October 14, 2003

CONTACT:
Matthew Nehmer: (202) 994-6467; nehmer@gwu.edu

GW’S LUTHER W. BRADY ART GALLERY TO HOST THE SMITHSONIAN TRAVELING EXHIBITION, “HANNELORE BARON: WORKS FROM 1969 TO 1987”
OCTOBER 16 – NOVEMBER 17

EVENT: 

The Smithsonian exhibition “Hannelore Baron: Works from 1969 to 1987” opens at The George Washington University Luther W. Brady Art Gallery. This marks one of eight stops of Baron’s artwork as it travels on a national tour through March 2004.

WHEN: 

Exhibition Dates: Thursday, October 16 – Friday, November 14, 2003
Gallery Hours:  Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

WHERE: 

The George Washington University
Luther W. Brady Art Gallery
Media and Public Affairs Building – 2nd floor
805 21st Street, NW 
Washington, D.C. (Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro, Blue and Orange lines)

COST: 

Free and open to the public.

BACKGROUND:

Using materials that felt familiar from use – scraps of fabric, wood, string, wire, pieces from children’s games, printed labels and other discarded items – artist and Holocaust survivor Hannelore Baron (1926-1987) constructed intimately scaled works that offer glimpses into history, the human condition and the artist’s past.

Approximately 40 collages and five box assemblages are presented along with quotes from Baron regarding her artistic inspirations and creative processes. “Hannelore Baron: Works form 1969 to 1987” is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in cooperation with the Estate of Hannelore Baron and the Manny Silverman Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition is curated by art historian Ingrid Schaffner.

In her struggles with depression, cancer and the memories of the Holocaust, Baron found more than solace in her art. She found a fountain of creativity with which she could explore feelings and ideas that words could not express. She gathered artistic inspiration not only from her own past and existential beliefs but also from contemporary events such as the Vietnam War and from other artistic sources such as American Indian art and African art, Tantric art, illuminated pages of the Koran and Persian miniatures.

Baron, born in 1926 in Dillingen, Germany, has become known for the highly personal, intimately sized abstract collages and box constructions that she began exhibiting in the late 1960s. Her works from this time through 1987 garnered her a reputation as a master of the collage medium. During her life, the ideas expressed in her work grew more complex, introspective and personal; while at the same time they communicated a universal message about nationalism, war and cruelty. 

Unrecognized for most of Baron’s life, her work can now be found in numerous museum collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

A full-color catalog as been published in conjunction with the tour. The catalog was made possible through the support of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Ruth and Robert Halperin, Ruth and Barney O’Hara, The Jamie and Steve Tisch Foundation, Mary Mhoon and the Howard Earl Rachofsky Foundation.

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years.  SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu.

For more information, call GW’s University Art Galleries at (202) 994-1525 or visit www.gwu.edu/~bradyart.
For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.

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