(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers invites the public to attend exclusive programming at Art After Hours: First Tuesdays on June 6, from 5:00pm to 9:00p.m. The evening kicks off with tours of Toutes Les Nouvelles – All the News: Current Events in Nineteenth-Century French Prints, at 5:45pm and 6:30pm, led by Christine Giviskos, the Zimmerli’s Curator of Prints, Drawings, and European Art.
The exhibition examines depictions of Parisian news items from the mid- to late 19th century – ranging from mundane political intrigues to serious foreign affairs – and artists’ varied approaches to the subject matter. The Ralph Bowen Trio, presented by the New Brunswick Jazz Project, performs sets at 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. Art After Hours is free and open to the public, offering complimentary refreshments. To learn more, visit www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu. Please note: Art After Hours will not take place in July or August, due to the July 4th holiday and the museum’s annual August closure, respectively. The program returns in September.
Toutes Les Nouvelles – All the News focuses on prints created during a period that provided French artists and journalists new opportunities to disseminate their work to, and influence the views of, a broad public. In the early 19th century, before the widespread availability of photographs and daily newspapers, the relatively new medium of lithography became an economical method to mass-produce imagery and commentary through weekly and monthly journals. Industrialization and rapid urbanization also generated a market for such news sources. Near the end of the century, artists became more partisan, revealing their personal positions about such topics as the French government’s colonial ambitions abroad and suppression of free speech at home. Etchers Auguste Lançon and Félix Buhot created detailed documentary scenes, while the caricaturists Cham and Charles Vernier satirized government officials. Honoré Daumier (whose sculpted caricatures of public figures, Celebrities of the Juste-Milieu, on view nearby, also offer blatantly critical commentary) portrayed current events in the guise of biblical or mythological subjects, which would have been understood by the masses. In this way, artists presented new ideas within familiar narratives.
Currently an associate professor and ensemble director at Mason Gross School of the Arts, saxophonist Ralph Bowen also performs regularly at prominent New York jazz venues and festivals worldwide. He has worked with a wide variety of other musicians and his discography includes more than 70 titles includes seven solo albums of standards and original compositions. The performance has been arranged through the New Brunswick Jazz Project, which is dedicated to presenting world class jazz performances downtown & at other Central Jersey venues. Since its inception in 2010, NBJP has fostered a supportive environment for regular live jazz performances in the city and presented more than 700 events, featuring more than 1000 acclaimed national and international jazz leaders, sidemen, and special guests.
ZIMMERLI ART MUSEUM|RUTGERS
The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum houses more than 60,000 works of art, ranging from ancient to contemporary art. The permanent collection features particularly rich holdings in 19th-century French art; Russian art from icons to the avant-garde; Soviet nonconformist art from the Dodge Collection; and American art with notable holdings of prints. In addition, small groups of antiquities, old master paintings, as well as art inspired by Japan and original illustrations for children’s books, provide representative examples of the museum’s research and teaching message at Rutgers. One of the largest and most distinguished university-based art museums in the nation, the Zimmerli is located on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Established in 1766, Rutgers is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and a premier public research university.
