GOLDENDALE, Wash., February 6, 2023 — Maryhill Museum of Art announces its changing exhibitions schedule for the season, opening on March 15, 2023. With probing highlights such as The Hound of Heaven, Nocturnes and American Classical Realist Portraits, the Museum offers a plethora of works on display to help the visitor ponder dark, light and spiritual themes. In addition, Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge returns to the museum in Spring 2023, and part of the Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery will be upgraded for the 2023 season.
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS IN 2023: March 15 – November 15, 2023
The Hound of Heaven
A Pictorial Sequence Painted by R. H. Ives Gammell Based on The Hound of Heaven series is inspired by a 182-line religious poem by English poet Francis Thompson (1859–1907). The poem was first printed in 1890 and was later included in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse (1917). Thompson’s work was an influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, who presented a paper on Thompson in 1914.
R.H. Ives Gammell, an American painter of the Boston school, was drawn to the poem from childhood. But where in Thompson’s poem a man is pursued by God, Gammell’s interpretation reflected not so much a religious conversion but “a history of the experience known as a mental breakdown.”
Gammell began making plans to execute the pictorial sequence during World War II and completed the work in 1956. The 23 large paintings incorporate symbols drawn from C.G. Jung, ancient and medieval cultures, and biblical and mythological sources. For Gammell, Jung’s work had provided the link between “myths, symbols, and poetic imagery, and the perpetually recurring emotional patterns of human life from which they evolved.” The paintings were last displayed together at Maryhill in 2013.
Nocturnes
In 2023, Maryhill Museum of Art will feature an exhibition on works of art that display nighttime scenes, so-called Nocturnes. From its wide ranging and eclectic collection, the Museum with one foot in the past and another in the future, offers cityscapes and landscapes captured at twilight and after dark. Featured works include Sailing Ships, Nantucket Light by Edward Moran, The Funeral of Victor Hugo by Alfred Phillipe Roll, multiple nighttime scenes of Portland streets by Guy Gilray and Michael Flohr, and a large diptych by Okanagan/Sinixt artist Joe Feddersen.
Portraits
Following R.H. Ives Gammell’s work beyond The Hound of Heaven, the Museum’s American Classical Realism Gallery will feature portraits by Gammell, his students, and his students’ students. These insightful works join painter Stephen Gjertson’s The Folly of Samson, already on display in the Gallery.
Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge
In 2023, Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge show and sale moves from its long-standing August appearance and appears in the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust Education Center from April 30–May 29. The paint-out has long been a gathering of painters from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond to capture the splendor of the Columbia River Gorge. After painting en plein air, works are displayed at Maryhill, where they are for sale to benefit the museum. Prizes are awarded to the most exceptional works.
Art Nouveau Glass & Recent Acquisitions
The Museum’s collection of Art Nouveau glass by French artists Émile Gallé, René Lalique, and Daum Frères will be displayed in the Laura and John Cheney Gallery, where the influx of light and dramatic views of the Columbia River Gorge will enhance the perspective of the early 20th-century studio glass creations.
Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery
During winter 2022–2023, the Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery will receive upgrades to its rotunda and three Northwest Coast cases. One of these cases will be filled with newly acquired Coast Salish/Fraser River baskets. The collection, started by the Museum’s founder Sam Hill, has been a mainstay of the Maryhill Museum collection since its opening in 1940. According to Steven L. Grafe, the Museum’s Curator of Art, the upgrade and newly acquired baskets will “showcase important new additions to the Museum collection and give a fresh look to all of the featured material.”
OTHER EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW
In addition to the special exhibitions mentioned above, Maryhill Museum of Art features exhibitions of more than 80 works by Auguste Rodin – one of the largest collections in the United States – European and American paintings, furnishings, personal effects and art objects from the palaces of the Queen of Romania, Orthodox icons, and a display of more than 75 chess sets from around the world.
Maryhill is also home to the renowned Théâtre de la Mode, featuring artist-designed sets and small-scale mannequins attired in haute couture fashions of post-World War II France. The museum’s Indigenous Peoples of North America Gallery includes historic an contemporary works. The William and Catherine Dickson Sculpture Park is home to the museum’s collection of large-scale sculptures by well-known Northwest artists.
2023 EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Throughout the March 15 to November 15 season, Maryhill offers a wide range of related educational programming. These educational opportunities are open to artists, educators, astronomy & dance lovers as well as the general public and local community. Highlights include the Summer Institute, Starry Night at the Museum and a scarecrow making workshop. For more information on the inspiring educational offerings, please consult the attached calendar.
MEDIA CONTACTS & IMAGES
For questions related to Maryhill Museum of Art and exhibition content: Email maryhill@maryhillmuseum.org with subject ATTN: Communications Dept.
Image above: R.H. Ives Gammell (American, 1893 1981), Astarte (#4), Transfiguration (#13), Untitled (#14), and Agamemnon (#17), sketches for Fragments of An Uncompleted Cycle, 1955 – 1975, oil on panel, all approx. 41” x 14”
MUSEUM HOURS:
Maryhill Museum of Art is open daily from 10am to 5pm, March 15 through November 15. The Gardens & Grounds, including the William and Catherine Dickson Sculpture Park, are open from 10am to 5pm daily March 15 – November 15 at no charge. The Stonehenge Memorial free to visitors from dawn to dusk daily year-round.
TICKETS / ADMISSION RATES:
Tickets may be purchased in advance at maryhillmuseum.org. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $9 for college students with I.D., $5 for youth ages 7-18 and free for children 6 and under. Maryhill participates in Museums for All, with admission set at $2 per person with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card and a valid form of photo ID. Rate is valid for up to four individuals per EBT card.
MUSEUM AMENITIES:
The Museum Store features art and history books, jewelry and other mementos. Loie’s: The Museum Café is open Fridays through Mondays from 10:30 AM until 3:30 PM.
DIRECTIONS:
Maryhill Museum of Art overlooks the Columbia River on Washington’s SR 14, just west of US 97, 12 miles south of Goldendale, WA; it is a scenic 45-minute drive from Hood River, OR, 30 minutes from The Dalles, OR, 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.