New @ Haas Arts Library, The Artistic furniture of Charles Rohlfs

For a few years around 1900 journalists made pilgrimages to a barely marked furniture workshop in an attic over a bicycle factory in Buffalo. The workshop’s owner, a charismatic former actor named Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936), feigned some modesty in his dusty garret. But then he convinced the visiting reporters that his “artistic furniture” had no precedents or peers, only imitators.

The writers gushed over his square-framed oak pieces with sinuous carvings. “Never have art and utility been joined more skillfully than in these chairs and tables and desks,” wrote one in The Buffalo Daily Courier. The German magazine Dekorative Kunst described Mr. Rohlfs as “inventive and uninfluenced,” and Furniture Journal declared him a main inspiration for the far more famous and prolific designer Gustav Stickley.

Charles Rohlfs’s Theatrical Furniture to Go on the Road Eve M. Kahn  New York Times 8/28/08

Call Number: NK2439.R64 A4X 2008 (LC) Oversize

This Week @ YUAG

Andrew Carnduff Ritchie Lecture: “The Large Renaissance Print: Visual Culture and Display”

Thursday, 20, 5:30 PM

This lecture will be presented by Michael Bury, Reader Emeritus in History of Art, University of Edinburgh.

Bury has worked on various aspects of Italian painting, sculpture, and architecture, from the fifteenth through the seventeenth century. His lecture coincides with the Yale University Art Gallery’s special exhibition, “Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian.”

“Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian” assembles a diverse group of European prints from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth century that share one common characteristic: uncommon scale.

Andrew Carnduff Ritchie Lectures
The Ritchie Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery and were established to honor the memory of Andrew Carnduff Ritchie, director of the Yale University Art Gallery from 1957 to 1971. The Ritchie Lectures are offered annually and bring to the University distinguished members of the international visual arts community. These lectures are free and open to the public, honoring Ritchie’s belief that the art museum serves as a gathering place for all members of the community.

Gallery Talk: “Using Confusion”

Tuesday 18, 4:00 PM

This gallery talk will be presented by Philip Pisciotta, photographer and lecturer, Yale School of Art. This gallery talk is in conjunction with the exhibition “First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography.”

Gallery Talk: “In the Footsteps of the Buddha: Buddhist Art at Yale”

Wednesday 19, 12:20 PM

This gallery talk will be presented by David Ake Sensabaugh, the Ruth and Bruce Dayton Curator of Asian Art, Yale University Art Gallery.

Furniture Study Tour

Friday, 21, 12:00-1:00 PM

The American Decorative Arts Furniture Study is a working library of American furniture and wooden objects, housing approximately one thousand works from the Gallery’s collection. Ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, this selection of chests, tables, chairs, desks, clocks, cupboards, looking glasses, and woodturnings highlights important stylistic developments in American craftsmanship and design.

Weekly tours of the Furniture Study will be given by curators from the Department of American Decorative Arts. No advanced registration required, but space is limited. Meet at the information desk at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Masterpiece Tours: Guided Tours by Museum Docents

Saturday 22, 1:30 PM
Sunday 23, 1:30 PM

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Free and open to the public.
1111 Chapel Street (at York Street), 203.432.0600
http://artgallery.yale.edu

This Week @ YUAG

This week at the Gallery, attend Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art, sign up for Master Classes, and attend one of our many gallery talks and tours.

Sign Up for Master Class on “First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography”

Thursdays, October 30, and November 13 and 20
5:30-7:00 PM

Join Joshua Chuang, Assistant Curator of Photographs; Russell Lord, independent scholar; and Nicholas Nixon, photographer, in a stimulating investigation of the history, practice, and perception of optical ambiguity in photography.

Fee: $30 per series for Members; $45 for nonmembers; free for students with valid ID. Enrollment limited to twelve participants. To register, please call 203.432.9525.

Gallery Talk: “Themes and Variations in Multiblock Prints”

Tuesday 28, 4:00 PM

This gallery talk will be presented by Eva Allan, Ph.D. candidate, History of Art, Yale University. This gallery talk is in conjunction with the current special exhibition “Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Dürer and Titian.”

Gallery Talk: “Reverse-Painted Glass in American Furniture”

Wednesday 29, 12:20 PM

This gallery talk will be presented by Diane C. Wright, the Marcia Brady Tucker Curatorial Intern, Department of American Decorative Arts, Yale University Art Gallery. Registration is required; please call 203.432.9525.

Lecture Series: “Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art”

Thursday 30, 5:30 PM

“‘The Face is a Politics’: On Chris Marker’s ‘Staring Back.'” Vered Maimon, Lecturer, Department of Art and Design, Northeastern University.

Film Screening, “Selected works by Chris Marker”

Friday 31, 6:30-9:30 PM

A Film Screening of “A Grin without a Cat” by Chris Marker, featured in “Screencasts: Cinema as Medium in Contemporary Art,” will be shown at 212 York Street, Room 106.

Furniture Study Tour

Friday 31, 12:00-1:00 PM

The American Decorative Arts Furniture Study is a working library of American furniture and wooden objects, housing approximately one thousand works from the Gallery’s collection. Ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, this selection of chests, tables, chairs, desks, clocks, cupboards, looking glasses, and woodturnings highlights important stylistic developments in American craftsmanship and design.

Weekly tours of the Furniture Study will be given by curators from the Department of American Decorative Arts. No advanced registration required, but space is limited. Meet at the information desk at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Angles on Art: Gallery Tours by Undergraduates

Friday 31, 3:00 PM
“Clothed in Mysticism”
Nicole Kim, DC ’10

Saturday 1, 3:00 PM
“In Search of Pure Art”
Lisa Sun, ES ’10

Sunday 2, 3:00 PM
“Looking to the Future: Art Transcending Time”
Elena Goldblatt, BK ’10

Masterpiece Tours: Guided Tours by Museum Docents

Saturday 1, 1:30 PM
Sunday 2, 1:30 PM

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Free and open to the public.
1111 Chapel Street (at York Street), 203.432.0600
http://artgallery.yale.edu