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Exhibition Schedule

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW

She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World
Through May 4, 2015

Pigott Family Gallery
This exhibition introduces the pioneering work of 12 leading women photographers from Iran and the Arab world: Jananne Al-Ani, Boushra Almutawakel, Gohar Dashti, Rana El Nemr, Lalla Essaydi, Shadi Ghadirian, Tanya Habjouqa, Rula Halawani, Nermine Hammam, Rania Matar, Shirin Neshat, and Newsha Tavakolian. These photographers have tackled the very notion of representation with passion and power, questioning tradition and challenging perceptions of Middle Eastern identity. Their provocative work ranges from fine art to photojournalism and provides insights into political and social issues, including questions of personal identity and exploring the complex political and social landscapes of their home regions in images of great sophistication, expressiveness, and beauty. Learn more IMAGE: Gohar Dashti (Iran, b. 1980), Untitled #5 from the series Today’s Life and War (detail), 2008. Pigment print. Courtesy of the artist, Azita Bina and Robert Klein Gallery, Boston © Gohar Dashti

 

Promised Land: Jacob Lawrence at the Cantor

A Gift from the Kayden Family
Through August 3, 2015

Ruth Levison Halperin Gallery

This exhibition features an exceptional group of 56 works by the 20th-century American master, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), and one by his spouse, Gwendolyn Knight (1913–2005), recently given to the Cantor Arts Center by Dr. Herbert J. Kayden and his family in memory of Dr. Gabrielle H. Reem. The gift illuminates Lawrence’s career through 11 drawings, six paintings, one illustrated book, and 39 prints, all dating between the years 1943 and 1998. Learn more IMAGE: Jacob Lawrence (U.S.A., 1917–2000), Builders No. 3, 1973. Gouache, tempera and graphite on paper. Gift of Dr. Herbert J. Kayden and Family in memory of Dr. Gabrielle H. Reem, 2013.103 © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

Pop Art from the Anderson Collection at SFMOMA
Through October 26, 2015
Freidenrich Family Gallery
This exhibition of 10 sensational works, including Robert Indiana’s iconic 1973 painting Love and Andy Warhol’s 1967 self-portrait, celebrates the opening of the Anderson Collection at Stanford and underscores the family’s generosity and aesthetic vision. In addition to Warhol’s and Indiana’s works, the exhibition presents important paintings and sculptures by Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Rosenquist. The works are on loan from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which received them as a gift from Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson. Learn more
IMAGE: Andy Warhol (U.S.A., 1928–1987), Self-Portrait, 1967. Acrylic and silkscreen enamel on canvas. Collection SFMOMA, gift of Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderso © 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW

 

Drawn Together: A Selection of Recent Documentaries by Stanford Students
Through April 27, 2015
Patricia S. Rebele Gallery
Five short documentaries by first- and second-year MFA film students explore the theme of community. IMAGE: Still from Dry Season

 

The Bay Area and Beyond: Selections from the Museum’s Collection
Through June 15, 2015
Freidenrich Family Gallery

The Cantor’s diverse collection of modern and contemporary art features paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs by some of the most influential artists of our time. One of the collection’s strengths is work by Bay Area and Northern California artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, who attended Stanford in the 1940s and later served as artist in residence, and Nathan Oliveira and Frank Lobdell, both of whom taught at Stanford from the 1960s through the 1990s. The installation focuses on artists from the Bay Area, and it showcases a plurality of artistic approaches and concerns as society became increasingly nuanced and multifaceted. Works date from the 1950s to the present. IMAGE: Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Window, 1967. Oil on canvas. Cantor Arts Center collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Diebenkorn and anonymous donors, 1965.125

 

Interaction of Color: Josef Albers
Highlights from the Marmor Collection
Through June 15, 2015
Over the last decade, the Marmor family and its Foundation have given the Cantor approximately 200 contemporary artworks, primarily prints. Their extraordinary donation includes works by America’s most internationally admired artists and constitutes an overview of the lively and diverse range of American print publications from the late 1960s throughout the 1980s. Enjoy this new selections of works on paper by abstract painter and theorist Josef Albers. IMAGE: Josef Albers (U.S.A., b. Germany, 1888–1976), Day + Night VII, 1963 from  Day and Night: Homage to the Square. Lithograph. Lent by Collection of Michael and Jane Marmor © 2015 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

Imagining the Oceans
Through June 29, 2015

Marie Stauffer Sigall Gallery
Ocean environments have nourished the imagination of visual artists across history and cultures, yielding a dramatic spectrum of influential works, aesthetics, and forms. Imagining the Oceans includes coastal scenes by marine genre painters such as Willem van de Velde; romantic and symbolist fantasies by Charles Méryon; a woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; items from the Pacific Islands region; and depictions of modern beach culture by Willem de Kooning and others. IMAGE: William Young Ottley (England, 1771–1836), Prospero and Miranda Adrift, c. 1804. Pencil pen and gray wash. Cantor Arts Center collection, Museum Purchase Fund, 1970.399

 

Shifting Currents: Highlights from the 20th-Century Chinese Collection
Through July 13, 2015

Madeleine H. Russell Gallery
The Cantor’s Asian collection features works in a variety of media. With especially strong holdings of Chineseand Japanese art, the collection comprises more than 5,000 objects and spans 3000 BCE to the late 20th century. Currently on view in the Cantor’s Asian galleries are works illuminating the many cultures of Asia—East, South, Southeast, and the Himalayas. This new selection focuses on the art of 20th-century China. IMAGE: Attributed to Feng Zikai (China, 1898–1975), Only the Mirror Knows the Beauty of a Poor Girl, c. 1940s. Ink and color on paper. Gift of Kevin Weis, 1990

 

Drama of Heaven and Earth: The Theatrical Traditions of Japan
Through July 13, 2015
Madeleine H. Russell Gallery
During medieval and early-modern times, the Japanese theatrical art of Noh developed from a form of popular performance to the solemn, abstract drama it is today. Noh’s later popularity with the ruling shogunate enabled kabuki theater, which came out of the raucous atmosphere of the pleasure quarters, to flourish during the Edo period (1615–1868). This exhibition presents masks, prints, ceramics, and other visual materials associated with the dramatic arts of Noh, kabuki, kyogen, bugaku, and kagura, demonstrating the parallel trajectories of these separate yet interrelated traditions. Approximately 25 works on display. IMAGE: Konishi Hirosada (Japan, c. 1810–1864), Togoro’s Wife Osan, c. 1850–1852. Woodblock print. Committee for Art Acquisitions Fund, 1986.24

 

Plus One: Pop Duplications
Through August 3, 2015

Rowland K. Rebele Gallery
In the early 1960s, American artists increasingly drew on popular imagery, commercial signage, and product design as source material and creative inspiration. Their work, soon coined Pop Art, often mimicked the means of mechanical reproduction associated with mass culture. This exhibition focuses on duplications in the art of Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Wayne Thiebaud, and Andy Warhol.  It includes works produced in multiple, such as Warhol’s Mao Tse-Tung series, as well as single compositions featuring duplicate visual elements. The exhibition accompanies Professor Richard Meyer’s Spring 2015 advanced undergraduate course on Pop Art.IMAGES: Andy Warhol (U.S.A., 1928–1987), Mao Tse-Tung, 1972. Screenprint. Cantor Arts Center collection, Gift of the Marmor Foundation (Drs. Michael and Jane Marmor) from the collection of Drs. Judd and Katherine Marmor, (left) 2009.94.9.(right) 2009.94.5.© 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

American Battleground: Photographs of the Civil War, 1861–1865
Through August 17, 2015

Robert Mondavi Family Gallery
Photography was invented in France more than two decades before the Civil War erupted in America. By the 1860s, visual culture and fine art in the United States were profoundly affected by the new medium, and the Civil War rapidly became the first conflict thoroughly documented by photographers. This installation features photographs, primarily landscape views, from the Cantor’s permanent collection. IMAGE: Artist unknown (U.S.A., 19th century), Portrait of General Grant in the Field, c. 1863. Albumen print. Cantor Arts Center collection, Stanford Family Collections, JLS.18775

 

Bravo!: Music and Theater in Enlightenment Europe
Through August 17, 2015

Robert Mondavi Family Gallery
The prints and drawings included in this focused exhibition explore the realms of music and drama during the 18th century. Performance venues were popular social spaces where people of all classes gathered to see and be seen. IMAGE: James Gillray (England, 1757–1815), Shakespeare Sacrificed, 1789. Color etching and aquatint. Cantor Arts Center collection, Museum Purchase Fund, 1976.15

 

Fatal Laughs: The Art of Robert Arneson
Through September 28, 2015
Oshman Family Gallery
Robert Arneson revolutionized the medium of clay, transforming it from a “craft” medium into “fine art.” Over a career of more than 40 years—frequently using himself as a subject—he explored ideas for art that were outside the conventional repertory, including those involving physical pain and psychological expression. Moreover, he did not flinch at sensitive topical subjects, including many that were sexual, racial, or political in character. Works in this exhibition include the 1964 Funk object His and Hers, which irreverently explores sexual and scatological subject matter while also considering the traditional function of ceramics. In three works from the 1970s, Assassination of a Famous Nut Artist, Splat, and Flip and Flop, the artist’s image is a vehicle for anguish and pain. In the latest works from the 1980s, Global Death and Destruction and Wolf Head, Arneson proves that clay is a powerful art medium. Learn more IMAGE: Robert Arneson (U.S.A., 1930–1992), Primary Discharge, 1990. Earthenware and glaze. Cantor Arts Center Collection, Given in Memory of Professor A. L. Schawlow by John F. and Barbara L. Holzrichter, 2009.75 © Estate of Robert Arneson/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

 

FUTURE EXHIBITIONS

Arboreal Architecture: A Visual History of Trees
April 15–July 20, 2015

Lynn Krywick Gibbons Gallery
From the earliest stages of human history, trees have provided resources for civilization, symbolic structure to families, spatial logic for the scientific method, and inspiration to artists. This exhibition, supported by a Mellon Foundation grant designed to enhance the training of PhD students in Stanford’s Department of Art & Art History, comprises representations of trees in the Cantor’s collection, ranging from a 6th-century Egyptian medallion to 21st-century photographs of industrial smokestacks and spiky date palms. Assembled into groups of different themes, the two dozen artworks—a majority of them works on paper—reveal how engrained trees are in human thought and speech, while also showing how easily and powerfully they can represent our emotions. IMAGE: Jan Georg van Vliet (the Netherlands, c. 1610–c. 1635), Saint Jerome Reading under a Tree, c. 1631. Etching. Cantor Arts Center collection, Robert M. Loeser Collection, 1944.2.42

 

Modern Times: O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, and Toomer
May 6–September 21, 2015

Patricia S. Rebele Gallery
The aesthetic and romantic relationship between Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz has been widely studied, but less is known about O’Keeffe’s intense connection with Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer. This focused exhibition explores the relationship of these three artists as seen through the lens of about six works from the Cantor’s collection along with correspondence among the artists. Works include O’Keeffe’s gem-like painting Seaweed, photographs by Stieglitz, and Toomer’s modernist novel, Cane. IMAGE: Georgia O'Keeffe (U.S.A., 1887–1986), Seaweed, 1927. Oil on canvas. Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, an anonymous donor, and the Committee for Art Acquisitions Fund, 1997.96. © 2015 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

 

500 Years of Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum
May 22–August 24, 2015

Pigott Family Gallery

Nearly 100 dazzling and rarely seen drawings dating from the 15th through the 20th centuries will be on view in 500 Years of Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum. Beyond demonstrating the chronological and stylistic sweep of the history of Italian drawings, this thematically organized exhibition examines the pivotal role played by drawing, or “disegno,” in the Italian design process. Learn more IMAGE: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples, 1598–1680), Seated Male Nude, c. 1618–24. Red chalk heightened with white chalk on buff laid paper. Princeton University Art Museum, Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund

 

Astley D. M. Cooper and Mrs. Stanford's Jewels
August 5-November 16, 2015

Lynn Krywick Gibbons Gallery
Nationally recognized during his time but largely forgotten in our own, painter Astley D. M. Cooper (1856–1924) used a faux Egyptian temple as a studio, paid off bar debts with paintings, and threw the wildest parties that San Jose, California had ever seen. With their luscious colors and trompe l’oeil trickery, his landscapes, portraits, and wild western scenes aimed to both please and astonish. This exhibition, curated by Annie Ronan, PhD candidate, Department of Art & Art History, explores Cooper’s life as well as the Bay Area bohemia out of which he first emerged. IMAGE: Astley Cooper (U.S.A., 1856–1924), Mrs. Stanford's Jewel Collection, 1898. Oil on canvas. Cantor Arts Center collection, Stanford Family Collections, JLS.16294

 

Piranesi’s Paestum: Master Drawings Uncovered
August 19, 2015–January 4, 2016

Ruth Levison Halperin Gallery
The exhibition presents 15 stunning drawings by the celebrated Italian printmaker, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778). Regarded as landmarks of 18th-century Italian drawing, this suite of large-scale renderings constitutes Piranesi’s most extensive body of work devoted to a single topographical site. The drawings depict the three ancient Greek temples, originally dedicated to Poseidon, Hera, and Athena, at Paestum, south of Naples. Learn more IMAGE: Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italy, 1720–1778), Paestum, Italy: Exterior of the Basilica, 1777. Black chalk, pencil, brown and grey washes, pen and ink. Sir John Soane’s Museum.

 

Into the Forest: Landscape as Subject and Studio in 19th-Century France
August 26, 2015–January 4, 2016

Robert Mondavi Family Gallery
This installation of 17 prints, drawings, and photographs explores how French artists depicted the landscape in the modern age and approached making art “en plein-air” (in the open air). The phenomenon of making art outdoors took shape in the early decades of the 19th century with the experimental Barbizon School of painters and fully flourished under the Impressionists. Exhibition highlights include photographs by painter James Tissot (1836–1902), a rare cliché-verre—a drawing reproduced using a photographic process—by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796–1875), and prints by Camille Pissarro (1831–1903). IMAGE: Jean-Baptise Camille Corot (1796–1875), Souvenir of Ostia, 1855. Cliché-verre. Committee for Art Acquisitions Fund, 1987.34

Warriors, Courtiers, and Saints: The Etchings of Jacques Callot
August 26, 2015–January 4, 2016

Gallery for Early European Art
During his brief career, Jacques Callot (France, 1592–1635) challenged the old assumption that printmakers were incapable of inventing original compositions by creating elegant, expressive prints. Warriors, Courtiers, and Saints features a selection of 16 prints that demonstrate Callot’s remarkable range—from recording the horrors of war to rendering whimsical landscapes, formal courtly scenes, and somber religious subjects—all in his light and fluid style.

IMAGE: Lucas Vosterman (the Netherlands, 1595–1675), Portrait of Jacques Callot, c. 1645. Etching and engraving. Robert M. Loeser Collection, 1944.2.60

Artists at Work: Learning from Diebenkorn
September 9, 2015–January 25, 2016

Pigott Family Gallery

This major exhibition will include some 100 European and American prints, drawings, and photographs drawn from the Cantor’s rich collection. A special feature will pay tribute to the legacy of Richard Diebenkorn—Stanford’s most accomplished and recognized graduate in art—by displaying, for the first time, the extraordinary recent gift of his sketchbooks, donated to the Cantor by Phyllis Diebenkorn, the artist’s widow. Artists at Work celebrates the opening of the Cantor’s neighbor the McMurtry Building, the new home of the Department of Art & Art History. IMAGE Richard Diebenkorn (U.S.A., 1922–1993), Untitled from a sketchbook, 1943–1993. Pen and ink on paper. Gift of Phyllis Diebenkorn, 2014.13.5. © The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation

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