Views from the Collection I
(August 17 – October 1, 2006)

This is the first in a three-part series of exhibitions of art from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection. This collection is the only ensemble of its kind in the area, with a range that includes the art of antiquity; Old Master prints and paintings; Asian art; African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian art and artifacts; and contemporary graphics. This exhibition will feature a cross-section of work from Europe, the United States, and Asia. Highlights will include Italian Renaissance panel paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Study Collection, Gothic sculpture and manuscript illumination, German Old Master prints, and landscape paintings by artists of the nineteenth-century French Barbizon School. The show will feature European and American paintings and prints of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by artists such as Jasper Cropsey, Théodore Rousseau, Marc Chagall, Man Ray, and Roy Lichtenstein, among others. Part of the exhibition will focus on examples of nineteenth-century wood-block prints and ceramics from Japan. Views from the Collection I has been scheduled to coincide with the debut of the Department of History of Art to showcase the high quality and historical range of the Vanderbilt collections and the broad teaching and research competencies of departmental faculty.

Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867) French Landscape with Figures Oil on paper mounted on canvas 7-1/2” x 10” Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Glassman and Thomas A. Glassman, B.A. ‘71

Inside Out / Outside In: Work by Chris Drury
(October 12 – December 7, 2006)

For the past several years, British artist Chris Drury has explored human interactions with the natural setting, often creating small structures out of primarily organic materials that harmonize with the surrounding environment, with the recurring theme of a contrast between outside and inside, outer and inner. The Fine Arts Gallery will present a series of prints, drawings, and photographs by the artist related to this practice. In conjunction with this exhibition, Drury will be in residence for the month of October completing a project titled The Star Chamber on Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory's wooded, nine-acre site. The installation will consist of a chamber surrounded by a spiral, galaxy-like formation. The roof will open to reveal the night sky, and, during the daytime, the image of the sun, clouds, and treetops will be projected onto the dish-shaped interior through an aperture at the top of the space.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the Southeastern College Art Conference (October 25–28).

For more information about The Star Chamber, please contact the Vanderbilt University Dyer Observatory.

Chris Drury (b. 1948) English High Desert Wind, 2004 Map of the Leh area of Ladakh Inkjet print over a pattern from a diagram of a cross-section of the human heart, rust on paper 54-1/3” x 40-15/16” Courtesy the artist

American Reflections: Recent Works by Kate McSpadden, the 2005 Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award Winner Exhibition
(January 11 – February 15, 2007)

This exhibition will feature new work by Kate McSpadden, the 2005 Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award winner. The Hamblet Award winner is selected by a panel of outside jurors from an open invitational for graduating seniors each spring. McSpadden's award, a $20,000 grant to be used for travel and study during the year following graduation, culminates in this exhibition. In her recent paintings, McSpadden explores the American landscape juxtaposed against changing cityscapes, and how contemporary conceptions of space both build upon and challenge what are widely considered archetypal American environments.

Kate McSpadden American Laredo, 2006 Oil on canvas 48” x 48” Courtesy the artist

Jay Bolotin: The Jackleg Testament
(February 22 – March 22, 2007)

Jay Bolotin's The Jackleg Testament represents the raw material generated by the artist to create what is undoubtedly the first woodcut motion picture in the history of filmmaking. The film, which made its debut in May 2005 at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, is the latest work by this prolific writer, composer, performer, stage and set designer, choreographer, visual artist and now filmmaker.

The artist has crafted a spectacular woodcut motion picture using his woodcut prints as source material. He created a catalog of parts and pieces of characters, clothing, architecture, landscapes and props, and then drew from this visual library to set his work in motion. Along with the completed film, Bolotin will exhibit two portfolios of woodcuts that inspired The Jackleg Testament, as well as the prints that he used to create the images in the film.

Bolotin's work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Seattle Art Museums; the Australian National Museum in Canberra; and the New York Public Library. The Fine Arts Gallery presentation is being held to commemorate the acquisition of this portfolio, a gift made possible by Lifeworks Foundation, Nashville.

In association with this exhibition, there will be a collaborative programming effort with the Sarratt Gallery and Cinema, which will screen Bolotin's film February 22. For more information about events at Sarratt, see the Sarratt Gallery website.

Click here to listen to a discussion with the artist about the work in this exhibition.

Jay Bolotin (b. 1949) American Jack’s Entrance into Eden, from a portfolio of 40 woodcuts for the motion picture, The Jackleg Testament, 2006 Woodcut with handwritten notation 19-1/2” x 26” Courtesy the artist

Views from the Collection II
(March 29 – June 1, 2007)

Views from the Collection II is the second in a three-part series of exhibitions of art in the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection. This current installment from the series will feature a cross-section of work from Europe, the United States, Central America, Japan, and Africa. Highlights will include examples from the Samuel H. Kress Collection of Renaissance paintings and a selection of rarely displayed Italian drawings from the 16th through the 18th centuries. New acquisitions that will be on view are a small yet beautiful collection of Pre-Columbian gold pendants and two Modern American prints by James McNeill Whistler and George Bellows. In addition to these works, a selection of 20th-century prints by noted Mexican graphic artists will be on display to coincide with the Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ exhibition, Mexico and Modern Printmaking: A Revolution in the Graphic Arts, 1920–1950.

Art from the historic collection featured in this exhibition will include work by George Bellows, James McNeill Whistler, Jan Both, Jan Pauwel Gillemans, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Giovanni Guerra, Pietro Orioli, Bonifacio di Pitati (called Bonifazio Veronese), Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Taddeo Zuccaro, School of Francesco Guardi, School of Sir Thomas Lawrence, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo.

Anonymous Japanese A six-panel screen titled Rakuchu-Rakugai (Views of Daily Life in Kyoto), 18th century (detail) Mineral color on gold leaf mounted on paper 5’8” x 12’ Anonymous gift 2000.005

Beauty and Power: Chinese Art from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection
(June 21 – September 22, 2007)

As one of the world's oldest and largest civilizations, China has developed a distinctive range of uniquely Chinese forms of art. Many types of objects produced by Chinese artists over the past five millennia are now easily recognizable to western viewers, yet certain media and artifacts remain little known or mysterious to those who are not specialists studying Chinese history and culture.

Using works from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection, this exhibition will present an overview of some of China's most important artistic contributions. Through generous gifts from private donors over the past 35 years, the permanent collection now includes 400 examples of calligraphy, painting, bronze, ceramic, jade, and sculpture that range in date from the Neolithic period (6000–2000 B.C.) through the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Highlights in this exhibition will include bronze vessels and implements, jade carvings, Buddhist images, painted lacquer, ceramic wares, funerary objects, tomb figurines, scholarly paintings, and ancestral portraits.

Anonymous Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644) Bodhisattva, 17th century Clay with painted and gilded decoration 37-1/2” x 24” x 18” Gift of Richard P. Arens 2001.005