Murray Hill Neighborhood Association

CUNY Graduate Center

Feb 21, 2001

Attention art lovers: the Graduate Center now has fully opened a cultural complex and will embark upon an ambitious program of exhibitions that encompass a spectrum of scholarly interest. In addition, it will provide professional and curatorial experience for students in its Art History Ph.D. Program, as well as engage the interest of the public. Four exhibitions will appear over the next 12 months, one of which will be organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Opening March 1 is an exhibit featuring the Goya-Manet Connection. Elective Affinities: Prints by Goya and Manet will be on display through April 17 (Tuesday through Friday, noon to 6 pm) in the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery. Utilizing 56 etchings and lithographs from the collections of the Arthur Ross Foundation and the New York Public Library, the exhibit will examine the critical role printmaking played in the two artists?’ respective oeuvres and offer insights into the latter?’s fascination with the thematic and technical innovations of the Spanish master. In addition, on Wednesdays at 1pm weekly informal gallery talks will discuss this exhibition.

?“Elective Affinities?” will feature such well-known works as Manet?’s The Absinthe Drinker, Le Guitarero, Execution of Maximalian and etchings from Goya?’s Caprichos, Tauromaquia and Desastres de la Guerra. Diane Kelder, Professor Emerita of Art History is the gallery?’s curator.

This is another important artistic presence here. In addition to developing relationships with major art institutions around the city, it will focus on forging a cohesive cultural community with a number of well-established institutions in the Graduate Center?’s Murray Hill neighborhood and its environs. A group called Gallery Associates is in formation to provide the new Gallery with philanthropic support and encouragement. For further information, please visit their website at www.gc.cuny.edu.