Arts and Culture 2012

Arts and Culture 2012

 
THREE HUNDRED YEARS IN THE MAKING - PHILADELPHIA’S ARTS AND CULTURE VISION IS NOW A REALITY
When Englishman William Penn designed the capital city of Philadelphia he envisaged a Champs Elysees-style parkway which, like the Parisian capital, would become a central point for arts and cultural excellence.  In 2012 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the city’s ‘cultural corridor’, will unveil exciting new attractions and exhibitions, including the long-awaited opening of the Barnes Foundation.  Joining the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the soon to be re-opened Rodin Museum, collectively they hold the world’s finest collections of art, including the largest collection of Renoirs outside of Paris and more Cézanne’s than all the Parisian museums.  This thrilling move will further cement Philadelphia’s cultural prominence in the international arts world.  

The Barnes Foundation has long been a hidden treasure of art, and revered for its extensive and impressive collections of world-renowned Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern Art collections.  Between 1912 and 1951 Dr. Albert C. Barnes acquired works of art from some of the most ‘daring artists’ of the time – Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chaim Soutine and Vincent Van Gogh.  His mission was to ‘promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of fine arts through his innovative vision.  

In 1922 the Foundation was established, crowned by Matisse’s mural The Dance in 1933, for his extensive collection of art and also educational programs.  Unlike a traditional gallery, organized chronologically or by genre, the Foundation arranged ‘ensembles’ or distinctive wall compositions, organized according to formal principles of light, color, line and space. Integrated with art and craft and objects from across cultures and periods, Barnes sought to demonstrate to his students fluidity in style and expression through art.  

The exciting new building opening May 19, 2012 will finally present the paintings and plus many more works of art, in a more accessible and welcoming location as well.  The first major addition to the Parkway in over sixty years, it will also exhibit works of art in the collection which have not been seen previously before (PLEASE CAN THIS BE CHECKED).   This complements Barnes’ additional interest in works from Africa, Native America ceramics, ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman art and American and European decorative arts and metalwork.  

Its ‘Gallery in a Garden’ design offers 12,000 square feet of exhibition space that replicates the scale, proportion and configuration of the original galleries in Merion Pennsylvania, whilst maintaining its intimate character. The design proposes a series of distinct out door areas, passing through public gardens and entry atrium to provide a highly personal and contemplative experience.  The galleries will include a classroom on each floor and 150-seat auditorium to facilitate and fulfill Dr. Barnes’ educational mission.  In addition, vastly improved lighting will enable visitors to see the art in a more natural setting.  

To complement the new arrival on the Parkway the historic Rodin Museum and Gardens, home to the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work outside of Paris, has spent three years rejuvenating and renovating its gardens and exterior building.  As part of a $20.9 million investment to revitalize the Parkway, the result will be a ‘nestling effect’ as the Rodin Museum’s garden will sit within the garden of the block and is fully visible and accessible from the Parkway.   The rejuvenated museum and gardens will keep the spirit of its original design but will also reunify the 2100 block of the Parkway making it a fluid extension from the Barnes Foundation gardens.  

Crowning the head of the Parkway at the top of Fairmont, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is one of the largest art museums in the United States containing a collection of more than 225,000 works of art that span two millennia and six continents.  The museum is widely regarded for its collections of Impressionist and Post- Impressionist art, with major defining works by Renoir and Cézanne, including Cézanne’s final work, the monumental Large Bathers (1906).  

From February 1 to May 6, 2012 the ‘Van Gogh Up Close’ exhibition will explore Van Gogh’s deep immersion into nature and his passion to engage the viewer with the strength of the emotions he experienced within it.  Presenting the artist’s most daring and innovative works that dramatically altered the course of modern painting with its ‘close ups’, bringing features into the extreme foreground of the composition and highlighting their importance in ways that are entirely unexpected.  

The exhibit showcases a rare collection of more than 40 landscapes and still lives, including major loans from museum and private collections in Europe, North America and Japan, which have not been seen together and identified as key pieces in understanding Van Gogh’s artistic achievement.  It will be showcased only in the United States at the Philadelphia Museum of Art before traveling to the National Gallery in Canada, Ottawa – its only Canadian venue – in summer 2012.

From June 20 to September 3 the Philadelphia Museum of Art will bring together for the first time, masterpieces by some of modern art’s giants.  The exhibition ‘Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia’ will place the original paintings of these masters in dialogue with each other as they explore the idea of an earthly paradise.  Gaugin’s mural-scale masterpiece Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, is a response to the classical theme of a simple and idyllic harmony on earth – an enduring subject for many poets, playwrights and artists from the Renaissance through to present day.  

Cézanne’s most significant effort to reconcile his vision of modern painting with French classical art is best exemplified by The Large Bathers.  The monumental composition was exhibited for the first time at the Salon d’Automne in Paris 1907 and had an immediate and profound effect on young talented painters such as Picasso and Matisse.  It is Matisse’s most creative response that completes the collection.  Taking a decade to complete, Bathers By The River not only responds to Cézanne’s Bathers By The River but also strongly echoes Gaughin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Philadelphia’s passion for the arts and culture scene is evident through its commitment and drive from organizations, events, the artists and the audiences.  The city can claim more arts and culture groups than Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C and boasts an eclectic and colorful calendar of activity.
 
For further information on arts and cultural attractions in Philadelphia visit www.philadelphiaUSA.travel alternatively call 0115 922 9255 to receive brochures.  Follow us on Twitter (@taxfreephilly) or join Tax Free Philly on Facebook.

ENDS

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Kristel Valaydon at KV Communications
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