Category Archives: Artworks

Jerry Uelsmann: Inspiring Our Future!

April 26th, 2013

Student_letter_1_webTuesday April fourth was an exciting and eventful day for visitors at the Michener.  Not only were we so honored to have photographer Jerry Uelsmann come visit his retrospective currently on view through this Sunday, but we also had the pleasure of having Photography students from Central Bucks East High School visit us.

These talented students not only got to meet Jerry, but were given a private tour of the exhibit by Jerry himself.  Here are some letters and photographs written to Jerry by these students after their visit.  Clearly, the future of the arts is in great hands!

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Also posted in Behind the Scenes, Events, Exhibitions, Internships, News, Programs, The Mind's Eye: 50 Years of Photography by Jerry Uelsmann | Tagged

Jigsaw Puzzle Queen: Charles F. Ramsey’s, The Modern Woman

April 20th, 2013
Ramsey, Charles F., (1875-1951), The Modern Woman, 1934, oil on canvas, H. 40 x W. 30 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Gift of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest with Assistance from First Union Bank.

Ramsey, Charles F., (1875-1951), The Modern Woman, 1934, oil on canvas, H. 40 x W. 30 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Gift of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest with Assistance from First Union Bank.

A painting that has recently caught my attention is Charles F. Ramsey’s, The Modern Woman, currently on display in the exhibit,  The Brush is Mightier than the Sword: Twentieth Century Works from the Michener Art Museum Collection.

This abstract yet extremely intricate image depicts a female form in the center of the painting, created by the combination of various shapes in a range of different colors.  What do you notice about this woman? Where do you think she is standing?

This painting caught my attention for several reasons.  The first thing I noticed as I looked closer was how much it resembled the cubist style of Pablo Picasso. Upon researching Ramsey, I learned that this French born artist moved to the U.S. to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and eventually spearheaded the movement towards abstraction in the New Hope region, founding the New Group in 1930.

 

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Also posted in Exhibitions, Internships, Permanent Collection | Tagged

March’s Mystery Image Revealed!

April 17th, 2013
Sffiri, Mark; Dodge, Robert, b.1952; b.1939, Folding Screen, 1989, lacewood, acrylic, gold leaf, H. 81 1/2 x W. 60 x D. 1 3/8 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Museum purchase funded by the Mandel Society for Art Aquisition.

Sffiri, Mark; Dodge, Robert, b.1952; b.1939, Folding Screen, 1989, lacewood, acrylic, gold leaf, H. 81 1/2 x W. 60 x D. 1 3/8 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Museum purchase funded by the Mandel Society for Art Acquisition.

We posed a tough image to figure out last month in our monthly mystery contest! March’s Mystery Image was Folding Screen by Mark Sfirri and Robert Dodge.  This colorful screen is one of eight that these artists created together and features a triptych effect that is carried throughout the piece.  Sffirri designed and executed the wood panels, which are punctuated with eccentric curves and angles.  Dodge then painted them, combining geometric patterning and calligraphy, to create a mix of abstract elements and architectural references. Read More »

Also posted in Contests, Intelligent Design, Mystery Image, Permanent Collection | Tagged

What is Your Favorite Michener Art Museum Memory?

April 17th, 2013

Pearson with visitorOver 850 million people worldwide visit museums annually, which surpasses the total attendance to all sporting events each year. Why do you visit a museum?

Museums have dramatically evolved over the years.  In the early 19th century, museums were “cabinets of curiosity”, places for wealthy collectors to display their collections to a limited public, often to other wealthy members of the community or to “respectable visitors” determined by the collectors themselves. By the 1850’s, most of the great museums were founded to educate the public through the display and interpretation of art from prehistoric to modern times.

Today, museums provide many opportunities to educate, entertain, and serve as a source of cultural nourishment for visitors.   Museums are a place of discovery, enlightenment, controversy, peace, and a locus for gatherings of scholars, family and friends. Museums preserve the past, communicate rich cultural stories and histories, create memories, and engage the community in distinctive ways. Museums also reflect the identity of the community they represent.

Why do you visit the Michener Art Museum? What memories have you created here? Responses will be included in our grand exhibition in 2014.

Posted in Artworks

In the Archives: An Exhibition on Artist William A. Smith

March 28th, 2013

small WAS#1If you have walked down to the first level of the museum, chances are you have passed by the museum’s archives and library. The museum’s archives has generated and collected a significant volume of archival resources relating to visual and other arts in Bucks County, as well as its own institutional history and records. Periodically, the museum’s archivist puts a small exhibit together featuring archival holdings. Currently  there is an exhibition relating to the artist, William A. Smith. Smith was an accomplished painter and illustrator but also helped pioneer the use of fine art for commercial purposes.  He was the first fine artist to design a postage stamp for the U.S. in 1972. Read More »

Also posted in Archives | Tagged