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PORTRAITS OF FAMOUS ARTISTS
ON VIEW AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY'S BEN SHAHN GALLERIES An extraordinary collection
of photographs of many of the world's most famous artists of the twentieth
century, taken by great twentieth century photographers, are on view in
the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from October
22 through November 30. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibit in Ben Shahn's
South Gallery, titled "The Artist Revealed. Portraits from the Collection
of Alma Alabilikian and Peter Paone," was assembled by Paone, an
artist and instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia,
and his wife, Alabalikian, an architect and head of the interior design
department at Beaver College in Glenside, Pa. "The photographic portrait
of an artist can accomplish a variety of things, ranging from a simple
documentation of the person at a certain moment in time, to the revelation
of some aspect of the artist's character to a probing reflection of the
artist's work," says Nancy Einreinhofer, director of the Ben Shahn
Galleries. "This exhibition presents a wonderful assembly of portraits,
truly revealing the artists." Portraits included in the show
are Gilberte Brassai's 1932 photo of Pablo Picasso in his studio, Philippe
Halsman's surreal 1951 portrait of Salvador Dali in top hat and tails,
Henri Cartier-Bresson's 1944 shot of Henri Matisse in his Venice studio,
and Arnold Newman's 1942 photo of Max Ernst, taken in his New York studio.
Also featured is a pair of photos by Hans Namuth of Elaine and Willem
de Konning, taken in 1953 and 1983, which subtly reveal the psychological
changes which occurred in that 30-year time span. In conjunction with the exhibit,
Paone will present a lecture, titled "Why Artists Collect,"
on Thursday, October 25 at 2 p.m. in the Galleries, which will be followed
by a reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m.. "As artists, the mysteries of
the studio were also intriguing to us," he says in a catalog that
accompanies the exhibit. "So we decided to collect photographs of
artists whose work we admired, set in their studios, at a time when we
felt they created their most important work." This exhibit is made possible
in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department
of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. # # #
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