Beginning February 13 in Florida, visitors to this museum are afforded the opportunity to view over 150 works of portraiture and self-portraiture from some of the biggest names in the history of art. Where?
Opening soon at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, “Contemplating Character: Portrait Drawings and Oil Sketches from Jacques Louis David to Lucian Freud” is sure to be a fantastic exhibition of life-like — and abstracted — visages.
The names included in the exhibition, which features more than 150 works from both public and private collections, are sure to draw major crowds. Among others, they include the aforementioned Jacques Louis David along with Gustave Dore and Edouard Vuillard. Via the exhibition webpage: “Others include portraits of other artists, family members and friends, and famous people, among them a rare, early profile of George Washington and another of author Oscar Wilde. The collection focuses on rare portraits, many capturing the deeper personality of the subjects. Lucian Freud, for example, is known for his penetrating portraits, and there are even two drawings by the legendary cartoon artist R. Crumb. The exhibition also complements the MFA’s own distinguished holdings of portrait paintings and sculpture. Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, developed the show from his personal collection. He has written: ‘Every drawing in this exhibition has moved me deeply in some human way, and it is both my conviction and hope that individuals who view this exhibition will make a similar connection and feel the presence of the personalities who have been drawn and painted over the last two centuries.’”
To learn more, visit the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg.
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