American Portraits: Treasures... | Exhibitions

American Portraits: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum

Parrish Art Museum

Water Mill | New York | USA

Oct 16, 2011 - Nov 27, 2011

The fourth in a series of special exhibitions drawn exclusively from the Parrish鈥檚 collection, American Portraits will showcase some of the truly exceptional works of art that illustrate the many and varied ways in which artists approach portraiture. William Sidney Mount鈥檚 Portrait of Mrs. Manice (1833) is the earliest painting in the collection and a prime example of the importance of portrait painting in the early years of the nation, bringing both status and prominence to the sitter. While William Merritt Chase made his reputation in the late nineteenth century in portrait painting and became the most highly regarded painter of his time, it is the intimate portraits of his family that are his finest achievements.

Fairfield Porter鈥檚 mid-twentieth century depictions of his wife and children in domestic settings often impart a psychological portrait of the family as well. Daywoud Bey鈥檚 four-part 20 x 24 inch Polaroid portrait, Anthony (1999), brings multiple facets of the sitter, a teenage boy, into focus. Elizabeth Peyton鈥檚 colored-pencil sketch on hotel stationery of Ben Drawing (2001) deftly captures her friend the artist Ben Brunnemer. American Portraits: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum, will explore the tradition of portrait painting ranging from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century.