(GOLDENDALE, Wash., January 11, 2017) – Maryhill Museum of Art will re-open for the season on March 15, 2017 with a special exhibition featuring recent additions to the museum’s collection. The exhibition Something for Everyone: New Treasures from the Permanent Collection, features works added to the museum’s holdings since 2010, including Romanian folk clothing, American Indian baskets and beadwork, medieval illuminated manuscripts, art glass, and sculpture, paintings and prints by Northwest artists Lillian Pitt, Rick Bartow and Betty LaDuke.
A Season-Opening Celebration will be held on Saturday, March 18, 2017. From 2 to 5 p.m., visitors are invited to take part in guided gallery talks, along with roof-top tours of the museum and its recent stucco restoration. These activities are free with museum admission. An evening Members’ Party from 5 to 8 p.m. will include regional wines, generous hors d’oeuvres, dancing and live music. Tickets for the Members’ Party are $35/ museum members and $45/ non-members; to purchase tickets for the Members’ Party, call 509-773-3733, ext. 20.
Throughout 2017, visitors will also be able to enjoy smaller exhibitions of ancient Greek ceramics, paintings, sculptures and photographs depicting the American West, and a new rotation in the museum’s popular Théâtre de la Mode exhibition of post-WWII French haute couture fashions.
Maryhill’s exhibitions are accompanied by a wealth of related programming for adults and families. For more information on programs, including lectures, hands-on art workshops and special events visit the calendar of events at www.maryhillmuseum.org.
SPECIAL EXHBITIONS IN 2017
Something for Everyone: New Treasures from the Permanent Collection
The genesis of Maryhill Museum of Art’s permanent collection was a gift from Queen Marie of Romania during her 1926 visit to dedicate the museum. Since that time, the collection has expanded tremendously, with particular growth since 2010. The exhibition includes a fascinating array of newly acquired works, including Romanian folk clothing, American Indian baskets and beadwork, half-size French and American fashions, medieval illuminated manuscripts, art glass, as well as sculpture, paintings and prints by artists Lillian Pitt, Rick Bartow, Betty LaDuke, Fritz Scholder, R.H. Ives Gammell and others.
Théâtre de la Mode
A new rotation of Théâtre de la Mode sets and their accompanying fashion mannequins will go on view in 2017: Jean Cocteau’s “My Wife is a Witch,” Jean Saint Martin’s “Paris Sketch” and Anne Surger’s “Street Scene.”
Ancient Greek Ceramics from the Permanent Collection
In 1926, Queen Marie of Romania’s oldest daughter, Elisabetha, the former Queen Consort of Greece, gave to Maryhill Museum of Art a collection of terracotta Tanagra figures and ancient Greek pottery vessels. Tanagras are figurines that were rediscovered near the Beotian town of Tanagra, (central Greece) in the 1870s. They are made of mold-cast terracotta and were produced after the late 4th century A.D. The amphorae and related ceramic vessels are mostly from Cyprus and date from the Iron Age to the Early Roman Period (c. 1050 B.C.E.–50 A.D.).
Maryhill Favorites: The Western Experience
Paintings, photographs and sculptures from Maryhill’s collection showing all aspects of the American West, including cowboy, Indian, wildlife and Western landscape subjects. Featured artists include Edward Curtis, John Fery, Alfred Lenz, Eanger Irving Couse, Edward Burns Quigley and Charles Marion Russell.
Sam Hill and the Columbia River Highway
Black and white prints showing both construction photos of the highway and early scenic views of the Columbia River Gorge. Most of the images are drawn from Sam Hill’s personal photo collection, which is housed at Maryhill Museum of Art.
The museum’s Native People of North America gallery will see another update in 2017, with the installation of newly acquired textiles, beadwork and pottery from Apache, Navajo and Pueblo Indians.
ABOUT MARYHILL MUSEUM OF ART:
Housed in a glorious Beaux Arts mansion on 5,300 acres high above the Columbia River, Maryhill Museum of Art opened to the public May 13, 1940 and today remains one of the Pacific Northwest’s most enchanting cultural destinations. The museum was founded by Northwest entrepreneur and visionary Sam Hill, who purchased the property and began building the house with dreams of establishing a Quaker farming community. When that goal proved untenable, Hill was encouraged by friends Loie Fuller, Queen Marie of Romania, and Alma de Bretteville Spreckles to establish a museum.
Maryhill Museum of Art boasts a world-class permanent collection, rotating exhibitions of the highest caliber, and dynamic educational programs that provide opportunities for further exploration by visitors of all ages. On view are more than 80 works by Auguste Rodin, European and American paintings, objects d’art from the palaces of the Queen of Romania, Orthodox icons, unique chess sets, and the renowned Théâtre de la Mode, featuring small-scale mannequins attired in designer fashions of post-World War II France. Baskets of the indigenous people of North America were a collecting interest of Hill; today the museum’s American Indian collection represents nearly every tradition and style in North America, with works of art from prehistoric through contemporary.
Maryhill’s William and Catherine Dickson Sculpture Park features more than a dozen large-scale works by Northwest artists. The Maryhill Overlook is a site-specific sculpture by noted Portland architect Brad Cloepfil; nearby are Lewis and Clark interpretive panels. Four miles east of Maryhill is a life-sized replica of Stonehenge, Stonehenge Memorial, which Sam Hill built to memorialize local men who perished in World War I. Nearby, the Klickitat County War Memorial honors those who have died in the service of their country since World War I.
The museum was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 2001 the museum was listed as an official site of the National Historic Lewis and Clark Trail and in 2002 was accredited by the American Association of Museums. In 2012 the museum opened the Mary and Bruce Stevenson Wing, a 25,500 square foot expansion that is the first in the museum’s history. The new wing boasts the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Education Center, a collections storage and research suite, a new cafe and terrace, and the Cannon Power Plaza with an installation of sculpture, and sweeping views of the Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood in the distance.
VISITOR INFORMATION:
Maryhill Museum of Art is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., March 15 to November 15. Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $3 for youth age 7-18 and free for children 6 and under. Admission to the Stonehenge Memorial is free; it is open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk daily.
Sandwiches, salads, espresso drinks, cold beverages, and freshly baked desserts and pastries, as well as a selection of local wines are available at the museum’s cafe, Loie’s, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily; the Museum Store features art and history books, jewelry, Native American crafts and other mementos.
Maryhill is located off Highway 97, 12 miles south of Goldendale, Washington. Drive times to the museum are 2 hours from Portland/Vancouver, 3.5 hours from Bend, 4 hours from Seattle, and 1.5 hours from Yakima. For further information, visit maryhillmuseum.org.