Crocker Art Museum - Upcoming Exhibitions

Goltzius Crown of Thorns OCTOBER 20, 2013 – JANUARY 26, 2014

Known as the master Dutch engraver of his time, as important for engraving as Rembrandt was for etching, Hendrick Goltzius was a pivotal printmaker at the turn of the 17th century. His engaging subjects and highly versatile technique earned him praise and commissions throughout Europe. The series at the core of this collaborative exhibition, the Life of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ, show Goltzius in all his chameleon-like virtuosity. Focusing as much on technique as on the subjects in the series, the exhibition explores the influence and interpretation of earlier printmakers in Goltzius's work as well. The visual dialogue between Goltzius and precursors such as Albrecht Dürer provides a deeper understanding of the history of engraving and visual culture in the late 16th century. Goltzius's own passion for his subjects and technique make the objects in the exhibition the most ambitious works of his career.

Image credit: Hendrick Goltzius, Christ Crowned with Thorns (Passion Series), 1596-1598. Engraving, 19.7 x 13 cm. University of San Diego, PC2010.2.7. Acquired with a gift from Robert and Karen Hoehn.

WarrenMacKenzie 2011 101 1 NOVEMBER 10, 2013 – FEBRUARY 23, 2014

Few artists have enjoyed as devoted a following as ceramist Warren MacKenzie. His philosophy of making and decades of teaching have had a lasting impact on the development of American studio pottery–an influence extending to generations of students and collectors. Throughout his 60 years of making he has explored the shape of things and the interplay of the intentional with the unexpected. His solidly built forms enhance daily rituals of serving, eating, and drinking, showcasing not only his mastery of material and artistic intuition, but the ceaseless work ethic behind his success. This exhibition pays tribute to this much-honored pioneer with objects from the collection assembled by Susanna and George Grossman, a recent gift to the Museum.

Image credit: Warren MacKenzie (American, born 1924), Vase, n.d. Stoneware, shino glazed, 15 1/2 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of George S. Grossman, 2011.101.1.

Untitled 1980 JANUARY 26 – APRIL 20, 2014

This exhibition celebrates internationally acclaimed California native Sam Francis, one of the state's most historically significant artists. Featuring a colorful range of the artist's paintings and unique works on paper, this survey highlights different periods of the artist's oeuvre as represented in extraordinary public and private California collections, starting from the early works that the artist made in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1940s leading up to the artist's influential and expansive body of work created between the 1950s and the 1990s. Represented are works made in the artist's California studios in Palo Alto, Point Reyes, Santa Monica, and Venice, as well as those made when Francis was living in New York, Switzerland, and Japan. The exhibition is organized by the Sam Francis Foundation in collaboration with the Pasadena Museum of California Art and the Crocker Art Museum.

Image credit: Sam Francis, Untitled, 1980. Acrylic on canvas, 54 x 142 in. The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. Artwork © Sam Francis Foundation, California/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Tavernier-Balloon web FEBRUARY 16 – MAY 11, 2014

This is the first museum exhibition to survey the work of early California artist Jules Tavernier (1844–1889). Born in Paris and trained in France, Tavernier adapted his native country's Barbizon aesthetic to scenes of the American West. This exhibition surveys the artist's entire career through 100 paintings and works on paper, from his early transcontinental illustrations for "Harper's Weekly" and paintings of Native American subjects to scenes of the San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Peninsula, where he founded the local art colony in 1875. Also featured are the artist's signature paintings of erupting volcanoes, which he painted in Hawaii before his untimely death at age 45. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalogue—the first to feature Tavernier exclusively—and features essays by Scott A. Shields, Ph.D., the Crocker's chief curator and associate director, as well as Claudine Chalmers, Ph.D., and Alfred Harrison, Jr.

This exhibition is supported, in part, by a grant from the Historical Collections Council of California Art.

The exhibition catalogue is supported, in part, by a grant from Furthermore: A Program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.

Image credit: Jules Tavernier, A Balloon in Mid-Air, 1875. Oil on canvas, 30 x 50 in. Courtesy of North Point Gallery, San Francisco.

crite schools out JUNE 29 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

This exhibition of works seldom seen outside the Smithsonian presents 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs by African American artists, drawn from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Crocker Art Museum is the only West Coast venue for this stunning survey of African American visual heritage, its rich sources, and future directions. The 48 featured artists include not only icons of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance but lauded figures of the 20th century's major artistic movements. Included are such artists as William H. Johnson, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence, Sam Gilliam, as well as assemblage artist Renee Stout. Depicted in these works are the many and varied concerns of the 20th century before, during, and after the Civil Rights movement.

Image credit: Allan Rohan Crite, School's Out, 1936, oil. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from The Museum of Modern Art.