Richard Haas”™ fascination with the graceful, austere curves and swooping lines of classical architecture, particularly the skylines of New York City, has resulted in a wealth of masterful artwork, from trompe l”™oeil murals 20 stories tall to soft, yet photorealistic paintings. However, long before the birth of his love for architecture, the young Haas harbored a passion for German and Abstract Expressionism, expressed in a collection of prints interestingly disparate from his later works of architectural art.
On Sept. 23 from 3 to 5 p.m., Bruce Museum members and visitors will have the opportunity to hear Haas speak about his career and the progression of his work from abstract prints to the architectural paintings and murals that define his reputation today. A wine and cheese reception with the artist will follow the talk. This special event is free for museum members and students with valid ID; $15 for nonmembers. Advance registration at brucemuseum.org is required.
A selection of Haas”™ formative work is now on view with the Bruce Museum exhibition Expressionism in Print: The Early Works of Richard Haas, 1957-64. Included in the exhibition are woodcuts, watercolors and etchings produced between 1957 and 1964 ”” a seven-year period that, in many ways, encapsulates the artist”™s graphic evolution.
Haas”™ life began not in the glittering iron and concrete streets of his beloved American cities, but in the sprawling farmlands of the Midwest. Born in 1936 to German immigrants who settled in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Haas studied art as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the late 1950s. Feeding his passion for expressionism were frequent visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he first encountered Edvard Munch”™s evocative prints and the works of German Expressionists such as Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann and Erich Heckel, who used chisels or knives to carve harsh lines into thick blocks of wood to evoke abstract images.
The exhibit is on view through Oct. 21.
For more information, visit brucemuseum.org or call 203-869-0376.
