: In honor of the Hood Museum of Art's 20th anniversary, the museum
is presenting a major new exhibition, "Marks of Distinction: Two
Hundred Years of American Drawings and Watercolors from the Hood
Museum of Art." On view through May 29, this traveling exhibition
highlights a stunning diversity of works dating from 1769 to
1969, many of which have never before been on view.
Nearly 120 works feature the talents of such distinguished
artists as John Singleton Copley, John James Audubon, Winslow
Homer, Mary Cassatt, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent,
Joseph Stella, Jackson Pollock, Eva Hesse and Romare Bearden.
Taken as a whole, these drawings and watercolors reveal the rich
variety of approaches, media and subjects that have attracted
American artists over the course of two centuries. Highlights
range from Copley's magnificent 1769 pastel portrait of New
Hampshire's last royal governor, John Wentworth, to early
Nineteenth Century folk portraits and landscapes, lyrical
Nineteenth Century watercolor marines and interiors, dynamic
images of New York City in the jazz age and purely abstract
compositions by pioneering artists associated with Abstract
Expressionism and Minimalism.
"Marks of Distinction" is the result of a multiyear research
project and a concerted effort to strengthen the museum's
impressive holdings of American drawings and watercolors through
gifts and purchases. The exhibition is accompanied by a 282-page
illustrated catalog co-published with Hudson Hills Press. The
publication provides an overview of the American collection by
renowned art historian and former Dartmouth professor John
Wilmerding; a history of the collection's development by Barbara
MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; in-depth
scholarly entries on 80 of the museum's most noteworthy American
drawings and watercolors by Ms MacAdam, Mark Mitchell, Derrick
Cartwright, Katherine Hart and Barbara Thompson; as well as
illustrations of about 170 additional collection highlights.
There will be a lunchtime gallery talk on Tuesday, April 26, at
12:30 pm in the Second Floor Galleries. "'Marks' from the
Perspective of Artist and Curator" will be presented by Ben Frank
Moss, George Frederick Jewett Professor of Studio Art and Ms
MacAdam,
There will be a lecture on Friday, April 29, at 4:30 pm in the
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium. "Making Their Marks: Medium, Style and
Status in American Nineteenth Century Watercolors and Drawings"
will be presented by Kathleen A. Foster, The Robert L. McNeil Jr
Curator of American Art and Director, Center for American Art,
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Refreshments will follow in Kim
Gallery.
A lunchtime gallery talk will also be presented on Tuesday, May
3, at 12:30 pm in the Second Floor Galleries. "Tarrying with the
Grid: Works on Paper by Three Women Artists" will be the topic
for Mary Coffey, assistant professor of art history.
On Friday, May 20, at 4:30 pm there will be a lecture in the
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium entitled "Freedom Fighters: John Sloan
and the American Moderns in the Dartmouth Collection" by Mark D.
Mitchell, assistant curator of Nineteenth Century art, National
Academy Museum, New York City. Refreshments will follow in Kim
Gallery.
An introductory tour of "Marks of Distinction" will be offered
Saturday, May 14, at 2 pm.
Following the exhibition's debut at the Hood Museum of Art,
approximately 80 of the works in "Marks of Distinction" will
travel to the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, from June 24
to September 4, and the National Academy Museum in New York City,
from October 20 to December 31.
The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College is open
Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm with evening hours on Wednesday
until 9 pm; Sunday, noon to 5 pm. Admission is free. For
information, 603-646-2808.
