HOFSTRA UNIVERSIT Y MUSEUM
May 26-August 14, 2015 | Emily Lowe Gallery
Foreword:
STEM to STEAM
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the origin of the word portfolio dates back to the 18th century, with the first known use of the word in 1722. Portfolio derives from the Italian word “portafoglio,” which comes from the Latin “portare,” meaning to carry, and “foglio,” which means leaf or sheet of paper (from the Latin “folium”). The Hofstra University Museum currently houses a variety of art portfolios in photography and print media. Approximately 50 portfolios feature a combination of works in etching, lithography, and serigraphy, as well as other print mediums. Portfolios I: The 1970s launches an exploration of the rich body of works that comprise these varied portfolios in the permanent collections. Over the next several years, we will offer additional Portfolio exhibitions that connect us either with a specific era, to master artists in a particular medium, or with works that stretch our imaginations, inviting us to entertain new approaches to traditional techniques. In this day of a STEM approach to education, with an emphasis placed upon studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, we invite the addition of art into the equation to create STEAM. The STEAM movement is gaining momentum throughout our nation, as it has been clearly shown that through the arts students learn to grapple with creative thought and problem solving skills, collaboration and interpretive thinking, as well as a number of additional skills requisite for success in the 21st century. The artists featured in this exhibition are exemplars of these essential skills that derive from the marriage of art and science or technology. As Karen T. Albert, associate director of exhibitions and collections at the Hofstra University Museum, notes in her curatorial statement for this exhibit, the featured artists were experimenting with new print processes and on material surfaces that had not existed prior to this time. Artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, and Andy Warhol embraced the “new” and used their artistic talents and creative thought processes to pioneer approaches and ideas that continue to capture the imaginations of museum-goers throughout the world.
Beth E. Levinthal
Executive Director, Hofstra University Museum
Portfolios I: The 1970s This exhibition is the first in a series planned to highlight portfolios from the permanent collections of the Hofstra University Museum. Typically, only individual works from a portfolio are included in exhibitions; thus, Portfolios I: The 1970s provides a rare opportunity to view portfolios in their entirety. When a portfolio is created, the images are carefully selected with the intention that they will, in fact, be viewed together and connections will be made between the individual works. Portfolios can be composed of works by a single artist or a compilation of works by several artists, usually responding to a similar theme. The medium, the dimensions and the number of works in each portfolio vary. The five print portfolios included in this exhibition were all created in the 1970s and are drawn from the more than 50 print portfolios in the Hofstra University Museum Collections. The selections for this exhibition focus upon the era of the 1970s. Following the turbulence of the 1960s, the 1970s was a time of continued upheaval and conflict in the United States and around the world, beginning with the invasion of Cambodia (1970), the shootings at Kent State (1970) and the Watergate scandal (1972). During this time visual artists rebelled against established norms; many individual artistic styles and trends were introduced and flourished. At that same time abstract expressionism, pop art and minimalism remained strong artistic movements. Artists built upon and challenged these styles through a renewed interest in representational art, the use of unconventional materials and methods, and a fresh interest in printmaking, especially screenprinting and photomechanical reproduction. Collaborations between artists and print workshops
led to innovations such as the combining of different printmaking techniques (lithograph, screenprint, and embossing) and of other artistic methods (collage and hand-painting). The continuing influence of abstract expressionism can be seen in the work of Alexander Liberman and Robert Motherwell. The order and control characteristic of minimalism are apparent in the prints by Ellsworth Kelly and Frank Stella. The lasting impact of pop art, which challenged the separation of fine art and popular culture, is evident in the prints by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers continued to question accepted standards and experimented with new media and materials, often incorporating text and images. During this period, artists also were interested in exploring a traditional book format. Fritz Eichenberg utilized the established method of wood engraving, a late 18th century technique, to create his modern images. Patrick Hughes produced a series of contemporary screenprints and a painting in gouache as elements of a more traditional book publication. As exemplified by the selected artists’ prints, the 1970s was a dynamic decade in American art. A wide range of experimental styles thrived during this period. Use of popular culture images and further developments in abstraction, along with a new emphasis on realism and the appropriation of imagery and text from other sources, added to this visual revolution.
Karen T. Albert
Associate Director of Exhibitions and Collections Hofstra University Museum
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008) Opal Gospel, 1971 Screenprint on acrylic, 18 x 20 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Carole and Alex Rosenberg, HU88.82.1-10
HU88.82.1-10
Robert Rauschenberg, one of the most innovative and prolific artists of the 20th century, frequently referenced social and political issues in his work. Combining objects and images was a central focus of Rauschenberg’s work. Through the 1970s he experimented with a variety of printmaking processes and techniques, exploring the use of nontraditional materials such as aluminum and acrylic. Opal Gospel combines images with stories, songs and poems from a number of Native American cultures. The 10 screenprinted transparent acrylic panels stand vertically in a Lucite base; the order of the panels can be changed to create different layered images.
You Whose Day HU88.82.1
Ajaja-Aja-Jaja HU88.82.5
When the Earth HU88.82.9
In the Sky HU88.82.2
Let Us See HU88.82.6
Earth When It HU88.82.10
Tsegihi House HU88.82.3
Oh I Am HU88.82.7
A Loon I HU88.82.4
You Will Recover HU88.82.8
port· fo· lio noun \port-fo-le-o\ ¯ ¯ ¯ ˙ A set of drawings, paintings, photographs or prints presented together in a folder
For Meyer Schapiro, 1974 Various artists and media Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Mr. Edwin S. Marks HU77.140-151
Roy Lichtenstein Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass), 1974 HU77.150 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
For Meyer Schapiro is a portfolio of 12 signed prints (lithographs, etchings and screenprints) by 12 individual artists who were friends and/or former students of Professor Schapiro. The portfolio was compiled in 1974 on the occasion of Schapiro’s 70th birthday. An edition of 100 was published by The Committee to Endow a Chair in Honor of Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University, New York, and sold to fund the endowment in the Department of Art History and Archaeology. Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996) made important scholarly contributions to the criticism of modern and contemporary art in America during the mid-20th century. He was a professor emeritus at Columbia University and a lecturer at New York University and The New School for Social Research.
Stanley William Hayter (English, 1901-1988) Ressac, 1973 Lithograph 14 x 25 3/4 in., HU77.145 Jasper Johns (American, born 1930) Target, 1973 Screenprint on handmade Ohiro-Mimitsuki paper 24 1/4 x 16 5/16 in. HU77.143 Ellsworth Kelly (American, born 1923) Green Curve with Radius of 20 Feet, 1974 Lithograph with embossed plate on Arjomari paper 36 1/2 x 36 in., HU77.140 Alexander Liberman (American, born in Russia, 1912-1999) Untitled, 1973 Lithograph on Fabriano Rosaspina paper 38 1/2 x 27 1/2 in., HU77.149
Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997) Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass), 1974 Lithograph and screenprint with embossed plate on Rives paper 32 1/2 x 24 in., HU77.150
Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008) Noname (Elephant), July 1973 Solvent transfer from broken stone embossment, hand-painted gesso with tape collage 28 x 20 in., HU77.146
André Masson (French, 1896-1987) Ariadne’s Thread (Le Fil D’Ariane), October 1973 Etching and aquatint on Rives paper 11 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. HU77.141
Saul Steinberg (American, born in Romania, 1914-1999) Untitled, March 1974 Screenprint on English etching paper 31 1/4 x 23 in., HU77.147
Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991) Tallith, 1973 Lift-ground etching and aquatint on Arches paper 35 1/2 x 24 in. HU77.151
Frank Stella (American, born 1936) Tetuan III, 1973 Lithograph and screenprint on Arches paper 17 x 22 in., HU77.142
Claes Oldenburg (American, born in Sweden, 1929) Three Hats, 1974 Reproduction HU77.148
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) Untitled 12, 1974 Screenprint on Arches satin-finish paper 30 x 22 in., HU77.144
Larry Rivers (American, 1923-2002) Boston Massacre, 1970 Screenprints with embossing and collage Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Victor S. Liss HU79.38.1-13
Redcoats-Mist, HU79.38.12
Larry Rivers bridged the gap between abstraction and realism by creating a series of seemingly unconnected images and words in Boston Massacre. Paul Revere’s iconic engraving The Boston Massacre (1770) is visible in a few of the prints, as well as images of the battle between the Bostonians and British soldiers. The words “For Crispus A” and “Attucks” refer to Crispus Attucks, a black man shot by the British during the Boston Massacre. The wounded figure of James Meredith, who was shot during a Civil Rights march in 1966, can be seen in Black Revue and Victims. Additional visual references are made to the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War as Rivers draws parallels between the American Revolutionary period and the turbulent years of the 1960s and 1970s. The combined use of news photographs, headlines, abstracted painterly figures, older prints and illustrations conveys a sense of variations on a theme and of history repeating itself.
Untitled (cover) 19 1/2 x 29 3/4 in. HU79.38.1
Ready-Aim and Two Hands 18 3/4 x 27 1/8 in. HU79.38.6
Observation 19 x 27 3/4 in. HU79.38.11
Boston Harbor and Shooting 19 1/4 x 27 3/4 in. HU79.38.2
40th Regiment 19 1/2 x 28 in. HU79.38.7
Redcoats-Mist 19 x 28 in. HU79.38.12
Some (Visual) Afterthoughts on the Boston Massacre 19 1/4 x 27 3/4 in. HU79.38.3
Black Revue 19 1/8 x 27 1/4 in. HU79.38.8
Redcoats (Fold-Out) 19 x 44 5/8 in. HU79.38.13
Enlisted Man and Officer 19 1/4 x 28 in. HU79.38.4 Ready-Aim 19 1/4 x 27 3/4 in. HU79.38.5
Victims 19 1/8 x 27 1/4 in. HU79.38.9 Those Who Fire, Those Who Run 19 x 27 in. HU79.38.10
Fritz Eichenberg (American, born in Germany, 1901-1990) In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus, 1972 Wood engravings on Japanese mulberry paper Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Eleanor Rait HU2012.46.1-10
Follies of War, HU2012.46.10
The portfolio is based on the Desiderius Erasmus satire In Praise of Folly, which was written in 1511. It consists of 10 contemporary wood engravings with excerpts of the Latin text, selected and freely translated into English by the artist. Each image is accompanied by a text page with the Latin text printed in red ink and the artist’s translation printed in black ink. The drama and intensity of the images is heightened through the stark use of black and white as well as exaggerated gestures and expressions. For Eichenberg the commentary on the vanity, foolishness and corruption of mankind remained relevant in the 20th century. He founded and directed the Pratt Graphic Arts Center, New York, from 1961 to 1972, which contributed to the re-establishment of printmaking as an academic discipline in America.
Dame Folly Speaks 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.1
The Follies of Teaching 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.5
The Follies of the Pope 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.9
Follies of Old Age 17 7/8 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.2
The Follies of the Monks 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.6
Follies of War 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.10
The Follies of Worshipping Idols 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.3
Follies of Princely Power 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.7
The Human Comedy 18 x 12 in. HU2012.46.4
The Follies of the Court 18 x 11 7/8 in. HU2012.46.8
Patrick Hughes (English, born 1939) The Domestic Life of the Rainbow, 1979 Screenprints (6) and gouache (1) in boxed set with book Upon the Pun: Dual Meaning in Words and Pictures, by Paul Hammond and Patrick Hughes. Published by W. H. Allen, London, 1978 8 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. each Hofstra University Museum Collections Gift of Thomas Barnes Donnelley HU80.27.1.1-7 and 80.27.2
HU80.27.1.3
Patrick Hughes once stated, “I embrace the contradictory and celebrate the paradoxical.” Since the 1970s, Hughes has been investigating perception and illusion in his work. In The Domestic Life of the Rainbow, he plays with the contradiction of a rainbow – an ephemeral creation of the interaction of sunlight on water droplets – as a solid form that can lean against a wall, stand upright in a basket or drape over the back of a chair. The themes of visual and verbal puns are explored in the book Upon the Pun, which is part of the portfolio. The gouache and screenprints are necessarily small in size to accompany the book in its own box.
This exhibition is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Front cover credit: Alexander Liberman (American, born in Russia, 1912-1999) Untitled, 1973, from the portfolio For Meyer Schapiro, 1974 Lithograph on Fabriano Rosaspina paper, 38 1/2 x 27 1/2 in. Hofstra University Museum Collections, Gift of Mr. Edwin S. Marks, HU77.149