Current Exhibitions

M.C. ESCHER (Dutch, 1898-1972), Reptiles, 1943, Bool #327, lithograph, 13 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches. Courtesy of The Walker Collection. All M. C. Escher's works and text © The M. C. Escher Company, Baarn, The Netherlands. All rights reserved. M. C. Escher ® is a registered trademark

January 20 - April 11, 2010 (Special Exhibition)

Marc Bell Presents: The Magical World of M.C. Escher

The unforgettable visual puzzles and impossible structures of the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) have earned Escher worldwide acclaim. Printmaker, draftsman, book illustrator and muralist M.C. Escher became one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, and his graphic works are recognized worldwide. This retrospective exhibition is one of the most comprehensive and important exhibitions of Escher's work ever shown in the United States. It will present hundreds of rare original artworks - including the artist's original drawings, watercolors, prints, wood blocks, studio furniture, tool cabinet and memorabilia - from the M.C. Escher Family Collection, previously on loan to The Hague Museum.

Escher was truly an artist beyond his time. He worked with multiple realities and geometric figures that combine beauty, art, math, and the impossible to expand the very boundaries of our perception. Included will be his most famous works including Reptiles, Drawing Hands, Ringsnakes, Relativity, Puddle, Waterfall, Encounter, Hand with Reflecting Sphere, House of Stairs, Eye, and Metamorphosis.

M.C. Escher is among the most mathematical and scientific of artists. A strong emphasis will be placed on public education programs in conjunction with the exhibition, which will  include Escher in the Classroom outreach, studio and gallery workshops at K-12 and university levels to explore mathematics and art, infinity, architecture and tessellations all based on Escher's work, and films including the award-winning 2007 "Achieving the Unachievable."

This exhibition has been organized by the Boca Raton Museum of Art in conjunction with Walker Fine Art/Rock J. Walker, and will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue. This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of Marc Bell.

MARY CASSATT, The Lamp [La Lampe], 1890, drypoint, soft-ground, and aquatint, 12 ¾ x 10 inches. Courtesy of Adelson Galle

January 20 - April 11, 2010 (Special Exhibition)

Mary Cassatt: Works on Paper

One of the greatest and most popular of the Impressionists, the American artist Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) created some of her most inventive and appealing images in the print medium. She was captivated by the challenges and artistic possibilities of making prints. These works were a central part of her discipline as a draughtsman, allowing her to focus on the essentials of gesture, form and expression. Cassatt's output as a printmaker was quite small and her prints are praised for being among her most radically innovative works.

This exhibition presents 41 major prints and drawings that have rarely been shown - etchings, color aquatints, counterproofs and drawings, which reveal the range of the artist's creative process and add to our understanding of her innovative approach to art, and her significant contributions to modern printmaking. Organized by Adelson Galleries, New York for the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Accompanying Mary Cassatt: Works on Paper is a fully-illustrated, descriptive catalogue with essays by Warren Adelson, Pamela A. Ivinski, and Barbara Stern Shapiro, which tell the story of these rare works and explore Cassatt's virtuosity as a printmaker.

 Skull Rack, New Guinea, Iatmul peoples, Middle Sepik River, late 19^th-early 20^th century, wood, human hair, fiber, shells and traces of red pigment, width 7 foot 6 inches. Permanent Collection 1990.019. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stephan Lion

November 17, 2009 - June 13, 2010

African, Oceanic and Meso-American Treasures from the Museum's Permanent Collection

In the first decade of the twentieth century, tribal sculpture was "discovered" by modern artists. These objects - particularly those of Africa, Oceania, and Meso-America - suddenly became a crucial influence to modern art. "Primitivism" influenced the works of Gauguin, the Fauves, Picasso, Brancusi, the German Expressionists, Modigliani, Klee, Giacometti, the Surrealists, and the Abstract Expressionists, as well as contemporary artists and art movements including earthworks, shamanism, and ritual-inspired performance.

This exhibition features nearly 70 exquisite masterpieces of African, Oceanic and Meso-American art - sculptural figures, masks, ritual artifacts, architectural elements, adornments, and performance items. Visually stunning and intellectually provocative, this exhibition will confront the complex aesthetic, art- historical, and sociological problems posed by collecting and appreciating tribal art.

Tribal art raises many questions because its forms and compositions are so very different from those of Western society. Often characterized by geometric shapes and strongly abstracted representational forms and designs, works can be best understood in their historical contexts, settings, and cultural and societal forces at work at the time of their creation, least of which are function and religion. Whereas early collectors may have thought the art was crude and primitive, today tribal art is better understood as the reflection of the rich cultures that produced these forms and styles. Strong, focused, and contemplative, tribal art embodies the intense emotional life and spiritual and utilitarian purposes for which the works were created, as exemplified in this exhibition by an exquisite Melanesian mask, a Meso-American Zapotec figural vessel, and rare Gabon and Congo reliquaries.

The exhibition presents outstanding masterpieces of African, Oceanic and Meso-American treasures from the Museum's Permanent Collection.