JAN. 18, 2017
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Only:    Taryn Bunger, (860) 838-4081
                          [email protected]

 

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
 February 2017 Calendar

The following programs are for your calendars and event listings. Please note: some programs require a separate fee; please include this information with any mentions of such programs. If you have any questions or would like to request a related publicity image, please contact Taryn Bunger, Communications & Marketing Coordinator, at (860) 838-4081 or [email protected].

 
     

EVENTS 
       
Thursday, Feb. 2, 5-8 p.m.
Art After Dark: "The Lure of Japan"
Spend an evening at the museum celebrating the special exhibition "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan." Activities include Taiko drummers, music by NYC-based DJ Keiichiro Nakajima, Origami and Japanese lessons, a Kimono dressing workshop, and gallery talks by curator Oliver Tostmann and MATRIX 176 artist Valeska Soares. Tickets $10/$5 members; purchase at the door.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/art-after-dark-the-lure-of-japan

Thursday, Feb. 2, 8 p.m.
Film: "Shall We Dance?"
A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons. Comedic drama. 1996. Japan. 136 min. Not Rated. Subtitles. Directed by Masayuki Suo. Free with admission to Art After Dark: "The Lure of Japan."
https://thewadsworth.org/event/film-shall-we-dance

Friday, Feb. 3, noon
Gallery Talk: "The Restoration of Saint Serapion"
Join Chief Conservator Ulrich Birkmaier for a discussion of the recent restoration of Franciso de Zurbarán's celebrated "Saint Serapion" (1628). Free with museum admission; meet by the Museum Shop.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/gallery-talk-restoration-saint-serapion

Saturday, Feb. 4, noon
Art in Focus
Spend 20 minutes exploring "Herter Brothers' Table" (c. 1872) in depth with a docent. Free with museum admission; meet by the Museum Shop.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/art-in-focus-10

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2 p.m.
Film: "Utamaro and His Five Women"
A cinematic portrait of Kitagwawa Utamaro and the women who inspired him. 1946. Japan. 106 min. Not Rated. Subtitles. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Additional screening Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. A 30 min tour of "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" is free with admission to each screening; tours begin at 1 p.m. Tickets $0-9; purchase at the door.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/film-utamaro-and-his-five-women

Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Film: "Our Little Sister"
This charming tale tells of three sisters who live together in their grandmother's home, and after their father's death welcome into their lives their 13 year-old half sister. 2015. Japan. 126 min. Not Rated. Subtitles. Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. Additional screenings Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m. Tickets $0-9; purchase at the door.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/film-our-little-sister
   
Saturday, Feb. 11, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Second Saturdays: "Postcards from Japan"
Guests are invited to explore Japan's past and present through a unique dance performance, and create nature-inspired postcards to take home or send to a friend. Free admission.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/second-saturdays-postcards-from-japan

Sunday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m.
Concert: "CONCORA"
Featuring the premier of a commissioned choral work by Connecticut composer Ellen Gilson Voth, and inspired by paintings from the museum's collection of Hudson River School Paintings, small ensembles of CONCORA singers will sing throughout the galleries and conclude with a full choir performance in Morgan Great Hall. Tickets are $10-55 and include museum admission; to purchase call (860) 293-0567.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/choral-concert-with-concora

Wednesday, Feb. 15, noon
Art in Focus
Spend 20 minutes exploring "Office Desk" (c. 1936), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in depth with a docent. Free with museum admission; meet by the Museum Shop.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/art-in-focus-11
   
Friday, Feb. 17, noon
Gallery Talk: "SHE"
Take a closer look at "SHE: Images of Female Power from the Permanent Collection" with Georgette Auerbach Koopman Director of Education Anne Butler Rice, and consider the questions these works raise about the portrayal of female strength across cultures and time. Free with museum admission; meet by the Museum Shop.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/gallery-talk-she

Saturday, Feb. 18, various times
Film: "Japanese Films for Kids of All Ages"
Free admission to screenings of "Japanese Shorts" from 10-11 a.m., "Miss Hokusai" at 1 p.m. and "Pom Poko" at 2:45 p.m. Visit thewadsworth.org for film descriptions.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/japanese-films-for-kids-of-all-ages
 
Sunday, Feb. 19, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Jazz Brunch: "Atla & Matt DeChamplain Trio"
Enjoy a brunch buffet with live jazz by the Atla & Matt DeChamplain Trio. Tickets include museum admission, jazz and brunch. Two seatings: 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. $35;$25 members; tickets available at thewadsworth.org.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/jazz-brunch-atla-matt-dechamplain-trio

Sunday, Feb. 19, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Gallery Dance Performance: "DancEnglight"
DancEnlight performs a dance, inspired by "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" and choreographed by Lorelei Chang, in the museum galleries. Free with museum admission.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/gallery-dance-performance

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 6:30 p.m.
"Shaping Social Change" Film Series: "The Birth of a Nation"
A 6:30 p.m. talk followed by a 7 p.m. screening of "The Birth of a Nation." Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher in the antebellum South, orchestrates an uprising. 2016. USA. 120 min. Rated R. Directed by Nate Parker. Presented in partnership with The Mark Twain House & Museum, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture. Tickets $0-9; purchase at the door.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/shaping-social-change-the-birth-of-a-nation

Thursday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Art Talk: "With Hammer and Tongs: The Hammerslough Collection"
Guest curator Jeannine Falino will introduce the Wadsworth's Philip Hammerslough Collection of American silver, highlighting recent discoveries and plans to reinstall the collection. Free and open to the public.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/art-talk-hammer-and-tongs

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.
Film: "Creepy"
A former detective, who is now a university lecturer on crime, begins to suspect his neighbor is a murderer. 2016. Japan. 130 min. Not Rated. Subtitles. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Additional screening Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets $0-9; purchase at the door.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/film-creepy

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.
Gallery Talk and Demonstration: "Printmaking in the Age of Utamaro"
Keiji Shinohara, artist in residence at Wesleyan University, demonstrates printmaking techniques used by artists in Edo-era Japan. After the demonstration, tour the special exhibition "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" to examine techniques on display. Free with museum admission; meet by the Museum Shop.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/gallery-talk-demonstration-printmaking-utamaro

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m.
Sunday Serenades Chamber Music Series: "Snow, Moon, and Flowers"
Schubert, Takemitsu, and Debussy provide musical reflections of Kitagawa Utamaro's "Snow, Moon, and Flowers" series, the centerpiece of the special exhibition "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan." Tickets $30/$25 members and Hartford Symphony Orchestra subscribers; to purchase call (860) 987-5900.
https://thewadsworth.org/event/sunday-serenades-snow-moon-flowers
 
    
TOURS
All tours are free with museum admission and meet at the Information Desk by the Museum Shop.    
 
Highlights Tours
Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays at 11:30 a.m.

"Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" Tours
Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.  


EXHIBITIONS

MATRIX 176 / Valeska Soares
"Unfold"
February 2 - May 7, 2017 
Brazilian conceptual artist Valeska Soares will create two new site-specific installations for MATRIX 176, titled "Unfold." Her immaculately-realized, poetic environments incorporate found, manipulated, and manmade objects to address subjects including spirituality, desire, ephemerality, and time. In "Tabled," the first installation, Soares responds to the modern architecture of the 1934 Avery Memorial and to Pietro Francavilla's "Venus with Nymph and Satyr" (1600), which looms over the fountain at the heart of the space. Soares's degree in architecture, acute interest in design, and sense of space will inform "Unhinged," the second of her installations. Framing the pure architecture of the Avery Memorial, Soares will build a new architectural feature within the gallery in the form of a labyrinthine sculpture zig-zagging through the space.

"Utamaro and the Lure of Japan"
Through March 26, 2017 
"Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" is the long-awaited celebration of Japanese art at the Wadsworth Atheneum. With paintings, screens, prints and decorative arts, the show explores for the first time the depths of the museum's Japanese art collection.
Central to the exhibition is the Wadsworth Atheneum's own rarely exhibited "Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara" by ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), displayed alongside its recently re-discovered companion "Fukagawa in the Snow from the Okada Museum." "Utamaro and the Lure of Japan" will also explore the history of Japanese art collecting in Hartford and at the Wadsworth Atheneum, beginning with the Colt family in the 1860s and continuing through a subsequent century-long fascination with Japanese objects.  
 
"John Trumbull: Visualizing American Independence"
 Through July 2017 
Three historic scenes created by America's first history painter, John Trumbull, are central to this installation exploring visual interpretation of the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). An additional work by Trumbull is also featured in the exhibition, as well as works by modern artists who revisited the legacy of the war in the 20th century in observance of major anniversaries such as the bicentennial of George Washington's birth in 1932 and the nation's bicentennial in 1976.   
  
 
About the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Founded in 1842, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the oldest public art museum in the United States. The museum's nearly 50,000 works of art span 5,000 years, from Greek and Roman antiquities to the first museum collection of American contemporary art. The museum's five connected buildings-representing architectural styles including Gothic Revival and modern International Style-are located at 600 Main Street in Hartford, Conn. Hours: Wed - Fri: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sat and Sun: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: $0 - 15; discounts for members, students and seniors. Free "Happy Hour" admission Wed - Sun, 4 p.m - 5 p.m. Phone: (860) 278-2670; website: http://thewadsworth.org .
 
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