The Department of Art Faculty Exhibition, now is in its final days at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, provides an opportunity to see the works of those influencing the artists of tomorrow.
The exhibition showcases the work of the entire art faculty, rather then a selected few, and thus enables museum-goers to see the variety of media in which the art faculty work.
"The show is extremely important to us," said Roberto Bertoia, chairman of the art department. "It's pretty much the nature of why we do what we do: the ultimate goal is to exhibit our work so that others can see and discuss and so forth."
Bertoia noted that members of the Cornell art faculty are fortunate to be exhibiting their works in an I.M. Pei-designed structure like the Johnson Museum. While art faculty have their works in numerous galleries, museums and private collections, this is the only time during the year that faculty exhibit their works together.
Sculpture is well represented in the show, especially in three diverse works by Victor Colby, Bertoia and Jack Squire. Colby has carved a women of wood in a gray flowered dress with wide blue eyes and hair pulled back in a large bun. Another work in wood is Bertoia's 6-foot high Ladder Mask. Jack Squier's flat plaster sculpture hung in two pieces is part of his Emerging Form series.
Kay WalkingStick presents another of her dyptichs in dramatic tones of blue and brown. The right panel is of rushing water crashing against rocks and is done with bold brush strokes. The left panel is emblazoned with the artist's trademark swatch of copper.
Arnold Singer's An Attractive Young Woman is a pleasant but cold characterization of a young woman. Her expressionless face and body possess large features, from her thick neck and hands to her full lips. Singer's portrait is one of four works that feature the female form.
Other works on exhibit are by Zevi Blum, Stanley Bowman, Norman Daly, Kenneth Evett, Victor Kord, Jean Locey, Elizabeth Meyer, Eleanore Mikus, Gregory Page, Barry Perlus, W. Stanley Taft and Gail Scott White.
The faculty art exhibition closes Dec. 29.
Several other noteworthy exhibitions are also in their last days at the Johnson. "Two in Montana: Deborah Butterfield and John Buck" features the work of this husband-and-wife team. Butterfield's two enormous horse sculptures made of rusted steel and twisted pipe are dramatic, capturing closely the power, beauty, movement and expression of these animals. The two sculptures have been placed in the center of the gallery floor, enabling visitors to see the work from every angle.
"Winslow Homer's America," which closes Jan. 5, is a generous display of the artist's illustrative work for Harper's Weekly. When he wasn't drawing men fighting in the Civil War, he was drawing bored women, it seems. Three works, Waiting for Calls on New Year's Day (1869), The Morning Walk (1868) and What Shall We Do Next (1869) are all about women who seem to be waiting for something to happen. In the first work, seven women with bustled skirts and upswept hair gather by a window in hopes of spying a gentleman caller. One women is slouched in a chair as if dismayed that no one has come to call. The women in What Shall We Do Next appear to be distracted in their croquet game with mallets resting against their shoulders.
Befitting the holiday season, the Johnson Museum has displayed a large illustration that appeared in Harper's on Dec. 24, 1859. This Christmas eve print is a compilation of holiday scenes, from a nativity scene, to riding in a goat-drawn sled to the merrymaking of a holiday party.
The Johnson Museum will be open only Dec. 28 and 29 between Christmas and New Year's Day. The regular museum schedule will resume Jan. 2. Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.