For Immediate Release
August 1, 2007
Contact:
Corey Cronin 781/259-3628, ccronin@decordova.org
Collection Highlight: Harriet Casdin-Silver
Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Media Space
September 1, 2007 – January 13, 2008
Exhibition Opening: Thursday, September 6 from 6 – 9 pm
LINCOLN, MA—Harriet Casdin-Silver is the world’s foremost holographic artist, and has maintained her studio in Boston for over 40 years. DeCordova Museum has several works by this pioneer of art-and-technology in its Permanent Collection, and in 1998 organized a major retrospective exhibition that examined her career in depth.
The three works in the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Media Space gallery include two holograms and a digital photograph, and all reflect Casdin-Silver’s abiding feminist interest in representations of the human body. In Venus of Willendorf, the artist updates and re-imagines the famous Paleolithic stone sculpture, thought to be a fertility symbol with its exaggerated breasts, abdomen, and thighs. In Kathryn of Orange, the medium of holography creates the convincing illusion that the young voluptuous woman actively shields herself from prying eyes. And in Sarah, from Casdin-Silver’s most recent body of photographic work, the sitter appears both vulnerable and powerful in her stark nudity.
Casdin-Silver (Brookline, MA) is a pioneer of art holography in this country and was an important figure in the development of installation art and technological art in the 1960s. Casdin-Silver’s work is internationally recognized and has been exhibited for over 25 years in museums, galleries, and universities through the Americas, Europe, and Asia. She has not only set aesthetic standards for holography but also stretched the scientific boundaries of the medium. Casdin-Silver was the first artist to develop frontal-projection holograms, the first to explore white light transmission multi-colored holograms, and the first to exhibit outdoor, solar-tracked holograms.
Casdin-Silver began her artistic career in the 1960s as a painter and quickly moved into multi-media and technological images. In 1968, Casdin-Silver made her first holograms, becoming one of the first artists to work in this media. Casdin-Silver’s early work focused on both abstract and object-based images; by the late 1970s, Casdin-Silver began exploring the human figure, in particular the female body. At the same time, the artist began to combine holography with other media to create installation pieces.
Collection Highlight: Harriet Casdin Silver is organized by Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo.
For images, please contact Corey Cronin at ccronin@decordova.org or 781/259-3628.
General Information: DeCordova is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. General admission during Museum hours is $9 for adults, $6 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. 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 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. The Café @ DeCordova is open Tuesday from noon to 3 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Guided public tours of the Museum’s main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm. Tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to Oct. All guided public tours are free with Campus admission. Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information. This press release is available electronically on DeCordova’s Web site.
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