The Fairfield University Art Museum (FUAM) is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, which will be on view from March 14 through June 8, 2019 in the museum’s Walsh Gallery in the Quick Center for the Arts.
Assembled over several decades by artist, collector, and master printer James Reed, the Reed Collection comprises more than 1,500 Old Master, 19th-century, and modern and contemporary prints.
After college, Reed joined David Folkman’s lithography and etching studio, Little Egypt Enterprises, in Illinois. In homage to Folkman, he chose the Egyptian hieroglyphic for a reed as his master printer’s “chop.” In 1973, Reed received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study at the Tamarind Institute of Lithography at the University of New Mexico. He later continued his training in lithography at San Francisco State University. There, in 1976, Reed opened the fine printmaking studio Milestone Graphics, now based in Bridgeport, Conn.
The Artist Collects: Highlights from the James Reed Print Collection presents highlights from the three great strengths of the Reed Collection: 19th-century French etching and lithography; German Expressionist woodcuts and lithographs; and modern and contemporary prints. This exhibition celebrates the transformative gift of the James Reed Print Collection to the Fairfield University Art Museum.
Among the 19th-century French artists represented in the exhibition are Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, Gustave Doré, Odilon Redon, and Henri Fantin-Latour. Works by Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann and other German Expressionist artists will also be on view, as will prints, rare artists’ books, and artists’ multiples by modern and contemporary artists including Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Damien Hirst, and Jim Dine. The exhibition also includes examples of Reed’s own work as an artist and printmaker, which is represented in more than 20 public collections around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Fairfield University Art Museum has organized a full roster of public programs.
Wednesday, March 13, 5:00 p.m.
Opening Event: A Conversation with Collector and Master Printer James Reed
James Reed and Michelle DiMarzo PhD
Quick Center for the Arts, Wien Experimental Theatre
Wednesday, March 13, 6-7:30 p.m.
Opening Reception: The Artist Collects: Highlights from the James Reed Collection
(March 14 – June 8, 2019)
Quick Center for the Arts, Walsh Gallery and Lobby
Tuesday, March 26, 5:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk: Delacroix to Daumier: 19th Century Prints in the James Reed Collection
With Michelle DiMarzo, PhD, Curator of Education and Academic Engagement
Walsh Gallery
Tuesday, April 23, 5:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk: The Great War and Beyond: Early 20th-Century Prints in the James Reed Collection
With Michelle DiMarzo, PhD, Curator of Education and Academic Engagement
Walsh Gallery
Wednesday, April 24, 5:00 p.m.
Film Screening: Art Is…Permanent Revolution
DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Multi-Media Room
Thursday, May 2, 6:00 p.m.
Demonstration: Etching Demo with Artist Nomi Silverman
Quick Center for the Arts, Walsh Gallery
Co-sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Printmaking (Norwalk, Conn.)
All events are free of charge and open to the public. Advance registration is recommended. For more information on the exhibition and related programming, and to register for events, visit the museum’s website: fairfield.edu/museum.
