WILL BARNET: WORKS OF SEVEN DECADES

The Mandolin, 1990,

Oil on canvas, 29 x 48 inches.

Collection of the Naples Museum of Art. Generously donated by the Artist

This year on May 25, Will Barnet celebrates his 98th birthday. An active participant in nearly the entire history of 20th-century American art, he has for more than seven decades produced some of its most recognizable images. Best known for his familial figurative paintings, Barnet has also made significant contributions as an innovative printmaker and abstractionist. This exhibition, organized by the Naples Museum of Art, features nearly 40 paintings created by the artist between 1943 and 2009.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25 THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2009

FLORIDA CONTEMPORARY: PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS        

Clyde Butcher, Ochopee, 1986

Silver gelatin photograph, 26 x 30 inches

Clyde Butcher ©1986

The contemporary art scene in Florida is extraordinarily rich and varied. This exhibition showcases approximately 50 painters and photographers who live and work in the state. From realism to abstraction (and everything in between), this intriguing presentation features well-known artists who have spent a lifetime at their craft and an array of new artists that visitors can “discover” for themselves. Featured artists include Isaac Allen, Helen Burkett, Clyde Butcher, Jonathan Green, Jill Cannady, Lincoln Perry, Juan Diaz, Sandy Donn, Karen Glaser, Patrick Moser, Dannica Walker, Kerry Ware and many others. While not a definitive inventory of Florida artists, Florida Contemporary serves as an overview of the innovative images, subject matter and mediums that characterize the work being created in the state today.

THURSDAY, MAY 14-SUNDAY, JUNE 28 , 2009

2009 NAPLES MUSEUM OF ART STUDENT EXHIBITION

Very Hungry Caterpillar                                                                                               Victoria Franklin                                                                                      Painted Paper Collage                                                                Pelican Marsh Elementary, Grade 3                                                                         Art Teacher: Leslie Loughran

The first-ever Student Art Exhibition features work by local aspiring artists, on display in the Drackett Gallery at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts. Works by students from kindergarten through 12th grade, from both private and public schools in Collier County, were selected by art teachers to be part of this showcase of talent. A wide variety of mediums are represented, including photography, drawing, collage, sculpture and painting. Complimentary museum passes are provided for participating students and art teachers.

 SUNDAY, MAY 3-SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2009

LIVING WITH STUDIO FURNITURE:

COLLECTION OF ROBERT AND CAROLYN SPRINGBORN

Robert and Carolyn Springborn began collecting studio furniture in the mid-1980s and went on to amass one of the finest and most eclectic collections in the country. This tantalizing exhibition – the largest grouping of their collection ever shown publicly – features cabinets, tables, chairs, clocks, sculpture, vases, lamps, glass, paintings and other works by such acclaimed artists as Albert Paley, Wendell Castle, John Cederquist, Wendy Maruyama and others. Most of the work in this exquisite collection is functional art, which the Springborns have lived with for years. This season, the public has a rare opportunity to spend time with this unusual collection as the Springborns share it with the Naples Museum of Art.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16 THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2009

THE BAROQUE WORLD OF FERNANDO BOTERO

One hundred artworks are featured in this extraordinary retrospective of the Colombian neo-figurative artist Fernando Botero – the first major Botero exhibition in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. One of the most beloved artists of the Americas, Botero (b. 1932) is a painter, sculptor and draftsman who has captured the comedy and tragedy of human life for more than 50 years. Botero is known for his exaggerated rounded figures and rich palette combining the excesses of Spanish colonial baroque with the social realism of the Mexican muralists. The humorous surfaces of Botero’s art often belie a more serious message – a commentary on colonialism, political instability in Latin America and the vernacular artistic traditions of Europe and Latin America. This important retrospective draws on Botero’s own collection and includes paintings, sculpture in bronze and marble, pastels, drawings and watercolors.

This exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, VA.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 THROUGH SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2009

NORMAN ROCKWELL: AMERICAN IMAGIST ™

The cover of the Saturday Evening Post was for years the greatest show window in America for an illustrator. Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), among the most enduring artists of the 20th century, became synonymous with the magazine, and his much-loved cover illustrations seemed to capture the optimism of the American spirit. Rockwell’s illustrations, filled with the nuances of ordinary people in everyday life, evoked a time and place that existed mostly in our hopes and aspirations. His legendary association with the magazine spanned 47 years, from 1916 to 1963. This exhibition includes original tear sheets featuring each of Rockwell’s 321 Saturday Evening Post covers. Also featured will be over 30 original Rockwell oil paintings and other works.

Guest Curator:  Judy Goffman Cutler and organized by American Illustrators Gallery, New York City and The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, Rhode Island

Generously underwritten by Friends of Art at the Naples Museum of Art and an anonymous donor.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2 THROUGH SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2009

LARRY DINKIN: A RETROSPECTIVE

This is the first retrospective of renowned American painter Larry Dinkin (b. 1943), tracing the development of his art from figurative and landscape paintings to his singular “non-objective realism” style, which combines man-made and natural elements in an abstract context. Dinkin’s paintings have been described as “bizarrely beautiful,” as if to confirm the truth that beauty always contains something strange – something absurd within its harmony. Dinkin’s art takes the viewer to a vibrant world that is as compelling and mysterious as our dreams. Although his work is largely abstract, it also has a sense of structure and motion that is clearly rooted in the real world. As Dinkin puts it, “There are no refrigerators or cars in my work but there is a foreground and background and there is movement and light.”

Generously underwritten by Estelle and Martin Karlin.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 THROUGH SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2008

Catalogue available at the Museum Store:

Larry Dinkin: A Retrospective    This fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the first retrospective of renowned American painter Larry Dinkin. It traces the development of Dinkin’s art from figurative and landscape paintings to his singular “non-objective realism” style, which combines man-made elements in an abstract context. Featuring an essay by art critic Donald Kuspit.

MARSDEN HARTLEY: AMERICAN MODERN

Marsden Hartley was at the center of the artistic and cultural maelstrom known today as early American modernism. His life and his art were never static, and Hartley (1877-1943) responded to the dramatic changes – political, cultural and artistic – that took place over the span of his career. He is equally well known for his groundbreaking abstract works as for his lyrical landscapes. This wide-ranging exhibition presents superb examples of Hartley’s work from each phase of his career. Included are early post-impressionist Maine mountain scenes, pre-World War I abstractions completed in Paris and Berlin, Provincetown experiments, New Mexican landscapes, still lifes from the 1920s and 1930s, Bavarian mountain pastels, 1930s archaic portraits and late Maine landscapes. Hartley’s unique, varied depictions of American life made him among the country’s most popular artists during his lifetime – and they continue to resonate in the 21st century.

Marsden Hartley: American Modern is organized by the Frederick R.Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 THROUGH SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2008

LOLA ÁLVAREZ BRAVO

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 THROUGH SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009

Catalogue available at the Museum Store:

Lola Álvarez Bravo Catalogue   Lola Álvarez Bravo is widely recognized as Mexico’s first major female photographer. This hardcover book contains exquisite examples of her dramatic and humanistic black and white photographs, along with insightful essays about her art and her contribution to the rise of modernist photography.

DRAWING IN SPACE: THE PENINSULA PROJECT SCULPTURE BY

JOHN HENRY

MONUMENTS AROUND THE WORLD

THE MOUSE HOUSE:

WORKS FROM THE OLGA HIRSHHORN COLLECTION

One of the most popular exhibitions at the Naples Museum of Art returns! The Mouse House is a treasure trove of great art, featuring works from Olga Hirshhorn’s collection by Picasso, Dalí, Man Ray, Giacometti, Calder, de Kooning and many other great 20th-century artists. “The Mouse House” is the name affectionately given to Hirshhorn’s small, art-packed house in Washington, D.C. Hirshhorn, who winters in Naples, and whose late husband Joseph Hirshhorn was the founding donor of the museum now bearing the Hirshhorn name in Washington, is an avid collector in her own right. The Mouse House recreates the atmosphere of her home and is a reflection of Olga’s taste and style.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 THROUGH SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2009