THe Toledo Museum of Art presents Revelation. Major Paintings by Jules Olitski, an exhibition on view through Aug. 26, 2012.
Jules Olitski, American, 1922-2007. With Love and Disregard: Rapture, 2002, acrylic on canvas, private collection. © Estate of Jules Olitski/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY; photo: Michael Cullen
Russian-born Jules Olitski (1922–2007) first gained international acclaim as a Color Field painter, one of a group of highly regarded artists employing intense color in abstract form as the carrier of emotional meaning. But Olitski’s sweeping, grand shapes offered a different type of pictorial drama from those of his colleagues and led to his experimentation with very large fields of near-monochrome color. These often enormous paintings, which became known as his landmark spray paintings, are at once minimal yet complex in their gradations and subtle shifts in hue. Later, in his Baroque and High Baroque paintings—so-called because of their lush colors and surfaces—Olitski accentuated physicality as an expressive element. His last works introduced abstract forms that offer a narrative on both spiritually charged and classical themes. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri organized this traveling exhibition. Other venues include the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas and the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C. A fully illustrated exhibition catalog accompanies the exhibition. Free admission. The exhibition is made possible by members of the Toledo Museum of Art and sponsored in part by Key Bank. The exhibition also is supported in part by the Ohio Art Council’s sustainable grant program funded by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Museum is located at 2445 Monroe Street at Scottwood Avenue, just west of the downtown business district and one block off I-75 with exit designations posted. For general information, visitors can call 419-255-8000 or 800-644-6862, or visit www.toledomuseum.org