MEDIA: You are welcome to cover the grand opening. Reporters and photographers are also welcome to get a sneak preview on “Media Day” on Tuesday, Oct. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to Noon, at the Johnson Art Museum. See the new space in advance of the grand opening. Curators will be on hand for the Media Day. Contact Blaine Friedlander, (607) 254-8093 for information.
ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art officially opens its 16,000 square-foot new wing that realizes the original museum plan for famed architect I. M. Pei. To celebrate, the museum will hold a grand opening on Oct. 15, from 1 - 5 p.m.
From 1 to 3 p.m. – The celebration entails tours of the wing, tours of the exhibition in the new space and the main building, and art activities for families.
From to 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. – Enjoy a free concert by the rhythmic, global sound of the Sim Redmond Band, arguably one of Ithaca’s favorite musical groups.Since it opened in 1973, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art has welcomed over two million visitors, its collection has grown to over 35,000 works of art, and the number of its education programs has tripled. The new wing realizes Pei’s original museum plan. Under the supervision of Pei’s firm and the original architect-in-charge, John L. Sullivan III (Cornell Class of 1962), the $22 million project has been funded by federal government, foundation grants, and private Cornell gifts.
The first major exhibition, “Bursts of Light and Rifts of Darkness: American Expressionism from the Meinig Collection,” features paintings and drawings by Adolph Gottlieb, Clyfford Still, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, and Willem De Kooning, five of the central figures of abstract expressionism. Although the styles and approaches to painting varied considerably among these artists, abstract expressionism can be broadly described by abstract forms, expressive brushwork, and monumental scale. Products of their time and place—New York City after World War II—the abstract expressionists wanted to express their mental and emotional states through their paintings. It is particularly exciting to exhibit a Clyfford Still painting, because due to the artist’s tight control over his work during his lifetime, the number of Still pieces in private and public collections is surprisingly small compared to other artists from that period.
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