56th Annual Juried Competition

On view: 28-Feb-2019 11-May-2019

The 56th Annual Juried Competition

on view February 28 - May 11, 2019

Reception with Juror's Talk and Prize Announcements: Thursday, April 25th, 5:30-7:30pm

The Masur Museum of Art’s Annual Juried Competition showcases contemporary artists throughout the United States of America working in any medium. This long running juried competition also showcases some of America’s best curatorial talent. Recent jurors include: Joel Parsons, Cough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College; Daniel Stetson, LSU Museum of Art; Gia Hamilton, Joan Mitchell Center; Holly Hughes, Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Sandra Firmin, Colorado University Art Museum; Kelly Shindler, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; George Shackelford, Kimbell Art Museum; Liza Simone, Phantom Galleries, Los Angeles; Alison Greene, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; David Houston, currently Bo Bartlett Center; and Miranda Lash, currently Speed Art Museum.

The juror for the 56th Annual Juried Competition is Catherine Futter, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO.

Image: Rhonda Urdang, After Empress Josephine (1804), Femmage with hand-cut found paper, historical photograph, lace. Courtesy of the Artist.

Our Story: Over 50 Years of Collecting

On view: 30-May-2019 17-Aug-2019

Our Story: Over 50 Years of Collecting

On view May 30 - Aug 17, 2019 

2019 is about celebrating the history of the Masur Museum of Art: the building, the collection, and the community. This year the building that houses the Masur Museum of Art will celebrate its 90^th anniversary. Originally a family home, the building was donated to the City of Monroe in 1963 to become an art museum. The museum acquired its first work of art in 1964 and has fostered and developed its collection ever since. The collection tells the story of evolving artistic styles and movements throughout the 20^th century and into the 21^st, and especially celebrates notable artists from our own region. Artists in the collection include Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, Alexander Drysdale, Salvador Dali, Robert Motherwell, Ida Kohlmeyer, George Rodrigue, Lynda Benglis, and many more of regional, national, and international importance.

In April of 2017, however, tragedy struck. A fire in an off-site collections storage building caused smoke and soot damage to over 90% of the permanent collection. The museum went into emergency mode, turning galleries into a conservation lab and temporary storage. Thanks to a team of volunteers, interns, and donors, we were able to save every single work of art affected by the fire.

Our Story is not just about the history of the Masur Museum of Art. This is also a story of the future: preserving and displaying the collection for public access and education for years to come. Join us in this celebration of art, local history, and community triumph.

Image: Ida Kohlmeyer, Composite 87-2, 1987. 

Treasures of Art Nouveau

On view: 05-Sep-2019 23-Nov-2019

Treasures of Art Nouveau

Curated by Annemarie Sawkins

On view Sep 5 - Nov 23, 2019 

This very special exhibition comes from a private collection in Milwaukee, and has never before been exhibited outside of its home city. Art Nouveau and its related movement, Arts & Crafts, developed in the late 1800s as a reaction against previously popular academic styles and the heavy ornamentation of the Victorian era. Instead, these movements emphasized handcrafting and design inspired by nature, most notably an appreciation of flowing lines and contours. The exhibition features decorative objects and furniture, sculpture, prints, and paintings from the 1890s – 1930s that capture the spirit of this stylistic era and demonstrate how it permeated all types of art and design. 

Highlights of this exhibition include furniture by L. & J.G. Stickley, pieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany, cameo vases by Emile Gallé, European claret jugs, and sculptures by Emmanuel Villanis and Charles Drouet. The exhibition also features a wonderful array of lithographs by Alphonse Mucha, Paul Berthon, Emile Bertrand, and Eugène Grasset among others. 

Thumbnail: Eugène Grasset (French, 1841-1917), Encre L. Marquet (L. Marquet Ink), 1892. Color lithograph with blind stamp. Courtesy of the John S. Winkowski Collection.

Synthesis: Art and Nature in the Post-Digital Age

On view: 12-Dec-2019 08-Feb-2020

Synthesis: Art and Nature in the Post-Digital Age

On view Dec 12, 2019 - Feb 8, 2020 

As our technology advances it is easy to believe that we have grown very far from our natural selves. Many people fear the state of our Post-Digital world, consumed by screens and distracted by an inundation of targeted advertisements and social media, consumer technology becoming more completely integrated into our everyday lives. The artists in this exhibition look past the blip of the magnetic screen and into the future - a future in which the boundaries between nature and technology blur completely. These artists have looked to nature to guide their work, whether it be in the algorithms of growth, the vectors of fluid movement, the physics of soft bodies, sound visualized as color and particles, and even the human psyche as it is shaped by limitless access to infinite information. Artworks in this exhibition include special effects animation, digital art, 3D printed sculpture and wearables, Virtual Reality, traditional paper collage, and various data-driven media.