“Beauty Rediscovered: The Paintings of Adeline Albright Wigand and Otto Charles Wigand”

21 June 2010 - by ArtfixDaily Staff

click to enlarge

Adeline Albright Wigand (1855-1944), Polly, c. 1915-1920. Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 in. Collection of the Staten Island Museum.

The elegant and graceful portraits, domestic scenes and landscapes of Adeline Albright Wigand and Otto Charles Wigand, two overlooked late 19th–early 20th century New York artists, will be celebrated in a new exhibition at the Staten Island Museum.

Many of 45 works in the exhibition are on loan from the private collections of the artists' family.

The couple classically-trained in New York and Paris, then moved to Staten Island in 1916 to paint until their deaths in 1944. They carried the ideals of their salon training, including a mastery of technical details and a focus on beauty, throughout their careers. While the Wigands achieved recognition during their lifetimes, their academic style eventually fell out of favor until a recent re-evaluation.

The public opening of "Beauty Rediscovered" and a "Curator’s Talk" with exhibition curator Bartholomew Bland, will be held on Saturday, June 26, 2–4p.m. at the Museum. The exhibit continues through January 17, 2011.

An accompanying book, "Color and Light," by art historian Kristen M. Jensen, with an introduction by Bartholomew F. Bland, will be published by the Museum.

Staten Island Museum, 75 Stuyvesant Place, St. George, NY; www.StatenIslandMuseum.org

More News Feed Headlines

Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American. Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.

First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum

A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.

'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.

Virtual Art Buying Gets a Boost From New Websites

A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.

An installation view of the new Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Home of the Westervelt Collection.

New Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to Showcase Important American Art

Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. Several key works were sold by the Westervelt Co. at auction and privately. Now, more than 800 pieces...

Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior, painted about 1666, by Eglon van der Neer (Dutch, 1634–1703). Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Seth K. Sweetser Fund.

Museum Curator as Art Detective

At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...