WRITTEN BY: SAMANTHA AHNEN, MARKETING INTERN
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is thrilled to be part of an upcoming exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum, located in Stockwell, Massachusetts. The exhibition, titled Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition, examines the influence of European painting styles on great American illustrators such as Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, and Maxfield Parrish. The Cummer Museum has lent its painting Première Rêverie [Young Love] by French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau to Keepers of the Flame.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905) Première Rêverie [Young Love], 1889, Oil on canvas, 62” x 36 ½”.
The pieces on display in this exhibition aim to trace European influences across several artistic time periods and connect the many teachers who passed “the wisdom, knowledge, and techniques of the ages to the next generation of creators”. Keepers of the Flame traces the evolution of painting styles from Renaissance Italy to the opulence of Baroque and Rococo styles, to the famed French academies of the 19th century, into the works of groundbreaking American painters of the 20th century.
By uniting more than 85 works spanning 500 years of artistic development across America and Europe, Keepers of the Flame is an extraordinary exhibition cataloging how even the most progressive art from mid-20th century America has its roots in the classical styles of Europe.