Water

Voorhees Special Exhibition Galleries
Sep 01, 2010 - Jan 02, 2011

Water, as a vital resource for all life on earth, is an issue of great importance for the sciences and the humanities. Water’s precious nature, its beauty, as well as its power as a force of nature have been the subject of poetry, music, dance and the visual arts. Biologists have studied water as the source of life, and recently been studying how measurable climate shifts will affect life on our planet. The melting of the glaciers and ice fields of the North and South Poles and the rise in sea water may significantly alter the coastlines of our continents and the many urban centers that have historically been built on the edges of seas and waterways. Too much water or too little water are threats to human civilization and to many land-based life-forms. Water is both a precious resource and a threat; the management of water for the benefit of all is another aspect of “ecologies in the balance.”

This exhibition, drawn from the Zimmerli’s collections of American, French, Russian, and Soviet art, as well as from the Children’s Original Book Illustration Collection, is a broad survey of the subject of water. Works from the collection will include prints by Vija Celmins, Honoré Daumier, Paul Gauguin, Hiroshige, and Whistler; paintings by Albert Bierstadt, John F. Kensett, Johan Barthold Jongkind, and Nikolai Dubovskoi; and photographs by Edward Steichen and Francesco Infante (among others). While based on the geographic and historical spread of the museum’s collections, the exhibition will also include important loans from other art museums representing water as an image and symbol from Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas. We will also borrow works from contemporary artists who have created evocative works that resonate as images of water; among the artists under consideration are Lynn Davis, Geoffrey Hendricks, Maya Lin, Wangechi Mutu, and Bill Viola.

The exhibition is organized by Donna Gustafson, Liaison for the Mellon Program and Assistant Curator of American Art, in collaboration with Gail Aaron, Assistant Curator for Original Children’s Book Illustration; Christine Giviskos, Associate Curator of European Art; Julia Tulovsky, Assistant Curator of Russian and Soviet Art; Marilyn Symmes, Director of the Morse Research Center and Curator of Prints; and Jeffrey Wechsler, Senior Curator, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.

Admission:
$3.00 per person for adults who are not members of the museum. Entrance to the museum is free at all times for members, all children under 18, and Rutgers University students, faculty, and staff with a valid I.D. In addition, the first Sunday of each month will be free to all.

Museum Hours:

The Colors of the Steppe:
Non-Conformist Art from Soviet Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

DuBrow Gallery
Jun 26, 2010 - Oct 24, 2010

The neighboring nations of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are located in Central Asia, the vast land mass that stretches from the Caspian Sea to Mongolia. Both nations share an Islamic heritage and a physical geography defined by the flat, expansive grasslands known as the steppe. In keeping with Islamic traditions, the arts and architecture of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have long prized the expressive use of color.

For much of the Twentieth Century, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were part of the Soviet Union, forming two of its fifteen constituent republics. During this period, professional artists were required to work in the official Soviet style of Socialist Realism. Socialist Realism, which favored heroic and patriotic topics painted in a conservative style, was intended to produce a unified national art and severely restricted the creative freedom of artists. As a consequence, many existing artistic traditions, including the decorative use of color characteristic of central Asia, were regarded by authorities as outdated and incompatible with official Soviet art.

The Colors of the Steppe examines the revival of expressive color in the underground or non-conformist art of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The artists included in this exhibition employ bright, vibrant colors as a means of reconnecting with their native artistic traditions. The result is a modern, regional art, in which tradition and innovation are combined as an alternative to official styles.

Admission:
$3.00 per person for adults who are not members of the museum. Entrance to the museum is free at all times for members, all children under 18, and Rutgers University students, faculty, and staff with a valid I.D. In addition, the first Sunday of each month will be free to all.

Museum Hours:

Rutgers Theater Company
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare
Friday, September 3 – Sunday, September 12
*There will NOT be a performance Wednesday, September 8 in honor of Rosh Hashana
Wednesday – Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.
Victoria J. Mastrobuono Theater (formerly the New Theater)
85 George Street at Route 18 in New Brunswick, NJ
Public: $15/Alumni, Employee, Seniors: $15/Students: $10