Beautiful Britain includes over 20 works by defining British artistic figures such as Alexander Cozens, John Constable, JMW Turner, John Varley, John Martin, and Samuel Palmer. Inspired by the innovative use of light by the French landscape painter Claude Lorraine, eighteenth-century British artists created an idealized vision of the English countryside. In their works, Britain was portrayed as ripe with pleasure and plenty. Rendered as gentle and grand, these views of England ranged from elegant pastorals to picturesque woodlands to cityscapes framed by natural elements. All, however, shared the characterization of a classical and serene beauty. The industrial developments and technological advancements of the Victorian Era created a public nostalgia for a simpler time. Landscape artists thus sought to preserve the ideal of the rustic countryside and to immortalize nature’s timeless and sublime beauty. From Cozens, whose slightly stark landscapes were designed to be spiritually and morally uplifting, to Palmer, whose striking imagery reflected his deep appreciation for atmospheric effects, Beautiful Britain showcases some of the ways in which artists interpreted nature and the English countryside. Beautiful Britain is supported in part by the Tryon Associates, the Members of the Museum, and the Museum Shop. The exhibition was organized by Cunningham Curatorial Intern Laura Martin (class of 2008). Laura Martin’s year-long internship at SCMA was funded by the On-Campus Internship Program at Smith College.

Sandra Louise Skoglund. American, 1946–.
Radioactive Cats, 1980.
Cibachrome.
Purchased. ©Sandy Skoglund.
Photo by Photograph by Petegorsky/Gipe

In conjunction with the artist’s 40th reunion at Smith College, the Museum will display Sandy Skoglund’s Radioactive Cats installation (1980) for the first time since purchasing this sculptural environment in 2004. Radioactive Cats, which features bright green cats prowling a grey apartment, is the artist’s best known work. The Smith College Museum of Art is a major repository of Skoglund’s work, including the Revenge of the Goldfish installation (a blue bedroom environment teeming with giant goldfish), installation photographs, prints, a painting, and a bronze sculpture.

The work in this exhibition is selected from oil and watercolor paintings created by Professor Gary Niswonger during his sabbatical leave from the art department of Smith College, where he has taught painting, printmaking, design, and drawing since 1972. The locations depicted in these works, beyond the artist’s New England garden, vary from Barcelona to Ukiah, California. As Niswonger says: “As a painter of landscape I find myself confronting the seasons of the year. My interest is painting the landscape wherever I am. The weight of the air, the quality of the light are features that appeal to me most…..Painting is choosing—all sorts of choices. My paintings are not afraid to be clumsy. They come from being in the making.”

Sol LeWitt. American, 1928-2007.
Brushstrokes in All Directions, 1994.
Silkscreen on Folio white paper.
Gift of Karen Cooper, class of 1970, and Film Forum, New York City. ©Estate of Sol LeWitt/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
Photo by Stephen Petagorsky/ Jim Gipe

Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) was one of America’s leading conceptual artists. Believing that the idea of art is more important than its physical presence, LeWitt created works that had their genesis in a set of simple instructions that can be executed by anyone. These directions create logical and repetitive systems of lines, arcs, and grids, which de-emphasize the subjective decisions of the person fabricating the work of art. LeWitt’s wall drawings are the best known examples of his works created according to this conceptual system. In 2000, a member of the class of 1947 gave the anonymous gift of Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #139 (Grid and arcs from the midpoints of four sides) (1972). This important early wall drawing, which is executed in black pencil, will be installed at SCMA for the first time in January 2008. A trained assistant from LeWitt’s New York studio will supervise three Smith students in the execution of the drawing on the wall of the Ketcham Gallery on the Museum’s third floor. To provide a context for LeWitt’s overall body of work, the installation will also contain a rotating selection of works in other media by the artist, including sculpture, drawings, and prints.

This major loan exhibition of over one hundred African beaded objects, including sculpture, textiles, and items of personal adornment, will be drawn from museum and private collections across the country. The show focuses on the beaded artistry of the Yoruba, Bamum, and Bamileke peoples of West Africa, the Kuba of Central Africa, and the Xhosa, Zulu, and Ndebele of southern Africa. The project is the first of its kind to address African beaded art as a cross-cultural study, rather than focusing on the artistic production of one or two regions. John Pemberton III, the distinguished scholar of African art, will serve as the guest curator of the exhibition and author of its accompanying catalogue. Archaeological excavations on the African continent have revealed the use of a variety of materials to create personal adornment as emblems of identity and status, with some materials dating as early as the Neolithic period. But from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, when sub-Saharan Africa was caught up in the struggle of world economic and political powers, glass beads arrived from Europe and India and became incorporated as a new medium in African art. The story of this imported medium is one inextricably linked with colonialism and with the arrival of traders, missionaries, explorers, and military personnel. The exhibition and its catalogue will address the creative response of Africa’s peoples to these materials in terms of their social and political lifestyles as well as their aesthetic discourse.