By Subject Arts Ackland showcases modern masters in ‘Carolina Collects’
| Ackland showcases modern masters in ‘Carolina Collects’ |
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| Wednesday, August 31, 2011 | |
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Nearly 90 hidden treasures by some of the most renowned artists of the modern era, gathered from the private collections of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni, will be displayed in the Ackland Art Museum’s fall exhibition. “Carolina Collects: 150 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art,” on view Sept. 9 through Dec. 4 in the UNC museum, will offer an overview of art of the past 150 years through paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures, many of which have rarely been exhibited. Sixty Carolina alumni, their degrees spanning more than 50 years, are lending art to the exhibition. “When we initially conceived this exhibition, we knew that art plays an important role in the lives of Carolina alumni,” said museum director Emily Kass. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the breadth and quality of the alumni collections of modern and contemporary art that we’ve been able to discover. The works on view will be a testament to the degree to which the University’s graduates have made art an important part of their lives.” American artists included in “Carolina Collects” will be Marsden Hartley, Thomas Hart Benton, Isamu Noguchi, George Bellows, Louise Nevelson, Arthur Dove, Milton Avery, Alice Neel, Richard Diebenkorn, David Smith, Hans Hofmann, Roy Lichtenstein, Meyer Schapiro, Andy Warhol, Robert Smithson, Joan Mitchell, Jasper Johns, Romare Bearden, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Colescott, Martin Puryear, Lynda Benglis, Lee Bontecou and Glenn Ligon. European artists will include Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Doré, Paul Gauguin, André Derain, Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Emil Nolde, El Lissitsky, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Henry Moore, Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, Francesco Clemente and Bridget Riley. “Carolina Collects” also will be strong in photography, with work by Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, O. Winston Link, Sally Mann, Irving Penn, Nan Goldin, Tina Barney, William Wegman, Gabriel Orozc and others. “‘Carolina Collects’ is a real tribute to the deep intellectualism and sharp visual sense that Carolina has nurtured in so many of its alums,” said Dr. Sheldon Peck of Newton, Mass., who earned bachelor’s and dental degrees at UNC. “I began collecting art seriously 12 years after graduation, always with a sense of quality that I learned from the precious humanities electives I fit into my busy pre-med curriculum at Carolina.” Exhibition curator and Ackland chief curator Peter Nisbet said he knows of only one other public university that has exhibited art owned by alumni, and that was more than 40 years ago. He chose only one outstanding work per artist, allowing a diversity of styles to be on view at once. “The Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill is a rare gem,” says Dr. J. Kenneth Chance of New Bern, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Carolina. “To have some of our works of art included in ‘Carolina Collects’ is both an honor and a delight.” Said Peck: “The broad range of great art and artists that the Ackland has assembled for this exhibition is remarkable, from icons of early modernism to big, bold contemporary pieces. It’s a must-see show.” Programs related to “Carolina Collects” are listed at www.ackland.org. The Ackland, on South Columbia Street just south of Franklin Street, opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free, with donations accepted. Parking is available in several nearby lots and is free in many University lots nights and weekends. The Ackland holds more than 16,000 works of art, featuring significant collections of European masterworks, 20th-century and contemporary art, African art, North Carolina pottery and folk art. The museum also has North Carolina’s premier collections of Asian art and works on paper (drawings, prints and photographs). An academic unit of the University, the Ackland serves broad local, state and national constituencies. For more information, call (919) 966-5736 or visit www.ackland.org. Note: To arrange to attend the media preview at 2 p.m. Sept. 7, contact Emily Bowles at (919) 843-3675 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Images of works in “Carolina Collects”: Alexander Calder, American, 1898–1976: “Scale on Yellow and Blue,” 1972; painted metal. Lent by alumnus Peter Mallinson and Elisabetta Mallinson of London. © Calder Foundation, New York / Artist Rights Society, New York. http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/arts/2011/calder_700x500.jpg Olafur Eliasson, Danish, 1967- : “Yellow Planet,” 2008; mirror, colored glass, copper, stainless steel, cable. Lent by alumnus James Keith Brown and Eric Diefenbach of New York City. © Olafur Eliasson. http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/arts/2011/brown%20eliasson.jpg Ackland contact: Emily Bowles, (919) 843-3675,
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