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MUSEUM OF Fine Arts
Santa Fe, NM-Collecting Modernism: European Modernism from the Munson- Williams-Proctor Art Museum is a stunning exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts that features 26 notable works by Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault, and other key modernist figures. The show runs Friday, September 29, 2006, through Sunday, January 7, 2007, with a free, public reception from 5:30-7:30 pm on September 29. A companion exhibit, European Modern from the Museum of Fine Arts Permanent Collection, runs Friday, October 6, 2006, through Sunday, November 26, 2006. There will be no public reception for the companion exhibit. In line with the Museum of Fine Arts' mission to "bring the art of the world to New Mexico and the art of New Mexico to the world," the two exhibitions opening this fall will showcase a select group of European paintings that represent the most important stylistic developments of the twentieth century. "To have the finest work of Mondrian, Picasso, Kandinsky, Duchamp-Villon, and Dali, among others, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts is a dream come true," says curator Tim Rodgers. "I could not be more excited about opening the doors of the museum this fall so our audience can enjoy the work of these masters."
Collecting Modernism will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute in Utica, New York-a museum that holds a noteworthy collection of European modernist art. The Museum's professional staff began building its holdings in 1944 and, by the early 1950s, began to assemble a small collection of early 20th-century European art to put into context the efforts of American artists represented in the Museum. The resulting collection of works represents significant examples of major European modernist movements, such as Cubism, Futurism, De Stijl, Surrealism, and abstraction. During the past fifty years, other important works have been added to the European modernist holdings. The quality and beauty of the works are evidence of the thoughtfulness with which the collection was formed. "I consider the art in this exhibition to be of the highest caliber," said Rodgers. "This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view some of the most important European works of art produced during the first half of the twentieth century. One of Wassily Kandinsky's earliest abstract paintings is included in the show as well as one of Pablo Picasso's seminal, early cubist paintings. Seldom has New Mexico enjoyed the privilege to view these remarkable works in our home state. This opportunity may not happen again." Collecting Modernism will enable visitors to draw connections between the art produced in New Mexico and that done by European artists. For example, Andrew Dasburg looked closely at the paintings of Picasso and the stylistic relationship between the two artists is apparent. Seldom does the Museum of Fine Arts have the opportunity to draw this visual parallel because of the rarity of Picasso's work in the western part of the United States. A companion exhibition, European Modern from the Museum of Fine Arts Permanent Collection, will open in the Director's Gallery shortly after Collecting Modernism. Predominantly works on paper, it will highlight European modernist work from the museum's collections. Included in this exhibit are works by Cézanne and a painting by Dali. A lecture series, "New Art, New World, New Mexico," will be held in conjunction with the exhibitions. Curator Tim Rodgers will present five talks on the influence of modernist art, the European artists who came to America, and the diffusion of modernist ideas to New Mexico on Wednesdays October 4, 11, and 18 and November 1 and 8. Admission is $10. For more information, contact Martha Landry at 505-476-5068.
### The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1917 as the Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico. Housed in a spectacular Pueblo Revival building designed by I. H. and William M. Rapp, it was based on their New Mexico building at the Panama-California Exposition (1915). The museum's architecture inaugurated what has come to be known as "Santa Fe Style." For more than 85 years the Museum has collected and exhibited work by leading artists from New Mexico and elsewhere. This tradition continues today with a wide array of exhibitions with work from the world's leading artists.
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