Taubman Museum of Art's new exhibit features familiar works 

The Taubman Museum of Art’s newest gallery exhibition has some curious sights tucked in among the familiar.

American painter Robert Riggs’ world-famous “The Brown Bomber,” depicting Joe Louis’ boxing triumph over German fighter Max Schmeling, hangs catty-cornered from “The Debutante” by Roanoke painter Antoinette Hale, depicting a Roanoke girl dressed up for a cotillion.

Paintings by American artist Thomas Eakins and his wife Susan, gifts from the museum benefactor Peggy Macdowell Thomas, face a portrait of Thomas herself painted by former Hollins College artist-in-residence Jack Beal.

Beside Roanoke artist Betty Branch’s sensuous pink Portuguese marble sculpture “Dancer” perches the less often seen “Head of Civitas” by Audrey Flack, a study for a sculpture personifying knowledge and inspiration.

Titled “Reunion: Highlights from the Collection,” the show acts as a sort of “Greatest Hits” compilation, putting signature works by John Singer Sargent, Norman Rockwell, Thomas Eakins and Sally Mann back on display.

Yet it also unearths some long unseen pieces from the Taubman’s collection of more than 2,000 artworks that the staff of adjunct curators believed worthy of new consideration. The show spans 150 years of art history and for the first time mixes the museum’s folk art acquisitions with more traditional paintings, said exhibition organizer Leah Stoddard.

Alongside paintings from internationally known artists, you’ll find works like “March Sunset,” a folk art landscape by the late Giles County painter Harriet French Turner, and “Boardwalk I, Atlantic City, New Jersey,” a collage of photographs by Harrisonburg artist James Crable that create an image like a story board.

Atypical for a Taubman Museum exhibition, the descriptions of each piece of art detail when and how it was acquired, effectively providing a history of the collection.

Registrar Mary LaGue joined the staff in 1985 when the museum, then known as the Art Museum of Western Virginia, resided in Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke. A few pieces in “Reunion” predate her time.

She noted that for all the changes in personnel and mission statements over the museum’s lifetime, the choices of artwork to acquire remained surprisingly consistent. “There always seems to be an interest, from a very early period, in American art.”

She noted one happy accident that involves the placement of one of the oldest acquisitions on display, the woodcut print “Agonized” by the late American artist Leonard Baskin. It was given to the museum in 1972, when it was located in the Cherry Hill mansion in south Roanoke and known as the Roanoke Fine Arts Center. The museum was founded in 1951.

The Baskin print hangs beside selections from the Peggy Macdowell Thomas Collection. Thomas, grand-niece of American realist painter Thomas Eakins, bequeathed her private collection to the museum in 2001 — setting the plans in motion that led to the construction of the Taubman’s unique building. Thomas lived in Roanoke.

Baskin was influenced by Eakins and worked to promote the Pennsylvania artist’s legacy, LaGue said.

Also new to this exhibition: the questions included in the item descriptions that help give each work more context. For example, viewers regarding “Head of Civitas” are asked to think of other statues of female figures that represent an idea rather than a person.

The description of Ralph Albert Blakelock’s small nature painting “Solitude” ask s viewers to compare how the impressionistic painting looks close up with how it looks from a distance, leading to the surprising revelation that more of the scene’s details are visible when one stands farther away.

Taubman education director Cindy Petersen said the museum has begun offering gallery talks that provide deep insight into individual works in the exhibition.

The show will change over the months as artwork is rotated out and other pieces brought in . More delicate works on paper such as Lexington photographer Mann’s “Jessie’s Cut” and Roanoke Times photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis’ “Girl at Window” will be taken down in about three months.

“Reunion” will be on display until June 19, 2014, and is the first of a series of exhibitions that will approach the museum’s collection from different angles, LaGue said.

The museum’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, and 10 a.m to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call 342-5760 or visit taubmanmuseum.org.

Historical Society dinner

The History Museum of Western Virginia and the O. Winston Link Museum — both operated by the Historical Society of Western Virginia — are holding a fundraiser dinner on the rooftop of Center in the Square called “In Alto Della Citta,” Italian for “At the Top of the Town.”

The dinner, featuring wine and live music, takes place 6:30 p.m. Aug. 9. Tickets are $75 and must be purchased by Aug. 5. For more information, call 342-5777 or visit vahistorymuseum.org/shop/event-tickets/special-events.html.

Writing workshop

The Electric Company gallery at 207 East Depot St. in Bedford is hosting “Unlocking the Words: Tell Your Own Story” with Roanoke County writer Judy Ayyildiz, author of the novel “Forty Thorns.”

The workshop starts at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The workshop focuses on helping participants find their voices as writers.

Contact Edrie Bays by Monday at edrie.bays@gmail.com to register. Registration fee of $20 may be paid at the workshop. For more information about Ayyildiz, visit www.judylightayyildiz.com.

On the Arts blog

Check out images of Ann Glover’s completed “MYTH” sculpture at the Taubman by visiting blogs.roanoke.com/arts.

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