THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9408310127
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
``Dreams of Reality,'' a major exhibition of work by Robert Vickrey, is on display at the 1846 Courthouse Gallery of the Portsmouth Museums through Sept. 25.
Portsmouth is the first stop on a four-year tour of the exhibit. It spans two decades of paintings by Vickrey, whose work is included in 70 museum permanent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of the Art in New York City.
Vickrey's art is known to many people who don't realize they know it.
Between 1957 and 1968 he painted 77 portraits for Time magazine covers. Forty-five of them are now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
Vickrey's work in egg tempera has brought him much acclaim. John Canady, former art critic for The New York Times, called him ``the most proficient craftsman using the egg tempera medium in contemporary art.''
The artist often presents an image that at first seems impossible and later becomes believable. At that point, Vickrey captures the viewer in his dreamlike world, a world in which reality is twisted to allow anything to happen.
Vickrey's work on the surface sometimes appears sweet and innocent. He often will place a child in a somewhat threatening situation, thereby creating a struggle between good and evil, light and shadow, or reality and dreams. This message has been present in his work since he graduated from the Yale School of Fine Arts in the late 1940s.
He broke into the New York scene in 1951 with a one-man show at a small gallery and a purchase by the Whitney Museum of American Art. His reputation has solidified over the years by inclusion in many important museum collections.
In the exhibition at the 1846 Courthouse, five major subject areas are represented. During the 1980s, Vickrey's focus was on rough surfaces such as walls and rocks. Then he began a new series in oil of windows in New York City and the Staten Island Ferry.
A trip to Santorini and Mykonos in the Aegean Sea prompted him to experiment with various shades of white and shadow. Then he returned to his brick walls of many years ago, this time incorporating another artist's work onto a wall to create a relationship between the figure on the wall and the figure on the sidewalk.
Also included in the exhibit are paintings of the St. Vincent nuns, a subject Vickrey always painted with their distinctive habits. He has used them frequently in his work.
The exhibit is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday. An admission pass, which includes the Children's Museum, the Portsmouth Lightship and the Naval Shipyard Museum, costs $1.50. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Portsmouth will be the first stop for an exhibition, ``Dreams of
Reality,'' the work of Robert Vickrey. The paintings will be on
display at the 1846 Courthouse Gallery of the Portsmouth Museums
through Sept. 25. Above is ``Eight by One,'' an egg tempera done in
1993. At left is ``Henri & Marilyn,'' also an egg tempera.
by CNB