When entering the Calatrava from the upper-level bridge, one notices the bronze plaque at the front that announces: Connecting Life and Art. All the featured artists in "American Originals"-the new exhibitions co-organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Chipstone Foundation and the American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation-symbolically cross over that narrow walkway, having deeply infused their lives with art.
The two combined exhibitions, "The Eight and American Modernisms" and "The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs," present individuals who not only were artists, but authors, collectors, educators, illustrators, journalists, set designers and leaders of organizations as well. Art flowed from each artist's interests, incorporating many aspects of life to express their Modernist principles.
The etchings, graphite, monotype, oil, pastel and watercolor images produced by the Eight-Arthur B. Davies, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice B. Prendergast, Everett Shinn and John Sloan-represent art radically connected to their lives. The subject material moves beyond the scope of urban realism and mirrors the artists' aesthetic philosophies, including Henri's portraits with psychologically penetrating eyes (Spanish Girl of Segovia), Davies' dream-induced nude dancers (Rhythms), Shinn's theatrical visions of entertainment (Nightclub Scene), Luks' images of marginalized humanity and Prendergast's confetti-colored gatherings (The Grove). These paintings, which documented the dawn of the 20th century without social or political commentary, were often deemed vulgar or improper, even though they captured everyday reality from an artist's perspective.
In addition to subject content, the Eight studied and interpreted other European Modernist concepts that can be identified throughout the exhibit in their Expressionistic, exposed, flickering and fluid brushwork, often impasto, which imbued numerous paintings with visual excitement. Through landscape painting, Lawson defines his rural scenes with textured flicks of color (Spring Tapestry), stylistically comparable to Georges Braque's 1906 Landscape at L'Estaque.
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In the companion exhibition "The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs," Rohlfs echoes the Eight by marrying early-19th-century designs and European decorative arts with unique American ingenuity. A corner chair with pierced bracketing translates an old form in an original way, as does a hall chair that cleverly incorporates an oak tree's cellular structure into its design.
These nine "American Originals" advance philosophical themes influencing the course of American Modern art. Is their legacy overlooked and undervalued? The exhibit attempts to answer that question by showcasing these accomplished artists, underscoring the fact that they contributed significantly to multiple professions by connecting art to life.
Continues until Aug. 23.
