Art and News Notes

National Art Education Association

Art and News NotesAuthor(s): Burt WassermanSource: Art Education, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Jan., 1964), pp. 26-28Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190534 .

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"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" Pablo Picasso, 1907

The Museum of Modern Art New York

art

news

and

notes

BURT WASSERMAN

Can I Be Wrong? Perhaps you will recall some re-

marks expressed in this space in the November issue. Among other

things, I suggested that the dead-

pan earnestness of "pop art" was devoid of the humor one finds in Dadaism. In a somewhat garbled sentence I implied that "pop art" was frequently half-witted. Vari- ous people have taken the trouble to not let this pass lightly. In no uncertain terms they have in- formed me that I am evidently a starchy old conservative who is unable to appreciate the new wave of avant-garde realism.

They don't stop there. They re- mind me, "Remember how the

Impressionists were rejected?"- "Remember how the Post-Im-

pressionists were rejected ?"-"Re- member how the Fauves were

laughed at?"-"and what about

Cubism, Surrealism," and so on, and on, and on.

Can I be wrong? Yes! It is

quite possible that I am not look-

ing at "pop art" with open eyes and an open mind. Perhaps, as I look more and learn more, I will

come to see the error of my ways. Certainly I should suspend judgment until I have more data upon which to base a sound judgment. But, while I may be wrong, I still think "pop art" is silly, shallow, trivial, and lacking, by about 50

per cent, the precious quality of wit that I think "pop art" so des-

perately needs. If I am right, and I may not be, at least you know how much wit I still think that leaves "pop art."

To the North If I could get away from it all,

I would go to Canada. Starting January 12, the Art Gallery of Toronto will be presenting the most comprehensive exhibition of Picasso's work ever held in our

neighboring nation to the north. After the show closes in Toronto on February 16, it will go on view at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from February 27 to March 31.

The show will feature some 230 works gathered from many coun- tries. A goodly number will be from museums and private col-

26 ART Education



lections in the United States and Canada. Four pictures, dating from 1908 and 1909, will be on loan from the Soviet Union. They come from the Hermitage Mu- seum in Leningrad and the Push- kin State Museum in Moscow, and have never before been seen in North America.

The most distinguishing feature of this show is its concentra- tion upon Picasso's interpreta- tions of the human being in all sorts of circumstances-love, joy, depression, despair, and so on.

Appropriately, the theme and the title of the exhibition is "Picasso and Man." Considering the many paintings of women (including the classic Les Demoiselles d'Avig- non), and especially of the women in the artist's own personal life, one wonders why the show is not called "Picasso and Man and Lots of Women, Too." Seri-

ously though, without question this ought to be the best single assemblage of Picasso's paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints to come along in many a year.

To Show Your Creative Work

Ultimate Concerns Exhibition (Prints and Drawings) March 15-28. Entries due February 21, work due March 1. Write for prospectus and entry forms to G. T. Kennedy, Director, Wesley Foundation, Ohio University, 2 S. College, Athens, Ohio. (Open to residents of all states.)

27th Annual Exhibition for Artists of Fort Worth and Tar- rant County (Paintings, Draw- ings, Prints, Sculpture, and Ce- ramics). Entry dates: March 25-27. Write to Miss Leah Kil- lingsworth, Registrar, Fort Worth Art Center, 1309 Montgomery, Fort Worth 7, Texas. (Open only to residents of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.)

6th Annual Rochester Festival of Religious Arts (Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Arts, and Enamels) April 16-26. En- tries due March 21. Write to Festival of Religious Arts, 50 Plymouth Ave., North, Rochester, New York 14614. (Open to residents of all states.)

Upper left, "Crouching Woman," Pablo Picasso, 1902, The Art Gallery of Toronto

Center, "Seated Nude Arranging Hair," Pablo Picasso, 1905, The Baltimore Museum of Art

Right, "Woman Seated: Blue Background," Pablo Picasso, 1953, Mr. and Mrs. David Eaton, Toronto

January 1964 27



Free Art Film Viewings The Detroit Institute of Arts

is offering a very attractive sched- ule of art films. Each program is

presented without charge at 8:00

p.m. on the following Tuesdays:

January 28-A Museum at Work. Behind-the-scenes views of a museum in operation, including restoration and forgery detec- tion work.

February 25-Contemporary Art- ists. Encounters with Matta, Bernard Buffet, Burri, and others at work in their studios.

March 24 - The Renaissance. The cultural milieu of the Ren- aissance in Europe explored through its thought and think- ers as well as its art and artists.

April 14-About American Art. A survey of the range and

changing role of American art from John Singleton Copley to

Jackson Pollock.

May 5-Modern Artists at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Inter-

views, biographies, and visits to the studios of Matisse, Picasso, and others whose works are

part of the permanent collect- tion of the Institute.

Shows Worth Seeing January 5-30 --Allentown

Art

Museum, Allentown, Pennsyl- vania: Prehispanic Mexico.

To February 2-Fine Arts Gal-

lery of San Diego: The Artist and the Atom-30 contemporary "illuminations" of the atomic era by 8 painters from

Taos, New Mexico.

To February 2-Corcoran Gal-

lery of Art, Washington, D. C.: 16th Annual Exhibition by artists of the Washington, D. C., area.

January 6-26-The Norfolk Mu-

seum, Norfolk, Virginia: Amer- ican Jewelry Today.

To January 31-Fort Worth Art

Center, Fort Worth, Texas:

Paintings by Nathan Olveira.

January 7-30-Roberts Art Gal-

lery, Santa Monica, California, High School: Work by Five Architects.

To February 23-Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown,

Ohio: 16th Annual Ohio Ce- ramics and Sculpture Show.

Burt Wasserman is an associate professor of art at Glassboro State College, Glassboro, New Jersey.

........... . .. .. ..

RUTH M. EBKEN

New Art Director "My interest in art was nur-

tured in the Pittsburgh Public

Schools," says Ruth M. Ebken, recently appointed director of art. An honor student in elementary school, high school, and college, Miss Ebken is a member of Delta

Kappa Gamma, honorary organi- zation for women in education. Her professional activities also include membership in Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Administra- tive Women in Education (she is

vice-president of the National

Council), and The International

Society for Education through Art.

Recognized as a leader in the field of art, Miss Ebken has served on numerous local, region-

al, and national committees. She was both vice-president and president of the Eastern Arts Associa-

tion, editor of the art education

bulletin, program chairman for the Association's fiftieth anniver-

sary convention, and general chairman of the New York convention. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of the National Art Education Association since 1958.

She began her career in the Dormont Public Schools. Her first

assignment in the Pittsburgh sys- tem was as a teacher of art at

Liberty Elementary School. Prior to assuming her new responsibili- ties, she was a supervisor of art.

Miss Ebken's influence has ex- tended far beyond the Pittsburgh Pubilc Schools. She has served on the faculties of Carnegie Institute of Technology (College of Fine

Arts) and the University of Pitts-

burgh, and was a member of the

graduate faculty of the Pennsyl- vania State University.

Museum on Wheels Volunteer members of the

Community Committee of The

Brooklyn Museum and the Brook-

lyn Junior League will again be

visiting schools this year to intro- duce children to the traditional crafts of Mexico, Japan, and In- dia. Designed to supplement the classwork of those schools who find it impossible to plan visits to the Museum, each classroom program will include informal talks on a specific country, illustrated

28 ART Education



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Art and News Notes