The Expressive Voice: Selections from the Permanent Collection

November 20, 2011 – February 26, 2012

Opening Reception Saturday, November 19, 6pm – 8pm

Gallery Talks
Sunday, November 20, Dorothy Lamb Crawford, Expressionism in 20th Century Music, 3pm
Wednesday, November 30, Katherine French, Hyman Bloom: Law of the Fishes, 12:30pm
Wednesday, January 18, Jessica Roscio: Women, Identity, and Expressionism in Photography, 12:30pm

Film Screening
Sunday, February 12, Hyman Bloom: The Beauty of All Things, 4pm. Introduction with filmmaker, Angélica Brisk (view trailer)

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About the Exhibit

The Danforth Museum of Art has become recognized for its commitment to Boston Expressionism, a school that embraced a distinctive blend of visionary painting, dark humor, religious mysticism, and social commentary. Historical roots of this movement can be traced
to European Symbolism and German Expressionism, but artists living and working in the Boston area from the 1930’s through the 1950’s, were particularly inspired by Chaim Soutine and Max Beckman. Many studied under the direction of Karl Zerbe at the Museum School. Because most painted realistically at a time when abstraction was the trend, these painterly expressionists have long
existed outside the mainstream of contemporary art. Yet these artists explored human emotion and spirituality with color and imagination, pushing paint across the surface of the canvas in a way that influenced Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and were important to the development of Abstract Expressionism – and significant to the history of twentieth century American art.

Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine were in the first generation of the group that came to be known as Boston Expressionists. Having grown up in the Jewish immigrant communities of Boston, both artists drew on their Eastern European heritage. Levine’s work tended toward the political, Bloom’s towards an exploration of the spiritual. Working from memory rather than directly from nature, both depicted scenes inspired by the Hebrew Talmud, classical music, or the human condition.

A  second generation of Boston Expressionist artists included David Aronson, Jason Berger, Francesco Carbone, Esther Geller,
Kahlil Gibran, Arthur Polonsky, Henry Schwartz, Barbara Swan, Lois Tarlow, Stephen Trefonides and numerous others. Most studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts under the direction of Karl Zerbe, and remained committed to representational figuration at a time when the contemporary art world embraced abstraction, pop and minimalism. Photographer Jules Aarons documented the West End neighborhood where Hyman Bloom grew up and, like his contemporary Morton Bartlett, was interested in the emotional narrative of everyday life observed on the streets of Boston during the mid-twentieth century.

A  third generation of Boston Expressionists were active in the 1970’s and 80’s, and continue working today. These include such diverse artists as Aaron Fink, Gerry Bergstein, Sidney Hurwitz, Jon Imber, Michael Mazur, Katherine Porter, Jane Smaldone and many others
who have employed expressive, sometimes visionary approaches. Considered together, all allow viewers to trace the presence of an “expressive voice” in contemporary art. While all are unique, their work continues a tradition of painterly expressionism, expanding our
consideration of painting in a digital age.

Artists Included in The Expressive Voice

Artists included in The Expressive Voice represent only a small number of those engaged with Expressionism during the last half of the twentieth century. We regret the omission of many, and hope to address this as part of the Danforth Museum of Art as we continue our
ongoing exploration of “the expressive voice.”

Jules Aarons Elizabeth Awalk David Aronson Morton Bartlett Jason Berger Gerry Bergstein Hyman Bloom Nina Bohlen John Brook Judith Brassard Brown Paul Caponigro Francesco Carbone Bernard Chaet Marie Cosindas Nicolas Dean Hermon Di Giovanno Alfred Duca Lyonel Feininger Robert Ferrandini Aaron Fink Karl Fortess Esther Geller William Georgenes

Kahlil Gibran Nathan Goldstein Judy Haberl Erich Heckel Sidney Hurwitz Jon Imber Reed Kay Jack Kramer Oscar Kokoschka Lawrence Kupferman Jack Levine Michael Mazur Catherine McCarthy Sam Messer Conger Metcalf Iso Papo Marianna Pineda Arthur Polonsky Katherine Porter David Prifti

David Ratner Michael Russo Jo Sandman Howard Schafer Henry Schwartz Mitchell Siporin Jane Smaldone Pat Steir Barbara Swan Lois Tarlow Stephen Trefonides Selina Trieff Harold Tovish Nan Tull John Walker John Wilson Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship Melvin Joel Zabarsky Karl Zerbe