Art News

The Arkansas Art Center Shows "The Impressionists and Their Influence"

artwork: Claude Monet - "Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil", 1873 - Oil on canvas. Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. On view at "The Impressionists and Their Influence" at the Arkansas Art Center.


Little Rock, Arkansas.- The Arkansas Art Center is proud to present “The Impressionists and Their Influence” until June 26th. Organized in conjunction with the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, this exhibition brings together beautiful paintings and intimate works on paper by such French artists as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, as well as works by major Post-Impressionist artists Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, and Paul Signac. In addition, the show features works by American artists, such as Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Theodore Robinson, who fell under the influence of the Impressionists. Featuring more than 100 works from the collections of the renowned High Museum of Art, the Arkansas Arts Center, and private collections, The Impressionists and Their Influence is a splendid opportunity to explore the movement that became Impressionism.

In late 19th century Paris, a group of artists broke from long-standing tradition when they moved outdoors to paint. These artists, the Impressionists, captured the world around them in new ways creating colorful, light-filled scenes of carefree summer outings, riverbanks and seashores, private gardens, public parks, dance halls, cafés and the people who inhabited them. This exhibition brings together beautiful master paintings and intimate works on paper by French artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, as well as works by major Post-Impressionist artists Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Paul Signac and more. In addition, the show features works by American artists, such as Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and Theodore Robinson, who fell full sway under the influence of the Impressionists. Featuring more than 100 works from the collections of the renowned High Museum of Art, the Arkansas Arts Center and private collections, The Impressionists and Their Influence is a unique opportunity to explore the movement that became Impressionism.

Frederic Bazille -  "The Beach at Sainte-Adresse", 1865 - Oil on canvas. Collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

artwork: Pierre-Auguste Renoir - "Woman Arranging Her Hat" 1890 - Oil on canvas. Collection of the High Museum of Art.The Arkansas Arts Center is an art museum with a children’s theatre and a studio school. Founded in 1960, its mission is to ensure that learning, inspiration and creative expression in the arts flourish throughout Arkansas, for people of all ages and backgrounds. The AAC realizes this mission by developing, preserving and exhibiting its outstanding permanent collection, offering a rich variety of art from other collections and presenting programs for the education and cultural benefit of the public. The seed for the Arkansas Arts Center was planted in 1914, when the Fine Arts Club of Arkansas was formed. Its membership formed the core of supporters and volunteers who later contributed to the creation of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1937 in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park. Several key decisions at critical points in the Arts Center’s history helped form the remarkable arts facility that exists today.

In 1960, the museum was created by ordinance of the City of Little Rock and renamed the Arkansas Arts Center. By 1963, the museum had been enlarged to include 5 galleries, a 381-seat theater, 4 studio classrooms, sculpture courtyards and an art library. It offered temporary art exhibitions, community theater and a school of fine and performing arts. In 1971, the board selected drawings as the collection’s primary concentration, recognizing that few museums were collecting unique works on paper. They believed, and rightly so, that the AAC could acquire such works with limited resources, excel in the area and make a unique contribution to the field.

The quality and character of exhibitions was increased accordingly. In 1982, having completed an enlargement of the Museum School studios and collection storage and preparation areas in 1975, a new gallery at the main facility, the 3,200 sq. ft. Rockefeller Gallery, was built and in 1985 the AAC’s Decorative Arts Museum (DAM) opened. This historic Greek Revival house had been bequeathed to the City for use by the AAC and was substantially renovated to serve as a gallery for the decorative arts. The DAM became the home of a growing collection of objects in craft media. Further expansion was carried out in 1989, when the 1,300 sq. ft. Strauss Gallery was added to the west side of the Rockefeller Gallery and 2000, when more than 30,000 square feet of space and renovation of 12,000 square feet of existing space was carried out as part of an ambitious expansion plan. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.arkarts.com