Wichita, Kansas.- The Wichita Art Museum is proud to present “Tides of Provincetown”, on view at the museum from February 5th through April 29th. Works of art from what was at one time one of the world’s largest and arguably most influential art colonies feature in this travelling exhibition organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut. The Tides of Provincetown will highlight over 100 well-known artists who called the art colony home at one point during their careers and who drew inspiration and support from its growing community. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Edward Hopper.
A bustling economy, train travel, and a war in Europe, which prevented artists from traveling overseas, were some of the prevailing factors in Provincetown, Massachusetts becoming a haven for artistic creativity and productivity. Hailed as the “Biggest Art Colony in the World” by the Boston Globe in 1916, the relatively small Cape Cod town has hosted some of the biggest names in art since the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has played a pivotal role in the development of nearly every major American art movement in the last 100 years. This exclusive exhibition gives the viewer the unique opportunity to travel visually from American Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, observing the influence Provincetown artists had on their peers as well as on the art world at large. “We are honored to bring this exhibition to Wichita,” Says Stephen Gleissner, the Museum’s chief curator. “The breadth of this collection is staggering, and seeing all of these amazing, significant works of art in one place at one time is truly awe-inspiring.”
The exhibition will be divided into eight sections that focus on various key years and events in the art colony and highlight Provincetown’s importance in America’s art history. Artists have been selected based on their contribution to the Provincetown art colony as well as their influence beyond Cape Cod. Just as the focus is on the key moments in Provincetown’s history, so the exhibition will highlight artists who played a pivotal role in the colony and were the important figures and artistic forces. Furthermore, their presence in Provincetown as well as their influence on other artists through schools, mentorships, and/or pure aesthetic power of their artwork are examined. While many of the artists worked or lived in Provincetown for years—such as Milton Avery, Charles W. Hawthorne, Henry Hensche, Hans Hofmann, Blanche Lazzell, Robert Motherwell, and E. Ambrose Webster—others “passed through” the art colony. We aim to show that many of the great artists of the twentieth century—including Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Charles Demuth, Red Grooms, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol—were inspired by Provincetown, even if they were only there for a short period of time.
The Wichita Art Museum was established in 1915, when Louise Murdock’s Will which created a trust to start the Roland P. Murdock Collection of art in memory of her husband. The trust would purchase of art for the City of Wichita by “American painters, potters, sculptors, and textile weavers.” The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Arthur G. Dove, Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyshoi, John Marin, Paul Meltsner, Horace Pippin, Maurice Prendergast, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Charles Sheeler. The Museum’s lobby features a ceiling and chandelier made by Dale Chihuly. The museum opened opened in 1935 with art borrowed from other museums. The first work in the Murdock Collection was purchased in 1939. Mrs. Murdock’s friend, Elizabeth Stubblefield Navas, selected and purchased works of American art for the Murdock Collection till 1962. The building was enlarged with a new lobby and two new wings in 1963. In 1964 a foundation was established for the purpose of raising funds for new acquisitions. In the 1970’s the city built a new and larger climate controlled facility. In 2003 the museum finished another expansion project giving the building 115,000 total square feet. Visit the museum’s website at … http://wichitaartmuseum.org