Event Detail - Hammer Museum

NOV 26 WED: Exhibitions

: Catherine Opie Jerome Caja 1993 Cibachrome print. 19 x 14 3/4 in. (48.3 x 37.5 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of Herbert and Lenore Schorr.; Hendrick Goltzius Henri IV 1592 Engraving. 4 3/4 x 3 5/8 in. (12.1 x 92. cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Grunwald.; Ray Johnson Gene Tunney 1971 Photo, ink, and paint on board. 24 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (62.2 x 40 x 3.8 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Purchase.; Edward Burne-Jones Portrait Studies ca. 1872-1880 Pencil drawing. 10 1/8 x 5 3/4 in. (25.7 x 14.6 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchased with funds from Various Donors and The Friends of the Graphic Arts.; Eugène Carrière Nelly Carrière, Closed Eyes (Profile of a Young Girl) 1895 Lithograph. 22 15/16 x 16 3/4 in. (58.3 x 42.5 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of Robert Gore Rifkind.; David Dupuis Portrait of the Artist in the Forest of Death 2007 Color pencil, graphite, and collage on paper. 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Purchase.; Eugène Carrière Portrait of Alphonse Daudet 1849-1906 Lithograph. 22 15/16 x 17 1/8 in. (58.3 x 43.5 cm) Collection of UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of Virgil Whirlaw.; Claude Mellan The Sudarium of Saint Veronica 1649 Engraving. 18 3/8 x 14 in. (46.7 x 35.6 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchase.; Jack Pierson Self Portrait #15 2003 Pigment print. 54 x 44 in. (137.2 x 111.8 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard.; Matthew Monahan Frank 1994 Pencil on paper. 8 x 11 in. (20.3 x 27.9 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Purchase.; Grayson Perry Mr. and Mrs. Perry 2006 Linocut. 18 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (47 x 37.5 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchase.; Grayson Perry Mr. and Mrs. Perry 2006 18 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (47 x 37.5 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchase.; Jack Pierson Self Portrait #4 2003 Pigment print. 44 x 54 in. (111.8 x 137.2 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard.; Egon Schiele Portrait of Arthur Roessler 1969 Etching, steel-faced plate. 12 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. (31.8 x 45.1 cm) Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of The Robert Gore Rifkind Collection.; John Sonsini Byron 2008 Oil on canvas. 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Purchased with funds provided by Susan and Larry Marx.; Kehinde Wiley Portrait of a Man (Folcoportinari) Study 2006 Graphite on paper. 22 x 18 in. (55.9 cm x 45.7 cm) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of the artist and Roberts & Tilton.

Other People: Portraits from Grunwald and Hammer Collections

This exhibition presents a selection of portraits in a variety of media dating from the early sixteenth century to the present day. The works of art are drawn from two major collections housed at the Hammer Museum: the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts and the Hammer Contemporary Collection. The Grunwald Center collection comprises an extensive collection of works on paper, primarily European, American, and Japanese prints, drawings, and photographs dating from the Renaissance to the present. The Hammer Contemporary Collection is the newest collecting initiative at the Museum and comprises works in various media by artists working in Southern California as well as the United States and internationally, focused in particular on the last ten years. Ongoing series of exhibitions from these two collections, particularly rich in works on paper, present opportunities for discourse and a context for discussion about both history and the art of our time.

The works presented here show the endurance of the portrait genre, from early Renaissance engravings of kings and scholars to contemporary photographs of artists and workers. The first section of the exhibition includes portraits from a variety of periods and cultures, all characterized by a directness and emphasis on the individual. Busts or half-length figures dominate, showing how this convention has remained of interest to artists of diverse backgrounds and cultures. This section includes a number of self-portraits, from the raw textured woodcuts of Conrad Felixmüller to large color photographs by Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson. The second section of the exhibition presents a contrast between the introspective portrait—represented by the evocative works of historical artists such as Eugène Carrière and Gustav Klimt—to direct and unflinching contemporary portrayals by Matthew Monahan and Jenny Saville. The final gallery presents a selection of works focusing on the sitters’ social position, from Renaissance scholar Erasmus, surrounded by his books and other typical scholarly attributes, to contemporary portraits of day workers by John Sonsini.