Oklahoma City museum opening Julius Shulman, “Passport to Paris” exhibits
This untitled photo by Julius Shulman depicts the exterior of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (now called the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was designed by architects Begrow & Brown of Birmingham, Mich. Shulman photographed the building on April 17-18, 1966 (J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive. Research Library at the Getty Research Institute.)
Edouard Manet (1832 1883), “Olympia,” 1867, Etching with tone on old laid paper (Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia)
From Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma City Museum of Art exhibitions show contrast between artistic periods
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is offering two different views on black and white with a matched pair of special exhibitions.
“Julius Shulman: Oklahoma Modernism Rediscovered,” the first retrospective of the legendary architectural photographer’s Oklahoma images, and “Passport to Paris: 19th Century French Prints from the Georgia Museum of Art,” a collection of prints by master artists of the period, are opening Thursday and will be on view through June 7.
“We liked the contrast between 19th century prints and 20th century modernist photography. We thought that could be an interesting contrast for our visitors,” said Brian Hearn, organizing curator for the Shulman exhibit, which is getting national attention, including an article in May’s Metropolitan Home magazine.
“Passport to Paris” was already set for this summer when three local fans of Shulman’s work approached the museum about doing an exhibit of his Oklahoma photographs, he said. The exhibits will share space in the museum’s ground-floor special exhibitions gallery.
Oklahoma modern
Shulman, 98, is best known for his work in Southern California, including his famed photo “Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect.” The artist planned to come to Oklahoma City for the opening, but won’t make the trip due to health issues.
“We’re still holding out hope that he might be able to come out for the closing. His spirit his willing but his body is not cooperating. But he is very excited about this exhibit,” Hearn said. “It’s the first time his Oklahoma work has been publicly exhibited … and he’s just glad people are paying attention to some of the more neglected aspects of his work.”
With the help of three women Hearn calls “Shulman’s angels” and local architects David Wanzer and Hans Butzer, the museum worked with Shulman to organize the show. Local Shulman fans Cristina McQuistion, Lynne Rostochil and Cara Barnes reached out to the photographer and museum after seeing images of state landmarks in the book “Modernism Rediscovered.” The angels traveled to California to help the artist cull his Oklahoma photos out of the hundreds of thousands of pictures in his archives at the Getty Research Institute. Hearn and assistant curator Jennifer Klos later visited Shulman to pick the 63 images for the show.
The mostly black-and-white photos, taken from 1950-80 in six Oklahoma communities, document 21 projects by renowned architects such as Bruce Goff, Herb Greene and Robert Roloff. Featured structures include the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church and Goff’s Bavinger House.
“It’s a pretty interesting diversity of types of architecture; we have private homes, hospitals, banks, churches, a fraternity house,” he said. “Shulman’s been extremely complimentary about the number of great architects we’ve had come out of Oklahoma. … There’s a very rich legacy, particularly of mid-century modern architecture.”
The exhibit will include a video of Shulman’s lecture last fall at Untitled Artspace. The museum also will show Thursday-Saturday the documentary “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman.” Director Eric Bricker will make an appearance Thursday.
“Passport to Paris”
The 46 prints in “Passport to Paris” will give art lovers a chance to see how prominent artists such as painter Pierre Auguste Renoir, sculptor Auguste Rodin and landscape painter Charles Francois Daubigny explored a different media than the one that made them famous.
“People that love French art are going to see a lot of the well-known artists that they’re familiar with from the 19th century, such as Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne and Gericault,” Klos said. “Sometimes these artists are making the print before the painting as a study and sometimes they’re actually making after they’ve produced the painting.”
Most of the works are black-and-white or sepia-toned lithographs and etchings, but the exhibit also includes a color print by American Mary Cassatt and an innovative woodcut by Paul Gauguin. Tools, paper and a press used in printmaking will be displayed to help people learn about the process.
“It’s much better to come and see these in person,” Klos said. “Prints for some reason they just don’t translate as well when you see them in a book. … You just can’t see the incredible detail unless you see them in person.”
On exhibit
“Julius Shulman: Oklahoma Modernism Rediscovered” and “Passport to Paris: 19th Century French Prints from the Georgia Museum of Art”
When: Thursday-June 7.
Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.
Information: 236-3100 or www.okcmoa.com.
See slideshows of works from the exhibits at www.newsok.com.
-BAM
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