Norton Museum Ushers In Summer With Focus On Picasso, Community Programming

Starting Memorial Day weekend and running through Labor Day, the Norton of Museum of Art will host a wide array of exhibitions, events, and family activities as part of its second annual Summer at the Norton programming initiative (May 28 - Sept. 5).

On view will be a number of temporary exhibitions that include works created in a variety of media by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881 - 1973) at different stages in his career, while a robust programming schedule will offer the opportunity for visitors of all ages to interact with the Norton. Palm Beach County residents will receive free admission to the Museum on Saturdays from May 28-September 5, thanks to the generosity of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

This year's Summer at the Norton features a plethora of outdoor events including art classes, family workshops, drum circles, tai chi, and walking tours of the sculptures throughout the Museum's subtropical Pamela and Robert B. Goergen Garden. Additionally, "Yappy Saturday" events will welcome community members and their canine friends to enjoy the Museum's expansive grounds. Art After Dark will continue throughout the summer with a weekly series of Friday evening live performances, film screenings, workshops, and tours. Making its debut on May 27, and on view through November 16, is the Afterschool Arts Outreach Annual Exhibition, which will feature works by local students ages 7-17 and their teaching artists in the Museum's Afterschool Arts Outreach program.

Additional highlights of the summer schedule include a Juneteenth Family Celebration on June 18, a free community event featuring live musical performances, dance, gallery talks on art by African American artists, storytelling, and art-making activities; Games Around the World Family Day on July 16, a free family festival featuring a variety of programs in the Museum's galleries and Garden including performances, hands-on projects, storytelling, creative pastimes, and tours celebrating traditions from around the globe; and Bike, Art + Beer on July 21, a special bike tour showcasing public works of art around downtown West Palm Beach.

The Norton is also pleased to debut its Project Room inspired by New York Mural, 1932, by Stuart Davis. This is the first in a series of interactive art spaces in the William Randolph Hearst Learning and Community Engagement Center where audiences of all ages and abilities can engage with artworks from the Museum's permanent collection through hands-on activities. The Project Room offers opportunities for visitors to go beyond looking at art as they work in a variety of media.

Exhibitions on view this summer will provide visitors with the opportunity to see a range of works by Pablo Picasso, spanning diverse media in three special exhibitions, as well as the permanent collection. A Remarkable Gathering: The Fisher Landau Family Collection (through Sept. 11, 2022) includes a key work by Picasso titled Femme à la Montre (Woman with a Watch) from 1932, a watershed year for the artist and a period that critics would define as Picasso's "year of wonders." The exhibition Dürer, Rembrandt, and Picasso: Three Masters of the Print (through Sept. 11) includes six Picasso prints that demonstrate both traditional and modern techniques such as etching, aquatint, lithography, and linocut. This exhibition provides a sampling of masterpieces by three artists who are considered to be the most important printmakers in the history of Western art. A few notable works included in this exhibition include Picasso's Head of a Woman No. 4 (Portrait of Dora Maar), 1939, and Bust of a Woman with a Hat (Buste de femme au Chapeau), 1962.

To further accentuate the Museum's focus on Picasso, a new exhibition debuts this summer. Picasso in Warmer Climes: Works on Canvas, Clay, and Paper (May 28 - August 28, 2022) is an intimate installation of 14 works that highlight Picasso's interest in pastoral and bucolic subjects, inspired by his visits to southern France that began in the 1930s. Viewers will be able to examine recurring outdoor motifs such as fauns, bulls, birds, and figural scenes across a selection of the artist's paintings, prints, and ceramics. The exhibition also traces Picasso's exploration of clay as a New Medium which he began to work with in 1947. Along with a grouping of ceramic vessels, the exhibition includes a unique, painted-terracotta relief, Picnic on the Grass, 1962, inspired by a painting of the same title created by Edouard Manet (French, 1832 - 1883) in 1863.

Three additional Picasso works from the Museum's collection are also on view, rounding out a concentrated examination of the creative output of this modern art icon. These works include a bronze sculpture, Head of a Woman, 1909, and two Cubist paintings, La Guitare (The Guitar), 1917, and The Red Foulard, 1924.

Additional exhibitions on view this summer include:

• Summer Silk: Qing Dynasty Robes and Signs of the Season will feature two exquisite his and hers robes from the Qing dynasty and a rare summer panel from Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons. The Semi-Formal Summer Court Dragon Robe (Longpao) was created for a member of the imperial family or high-ranking official, while the midnight blue women's patterned silk gauze summer surcoat was created for an aristocratic lady. On view June 4 - Sept. 4, 2022.
• Henry Ossawa Tanner: Intimate Pictures celebrates the Norton's recent acquisition of the pastel and watercolor composition Christ at the Home of Mary made by this painter (American, 1859 - 1937) who was the first African American artist to gain international acclaim. By placing this work in the context of three other studies by Tanner, the exhibition will allow visitors to explore the connections between his religious paintings, genre scenes, and landscapes. The small size of these works highlights the artist's exceptional ability to convey the intimate relationship of human beings to each other, their world, and the divine. On view August 20, 2022 - March 12, 2023.
• Origin Stories: Photography of Africa and Its Diaspora - Through July 4
• Special Guest: Calder BMW Art Car - Through July 5
• Jane Peterson: Impressions of Light and Water - Through August 14
• Years of Glass: The Norton Collection 1982 -2022 - Through Sept. 4
• The Howard and Judie Ganek Collection - Through Sept. 25
• Special Guest: Beaching the Boat (Afternoon Light) A Masterpiece by Sorolla - Through June 25, 2023

A full schedule of this summer's events and programs can be found here.

Free Summer Saturdays for Palm Beach County residents was made possible by the generosity of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

Summer at the Norton was made possible with support provided by Irene and Jim Karp.

Support for Yappy Saturdays provided by Very Important Paws.

Art After Dark is sponsored by the Addison Hines Charitable Trust.

The Afterschool Arts Outreach program was made possible by The Doris & Stanley Tananbaum Foundation, Ricki Gail and Robert Conway, and The Jim Moran Foundation, with additional support provided by The Christina Orr-Cahall Endowment for Community Outreach. Afterschool Arts Outreach at the Police Athletic League, Highridge Family Center, and Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County was made possible by the generosity of the Ellen & Ronald Block Family Foundation. Afterschool Arts Outreach at the Gaines Park Community Center was made possible by the generosity of The Rosenberg Ebin Family Foundation. Afterschool Arts Outreach at the PACE Center for Girls was made possible by the generosity of the Scaife Family Foundation. A Remarkable Gathering: The Fisher Landau Family Collection was organized by the Norton Museum of Art. Support for this exhibition was provided by the Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment, the Milton and Sheila Fine Endowment for Contemporary Art, and the Gioconda and Joseph King Endowment for Exhibitions.

Dürer, Rembrandt, and Picasso: Three Masters of the Print was organized by the Norton Museum of Art. Support for this exhibition was provided by the Sydelle and Arthur I. Meyer Endowment Fund.

Summer Silk: Qing Dynasty Robes and Signs of the Season was organized by the Norton Museum of Art. This exhibition was made possible by the generosity of John and Heidi Niblack.

About the Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is home to the leading and most far-ranging collection of art in Florida and the region, with distinguished holdings in American, European, Contemporary, and Chinese art and Photography. In 2019, the Norton unveiled an expansion by Foster + Partners, featuring the new 59,000-square-foot Kenneth C. Griffin Building, which greatly enhanced the Museum's facilities and was accompanied by the complete reinstallation of the Museum's renowned collection in state-of-the-art galleries.

The Norton is also recognized for advancing the practice and appreciation of emerging and under-recognized artists. In 2011, the Norton launched RAW (Recognition of Art by Women). Since its inception, the series has presented the work of Jenny Saville, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Phyllida Barlow, Klara Kristalova, Nina Chanel Abney, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Svenja Deininger, and María Berrío.

The expansion of the Norton also provided new and enhanced facilities for its educational programs, special exhibitions, lectures, tours, and other activities that serve the Museum's diverse audiences. It also transformed the Norton's 6.3-acre campus into a "museum in a garden" which celebrates the beautiful year-round weather in West Palm Beach and features new, verdant public spaces and a 37,000-square-foot sculpture garden.

For more information on museum hours and safety protocols, please visit Norton.org.

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