New Exhibitions and Family Fun Day at the CRMA!
Cedar Rapids, Iowa—The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (CRMA) is excited to present Less is More: The Vogel Gift of Minimal and Conceptual Art opening on Saturday, January 23, 2010! Admission will be free all day and there will be activities for children of all ages from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as a part of Family Fun Day: The Building Blocks of Art.
Less is More tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a New York postal clerk, and his wife Dorothy Vogel, a Brooklyn librarian, who together managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. The couple chose to live on Dorothy’s salary and devote Herb’s entire salary to purchasing art. After collecting for more than 30 years, they amassed a collection of over 4,000 pieces.
After a generous donation to the National Gallery, they decided to share the rest of their collection with the nation. In 2008, the Vogels began distributing 50 works of art to one museum in each of the 50 states as a part of their Fifty Works for Fifty States initiative. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art was chosen to be the recipient of their gift to Iowa and this is the first time their donation has been displayed.
"We are honored that the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art was chosen as the representative museum in Iowa to receive some of the great collection of put together by the Vogels,” says CRMA Executive Director, Terry Pitts. “Collecting and exhibiting contemporary art has been a focus for this museum throughout its one hundred and five year history. The Vogel gift really strengthens our holdings of American art of the very recent past."
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States is a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
To learn more about the Vogels and their amazing collection, please visit www.vogel5050.org.
We would also like to invite you to join us for Family Fun Day: The Building Blocks of Art on opening day, Saturday, January 23 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. We’re going back to basics! Families can check out the new minimalist and conceptual art exhibitions and then explore the basic elements of art like color, shape, and line.
Family Fun Day activities will include color chromatography, creating shapes with our “shape-shifter” suit, and a chance to “draw” line drawings all over the Carnegie Library (like Harold and the Purple Crayon) using purple masking tape. There will also be a station devoted to the number 50, in honor of The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel: Fifty Works for Fifty States initiative. Explore these projects, take-home activities, scavenger hunts and much more, and all free of charge! Admission to the galleries is free for all visitors as well! Don’t miss this one-day event! Sponsored by Target.
Drawn to Drawing is now open as well! On the heels of the Vogel gift, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art received an important donation of 20 drawings from New York collectors Werner (Wynn) and Sally Kramarsky. The Kramarskys began collecting in 1958 with the purchase of a drawing by Jasper Johns. Every so often, as they did with the Museum of Modern Art in 2004, the Kramarskys donate a portion of their collection to a museum. In early 2009, the Kramarskys gave a set of 20 drawings to the CRMA, including works by such notable artists as Sol LeWitt, Perle Fine, and Lois Dodd. In many ways, the Kramarsky gift builds upon that of the Vogel’s, exploring the legacy of minimal and conceptual work from the 1970s to today. On display through April 18, 2010.
Less is More: The Vogel Gift of Minimal and Conceptual Art will be on display through May 2, 2010. For more information, please visit www.crma.org or call 319.366.7503.
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The mission of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is to excite, engage and educate our community and visitors through our collection, exhibitions and programs. The Museum’s collection contains more than 5,600 works of art by hundreds of artists, including the world's largest collection of works by Grant Wood. For more information on exhibitions or related programs call the Museum at 319.366.7503 or visit the Museum's web site at www.crma.org. The CRMA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours and free general admission from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The CRMA is also open noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, but closed Monday and major holidays.