Blind Momentum, by Irving Norman, 1960
Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Gift
Blind Momentum,
by Irving Norman, 1960
Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Gift
Utah State University press releases for 9-7-07:
1. USU’s NORA ECCLES HARRISON MUSEUM OF ART CELEBRATES 25 YEARS
September 7, 2007
Contact: Deb Banerjee (435) 797- 435-797-8207
Source: Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
USU’s NORA ECCLES HARRISON MUSEUM OF ART CELEBRATES 25 YEARS
LOGAN — Utah State University’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art plans two evenings of celebration as part of its 25th anniversary. Events begin Thursday, Sept. 20, with an opening reception for “Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s Social Surrealism,” from 5:30-7 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to become members of the museum and receive associated member benefits in addition to viewing the special exhibit during the reception.
Friday, Sept. 28, a second reception for museum members only will be from 5:30-7 p.m. Attending members will have the opportunity to participate in the curator’s tour conducted by Scott Shields, chief curator of Crocker Art Museum and curator of “Dark Metropolis.” They will also meet the artist’s widow and the museum’s guest of honor, Hela Norman.
This exhibition, produced on the occasion of what would have been Irving Norman’s 100th birthday, features paintings that remain as poignant and relevant today as when they were first created, said Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Director Victoria Rowe.
“Norman’s dark visions not only reflect a troubled and turbulent world, they also convey a sense that Norman understood and wished for change,” she said. “He believed that by pointing out the inequities, horrors and foibles of human behavior, he might somehow cause people to consider the consequences of their actions. He intended his canvases as public art, which he hoped would end up in museums where, as he said, ‘all people could come and study them and contemplate.’”
Norman’s monumental paintings teem with detail and are populated by swarming, clone-like humans. These people are constricted by small urban spaces and modern technology, caught in the crunch of rush hour and decimated by poverty and war. These themes manifest Norman’s perceptions of modern life.
Born Isaac Noachowitz (1906-1989) in Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania), which was then under Russian control, Norman came to New York in 1923 and began working as a barber. After moving to California, he volunteered in 1938 to go to Spain and defend the republic against the facism of General Francisco Franco. Norman’s combat experience in a machine-gun company left an indelible impression of death and destruction on his psyche.
He later spoke about the reasons he decided to express this experience through art.
“It’s just that I feel that the experience was so powerful and my realization that society, the foundation of this society, is based on war,” Norman said. “So I had to find a way to … express that thing, especially the violence of war, and I was looking into the history of artists who did it. And I found very few.”
Norman’s work has only recently begun to attract a broad audience. Shocking, revealing and profound, the paintings aim, as Norman himself described, to tell the truth of our time, Rowe said.
“I try to go beyond illusions, to tell the truth,” he said. “That doesn’t always make me popular.”
However chilling their effect, Norman’s paintings stand as a testimony to his talent, his determination and his dogmatic conscience, Rowe said.
Writing in “Art in America” (July 2003), Michael Duncan described his work as “jaw-droppingly effective social indictments that would have been endorsed by Orwell and Huxley. The unrestrained passion and monumental energy of [his] work blows most contemporary political art out of the water.”
“Dark Metropolis” is on view at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art on the USU campus through Oct. 6. The final venue of this traveling exhibition is the American University Museum in Washington, D.C., Nov. 13 through Jan. 27, 2008.
USU museum memberships are available in the following categories and price ranges: President’s Circle, $500 or higher donation; Benefactor, $250-$499; Associate, $200-$249; Patron, $100-$199; Contributor, $50-$99; Family, $35; Individual, $20; Student, $10; Senior Citizen, $10. Those who subscribe or renew membership at the $200 or higher levels will receive a copy of the “Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s Social Surrealism” color catalog from the exhibition as a premium. Contact Rachel Hamm at 435-797-1414 or email her at rachel.hamm@usu.edu for assistance with memberships.
This exhibition has been underwritten by The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Rolfe Wyer, Martin Sosin/Strattor-Petit Foundation, LEF Foundation, Estate of Moses and Ruth Helen Lasky through Morelle Lasky Levine and Janice and Maurice Holloway.
For more information about the book signing or to schedule a tour of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, call (435) 797-0165. The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is on the USU campus at 650 North 1100 East, Logan, Utah, 84322, (435) 797-0163; fax (435) 797-3423. Information is available at the museum’s Web site (http://www.usu.edu/artmuseum). The museum is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, noon-4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays. Admission is free. The museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.
Parking for the museum is available in lot C3 to the west of the museum. The parking fee in this area is $6 ($3 will be refunded if parked for two hours or less). Parking is free after 5 p.m. and on weekends. Two dedicated stalls are available for museum members. Please call Rachel for reservations: 797-1414. Parking is also available in the USU Parking Terrace, located near the Taggart Student Center, for $1.50/hour ($7.50/day maximum). Free parking after 2 p.m. is available at lot B, located at the corner of 700 North and 1200 East (by Aggie Ice Cream).
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Museum-25th-IrvingNorman
Source: NEH Museum for USU Public USU/pw 9/7/07
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