Cover Story

A Masterful Survey

Crystal Bridges exhibit illustrates continental connections

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --02/19/2015--
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art staff members Niki Stewart and Jamey McGaugh take a "selfie" in front of Jackson Pollock's "Convergence" on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, during a media preview of the Van Gogh to Rotko exhibition inside the Bentonville museum. See more photos at nwadg.com/photos.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --02/19/2015-- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art staff members Niki Stewart and Jamey McGaugh take a "selfie" in front of Jackson Pollock's "Convergence" on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, during a media preview of the Van Gogh to Rotko exhibition inside the Bentonville museum. See more photos at nwadg.com/photos.

The word "American" exists in the very name of the museum in Bentonville. So when Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art books an exhibit featuring European masters, it is significant for the organization and its patrons.

The idea behind this particular exhibit also resides in its name. "Van Gogh to Rothko: Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery" draws links between European masters and latter-day American pioneers. The exhibit debuts today to museum members and Saturday to the general public.

FAQ

‘Van Gogh to Rothko:

Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’

WHEN — Saturday through June 1

WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville

COST — $10; free for museum members and children ages 18 and younger

INFO — 418-5700 or crystalbridges.org

BONUS — Members can enjoy a sneak peek starting today.

"It's an important exhibit," says Manuela Well-Off-Man, the Crystal Bridges curator overseeing its stay in Bentonville. "They are major works, by major artists. [The public] will recognize them immediately."

Standout works include Frida Kahlo's "Self Portrait with Monkey" and Arshile Gorky's "The Liver is the Cock's Comb," packaged together with works by Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse.

Featured in the exhibit pulled from the holdings at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., are 76 works by 73 artists. When originally assembled together for its host, the selection showed off 150 years of savvy collecting by the Albright-Knox staff. At Crystal Bridges, the exhibit will have a different feel. Well-Off-Man arranged the works to demonstrate the varied art movements present. It takes viewers through the earliest works of the post-Impressionist period to Cubism to Surrealism, ending somewhere in the height of the abstract Expressionist movement. The latter end of that spectrum includes works by Robert Motherwell, a Jackson Pollock drip painting and a early Mark Rothko.

As it is set up at Crystal Bridges, the exhibit will serve as a survey of modern art, Well-Off-Man says. And each piece augments the Bentonville museum's permanent collection, either showing off works by artists not on the walls or providing additional examples of those who are present.

For instance, a Rothko included in "From Van Gogh to Rothko" is important because it helps tell the artist's story when compared to "No. 210/No. 211 (Orange)," a large color field work by Rothko that resides in Crystal Bridges' permanent collection.

Well-Off-Man felt the power of the works during the assembly process, which took place in the weeks leading up to today's debut. Seeing the bold, fresh colors in van Gogh's sunny day work "La Maison de la Crau" and the dark beauty of the use of black in a Clyfford Still work were something that pictures in a catalog could not convey.

"Those are amazing moments that you feel," Well-Off-Man says.

The other major element present in the new exhibit is interaction built around the artists. Patrons will not only be able to compare the two Rothko works, but they will also be able to read about his work and listen to the music that inspired him.

Similarly, in a space near the Pollock work, there will be a drawing and painting station that encourages interpretation and creativity.

This is the first time many of the works have toured the country in several decades, and Crystal Bridges is one of only four institutions selected to house the exhibit.

NAN What's Up on 02/20/2015

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