Thursday, January 24, 2008

Speaking of National Geographic...

Jim Gurney reminded me that National Geographic’s exhibition, The Art of Exploration, opens at the Allentown Art Museum this weekend, it runs until May 25th. I saw this show when it was at the Rockwell Museum a few years ago. It’s one of the best shows I’ve seen....but then I would say that since it pushes so many of my imagination buttons: exploration, animals, dinosaurs.

There are over a 100 paintings on exhibit, many from Geographic’s collection. I was in their offices a few years ago and nearly cried. It seems they use up any leftover budget they have each year by buying artwork. Their hallways double as one of the most amazing illustration collections I’ve ever seen, from Wyeth to today’s artists.


The artists represented in the exhibition include Paul Calle, Kinuko Y. Craft, Vincent Di Fate, Louis S. Glanzman, John Gurche, James M. Gurney, Greg Harlin, Charles R. Knight, Tom Lovell, Greg Manchess, Robert McGinnis, Stanley Meltzoff, Fred Otnes, Jerry Pinkney, Kazuhiko Sano, Richard Schlecht, Burt Silverman, Barron Storey, Jack Unruh, Andrew Wyeth (sigh!), N. C. Wyeth, and the ubiquitous “and many others”.


If you are in the area, the show is a must-see. There a number of tours and lectures being held in conjunction with the exhibit, including Jim Gurney talking about his latest Dinotopia book, Journey to Chandara, on March 9th. Jim is incredibly generous when it comes to talking about his process, he’s truly one of the most informative artists you’ll ever get to hear. (I assume anyone interested in painting technique is already reading his blog, Gurney Journey.)

PAINTINGS:
Jim Gurney, Lou Glanzman

9 comments:

Tracy Flynn Art said...

I find Gurneys blog to be an incredible sorce of information and inspiration. It is one of the 2 blogs I go to daily....I don't even go to mine once a month, but will not miss his or another one called the Art DepARTment........its very informative as well. Check it out.

Tracy

Rachel AKA said...

Wow, Irene! The best things are always here, first. Went to the NatGeo site from your Manchess post. We (Kenosha Public Museum) can't afford their exhibit :( But we have an incredibly COOL collection of work by old NGS staff artist Peter V. Bianchi. He was a Kenosha native, studied in Chicago, worked intensively w/Haddon Sundblom, etc. Bianchi somehow bought his work back from NGS- they hold copyrights. His lovely wife donated 37 paintings & a slew of sketches, etc. to us a few years back. I will send you the exhibition catalog- sure you will remember many images, as I did- like the 1960 NGS mag cover "portrait" of the Leakey's "Zinjanthropus" (I know, you're not that old).

BTW to G. Manchess- Kenosha Co. has mammoths butchered by humans 12,500YA (yeah, we've got one of those, too, & a skeleton cast of the other). We're (for now) the oldest site of human habitation in North Amer. Who would've thunk... It's a mind trip.
Ditto on the Gurney site, Tracy. I just saw his new "Dinotopia: Return to Chandar"(sp?)exhibit premiere at Oshkosh Publ. Mus. (Wisconsin)- Lovely paintings/ a beautiful install. (The fiberglass "Bix" Triceratops outside in the snowstorm was sweet!). Missed meeting Gurney- it was World Fantasy Con weekend. D'oh!- a rare treat "up around here". -Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads up about Gurney's site! There's a reason I check *this* site every day.

Kyle
p.s. Happy Birthday!

Lana Gramlich said...

When it comes to nature painting, I don't think many can hold a candle to Robert Bateman (& not just because I lived in Canada for 18 years.)

Old School Illustrator said...

"I assume anyone interested in painting technique is already reading his blog, Gurney Journey."

Well I am now!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Bateman certainly is a master but Carl Brenders' obsession with photo-realism and texture also should be noted (and not just because I like Belgian waffles).

THOMAS NACKID art + design said...

Where does Mr. Gurney find the time to create all of those great paintings AND write such an informative blog?!

Bowlin said...

I agree with Thomas Nackid! His blog is so incredibly informative. How he manages to keep it so informative on a daily basis is beyond me. He's an Artist's artist.

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