The Tampa Museum of Art presented a survey of black and white works by the legendary artist Alex Katz (American, b. 1927). An artist of international renown, this exhibition featured Katz’s signature portraits of family and friends, renderings of Maine’s countryside, and ephemeral still lifes. The stark contrasts in light and shadow, as well as the emphasis on line and form, illustrate the beauty of Katz’s reductive black and white landscapes and figurative work. A select group of color works illustrates the relationship between Katz’s vibrant palette and the graphic quality of his black and white prints.
Ken Geiger (American, b. 1957), Nigerian Relay Team, Olympics, Barcelona, 1992. Printed 2016. Inkjet print, 17 7/16 x 19 5/8 in. (44.3 x 49.9 cm). Courtesy of Ken Geiger/The Dallas Morning News.
Ken Geiger (American, b. 1957). Printed 2016. Inkjet print, 17 7/16 x 19 5/8 in. (44.3 x 49.9 cm). Courtesy of Ken Geiger/The Dallas Morning News.
Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present is one of the first museum exhibitions to put sports photographers in the forefront and is the most comprehensive presentation of sports photography ever organized. It encompasses approximately 230 works—from daguerreotypes and salted paper prints to digital images—that capture the universal appeal of sports, highlighting unforgettable moments of drama and excitement from around the globe.
The photographers represented in Who Shot Sports include Richard Avedon, Al Bello, David Burnett, Rich Clarkson, Georges Demeny, Dr. Harold Edgerton, Rineke Dijkstra, Brian Finke, Toni Frissell, Ken Geiger, LeRoy Grannis, David Guttenfelder, Ernst Haas, Charles “Teenie” Harris, Walter Iooss, Jr., Heinz Kleutmeier, Stanley Kubrick, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Neil Leifer, Étienne-Jules Marey, Bob Martin, Martin Munkacsi, Edward Muybridge, Catherine Opie, Leni Riefenstahl, Robert Riger, Alexander Rodchenko, Howard Schatz, Flip Schulke, George Silk, Barton Silverman, and others.
Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and curated by Gail Buckland, Benjamin Menschel Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Known across the country as a hotbed for professional as well as amateur sports, the Tampa Bay region is blessed with dozens of extremely talented professional sports photographers, who each year capture many thousands of images for local teams and media outlets. Featuring work by eight of these photographers, Lens on Tampa Bay Sports included some of the best regional sports photographs shot over the last 14 years, from the victories of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs to the College Football National Championship Game played in Tampa on January 9, 2017.
From both thematic and aesthetic standpoints, many regional photographs could fit well into one or more sections of Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present. Rather than attempting to work local sports photography into a wider-ranging exhibition, however, we chose to group them together with one another, highlighting not only the beauty, drama, and emotion of sports, but also the many local contributors to the sports photography genre. Thus, for Lens on Tampa Bay Sports, the Museum invited submissions from numerous photographers, selecting 40 images to display here. Featured photographers included Scott Audette, Mike Carlson, Loren Elliott, Kim Klement, Casey Brooke Lawson, Matt May, Skip Milos, and Dirk Shadd.
Humberto Diaz, Libertad Condicional (Conditional Liberty), 2011. Photographs printed on Hahnemuhle photo paper 200g. Edition 5 of 5. The Bronx Museum of the Arts Permanent Collection, purchased with funds provided by Laura Blanco and Robert F. Shainheit.
Organized by the Tampa Museum of Art in collaboration with the Bronx Museum of the Arts
Complicated Beauty was the Tampa Museum of Art’s first survey of contemporary Cuban art from the 1970s to the present. Inspired by the City of Tampa’s historical connections with Havana and the reopening of relations between the United States and Cuba, this exhibition highlighted several of Cuba’s most influential artists. With 40 works on view by over 25 artists, this exhibition was a cross-generational look at recent trends in Cuban art. Although the art in Complicated Beauty spans four decades, the artists address several similar themes related to Cuban identity and the island nation’s complex history. Many of the artists explore the effects of the Revolution, isolation, and barriers, yet celebrate the natural beauty and diversity of Cuba. Themes related to escape and water reappeared in many of the works on view.
Artists featured in Complicated Beauty included: Belkis Ayón, Abel Barroso, José Bedia, Tania Bruguera, Maria Martinez Cañas, Los Carpinteros, Yoan Capote, Humberto Díaz, Carlos Garaicoa, Lázaro Armando Saavedra Gonzalez, Maria Elena Gonzalez, Quisqueya Henriquez, KCHO, Glenda León, Reynier Leyva Novo, Ana Mendieta, Ibrahim Miranda, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Mabel Poblet, Eduardo Ponjuán, Wilfredo Prieto, Diana Fonseca Quiñones, Sandra Ramos, Esterio Segura, and José A. Toirac.
Artist unidentified, Flag Gate, c. 1876. Jefferson County, New York, United States. Paint on wood with iron and brass. 39 1/2 × 57 × 3 ¾ in. Credit: Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York. Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr. in honor of Neal A. Prince, 1962.1.1. Photo credit: John Parnell.
This exhibition proposed reframing American folk art through the concept of “self-taught genius,” as an elastic and enduring notion whose meaning has evolved over time. The exhibition curators selected more than 100 artworks from the permanent collection of the American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY), produced in a wide range of media from the eighteenth century until the present day. Each artwork belongs to one of seven primary themes by which the exhibition is organized: Achievers, Encoders, Messengers, Improvement, Reformers, Ingenuity, and Guides. The exhibition was accompanied by a beautifully illustrated catalogue, impressive website, and multiple educational resources.
Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum and its national tour are made possible by generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation, as part of its 75th anniversary initiative. Tampa is the seventh and final stop on this tour.
To learn more about the objects featured in Self-Taught Genius, please view selftaughtgenius.org
Manuel Carrillo (Mexican, 1906-1989), known as “El Maestro Mexicano,” is celebrated for his intimate photographs of workers, the elderly, and families in his native Mexico. Carrillo captures the kindred relationship between children and animals, with several works depicting the playful and affectionate bonds between humans and their four-legged companions. His black and white images portray empathy and admiration, as well as the everyday beauty of rural communities in post-revolutionary Mexico. His photos, distinct in their formal composition, focus on the expressions of his subjects and their daily rituals. Surrounding architecture and landscapes, as well as dramatic contrasts in light and shadow, emphasize the narrative aspect of Carrillo’s photographic stories. The exhibition Manuel Carrillo: Mi Querido Mexico (My Beloved Mexico) presented nearly 30 of his photographs captured over a twenty-year period, from the late 1950s through the 1970s. This body of work illustrates Carrillo’s masterful ability to capture the mood of his home country in an era of cultural transformation and an evolving national identity.
This exhibition was provided by Bank of America through its Art in our Communities program.
Early Christian, Floor Mosaic Fragment with Running Dog, 5th-6th century AD. Marble tesserae. 42 ½ x 70-7/8 in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. D. Herbert Beskind, Class of 1936. MIS.974.352.
In this exhibition—on view in the MacKechnie Gallery alongside TheClassical World display in the Lemonopoulos Gallery—visitors will see a small sampling of the roles played by animals in ancient life, myth, and art. Whether as pets or pests, beasts of burden or symbols of status, animals are often represented naturalistically in ancient art, providing a ready connection between antiquity and the present day. But as hybrid creatures combining multiple animal and human forms (such as winged horses or centaurs), animals also populated the ancient imagination, reminding us of important differences between past and present.
The artifacts and artworks on view span broad geographical areas across more than a millennium (from well before 500 BC to after AD 500), in media ranging from black-figure and red-figure pottery to sculpture in terracotta, stone, and precious metal. Alongside numerous Greek, Etruscan, and Roman works from the Museum’s permanent collection are a number of significant works lent by other institutions and private collections. Most striking among these loans are a Roman marble lion sarcophagus from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and an early Christian mosaic with a dog in flying gallop from the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901), La Loge au mascaron doré / Loge with a Gilded Mascaron, 1893. Lithograph on paper, edition of 100. 21 5/8 x 17 x 3/4 in. Loaned by the Kasser Mochary Art Foundation, Montclair, New Jersey.
This exhibition examined one of the most universal subjects in art, the portrayal of the human figure. From the universally recognizable to the intimate and introspective, Public and Private presented more than 100 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by many of the most important artists of the late 19th and 20th centuries, including Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Diego Rivera, Auguste Rodin, Paul Signac, Andy Warhol, and others. Juxtaposing their diverse approaches to a common subject reveals radical stylistic changes, as well as a broad spectrum of political, philosophical, and aesthetic meanings associated with the human form. Initially collected by Elizabeth and Alexander Kasser, the artworks of Public and Private now belong to the Kasser Mochary Art Foundation, a generous lender to museums worldwide.
This exhibition was organized by the Tucson Museum of Art and the Kasser Mochary Art Foundation.
Supported in part by the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation.
One of the world’s foremost living sculptors, Spanish artist Jaume Plensa (b. 1955) has created large-scale artworks related to the human figure for public places around the globe. This exhibition, the artist’s largest to date in the United States, features numerous indoor as well as outdoor installations, engaging viewers even before they enter the Museum. Interested not only in the visual arts but also in literature, psychology, biology, language, and history, Jaume Plensa creates sculptures and installations that unify individuals through connections of spirituality, the body, and collective memory. He uses a wide range of materials—including steel, cast iron, resin, light, sound, and more—to lend physical weight and volume to multiple components of the human condition and soul.
This exhibition was organized by Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.
Presented by PNC Bank
Additional support from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County
Or, more broadly interpreted, “Art is eternal, its makers mortal”
Hippokrates of Kos, Aphorism 1 (ca. 400 BC).
From the rediscovery of ancient sites and artworks in the Renaissance until the present day, the world of classical antiquity lives on, continually fascinating and inspiring artists. Countless students of painting and sculpture have honed their crafts by studying and emulating ancient masterworks, while others have created wholly original artworks with clear reference—whether positive or negative—to the antique.
In this exhibition, drawn primarily from the permanent collection of the Tampa Museum of Art, visitors first encountered fascinating trompe l’oeils by Peter Saari, twentieth-century paintings made to look like ancient Roman wall and floor fragments. Maura Sheehan’s intentionally fragmented sculptures similarly challenged the viewer to consider the relationship between ancient and contemporary art. Other highlights included a range of responses to the familiar silhouettes and contours of Greek black-figure and red-figure pottery, from faithful nineteenth-century engravings to decidedly contemporary versions created by artists like James Rosenquist, Phillip Pearlstein, and Duncan McClellan. Similarly, stunning but relatively straightforward neoclassical works by C. Paul Jennewein and others stood in contrast to reimagined histories and mythologies created by Jim Dine, Nancy Graves, Stanley William Hayter, Pablo Picasso, and others.
