Portland Art Museum & PAM CUT
“Eunice Kim’s collagraph monoprints are intimate, meticulous constructions. Works in the Tessellations series are created from three-inch square monoprints—each individually inked and printed—which are then assembled to create a composite whole. She deposits tiny dots of modeling paste upon her printing matrix, then hand-polishes each dot to her desired height and contour. Kim has called the… Read more
As many of us gather this weekend with our households, extended family and friends, or even just our furry companions, we will center time together, and may even take a moment to sing, play games, watch a movie, or go for a walk. This piece by Maurice Denis, featured in the current exhibition, Private Lives,… Read more
Artist Édouard Vuillard found inspiration from the people closest at hand, as seen in our current special exhibition, Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, 1889–1900. Vuillard’s mother, Madame Marie Vuillard, was a constant in her son’s life and in his art. More than 500 paintings in which she is depicted,… Read more
As the current Private Lives exhibition makes clear, the Nabis artists loved depicting children. Not only were they part of the artists’ intimate family circles, but children also offered an example of how to view the world with a fresh perspective. Drawing inspiration from Pierre Bonnard’s Family Scene, we invite you to write from the… Read more
Goddesses and Queens Queen Nefertari’s Egypt features many representations of goddesses—from the large sculptures of Sekhmet and Mut in the introductory gallery to small amulets and mirrors decorated with the face of the goddess Hathor. Sometimes ancient Egyptian queens took on the status of goddesses after their deaths, as in the case of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari,… Read more
After resetting the clocks and settling in for a dark winter, I am reminded of the many scenes of lamplight in the exhibition Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, 1889–1900. Families gathered around oil lamps, candles, or the hearth in tenebrous Parisian apartments. Each artist in the exhibition brought a… Read more
Last week was an exciting week at the museum with artist Lynnette Haozous, and her assistant Andrew Benally, here from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They were on hand to install Into the Sun, her temporary mural in the gallery for our upcoming exhibition, Mesh.” As a muralist, Haozous is often invited to create work that is… Read more
After a hot, dry, summer, I cheered the recent return of rain to Portland. More than 100 years ago, French artist Pierre Bonnard captured the magic of a rainy night in Paris. In the foreground, a woman with a plumed hat trimmed with red flowers moves to the right. Behind her, another parisienne gingerly steps… Read more
Shirley Gittelsohn’s Family Portrait is featured in the current exhibition, Portraiture from the Collection of Northwest Art. The painting depicts her adult children, the family pets, her relaxed husband, herself, and their Cannon Beach gathering place. I’ve been drawn to different details of this piece over time, most recently focusing on Gittelsohn’s self-portrait. She is… Read more
As we enter the dog days of summer, I offer you seven pups by French artist Pierre Bonnard. Bonnard was a keen observer of animals, whether pampered pets or urban strays. In this lively lithograph, five dogs interact on an urban street. Well-groomed pets wearing collars mix with scruffy street dogs. Bonnard captures the distinctive… Read more