<\/p>\n
– Over 45 canvases by William-Adolphe Bouguereau are presented in the first major exhibition showcasing the painter since the 1980s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0–<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Milwaukee, Wis. \u2013 November 8, 2018 \u2013<\/b> The work of French academic painter <\/span>William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825\u20131905)<\/b>, who enjoyed remarkable popularity throughout America\u2019s Gilded Age, is the focus of a new exhibition co-organized by the <\/span>Milwaukee Art Museum<\/b> and the <\/span>Memphis Brooks Museum of Art<\/b>. <\/span>Bouguereau & America <\/span><\/i>is the first major exhibition of the artist\u2019s work in nearly 30 years. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBouguereau is a defining figure in the history of French art, and an extraordinary painter whose masterful canvases evoke delight and wonder. In addition to that, however, Bouguereau\u2019s work can teach us much more,\u201d said <\/span>Tanya Paul, Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art, Milwaukee Art Museum<\/b> and co-curator of the exhibition. \u201cThe story of Bouguereau is the story of the way art rises and falls in popularity; the role dealers, collectors and patrons play in shaping art and taste; and, in many ways, the way art was collected as members of a new American merchant class tried to define themselves and their role in the world through culture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Opening <\/span>February 15, 2019,<\/b> at the Milwaukee Art Museum, <\/span>Bouguereau & America<\/i><\/b> will include more than 45 canvases by the French artist, whose renown peaked in America between the late 1860s and the early 1900s, and whose works form the backbone of many museum collections. Pulling together large-scale canvases from museums and private collections in the United States and Mexico, the exhibition presents not just the paintings, but also their provenance in order to examine their popularity and cultural relevance in America. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Bouguereau delights and confounds us. It\u2019s hard not to be seduced by his exquisite technique and the shameless beauty of his modest nymphs, woebegone children, and polished peasants<\/span>,\u201d said <\/span>Stanton Thomas, <\/b>former <\/span>Curator of European and Decorative Arts, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art,<\/b> now <\/span>Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida<\/b>, and co-curator of the exhibition. \u201c<\/span>But the question of meaning in these grand confections, which we are taught to expect from great art, often eludes us. This exhibition is a brilliant chance to revel in Bouguereau\u2019s \u00a0paintings\u2014which are very nearly tableaux-vivants\u2014and to look a little more carefully at those luscious and perennially popular works.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n During the Gilded Age, owning a painting by Bouguereau was considered essential for any American who aspired to be a serious art collector. The artist\u2019s grand representational canvases, with their self-conscious references to acknowledged masters like Raphael, brought a sense of sophistication to newly formed collections. <\/span>Bouguereau & America<\/span><\/i> takes a comprehensive and contemporary look at the artist\u2019s reputation\u2014once revered by Gilded Age collectors and later reviled by critics\u2014and offers an opportunity to examine how society\u2019s perspectives on art and subject matter can shift over time. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe elegance, technical perfection, and flawless surfaces of Bouguereau\u2019s canvases have beguiled American collectors from the beginning,\u201d said <\/span>Emily Ballew Neff, Executive Director, <\/b>Memphis Brooks Museum of Art<\/b>. \u201cA milestone in the history of art collecting, this exhibition reveals why so many Gilded Age patrons keenly desired a Bouguereau for their art collections, and how so many of the artist\u2019s enthusiastic patrons\u2014and their Bouguereaus\u2014were instrumental in the formation of art museums in the US.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n By reexamining Bouguereau\u2019s collectors, the exhibition sheds light on how the history of collecting mirrors the religious beliefs, sexual mores and social problems of the period, as well as how the artist\u2019s popularity influenced his subject matter. <\/span><\/p>\n A full-color exhibition catalogue will be published by Yale University Press with essays by the <\/span>Bouguereau & America<\/span><\/i> co-curators, as well as a group of distinguished scholars of the subject. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith this exhibition, we are inviting visitors to look at these paintings not only as historically significant works but also as products of their time, allowing us to contemplate our values today,\u201d said <\/span>Marcelle Polednik, PhD, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director, Milwaukee Art Museum<\/b>. \u201cBy looking at Bouguereau and his role in the development of the American art collector, we are seeking to spark important conversations about the history and future of art and collecting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bouguereau & America<\/span><\/i> will be on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum from February 15 through May 12, 2019. The exhibition will then travel to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and be shown from June 22 to September 22, 2019. It will close at the San Diego Museum of Art, where it will be on view from November 9, 2019, to March 15, 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n This exhibition is co-organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.<\/span><\/p>\n At the Milwaukee Art Museum, <\/span>Bouguereau & America<\/span><\/i> is the 2019 Layton Feature Exhibition, sponsored by Layton Art Collection Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n At the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, <\/span>Bouguereau & America <\/span><\/i>is sponsored by Dr. Joy Brown Wiener and family, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Needham Horton, Mr. and Mrs. Bailey Wiener, and Mr. and Mrs. Lee Russel Wiener. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" – Over 45 canvases by William-Adolphe Bouguereau are presented in the first major exhibition showcasing the painter since the 1980s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0– Milwaukee, Wis. \u2013 November 8, 2018 \u2013 The work of French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825\u20131905), who enjoyed remarkable popularity throughout America\u2019s Gilded Age, is the focus of a new exhibition co-organized by … New Bouguereau Exhibition at Milwaukee Art Museum, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Explores Artist\u2019s Popularity in Gilded Age America<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1501,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exhibition","category-featured-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1501"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4963,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions\/4963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}