The First Art Newspaper on the Net Established in 1996 N/A Monday, February 1, 2016

HomeLast Week

ArtistsGalleriesMuseums

PhotographersGames

SubscribeComments

SearchContact

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling portraits

Martha Miller (American, born 1954), The Artist’s Daughters (1987). Pastel on paper. Collection of Robert Flynn Johnson.

!!#!$

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling ... http://artdaily.com/news/84758/Exhibition-at-Museum-of-Fine-Arts--St-...

1 of 4 2/1/16, 11:43 AM

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.- Contemplating Character: Portrait Drawings & Oil Sketches fromJacques-Louis David to Lucian Freud is the most expansive exhibition of portraits ever presented atthe Museum of Fine Arts. It opens on Saturday, February 13, and continues through Sunday, May29.

This fascinating exhibition features 152 rare portrait drawings and oil sketches from the lateeighteenth into the twenty-first century, with most from the nineteenth. Artists from 15 countries arerepresented, with a large number from France and England.

Lucian Freud, one of our time’s most provocative portrait painters and the grandson of thepioneering psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, once noted: “I’ve always wanted to create drama in mypictures, which is why I paint people. It’s people who have brought drama to pictures from thebeginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.”

The works are drawn from the remarkable collection of Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus,Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. He has written: “Iam fervently drawn to the vast variety of depictions of human beings in their grandeur,helplessness, pride, and vulnerability. Every drawing in this exhibition has moved me deeply insome way, and it is both my conviction and hope that individuals who view this exhibition will makea similar connection and feel the presence of the personalities represented who have been drawnand painted over the last two centuries.”

In addition to David and Freud, Mr. Johnson has selected such noted artists as ThéodoreRousseau, Edgar Degas, Édouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Elie Nadelman, Frank Stella, andGeorge Bellows, to name a few. Four drawings are by Adolf von Menzel, whose name may beunfamiliar to many Americans. He was one of Germany’s most admired artists working in thenineteenth century. Degas called him “the greatest living master.”

In an expressive drawing, Menzel treats his right hand as a portrait, which he drew with his left.Maximilien Luce, imprisoned for his anarchist political views, depicts his hand pressing against thewall of Mazas Prison. Brassaï focuses on The Hands of Matilda, Paris 5 April 1949.

All challenge our conception of the portrait. So, too, do Henry-Bonaventure Monnier’s watercolor, Self-Portrait Dressed as aWoman (1869), Aubrey Vincent Beardsley’s fanciful caricature of presumably the writer Oscar Wilde (1892), and CharlesHenry Sims’ modernistic Self-Portrait in Distress (about 1928).

Not surprising for a curator, Mr. Johnson was drawn to artist self-portraits and portraits of artists. One of the former is by DoraMaar, a talented artist who shared a decade with Pablo Picasso. She sliced her self-portrait in two, a strong visual suggestingmental turmoil. Another is Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s unmistakable Self-Portrait Profile (around 1960), which introduced his popularTV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents to millions of Americans.

There are two portraits of Jacques-Louis David, one while he was in prison. A supporter of the French Revolution, David wasimprisoned after the fall of Robespierre and later found favor with Napoleon. There are others of the English Romanticpoet-artist William Blake, American author Washington Irving, influential British critic-artist John Ruskin, French symbolistOdilon Redon, and the great American realist Thomas Eakins in silhouette.

The exhibition has many other gems, including a miniature portrait of George Washington (around 1795) by an anonymousartist and Bonnard’s Crying Woman (about 1890-1895), created in a flowing, seemingly spontaneous line. There are evendrawings by the American cartoonist Robert Crumb, who developed a cult following for his countercultural comic books likeWeirdo and who later received museum exhibitions.

A host of works capture family members, friends, and lovers in tender moments, and a number resonate with paintings in theMuseum’s collection. Contemplating Character was organized by Mr. Johnson with Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles,California, in association with Denenberg Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California.

Today's News Most Popular Last Seven Days

!!#!$

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling ... http://artdaily.com/news/84758/Exhibition-at-Museum-of-Fine-Arts--St-...

2 of 4 2/1/16, 11:43 AM

February 1, 2016

Prestigious collection of works by Paul Signac on view at the Fondation del'Hermitage

Exhibition provides a rare insight into the development of Alberto Giacometti'spractice

Gagosian Gallery New York exhibits one of the late artist Chris Burden's lastworks

Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery presents a new interactive installation of theCosmic Buddha

Two Temple Place reopens with exhibition of the ancient Egyptians at their mostspectacular

Paul Kasmin's first solo exhibition of work by photographer Peter Hujar on view inNew York

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling portraits

First retrospective exhibition of the work of Judit Reigl opens at the AllenMemorial Art Museum

Exhibition at the Albertina explores post-war photography magazine Provoke

A selection of recent paintings by Matthew Kolodziej on view at Carl SolwayGallery

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth opens exhibition of works by Glenn Kaino

Exhibition at Rodolphe Janssen highlights a part of the young Belgian art scene

Victoria Miro announces UK premiere of a new multi-screen film installation byStan Douglas

Krannert Art Museum exhibition explores perception of time throughcontemporary art

Transborder: Fabien Castanier Gallery opens group exhibition

Ancient Talmudic study principle reinterpreted by artist Jenny Odell incollaboration with Philip Buscemi

Exhibition of small sculptures and big ideas opens at Postmasters

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image announces the world premiere ofDaniel Crooks: Phantom Ride

'The Birth of a Nation' wins top prizes at Sundance

Bayern Munich's exhibition on Holocaust victims opens at Dachau

First nationally touring exhibition of American enameling in over 50 years revivesthe unsung art form

Jumana Manna's first solo show in Sweden opens at Malmö Konsthall

First exhibition in Germany by London-based artist duo BeckerHarrison on view atgalerie hiltawsky

Tonico Lemos' first exhibition in a public UK gallery opens at De La Warr Pavilion

1.- Traditional tattoos in Myanmar are all the rage

2.- Indecent exposure: Luxembourg artist Deborah de Robertisarrested for nude pose in Paris museum

3.- Russians break door at Tretyakov Gallery as record crowdsrush to Valentin Serov show

4.- Lucian Freud's Portrait of Lover to be offered at auction for firsttime at Sotheby's London

5.- New magazine entirely devoted to Native American artlaunched

6.- New technology helps archaeologists piece together story ofYork's Roman 'Gladiators'

7.- Archaeologists unearth the earliest evidence of warfarebetween hunter-gatherers

8.- Study by anthropologist and folklorist finds famous fairy talesare thousands of years old

9.- Museums organize the first exhibition to show the influence ofHenri Matisse on Richard Diebenkorn

10.- Studio of Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miro recreated byMayoral gallery in London

Yvonna Russell: Postcards From The Edge

Tara Skurtu: On the Impossibility of Teaching Creative Writing

Petros Koublis: A Mythology of The Unseen

Marcia Liss: The Magic Touch

Marcia Liss: The Opinionator

Marcia Liss: A Pocketful of Songs

Lisa Adams: Art Los Angeles Contemporary 2016: Through theEyes of a Painter

Foodbeast: Pizza Hut Has Gold-Crusted Garlic Knots Now...

Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,

Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

ArtDaily Search

!!#!$

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling ... http://artdaily.com/news/84758/Exhibition-at-Museum-of-Fine-Arts--St-...

3 of 4 2/1/16, 11:43 AM

ignaciovillarreal.org theavemariasound.org juncodelavega.org facundocabral-elfinal.orgFounder's Site. The most varied versions

of this beautiful prayer.Hommage

to a Mexican poet.Hommage

Founder:Ignacio Villarreal

Editor & Publisher:Jose Villarreal - Consultant: Ignacio Villarreal Jr.Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Social Network Manager and Translator: Norma Cristina Pérez Ayala Cano

Royalville Communications, Incproduces:

!!#!$

Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg spotlights compelling ... http://artdaily.com/news/84758/Exhibition-at-Museum-of-Fine-Arts--St-...

4 of 4 2/1/16, 11:43 AM