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International Art Treasures Web Magazine April 2006 |
Pre-Raphaelite Dreams
Waking Dreams:
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The issue for these three artists was the contrived academic compositions. They preferred the direct and honest time of art history that before Raphael, from which the movement takes its name, using bright jewel-like colors and close study of detail which is typical in the early Renaissance artwork. The subject matter was mythology, history and literature. |
Outside of the UK the largest Pre-Raphaelite collection is that of the Delaware Art Museum. Among the works of Rossetti, Holman and Hunt are paintings by Edward Burne-Jones, Fredrick Sandys and Ford Madox Brown. Decorative arts also form this exhibit as this time was the precursor of the Arts and Crafts movement. There are two chairs, designed respectively by William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Waking Dreams.
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The artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement were conscious of their modern world, with the social issues stemming from the Industrial Revolution and the rapid urban growth that necessitated the demands for cheap labor. |
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They received an avalanche of criticism and yet earned the support of art critic John Ruskin who wrote two dramatic letters to the London Times. The Pre-Raphaelite time frame was brief yet it had a tremendous influence on subsequent artists such as Edward Burne-Jone and William Morris.
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The Delaware Art Museum was gifted the collection amassed by Wilmington Textile-Mill owner Samuel Bancroft, Jr. Upon viewing his first Pre-Raphaelite painting he proclaimed himself to be "shocked with delight". |
The first pre-Raphaelite Bancroft purchased was Water Willow, a Dante Gabriel Rossetti painting. During the last four decades of his life Bancroft added to his collection, acquiring a significant private holding of nineteenth-century British art. After his death his family bequeathed the collection to the Delaware Art Museum.
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"Waking Dreams is an important opportunity for The Philbrook Museum of Art to bring to Tulsa and the region one of the most important collections of Pre Raphaelite paintings in the world. |
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"This significant movement of British art, reflected in the renowned Bancroft Collection, captures a time and period whereby artists reacted against the styles and tastes of the period and hearkened back to the art of the great master Raphael. Waking Dreams is an ideal exhibition for Philbrook, allowing this institution to expose and educate our audiences with art of the highest quality," explains Brian Ferriso, executive director, Philbrook Museum of Art.
Waking Dreams
Philbrook Museum of Art:
April 22 - July 2, 2006
Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh:
July 29 - October 8, 2006
Cincinnati Art Museum:
October 28, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Saint Louis Art Museum:
February 18 - April 29, 2007
Saint Diego Museum of Art:
May 19 - July 29, 2007