THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 58 lines
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), the legendary, tormented Dutch painter who committed suicide at age 37, is believed to have sold only one painting during his lifetime.
In the late 1980s, his ``Sunflowers'' sold at auction for $36,225,000.
Hampton Roads residents may view Van Gogh's ``Orchard with Peach Blossom'' at the Chrysler Museum of Fine Arts in Norfolk for a modest admission fee to the institution ($4 for adults, $2 for children) or without charge on Wednesdays.
The privately owned ``Orchard with Peach Blossom'' will be displayed at the Chrysler until Sept. 1. It was brought to Norfolk by the Masterpiece Society, which was organized a couple of years ago to broaden and strengthen the museum's base of support.
The Van Gogh painting-in-residence may well draw more viewers than Monet's ``Waterlilies,'' the French Impressionist work that more than doubled museum attendance last August. In perfect condition, ``Orchard with Peach Blossom'' is in the Skylight Gallery, fittingly in the company of works by Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and other masters.
Also drawing viewers - grandparents, parents and children - is ``Myth, Magic and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Books Illustrations,'' a first-time-ever exhibition of the original art for fairy tales, nursery rhymes and favorites such as Gulliver's Travels, Rip Van Winkle and Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.
The show has attracted national and international attention, which it deserves, and will travel to other museums after it closes Sept. 8 at the Chrysler.
The Chrysler counts about a quarter-million visitors annually. That's a respectable number, but why more Hampton Roads residents don't flock to the museum is a mystery. The Chrysler shelters a world-class collection of paintings, sculpture, glass, ceramics and other art objects of stunning beauty. Until a few months ago, these treasures were free to anyone who cared to see them, all inside a handsome Italianate building.
Four Chrysler-collection paintings aren't in Norfolk at the moment.
Paul Cezanne's ``Bather and Rocks,'' is in the blockbuster Cezanne exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Edgar Degas' ``Dancer with Bouquets'' greets art lovers approaching the ``Degas: Beyond Impressionism'' exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, London; it will travel later to the Chicago Art Institute before returning home.
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's ``Landscape in a Thunderstorm'' was recently at the Grand Palais in Paris, is now at the National Gallery of Canada and will move next to the Metropolitan Museum of Art before returning to Norfolk.
John Singleton Copley's ``Portrait of Miles Sherbrook, 1771'' is at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Despite a lean staff, all the leaner after last winter's abrupt, painful 10 percent staff reduction, the Chrysler maintains a busy schedule of educational and entertaining events (example: the Bastille Day Ball at the museum's Moses Myers House July 13).
Treat yourself to world-class beauty. The Chrysler is art-full, affordable and here. by CNB