Syracuse University’s Lowe Art Gallery to present the collection of celebrated critic Clement Greenberg

Tuesday, January 21, 2003, By News Staff

Syracuse University’s Lowe Art Gallery to present the collection of celebrated critic Clement GreenbergJanuary 21, 2003Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

A traveling exhibition of 60 works from the private collection of the late Clement Greenberg ’30 (1909-1994), a Syracuse University alumnus, will make its East Coast debut at Syracuse University’s Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, in Syracuse, N.Y., from Jan. 26 to Feb. 23. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 26 in the University’s Shaffer Art Building.

Included in the opening will be a reading from “The Harold Letters” by Greenberg’s widow, actress and writer Janice Van Horne, at 3:30 p.m. in the Shaffer Art Building’s Shemin Auditorium.

“Clement Greenberg: A Critic’s Collection” is a selected portion of a collection of 155 works owned by the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Ore. Acquired by the museum in 2000, the collection of paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture was shaped by the friendships and passions of Greenberg, hailed as one of the most important art critics of the 20th century.

The collection, which debuted in Portland in July 2001, includes works by some of the most important mid-20th century American artists from the Abstract Expressionism, Color Field and Post-Painterly Abstraction movements of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, such as Jackson Pollock, Hans Hoffman, David Smith and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as work by several Upstate New York artists, including Stephen Achimore, Darryl Hughto and Susan Roth.

The Lowe exhibition will be accompanied by a lecture series that will feature prominent artists, art critics and scholars. In addition to Van Horne’s opening lecture on Jan. 26, the series will include:

  • “Greenberg the Artist” at 3 p.m. Feb. 2 in the Shaffer Art Building’s Shemin Auditorium, featuring noted Upstate New York artists and SU alumni Achimore ’75 and Charles Millard ’57; as well as artists Hughto, Roth and Michael Sickler, chair of the Department of Studio Arts in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA); and
  • “Aspects of Greenberg,” at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Goldstein Student Center on SU’s South Campus, featuring noted art critics and scholars Michael Fried and Karen Wilkin.

The lectures are free and open to the public.

A fully illustrated catalogue, published by Princeton University Press and featuring essays by Wilkin, sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and Bruce Guenther, will be available for sale throughout the exhibition.

Recognized as the most influential and articulate champion of modernism during its American ascendancy, Greenberg was among the first critics to support Jackson Pollock and advocate the primacy of American Abstract Expressionism as the flag bearer of modernism. As a critic and essayist for the Partisan Review, The Nation and The New Republic, among other publications, Greenberg shaped the intellectual and aesthetic dialogue for generations of artists and art historians. However, it was in his studio visits with artists that Greenberg most directly influenced the look of post-World War II American art and from which his collection ultimately grew. A passionate looker and responder, Greenberg relished the challenge of engaging in new and creative dialogue with artists in their studios.

The Lowe Art Gallery exhibition is supported by funding from VPA’s Office of the Dean, the Department of Studio Arts, the Department of Fine Arts in The College of Arts and Sciences, Golden Artist Colors and an anonymous donor.

The Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery is located in SU’s Shaffer Art Building and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m. For more information, call (315) 443-3127.