When the museum asked voters in 1999 to approve a $62.5 million bond issue that provided the bulk of the funding for a $110 million addition, it dangled the prospect of bigger and better traveling shows.
Director Lewis Sharp said the upcoming series of seven exhibitions, including virtually guaranteed crowd-pleasers devoted to works from the Louvre and the ever-popular field of impressionism, fulfill that promise.
“We simply didn’t have the spaces to do these types of larger shows,” he said. “And part of the challenge always was simply accommodating the attendance and (offering) all the amenities you are expected to provide from simple things, such as checking a coat, to having adequate restrooms.”
These shows, the museum’s first since the three ongoing exhibitions that went on view with the October opening of the Hamilton Building, put a strong emphasis on diversity.
“We certainly wanted some shows that would draw the type of attention to the museum and audiences that we want, but we also wanted ones that touched on a number of different collections and interests of both departments and visitors,” Sharp said. “We wanted a variety of shows, both in terms of scale and number of objects. All of them have their place and have their audience and have their value.”
Three of the exhibits have been organized by the museum, including the first two of four yearly solo exhibitions overseen by Peter Hassrick, director of the museum’s Institute of Western American Art.
The most important will be a retrospective devoted to Charles Deas. Because his career was cut short in the 1840s by a mental breakdown, he has never achieved the fame of his immediate artistic forebear, George Catlin, or painters who followed him, such as Frederic Remington.
The most popular of the Denver-organized offerings will likely be an exhibition delving into the little-explored relationship between the impressionists and some of the artists who influenced them, especially such Spanish masters as Goya, El Greco and Velázquez.
“There have been several shows that have kind of nibbled around the edges on the influence of old-master paintings on the impressionists, but this is a very comprehensive look at that,” Sharp said. “It’s beautiful. It delights the eye. But it’s thoughtful and engaging.”
The touring exhibition will feature more than 90 works from nearly 70 museums and private collections, including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Museo Nacional del Prado in Spain and National Gallery in London. It debuts in Atlanta later this year and ends its run in Seattle in 2008.
The complete line-up:
“Artisans and Kings: Selected Treasures From the Louvre,” Oct. 6, 2007-Jan. 6, 2008. This blockbuster will chronicle the relationships between French artisans and kings during the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI and explore how the royal collections came to be the core of the Louvre’s holdings. It will include more than 75 objects, including paintings by Rubens, Titian and Velázquez.
“Color as Field: American Painting, 1950-1975,” Nov. 9, 2007-Feb. 3, 2008. Organized by the American Federation of Arts, this is the largest exhibition to date to explore the history and significance of color-field painting. On view will be works by such major artists as Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella.
“Heart of the West: George Carlson, Sculpture and Drawing,” Nov. 3, 2007-Jan. 27, 2008. Carlson, a former Coloradan, is considered one of the finest living sculptors of Western subject matter. This exhibition will feature more than 35 works from the artist’s studio and several public and private collections.
“Inspiring Impressionism,” Feb. 23, 2008-May 25, 2008. Viewers can’t seem to get enough of impressionism shows, and this will be a big one. It brings together works by such major figures as Cézanne, Manet and Renoir and examines some of the artists who influenced them.
“Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of Quilts,” April 13, 2008-July 16, 2008. Quilts have proven to be another big draw among museumgoers. This exhibit examines the history of quiltmaking in Gee’s Bend, Ala., from the 1930s through today, focusing on the development of such traditional patterns as housetop, courthouse steps and flying geese.
“Charles Deas: Telling Tales to 1840s America,” May 17, 2008-Aug. 10, 2008. The centerpiece of this show will be “Long Jakes, The Rocky Mountain Man,” which the museum acquired in 1999. Sharp calls it “one of the great masterpieces in the history of Western art.”
“Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes,” dates to be determined. Organized by the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, this exhibiton centers on three monumental topographic installations, including a particle-board evocation of a Colorado mountain range and a 2,500-square-foot “waveform” made of 50,000 pieces of lumber.
Detailed information for at least the first round of shows is expected to be available this summer, with tickets going on sale about a month before each exhibition opens. Call 720-865-5000 or visit denverartmuseum.org.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
