For Immediate Release
January 6, 2003
Contact: Brent Sverdloff 781/259-3628, bsverdloff@decordova.org
Sarah Smith 781/259-3663, ssmith@decordova.org
Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection
Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery, Arcade Gallery
March 8 - May 25, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, March 14, 6 - 8 pm
LINCOLN-DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is proud to be among the seven venues selected for this national traveling exhibition. Tools as Art celebrates the amazing variety of twentieth-century art that represents or incorporates tools and hardware.
The collection was formed by John Hechinger, Sr., Chairman of the Board of the Hechinger Company, a former chain of hardware and building materials stores in the Washington, D.C. area. As a way to enliven the company's new headquarters, which opened in 1978, Hechinger began installing artworks that fit the theme of his business. He thought that the display of this art in the workplace was a fitting celebration of the products his company sold, the importance of his employees' work, and the "intrinsic beauty of the simple objects that they handled by the tens of thousands." The Hechinger Collection at present exceeds 375 works in all media-sculpture, painting, craft, photography, drawing, print, and digital art. The artists, who are mostly from the post-World War II era, comprise internationally recognized masters as well as national and regional artists, and total over 150 in number.
Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection recognizes the ubiquity of tools in our lives with art that magically transforms utilitarian objects into fanciful works of beauty, surprise, and wit. Many works confound the barrier between art and life by recycling actual tools or exploiting the illusionistic properties of materials. Several reference labor and the change in production. Others mine the associative potential of tools and underscore the sheer beauty of a tool's design.
This traveling exhibition, on view in the Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery, represents a selection of works from the larger collection. Works by 65 artists include sculptures of tools in wood, glass, metal, paper, and stone; constructions of found objects and building materials; and paintings, prints, and photographs that depict tools of all sorts. Tools as Art includes work by many prominent artists, such as Arman, Richard Estes, Red Grooms, Fernand Léger, Donald Lipski, Claes Oldenburg, Tom Otterness, Wayne Thiebaud, and H. C. Westermann. Other well-known artists with ties to New England represented in the exhibition include Berenice Abbott, Jim Dine, Harold Edgerton, Walker Evans, and Pier Gustafson.
A small complementary exhibition on the Tools as Art theme-culled from DeCordova Museum's Permanent Collection-is on view in the Arcade Gallery.
The Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection tour has been organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C., with the collaboration of Sarah Tanguy, Curator of the Hechinger Collection. DeCordova site coordinator for Tools as Art is Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo. IA&A's national exhibition programs are generously supported through the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation. DeCordova's portion of the traveling tour is funded in part by a generous grant from the Lois and Richard England Family Foundation and Citizens Bank. Tools as Art is accompanied by a full-color illustrated catalogue and education brochure.
Tooling Around: A Family Day
Museum Galleries
Sunday, March 16, 1 - 4 pm
Free with Museum admission.
In conjunction with the opening of Tools As Art: The Hechinger Collection, DeCordova invites you and yours to participate in an afternoon of art activities and entertainment! Art activities begin at 1 pm and continue until 4 pm.
At 2 pm, Leonard Solomon and The Bellowphone Show will perform in the Dewey Gallery. Solomon, a classically trained musician, is a one-man band. He performs musical standards on homemade instruments such as The Majestic Bellowphone and the Callioforte, a miniature organ. The scope of music Solomon plays ranges from Bach to Beethoven to John Philip Sousa to Looney Tunes. His unique skills have been featured nationwide in a PBS special.
Tooling Around promises to be a fun-filled, educational afternoon for all ages. RSVP by March 12 to membership@decordova.org or by calling 781/259-3629.
General Information
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is a museum of modern and contemporary American art with a particular emphasis on the work of New England artists. It features the only public sculpture park of its kind in New England and the largest non-degree granting studio art program in the state. DeCordova opened in 1950 on the former estate of Julian de Cordova, a Boston entrepreneur and supporter of the arts.
DeCordova Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. Admission is $6 per person, $4 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6-12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free. The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours and is free. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm. Free guided public tours of the Museum's main galleries take place every Wednesday and Sunday at 2 pm. Free tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to October. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information.
