Williams College Museum of Art Presents
THREE CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
Early Spring 2006 Season

Williamstown, MA – this spring, the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents three thought-provoking exhibitions with global scope, all exploring the connections between current art and our world. The exhibitions invite viewers to critically consider how images embody and perpetuate cultural values. “TRANSGRESSIONS: Lalla Essaydi Confronts Jean-Léon Gérôme” premiers paintings by this Moroccan-born artist, exploring “exotic” nineteenth-century representations of Middle Eastern women as reflections of western stereotypes; “Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain” explores how the photographic image frames human pain; and “Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US” explores the relationship of contemporary art in China to the seismic changes transforming this emerging economic superpower. The exhibition schedule is as follows:

“TRANSGRESSIONS: Lalla Essaydi Confronts Jean-Léon Gérôme,” on view January 14-May 14, 2006; “Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain,” on view January 28-April 30, 2006; and “Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US,” on view February 11-May 14, 2006. A special celebration marking the opening of these three exhibitions will take place on February 16 from 5-7:00 pm at WCMA.

Lalla Essaydi is best known for her large-scale photographs, but this exhibition is the first devoted exclusively to her paintings. It marks the premiere of a new body of work based on her study of Jean-Léon Gérôme’s iconic French academic painting “The Slave Market,” in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. At WCMA, Gérôme’s painting will hang with Essaydi’s paintings, offering visitors a unique opportunity to view the 19th-century imagery and the attitudes it represents in a more nuanced way.  As the artist herself has stated, “In my art, I wish to present myself through multiples lenses—as artist, as Moroccan, as traditionalist, as Liberal, as Muslim. In short, I invite viewers to resist stereotypes.”

“Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain” explores some of the key debates concerning the depiction of suffering in photography. Through 40 works by internationally renowned photographers such as Alfredo Jaar, An-My Lê, Susan Meiselas, Andres Serrano, James Nachtwey, Sally Mann, and Sebastião Salgado, amongst others, images in “Beautiful Suffering” are drawn from the last two decades of art, advertising, and photojournalism. This exhibition challenges viewers to critically consider our visual culture and to explore the dilemmas found in the act of making and viewing images of people in pain, raising fundamental questions about what and how we see.

“Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US” includes drawing, installation, painting, photography, video, prints, sculpture, and mixed media works by 26 contemporary Chinese artists. Merging Chinese art traditions with the global lingua franca of today’s art, their works are characterized by their monumental size and a bold, confident attitude that has propelled them to the forefront of the international art scene. Considering the effect of their country’s rapid urbanization on human relations, personal and collective identity, and the “rediscovery” of China’s glorious past in light of the manipulation of historic facts throughout the communist era, this diverse exhibition investigates and comments upon the social and cultural transformations of this extraordinary nation. Artists featured in the exhibition include Ai Weiwei, Chen Lingyang, Hai Bo, Hong Hao, Li Yongbin, Lin Tianmiao, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaodong, Qiu Zhijie, Yu Hong, Zhang Dali, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhang Yajie, Zhao Liang (Beijing); Chen Shaoxiong, Liang Juhui (Guangzhou); Hong Lei, Hu Jieming, Xu Zhen, Zhou Xiaohu (Shanghai); and Cai Jin, Wenda Gu, Xiaoze Xie, Xu Bing, Yun-Fei Ji, Zhang Huan (United States). “Regeneration” is organized and circulated by the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.

“As a teaching museum, WCMA provides a special arena in our community for dialogue about the most urgent issues of our times,” says new Director Lisa Corrin. “Our exhibitions, such as the three presented this spring, often challenge our assumptions and encourage us to consider the art of our time in relation to the broader cultural landscape in which it is being produced. Contemporary art is history-in-the-making. Exhibitions of contemporary art should ask questions and offer opportunities for critical thinking and reflection on the human experience in today’s complex world.”

“Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain” is organized by Williams College professors Erina Duganne, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in the History of Photography; Holly Edwards, Lecturer in Art; and Mark Reinhardt, Professor of Political Science and American Studies, in conjunction with Stefanie Spray Jandl, Mellon Associate Curator for Academic Programs, and John Stomberg, Associate Director at WCMA. Supported by the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College, this exhibition will complement “Extreme Documentary: Alternative Verité,” a multidisciplinary conference organized by the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College, in collaboration with MASS MoCA, to be held April 7–9, 2006.

Related Events
Gallery Talk @ 12:10
Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
12:10–12:50 pm
Mark Reinhardt, Professor of Political Science and American Studies, and Erina Duganne, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in the History of Photography, will discuss this multi-disciplinary exhibition, which they co-curated with Holly Edwards, Lecturer in Art.

Artist Lecture: Lalla Essaydi
Thursday, February 9, 2006
4:00 pm
Artist Lalla Essaydi discusses her paintings, now on view at WCMA in the exhibition TRANSGRESSIONS: Lalla Essaydi confronts Jean-Léon Gérôme

A reception will follow from 5:00–6:30 pm

Gallery Talk @ 12:10
Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
12:10–12:50 pm
Given by Williams students Martine Neider ’06 and Rebecca Burditt ’06

Season Premiere Party
Thursday, February 16, 2006
5:00–7:00 pm
Come celebrate the opening of our newest exhibitions! Refreshments will be served.

Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
4:00 pm
WCMA Director Lisa Corrin discusses the emerging Chinese contemporary art scene

Lecture: Wal-Mart, China, and You
Gary Hamilton, Professor of Sociology at the Jackson School of International Studies, University
of Washington
Monday, March 13, 2006
Brooks Rogers Auditorium, Williams College
7:30 pm

Gallery Talk @ 12:10
TRANSGRESSIONS: Lalla Essaydi confronts Jean-Léon Gérôme
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
12:10–12:50 pm
Holly Edwards, Lecturer in Art, and Richard Rand, Senior Curator at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Gallery Talk @ 12:10
Beautiful Suffering: Photography and the Traffic in Pain
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
12:10–12:50 pm
Holly Edwards, Lecturer in Art, and John Stomberg, Associate Director at WCMA, will discuss this multi-disciplinary exhibition, which they co-curated with Mark Reinhardt, Professor of Political Science and American Studies, and Erina Duganne, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in the History of Photography

Artist Lecture: Alfredo Jaar
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
4:00 pm
Alfredo Jaar, one of the most uncompromising artists working today, will speak about his work, now on view in the exhibition "Beautiful Suffering." Jaar's work tracks and highlights the ironies and injustices between developed nations and the so-called Third World.

All events at the Williams College Museum of Art are free and open to the public.

Publicity Images Available

Publicity images for these and other current exhibitions are available for use.

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