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Master Illustrator/Teacher Harvey Dunn Featured At Hunter Museum

  Masters of the Golden Age: Harvey Dunn and His Students is currently on display at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga. Stephanie Plunkett is the Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Norman Rockwell Museum, one of the organizations that created the exhibit, and she joins us to talk about Harvey Dunn's life and legacy.

From a media release:

When illustrator Harvey Dunn died in 1952, his obituary in The New York Times bore the headline "Harvey Dunn, 68, Artist, Teacher." Beginning Friday, July 1, 2016, at the Hunter Museum of American Art, Masters of the Golden Age: Harvey Dunn and His Students explores the artistic and teaching career of an icon of late 19th and early 20th century American illustration, whose work had enormous influence on the way Americans saw their lives portrayed.

Harvey Dunn (1884-1952), Story illustrations for “True Sportsmen” by Stewart Edward White, The Saturday Evening Post, September 1, 1917, page 12.

  The Hunter Museum is pleased to present an 80-piece exhibition which highlights Dunn’s stunning, painterly illustrations for the prominent periodicals of his day, including Scribner’s, Harper’s, Collier’s Weekly, Century, Outing, and The Saturday Evening Post. Rich in detail and color, these illustrations allowed audiences to visualize current events and stories in newspapers and magazines in the era before photography rose to prominence. The exhibition also features powerful works created for the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, in which the artist, as visual journalist, recorded the unforgettable realities of battlefields and war hospitals. Additionally, the collection includes Dunn’s prairie paintings, inspired by his life-long love of South Dakota’s landscape and history.

Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980), The Count of Monte Cristo, 1928, Illustration for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Dodd Mead & Company, NY, 1928, Oil on canvas, The Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art.

  The exhibition also features original artworks by Dunn’s students including Dean Cornwell, Henry C. Pitz, Mead Schaeffer, Harold von Schmidt, Frank Street, Saul Tepper, John Clymer, Lyman  Anderson, and James E. Allen, among others.  Artworks are drawn from the collection of the South Dakota Art Museum, as well as The Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art, The Illustrated Gallery, The Eisenstat Collection of American Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum, Collection of Carol and Murray Tinkelman, and other private lenders.

General admission to the Hunter Museum, including this special exhibition, is $15 for adults and free for youth 17 and under. As always, members are admitted free. To learn more about membership, visit www.huntermuseum.org/memberships.

Masters of the Golden Age: Harvey Dunn and His Students is made possible in Chattanooga by support from SunTrust and is a collaboration of Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, South Dakota.

 

EXHIBITION RELATED EVENTS    

Thursday, September 1 at 6pm

 Art Wise: Distinguished Speakers Series Presents Elizabeth Alberding

Join Elizabeth Alberding, curator of the Kelly Collection, for a talk on the works of Harvey Dunn from the Kelly Collection, one of the primary lenders to Masers of the Golden Age: Harvey Dunn and His Students. As part of Throwback Thursday, this talk is offered to the public at the throwback price of $5 adults (free for members and children under 17 with paying adult).

The Art Wise series is generously sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Community Trust. Media support is provided by Brewer Media.

Thursday, September 15, 6-7pm

Art + Issues: Illustrating America Then and Now

The Hunter Museum welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett to lead this edition of Art + Issues.  Mr. Bennett will choose a single work from our special exhibition and use it as a springboard to explore how we illustrated our nation’s culture then and now. All Art + Issues events are free and open to the public.

Thursday, September 22, 6-7pm

Beyond an illustration: Meaning and Memory through the work of Harvey Dunn and His Students

Join UTC literature professors Heather Palmer and James Arnett and Hunter Museum staff in a participatory gallery discussion. Everyone will have a chance to join the conversation as we explore the imagery of Dunn’s America and its meaning in the context of the America of his day. This gallery exploration is free to members and open to all with regular admission.