Lisa Dickenson Michaux, acting co-curator of the department of prints and drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, will give a lecture entitled “Whistler Circles: A Curator’s Tour through the Etching Revival” on Thursday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boliou Hall Auditorium on the Carleton College campus. This event, organized by students in conjunction with a Carleton Art Gallery exhibit featuring prints by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), is free and open to the public.
During her talk, Dickenson Michaux will discuss the works of Whistler and other artists in the greater context of the etching revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on classic works by Rembrandt and Dürer, Whistler was responsible for reintroducing the print as a creative medium. By temporally straddling the periods of impressionist and abstract art, Whistler incorporated elements of both.
This is exemplified in his Nocturne: Palaces (1879-1880). “Large tonal washes create the [characteristically impressionist] sensation of evening light reflecting off the ancient buildings and the canal” and the “night scene of the aging palaces of Venice [is] turned … into a mystical, nearly abstract aesthetic work,” wrote the Carleton student curators. In fact, Laurel Bradley, lecturer in art and art history and Carleton curator, claims “Whistler’s ideas basically laid the groundwork for abstract art in the twentieth century. He said that art should not be about documenting places or people … [Instead] he compared a painting or print to music, which was understood to be the most abstract form of art at the time.” This association led him to title several works “symphonies” and “nocturnes.” Ironically, many of the artists who were inspired by Whistler diverged in their conceptual approach. While Whistler strove for emotional expression, others created picturesque views of canals and cathedrals which became collector’s items for wealthy Europeans traveling on the Grand Tour.
Included in the exhibit are works by Whistler as well as etchings, drypoints, mezzotints, and lithographs by American and European contributors, displaying remarkable variation in the use of subject, texture, and light. “Whistler Circles” was curated by Carleton students Susan Carlson ’08 (Chicago), Tom Kracauer ’08 (New York), C. Grace Young ’08 (Franklin, Mass.), Kate McDonald ’10 (Minnetonka, Minn.), and Spencer Wigmore ’11 (Elk River, Minn.) as part of a curatorial seminar course taught by Bradley during the winter term. Students conducted research, made thematic choices, designed the layout, planned related events, and created publicity to make the exhibit a success. In addition, they participated in assistant professor of art history Baird Jarman’s course on the Anglo-American Aesthetic Movement 1870-1900. The curricular emphasis on Whistler’s work prepared them to work with the many prints lent to the exhibition by Gayle McJunkin, Carleton’s director of development, in honor of her late husband Jack. Other works were contributed by Carleton College, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum at the University of Minnesota.
Dickenson Michaux holds an M.A. and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, she has curated “Symphony in Black and White: 100 Etchings and Lithographs by James McNeill Whistler” (2004) and “From Dürer to Cassatt: Five Centuries of Master Prints from the Jones Collection” (2006). Current MIA exhibits include “In Full Bloom: Masterworks of Flower Illustration” and “Metamorphosis: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Insects of Suriname,” both on display through June 15, 2008.
“Whistler Circles” can be viewed through May 11 in the Carleton Art Gallery, located near First and Winona Streets, on the lower level of the Music and Drama Center. Gallery hours are Monday through Wednesday, noon to 6p.m.; Thursday and Friday, noon to 10p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4p.m. For more information on the exhibit, visit http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/gallery/whistler/.