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FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Mark Tullos, Jr. Deputy Director
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, UL Lafayette
(337) 482-1369
Photorealism from the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Collection
LAFAYETTE, LA - Since the 1970s, Sydney and Walda Besthoff have specialized in collecting modern and contemporary sculpture, in addition to photorealist painting. Beginning September 8 and running through December 30, 2006 the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum will exhibit 20 works by these masters of the 20 th century.
Photorealism is the quality of resembling a photograph, generally in a hyperrealistic sense. In art, the term is primarily applied to paintings from the photorealism art movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
As a full-fledged art movement, photorealism sprang up in the late 1960s and early 1970s in America and Europe (where it was also commonly labeled superrealism) and was dominated by painters. Louis K. Meisel was the first to name the movment Photorealism and has written all of the major books on the subject. The first generation of American photorealists includes such painters as R.E. Penner, Tjalf Sparney, Ralph Goings, Randy Dudley, Ralph Goings, Ben Johnson, David Cone, Martin, D. J. Hall, Chuck Close, Richard McLean, Robert Bechtle, John Baeder, Philip Pearlstein, Don Eddy, Idelle Weber, Richard Estes, Kim Mendenhall, John Salt, David Parrish, and Alice Dalton Brown. Works by each of these artists are included in the exhibition at the University Art Museum. Often working independently of each other and with widely different starting points, photorealists often tackled mundane or familiar subjects in traditional art genres--landscapes (mostly urban rather than naturalistic), portraits, and still lifes.
Photorealists very consciously took their cues from photographic images, often working very systematically from photographic slide projections onto canvases and using techniques such as gridding to preserve accuracy. The photorealist style is tight and precisionistic, often with an emphasis on imagery that require a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate, such as reflections in specular surfaces and the geometric rigor of man-made environs.
20th century photorealism can be contrasted with the similarly literal, hyperrealistic style found in trompe l'oeil paintings of the 19th century. However, trompe l'oeil paintings tended to be carefully designed, very shallow-space still-lifes with illusionistic gimmicks such as objects seeming to lift slightly from the painting. The photorealism movement moved beyond this double-take illusionism to tackle deeper spatial representations (e.g. urban landscapes) and took on much more varied and dynamic subject matter.
Information is this release can be utilized under the Free Documentation License (GFDL).
The museum member's preview is scheduled for Friday, January 13, 2006 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. For further information please call 482-2ART (2278).
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The University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana is Acadiana's new architectural landmark and the largest art museum on the gulf coast between Houston and New Orleans, the University Art Museum features a variety of changing exhibitions, and a continuing schedule of lectures and programs. All this in the tranquil beauty of University of Louisiana, Lafayette campus and just blocks away from the Oil Center and galleries, shops and famous restaurants of downtown Lafayette.
Hours and Admission:
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday and Monday - Closed
General Information:
For general museum information, the public may call 337-482-2ART, or visit www.louisiana.edu/uam.
Museum
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