New art museum exhibit ‘re-imagines’ city life

By Lauren McGlone
Senior Staff Writer
January 31, 2007

With La Salle’s campus located in Philadelphia, students have had ample opportunity to familiarize themselves with an urban environment. For the next month, students will have an additional chance to recognize and appreciate the dynamics of a city with the arrival of “The City: Re-imagined” at the La Salle Art Museum.

Open to the La Salle community from Jan. 23-Feb. 25, a collection of 19th and 20th century prints are included in this exhibition, with artists ranging from Charles Meryon to David Muirhead Bone to Peter Mileton. Viewed as a whole, the collection depicts the varying perspectives and perceptions of a city. Some artists choose to immortalize the memory of cities past, while others illustrate more modern urban environments in their work.

Carmen Vendelin, assistant curator of art at the Museum, explains the significance of cities in the world of art.

“By the time our exhibition picks up in the mid 19th century, the cityscape had become a genre, like landscape,” Vendelin said. “These 19th and 20th century artists’ representations of the city, rather than being government-sponsored propaganda, instead reflect the artists’ own personal interests.”

Vendelin, along with Director and Curator of the Museum Madeleine Viljoen, has selected works by artists “who have an at least somewhat ambivalent relationship to modernity and change. Some depict medieval buildings instead of contemporary structures. Some suggest that city life makes people feel alienated by creating a sense of tension or unease in their cityscapes.”

One painting of particular interest is Dorothea Tanning’s Temptation of St. Anthony, a piece from the brief Surrealist phase of the artist. With an interesting background, the Temptation was painted as an entry to be featured in the film Bel Ami.

The La Salle Art Museum’s permanent features include pieces from the Renaissance, as well as 17th, 18th and 19th century works, along with modern and contemporary artwork.

“The La Salle community is very privileged to have this museum right on campus,” Vendelin said. “Visitors are consistently amazed when they see what we have here. It really is a strong collection.”

mcglonel1@lasalle.edu