Release Date: February 17, 2009

Upcoming Exhibitions

Jaromír Funke and the Amateur Avant-Garde
National Gallery of Art, Washington—May 3–August 9, 2009

Jaromír Funke (1896–1945) was one of the foremost photographers of the 1920s and 1930s in Czechoslovakia, a country that stood at the forefront of creative photography during these two decades. In the first extensive presentation of Funke's work outside Europe, some 70 works by the artist and leading contemporaries—including Josef Sudek (1896–1976) and Eugen Wiškovský (1888–1964)—will position his career at the center of an important, if often overlooked, history of modernist photography. Funke defined his personal artistic vision in dialogue with the mainstream amateur movement, as well as national and international avant-garde art—Devĕtsil in Prague, and cubism, surrealism, and the Bauhaus abroad.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of The Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation and Marcella and Neil Cohen.

Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life
National Gallery of Art, Washington—May 17–August 23, 2009
Los Angeles County Museum of Art—September 23, 2009–January 3, 2010
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—January 31–May 9, 2010

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Figs and Bread, c. 1770, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund

This exhibition of 31 paintings and nine still-life objects will showcase Meléndez's extraordinary talent for rendering everyday objects with convincing detail, marvelous effects of color and light, and subtle variations of texture. After a precarious beginning to his career, Luis Meléndez (1715–1780) received a royal commission in 1771 from the Prince of Asturias (later King Charles IV) for an extensive series of paintings depicting "the four Seasons of the Year, or more properly, the four Elements, with the aim of composing an amusing cabinet with every species of food produced by the Spanish climate." The commission became the central event in Melendez's life, and from this original set of 44 still lifes he reworked numerous motifs and arrangements, perfecting his talent in the genre. Now recognized as the greatest still-life painter in 18th-century Spain and one of the masters of this field in all of Europe, Meléndez has been overshadowed for centuries by the prolific and gifted Francisco Goya, his contemporary and fellow Spaniard. In 2000, the National Gallery of Art acquired Still Life with Figs and Bread (c. 1770), an exemplary work by Meléndez and one of only 15 works by the artist in the United States.

The catalogue includes essays on the artist's life and career, the everyday objects he portrayed, and in-depth technical studies on the artist's remarkable and meticulous painting method.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is sponsored by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Stanley William Hayter: From Surrealism to Abstraction
National Gallery of Art, Washington—May 31–August 30, 2009

Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988) has been widely celebrated for his influence on creative printmaking in Europe and North America. This exhibition of approximately 55 of Hayter's most important prints is drawn primarily from the Gallery's holdings and the collection of Ruth Cole Kainen (widow of artist Jacob Kainen). The range of Hayter's work in the exhibition includes his early black-and-white surrealist engravings, outstanding examples of his technical innovations, unique proofs and color variations, late linear abstractions inspired by motion and mathematics, and fully worked copperplates and plaster casts, which he deemed artistic creations in their own right. The exhibition will also include a select group of prints by some of the best-known artists to work at his print workshop, "Atelier 17," including Max Ernst, Joan Miró, and Jackson Pollock.

Judith Leyster (1609–1660)
National Gallery of Art, Washington—June 21–November 29, 2009

In celebration of Judith Leyster's (1609–1660) 400th birthday, the Gallery will showcase her expressive Self-Portrait (c. 1630) as the focal point of a small exhibition that will include ten of Leyster's finest works from American and European collections. Leyster's oeuvre consists of a range of subjects, including genre scenes, portraits, and still lifes, that display her awareness of contemporary artistic styles and themes. The informality of her engaging paintings owes much to Frans Hals (c. 1582/1583–1666), with whom she may have studied, as well as to the Utrecht Caravaggisti. To complement Leyster's works, paintings by Hals and by Leyster's husband, Jan Miense Molenaer (1610–1668), will also be included.

The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain
National Gallery of Art, Washington—June 28–November 1, 2009

Lucio Marliani, Child’s armor with helmet (capacete), Milan, c. 1585, Spanish Royal Armory

Armor drawn from the unrivaled collections of the Spanish Royal Armory in Madrid, full-length portraits by such masters as Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Velázquez of emperors and kings wearing the same armor, and related objects including magnificent tapestries, are among some 75 works that will showcase the evolution of armor as a luxury item and its use in cultivating the image of royal power in Imperial Spain. The exhibition will include 12 full suits of armor representing battle, parade, and equestrian equipage armor that dates from as early as the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I of Austria (1493–1519) to Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) and his successors, Philip II (1556–1598), Philip III (1598–1621) and Philip IV(1621–1665). For the first time, the armor and the portraits in which it is depicted will be installed together. Several large tapestries from the Royal Palace will also be showcased to illustrate the armor, its wearers, and its symbolic representation. Originating at a time when the Spanish Crown was at the height of its international power, the Spanish Royal Armory is the oldest and one of the finest and largest armories in the world, imbued with great historical, artistic, and symbolic significance.

The exhibition has been organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX), and the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain.

The exhibition has been organized in association with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture, with the assistance of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, DC.

It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

An Antiquity of Imagination: Tullio Lombardo and Venetian High Renaissance Sculpture
National Gallery of Art, Washington—July 4–October 31, 2009

The first exhibition ever dedicated to Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455–1532) will focus on the romantic antiquarian ideal created by Venetian sculptors around 1500. Tullio was a brilliant marble sculptor and contemporary of the great Venetian Renaissance painters Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian. Eleven rare works will be assembled from Venetian churches as well as museums and private collections in Europe and the U.S. Inspired by ancient sculpture and contemporary painting, Tullio created modern Venetian visions, epitomized by two mysterious reliefs at the core of the exhibition—the haunting couple (c. 1495) from the Ca' d'Oro, Venice, and Bacchus and Ariadne (c. 1505/1510) from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The young couples portrayed at bust length in these works appear simultaneously naturalistic and idealized, with restless expressions and a sensuous treatment of flesh and hair that brings the marble to life.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the first catalogue in English to focus on Tullio's work and its place in the story of Renaissance Venice.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is sponsored by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

Additional support is provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

The exhibition/It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes
National Gallery of Art, Washington—October 25, 2009–March 14, 2010

This exhibition chronicles the major technological developments in photographic processes from the origins of the medium until the advent of digital photography. Drawn from the Gallery's permanent collection, the exhibition, which is organized chronologically, displays some 90 photographs that range from an early photogenic drawing by William Henry Fox Talbot to Polaroid prints by Andy Warhol. Superb examples of the major photographic processes, including salted paper, albumen, gelatin silver, and chromogenic prints, will be on view, along with examples of photomechanical processes such as photogravure and half-tone. The selections in the exhibition will highlight the artistic vitality and technological virtuosity of the medium's practitioners and demonstrate the many factors—not only the choice of process, but also scale, tone, cropping, enlarging, and paper selection—that shape the aesthetic quality and meaning of a photograph

The exhibition will be accompanied by a booklet describing the main photographic processes from the invention of the medium up to (but not including) the introduction of digital photography.

Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500–1800
National Gallery of Art, Washington—October 1, 2009–January 31, 2010

The Gallery's outstanding collection of French old master drawings represents in remarkable richness and breadth the history of French draftsmanship before 1800. Individual works have been included in exhibitions at the Gallery and elsewhere, but the heart of the collection as a whole, now augmented with numerous important recent acquisitions, has never been showcased in a special exhibition. For the first time the Gallery will present a selection of approximately 120 of the most significant, beautiful, and representative drawings made over a period of three centuries by the best French artists working at home and abroad and by foreign artists working in France. Among the key artists are Jean Poyet, Benvenuto Cellini, Jacques Callot, Claude Lorrain, Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and Jacques-Louis David. Outstanding examples will also be presented by other gifted but less widely known artists such as Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, Claude Deruet, Jean-Baptiste Pillement, and Jean-Baptiste Huet.

A comprehensive catalogue illustrating this selection of the Gallery's outstanding collection of French old master drawings will accompany the exhibition.

The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850–1900
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles—April 5–June 28, 2009
National Gallery of Art, Washington—October 1, 2009–January 18, 2010
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago—February 11–June 10, 2010

For much of today's public the art of the late 19th century connotes impressionism, an art of the open air and the café-concert, invoking the pleasure of the landscape and the city with its many entertainments. But there is another side to the story—the discreet world of individual collecting in which prints, drawings, and small sculpture were kept aside in portfolios or stored away in cabinets. Organized around the city centers of Paris, London, and Berlin, the exhibition will include more than 100 works—mainly prints, but also drawings, illustrated books, and small sculpture—from the Gallery's extensive collections that reveal the romantic sensibilities of the arts of privacy. Here the experience of art was a private affair, like taking a book down from the shelf for quiet enjoyment. The arts of privacy encouraged the expression of darker thoughts and moody reflections—a milieu that recruited the talents of academics, realists, impressionists, and symbolists.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an unprecedented catalogue on the study of the nature of the private aesthetic experience in 19th-century collecting.

The exhibition has been organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Robert Bergman
National Gallery of Art, Washington—October 4, 2009–January 3, 2010

For more than 40 years, Robert Bergman (b.1944) has traveled the streets and back alleys of the United States, photographing the people and scenes he encounters. Beginning in the 1960s, he, like so many other so-called street photographers of that generation, used a 35 mm camera to make black-and-white photographs. In the 1980s, Bergman began to work in color. Using no special lighting or equipment, he made a series of monumental portraits of the people he met. The exhibition will present 33 of these compelling portraits from a recent gift to the Gallery of more than 90 photographs by Bergman, most of which have never before been exhibited.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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