BEYOND OSCAR WILDE: PORTRAITS OF LATE-VICTORIAN WRITERS AND ARTISTS
FROM THE
MARK SAMUELS LASNER COLLECTION

On view at the University Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
19716.

5 SEPTEMBER to 10 NOVEMBER 2002

The University Gallery of the University of Delaware announces the
exhibition, "Beyond Oscar Wilde: Portraits of Late-Victorian Writers and
Artists from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection," opening 5 September and
running until 10 November.  The exhibition of over sixty-five works from
this major private collection of Victorian literature and art includes
drawings, lithographs, watercolors, oils, photographs, books, and
illustrated letters that span the period 1870-1901.

Representations of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) were crucial to launching and
sustaining his career in the world of the arts and also to determining his
unhappy fate.  Thus, historians often focus on the meaning and importance
of Wilde's image, when discussing the late-nineteenth-century British
cultural milieu.  One of the highlights of this exhibition will be a
previously unknown caricature of Wilde by Max Beerbohm.  But the items on
view will go "beyond" Wilde, to consider a fuller range of images of male
and female writers and artists, in both portraits and self-portraits,
including a George Du Maurier portrait of George Eliot; the poet Algernon
Swinburne's personal photograph album; and self-portraits by Beerbohm,
William Rothenstein, Walter Sickert, and Rudyard Kipling.

A special reception will take place between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. on 5
September and will include a public lecture on the role of idealization,
romanticizing, and caricature in late-Victorian portraiture by Dr. Debra
N. Mancoff.  Dr. Mancoff is an art historian and scholar in residence at
the Newberry Library in Chicago.  She has lectured and written extensively
on Victorian art and culture. The University of Delaware Library is the
co-sponsor of this event.

On Wednesday, 30 October, at noon, a walking tour of the exhibition will
be presented by Dr. Margaret D. Stetz, guest curator of the exhibition and
Visiting Associate Professor of Women's Studies, University of Delaware.
Dr. Stetz is a noted scholar in Victorian and Women's Studies and has
lectured at countless institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

The collector, Mark Samuels Lasner, will also be on hand on 30 October to
discuss the works on view.  Mr. Samuels Lasner is a recognized expert on
Victorian art and literature, the author of _A Selective Checklist of the
Published Work of Aubrey Beardsley_ (1995) and _The Yellow Book: A
Checklist and Index_ (1998), among other publications.  He has organized,
alone and with Dr. Stetz, exhibitions at Harvard University, the Grolier
Club, the National Gallery of Art Library, and the University of Virginia.
Mr. Samuels Lasner, who serves on the boards of a number of bibliophile
organizations, is currently Visiting Scholar, University of Delaware
Library.

BACKGROUND TO THE EXHIBITION

In Britain at the end of the nineteenth century, new means of reproduction
and distribution increased the availability and profitability of High
Culture, whether literary or visual.  The diffusion of contemporary texts
and images drew greater attention, in turn, to the makers of them--to the
writers and artists of many schools and movements, whose works were now
reaching a mass market.  Curiosity about their faces, bodies, clothing,
domestic or professional circumstances, and poses (and about what could be
learned or imitated by looking at these) helped to drive the profusion of
portraits of creative figures.  So, too, did the proliferation of
galleries, museums, and other exhibition spaces; technical advances in
photography and printing; scientific theories about the relationship of
physical appearance to psychology; the dominance of both realism and
impressionism as aesthetic aims; shifting notions of gender that
encouraged the scrutiny of individual bodies for their conformity or
non-conformity to conventional modes; the cult of personality and the
commodification of fame in journalism and advertising; and the rise of
literate working-class and lower-middle-class populations in search of
models of deportment and achievement to emulate.

If, as historians have noted, the second half of the Victorian period saw
a crisis of faith, it also witnessed the substitution of the human face
for the Divine.  The quest for the transcendent in the everyday led
painters, illustrators, and photographers to locate beauty, distinction,
spirituality, and especially "genius" in the faces of professional writers
and artists.  At the same time, the hard-edged cynicism and wit that set
the tone for modern urban life produced a market for caricaturists who
would debunk the Ideal and cut lofty figures down to size.  This
exhibition provides the viewer with a glimpse of both approaches.

THE UNIVERSITY GALLERY

The University Gallery is located on the second floor of historic Old
College, on the corner of Main Street and North College Avenue in downtown
Newark, DE.  The museum presents exhibitions and educational programs of
regional and national importance, and is a repository for art objects and
cultural artifacts spanning the ancient period through the present.  The
University Gallery also provides professional development opportunities
for students interested in careers in the museum field.  Hours are
11:00-4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1:00-4:00 p.m. on Saturday and
Sunday.

The museum is closed on Mondays, during exhibition production, and all
University holidays.  The museum facility is barrier-free, and those
individuals requesting other disability accommodations are encouraged to
call at least ten days prior to a visit.  All museum events are free to
the public unless otherwise noted.  For more information, call (302)
831-8242, fax (302) 831-8251, or TDD (302) 831-4563.  Visit the University
Gallery online at http://www.museums.udel.edu.

Forwarded by Carol Digel
[log in to unmask]
http://www.focdarley.org

__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
        http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
        to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
       http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]