John Mawurndjul, Mardayin Design, 2006, natural pigments on eucalyptus bark, 79 15 ⁄ 16 x 28 15 ⁄ 16 in., promised gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan to the Seattle Art Museum, T2011.55.14, © 2016 Artists Rights Society( ARS), New York / VISCOPY, Australia Courtesy American Federation of Arts.
Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection
January 26 – April 22, 2018 Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries
Ancestral Modern’ s approximately fifty artworks include paintings on bark strips, hollow logs, and canvases, and a selection of sculptures. In many cases, artists have translated motifs from traditional art forms— such as rock and body painting— to media that can be more easily shared with viewers around the world. Many of the works in this exhibition represent subjects related to the Dreaming, the supertemporal realm of the ancestors. Knowledge of particular Dreamings may be accessible only to certain individuals, kinship groups, or peoples; artists often adapt or encode existing symbols and motifs to arrive at representations that are appropriate for sharing with outside audiences.
This exhibition introduces audiences to indigenous Australian painting and sculpture, which has blossomed since the 1970s. In the late 1960s, grassroots activism resulted in increased power and visibility for Aboriginal people. The years that followed marked the start of an artistic renaissance in the world’ s oldest continuous artistic tradition, fueled both by the end of government policies that demanded assimilation into white society, and by the growing desire of Aboriginal artists to share their ancient culture with the wider world.
The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Seattle Art Museum, and was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Donald M. Cox, the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor, with support for the Chazen exhibition from the Brittingham Trust and the Mildred L. Stolberg Fund.
The
Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting
Charles Stanley Reinhart( American 1844 – 1896), Woman in Hammock, 1880, painted and glazed earthenware, 8 x 8 in., Chazen Museum of Art, gift of D. Frederick Baker from the Baker / Pisano Collection, 2017.27.90
February 23 – May 20, 2018 | Leslie and Johanna Garfield Galleries
The Tile Club was one of many societies that formed across the United States during the late nineteenth century. Including such well-known artists as Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Edwin Austin Abbey, J. Alden Weir, and John H. Twachtman, the club was founded in 1877 riding a wave of interest in the decorative arts. Members met once a week and would each contribute to the“ decorative age” by painting an eight-by-eight-inch ceramic tile. These meetings became a time to socialize, dine, and enjoy the music performed by guests and honorary members.
Tiles formed only a small part of the Club’ s output. Members made excursions to Long Island and up the Hudson River to sketch and paint. These trips were lively journeys, and the works completed during them document the first plein-air painting organization in the young nation. Tiles, paintings, sculptures, and sketches— many by distinguished artists working early in their careers— are showcased in this exhibition.