Exhibition Celebrates Donors’ Vision and Generosity

The Eye of the Beholder: Honoring Ruth and Robert Halperin

March 17 – May 30, 2010

Stanford, California — Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University presents “The Eye of the Beholder: Honoring Ruth and Robert Halperin,” March 17 through May 30, 2010. This exhibition of 45 works, on view in two galleries, acknowledges the sensibility of a discerning art lover and committed friend of the Cantor Arts Center, the late Ruth L. Halperin. Admission to the museum and the exhibition is free.

A selection of objects from the Halperins’ gifts to the Cantor Arts Center demonstrates Ruth’s particular taste. She was drawn to works of art based on esthetic qualities of line, texture, and form rather than subject or source. When seen together, the works reveal common attributes across cultures in the design and creation of pleasing and beautifully made objects: a photograph by British artist Andy Goldsworthy and a sinuous iron-wrought form from Nigeria; textural wood sculpture by German-born Ursula von Rydingsvard and a carved box by a Kuban artist; a woven baby carrier from Cameroon and a woodblock print by Japanese artist Kiyoshi Saito.

“ ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ celebrates the Halperins’ generosity in making works of art they collected personally or purchased for the Cantor Arts Center available to Stanford and to the public in perpetuity,” said Thomas K. Seligman, the Cantor Arts Center’s Freidenrich Director.

Nearly 40 artworks on view in “The Eye of the Beholder” were given to the museum by Ruth and Robert Halperin or purchased with funds given by them or their foundation. The Halperin family is lending another five objects that are likely to be given to the museum in the future. The exhibition also presents works given by others in Ruth’s honor, including a pot she admired by contemporary Kenyan artist Magdalene Anyango N. Odundo that was purchased in her memory with support from the Center’s Phyllis Wattis Program Fund, as well as a mixed media work by Louise Nevelson (American, 1899–1988) promised as a gift in her memory by Burton and Deedee McMurtry.

This exhibition, presented in the Ruth Levison Halperin Gallery and the adjoining Lynn Krywick Gibbons Gallery, is made possible by support from the Cowles Charitable Trust, the Lynn Krywick Gibbons Exhibitions Fund, and the Clumeck Fund.

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VISITOR INFORMATION: Cantor Arts Center is open Wednesday – Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm, Thursday until 8 pm. Admission is free. The Center is located on the Stanford campus, off Palm Drive at Museum Way. Parking is free after 4 pm and all day on weekends. Information: 650-723-4177, museum.stanford.edu.

PUBLICITY IMAGES: Contact PR Assistant Manager Margaret Whitehorn, 650-724-3600, mmwhite@stanford.edu, for high-resolution images to publicize the exhibition.