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The Rhode Island School Of Design Museum Of Art Presents Two Exhibit

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  • The Rhode Island School Of Design Museum Of Art Presents Two Exhibit

    THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS TWO EXHIBITIONS

    Art Daily
    http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2& amp;int_new=29356
    March 2 2009

    PROVIDENCE, RI.- The RISD Museum of Art presents two complementary
    exhibitions which highlight portraits of artists. Yousuf Karsh:
    Portraits of Artists and Facing Artists: Twentieth Century Portraits
    from the Collection will showcase the work of the photographer Yousuf
    Karsh and other artists such as Andy Warhol, Lucien Freud, and Pablo
    Picasso. The two exhibitions are presented in adjoining galleries
    and offer the visitor the opportunity to make connections between
    the various artists.

    The Karsh exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth
    of Yousuf Karsh (Canadian, born Armenia, 1908-2002) as part of a
    nationwide celebration. Karsh is one of the most celebrated portrait
    photographers of the twentieth century. More than 15,000 people
    sat in front of Karsh's camera--from ordinary citizens to such
    influential figures as Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein. Karsh
    made a concerted effort to record the century's most accomplished
    individuals, especially those in the arts. A selection of twenty-seven
    photographs of visual artists and designers comprise this exhibition;
    all are promised gifts to The RISD Museum from the artist's estate
    administered by his wife, Estrellita Karsh.

    Karsh's portraits are collaborations. His charming manner and ability
    to connect with his sitters come through in the images, which reveal
    as much about his admiration for his subjects as they do about the
    subjects themselves. As fastidious as he was spontaneous, Karsh
    researched his subjects and planned his shots before every sitting,
    but he was always alert to the opportunity of the moment and eschewed
    choosing any single portrait convention. When he photographed Jasper
    Johns, for example, he changed his initial plan to show him with one
    of his paintings, instead tightly framing the artist's penetrating
    gaze to better capture his cerebral nature. For his portrait of Josef
    Albers, Karsh posed the artist seated in profile, creating geometry
    within the frame that echoes Albers's celebrated Homage to the Square
    painting behind him. In the nearly full-length portrait of Russell
    Wright, the designer gazes out a window in a domestic setting that
    perfectly suits his dishware and furniture.

    Karsh wrote about his sittings in a diary. Several of his entries
    are included with the portraits on view, offering insight into his
    experience of his collaborations.

    The exhibition of portraits drawn from the Museum's collection consists
    of portraits of literary, performing, and visual artists by a broad
    range of twentieth-century artists associated with the genre. It
    is intended to give context to the Yousuf Karsh's photographs in the
    adjacent gallery by grouping the works by portrait type so that viewers
    will see how artists have embraced the conventions of portraiture and
    how they have expanded its parameters. Some of the portraits on view
    include Marlene Dietrich by Cecil Beaton; Stephen Spender by Lucien
    Freud; Brassaï by Pablo Picasso; and Mick Jagger by Andy Warhol.
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