Big is the operative word for a new exhibit unveiled to media members earlier today at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.
Big names from the art world are represented in the new exhibit, “Van Gogh to Rothko: Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.” And the works selected for the exhibit are often big in reputation and physical size. Examples include the Jackson Pollock drip painting “Convergence” and the Clyfford Still painting “1957-D, No. 1,” the latter of which is more than 13 feet wide and nine feet tall.
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Among those on hand for the unveiling was Janne Siren, the director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery of Buffalo, N.Y.
Siren said curators there realized decades ago they couldn't compete with larger institutions hoarding the works of European masters. It turned the museum's focus toward contemporary works, and that search netted works by figures now considered luminaries of American contemporary art such as Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and Georgia O'Keeffe.
The collection shows the “pioneering spirit of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and its curators,” Siren said.
The exhibit goes on display tomorrow for museum members and opens Saturday to members of the general public. Admission to the museum is free, but admission to “Van Gogh to Rothko” is $10. For additional details, see the cover story in tomorrow's What's Up! section.