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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2008

PRESS CONTACT:           
Andrea Potochniak
607 254-4563
arp37@cornell.edu

Including paintings inspired by Ithaca, contemporary works on paper,
pre-Columbian objects, and more

Ithaca, NY—The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University announces its exhibition schedule for Spring 2008.

All are welcome at this semester’s two free opening receptions: Friday, February 1 and Saturday, April 5. Both receptions will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and include refreshments and live music. For additional events throughout the semester, please visit our website at www.museum.cornell.edu.

EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Programs/participants are subject to change. All events are free of charge unless noted.

A Wit Still Sharp: Daumier Turns 200
January 12–March 9
Held in honor of the two-hundredth birthday of Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), this exhibition celebrates the lithographs of the great French satirist of politics and social mores. Daumier is perhaps best known for his scathing caricatures of constitutional monarch Louis-Philippe and members of his parliament; the exhibition features several such works, including some published in liberal newspapers and some sold individually by subscription to pay fines imposed by government censors. Daumier’s work shows the artist’s perceptiveness in depicting France’s changing social classes and professions, and the growing taste for art in his politically complex but economically vibrant nation.

Related event:

Thursday, February 28, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Andy Weislogel will discuss this exhibition.

Charles Liu: Dance of Water
January 12–March 23
Taiwan artist Charles Liu, who has lived overseas for decades, deftly employs traditional Chinese ink painting techniques to create large-scale scenes of American landscapes that blur the geographic differences between East and West and confront issues of displacement, alienation, and assimilation inherent in a life that straddles different cultures. In this exhibition of new work, Liu focuses on water as a symbol of life in Eastern and Western philosophies through video, sound, sculpture, and paintings of waterfalls and streams, including several based on the Ithaca area.

Related events:

Thursday, February 7, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Join curator Ellen Avril for a tour of this exhibition.

Thursday, February 14, 5:15 p.m.
ARTIST’S TALK
Charles Liu will discuss his work.

77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568–1868
January 19–March 16
More than seventy works examine the remarkably creative flowering of the art of writing during Japan’s early modern period and explore the personalities of poets in classical waka and haiku form, Chinese-style masters, Confucian scholars, literati artists, and Zen monks. During this period, when Japan was ruled by powerful shoguns, there was a great flourishing of the arts and a renewed interest in calligraphy. These screens, scrolls, albums, fans, and ceramics exemplify the varieties of scripts and brushwork so beautifully employed in a culture that has held calligraphy in such high esteem. Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by Stephen Addiss, Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities and professor of art history, University of Richmond.

Related events:

Friday, February 1, 4:30 p.m.
GALLERY TALK
Curator of the exhibition, Professor Stephen Addiss, University of Richmond, will give a gallery talk prior to the opening reception, followed by a calligraphy demonstration.

Jane Hammond: Paper Work
January 19–March 23
Trained as a sculptor, Jane Hammond established a formidable reputation as a painter during the 1990s, which is now being supplemented by a closer look at her paper-based work in this exhibition. Hammond’s art hovers at the intersection of word and image. Operating with a fixed lexicon of 276 subjects—mined from magazines, board games, maps, science manuals, children’s books, and the Internet, among other sources—Hammond combines and recombines imagery in her work. This exhibition features more than fifty-five unique paper objects, conveying both thoughts and the slippery process of thinking itself. They collage myriad techniques and materials as well as ideas and feelings to create a stream of mental associations and visual stimuli, underscoring the effect of context and connotation on the construction of meaning.

This exhibition was organized by the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA. The Johnson Museum’s presentation of the exhibition was funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Related events:

Thursday, January 31, 5:15 p.m.
ARTIST’S TALK
Jane Hammond will discuss her work.

Thursday, February 21, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Andrea Inselmann will discuss this exhibition.

Something Old/Something New: Gifts from Alumni
March 22–July 27
In celebration of this year’s Cornell Reunion classes, this exhibition will highlight a wide variety of gifts to the Museum’s collection in the areas of contemporary art, Asian art, and works on paper. Some of these are very recent additions to the collection and have not been shown before; some are old favorites that have been part of our collection for many years. This exhibition recognizes the generosity of our returning alumni and the difference they make to the fine quality of our permanent holdings.

A New World: Pre-Columbian Art from the Carroll Collection
March 29–June 15
In 2006, the Johnson received a spectacular gift of pre-Columbian ceramics, stone carvings, tools, and gold adornments in a great variety of form and decoration from Thomas Carroll, Cornell PhD 1951. The collection primarily represents cultures active in present-day Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Costa Rica, with the greatest concentration from Ecuador; the exhibition highlights these fascinating and less-studied Ecuadorian works, underlining the Museum’s enhanced status as a destination for the appreciation and study of these cultures. Works range from tiny Valdivia fertility figures dating from 3000 BC (among the oldest figural sculptures in the Western Hemisphere) to objects datable between 1250 and 1500 AD.

Related events:

Thursday, April 3, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Andy Weislogel will discuss this exhibition.

Thursday, April 3, 5:15 p.m.
LECTURE
John Scott, professor emeritus of art history at the University of Florida, will discuss the works in the exhibition.

Ramayana in the Arts of India and Southeast Asia
April 5–June 15
The great Hindu epic Ramayana relates the major events in the life of Rama, a form of the god Vishnu, from his birth to his death. The story deals with his disinheritance, his exile, the kidnapping and rescue of his wife Sita, the defeat of King Ravana (the kidnapper) with the help of the Monkey King Hanuman, Rama’s regaining of the throne, and the eventual tragedy in his family. Through paintings, textiles, puppets, and other works inspired by this favorite narrative in the arts of India, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia, this exhibition explores both the artistic commonalities and unique adaptations of the story by diverse cultures.

Related event:

Thursday, April 17, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Curator Ellen Avril will explore this exhibition.

Cornell Art Department Faculty
April 5–June 15
The biennial exhibition of work in a wide range of media by Cornell’s artist-teachers.

Exquisite Corpus: Interacting with the Fragmented Body
April 5–June 15
Cornell’s History of Art Majors’ Society curates this exhibition, which concentrates on the segmented human form. By dividing the physique into a selection of different parts via a selection of artworks from the Museum’s permanent collection, the viewer will be able to reconsider the status (or statuses) of the deconstructed body. In this show, the viewer will have the chance to leave his or her mark in the exhibition space by participating in a Museum-situated vote inspired by Hans Haacke or performing a self-activated photo shoot with the use of a Polaroid camera. Exquisite Corpus will allow for a specific interaction between the viewer’s living body and the fragmented body that exists in the realm of art. This exhibition was funded by a generous gift from Betsey and Alan Harris.

Related event:

Thursday, May 1, 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.
ART FOR LUNCH
Cornell student curators will lead a tour of this exhibition.

Special Programs

Thursday, January 24, 5:15 p.m.
Lecture—Bontei: Mountains on a Table
Marc Keane, landscape architect and writer, will discuss working with the tradition of the bontei tray garden.

Thursday, February 28, 5:00 p.m.
Lecture—The Beowulf Manuscript: Man-Eating Monsters and Fire-Breathing Dragons (But No Angelina)
Asa Simon Mittman, senior lecturer at the School of Art, Arizona State University, will explore the rarely discussed images of the Wonders of the East in the Beowulf manuscript, fabulous creatures that call into question the boundaries of our humanity.

Thursday, March 27, 5:15 p.m.
The Findlay Family Lecture
Terry Carbone, the Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art at the Brooklyn Museum, will discuss American art. The Findlay Family Lecture is funded by a generous gift from the Findlay Family Foundation, through the help of David Findlay, Jr.

Saturday, April 5, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
Spring Party
Join us for our annual spring event, with art activities, refreshments, egg hunts, and a very tall bunny. Free and fun for the whole family! A shuttle from Cornell’s “A” lot will run from 12:30 to 3:15 p.m.

Sunday, April 13, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
Sunday Concert
The Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Music Ensemble

Saturday, April 26, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Art and the Spoken Word
Our current exhibitions of pre-Columbian art and works inspired by the Ramayana tell the stories of ancient cultures. Explore narratives, stories, myths, and beliefs from around the world during this day of performances, art activities, tastes, and more! A shuttle from Cornell’s “A” lot will run from 12:45 to 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 17, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
35th Anniversary and New Wing Groundbreaking
Celebrate the past, present, and future of the Johnson Museum at this special event, where we’ll honor the 35th anniversary of our original building, and break ground on our new underground wing. Refreshments, entertainment, and fun! A shuttle from Cornell’s “A” lot will run from 12:30 to 3:15 p.m.

The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of over 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, late president and chairman of S C Johnson. The building opened in 1973.

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The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, located on the campus of Cornell University, is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Museum is completely accessible for mobility-impaired visitors, and a wheelchair is available in the lobby. Metered parking is available in the lot next to the Museum. For more information, please call 607 255-6464. Visit the Museum’s website at www.museum.cornell.edu. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a proud member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail: www.DiscoveryTrail.com.

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