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Recent Acquisitions Releases Press Release Archive )
Bessie (Onahotema) Potter Vonnoh (American, 1872–1955). The Secret Garden, c. 1926. Plaster, 65 1/2 x 25 x 15 in. Tyler Museum of Art, on long term loan from private collection
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Hiram Powers (American, 1805–1872). Ginevra, 1841. ÊMarble, 29 x 18 x 11 in. Tyler Museum of Art, on long term loan from private collection
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William Henry Rinehart (American, 1825–1874), Sleeping Children, 1859. Marble, 15 1/2 x 37 x 18 in. Tyler Museum of Art, on long term loan from private collection
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TMA Adds Sculpture to Permanent Collection Tyler, TX—Tyler Museum of Art officials announced the recent addition of three significant sculptures on long-term loan from an anonymous donor, which are now being shown as part of the current exhibition, Curator's Choice: Selections from the Permanent Collection. Bessie Potter Vonnoh's The Secret Garden, Hiram Powers' Ginevra, and William Henry Rinehart's Sleeping Children are now included in the exhibition on display in the TMA's Bell Gallery through January 20, 2008. "These three American artists have been recognized for generations for their incredible talent as portrait sculptors, and their work has maintained its resonance with the public," said Ken Tomio, Tyler Museum of Art curator and exhibition organizer. "We are honored that generous patrons have agreed to loan these beautiful works to the TMA so we can share them with others." Vonnoh (American, 1872–1955), created the simple but elegant The Secret Garden in plaster in 1926, about the same time she was creating a similar sculpture for the Frances Hodgson Burnett Memorial Fountain in New York's Central Park. Burnett was the popular author of well-known children's books including Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) and The Secret Garden (1909) and Vonnoh was obviously inspired by Burnett's writing. Vonnoh studied art with Loredo Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago and helped make sculptures for the façade of the Horticultural Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. She described her style as striving to capture "the joy and swing of everyday life." She traveled and studied in Florence and Paris, and today her work may be found in numerous private and public collections around the world. Tyler Museum of Art owns a smaller Bessie Potter Vonnoh sculpture, Mildred, (modeled 1895; cast c. 1901), which is also being shown in the current exhibition. Hiram Powers (American, 1805–1873) was a well-recognized name in 19th century America. The celebrated artist was sought out by wealthy businessmen, politicians and even European nobility, who paid handsome prices to have their image sculpted by Powers. The American Art Review reports "Critics praised Powers' portraits as 'the men themselves reproduced in marble'." But customers also purchased other less personal works by Powers, including allegorical figures and sculptures with Greco-Roman influence. One of Powers' most famous and most photographed was the Greek Slave; other universally-recognized works by Powers include Proserpine (c. 1844), George Washington (carved 1859) and Benjamin Franklin (carved between 1851–1873.) The Washington piece is a particularly memorable portrait sculpture because Powers rendered AmericaÕs first president's likeness in Neoclassic style, draped in a toga, supposedly relating American democracy to both classical Greece and the powerful Roman Republic. The Washington and Franklin bust sculptures were so popular that Powers produced and sold a number to his admiring patrons. The sculpture on loan to Tyler Museum of Art is executed in a similar bust-size style. Powers' Ginevra, was first executed about 1837–1838, but the marble version on exhibit was created in 1841. Of the three new sculptures at the TMA, the one which may be most popular with the public is Sleeping Children, carved from marble by William Henry Rinehart in 1859. Born in 1825, Rinehart went to work at his father's stone quarry at a young age. Later he worked for a Baltimore stone-cutting firm and studied art at the Maryland Institute. After coming to the attention of several Maryland philanthropists, the talented Rinehart was sent to Florence, Italy to study in 1855. He returned to Baltimore for a short time, but moved to Rome in 1858 where he became a master sculptor, creating more than 100 portrait busts and more than 30 classical statues, mostly for wealthy American patrons, until his death at 49 in 1874. Many of Rinehart's sculptures are part of American public art, particularly in the Baltimore and Washington, DC area, including a bronze statue of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney in Annapolis (a replica also stands in Washington Square in Baltimore), carved classical female figures on the clock in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the bronze doors of the United States Capitol in Washington. Curator's Choice: Selections from the Permanent Collection is only one exhibition currently showing at the TMA. Visitors can also tour Past/Present/Future: Folk Art of Mexico; Selected Works from the Laura and Dan Boeckman Collection of Mexican and Latin American Folk Art and Earth & Sky: The Pastels of Josephine Oliver Travis (1908–1991). There is no charge for admission to any of the exhibitions; hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 903-595-1001. |