Displaying items by tag: North Carolina Museum of Art

X-ray radiography is a standard technique widely used by art conservators, art historians, and curators to discover information about the manufacturing process and the condition of a painting. However, cradling—wooden slats attached to the back of many old paintings executed on wooden panels—creates lattice patterns that appear as grids or a series of stripes on an X-ray image. These patterns can obscure the image and distract art conservators from reading the image and analyzing paint layers.

“Cradle patterns in X-ray images has been an ages-old problem for conservators studying collections of Old Master paintings, and until Platypus, required many hours of tedious manipulation of the X-ray image in Photoshop or various other techniques, some of which could be damaging to the painting,” says William Brown, chief conservator at the NCMA.

The North Carolina Museum of Art announces new works of art installed in the 164-acre Museum Park in spring 2015. The works include a bronze fountain sculpture by artist Tim Hawkinson, located in the Museum's Plaza; an interactive work by Maria Elena González, located throughout the Park; and billboards designed by students at three North Carolina universities, located along the Park trails.

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh has received a gift of modern and contemporary art from the collection of Jim Patton, the founder of a leading Washington, D.C., law and lobbying firm, and his late wife, Mary, an accomplished painter. The Pattons have had long-standing ties to North Carolina. Jim was born and raised in Durham and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Mary grew up in Durham and attended the Woman’s College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). The couple’s passion for art and collecting began with Mary’s lifelong interest in painting and was rooted in their deep commitment to stewardship. According to a release from the museum, Jim Patton, said, “I am thankful we were able to collect this art and give it back to the world. I like the idea that these works that Mary and I enjoyed over the years will give pleasure to other people.”

The North Carolina Museum of Art’s new plan for the future involves the great outdoors: more parking, pathways, a redesign of the signature smokestack on the former detention center property and even a bus stop.

"Connecting people to the museum is a goal. It’s important to make the museum as accessible as possible. I get tired of hearing, ‘I couldn’t visit the museum because I couldn’t get there.’ It’s not fair,” said Dan Gottlieb, the museum’s director of planning and design and the person leading the plan for the museum’s 164-acre campus in Raleigh.

Today the North Carolina Museum of Art unveiled a new vision plan for its 164-acre campus. The phased, long-term plan calls for a new campus entrance and streetscape, increased parking capacity, woodland and meadow restoration, additional Park trails and infrastructure, improved sustainability measures, and additional outdoor works of art.

The Museum enlisted landscape architecture and urban design firm Civitas, Inc., of Denver, Colorado, to develop the plan and commissioned internationally renowned artist Jim Hodges to create a signature work of art from the existing smokestack on campus. The Museum’s director of planning and design, Dan Gottlieb, is leading the project.

The National Gallery of Art unveils a show of artwork from one of America's best known painters, Andrew Wyeth, on May 4th that has a decidedly new twist. The exhibit focuses on Wyeth’s fascination with windows – an apparently unnoticed feature of his work that came to light when a curator began wondering about a Wyeth acquisition that came to the gallery in 2009.

The evocative painting of a window with gently billowing curtains and a landscape through the window, “Wind from the Sea,” made curator Nancy K. Anderson start looking for more. “Are we making this up?” she asked, only to have Wyeth family members confirm his interest in windows.

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh has acquired ‘Portrait of Madame X Dressed for the Matinée’ by the American painter Mary Cassatt. The canvas is the first painting by Cassatt to enter the museum’s permanent collection.

‘Portrait of Madame X Dressed for the Matinée’ was executed by Cassatt shortly after she started exhibiting alongside Edgar Degas and other European Impressionists. Cassatt was one of only two women to be accepted into the close-knit circle of artists. Exuding energy and liveliness, ‘Portrait of Madame X Dressed for the Matinée’ illustrates Cassatt’s transition to a fully impressionist style.   

Before joining the North Carolina Museum’s collection, the painting had been owned by the late Winston-Salem-base collector, R. Philip Hanes, and his wife, Charlotte. Anonymous donors and Ms. Hanes gifted the painting to the museum to honor R. Philip’s memory. 

‘Portrait of Madame X Dressed for the Matinée’ will go on view in the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Impressionist Gallery later this month.

October 30, 2011–January 22, 2012

Rembrandt in America is the largest collection of Rembrandt paintings ever presented in an American exhibition and the first major exhibition to explore in depth the collecting history of Rembrandt paintings in America. The NCMA is the only East Coast venue for this exceptional show that features works of art from across the United States, including some of the finest paintings residing in American collections. NCMA Curator of Northern European Art Dennis P. Weller serves as a co-curator of this must-see exhibition, which has been more than five years in the making.

While the primary focus of the exhibition is on the history of Rembrandt collecting in America, the show also explores his work across various genres, his artistic evolution, and his influence on other artists of the day. Included in this exhibition are a number of significant portraits from Rembrandt’s prosperous early career in Amsterdam as the city’s most sought-after portrait painter, as well as character studies, historical and biblical scenes, and three of his celebrated self-portraits. In addition, the exhibition features a gallery with Rembrandt catalogues since the mid-19th century. Visitors will also get a glimpse into the world of conservation with a painting on loan from the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Consisting of about 50 paintings, the exhibition brings together 27 autograph paintings by Rembrandt as well as others thought to be by the master when they entered American collections but whose attributions can no longer be maintained. These include paintings by Dutch masters Jan Lievens and Govert Flinck.

Rembrandt in America not only investigates the overall issue of collecting Rembrandts in America but also the collecting history of some of the works in the NCMA’s collection. In the 1950s Museum director and Rembrandt expert William Valentiner recommended the acquisition of two paintings then thought to be by Rembrandt. Since their acquisition, however, the paintings have been reattributed to other artists. This exhibition is the first to examine these paintings within the larger context of attribution and collecting Rembrandts during the 20th century.

Many exhibitions devoted to Rembrandt’s paintings were held in 2006, during the 400-year anniversary of the artist’s birth; however, Rembrandt in America is unique in offering visitors a rare opportunity to envision the evolving opinions of scholars and collectors regarding what constituted an autograph Rembrandt painting over a period of more than a century.

The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue explore the often-controversial issues of collecting and attribution, with a focus on individual paintings where these two related topics intersect.