After hitting pause on their exhibits and programming in mid-March due to COVID-19, the Boca Raton Museum of Art reopened to the public on Jun. 3, offering a newly renovated lobby courtesy of board chair, Jody Harrison Grass, a redesigned Wolgin Education Center and free admission through September.
There is still time to catch a number of their time-run exhibitions, including “Eye to I: Self Portraits from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery,” kicking off their national tour. Originally running through Jun. 14, the show has been extended through Sept. 20.
At a time when millions of selfies are posted every day and identity is proving to be more fluid, this exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery shines a new light on self-portraiture.
“These artists looked inward in ways we can connect with in our modern time in ways they could not have foreseen,” says Irvin Lippman, executive director of the museum. “They made a lasting mirror effect of themselves, cutting across time and creating a very personal art that engages us – the viewer,” he says. “
The show was organized by the Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, Dr. Brandon Brame Fortune and showcases 60 works from the years 1901–2015, in a variety of styles and media ranging from caricatures to photographs, from watercolors to dramatic paintings.
Fortune chose all new works for the national tour, some not part of the original exhibit.
“It was an exercise in balancing works from the 20th century, balancing mediums, looking at representations and including portraits from each decade, across generations and across time, to make sure the show that goes on tour is as strong as the original show,” Fortune said
“Because selfies are so ubiquitous, it seemed like an interesting moment to pause and look at what artists have been doing for years.,” Fortune said. “Their self-expression tells us something about their personal lives and the times in which they created the portrait.”
Self-portraits by prominent figures in the history of portraiture include Robert Arneson, Thomas Hart Benton, Deborah Kass, Elaine de Kooning, Alexander Calder and Jasper Johns, among others.
More recent works include those by artists Ana Mendieta, Chuck Close, Lois Dodd Alison Saar and Cuban-born multi-media artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose self-portrait, “When I am not Here, Estoy alla,” (or, When I am not Here, I am There), graces the cover of the exhibit’s catalog.
Standing serenely with her eyes closed, her face covered in white and brown makeup, one arm behind her back and one grasping a Bird of Paradise, Campos-Pons seems to evoke a discussion on the ephemeral nature of shifting identities and self-identity.
Fritz Scholder’s “Self Portrait with Grey Cat,” was the last self-portrait the artist created before he died in 2003, from complications of diabetes.
The dark, moody canvas features the artist boldly facing the viewer as he leans on his cane. His eyes are covered by tinted glasses, and the tubes from his oxygen tank run from his nose across the canvas to the floor, which has been described as a reference to the “shadow of death.”
Also extended through Jan. 3, 2021 and running concurrently with this exhibit is New York based photographer Phyllis Galembo’s: Maske, a series of large scale photographs documenting African ceremonial masks and costumes and the Museum’s presentation of the “Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers,” a series of seven large art nouveau panels, inspired in part by Maurice Maeterlinck’s book, The Intelligence of Flowers, and depicts Isadora Duncan, Mercedes de Cordoba, Katharine Rhoades, Marion Beckett and others, along with their floral counterparts.
The seven large art nouveau panels, each ten feet tall, were painted by Steichen from 1911-1914 for the Park Avenue townhouse of Eugene Meyer and his wife, Agnes.
The murals were inspired in part by Maurice Maeterlinck’s book, “he Intelligence of Flowers,” and depict Isadora Duncan, Mercedes de Cordoba, Katharine Rhoades and Marion Beckett, along with their floral counterparts.
For more information, visit: bocamuseum.org
By Jan Engoren