February 6 – March 29 – Exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy at DIA • Oakland County Times

February 6 – March 29 – Artemisia Gentileschi and women artists in Italy exhibit at DIA

February 6 – March 29 – Artemisia Gentileschi and women artists in Italy exhibit at DIA

Detroit, MI – Explore the untold stories of female artists in the male-dominated Italian art world in By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800 at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) from February 6 to May 29, 2022. This exhibition highlights 17 resourceful women of this period, with confident self-portraits, realistic still lifes, scenes of female bravery and meditative religious scenes.

Tickets can be purchased at www.dia.org/ByHerHand or by calling 313-833-7900. Ticket prices range from $8 to $18 and are free for DIA members and discounted for residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. This is the DIA’s first paid exhibit since the pandemic, signaling a continued return to normal operations. Masks are compulsory for all visitors, regardless of their vaccination status.

By his hand is organized by the DIA and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, and has previously been on view in Hartford from September 30, 2021 to January 9, 2022. The DIA is the only other (and final) location for this exhibition.

Described by the New York Times as “…the most significant American exhibition of Italian Renaissance and Baroque women since 2007,” the exhibition features 57 works from American private and public collections, as well as a significant number of loans Europeans. Through these works of art in various media – from paintings to prints – the fascinating stories of Italy’s first modern female artists will be told. This is the first exhibition dedicated to pre-modern women artists at both institutions – an important historical milestone, which was sparked and inspired by major advances in research on the subject of women artists over the past fifty years. last years.

At a time when women faced rare opportunities to pursue formal artistic training, Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-c.1654) paved the way for female artists to gain professional recognition in artistic practices long dominated by men. A pioneer of her generation, she established herself as a master of Baroque painting, attracting the patronage of an international audience and clientele, including the Medici family and Charles I of England.

In addition to self-portraits, Gentileschi’s paintings include masterpieces featuring strong-willed heroines, such as DIA’s own Judith and her servant with the head of Holofernes. His work is characterized by rich colors and intense light contrasts. Beyond Gentileschi, this groundbreaking exhibition will focus on lesser-known – but equally important – Italian women artists from the Renaissance to the Baroque. To this end, By his hand celebrates the contributions of his contemporaries by presenting works by the court artist Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), the Bolognese portrait painter Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614), the Milanese still life painter Fede Galizia (1578-1630), by the Bolognese painter and printmaker Elisabetta Sirani (1638–1665), the Italian miniaturist Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670), as well as works by the Venetian pastel artist Rosalba Carriera (1673–1757), among other talented but less known. In the end, this exhibition will highlight the essential role of women artists around 1600.

Visitors will understand how, in the male-dominated world of art from the 1500s to the 1700s, Gentileschi and other early Italian artists succeeded, and the exhibition will invite conversations about gender and power dynamics. in the contemporary world.

“This is a rare and exciting opportunity for Detroit audiences to see works of art by so many talented Italian artists. It is interesting to examine how their experiences parallel or differ from women artists today,” said Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, co-curator of the exhibition and former head of the European Art Department and curator. Elizabeth and Allan Shelden of European Paintings at the DIA and the current Curator of Italian and Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Since the 1970s, works by women artists have received greater scholarly attention and have been acquired in greater numbers by museums around the world. Gentileschi became a major center of study and can be considered one of the most famous artists of the time.

Tickets for By his hand include a dynamic multimedia tour with audio, images, video and interactive narration that bring the stories of these artists from 400 years ago into conversation with modern times. To access the tour during their visit, visitors will need to bring their own smartphone and headphones.

A catalog of the exhibition will be available in the DIA store. Under the direction of exhibition co-curators Straussman-Pflanzer and Dr Oliver Tostmann, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of European Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum, with additional contributions from Dr Sheila Barker and Dr Babette Bohn. Individual catalog entries for each object are written by leading specialists in the field.

The exhibition program includes a series of documentary films titled On visionary women, featuring Hilma af Klint, Eva Hesse and Ursula Von Rydingsvard, as well as music from the Sonnambula Consortium, a group of instrumentalists dedicated to bringing to light unknown compositions for period instruments. A playlist of their music will be available to stream on DIA’s Soundcloud and Spotify channels.

By Her Hand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 1500-1800 is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Major support is provided by the European Paintings Council, Masco Corporation, Huntington, Anne G Fredericks and the Valade family.

Additional support is provided by Jennifer Adderley, Peter and Carol Walters, Mary Ann and Robert Gorlin, MSU Federal Credit Union and the Desk Drawer Fund, Claudia J. Nickel, the Nancy S. Williams Trust and Sharon Backstrom, Executor, Brenda Naomi Rosenberg, an anonymous donor, the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation and the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Funding is also provided by Ann Berman and Daniel Feld and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Museum opening hours and admission
9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; closed on Mondays. General admission (excluding paid exhibits) is free for Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne County residents and DIA members. For everyone else, $14 for adults, $9 for seniors 62 and over, $8 for students, $6 for ages 6-17. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.

For more things to do, visit the Oakland County Times events page! To submit event information, email editor@oc115.com.

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