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Mark Nielsen
Exhibit Designer/Preparator
University of Michigan Museum of Art
[log in to unmask]      313/647-2068

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 10:20:16 -0500 (EST)
From: Jo W Lau <[log in to unmask]>
To: mark nielsen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: METRO TIMES article on Monet

GOURMET MONET
through March 15

French impressionists are like french fires. "Everybody" likes them.
They're such a basic part of the culture diet that you're eccentric if you
don't partake. Thus, a hipper-than-y'all snobbery says that Monet has to
be boring ("stood there, seen that"). And the exhibition that has broken
all-time attendance records at the University of Michigan Museum of Art,
"Monet at Vetheuil: The Turning Point," both confirms U.S. mass-cult
inclinations and surprises visitors with some "different Monets, something
for the connoisseur as well as the spud lover (who, in this case, could be
one and the same). The 12 paintings that make up the show come from a
period of Monet's life, 1878-1881, when his work and fortunes were
changing. Having gone from great to goat in the eyes of critics, his
finances desperate and his wife's health failing, Monet moved to Vetheuil
for refuge. Situated on a bank of the Seine the town became a site from
which he painted a score of canvases depicting the river thawing out from
a particularly harsh winter, as well as the place where Monet's wife
finally passed away. Included in the show are a chilly deathbed portrait
of Camille Monet (not idealized in the least) and five of the winter
riverscapes which together challenge our habitual notion of impressionism
as a series of vacation postcards. The river-thaw paintings actually call
up comparisons with our own Midwest waterways. Like a bloated Detroit
River, swollen with ice floes and suffused with a gloomily poetic yet
familiar light, the Seine in Monet's works slides heavily in its bed--just
one of the ways great art jolts us with recognition. Plus the museum
itself is an intimate jewel of a place, with fine touring shows and a
beautiful collection of its own: the spaciously hung modern gallery of
superb works by Franz Kline, Pierre Soulages et al.; a Japanese tearoom; a
collection of glass and jade snuff bottles, and much more to keep
reminding us that art isn't fast food. The University of Michigan Museum
of Art, 525 S. State, Ann Arbor, Call 313-764-0395.

For tickets: 1-800-585-3737 (TicketsPLUS). Advance tickets needed for
Saturdays and Sundays.

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Jo W. Lau
Executive Secretary
UM Museum of Art
525 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1354
(313) 647-0513