Napa Valley Museum Announces Historic Work By Artist Frida Kahlo Highlights Upcoming “Pop-Up” Exhibition

The Napa Valley Museum Yountville announces the opening on October 16 of an extraordinary two week "Pop-Up" exhibition in the Spotlight Gallery: Les Femmes Surréalistes, featuring the original paintings of Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Leonor Fini among others. The exhibition celebrates the upcoming two day conference: Making HERstory: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday - Reclaiming women in the arts, as well as the last two weeks of the Museum's landmark exhibitions: The Surrealist Revolution in America and Juanita Guccione: Otherwhere.

The highlight of the exhibition is: Autorretrato en Miniatura, the smallest self-portrait ever painted by Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954), the legendary Mexican artist. According to Sotheby's, which handled auction of the work in 2011:

"Frida Kahlo's oval Autorretrato en miniatura is the smallest painting she ever made. It is also one of her most powerful. The power does not come, as it does in her portraits of herself injured or in tears, from the urgency with which she presents her predicament. Rather it comes from the force of her presence. Within this tiny oval she has packed a charge of energy that brings to mind the Surrealist poet André Breton's description of her art as 'a ribbon around a bomb.'" http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/a-discerning-eye-latin-american-n08794/lot.12.html

The miniature, which measures only 2 by 1 5/8 inches, is believed to have been painted by Kahlo in 1938, in oil on thin panel with tin border. In 1946 Kahlo gave this self-portrait to the Spanish artist José Bartolí, with whom she was reportedly romantically involved for several years and he kept it all of his life. According to Sotheby's: the dedication on the reverse side reads "Para Bartolí con amor, Mara", (for Bartolí with love, Mara). "Mara" was Frida's name that she and Bartoli used in their correspondence to each other.

"It is a dream come true to bring Frida Kahlo to the Napa Valley," says Museum Executive Director Laura Rafaty. "This miniature is particularly meaningful, despite its size, because of the intimacy of the self-portrait, capturing an earlier time in her life and gifted to her lover. The Museum has put such focus on creating large-scale exhibitions with enormous images, and so it is ironic that this diminutive painting may be one of the most impactful works of art we've ever displayed. This two-week exhibition is just part of the larger story we've been telling about the place of women in the history of art, through the first comprehensive exhibition of extraordinary work by Surrealist Juanita Guccione, and continuing through our next exhibition of leading modernist female photographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries, like Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White. The Museum is proud to partner with the Lincoln Theater to present a free conference at the end of this month, exploring this topic of rewriting women back into art history. We've made it free because we are encouraging the community to come and take part in this vital and timely conversation."

In addition to the Kahlo work, the Pop-Up exhibition includes works by many of history's leading female Surrealists including the renowned English artist Leonora Carrington, acclaimed Argentinian Leonor Fini, plus Alice Rahon, Bridget Tichenor, Kay Sage, Stella Snead. More about these works can be found on the museum's website at:

https://napavalleymuseum.org/exhibition/le-femmes-surrealistes/

Admission to Les Femmes Surréalistes is included with regular Museum admission and is free during the October 26 & 27 Conference: "Making HERstory: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday - Reclaiming women in the arts.

About

Making HERstory: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday - Reclaiming women in the arts

October 26, 2019 and October 27, 2019

Schedule: October 26 from 1 to 7 pm & October 27 from 10 am to 6 pm

Napa Valley Museum Yountville presents the conference Making HERstory: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday - Reclaiming women in the arts, presented in partnership with the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater (which is adjacent to the Museum in Yountville). The conference is FREE including all speaking events, book signings, symposia and exhibitions. Donation suggested for the Opening Reception; tickets to a closing Concert are available for purchase.

A FREE two-day exploration with speakers, films, music and exhibits on the importance, influence and challenges for women in the history of modern art, presented in partnership with the Lincoln Theater. A FREE Opening Reception at the Museum on October 26 at 5 pm features wines by Elizabeth Spencer Winery; donations during the event benefit the Napa Valley Museum. Capacity for the reception is limited and tickets are available for the conference and reception at the Museum's website www.napavalleymuseum.org/herstory.

A ticketed early music concert of works by female composers, performed at Lincoln Theater on October 27 at 5 pm by Violet Grgich and her ensemble, is $20, with concert tickets on sale at www.lincolntheater.org.

Both an academic symposium and a weekend of entertaining and engaging events, the conference will include the pop-up exhibition Le Femmes Surréalistes, a curated tour of our current exhibitions, plus documentary films and panel discussions featuring top curators and respected scholars in dialogue about reclaiming women in history. A complete Schedule of Events may be found on the Museum's website. Highlights include:

- Pop-Up Exhibition Les Femmes Surréalistes: Opening on October 16 and running through the conference, the Museum presents an exceptional pop-up exhibit at the Museum, featuring the original paintings of Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Leonor Fini among others. Free admission during the Conference.

- Curated Tour: meet the guest curator, Kendy Genovese and the authors of the new book on Juanita Guccione for an insightful tour of the "Otherwhere" and Pop-Up exhibitions.

- Opening Reception: On October 26 at 5 pm, convene at the Museum with like-minded colleagues to launch the conference and celebrate women in the arts. Enjoy wine from Elizabeth Spencer Winery, light bites, and brilliant conversation with fellow participants. Requested donations during the event will benefit the Napa Valley Museum's nonprofit arts and education programs. Capacity is limited so ticket reservations are requested;

- Panel Discussions: top international curators, collectors, leading academics and thought-provoking artists will discuss the importance, immediacy and challenges of reclaiming of women in the arts today. Panels include "Women and Surrealism in Latin America," "HERstory - reclaiming the history we were written out of," and "Discovering Juanita Guccione: The Amazons and Astral Awakening."

- Films: two award-winning documentaries will set the stage for our conference:

!WAR Women Art Revolution directed by local artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, the film details major developments in women's art through the 1970s and explores how the tenacity and courage of these pioneering artists resulted in what is now widely regarded as the most significant art movement of the late 20th century; and

Gloria's Call, a short documentary film by Cheri Gaulke tells the story of respected feminist and scholar Gloria Orenstein who recently received the lifetime achievement award from the Women's Caucus for the Arts. Post-Screening Q&A with Gloria Orenstein (See Trailers below)

- Early Music Concert: the conference closes on October 27 with a 5 pm Lincoln Theater concert featuring compelling chamber works by women composers performed by Violet Grgich and her ensemble. Ticket Cost $25, available on the Lincoln Theater website at www.lincolntheater.org.

The conference is sponsored by a generous grant from the Napa County Board of Supervisors, and by the members and supporters of the Napa Valley Museum Yountville and the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater.

Also on exhibition at the Napa Valley Museum Yountville through October 27:

"The Surrealist Revolution in America," in the Main Gallery, presents original paintings, drawings and objects by Enrico Donati, Jimmy Ernst, David Hare, Gerome Kamrowski, Gordon Onslow Ford and Kurt Seligmann, representing some of their strongest and most groundbreaking work. In the History Gallery, "Otherwhere," the first comprehensive exhibition of Juanita Guccione, one of the most intriguing "lost" figures in modern art. Learn more about the giants of Surrealism at www.napavalleymuseum.org.

Upcoming from November 9, 2019 through January 19, 2020:

"Modern Women | Modern Vision: Works from the Bank of America Collection" features works by some of the leading artists of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries including Imogen Cunningham, Margaret Bourke-White, Eva Besnyö and Barbara Morgan, all influential Modernist photographers.

The Napa Valley Museum Yountville is located at 55 Presidents Circle in Yountville, and is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 to 4 pm. Regular Museum Admission for this exhibition is: $15: Adult (age 18-64); $7.50: Seniors (65+) and Kids under 18. Admission is Free for Museum Members, residents of the California Veterans Home and Active Duty Military. The Museum is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the cultural fabric of our community through exhibitions, collections, educational programs and creative activities that promote knowledge and understanding of art, nature and history. For more information, call 707.944.0500, email info@napavalleymuseum.org, or visit the website at www.napavalleymuseum.org.

The Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, located at 100 California Drive, Yountville, is a comprehensive performing arts center dedicated to the cultural and artistic wellbeing of the Napa Valley. From presenting world-renowned artists and producing Symphony Napa Valley, to creating and sustaining arts education and access programs in schools and at our theater, the Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that nurtures the artists and audiences of tomorrow, while sustaining a more vibrant and engaged community today. www.lincolntheater.org.

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