Käthe Kollwitz, Die Witwe I [The Widow I], from Krieg [War] (1922-23), Woodcut. The Walter Landauer Collection of Käthe Kollwitz, The William Benton Museum of Art.
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Käthe Kollwitz: Activism Through Art
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT February 3-April 10, 2021 |
Käthe Kollwitz: Activism Through Art draws on the Benton’s collection of more than 100 prints and drawings by German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) to explore the relationship between her art and activism. Kollwitz is known for her humanitarianism, determination to communicate to a wide audience, and commitment to socialist ideals, though she never joined a political party. She was also a gifted printmaker who used her art to give voice to the common person, the suffering, and the poor.
At the center of the exhibition is War [Krieg] (1923), a suite of woodcuts that marks the artist’s turn from intaglio to more widely reproducible print processes, including woodcut and lithography. Rather than the battlefield, the series shows scenes from the home front in a starkly graphic style dominated by fields of black, out of which Kollwitz’s figures seem to emerge. The artist’s first woodcut series, War conveys the raw emotion felt by those who, like Kollwitz, lost a loved one to World War I. |
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The Human Epoch: Living in the Anthropocene
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT October 28, 2020-March 13, 2021 |
This curricular exhibition and related website support the teaching of a new introductory environmental literacy and science course offered by the Department of Geosciences at the University of Connecticut, GSCI 1000E The Human Epoch: Living in the Anthropocene. The course is intended to help students better comprehend global environmental change and to combat “eco-anxiety” by understanding how the Earth actually works. The exhibition offers a point of entry for the broader campus community, as well as the general public, to a set of key questions addressed in the course such as: How does the Earth work, and is it fragile? How and why have humans changed it? How does climate change fit into the larger story? When and how will our epoch end? The exhibition is curated by Robert Thorson, Department Head (Interim) and Professor, Geosciences, with Amanda Douberley, Assistant Curator/Academic Liaison, William Benton Museum of Art.
Mounted in collaboration with the Department of Geosciences at the University of Connecticut. |
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2020 Studio Art + Digital Media & Design Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT ONLINE EXHIBITION |
This annual exhibition highlights new work by graduating students in the Studio Art and Digital Media & Design Master of Fine Arts programs at the University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts. Participating Studio Art MFA candidates includeOlivia Baldwin, Elizabeth Ellenwood, Shadia Heenan, and Chad Uehlein. Participating Digital Media & Design MFA candidates include Jonathan Ampiaw, Karin Ching, Stefan Lopuszanski, Laurel Pehmoeller, and Jasmine Rajavadee.
Mounted in collaboration with the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program and the Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media & Design at the University of Connecticut. |
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UConn Through the Viewfinder: Connecticut Daily Campus Photographs from the Howard Goldbaum Collection, 1967-70
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT January 21-March 13, 2020 |
UConn Through the Viewfinder: Connecticut Daily Campus Photographs from the Howard Goldbaum Collection, 1967-70 draws on a recent gift to the University of Connecticut Library’s Archives & Special Collections of photographic negatives by photojournalist and UConn alumnus Howard Goldbaum. The gift provides a unique perspective on student photojournalism and campus life during the late 1960s, when Goldbaum was a staff photographer and eventually photo editor of the Connecticut Daily Campus.
Mounted in collaboration with Archives and Special Collections, UConn Library and the Digital Art Services Lab, Department of Art and Art History, School of Fine Arts. |
Image credit: Włodzimierz Kotkowski, Słuchajacy VIIa [Listeners VIIa] (1989), Aquatint. William Benton Museum of Art, Gift of Gus Mazzocca.
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DEMOKRACJA GRAFIKA: The Democracy of Print
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT October 24, 2019-March 13, 2020 |
DEMOKRACJA GRAFIKA: The Democracy of Print celebrates UConn Professor Emeritus of Printmaking Gus Mazzocca’s gift to the Benton of more than 150 prints by Polish artists. The prints came to Mazzocca through the exchange program that he established in 1984 with the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland. Produced largely during the 1970s and 1980s, the prints provide an opportunity to sample artistic production in Krakow during the Cold War, when Poland became a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The exhibition’s title, presented in both Polish and English, suggests how printmaking helped artists involved in the exchange transcend cultural and political barriers to find common ground.
The exhibition is divided into three parts. The first section situates key works within the context of Poland’s Cold War history. It explores how artists used metaphor to represent the contradictions of life under Communism. The second section features a wide variety of prints by artists who studied and taught at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. The selection shows how generations of artists at the academy have shaped each other’s work. The third section documents the early years of the exchange between UConn’s School of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. It includes prints as well as posters, video, photographs, and other ephemera from the exchange’s twenty-year history. Mounted in collaboration with the Department of Art and Art History, UConn Global Affairs, and Archives and Special Collections, UConn Library. |
Image credit: Frederick Strothmann, Beat Back the Hun with Liberty Bonds (1918), Lithograph. William Benton Museum of Art, Gift of Robert Elson.
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"Halt the Hun!": Atrocity Propaganda in World War I
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT October 24-December 15, 2019 |
This study gallery exhibition brings together examples of anti-German atrocity propaganda produced by the U.S. government during World War I. It explores the complexities of propaganda production for German immigrants and the unintended consequences of the government’s efforts to shape public opinion.
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Image credit: Consuelo Gotay, Aqua [Water] (2001), Collograph. William Benton Museum of Art, Contemporary World Art Fund.
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Fluid Dynamics in Art and Nature
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT August 23 - October 13, 2019 |
This study gallery exhibition explores the intersection of art and science by bringing together works of art from the Benton Museum’s collection with computer simulations of natural phenomena. As part of the Fluid Dynamics I course in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the exhibition aims to promote creativity, critical thinking, and self-learning. Fluid Dynamics in Art and Nature is curated by George Matheou, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Amanda Douberley, Assistant Curator/Academic Liaison, Willian Benton Museum of Art.
Mounted in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
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Counterproof Press: Collaborations
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT March 28 - July 31, 2019 |
Founded in 2014, Counterproof Press is a collaboration between the Creative Writing Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Printmaking, Graphic Design, Illustration/Animation, and the Design Center Studio in the Department of Art and Art History, in the School of Fine Arts. It is a hub for printmaking, illustration, design, book arts, and creative writing at the University of Connecticut. This exhibition samples the collaborative studio projects facilitated by Counterproof Press, including Wallace Stevens Poetry Program broadsides and work by visiting artists.
Mounted in collaboration with the Department of Art and Art History and the Department of English. |
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The MFA Show 2019: Studio Art + Digital Media & Design Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT April 6 - May 12, 2019 |
The MFA Show 2019 highlights new work by graduating students in the Studio Art and Digital Media & Design Master of Fine Arts programs at the University of Connecticut. Participating Studio Art MFA candidates include Jeanne Ciravolo, Melanie Klimjack, Luke Seward, and River Soma. Participating Digital Media & Design MFA candidates include Cat Boyce, Jacqueline Prager Devine, and Sylvia Mosiany.
Mounted in collaboration with the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program and the Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media & Design at the University of Connecticut. |
Image credit: Sylvia de Swann, Paula and I at the Jewish Cemetery in Cluj, Romania (1994), from the Return series (ongoing). Gelatin silver print. William Benton Museum of Art, Gift of Sylvia de Swann.
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Face-Off: Confronting Portraiture
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT January 15 - March 10, 2019 |
With the invention of photography, access to portraiture expanded dramatically. Face-Off: Confronting Portraiture brings together works by fifteen contemporary artists who take the complex history of portrait photography as their subject, and in some cases, portrait photographs as their object. From 19th century cartes de visite to 21st century selfies, portrait photographs have served as a means for individuals to represent themselves to the world. Portrait photography also has been used as a scientific and documentary tool, often perpetuating negative stereotypes. The photographs included in Face-Off subvert the conventions of portrait photography, revealing contemporary artists’ concern with the fluidity of identity and emphasizing the performative quality of portraiture.
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Image credit: Danny Lyon (American, born 1942). A Toddle House in Atlanta has the distinction of being occupied during a sit-in by some of the most effective organizers in America when the SNCC staff and supporters take a break from a conference to demonstrate, 1963. Gelatin silver print. William Benton Museum of Art, Gift of Sheldron and Helen Seplowitz.
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H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center: Celebrating 50 Years of Service and Activism
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT October 25 - December 16, 2018 |
The Benton salutes UConn’s H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center upon its fiftieth anniversary with an exhibition of photographs by Danny Lyon. As staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1962 to 1964, Lyon documented the leading role of students in the struggle for civil rights.
Mounted in collaboration with the African American Cultural Center at the University of Connecticut. |
Image credit: William Hogarth (English, 1697-1764). The Four Times of Day: Night, 1738. Etching and engraving. William Benton Museum of Art, Robert S. and Naomi C. Dennison Fund for Acquisition.
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From Hogarth to Daumier: Satirical Prints in the Benton’s Collection, 1720-1848
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT August 30 - October 14, 2018 |
Caricature and graphic satire flourished in Western Europe during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when widespread social change and tumultuous political events inspired new forms of humorous printmaking. This exhibition samples satirical printmaking’s golden age with works by William Hogarth, James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, Francisco Goya, J. J. Grandville, and Honoré Daumier.
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Image credit: Sir Realist by John Francis Putnam, 1958.
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What’s the Alternative? The Art and Outrage of the 1960s Underground Press
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT August 24 - October 14, 2018 |
Drawn largely from the Alternative Press Collection at the UConn Archives & Special Collections, What’s the Alternative? The Art and Outrage of the 1960s Underground Press surveys the efforts of cartoonists, illustrators, photographers and painters to warn against public impassivity in the face of political oppression, war, systemic racism and censorship of free speech during the mid-twentieth century. The exhibition is guest curated by cartoonist Dwayne Booth (a.k.a. Mr. Fish).
Mounted in collaboration with Archives & Special Collections, UConn Library; Thomas J. Dodd Research Center; CLAS Dean’s Office, Humanities; Humanities Institute / Humility & Conviction in Public Life; Departments of History, English and Journalism; and the School of Fine Arts. |
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Close Third Person: 2018 Studio Art MFA Thesis Exhibition
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT April 3 - May 6, 2018 |
Close Third Person highlights new work by the MFA class of 2018. The exhibition features painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, installation, and digital animation. Participating artists: Kelsey Miller, Jelena Prljević, Kaleigh Rusgrove, Erin Koch Smith, and Claire Stankus.
Mounted in collaboration with the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program at the University of Connecticut. |
Image credit: Ernest C. Withers (American, 1922–2007). I Am A Man, 1968, from the portfolio I Am a Man. Gelatin silver print, edition 19/25. William Benton Museum of Art, Louise Crombie Beach Memorial Fund.
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I AM A MAN: Photographs by Ernest C. Withers
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs, CT February 1 - May 6, 2018 |
I Am a Man is a portfolio of ten photographs by African-American photojournalist Ernest Withers that tells the story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of one of its most important chroniclers. Withers covered key events such as the historic bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas; and the numerous marches that epitomize the nonviolent resistance advocated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Originally published in newspapers and magazines as reportage during the 1950s and 1960s, these images now serve as a record of momentous events and document the struggle for equal rights for a new generation.
Mounted in collaboration with the African American Cultural Center at the University of Connecticut. |
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Tabletop Sculpture
Art Palace Gallery Austin, TX July 14 - August 22, 2007 Curated by Amanda Douberley Exhibition Design by Erin Curtis Artists: Richie Budd Hunter Cross Bill Davenport Katalin Hausel Mark Schatz Jared Steffensen |
It seems the simplest way to introduce “Tabletop Sculpture” is by way of a photograph, of mid-century architect Gordon Bunshaft’s living room. I cannot reproduce it here, so I will try to describe it for you: On one side of the frame, there is a low white sofa. In the back, right-hand corner, an Eames lounge chair. At the center of the image hangs a large tapestry by Pablo Picasso, which is flanked by a couple of small, late Surrealist paintings. But outnumbering all of these things, covering nearly every available surface, the room brims with a type of object one wouldn’t necessarily expect to encounter in such profusion, at least not in a collector’s home today: Bunshaft’s living room is full of sculpture.
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Interchange: An Exhibition in Three Parts
Creative Research Laboratory Austin, TX Part I: June 30 - July 14, 2007 "The Eternal Moment" Curated by Amanda Douberley "The Burden of History" Curated by Deborah Spivak Artists: Alec Appl Peter Johansen Anna Krachey Kurt Mueller Cecelia Philips Laura Turner Joshua Welker Joseph Winchester Virginia Yount |
From its modern inception in the late nineteenth-century, binary concepts have been central to art history. The so-called “father” of the discipline, Heinrich Wölfflin, is most famous for his binary distinctions between the formal characteristics of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art, appropriately accompanied by his innovative double-slide lectures. The plurality of postmodern methodologies—not to mention PowerPoint presentations—have done much to change our ways of looking at objects. But, it would seem that even in the twenty-first-century, if you give a group of art history graduate students two back-to-back exhibitions to curate from a group of MFA studio art students, it almost goes without saying that a binary distinction will separate the two shows.
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Object / Type / Transform
Work by undergraduate students in Design at UT-Austin. Gallery 3 at the Co-op Austin, TX March 29 - April 21, 2007 Designers: Ben Hasson Caspar Lam Allison Lura Marti Manship Robin Peeples Rachel Tepper |
Object. Type. Transform. Looking over my notes from meetings with the six Design students whose work is featured in this exhibition, I found these three words repeated over and over again. They interweave and overlap between the projects included here, sometimes describing an action, sometimes a product, and at other times a method of approach.
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Outside Area
Recent work by UT-Austin MFA students in Studio Art. Gallery 3 at the Co-op Austin, TX August 31 - September 30, 2006 Artists: Jarrod Beck Erin Curtis Aron Johnston |
Studio art graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin each choose an area of concentration as a focus for their studies in one of seven fields: ceramics, metals, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and transmedia (time-based art). On an administrative level, these divisions establish the makeup of students’ advisory committees and the location of their studios. Within artistic practice, however, the boundaries between areas can be quite fluid. Outside Area engages three MFA students who work outside their academic area of concentration, combining disparate media and modes of production to create hybrid forms that resist easy categorization.
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No Place Like Home
Gallery 3 at the Co-op Austin, TX September 8 - October 1, 2005 Artists: Ali Fitzgerald Erick Michaud Jared Steffensen David Woody |
Where is home? Is it the place you live, the town where you were born, or the house you grew up in? How does a new environment become home, or at least like home? Is home even a place at all, or is it no place, more a memory or illusion than an actual location? We typically think of home as a stable place, fixed in one location, embedded in our everyday lives as a source of comfort and ease. Being at home is a physical state as well as a psychological condition, however, and just as where you’re living now may not feel quite like home, where you’re from may eventually end up being a place you can only visit in your memories. These competing interpretations of home are examined in No Place Like Home through paintings, photographs, sculptures, and videos inspired by the places where these artists live and work.
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Katherine Bash: Tracing the Wind
Upstairs Project Room Glassell School of Art Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX March 31 - May 10, 2005 |
Katherine Bash’s video installation, Abrisamento, captures a natural phenomenon that, for all its visual interest and beauty, is so common as to be unremarkable: images produced by the sun filtered through tiny gaps in a tree’s canopy. These beams of light pierce the shadows beneath the tree, and create abstract patterns, sometimes called “sun-pictures,” that change according to the movement of the tree as it sways in the wind. Bash chose to project her video from the ceiling onto elliptical supports that seem to hover in mid-air, mimicking the projection of the sun’s light down through the leaves of a tree and onto the ground, and perforating the space of the gallery with an event from the outside, or “natural,” world.
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