Yale's Art Gallery Presents Jewelry, Miniatures & Sculpture From Its Collections

NEW HAVEN, CONN.

:The Yale University Art Gallery is gearing up for the reopening of its renovated main building, designed by Louis Kahn, at the end of 2006. In the meantime, art and special programs are being given in the adjacent Gothic-style wing, 1111 Chapel, at High Street.

Several exhibitions will continue through the spring and summer, including "Baubles, Bangles and Beads: American Jewelry from Yale University, 1700-2005"; "Private Faces of Public People: 1750-1900"; and "American Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts." There will be master classes in jewelry in America, "American Precious and Costume Jewelry," presented by Erin Eisenbarth, assistant curator of American decorative arts, on March 30, April 6 and April 8.

The master classes are timed to coincide with the exhibition "Bauble, Bangles and Beads," which will be on view through July 23. Mourning rings, miniatures, knee buckles, bracelets and other notable and unusual selections from the gallery's collection of gold, silver and costume jewelry are presented in this exhibition. Many objects are on public view for the first time.

From a necklace of gold beads created by a colonial goldsmith to insignia from the Society of the Cincinnati and Masons, from Bakelite bracelets from the 1930s to studio jewelry from some of the country's finest contemporary artisans, the exhibition reveals how American have adorned and accessorized themselves for more than 200 years.

"Private Faces of Public People" will be on view through the spring, with no exact closing date yet planned. This special exhibition of American miniatures from the gallery's collection features 29 portraits of leaders in politics and the arts, including George and Martha Washington, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin West and Paul Revere.

A permanent collection exhibition, "American Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts," presents works from one of the earliest American portraits of John Davenport, through mid-Twentieth Century paintings by artists such as Edward Hopper and Thomas Hart Benton. The exhibit includes examples of furniture, turned wood, glass and pewter and other metals. It is ongoing as are the selections from the permanent collection and the pieces in sculpture hall. Selections of paintings include Vincent van Gogh's "The Night Café," 1888, and works by Frans Hals, Edouard Manet and Peter Paul Rubens, among others. In Sculpture Hall, there are more than 120 pieces from the collection of art from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, the Near East, early Europe and Asia.

The Yale University Art Gallery is free and open to the public. For more information, artgallery.yale.edu or 203-432-0600.