French print collection comes to Grand Valley

A Grand Valley State University exhibition of 19th century French Prints from the Hoskin-Raible Collection will feature a newly donated collection, open with an entertaining reception, and provide a series of exciting programs.

The exhibit, “The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, and Vuillard: Selections from the Robert L. Hoskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin de Siècle French Prints,” will have an opening reception on Thursday, January 15, from 5-7 p.m. at the GVSU Art Gallery, 1121 Performing Arts Center, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale Campus. Admission to the reception, exhibit and related programming is free and open to the community.

“The generosity of Elaine Rutowski Shay has allowed this incredible collection to now become an important and permanent component of the university’s Print and Drawing Cabinet,” said Grand Valley Director of Galleries and Collections Henry Matthews. “The prints in this collection are treasures, with many pieces created by leading French artists in the late 19th century.”

Already exhibited throughout Japan, Europe and the United States, this exhibition is the first showing in Michigan. It will be at the GVSU Art Gallery through March 20. Several special programs related to the exhibit are also planned through March. See complete list below.

Collectors Erwin A. Raible and the late Robert L. Hoskins assembled this important collection of more than 200 French prints from the late 19th century, including lithography-enlivened book jackets, advertisements, sheet music, literary journals, as well as humor magazines. These images are emblematic of a cultural shift in fin-de-siècle Paris, that aided in the birth of modernism. 

During the last decades of the 19th century, the Parisian neighborhood of Montmartre became a central motif for artists. The district's reputation for excess and public spectacle offered artists a myriad of subjects. By depicting them in familiar settings, artists created provocative images with themes of sexual dalliance, consumerism, and mixing of social classes, that challenged social conventions of the day.

A series of special programs are planned in conjunction with the exhibit:

-- January 16, 6-7 p.m., Room 1600 Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus, Le Premier Palais des Femmes: The GVSU Dance Program will perform the wildly ecstatic and provocative dances of late 19th century France.

-- January 19, 5-7 p.m., Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 West Fulton St., Pew Grand Rapids Campus, Conversation with Collector Erv Raible, interviewed by Dale Schriemer, GVSU associate professor of music.

-- March 9, 6-7 p.m., Art Gallery, Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus, Poetry Hour with Patricia Clark, Grand Valley’s poet-laureate, reading original poetry and poems of the period.

-- March 12, 6 p.m., Art Gallery, Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus, Musical Postcards from Paris, featuring new works by student composers in Grand Valley’s acclaimed New Music Ensemble. Each 60-second work is in response to a particular print in the exhibition.

-- March 20, 8 p.m., Art Gallery, Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus, Soiree Musicale, a celebration of French music performed by Grand Valley faculty members Mark Markham, piano; Dale Schriemer, baritone; and Nancy Stagnitta, flute. 

Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Thursday hours are from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. For more information, contact the GVSU Art Gallery at (616) 331-2563, or visit www.gvsu.edu/artgallery .