Intricate glass vessel. A speckled dragon, spirals up the stem creating a handle.
Giuseppe Barovier (Italian, 1853–1942) for Salviati Dott. Antonio (Italian, 1877 - 1890) or Artisti Barovier (Italian, 1884 - 1919), Granzioli Dragon Compote, ca. 1877-1914, Blown and applied glass, Gift of Marjorie Reed Gordon, 2022.21.55
Dizzying opulence and fanciful ornamentation outshine craftsmanship and technique in this exhibition of 50 masterpieces of Italian glass from the permanent collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Venetian glassmakers adorned blown glass vessels with fabulous beasts sculpted from hot glass and dusted with gold, dazzling the senses. Dragons, dolphins, seahorses, pegasi, swans, and serpents creep around vase necks, twine up goblet stems, and perch atop bowl rims.

Marvelous to behold, these fantastical creatures attest to both their makers’ imagination and virtuosity and represent a stunning revival of the Venetian glass industry. When glassmaking in Venice reemerged in the 1860s after a half-century of domination and economic suppression by foreign powers, an atmosphere of creativity and friendly competition arose among Venetian glass companies, including firms like Artisti Barovier, Fratelli Toso, and Salviati & C. The result was increasingly inventive and fantastical blown glass creations: the more elaborate, complicated, and bizarre, the better!

This exhibition is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art, and is possible thanks to a generous gift of glass from Mrs. Marjorie Reed Gordon.

The Chrysler Museum of Art announces the Dec. 5, 2023, opening of the major exhibition Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm, comprised of 250 of his curated images.

This intimate and very personal exhibition drawn from McCartney’s private archives shares photographs from December 1963 through February 1964, as the momentum of Beatlemania began. McCartney used his Pentax camera and captured the Fab Four—himself, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr–as they rocketed from being the most idolized band in the United Kingdom to the most popular musicians in the world.

The Museum has been fortunate to have McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist, Sarah Brown, to collaborate onsite with Chrysler Museum Senior Curator Lloyd DeWitt as they complete the installation of this once-in-a-museum’s-lifetime exhibit. McCartney, Brown and the National Portrait Gallery’s Rosie Broadley carefully selected the images for Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm for its debut earlier in 2023 at the National Portrait Gallery in London and now at The Chrysler Museum of Art. Brown will be onsite to meet with media, answer questions and lead tours through the exhibition before it opens to the public.

Visitors to this distinctive exhibition will encounter an immersive experience from the Eyes of the Storm with 250 photographs and video footage. Included ​are photographs McCartney captured of him and his bandmates at Liverpool and London gigs to The Beatles‘ perspective as they experienced in real-time “The Ed Sullivan Show” in New York, a historic appearance that drew a record 73 million viewers.

“Every picture brings back memories. I can try and place where we were and what we were doing to either side of the frame. Pictures of us with the photographers bring back memories of being in New York for the first time and being taken down to Central Park, the New York hard-bitten cameramen shouting out, ‘Hey Beatle, hey Beatle.’ We’d look at them and they’d take the picture. ‘One more for the West Coast.’ I remember all those stories,” said McCartney when interviewed by Christie’s last September.

Featuring more than 45 paintings, pastels, watercolors, and prints, this exhibition showcases one of the most significant collections of American art assembled in the twenty-first century.

The Brock Collection spans nearly one hundred years of American art, from just after the Civil War to the mid-twentieth century. Works by a wide range of artists from Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, John La Farge, Thomas Wilmer Dewing and John Singer Sargent, to Marsden Hartley, Max Weber, George Bellows, Charles Sheeler, and Milton Avery chart a broad history of American art. Less well-known figures like Mary Fairchild MacMonnies, Helen Corson Hovenden, and Sally Michel Avery bolster the rich depth of the collection and propose new contours to the shape of American art history. Together the works included in the exhibition contribute a fresh look at one of the most vital and dynamic periods of American art.

At the same time, this presentation celebrates the generosity and vision of collectors Macon and Joan Brock whose gift of the Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art to the Chrysler represents the most transformative addition to the institution’s collection since Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.’s foundational gift more than 50 years ago.

Oil painting of flowers in a blue vase
Marsden Hartley (American, 1887–1943), Volupte, 1919, Oil on canvas, Promised gift to the Chrysler Museum of Art from the Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art

The Brocks exercised great foresight in the construction of a collection for the public’s benefit and the gift of the collection elevates the stature of the Chrysler’s American art holdings and programs, transforming it into a national leader in the exhibition, study, and appreciation of American art. The exhibition is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, featuring entries written by leading historians of American art. Together the exhibition and catalogue build upon a legacy of scholarship in American art at the Chrysler, one that has been greatly enhanced by the generosity of Macon and Joan Brock.

A Shared Vision: The Macon and Joan Brock Collection of American Art is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art

Art museums like the Chrysler Museum of Art rely on the talents of their creative staff—many of whom are artists—to bring people and art together. This exhibition features recent paintings, photographs, sculptures, jewelry, and drawings from 44 artists within the Chrysler Museum of Art staff.

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