Exhibit Of Works By Abstract Impressionist Hedda Sterne Opens At The U.Va. Art Museum Jan. 12

abstract painting of a machine

Detail of Hedda Sterne's Machine 5, 1950, Oil on canvas, 51 x 381⁄8 inches, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1950-70-1, Festival of Arts Purchase Fund © the Artist

WHAT:        Exhibit — “Uninterrupted Flux: Hedda Sterne, A  Retrospective”
WHEN:        Friday, Jan. 12 – Sunday, March 11
WHERE:      University of Virginia Art Museum, 155 Rugby Road

Related Events:

WHAT:         Family Art JAM: Exploring Modern Art
WHEN:         Saturday, Jan. 20, 1-3 p.m.

WHAT:          Gallery Talk by Sarah Eckhardt, exhibition curator
WHEN:          Friday, Jan. 26, 5 p.m., in the museum
                        Final Friday Reception follows, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Born in Romania in 1916, Hedda Sterne had an impressive career beginning in the late 1930s, when she exhibited with the Surrealists in Paris. She attained national prominence in the 1940s and 1950s, exhibiting with the Abstract Expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko.  Sterne was, in fact, the only woman photographed with a group of the Abstract Expressionists, who were given the title “the Irascibles” in Time magazine.

Yet despite her body of work, which continues to the present, Sterne has been almost completely overlooked in art historical narratives of the post-war American art scene. ‘Uninterrupted Flux’ aims to right that wrong. This major retrospective brings together almost 100 works from museums across the country and Sterne’s own collection and highlights notable periods in her artistic career. Prominence is given to Sterne’s Machine and Spray Roads paintings, portraits, installations, and recent drawings. 

The exhibition was curated by Sarah Eckhardt, while a graduate student at the University of Illinois, for the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and exhibited there in January through March 2006. The University of Virginia Art Museum is the only other venue for this groundbreaking show. ‘Uninterrupted Flux’ is made possible at the University of Virginia with the support of the Arts Enhancement Fund, Art$ and museum members.

Exhibition curator Sarah Eckhardt will present a gallery talk on Friday, Jan. 26, at 5 p.m.  The museum’s Final Friday reception follows until 7:30 p.m.

A catalogue produced by the Krannert Art Museum accompanies the exhibition.
Sponsored in part by the Arts Enhancement Fund and Art$.

For more information contact the University of Virginia Art Museum at (434) 924-3592.

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