: Treasures of the Reading Public Museum
The Reading Public Museum is launching its 100th anniversary year
with the groundbreaking exhibit "Enduring Beauty: Treasures of
the Reading Public Museum." This exhibit, which runs through
April 11, is mounted in the museum's Temporary and Founder's
galleries.
The exhibit's focus is seldom or never before seen works from the
permanent collections of the Reading Public Museum. Masterworks
from painting, print and sculpture, and objects from the
ethnographic and science collections are highlighted.
Ron Roth, museum director CEO and exhibit curator, commented,
"The collections of the Reading Public Museum are among America's
most important. Few museums have the level of variety and quality
as that of our museum. The 100th anniversary is an opportunity to
increase the level of awareness in our community of the unique
treasure that is the Reading Public Museum."
The Reading Public Museum has one of the country's largest
collections of Pennsylvania Impressionists including Edward
Redfield, John Folinsbee, Daniel Garber and Robert Spencer. One
of the highlights of "Enduring Beauty: Treasures of the Reading
Public Museum" is the exhibition of most of the museum's
collection from the New Hope Art Colony and other American
Impressionists associated with Pennsylvania.
Another highlight of "Enduring Beauty: Treasures of the Reading
Public Museum" is the "floating exhibit" staged in the second
floor Asian Gallery. The museum's collection of approximately
14,000 prints includes significant holdings of Japanese woodblock
prints of the ukiyo-ye school, referred to as the "floating
world." This "floating exhibit" features some of the museum's
most important prints of this school, including masters Hokusai
and Hiroshige.
Other highlights include a "Sculpure Salon" that showcase the
museum's holdings of late Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
sculpture including Auguste Rodin, Antoine Louis Barye, Paul
Manship and Alexander Sterling Calder. Also featured will be the
work of Albrecht Durer, Germany's great Sixteenth Century artist,
including a complete set of one of his most important series of
prints, the engraved "Passion." This series of engravings,
printed in book form, was produced between 1507 and 1512 and is
one of the most important acquisitions by the museum in its
100-year history.
The museum's ethnographic holdings are represented with a
sampling of rare artifacts from the Lenape and Sioux nations,
including a rare silk decorative ribbon, a one-of-a-kind artifact
from the Lenape to the Osage nation in the latter Nineteenth
Century. The museum's science collection is showcasing rare,
exotic birds and mammals and physical science treasures.
Related programming for "Enduring Beauty: Treasures of the
Reading Public Museum" includes a Wednesday Treasure lecture
series - March through May. Content-based talks led by experts in
specific fields highlight the collections and objects at the
Reading Public Museum. Lectures are conducted in the museum
auditorium on Wednesday evenings, from 7 to 8 pm. Cost is $10 for
members and $15 for nonmembers (no preregistration required -
tickets sold at door).
The lecture series lineup is as follows: March 10, "Treasures of
the Reading Public Museum" by Fred Heffner; March 24, "A History
of Art in Berks County" by George Meiser, IX president of the
Historical Society of Berks County; March 31, "Shearer, Spang,
Devlin" by Valerie Malmberg, co-owner of Greshville Antiques and
specialist on Berks County artists; April 7, "Homage to
Tintoretto" by Ronald Roth, director and CEO of Reading Public
Museum, in honor of the Jesuit Center. The "Raising of Lazarus,"
a work on loan to the Reading Public Museum.
On May 5, "Pennsylvania German Art and Artifacts" by Richard
Machmer, major collector and specialist of Pennsylvania German
folk art; May 12, "Ralph Blakelock" by Norman Geske, America's
leading expert on Twentieth Century American art and the work of
Ralph Blakelock; May 19, "History of Photography" by Archibald
Perrin, art history professor, Albright College; May 26,
"Twentieth Century Art" by Robert Metzger, a leading authority on
Twentieth Century art and director emeritus of the Reading Public
Museum.
"Enduring Beauty: Treasures of the Reading Public Museum" is
sponsored by Yuasa and supported by the Friends of the Reading
Museum, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Regular museum
admission is adults $7 and children $5, age 4 to 17. Museum hours
are Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm; Wednesday,
11 am to 8 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm.
The Reading Public Museum is at 560 Museum Road. For
information, 610-371-5850 or readingpublicmuseum.org.
