Celebrating Reunion at the Johnson

In the wing and Opatrny Galleries, Floor 2L

In honor of Reunion 2019, gifts from members of some of this year’s classes are on view across a wide range of artists and centuries, working in various media. We are grateful to the many Cornellians whose dedication, generosity, and donations of extraordinary works of art continually bring new treasures to our audiences.

The experimental nature of works on paper—a varied mode of expression and a crucial teaching tool—is shown here through a range of gifts. Seventeenth-century genre prints from Barbara Loreto Peltz ’55 and Dr. Leon Peltz ’54 chronicle everyday Dutch life and show the role of prints in Amsterdam’s robust art market. Ann E. Berman ’74 and Knight A. Kiplinger ’69 have augmented our holdings of German Expressionist prints with works by Max Beckmann and Käthe Kollwitz, which speak to the power of art to respond to politics. Cornell veterinarian Douglas Cohn ’79, DVM ’85, enjoys collecting animal subjects, seen here in Garth Williams’s iconic drawing for Charlotte’s Web. Works by contemporary printmakers Christiane Baumgartner, Sean Scully, Zao Wou-Ki, Mauricio Lasansky, and many others appear thanks to longtime supporters Roslyn Bakst Goldman ’59 and John L. Goldman, JD ’59.

Gifts of African American works from Nelson T. Joyner, Jr. ’59 and Susanne Joyner by significant contemporary artists like Kara Walker, Alison Saar, and Sam Gilliam complement strong holdings of such material in the Museum’s permanent collection. This additional breadth will allow a wider range of teaching goals.

Photographic gifts herald the generosity of Diann G. Mann ’66 and Thomas A. Mann ’64, Andy Grundberg ’69 and Merry Foresta, MA ’81, Deborah Goodman Davis ’85 and Gerald R. Davis ’84, and Ronay Menschel ’64 and Richard Menschel, among others. Cornell’s first photographic acquisitions by Lisette Model, a critical figure in postwar American photography, come to us courtesy of Frank Canale ’69 and Mary Jane Canale. Model’s photographs convey her drive to probe the tensions and isolation of modern urban life.

Thank you to our many valued alumni and friends who have made this exhibition possible—and who continue to heighten the relevance and excitement of our collection for the campus, community, and region.

The wing gallery installation was on view through Sunday, June 16. The Opatrny Gallery installation was on view through Sunday, July 28.