Jerusalem Saved! Inness and the Spiritual Landscape
August 26, 2011 through May 13, 2012
Curator: Robert G. La France
George Inness
The New Jerusalem, 1867–80
Oil on canvas
Reconstruction from three fragments: The Valley of Olives and Visionary Landscape, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland and Evening Landscape, Krannert Art Museum, Urbana-Champaign
Photo © The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
In 1880, a collapsing roof damaged a monumental painting entitled The New Jerusalem by American painter George Inness. The artist recovered the mutilated masterpiece from the rubble and cut its remnants into separate paintings that now belong to different museums. Today, Krannert Art Museum exhibits its fragment, Evening Landscape, reunited with two counterparts from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, A Visionary Landscape and The Valley of the Olives, to recompose The New Jerusalem once again.
This exhibition shares the story of the rediscovery, conservation, and reconstruction of the painting by art historian Michael Quick and conservator Eric Gordon. It also introduces the contributions of scholars Sally Promey and former University of Illinois professor Rachael Z. DeLue to the interpretation of the painting's spiritual and scientific content. Landscapes from Krannert Art Museum's collection by painters influenced by Inness's style, and a late work by the artist himself, provide a survey of American landscape painting through the early twentieth century.
Exhibition Programming
August 25
5–6 pm: Private Reception for Museum Members
6–7 pm: Public Opening Reception (museum open until 9 pm)
Featuring a gallery conversation with Michael Rush, guest curator of At Fifty, at 6 pm followed by a music and dance performance by Dorothy Martirano, Armand Beaudoin, Kirstie Simson, and guests
Cash bar provided by Michaels' Catering
Hosted by the Krannert Art Museum Council