Quiet Courage: Images of Women from The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis

December 8, 2009 - March 28, 2010

Organized by Dubuque Museum of Art

Images of women in Curtis's masterful collection express strength and character.  Women were photographed going about the plethora of daily activities that kept everyone fed, clean, and cared for, including gathering food and firewood, cleaning game, cooking, fetching water, and caring for their children - not to mention home repairs when needed!  They also posed for Curtis wearing everything from their most elegant wedding attire to plain work clothes.  Almost 50 images will be on display with the majority of them on view here for the first time.

Image: Edward S. Curtis (American, 1868-1952), A Heavy Load-Sioux, 1908, volume 3, plate 100, Photogravure on Dutch Van Gelder paper, 15 11/16 x 11 3/4 in. (image), Gift of the Dubuque Cultural Preservation Committe, 2009.11.100

Larry Schulte: Pattern and Order

December 8, 2009 - March 28, 2010

Organized by Dubuque Museum of Art

New York-based textile artist, Larry Schulte brings his unique pattern-focused artwork to the Tri-States.  Larry is originally from Nebraska and has a mathematics background - he was a math professor before becoming an artist.  Mathematical phenomenon like the Fibonacci Sequence (a mathematical sequence of numbers found throughtout nature where the next number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers preceding it) influences the order found in his paintings.

Image: Larry Schulte (b. 1949), HOTTS 42395, 1995, woven painted paper, 34x34 in., collection of the artist

Arthur Geisert’s Oops

September 10, 2009 - February 14, 2010

Organized by Dubuque Museum of Art

Once again, the Museum is pleased to present original, hand-colored etching illustrations by Arthur Geisert from one of his recent children’s books, Oops! published in 2006 by Houghton Mifflin.

This wordless book tells the story of cause and effect as a family of pigs starts off innocently one morning eating breakfast when a glass of spilled milk causes a chain reaction of events that eventually leads to a giant boulder falling on the house, leaving the family without a house but with each other.

Though born and educated in California, Arthur has lived in the mid-west for the majority of his artistic career – in Galena, Illinois and now in Bernard, Iowa.  Geisert has illustrated 22 children’s books for which he has received numerous awards including one bestowed by the NY Times for Best Illustrated Book.  His humorous cartoons (for adults), also appear in the New Yorker magazine.

Image: Arthur Geisert, Oops, p. 3, 2006, hand-colored, copper plate etching on BFK Rives paper

John Vachon and the Great Depression in Dubuque

September 10 - February 14, 2010

Organized by Dubuque Museum of Art

Working as a photography file clerk for the Farm Security Administration in 1936, Minnesotan Vachon came under the spell of some of the finest photographers in the country who were hired by the government during the Great Depression years to document the lives of rural Americans.  As part of his assignments, Vachon came to Dubuque in April 1940.  His Dubuque series is part of the Museum’s permanent collection thanks to the generosity of Bill and Barbara Kruse.

The hallmark of Vachon’s style of photography is the portrayal of real people and places encountered on the street, unembellished by air brushing, staging, or other beautifying devices.

Vachon became a staff photographer for Life magazine, where he worked from 1947 to 1949, and for over twenty-five years beginning in 1947 at Look magazine. When Look closed in 1971 he became a freelance photographer.  He died in 1975 in New York at age 60.

Image: John Vachon, Resident of Shack Town, 1940, b/w photograph, Gift of William G. & Barbara Kruse, 00.08.40

Grant Wood Gallery

Ongoing

Organized by the Dubuque Museum of Art

Grant Wood's "Appraisal" and "Victorian Survival" are now on permanent display.  The Dubuque Museum of Art is proud to display these treasures in a redesigned section of the Randall & Cathy Lengeling Gallery that will permanently display a limited selection of our extensive Grant Wood collection.

Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942)

Appraisal (detail)

1931

oil on composition board

37x43 in.

On long-term loan from the Dubuque Cultural Preservation Committee, LTL.99.08.