SPOKANE, Wash. – “From the Collection: Pop! and Beyond,” the Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University’s new exhibition, features more than 60 works of art from its permanent collection that emerged from or were influenced by the pop art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition in the Jundt Galleries runs through May 12.
This exhibition contains prints created by a litany of major artists in pop art: Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Corita Kent, Claes Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenburg, Mel Ramos, James Rosenquist, Wayne Thiebaud, Tom Wesselman, and Andy Warhol. The show also presents other works of art, created from the 1970s to the 2000s, profoundly impacted by the subject matter, themes, and aesthetics of pop art.
“Pop! and Beyond” also celebrates the history of print collecting at Gonzaga from its origins with J. Scott Patnode, founding and former director/curator of the Jundt Art Museum, and collectors Dr. Norman and Esther Bolker, to a significant recent gifts of objects to the museum by Kathleen Magnuson Sheppard.
A free public reception will be held from 4-9 p.m., Friday, Feb. 2 as part of the Spokane Visual Arts Tour. Also, visitors are welcome to custom screenprint their own exhibition T-shirt for $10 with “Ammonite Ink,” (4-9 p.m.) in the Chancellor’s Room of the Museum.
‘The American Scene’ Open in Arcade Gallery
“The American Scene, 1932-1946,” an exhibition featuring a selection of etchings, engravings, lithographs, and other works on paper from the permanent collection of the Jundt Art Museum, is on display in the Jundt’s Arcade Gallery through May 12. This temporary display features a sampling of American works on paper created during the era of the Great Depression and World War II.
The exhibition highlights eight recently acquired prints created in Spokane during the time of the Works Progress Administration-supported Spokane Art Center between 1938 and 1942. These lithographs are representative of the American scene, a countrywide affinity among artists for images of everyday urban and rural life and of the regional landscape, and for reflections on U.S. cultural identity in the 1930s and 1940s.
Represented in the display are works from artists including Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood – who became nationally known through their images of usually Midwestern, rural, local culture, and its traditional values – concerns now commonly associated with the regionalist movement. Seen in retrospect, regionalist artists emerged in all sections of the country, including the Inland Northwest, created images in a broad assortment of subjects, and used a wide range of aesthetic styles. Hence, regionalism and the American scene refer to an art, created in the era of the Great Depression and World War II, which imparts personal responses to a given region, yet transcends those local concerns to comment on the nation as a whole. The display also celebrates some of the many donors who have supported the strengthening and the growth of the collection at Gonzaga over the years.
The museum’s exhibitions and events are free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday; closed Sundays and University holidays. For more information call (509) 313-6843 or visit www.gonzaga.edu/jundt. To arrange a docent guided tour, please call Karen Kaiser, curator of education, at (509) 313-6613.
Image credit: Kenneth Price (American, 1935-2012), "Lizard Cup," 1971; screenprint and stencil on paper. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Bolker Collection: Gift of Norman & Esther Bolker (1995).
