Exhibitions: International Watercolor Exhibition, 14th Biennial

April 16, 1947: About 150 European water colors, not previously shown in this country, in addition to some eighty American water colors will comprise the Museum’s first post-war International Water Color Exhibition, the 14th in its biennial series. The exhibition will open to the public on April 16, preceded by a preview for Museum members and guests on April 15. It will remain at the Museum through June 8.

Following its usual policy, the Museum has limited the foreign division of the show to three countries - this year England, France and Italy - in order to represent more adequately in each the significant modern developments. Because so long a time has elapsed since the last showing of European work, a larger than customary number of foreign papers has been included, while the United States section is somewhat smaller than usual.

The 45 Italian pictures were selected for the Museum by Lionello Venturi and Professor Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli, Director General of Fine Arts in the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. They include work by such established artists as Giorgio Morandi and Carlo Carra as well as many papers by men who are little known in this country, such as Renato Guttuso, Fausto Pirandello and Mino Maccari.

The British section was assembled by Mr. James Laver and Major A. A. Longden of the British Council. Many of the pictures are lent by the Imperial War Museum and deal with the Battle of Britain. Among the 29 artists represented in the large group of 66 papers are Edward Bawden, Henry Moore, John Piper, Eric Ravilious, Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland, Felix Topolski and John Tunnard, as well as many less familiar names.

In France, the selection was made by Rene Huyghe, Curator in Chief at the Louvre, and Philippe Erlanger of the Association Francaise d’Action Artistique. While the French is the smallest of the foreign groups it covers wider ground than the others with 41 artists represented by single papers. The names include Jean Aujame, Lucien Coutaud, Francois Desnoyer, Andre Fougeron, Andre Lhote, Jean Lurcat, Andre Marchand, Andre Masson, Georges Rouault, Jacques Villon, Henry de Waroquier and Ossip Zadkine.

The United States section, as in the past, has been assembled with the double purpose of representing the progressive modern trends in contemporary water color painting and of including a number of lesser known men of promise in addition to artists of established reputation.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1947 - 1952. 04-06/1947, 065-66. View Original 1 . View Original 2

May 14, 1947: From the International Water Color Exhibition now current at the Brooklyn Museum through June 8th, the Museum has announced the following purchases made by the Museum to add to its permanent collection:

Callahan, Kenneth; Conversation
Menkes, Sigmund; Peonies
Pratt, Frances; The Grasses
Rothko, Mark; Vessels of Magic
Schrag, Karl; Trees Against the Sky
Zerbe, Karl; Still Life with Skull
Maccari, Mino (Italy); Enigma
Topolski, Felix (England); St. Paul’s Conversion
Tunnard, John (England); December Solstice
Zadkine, Ossip (France); Human Forest

Those purchases cover France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States, the nations represented in this year’s show, the 14th in this important biennial series.

Also from the exhibitions water colors were the following sold to private collectors:

Bartolini, Luigi (Italy); Soldier with Girl
Gordon, Maurice; Gypsy
Tunnard, John (England); New Day
Vaughan, Keith (England); Small Orchard

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1947 - 1952. 04-06/1947, 077. View Original