Press
Release:
February
22, 2005
Industry
and Idleness:
Selections from the Print Collection of the Museum of the
City of New York
International
Print Center New York announces the presentation of Industry
and Idleness: Selections from the Print Collection of the
Museum of City of New York from Wednesday, March 9th through
Saturday, April 23rd. Some fifty prints capturing New Yorkers
at work and at leisure from the 1880’s to the 1980’s
will be on display in IPCNY’s gallery at 526 West 26th
Street, Room 824.
The
exhibition is a collaboration between IPCNY and the Museum
of the City of New York. The works on view are drawn exclusively
from the print collection of the Museum of the City of New
York.
The
exhibition has been guest curated by Nika Elder, an independent
curator formerly with Independent Curators International.
In her words, the prints “testify to the enduring image
of New York as a place where the economic and expressive overlap
as inevitably and intriguingly as the prints which capture
it.”
The
Museum of the City of New York is a major collector and custodian
of art and artifacts documenting the social, economic and
cultural history of New York City. Its vast holdings include
literally tens of thousands of prints. With the exhibition
Industry and Idleness, IPCNY celebrates this great
collection and presents a selection from it to downtown audiences.
The Museum of the City of New York at 5th Avenue and 103rd
Street.
Borrowing
its title from William Hogarth’s famous series published
in London in 1747, Industry and Idleness features New
York as a place of work and play in prints by a wide range
of artists in mediums ranging from lithography, etching, mezzotint,
engraving, wood and linoleum cut, to commercial media such
as posters, advertisements, tabloids, menus, maps and wallpaper
samples. Some of the artists represented in the classical
mediums of printmaking are Alex Katz, Kyra Markham, Martin
Lewis, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Nast, John Sloan and, unexpectedly,
Mohammed Ali. Examples of printed ephemera include a rose-shaped
souvenir from 1850 illustrating significant buildings of the
day and a map from the 1920’s pinpointing ethnic neighborhoods
and cultural landmarks.
As
Ms. Elder states in her essay, “the maps and advertisements,
newspapers and Works Progress Administration projects among
others made during this 100-year period from 1880 to 1980,
look at New York –its people, places, and the activities
therein – as a site where the commercial and cultural
converge as inevitably as the practical and personal do in
prints of all kinds.”
International
Print Center New York is a non-profit institution founded
to promote the greater appreciation and understanding of the
fine art print worldwide. Through innovative programming,
it fosters a climate for the enjoyment, examination and serious
study of artists' prints-from the old master to the contemporary.
IPCNY offers its members a program of workshop and gallery
visits, and has established an informational website and Information
Desk available to the public at the gallery. IPCNY depends
upon public and private donations to support its programs.
The
Museum of the City of New York embraces the past, present,
and future of New York City and celebrates the city’s
cultural diversity. It does so through its rich collections,
a lively schedule of exhibitions, and an array of programs
for adults and children. The Museum is dedicated to fostering
an understanding of New York’s evolution from its origins
as a settlement of a few hundred Europeans, Africans, and
Native Americans to its present status of one of the world’s
largest and most important cities.
International
Print Center New York is located in Chelsea on 26th Street
between 10th and 11th Avenues. Hours are 11- 6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday.
For additional information, please call (212) 989-5090 or
visit IPCNY's website www.ipcny.org.
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