Matisse as Printmaker

May 23 – August 22, 2010

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) may be best known as a painter and sculptor, but he himself placed no hierarchy on the mediums in which he worked. Each medium was exploited for its unique possibilities and became totally integrated with other formal and thematic concerns. Drawn from the extraordinary collection of Matisse prints that once belonged to the artist's son Pierre and is now part of the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, Matisse as Printmaker includes over 60 etchings, monotypes, aquatints, lithographs, linocuts in black and white, and two-color prints-examples of every printmaking medium that Matisse utilized.

The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation. The exhibition is curated by Jay McKean Fisher.

New Works for the Collection

May 23 – August 22, 2010

Since the opening of the Michener Gallery Building in April 2006, The Blanton has acquired many significant works of art for its collections. This exhibition will share with The Blanton's audiences over forty new works that represent the broad range of our collecting areas — historic and contemporary prints and drawings, European paintings, contemporary painting, video, and works in many new media from artists based in North and South America. In all, over 500 years of art history! Many of these works, on display at The Blanton for the first time, are gifts from recent and longstanding friends. Others have been purchased with Museum funds set aside for acquisitions, a resource also made possible by the support of our donors. New acquisitions enrich our collections, inspire scholarly research, and offer opportunities like this one for exhibition and teaching. We're delighted to share this selection with you this summer.

This exhibition is organized by The Blanton Museum of Art.

Turner to Monet Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum

October 2, 2010 - January 2, 2011

Forty of the finest nineteenth-century paintings from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, including works by Eugène Delacroix, J.A.D. Ingres, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, J.M.W. Turner and Asher B. Durand, among others, illustrate the striking range of styles, techniques, and approaches practiced during this era of artistic revolution.

Organized by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Recovering Beauty: 1990s in Buenos Aires

February 20, 2011 – May 22, 2011

In the first comprehensive presentation of art from the 1990s in Argentina, Recovering Beauty: 1990s in Buenos Aires places the Centro Cultural Rojas (CCR) at the core of this creative period. The CCR or “el Rojas,” as it was later known, opened in 1989 under auspice of the Universidad de Buenos Aires as a gallery space that exhibited work from emerging artists. The artists of “el Rojas” distanced themselves from the traditional aesthetic and the political discourse of previous generations, instead creating introspective narratives that looked towards the ordinary as a source of inspiration. After years of oppression and violence during the dictatorship in Argentina, the 1990s were characterized by drastic and dramatic changes at all fronts. The introduction of a neo-liberal political practice was accompanied by a sense of social liberation and the need of free expression. Working under these conditions, artists such as Feliciano Centurión, Sebastián Gordin, Jorge Gumier Mier, Miguel Harte, Graciela Hasper, Benito Laren, Marcelo Pombo, Cristina Schiavi, and Omar Schiliro, began exploring concepts such as beauty, color, and fantasy, projecting their own psychology as artistic expression.

Recovering Beauty: 1990s in Buenos Aires is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art. Support for the exhibition is provided by Judy and Charles Tate. The accompanying catalogue is made possible by Michael Chesser.

Atelier 2011: Selections from the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin

Fall 2011

Atelier features a selected survey of work by artists who teach in The University of Texas' Department of Art and Art History. While these artists devote much of their careers to teaching and shaping future generations of artists, they also successfully produce their own bodies of work. The diversity of artistic production represented in this exhibition — including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, prints, video, film and multimedia installation — reflects the breadth and range of the art department. The issues and themes explored demonstrate the varied and thoroughly contemporary interests of the faculty and of artists living and working today.

This exhibition is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art and the Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas at Austin.

WorkSpace at the Blanton

WorkSpace showcases cutting-edge developments in the work of emerging and established contemporary artists, serving as a coda to the modern and contemporary collection galleries. The exhibitions that result from these artistic investigations provide visitors ever-changing glimpses into the art of the present moment.

Subject of Learning / Object of Study

March 5 – June 20, 2010

Brooklyn-based artist Anna Craycroft explores educational methodology, theories of selfhood, and identity. Working in mediums including installation, drawing, computer programming and texts, she will transform The Blanton's WorkSpace gallery and adjoining e-lounge in to a library and classroom. Visitors will engage with the spaces through a variety of programs including workshops, lectures, and seminars developed by Craycroft and invited guests.

Subject of Learning / Object of Study is generously supported by members of the Blanton Contemporary Salon.

European Prints and Drawings

The Chiaroscuro Woodcut

March 20 – July 11, 2010

The Italian word chiaroscuro means “light and dark”, and refers to a technique in painting in which tone and depth are created by a dramatic use of contrast. Applied to woodcut, the term describes a color print created with different colored blocks, ranging from pale ink to black ink, which create depth and tone. Such woodcuts were developed in the early sixteenth-century by masters like Ugo da Carpi principally as a means of reproducing drawings, and flourished with virtuoso artists like Parmigianino and Hendrick Goltzius. In the eighteenth century, the technique returned to the reproduction of Old Master drawings and paintings, while leading the way to the development of illustrated wallpaper. This exhibition essays the history and reveals the beauty of the technique.

Picasso: A Graphic Inquiry

March 20 – July 11, 2010

Pablo Picasso's involvement with printmaking was a passionate and lifelong creative endeavor. His prolific output of prints underscored his development as an artist and revealed his seemingly limitless capacity for reinvention. This exhibition presents The Blanton's holdings of Picasso's prints, and highlights the artist's uncanny ability to explore and experiment with the medium's variety of techniques. Major works include the lithographic Head of a Woman (1925), four works from the celebrated Suite Vollard (1930 – 1937) including the Blind Minotaur Guided by a Young Girl in the Night, and Bust in Profile (1957), one of many images he created of his young wife Jacqueline Roque.

Modern & Contemporary Prints and Drawings

Manuel Álvarez Bravo and His Contemporaries: Photographs from the Collections of the Harry Ransom Center and The Blanton Museum of Art

March 20 – August 1, 2010

Featuring forty-five iconic images of Mexico in the first half of the 20th-century, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and His Contemporaries: Photographs from the Collections of the Harry Ransom Center and The Blanton Museum of Art examines the life and work of Manuel Álvarez Bravo . Commonly referred to as the father of Mexican photography, Bravo is considered one of the most important figures in the development of modernism in Mexico. Organized as part of the University of Texas' celebration of the Mexican Bicentennial, the exhibition will also include photographs by Bravo's contemporaries, Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand and others, drawn from the collections of The Blanton and The Harry Ransom Center.