‘Dawn of a New Age’ traces lives of five major immigrant artists

‘Dawn of a New Age’ traces lives of five major immigrant artistsAugust 27, 2008Pamela McLaughlinpwmclaug@syr.edu

Syracuse University Library’s Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), in conjunction with this year’s Syracuse Symposium and its theme of “migration,” will present a fall exhibition titled “Dawn of a New Age: The Immigrant Contribution to the Arts in America.”

The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, runs Sept. 8-Jan. 20 in the SCRC gallery on the sixth floor of E.S. Bird Library. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., except holidays. For more information, call (315) 443-2697.

“Dawn of a New Age” tells the story of five artists who immigrated to the United States during the first half of the 20th century: Adolph Bolm, a Russian dancer and choreographer who performed with the Mariinsky Ballet and Ballets Russes; William Lescaze, a Swiss architect who was one of the pioneers of modernism; Louis Lozowick, a Russian printmaker known for his Art Deco and Precision lithographs; Miklos Rozsa, a Hungarian composer of more than 100 film scores, including “Ben Hur”; and John Vassos, a Greek illustrator and industrial designer. The exhibition draws from the rich holdings of SCRC and showcases more than 50 of the artists’ personal papers, manuscripts, photos and artifacts.

“In keeping with the theme of ‘migration,’ the exhibition traces each person’s humble beginnings and the process by which he immigrated to the United States and later shaped modern culture,” says co-curator Nicolette A. Dobrowolski. “These artists, individually and collectively, created a dynamic new vision for America.”

With more than 100,000 printed works and 2,000 manuscript and archival collections, SCRC is home to some of SU’s most valued treasures, including early printed editions of Gutenberg, Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton, as well as the library of 19th-century German historian Leopold Von Ranke. Twentieth-century holdings are particularly strong and include the personal papers and manuscripts of such luminaries as artist Grace Hartigan, inspirational preacher Norman Vincent Peale, author Joyce Carol Oates, photojournalist Margaret Bourke White and industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague, as well as the records of organizations including avant-garde publisher Grove Press. SCRC regularly hosts exhibitions, lectures and classes, and offers fellowships and internships in library instruction and conservation. More information is available at http://scrc.syr.edu.

Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival about interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating, presented by The College of Arts and Sciences for the Syracuse community. More information on lectures, performances, exhibits and other special events is available at http://syracusesymposium.org.