Montana Museum of Art and Culture showcases European masterpieces
Published: November 3, 2010
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The Montana Museum of Art and Culture presents “Renoir, Magritte, Gauguin and other Masterpieces from a Private Collection,” Nov. 12-March 12 in the museum’s Meloy and Paxson galleries, located in the Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center at The University of Montana in Missoula.
This exhibition provides an unprecedented opportunity for Montana citizens and visitors to experience firsthand selected works by some of art history’s most notable artists who worked from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Largely centered on portraiture, the exhibition includes works by Alexander Archipenko, Rosa Bonheur, William Bourgereau, Max Ernst, Paul Gauguin, René Magritte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, George Romney, Théophile van Rysselberghe and John William Waterhouse.
Three portraits by Renoir – “Portrait de Nini” (1874), “Mademoiselle Grimprel au ruban rouge (Hélène Grimprel)” (1880) and “Portrait de Wilhelm Mühlfeld” (undated) – provide compelling evidence of the evolution of the artist’s approach to his subjects.
George Romney’s romantic portrait of Emma Hart depicts one of the most beguiling beauties of England in the mid 1700s in a painting titled “Absence.”
Rosa Bonheur, perhaps the most famous woman artist of the 19th century, was a friend to Francisco Goya and known for her depictions of animals. Since the Paris-based Academie de Beaux-Arts did not admit women to their classes, Bonheur disguised herself as a man and frequented slaughterhouses, fairs and horse shows for models. The exhibition includes “Monarchs of the Forest,” a double-portrait of Bonheur’s favorite pet stag.
Additional paintings by Gauguin and Van Rysselberghe document the transition away from the Impressionist painting style to what became known as Post Impressionism and Pointillism – both of which are characterized by an expressive use of color and emphasis on emotion instead of shifting natural light.
Dr. Valerie Hedquist, UM professor of Art History, will lecture on the exhibit at 7 p.m. Feb. 10; and MMAC Curator of Art Brandon Reintjes presents a Montana Osher Lifelong Learning Course (MOLLI) beginning Jan. 17, titled “Questions of Connoisseurship.” In addition, Reintjes will present a lecture March 9.
Concurrent with the exhibition is a display of works on paper drawn from the same time periods, titled “Three Centuries of European Prints from the MMAC Permanent Collection.” It includes several works that have never before been exhibited from the collection or more than 10,000 artworks.
For more information, call 406-243-2019 or visit http://www.umt.edu/montanamuseum.
