Storrs, CT — The William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut will be showing two new exhibitions beginning January 21, 2014: Persepolis: Word & Image and Making the Movement Move: Photography, Student Activism, and Civil Rights. An opening reception on Thursday, January 23, 4:30–7 pm, will feature a performance by Blues Without Borders, a musical ensemble of members of the UConn community.
Persepolis: Word & Image / January 21 – March 16, 2014
Inspired by both the format and content of the graphic novel and coming-of-age memoir by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: Word & Image draws from the permanent collection of the Benton to present some of the ways that text and art have functioned historically. Examples of illustrated medieval texts are joined by the work of contemporary artists such as Lesley Dill, who combines photography with the poems of Emily Dickinson. The exhibition also features works on loan from several contemporary Iranian artists for whom text is intrinsic to their practice.
Making the Movement Move: Photography, Student Activism, and Civil Rights / January 21 – March 30, 2014
Making the Movement Move highlights the powerful images of Ernest Withers and Danny Lyon, two photographers active in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This exhibition considers the many ways visual images contributed to the efforts of young civil rights activists who daringly challenged the status quo.
Making the Movement Move was made possible with generous support from Sheldron and Helen Seplowitz; the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut; and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.
EXHIBITION-RELATED PROGRAMS
• January 28, 12:30 pm: Gallery Talk on Making the Movement Move with Ally Johnson, Curator
• February 6, 7 pm: Film Screening and Discussion. “Diary of a Student Revolution,” a documentary chronicling ten days of student protests on the UConn Storrs campus in 1968. Running time: 58 min.
• February 12, 12:30 pm: Artist Talk with Afarin Rahmanifar
• February 28, 5 – 7 pm: The Salon at The Benton: Art and Conversation. “Herstory and Memory: Connecting with UConn Reads, Persepolis, and Women’s History Month”
• March 4, 12:30 pm: Persepolis Gallery Talk in French with Nancy Silander, Docent
• March 13, 5 pm: “The Long Civil Rights Movement: Struggles Past and Present.” Panelists: William Jelani Cobb (History), Douglas M. Spencer (Law) Moderator: Michael Orwicz (Art+Art History
The William Benton Museum of Arts traces its beginnings to Charles Lewis Beach, College President from 1908–1928, who bequeathed his impressive holdings of American art to the University. The University of Connecticut art museum in 1967 and was named in honor of the prominent Connecticut Senator and University trustee William Benton.
Today, the Museum collection comprises more than 6,000 objects, with strengths in works on paper and twentieth-century American modernism. Among the highlights are works by Albrecht Dürer, Angelica Kauffman, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Benjamin West, Georges Braque, Mary Cassatt, Robert Henri and the Ashcan School, Maurice Prendergast, and significant holdings by Käthe Kollwitz and Reginald Marsh.
The Benton presents lectures, gallery talks, forum discussions, campus art walks, family events, and musical performances. For further information, please visit www.benton.uconn.edu or www.facebook.com/benton.museum.
