museum’s collection that has not been on view in nearly ten years.

The Baroque World of Fernando Botero
January 9–April 4, 2010

Fernando Botero is a Latin American painter, sculptor, and draftsman who depicts the comedy of human life—moving or ironic, baroque in expression, sometimes with a mocking observation, and sometimes with a deep, elementary emotion.  He has created a world of his own with a particular blend of violence and beauty.  This exhibition represents the first retrospective of the artist’s work in North America since 1974.  Included will be 100 paintings, sculptures, and drawings culled from the artist’s private collection.  Many works have never been exhibited in public.  The exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia.  Dr. John Sillevis from the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, curated the exhibition.

I Heard A Voice: The Art of Lesley Dill
October 10-December 27, 2009

For the last twenty years, Lesley Dill has consistently explored the human form, sensory experience, language, and their interactions. Her work can be both ephemeral and spiritual. She uses bronze, photography, poetry, thread, wire, and paper to sculpt her figures and build her tapestries, giving visual form to poetic texts by Salvador Espriu, Franz Kafka, and Emily Dickinson. Recurring motifs, such as leaves, hands, and text, flow through the pieces, bringing together the artist's explorations of the last decade. This exhibition includes roughly 30 works that highlight Dill's dramatic, sculptural installations. This exhibition is organized by the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee, in conjunction with George Adams Gallery, NY. Nandini Makrandi, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Hunter Museum, curated this exhibition.

Beginning October 10, admission to all special exhibitions and the Museum’s stellar collection is $14 for adults, $12 for those 65 and older, and $8 for students seven and older with current I.D. Children under seven and Museum members are admitted free. Groups of 10 or more adults pay only $10 per person and children $6 each with prior reservations. No reciprocal museum memberships can be offered for the Lesley Dill exhibition. 

See a virtual tour on Youtube courtesy the Hunter Museum - click here.

Imaginative works by significant contemporary, self-taught artists will be featured in half of the Museum’s Howard Acheson Gallery, now dedicated to art after 1945.  Artists include Bill Traylor, Dilmus Hall, Clementine Hunter, Mose Tolliver, Nellie Mae Rowe, Purvis Young, James Harold Jennings, Carleton Garrett, Ned Cartledge, Roger Rice, Ruby Williams, Lonnie Holley, Brian Dowdall, Jack Beverland, and Missionary Mary Proctor. 

Outstanding among this group is Miami’s Purvis Young. His central influence is the dangerous, gritty neighborhood of Overtown, where he moved after serving time as a youth in prison.  The juxtaposition of people and buildings in the powerful Faces and Buildings, communicates the tension of the inner city. 

Another Folk Art favorite, Ruby Williams, has been inspired by the urban northeast, and the rural south near Plant City, Florida, where she sells fruits and vegetables at her produce stand off Highway 60. Her painting, I Will Climb This Mountain is drawn from her experience ministering to urban youth.

The exhibition contains nearly 40 works and coincides with the 22nd Annual Folk Art Society of America Conference held in St. Petersburg from October 29–November 1.