May 30, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:

Bobby Moore, Interim Curator

(814) 472-3920

David Reyes, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, Huntsville Museum of Art

(256) 535-4350, Ext. 216

Travis Mearns, Public Relations Coordinator

(724) 238-6015

LORETTO MUSEUM HOSTS TRAVELING EXHIBITION

            Loretto – The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is pleased to announce its latest exhibition, Southern Light: American Impressionist Women from the Huntsville Museum of Art. The traveling exhibition comes to SAMA from the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama and its recently acquired Sellars Collection. The exhibition, on view June 29 through August 11, features approximately fifty paintings and two bronze sculptures by American women artists.

Much of the work in the exhibition is influenced by French Impressionism, a style that was popular in the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century. With its emphasis on color and light, Impressionism formed a pleasing counterpoint to the gritty subjects favored by urban realists and industrial scene painters. For most American art lovers, it was the preferred choice, and in an era when women artists were discouraged from taking on “masculine” subjects, the Impressionist repertoire of pastoral landscapes, floral still lifes, and domestic interiors was congenial to their career aspirations. Harriet Dyer Adams, Charlotte Buell Coman, Eleanor Parke Custis, Margaret Jordan Patterson, Alberta Rehm Shulz, and Marie C. Todd are among the featured artists.

            The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is located on the campus of Saint Francis University. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. The Museum is open to the public free of charge. For more information, call the Museum or visit www.sama-art.org.

            The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.