TV and Modern Art to Collide in 'REVOLUTION OF THE EYE' Exhibition, Opening May 2015 at The Jewish Museum

Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television, the first exhibition to explore how avant-garde art influenced the look and content of network television in its formative years, will be on view at the Jewish Museum from May 1, 2015 through September 20, 2015. During this period, from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, the pioneers of American television-many of them young, Jewish, and aesthetically adventurous-adopted modernism as a source of inspiration. Revolution of the Eye looks at how the dynamic new medium of television, in its risk-taking and aesthetic experimentation, paralleled and embraced cutting-edge art and design. The exhibition is organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

A new microsite for Revolution of the Eye offers visitors an interactive preview of the exhibition, featuring a dynamic online survey that investigates visitors' personal relationship to art, television, and leisure time. The survey also tests existing knowledge of early network television and modern art. A fun and intriguing experience, the survey enables visitors to share their opinions while engaging with exhibition content. The data gathered from the survey will inform exhibition interpretation and related programming. The survey can be accessed at http://reveye.thejewishmuseum.org/.

Highlighting the visual revolution ushered in by American television and modernist art and design of the 1950s and 1960s, the exhibition features fine art and graphic design, including works by Saul Bass, Marcel Duchamp, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Andy Warhol, as well as ephemera, television memorabilia, and clips from film and television, including Batman, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Ernie Kovacs Show, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and The Twilight Zone.

Revolution of the Eye examines television's promotion of avant-garde ideals and aesthetics; its facility as a promotional platform for modern artists, designers, and critics; its role as a committed patron of the work of modern artists and designers; and as a medium whose relevance in contemporary culture was validated by the Museum of Modern Art's historic Television Project (1952-55).

Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television is curated by Dr. Maurice Berger, Research Professor and Chief Curator, Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, UMBC and consulting curator for the Jewish Museum, New York.

National Tour: The Jewish Museum, New York City; Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); The Smart Museum, University of Chicago; The Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; NOVA Southeastern University Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale; and additional venues.

About the Jewish Museum - Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum is one of the world's preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, offering intellectually engaging, educational, and provocative exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary as the core of a museum collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of over 30,000 works of art, artifacts, and broadcast media reflecting global Jewish identity, and presents a diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.

The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City. Museum hours are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm. Museum admission is $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and under and Jewish Museum members. Admission is Pay What You Wish on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm and free on Saturdays. For information on the Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3200 or visit the website at TheJewishMuseum.org.

About the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) - The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) at UMBC is dedicated to organizing comprehensive exhibitions, the publication of catalogs, CDs, DVDs, and books on the arts, and educational and community outreach projects. The CADVC maintains a 4,200 square-foot museum space dedicated to the exhibition of art and design, moving images, and material culture; many of its exhibitions have toured nationally and internationally to major venues. The Center's programs serve as a forum for exploring the social and aesthetic issues of the day. The Center is committed to rethinking the relationship between art institutions and the public, placing special emphasis on well-written, viewer-friendly catalog and wall texts, rigorously documented and researched catalogs, lucid application of cultural and social theory to build connections between visual culture and the society at large, and creative exhibition and publication design.

The CADVC offers extensive educational outreach initiatives and publication programs, often in partnership with a variety of educational and cultural institutions. Disciplines represented through its exhibitions, public programming, and/or publications include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, imaging and digital art, video, film, installation, and performance art, as well as advertising, television, industrial design, architecture, critical theory, art education theory, and the study of art history and criticism. Further information is at http://engage.umbc.edu.

Images: left: Andy Warhol, Cover art for Get Smart, TV Guide, March 5, 1966; right: still from The Dinah Shore Show, NBC, 1953, series of stage sets based on modern art: Surrealism. Library of Congress Look Archives.