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Rediscovering Slobodkina: A Pioneer of American Abstraction
is the
most comprehensive art exhibition to date of artist, author, and
children's book illustrator Esphyr Slobodkina. Organized on the
occasion of her 100th birthday, this centennial exhibition redefines
Slobodkina's role in American art while celebrating a
lifetime of creative achievements.
Curated by Dr. Sandra Kraskin, director of the Sidney Mishkin
Gallery at Baruch College, Rediscovering Slobodkina charts
Esphyr Slobodkina’s artistic development throughout seventy years.
Highlights include mural sketches for the Works Progress
Administration, a painting that was exhibited at the first American
Abstract Artists exhibition in 1937, assemblage art from the 1930s,
original Caps for Sale illustrations, classic abstractions
from the 1940s and 1950s, and rarely-exhibited paintings and
assemblages dating from the 1960s to 2001. Pulling together the best
of Slobodkina’s oeuvre, the retrospective features works on loan
from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, New
Britain Museum of American Art, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Naples
Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Grey Art Gallery,
Heckscher Museum of Art, and the Hillwood Art Museum. Additional
works come from the Slobodkina Foundation’s collection.
The
retrospective premiered at the Heckscher Museum of Art in
Huntington, New York from January 10 - March 22, 2009. It will then
travel to the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida
(June 16 – September 6, 2009), the Naples Museum of Art in Naples,
Florida (October 1 – December 29, 2009), and the Sheldon Art Museum
(January 26-April 28, 2010).
A 180-page, full-color commemorative book has been produced in
conjunction with the exhibition. This publication celebrates
Slobodkina's lifetime achievements with critical essays, color
reproductions of her art and illustrations, and a pictorial
biography with excerpts from Slobodkina's autobiography.
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