Gustavus Adolphus College - Nobel Conference

6 p.m. Art at the Nobel Conference

Hillstrom Museum of Art, Jackson Campus Center

The Hillstrom Museum of Art will feature two separate exhibitions during the Nobel Conference 2006. Architecture of Silence: Cistercian Abbeys of France (Photographs by David Heald) and Highlights and Recent Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art both will be on view from September 11 through November 5. Admission is free. A reception will be held during the conference on October 3, 2006, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Nationally known photographer David Heald, who serves as the principal photographer at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, spent a decade photographing medieval Cistercian abbeys in France. His larger-format, gelatin silver prints in the Architecture of Silence exhibit were described by critic Martin Filler, writing in the New York Times, as "hauntingly beautiful." The images have a hushed, spiritual quality that is in keeping with the architectural monuments of the Cistercian order, which was founded in 1098 by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose words "no decoration, only proportion" summarize the austere beauty of both the structures and Heald's photographs of them. This exhibition was organized and is circulated by Exhibitions International, NY. Its appearance at the Hillstrom Museum of Art is supported by a grant from the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation.

Highlights and Recent Acquisitions of the Hillstrom Museum of Art will feature numerous works recently acquired by the Museum, including an oil painting titled Antiques, Route 9-W(1961) by Louis Bouché (1896-1969), donated by his daughter Jane Bouché Strong through Kraushaar Galleries Inc. of New York, and a lithograph titled In the Studio (1942), by Bouché's one-time studio mate Alexander Brook (1898-1980), a gift from friends of the Reverend Richard L. Hillstrom in honor of his retirement from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Also on view will be a lithograph by Grant Wood (1892-1942), his 1939 Midnight Alarm, purchased with funds donated by Dr. David and Kathryn Gilbertson; an undated drawing of a Seated Nude by Elof Wedin (1901-1983), donated by Gloria Kittleson; and a 1934 lithograph by Jean Charlot (1898-1979), The Offering, donated by Gene and Ann Basset. Highlighted in the exhibit will be a pen and ink wash titled The Wanderer, by William Gropper (1897-1977), a work acquired in 1962 by Hillstrom, who donated it to the Museum in 2003.