|
Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. |
 
|
Contents |
||
Pauline Willis Named AFA Director The AFA is very pleased to announce that Pauline Willis has been named the organization’s next director. During her nine years with the organization, Ms. Willis has gained a broad knowledge of the AFA, as Chief Financial Officer
and Deputy Director and, most recently, as Chief Operating Officer. She has had extensive experience with the development of exhibitions, fundraising, and general management and has demonstrated strong leadership skills. On behalf
of the Board of Trustees, AFA President Jason Herrick said, “We are extremely fortunate to have Pauline’s expert leadership. She has an astute grasp of the ways in which the organization can adapt and innovate in the ever more
global exhibition domain, and the AFA’s Board of Trustees is confident in her ability to bring her vision to fruition.” |
||
| Back to top |
||
Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London
The upcoming exhibition Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London includes 48 magnificent old master paintings, most of which have never traveled to the United States before. Among them is Rembrandt’s haunting
Portrait of the Artist (ca. 1665), one of only a few of the artist’s many self-portraits that show him in the act of painting. Before the national tour—which begins at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (June 3–September 4, 2012) and continues
to the Milwaukee Art Museum (October 4, 2012–January 6, 2013) and the Seattle Art Museum (February 14–May 19, 2013)—the Rembrandt will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (early April–late May 2012). It will hang near the museum’s own
Self-Portrait by Rembrandt (1660), providing a rare opportunity to compare the two works that, although close in date, are very different in scale, format, and expression. Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London
is organized by the American Federation of Arts and English Heritage with support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. |
||
| Back to top |
||
DevelopmentDue in large part to the efforts of AFA Curator Michelle Hargrave, the AFA has received a grant of $15,000 from the Kathryn J. Dinardo Fund. Our thanks and appreciation to Michelle for making this possible.The AFA has also received a grant of $14,200 from the Kress Foundation toward the 2012 exhibition Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London and a grant of $5,000 from the Leon Levy Foundation for annual support. We would also like to acknowledge the following individuals, whose contribution to the Fall Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards came in after the Gala Journal was printed: Lawrence Benenson & Liz Klein Stephanie & Frederick Clark Valerie & Charles Diker Sidney B. Felsen & Joni Moisant Weyl Marina Kellen French |
||
| Back to top |
||
 Spring Luncheon SAVE THE DATE Tuesday, May 1, 2012 New York City Award-winning writer Adam Gopnik will be the guest speaker at the AFA’s annual spring luncheon held in New York City. An astute and entertaining interpreter of contemporary life, Gopnik has been a writer for the New Yorker since 1986. He is also the author of numerous critically acclaimed books, most recently, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food (2011) and Winter: Five Windows on the Season (2011). In 1990, he collaborated with Kirk Varnedoe on the exhibition High & Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture and co-wrote the book of the same name, which Robert Hughes called “the indispensable text on its subject.” Please mark your calendars—details to come shortly. For additional information, contact Tiffany Pak Carney at 212.988.7700 x247 or email tpak@afaweb.org. |
||
| Back to top |
||
|
Trustee News The AFA is pleased to report the election of Claire Marmion of Chicago to the Board of Trustees. Ms. Marmion is founder of the Haven Art Group, an art advisory firm with offices in Chicago and New York. Before founding her company in 2008, she ran the Art Services Division for American International Group. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Ms. Marmion is an art historian who began her career at Sotheby’s in London. She serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Appraisers Association of America Foundation in New York and Art Resources in Teaching. She was also recently appointed adjuster to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
||
| Back to top |
||
AFA Milestone
 59 YEARS AGO: At the request of the U.S. Commissioner to the Venice Biennale, the AFA selects the art for the first government-sponsored exhibition of American art at the Biennale. The AFA selection committee chooses four artists:
Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. That year, Calder wins the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Biennale. In his review in the New York Times (July 20, 1952), Stuart Preston states that “Hopper made the deepest impression. Foreigners recognized, and rightly, something authentically American in the pathos of his landscapes,
a germ of loneliness which they detect in our literature.” Hopper’s Hotel Lobby (1943), was among the works displayed. For more about this chapter in the AFA’s history, read this article
by Indianapolis Museum of Art Kress Interpretive Fellow Leslie Anderson. |
||
| Back to top |
||
|
Donate Your support helps the AFA continue to be a vital cultural resource, presenting the highest quality art exhibitions, publications, and public programs to a broad and diverse audience. Please help us to continue our work by making a fully tax-deductible contribution online or call Tiffany Pak Carney, Manager of Membership and Special Events at 212.988.7700 ext. 247. |
||
Back to top |
||
|
Become a Member The world of art opens up in exciting new ways when you become a member of the AFA. AFA members enjoy a wide variety of programs and benefits, including invitations to AFA exhibition openings, discounts on tickets to AFA talks, visits to private collections and artists’ studios, and opportunities to travel with other AFA members. For more information, visit the AFA’s website or call Tiffany Pak Carney at 212.988.7700 ext. 247. |
||
Back to top |
|
Images (top to bottom):
Pauline Willis • Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of the Artist, ca. 1665. Kenwood House, English Heritage; Iveagh Bequest, 1927 • Adam Gopnik • Edward Hopper, Hotel Lobby, 1943. Indianapolis Museum of Art; William Ray Adams Memorial Collection. © Edward Hopper
The American Federation of Arts is a nonprofit institution that organizes art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. American Federation of Arts 305 East 47th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017 212.988.7700 www.afaweb.org © 2011 American Federation of Arts |