(DOYLESTOWN, PA) The James A. Michener Art Museum has reinstalled its permanent collection in two dynamic exhibitions in the Byers and Putman Smith Galleries, revealing to the public 80 pieces that include Pennsylvania Impressionist works as well as contemporary paintings and sculpture.
Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings, which have sparked renewed national interest in recent years, are now displayed salon style in the Byers Gallery, affording visitors the opportunity to view six times as many paintings as previously displayed in the space. The Putnam Smith Gallery now houses 21 newly acquired paintings and sculpture representing the work of critically acclaimed artists with ties to the region, including Dorothy Heller, Linda Guenste, Kathryn Sobey Leslie, Jonathan Hertzel, and Donald Meyer. Many of the pieces currently on display in the two galleries have never before been shown at the Museum. The exhibition in the Byers Gallery is a permanent installation; the exhibition on in the Putnam Smith Gallery will be on view through October 25, 2015.
“As we continue to expand the Museum’s permanent collection, it is important we create opportunities to share a broad range of pieces with the public,” said Kirsten Jensen, the Gerry & Marguerite Lenfest Chief Curator of the Michener Art Museum. “We want to convey to our visitors a deeper understanding of Pennsylvania Impressionism while at the same time celebrating the spectacular artistic ingenuity of contemporary artists whose lives and work have connections to Bucks County.”
As the center for the study of Pennsylvania Impressionism, the Michener Art Museum is home to a world-class group of paintings created in the early 20th century by artistic luminaries such as Daniel Garber, Edward W. Redfield, and William Langston Lathrop, all of whom settled in Bucks County and depicted the grandeur and rustic beauty of the local landscape. Fifty-nine of these paintings were donated to the Museum in 2005 by Marguerite and H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest.
All of the paintings and sculpture on display in the Putnam Smith Gallery are all new acquisitions of the Museum, with the exception of Daniel Garber’s 1926 painting A Wooded Watershed, which is permanently installed in the gallery. Pieces in the installation include The High Priestesses by Dorothy Heller (1965, oil on canvas), Exton Triptych by Donald Meyer (2002, egg tempera), Emission by Linda Guenste (2008, oil on canvas), Looking at Pictures by Wayne Morris (1974, oil on canvas), Ruby and the Colonnade by Kathryn Sobey Leslie (c.1981, oil on canvas), and Zero Gravity by Jonathan Hertzel (1991, terra cotta sculpture), among others.
Located at 138 South Pine St., Doylestown, PA, the Michener Art Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday (hours vary). General admission: members and children under 6, free; adults $18; seniors $17; college students with valid ID $16; ages 6-18 $8.00. For more information, visit MichenerArtMuseum.org or call 215.340.9800.
