NORMAN ROCKWELL
BEHIND THE CAMERA
June 5 | September 1

MAJORITY RULES 
A DECADE OF CONTEMPORARY ART ACQUISITIONS
January 23 | September 15, 2013

Supporting acquisition of contemporary art for the McNay Art Museum is a vital part of the mission of the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum (MCCF). Since 2003, MCCF has purchased one or two works of art for the McNay’s collection at the group’s annual fall View & Vote. To date, MCCF has acquired 12 contemporary works in various media. Acquisitions include works by:

2003     John Miller
2004     Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz
2005     John Fraser; Susie Rosmarin
2006     Lesley Dill; Sandy Skoglund
2007     Chakaia Booker
2008     Roger Shimomura
2009     Lance Letscher
2010     Whitfield Lovell
2011     Radcliffe Bailey
2012     Vik Muniz

MCCF’s selection for 2012 is a large color photograph by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz (born 1961). To create this vibrant work titled Pictures of Pigment: Mill in Sunlight, after Piet Mondrian, the artist sprinkled powdered pigment over a reproduction of a work by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944). Muniz then photographed and printed the image on such a massive scale that viewers can see individual particles of pigment and shadows cast over the composition. Mondrian’s reproduced painting that underpins Muniz’s photograph is one of the first in which the Dutch artist used bold primary colors with black and white—an element that came to define his work. An illustrated gallery guide accompanies Majority Rules: A Decade of Contemporary Art Acquisitions.

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This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

THE HUMAN FACE AND FORM
February 13 | September 1, 2013

Focusing on the most universal of subjects, the human body, The Human Face and Form brings together nearly 40 modern sculptures, ranging from the early 1800s to the present day. Nearly all are from the McNay’s collection, with a few from private lenders. Organized by type rather than chronologically or stylistically, the exhibition shows ways that sculptors deal with different aspects and moods of the body, from portrait busts and other fragmentary forms such as torsos; to full reclining or standing figures, as well as human bodies in action.

Edgar Degas, Alberto Giacometti, Aristide Maillol, Henry Moore, and Auguste Rodin are among the European artists in the exhibition. American sculptors include Malvina Hoffman, Paul Manship, George Segal, Kiki Smith, and Charles Umlauf. Only the second exhibition devoted exclusively to sculpture in the Stieren Center, The Human Face and Form follows upon the George Rickey kinetic sculpture exhibition in 2008. The Stieren Center’s adaptable lighting system allows us to see these varied works under natural light.

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This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

The Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions are generously funding this exhibition.

 

LISA HOKE
“The future ain’t what it used to be”

Sculptor Lisa Hoke uses found materials in her large, brightly colored wall and window works, creating joyous, swirling compositions from plastic cups, cereal boxes, six-pack holders, pinwheels, and other everyday objects. Working in her New York studio, Hoke selects materials from color-sorted bins of salvage and arranges items on the floor through an intuitive working process. Titled “The future ain’t what it used to be,” the installation was commissioned by the McNay to initiate a new series of wall works in the Stieren Center for Exhibition’s AT&T Lobby. The title is a nod to baseball player Yogi Berra’s paradoxical prediction, as well as to the installation’s ephemeral images of consumer excess.

Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1952, Hoke received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1974, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1978. She has created temporal works for many exhibitions, including the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), North Adams; the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts; New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas; and Serpentine Gallery, London, England. In 2013, Hoke premiers another new work at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

This installation was commissioned by the McNay Art Museum.

THE AMERICA OF GRANT WOOD AND THOMAS HART BENTON
May 29 | September 8

FROST OCTAGON VIDEO
DAVID SULLIVAN: ANIMATIONS
May 21 | September 1

Fiesta, Fête, Festival
Selections from the Tobin Collection
January 16 | June 9, 2013

Fiesta, Fête, Festival moves from San Antonio to Seville, Venice, Versailles, St. Petersburg, and other cities to celebrate some of the world’s great festivals. Scene and costume designs from the Tobin Collection reveal that San Antonio’s own Fiesta—from NIOSA and Charreada to the Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo and Cornyation—belongs to a rich tradition of popular and court celebrations. The exhibition focuses on festivals in Spain, Italy, and Russia: Feria de Abril, with its flamenco dancers and matadors; pre-Lenten Carnevale, with its masked balls; and Shrovetide Fair and Yarmarka (yearly markets), with their fairground amusements. Full of human drama and local color, festivals inspired modern ballets and operas by Bizet, Ravel, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, and Verdi. These musical works are brought to life in scene and costume designs by some of the Tobin Collection’s most famous artists, including Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, and Natalia Gontcharova. Other showcased treasures from the Tobin Collection are festival books from the 1600s to the 1800s that resonate with Fiesta today. European courts—the Medici, the Bourbons, the Hapsburgs, and the Romanovs—all used elaborate pageantry as tools of domestic politics and international statecraft. Engravings record a river parade on the Arno in Florence, fireworks in the gardens at Versailles, and the coronation of Tsar Alexander II in Kremlin Square. These and other courtly fêtes offer fascinating parallels with San Antonio’s Fiesta events.

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This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum and is a program of the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund.

PRINTING PERFECTION
THE ART OF BETH VAN HOESEN
May 29 | September 29