image

Exhibitions

Headlines

Calendar









Exhibitions

Remembering Newaygo County: The Symbolist Paintings of Annabel Livermore

August 12 through October 31, 2010






Annabel Livermore
View of Pickerel Lake from the Front Porch, 1995–1998
Oil on panel
21 ½ x 21 ¾ inches, framed: 32 ¼ x 30 ½ inches
Collection of Jay D. and Janice V. Alexander



Annabel Livermore
William J. Branstrom Takes a Morning Stroll in His Arboretum, 1998-1999
Oil on panel
23 ¾ x 21 ¾ inches, framed: 31 x 29 ¼ inches
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Belk


Annabel Livermore
Grandmother Branstrom Fishing Near the Kimble Lake Bridge, 2004-2005
Oil on panel
15 ½ x 19 ¼ inches, framed: 22 ½ x 26 ¼ inches
Collection of the artist


Annabel Livermore
The Old Road to Newaygo, 2003
Oil on panel
11 ½ x 9 ½ inches, framed: 21 x 19 inches
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph H. Weingartner


Annabel Livermore
Morning Sunlight in Branstrom Park, 2002   
Oil on panel
16 x 15 ¾ inches, framed: 24 x 23 ¾ inches
Collection of Adair and Dee Margo






Remembering Newaygo County: The Symbolist Paintings of Annabel Livermore includes twenty paintings that reflect the artist’s memories of the western region of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and the reverence she feels for the places and people surrounding Pickerel Lake, located between the cities of Fremont and Newaygo. The exhibition opens at the Muskegon Museum of Art on August 12 and continues through October 31, 2010.

Though Annabel has lived and worked in El Paso, Texas since 1981, her origins are in Newaygo County. Her work is receiving increasing attention among scholars, curators, and collectors nationwide. Annabel’s burgeoning career has generated an impressive resume; a notable following, including former First Lady Laura Bush; and representation in public collections such as the Yale University Art Gallery, as well an in numerous private collections nationwide. This will be the first public showing of Annabel’s work organized in the Midwest, the first in Michigan, and the first to take as its primary subject her Michigan origins. More than a dozen collections from across the country are lending to the Muskegon exhibition. A fully illustrated 80-page publication, published by the Muskegon Museum of Art and written by MMA Sr. Curator, E. Jane Connell, accompanies the exhibition (below). It is available for purchase in the Museum’s gift store for $15.

 


Annabel is the alter ego of sculptor/poet and Fremont native James R. Magee. (Magee’s grandfather, William J. Branstrom, was a prominent Fremont philanthropist who first settled in Muskegon as a young Swedish immigrant boy and, by family history, was a cow herder for the Hackley family.) Annabel was conceived in the mid-1970s as a retired librarian from the Midwest who took up painting later in life. It is through her color-filled, ebullient paintings that Jim Magee pictures, and gives symbolic meaning to, his Michigan heritage.

Remembering Newaygo County has been organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art. Support for the exhibition and programming has been provided in part by the Fremont Area Community Foundation and the Porter Foundation. The exhibition catalogue is made possible through the generosity of Janice V. and Jay D. Alexander, Jeanne and Roger Knop, Patricia Knop and Zalman King, Adair Margo Fine Art, Johnna and Philip McWeeny, Michael D. Robinson and Donald J. Boutté, Rudolph H. Weingartner, Susan and Dale Wente, and anonymous donors.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Opening Reception and Lecture
Thursday, August 12
Reception 5:30 pm / Lecture 7:00 pm
Celebrate the opening of this groundbreaking exhibition. MMA Sr. Curator E. Jane Connell will present a special lecture, "Annabel's Newaygo County." Annabel collector Patricia Knop will offer introductory remarks. Free event. Call 231.720.2598 if you plan to attend.

Special Curator’s Tour
Thursday, August 19, 1:00–2:00 pm
Explore Remembering Newaygo County: The Symbolist Paintings of Annabel Livermore with MMA Senior Curator E. Jane Connell. Learn about Annabel’s memories of West Michigan that inspired her symbolic paintings about Newaygo County. Free admission. Reservations are not required.

Open Tours
Thursday, August 26, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Drop in for free tours of the Annabel Livermore exhibition led by MMA docents. Reservations are not required.

 

In Appreciation: The Legacy of Friends of Art

August 19 through October 17, 2010

 

Tunis Ponsen (American b. Netherlands, 1891-1968)
Yacht Club Pier
Oil on canvas
1931
Muskegon Museum of Art, 1931.1
Gift of the Friends of Art

Paul Howard Manship
Flight of Europa
Bronze sculpture with onyx base
1928
Muskegon Museum of Art, 1944.1
Gift of the Friends of Art


 

As the Muskegon Museum of Art’s 2012 Centennial approaches, a group of exhibitions comprised of works from its permanent collection will recognize and honor organizations and individuals whose beneficence has enhanced the institution in significant ways. In Appreciation: The Legacy of Friends of Art showcases gifts of artwork given by Friends of Art, a non-profit organization associated with the Museum since 1921. The exhibition can be viewed in the MMA’s Cooper Gallery August 19 through October 17, 2010.

Friends of Art has actively contributed to the permanent collection, adding more than 60 paintings, sculpture, prints, glass, photographs, books, and works on paper carrying their name. In Appreciation highlights a selection of their most significant gifts, including artwork by Tunis Ponsen, James Richmond Barthé, Paul Manship, Severin Roesen, John James Audubon, and Ansel Adams. Artwork acquired from the late 1920s to today will be shown.

Friends of Art was incorporated in 1921 as a non-profit organization associated with the MMA (then named the Hackley Art Gallery) and was an outgrowth of a weekly morning art class conducted at the MMA prior to 1917. Since 1923, Friends of Art has extended a welcome to all who wish to participate in their Wednesday-morning, and occasional evening, programs “to promote the study of art and to support the Muskegon Museum of Art.”  Over the years, annual membership dues have supported gifts of artwork and art education materials to the Museum, and a monetary award for the annual Regional Exhibition. Friends of Art continues to thrive today, providing a series of educational art programs, both at the Museum and offsite, from September through May each year. Programs include lectures by guest speakers, tours, and visits to other museums. For membership and program information, call 231.720.2571.


RELATED PROGRAM    

Wednesday, October 6, 10:30 am
Friends of Art Program
This special presentation by Frances Fisher highlights the Friends of Art legacy at the Muskegon Museum of Art. Mrs. Fisher is an MMA volunteer docent emeritus and long-time member of the Museum and Friends of Art. Open to the public. Free admission.

 

Shout Freedom! Photo League Selections from the Columbus Museum of Art

September 2 through November 7, 2010

 

Jerome Liebling, Butterfly Boy, New York; 1949

Rosalie Gwathmey, Shout Freedom, 1949

Morris Engel, Harlem Merchant, New York; 1937

Walter Rosenblum, D-Day Morning, Omaha Beach; 1944

Marvin E. Newman, Halloween, South Side; 195

Lisette Model, They Honor their Sons, about 1940-1942

Walker Gallery B

The Photo League was a non-profit collective of idealistic New Yorkers who thought that their gritty images of urban life could effect social change. Its members were a who’s who of 20th-century photographers—Berenice Abbott, Lewis Hine, Lisette Model, Aaron, Siskind, W. Eugene Smith, Paul Strand, and Weegee among them. Yet the group is one of the least known in American photographic history. Founded in 1936, the Photo League comprised both professional and amateur photographers. It was the heart and soul of social documentary photography until 1951, when the group disbanded amid McCarthyism and rumored links to Communism. By then, however, League members had already amassed a significant body of work. In 2001, the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, acquired a major collection of more than 150 black and white vintage photographs by 70 members, dating from the entire history of the League. This exhibition features a selection of 55 of the finest examples.

 

Shout Freedom! was organized by the Columbus Museum of Art and Arts Midwest. The national tour of this exhibition has been made possible through American Masterpieces support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The MMA presentation of the exhibition is underwritten by the Patrick O’Leary Foundation of the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.

 

 







 
  





  

   

Detour Art—Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Environments Coast to Coast

September 16 through November 7, 2010

Homer Green (1910-2002)

Man with Wings 1
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
1990
Sculpture (wood and paint)
26 x 56 x 8"

Gregory Warmack (born 1948)
Guitar Pharaoh
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
2002
Sculpture (found object)
40” x 15" x 6”

Minnie (born 1934) and Greg Adkins (son)
Little Tiger
Isonville, Kentucky
2006
Sculpture (wood and paint)
15 x 7”

Ronald E. (born 1932) and Jessie F. Cooper (born 1931)
Minnow Bucket
Flemingsburg, Kentucky
2002
Sculpture (found object)
24 x 25 ½ x 18 ½”

Linvel (1929-2004) and Lillian Barker (1930-1997)
Rabbit
Isonville, Kentucky
1992
Sculpture (wood)
2 ½ x 16 x 9"

Mamie Deschillie (born 1920)
Blue Pick Up Truck (wall hanging)
Fruitland, New Mexico
Date unknown
Painting (on cardboard cut-out)
24 x 11”

Reverend Howard Finster (1916-2001)
Gabriel Trumpeting Angel (wall hanging)
Summerville, Georgia
February 22, 1990
Painting on wood (oil or water-based)
50 x 12"

Matt Sesow (born 1966)    
El Gallo (wall hanging)
Washington, DC
2003
Oil pastel on paper
18 x 24"

Stanley Szwarc (born 1929)
Large jewelry box
Berwyn, Illinois
2003
Decorative metal sculpture
6 x 4 ¾ x 10"

Art and Photographs from the Collection of Kelly Ludwig
Walker Gallery A

Untrained artists are inspired to create for many reasons: retirement, physical or psychological disability, inspiration through a vision, personal loss, or pure chance. Detour Art highlights more than 90 objects in a variety of mediums made by untrained artists, visionaries, and folk creators found along the back roads of America. The exhibition honors a creative spirit that is at once traditional and whimsical, spiritual and irreverent, earthy and sublime. This is an informative introduction to contemporary American folk art that echoes collector Kelly Ludwig’s fascination with visual expression off the beaten path. 

Ludwig, inspired by her work with the PBS show “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations,” has collected outsider, self-taught, and contemporary folk art and documented visionary environments from across the country. The exhibition features objects that evoke joy, wonder, and inspiration by some of the best known artists who work outside the mainstream, including Thornton Dial, Mose Tolliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Howard Finster, Minnie Adkins, and Mary T. Smith. Among the folk art environments documented are S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden and Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain.

Detour Art has been organized from the collection of Kelly Ludwig, Kansas City, Missouri. National tour development is managed by Smith Kramer Fine Arts Services, Kansas City, Missouri.

 

OPENING RECEPTION & LECTURE

Thursday, September 16
(Please note early event times.)
5:00 pm Opening Reception
6:00 pm Lecture by Kelly Ludwig