The Davis Museum At Wellesley College Announces Seven Exhibitions Opening In February

Opening Celebration: Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 5-8 PM

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Jan 30, 2015, 12:50 ET

WELLESLEY, Mass., Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Davis Museum at Wellesley College presents seven exhibitions this spring. The first U.S. museum retrospective of Iranian master Parviz Tanavoli, along with Rembrandt and the Landscape Tradition, and Michael Craig-Martin: Reconstructing Seurat will be on view February 10 - June 7. Francesc Torres: What Does History Know of Nail Biting? and Warhol @ Wellesley will be on view February 24 -June 7. And, Hanging with Old Masters: The Reinstallation of the Davis Museum and Edged in Black: Selections from SMS will return to view, February 10 - June 7, with a new rotation of works. The Davis is free and open to the general public.

A festive opening celebration, featuring a 5 PM roundtable discussion with distinguished artist Parviz Tanavoli, will be held on Tuesday, February 10 from 5-8 PM.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS

PARVIZ TANAVOLI
February 10 - June 7, 2015
Marjorie and Gerald Bronfman Gallery
Camilla Chandler and Dorothy Buffum Chandler Gallery

The Davis presents Parviz Tanavoli, the first retrospective exhibition of the influential Iranian artist's work to be mounted by a U.S. museum. The exhibition will survey the breadth and richness of the artist's career from the 1950s to the present day, and marks the 50th Anniversary of Tanavoli's famed 'heech' project.

Critically acclaimed and widely acknowledged as the "Father of Modern Iranian Sculpture," Tanavoli's trajectory has spanned east and west as he has innovated ambitiously across media. Best known as a sculptor, his expansive oeuvre also includes painting, printmaking, ceramics, and jewelry. As well, he is a highly regarded collector, scholar, and poet.

Curated by Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director, with Shiva Balaghi, Brown University, and presented with generous support from The Maryam and Edward Eisler/Goldman Sachs Gives Fund on Art and Visual Culture in the Near, Middle, and Far East.

REMBRANDT AND THE LANDSCAPE TRADITION
February 10 - June 7, 2015
Robert and Claire Freedman Lober Viewing Alcove

Throughout the 17th century, Rembrandt van Rijn and his contemporaries explored the genre of landscape as both the setting for and the subject of their work. Dramatic, inviting, wild, and inhabited, the natural settings frame narratives depicted by these artists and become the focus of the works themselves. This exhibition of drawings and prints drawn from the Davis collections examines changing attitudes to nature in the United Provinces (as the Netherlands were called at the time) and the diverse ways in which landscape--both imagined and observed--was depicted by Rembrandt and other artists of the Dutch Golden Age.

Co-curated by Margaret Carroll, Professor of Art, Wellesley College and Meredith Fluke, Kemper Curator of Academic Programs, with generous support from the Mary Tebbetts Wolfe '54 Davis Museum Program Fund.

MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN: RECONSTRUCTING SEURAT
February 10 - June 7, 2015
Dorothy Johnston Towne Gallery

Conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin trains his eye on French Post-Impressionist George Seurat's monumental painting Une Baignade, Asnieres ("Bathers at Asnieres"), 1884, one of the most famous pictures in the collection of the National Gallery, London. Moving several steps beyond Seurat's own remarkably modern reduction of figures into forms, curves and colors, Craig-Martin deconstructs and reconstructs the image through his signature style: his painting, and two sets of related prints, recast the scene of boys on the banks of the Seine through sharp graphic line drawings with a thrilling pop palette.

Curated by Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director, with generous support from Wellesley College Friends of Art at the Davis.

FRANCESC TORRES: WHAT DOES HISTORY KNOW OF NAIL BITING?
February 24 - June 7, 2015
Joan Levine Freedman '57 and Richard I. Freedman Gallery

The Davis presents the world premiere of What Does History Know of Nail Biting?, the latest multi-channel video work from acclaimed Spanish artist Francesc Torres. Examining the extraordinary history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of American volunteers who went to fight for the Republican side against fascism during the Spanish Civil War (1936-9), the work juxtaposes recently recovered archival footage of these soldiers and their battles with recent documentation of the sites of major military encounters during the Spanish Civil War. Torres developed the project during his Spring 2014 residency as the Mellon Visiting Artist at Wellesley College's Newhouse Center for the Humanities.

Curated by Michael Maizels, Mellon Curator of New Media Art, with generous support from the Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 Fund for World Cultures and Leadership.

WARHOL @ WELLESLEY
February 24 - June 7, 2015
Morelle Lasky Levine '56 Works on Paper Gallery

This exhibition explores the rich holdings of artwork--some iconic and others lesser known--by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) in the collections of the Davis Museum, which were recently greatly enhanced by generous gifts from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. An exciting and challenging array of photographs, prints, and sculpture by the leading figure of pop art will be on view.

Curated by Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs/Senior Curator of Collections. Presented with generous support from Wellesley College Friends of Art at the Davis.

For the full list of current exhibitions and related gallery talks, films, family & school programs, symposiums, and special events, please visit www.theDavis.org.

TOURS

The Davis Museum at Wellesley College offers guided tours during weekday open hours, Tuesday through Friday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Our specially-trained Student Tour Guides help visitors better understand and enjoy the Museum, its distinctive permanent collections, and its special temporary exhibitions. Admission is free, and we welcome audiences from the Wellesley College campus and beyond.

Tours are customized according to interest area, and cover either special exhibitions or the permanent collections. To schedule your visit, or to request more information, please e-mail Liz Gardner, public and interpretive programs specialist, at [email protected] or call 781.283.3045.

DROP-IN PUBLIC TOURS

Special exhibition tours, led by a Student Guide, are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. All tours start at 2 PM and meet in the Davis Lobby.

Saturday, February 28: Parviz Tanavoli
Saturday, March 7: Warhol @ Wellesley
Saturday, March 14: Hanging with the Old Masters: Davis Museum Reinstallation
Saturday, April 4: Edged in Black: Selections from SMS
Saturday, April 11: Michael Craig-Martin: Reconstructing Seurat

DAVIS MUSEUM GENERAL INFORMATION

Location: Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, Mass.

Museum Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11:00 am-5:00 PM. Closed Mondays, holidays, and Wellesley
College recesses.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Telephone: 781-283-2051

Website: www.theDavis.org

Parking: Free and available in the lot behind the museum. Additional parking is available in the Davis Parking Facility.

Tours: Led by student tour guides. Free. Call 781-283-3045.

Accessible: The Davis, Collins Cafe and Collins Cinema are wheelchair accessible and wheelchairs are available for use in the Museum without charge. For accommodations, please contact Jim Wice, director of disability services at 781-283-2434 or [email protected].

ABOUT THE DAVIS MUSEUM

One of the oldest and most acclaimed academic fine arts museums in the United States, the Davis Museum is a vital force in the intellectual, pedagogical and social life of Wellesley College. It seeks to create an environment that encourages visual literacy, inspires new ideas, and fosters involvement with the arts both within the College and the larger community.

ABOUT WELLESLEY COLLEGE AND THE ARTS

The Wellesley College arts curriculum and the highly acclaimed Davis Museum are integral components of the College's liberal arts education. Departments and programs from across the campus enliven the community with world-class programming- classical and popular music, visual arts, theatre, dance, author readings, symposia, and lectures by some of today's leading artists and creative thinkers-most of which are free and open to the public.

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been the preeminent liberal arts college for women. Known for its intellectual rigor and its remarkable track record for the cultivation of women leaders in every arena, Wellesley--only 12 miles from Boston--is home to some 2300 undergraduates from every state and 75 countries.

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Contacts:
Sofiya Cabalquinto, 781-283-3321, [email protected]
Nina Berger, 781-283-2034, [email protected]

SOURCE Wellesley College