FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Springfield, MO. (November 20, 2023) – The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to present three collection focus exhibitions all opening on Saturday, December 2, 2023. Collection focus exhibitions are pulled from the Museum’s permanent collection of over 10,000 objects and aim to create a deeper understanding and connection with select artists, artistic media, genre, or art period.
Collection Focus: Lithography - Printmaking comprises the largest media in the Museum’s permanent collection. It was made a collection focus by the Museum’s first full-time paid director, Winslow Ames, in 1947, as a way to affordably collect examples of work by European Old Masters. Every subsequent director has continued to support this endeavor, expanding to contemporary printmaking and beyond. This exhibition focuses on the medium of lithography through a cross-section of work, including a wide range of artists, styles, eras, and nationalities. This exhibition includes over 30 lithographs by Henri Matisse, Odilon Redon, Joan Miro, Robert Motherwell, David Hockney, Elizabeth Catlett, May Stevens, Robert Kipniss, Miriam McKinnie, and more.
Collection Focus: Bradi Barth - Bradi Barth (1922-2007) was a Swiss-born artist who created enigmatic and expressively realistic paintings in the technical tradition of 15th century Dutch masters, like Rogier Van der Weyden and Jan Van Eyck. She worked in craquelure, creating texture through a complicated layering of glazes and rich color. Although she lived most of her life in Ghent, Belgium, she was invited to exhibit at the Denver Art Galleries where she received immediate attention from local art collectors. This exhibition features 13 paintings ranging from scenes of Christian iconography to characters of the Italian Commedia dell’arte like Pierrot and Columbine.
Collection Focus: Glenna Goodacre - Glenna Goodacre (1939-2020) was one of just a few women who created large, commemorative sculptures in the United States in the later 20th century. She is perhaps most remembered for her Vietnam Women’s Memorial, dedicated to the 11,500 women who served in Vietnam. She is also widely recognized for the design of the United States millennium dollar coin with the image of Sacagawea and her infant son, Jean Baptiste. This exhibition features 11 paintings and sculptures by Goodacre.
See Collection Focus: Lithography from December 2, 2023 through April 7, 2024 in the Armstrong Gallery. See Collection Focus: Bradi Barth and Collection Focus: Glenna Goodacre from December 2, 2023 through September 1, 2024 in the Spratlen Gallery. The works in Collection Focus: Bradi Barth and Collection Focus: Glenna Goodacre were all gifted to the Museum by Gertrude Vanderveer Spratlen in 1996 and are mounted in the gallery named in her memory. All three exhibitions include Spanish language translations for all exhibit text.
The 2023 Exhibition Season is presented by Friends of the Springfield Art Museum, Inc. The Springfield Art Museum is located at 1111 East Brookside Drive Springfield, MO 65807. Admission is always free. Donations are gratefully accepted.
Public Programs:
FREE Take-Home Project Bag: Printing Portraits
Learn about lithography and create your very own print inspired by a portrait by Henri Matisse on view in Collection Focus: Lithography. Register for your free project bag and then pick it up in the Museum's Lobby during our normal hours of operation. Don't forget to share your work in progress or completed project with us on social media using the hashtag #sgfprojectbag
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The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, the Museum invites you to connect with the world, your community, and yourself through active engagement with art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org or contact Joshua Best, Museum Affairs Officer at (417) 874-2859 or jbest@springfieldmo.gov.
