Art at the Nobel ConferenceNobel Conference 49

October 1, 6–8 p.m.
Hillstrom Museum of Art
Nobel Conference Reception
Open to the public without charge;
no ticket required

Three concurrent exhibitions will be on view during the conference, continuing through November 10: String Theory, and the Superconducting Super Collider Series: Paintings by Lucinda Mason; American Associated Artists: Art by Subscription; and Recent Acquisitions and Debuts of the Hillstrom Museum of Art.

The late Lucinda Mason (1974–2007), an artist and art critic who received her MFA from Concordia University, Montreal, began a series of paintings shortly before her sudden death in which she sought to explore the micro and macro elements of the world, asking, “What does the space look like inside the nucleus of an atom?,” “Can one paint the essential make-up of energy?,” and “Can one paint the immeasurable space?” Mason’s large-scale oil paintings in String Theory, and the Superconducting Super Collider Series use abstract patterns that employ dots and lines of paint that coalesce to resemble the cosmos and its motion and energy.

American Associated Artists: Art by Subscription features 75 prints, the majority of them dating from the 1930s and 1940s, made by prominent American artists such as Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975), Peggy Bacon (1895–1987), and Reginald Marsh (1898–1954) for American Associated Artists (AAA). That company, begun by entrepreneur Reeves Lewenthal in 1934, sought to bring affordable art to middle-class America through relatively inexpensive prints that were marketed through department stores and the U. S. Postal Service, a successful venture made all the more remarkable given its inception during the Great Depression. The exhibition was organized by and drawn from the collection of the Springfield Museum of Art in Ohio.

The Hillstrom Museum of Art Collection includes a number of AAA prints, one of which, by Grant Wood (1891–1942), is included in Recent Acquisitions and Debuts of the Hillstrom Museum of Art. Several works—recently acquired by donation or, in a few instances, purchased with funds resulting from donation—are being shown for the first time. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, and photography, with landscapes, cityscapes, genre scenes, and portraits amongst them.

Photograph of Lucinda Mason’s painting String Theory by Howard Romero