| PLEASE NOTE: All exhibition descriptions are excerpts from Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art's quarterly newsletter, L'Artiste. |
Past Exhibition Highlights
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2005 2004 |
2003 2002 |
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2007 January 14 - February 4  Best of Show – 2006 Gail MacArgel (American, 1939) Looking East, 2005 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” |
North and South Galleries 32nd International Miniature Art Show presented by the Miniature Arts Society of Florida Many of you experienced the 29th Annual International Miniature Art Society Exhibition at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in the fall of 2005 and may now enjoy the 32nd Annual International Miniature Art Society Exhibition beginning in January 2007. This new exhibition of 800 fine art miniatures was created by artists from the United States and many foreign countries. Paintings and sculptures are included in the show having met the precise criteria outlined by the Miniature Art Society of Florida. The Society’s permanent collection of more than 100 pieces will also be on view for you to enjoy. The Miniature Art Society of Florida (MASF) was founded in 1974 by Bede Zel Angle, a graduate of the University of Florida in Fine Arts. He was instrumental in organizing the first invitational Miniature Art Show in April of 1975. The show, comprised of selections from more than 80 miniaturists from 28 states, numbered 250 pieces. Angle was one of the early proponents of the “one sixth guide” to miniature art – artists are encouraged to paint subjects no larger than one sixth of their natural size. This guideline is widely accepted today although modifications can be made where very tiny subjects or abstracts are concerned. Clarity is also an important aspect of miniature art and it must be able to withstand scrutiny under magnification as well. Historically, miniature art has been a cause for fascination. Ancient Greeks adorned their walls with small murals, monks in the Middle Ages embellished manuscripts with delicate illuminations and Elizabethan England was famous for its portrait miniatures on vellum and ivory carried in pockets or lockets. Miniature art traveled to America experiencing a Golden Age between 1750 and 1850. The advent of photography in the mid-1800’s led to the near death of miniature art but there was a Revival Period between 1890 and 1940 and another resurgence during the last quarter of the 20th century. |
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February 18 - April 15 Miriam Schapiro (Canadian, b. 1923) In the Heat of Winter, 1994 Screenprint on Lenox rag paper, edition of 40, 33 x 62 in.  Dale Chihuly (American, b. 1941) Indigo Persian Set with Red Wrap, 1993 Colored glass 15 1/2 x 11 in., diameter 3 1/2 in. Gift of the Patricia A. and Thomas J. Lehnen Family Art Collection |
North Gallery Focus on Five: Five Years of Collecting South Gallery Focus on Five: The Patricia A. and Thomas J. Lehnen Family Art Collection As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, the two Focus on Five exhibitions are on view to show off a selection of the many donations the Museum has received during the first five years. We are very thankful to our donors who have gifted more than 300 works of art since the Museum opened in January 2002. All donations that have been accepted by the Museum support the mission of collecting 20th century art. Due to the large number of gifts received by the Museum, just a sampling of the pieces will be on view during Focus on Five. Please enjoy the large-format prints from the Dorothy Mitchell Collection in the Museum Auditorium and in the Museum Lobby and a mini-exhibition, Masquerade, comprised of masks from the Patricia A. and Thomas J. Lehnen Family Art Collection gifted to the Museum’s education collection. Paintings, sculptures, prints, posters and works on paper have gone through the accession process and have been approved by the Museum’s Board of Directors. Please see ASK LRMA on page 4 if you are interested in learning more about how you can make a donation to the Museum. Thank you to our generous and supportive donors who have entrusted the Museum to be the repository for their works of art – we are happy to expand the Museum’s permanent collection with items that the public may experience and enjoy in the years to come. |
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April 29 - June 24 Abraham Rattner (American, 1893 – 1978) Gomorrah, 1963 Oil on canvas, 62 1/2 x 51 1/2 in.  Jason Schwarz (Canadian, b. 1971) Stella Rinde, 2001 Black and White Photograph, 20 x 16 in. |
North Gallery Reflections: Holocaust Images by Abraham Rattner This exhibition represents an artistic response to the genocidal persecution of European Jewry during the 1930s and 1940s. Abraham Rattner (American, 1893 – 1978) produced hundreds of sketches and preliminary canvases on the theme of the Holocaust during the early 1960s, 20 years after the Allies’ discovery of Belsen, Buchenwald, Treblinka and Auschwitz. Until the time that the Nazis became a real threat, Rattner cherished painting for its pure aesthetics – each canvas was a journey into “a beautiful, serene, pure, intellectual paradise.” He lost interest in cubism, futurism, and surrealism when as he stated, “the ghastly presence of Hitler and his bloodletting hideousness shadowed the human horizon.” In two letters written around the time of the Auschwitz trial in 1964, Rattner reflected on this period of his life and art, “I began a period of doubt and disillusionment . . . I could not dally along the road with the narcissistic and egotistic side issues of isms . . . I felt that cubism and surrealism were for me, escapes from my emotional entanglement with the suffering of my fellow men . . the trust I once had was outraged. Ideals became diverted in my mind . . . this savage torment filled me with my concern for the future of mankind.” Some of the works in Reflections are black and white paintings that demonstrate Rattner’s insistence upon his vision. Others are visceral creations, torn from the heart of grief – spontaneous, yet ruminative expressions of horror and emotion. The stunning representational and semi-abstracted images in these expressionistic works command our attention from the locus of our emotional selves, namely the heart. Excerpts taken from a gallery guide written by Dr. Richard La Manna for the exhibition Abraham Rattner: Holocaust: Man’s Inhumanity shown at the opening of The Tampa Bay Holocaust Center in 1998. Quotes are from Rattner letters in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. South Gallery Portraits of Survivors from the Collection of the Florida Holocaust Museum The photographs are just a moment. A fragment of a life shattered by visions too graphic to imagine. More than 60 years have passed, and the portraits capture the expressions of memories of Holocaust survivors: a sliver of time encapsulated in a photograph and a short statement of triumph, “I survived . . . I beat Hitler.” Both are testimonies of a human being’s indomitable spirit. The stark black and white images are reflections of time and history. Each 16 x 20 in. portrait captures the essence of an individual whose life was ultimately changed by WWII. Each picture contains a carefully worded, handwritten statement by the Survivor. Their thoughts about the war, the Holocaust and what happened to them are captivating. The value of this precious collection is obvious. The collection becomes personal when one realizes that these survivors are members of our local community. Their faces tell the story of their losses and their triumphs. More than five years ago, John Stross, Florida Holocaust Museum trustee, initiated the idea of featuring survivors in an exhibition. Jason Schwartz of Toronto, Canada, was selected as the photographer to capture these important portraits because of his sensitivity to the subject, his vision and his technical prowess. Jason, whose photographs have also been exhibited in Yad Vashem in Israel, spent three months in the area, interviewing and photographing more than one hundred local survivors. Designed to be a collection of pictures of special individuals, the exhibition has become a historically significant record of the survival of a people. The Florida Holocaust Museum is proud to have created an exhibition that will speak to future generations about the trials and triumphs of these extraordinary men and women, many of whom bravely came forward to tell their stories for the first time just for this exhibit. |
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July 8 - August 26 Esther Gentle (American, 1899 – 1991) Eve II (from the Souls Encased series), 1965-1972 Metal wire encased in Plexiglas, 16 x 10 x 3 in. |
Art of the Whimsical: Fabricated Sculptures by Esther
Gentle South Gallery Art of the Ordered: Reverse Paintings by Roy Witlin North Gallery The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art is pleased to showcase two artists from our permanent collection as the Museum’s fifth anniversary celebration continues. Art of the Whimsical: Fabricated Sculptures by Esther Gentle presents wood constructions, assemblages, welded metal and found object sculptures created by Esther Gentle (American, 1899-1991) during the 1960s until the late 1980s. Gentle who was Abraham Rattner’s second wife, developed her interest in sculpture after attending the McDowell Artists Colony in New Hampshire in 1951. While living with Rattner in Paris in the late 1950s, she began making Objets Trouves (found object) sculptures with found objects collected from a junk yard near their Montparnasse studio. Gentle was broadly recognized after creating these works and was honored as the first American female sculptor to have a one-person exhibition at the Musee d’art Moderne in Paris. Art of the Whimsical includes works that have not been shown previously at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, such as her Souls Encased wire sculptures in transparent Plexiglas boxes. |
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 Roy Witlin (American, 1923 – 1997) Fractured Space (Sphere, #III), circa mid-1970 Reverse acrylic paint on Plexiglas 48 x 48 in. |
Roy Witlin (American, 1923-1997) was a
Philadelphia executive, psychologist and artist.
In the early 1970s Witlin used his influence as a retail
CEO to support artistic philanthropy in Philadelphia.
He served on the board of several arts organizations,
helped to organize charitable events and met many of the
artists working in the Philadelphia area. With a
background and interest in psychology, for which he
received a degree after retirement, Witlin also pursued
an interest in geometric abstraction painted on the
reverse side of large Plexiglas panels. This
cutting-edge style indicated a knowledge, interest and
ability far beyond an artist with no formal artistic
training. For Witlin the study of the symbolism of
Salvador Dalí, the psychology of Rembrandt and the color
fields of Adolph Gottilieb created a point of departure
to an original aesthetic devoid of imagery, brushstrokes
or free-form shapes. Art of the Ordered
includes 16 works created in the 1970s that represent
the Roy Witlin’s interests in the science of reflective
microcosm and macrocosm space.
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September 9 – November 4
November 18 - January 13, 2008
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North and South Galleries O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains From the Ramona and Millard Lampell Collection Media Sponsor: Tampa Bay Metro Magazine Program Sponsor: Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Corporate Partners: Best Western, Bright House Networks, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Travelhost and Yellow Book USA Both Ramona and Millard Lampell loved the southern Appalachian Mountains. Ramona was born and raised in Hanshew Hollow, West Virginia, the daughter of a coal miner, and Millard experienced the mountains as a young man while attending college in West Virginia. Later as a member of the legendary Almanac Singers, along with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Lee Hays, Millard helped to introduce southern mountain music and lore to the rest of the United States. When Ramona and Millard met, they learned they shared the same passion for the mountains despite having professional careers in New York City. Each believed the outside world misunderstood the people of Appalachia. As Ramona said, “I knew that the country had no idea of the enduring values of my people, the sturdy relationships that flourished in the mountains, the hickory-hard honesty, the deep feeling for homeplace and kin.” During their West Virginia vacations, Ramona and Millard visited local fairs and road side stands to look for the self-taught artists in the hills and mountains who used the materials of the land to reflect their own original styles. The result of their pursuit was an art collection that served as the focus for O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains, a 1989 volume that profiles 20 artists from the mountains of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Ramona selected the art and artists for the book, Millard provided the text and the photographs that chronicle the lives of these self-taught folk artists. O, Appalachia: Artists of the Southern Mountains became a traveling exhibition in the 1990s that received national media coverage. More than 300 pieces from the Lampell Collection have been given to museums in Kentucky and West Virginia but representative and favorite pieces have remained in the private collection. Millard passed away ten years ago; Ramona now resides in Florida during the winter and in North Carolina during the summer. We are grateful to Rick Hoffman, a Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art member and docent, for making the connection between the Museum and Ramona Lampell. And we are pleased that Ramona selected our museum for the premiere showing of O, Appalachia in Florida. We are honored to have this opportunity to share the beauty, uniqueness and charm of Southern Appalachian self-taught artists with our members and visitors.
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Sponsor: Ruth Eckerd Hall This exhibition of 95 Japanese prints is from the collection of Edna (Bunny) Andrews Schroeer, an alumnus of St. Petersburg College (1958-1960), and her husband Professor Dietrich Schroeer. The works document the history, techniques and themes of color woodblock printing from the Ukiyo-e (images of the floating world) School of the Edo period (1615-1868) to the modern styles of the Showa period (1926-1989). The Schroeers purchased their first two Japanese prints in 1994 at a gallery in London, England from Georgia Cash, a collector-dealer from Miami, Florida. Ms. Cash (1917-2003) became a mentor and friend to the Schroeers and this exhibition is dedicated in her memory. For the Schroeers, collecting Japanese woodblock prints has been about learning and making connections. The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art is pleased to showcase this collection and to have Dr. Daphne Rosenzweig, an Asian art specialist and Ringling College of Art and Design faculty member, serve as the guest curator for Paths that Connect. Working with the Schroeers, she organized the exhibition which will travel to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida, after its premiere showing at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art. Two other Japanese related exhibitions will also be on display during Paths that Connect.
Kyoto Revisited: Paintings
and Collages by James E. Sikes Jim Sikes writes in an Artist’s Statement that “my deep admiration and affection for Asian cultures and a desire to express these feelings through the visual arts emerged during a 30-year stay in the region.” Over the years Mr. Sikes has acquired, through practice and self-study, the technical skills to capture traditional and architectural scenes of Japanese culture. For this exhibition the works are associated with the ancient city of Kyoto and are created in a variety of media including painting and collage made with handmade Japanese papers.
The Art of Kimono Fiber artist June Colburn lived in Japan for twelve years. Over the years, and during subsequent visits, she has collected examples of vintage kimono, the traditional garment of Japan. She shares with Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art five examples of kimono from the Taisho (1912-1925) and Showa (1926-1989) Periods.
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Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art •
600 Klosterman Road • Tarpon Springs FL 34689 |