Louisville Magazine

FEB 2012

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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[ Visual Arts ] Lasting Impressions >>By Thomson Smillie An exceptionally strong new exhibition at the Speed Art Museum taps into the riches of a Memphis gallery that specializes in the art world's most popular draw: French Impressionism. T he special exhibition at the Speed Art Museum from Feb. 3 through May 6 is titled "Renoir to Chagall: Paris and the Allure of Color," but it might just as well be called "Te Allure of the Impressionists." For the second time within two years we are offered an extensive exhibition concentrated on the same relatively short period in art history, on many of the same painters and on the same geographical area — France in the late 1800s. Two years ago, it was "Impressionist Landscapes." Now it is an even more spec- tacular display of some 80 works — 55 from the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Mem- phis, Tenn., 17 from the Speed's own collec- tion and a dozen or so from other Kentucky sources, including the University of Ken- tucky and private collectors. What is the allure that makes every Im- pressionist exhibition a blockbuster? To quote Charles Venable, the director of the Speed Museum and the inspiration behind [34] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.12 this show: "Art, like music, literature and clothes design, goes through fashion cycles, and the Impressionists and Post-Impres- sionists are at the top of a long-term popu- larity cycle that began in the 1950s." Auction potential counts as much as aesthetics in the art business, he adds: "As love of painters like Monet, Degas and Renoir rose, so did their value in the mar- ketplace. Today, works by such artists are worth millions, and in our society that re- inforces their popularity." "Tere is something so life-enhancing about these paintings," says Ruth Cloud- man, chief curator at the Speed and some- thing of a legend in art circles for her knowledge of 19th century painting. "Look at them and you immediately feel better. Tey are usually scenes of recreation and leisure, which adds to their appeal." Te Speed's partner in this joint show is the Dixon, perhaps not on everyone's

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