Davenport, IOWA (November 2012) - The newest exhibition at the Figge Art Museum opens this Saturday, November 17 and runs through February 17, 2013. Picturing Identity: The Allure of Portraiture features 20th century examples of portraits that address changes in the perceived nature of personal identity and its representation.

Curated by Dr. Rima Girnius of the Figge, portraits feature celebrities and historical figures whose public roles question the traditional function of portraiture and how we often remember people not as they were but as they appeared to be through images.

Much of the power ascribed to portraiture has depended on the artist's ability to vividly capture the nuances and peculiarities of a person's physical appearance and character. Portraits were deemed successful when the image resembled the original to such a degree that the person represented appeared to be momentarily present before the viewer's eyes.

Culled from the Figge's collection as well as significant loans from private collections and the University of Iowa Museum of Art, the portraits in this exhibition serve as a reminder of portraiture's continuing importance as an artistic genre.

The Figge is offering FREE admission on Saturday, so don't miss your opportunity to see this exhibition on its opening day. Also be sure to keep in mind the upcoming companion events (see below) being offered in conjunction with Picturing Identity: The Allure of Portraiture.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays 12-5 p.m.  Thursdays the museum is open until 9pm. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

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Companion Events

Evening Art History Talk "History of Portraiture"
7 p.m. Thursday, November 29, 2012
Free with membership or museum admission
Presenter Alycia Reed, PhD candidate, will discuss "The Good, the Bad and the Mundane: Western Portraiture in the Late Twentieth-Century". This lecture is offered in conjunction with the Figge's exhibitions Portrait of Maquoketa - The Dimensional View and Picturing Identity: The Allure of Portraiture.

On the Face of It - Portraits Family Day
11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, January 12, 2013
Free with membership or museum admission
Bring your face to the Figge for some quality family time at our Portraits Family Day! Studio art activities, story time, refreshments and much more are sure to make this day a picture-perfect memory! This free family day is planned in conjunction with these special exhibitions: Portrait of Maquoketa - The Dimensional View and Picturing Identity: The Allure of Portraiture.
Sponsored by John Deere

Picturing Identity: The Allure of Portraiture Curator Lecture
7 p.m. Thursday February 7, 2013

Free with membership or museum admission

Join exhibition curator Rima Girnius, PhD, as she discusses the history of portraiture, and its continuing importance as an artistic genre.

Davenport, IOWA (November 2012) - Downtown Davenport will be bustling this weekend with the Festival of Trees kick off parade. Spectators will have the opportunity to warm-up at the Figge Art Museum where FREE ADMISSION, sponsored by Butler Insurance, is being offered on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in conjunction with the parade festivities.

Visitors can check out the newly opened exhibitions including Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Museum featuring 27 priceless quilts from the beginning of the 19^th century to the end of the 20^th century. and Portrait of Maquoketa: The Dimensional View showcasing 180 oil painting portraits that Rose Frantzen created from July 2005 to July 2006 in Maquoketa, Iowa.

The Museum Store will be offering The Holiday Experience Package which includes a $10 Museum Store coupon, a $10 Thursdays at the Figge Café coupon, a $5 class coupon, a free private tour for up to 10 people and 2 guest admission passes. Normally valued at more than $115, members can purchase it for just $25 and non-members for $40.

The end of year gift membership sale also starts Saturday and includes deep discounts on yearly memberships to the Figge. This unique holiday gift can also be purchased online at www.figgeartmuseum.org.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays 12-5 p.m.  Thursdays the museum is open until 9pm. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

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The public is invited to join the Muscatine Art Center in welcoming Carol Ehlers, art history speaker, as she presents a 45 minute lecture on the art of Russian artist Marc Chagall. The lecture will take place Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 5:30 pm in the Muscatine Art Center's Music Room. Admission is free.

Marc Chagall was a Russian artist associated with several major artistic styles and was one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. He was an early modernist and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass windows, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Chagall did not want his work to be associated with any school or movement and considered his own personal language of symbols and motifs to be meaningful only to him.

Marc Chagall was born July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian empire. He received his primary education at the local religious school, where he studied Hebrew and the Torah. He soon began copying images from books and found the experience so rewarding he decided he wanted to become an artist.

At the age of 19 he moved to St. Petersburg which was then the capital of Russia and the center of the country's artistic life. After a few months at the art school there, Chagall realized that academic portrait painting did not suit his desires and relocated to Paris, where he remained until 1914. After Paris he returned to his village of Vitebsk where he founded Vitebsk Arts College, which became one of the most distinguished schools of art in the Soviet Union.

In 1941 at the age of 54 he traveled to America where he discovered he had already achieved international fame. Initially, Chagall's fellow artists did not understand or even like his art, but those attitudes began to change when the son of French artist Henri Matisse became his representative. After several successful years in America, Chagall returned to France where he spent the remainder of his life. He died in Paris on March 28, 1985 at the age of 98.

In 1992 the Muscatine Art Center's collections were significantly enriched by a gift of twenty-seven works of art by Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Degas, Boudin, Chagall, Renoir, and other European artists. The collection was a gift from the estate of Mary Musser Gilmore in honor of her parents, Richard Drew Musser and Sarah Walker Musser. The paintings are on permanent display in the Laura Musser Mansion.

Have you started your Holiday shopping? Why not start the shopping season off right, all you have to do is:

1.      Like the Putnam Museum's Facebook page.

2.      Click the Contest tab on their Facebook page.

3.      Enter for a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree!

Contest closes Sunday, November 18 and the winner will be announced Monday, November 19!

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