Living with Art: Selections from the Frederic P. Norton Collection, includes Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s, work, Christ Preaching (La Petite Tombe), c. 1652, etching and drypoint.
The Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery will present an expansive exhibition from the private collection of Arkwright resident Nick Norton. Titled “Living with Art: Selections from the Frederic P. ‘Nick’ Norton Collection,” the exhibition features an eclectic mix of artwork, from traditional masks and Japanese prints to modern furniture and contemporary paintings and works on paper. The exhibition will be on display from March 6 through April 11.
Among the artists represented in “Living with Art” are: Julie Becker, Harvey Breverman, Charles Burchfield, Wendell Castle, Lynn Chadwick, Virginia Cuthbert, Willem de Kooning, Frank Gehry, Robert Goodnough, William Kent, Joachim Koester, Käthe Kollwitz, Ohara Koson, Isamu Noguchi, John Pfahl, Robert Rauschenberg, Rembrandt, Larry Rivers, Eero Saarinen, John Singer Sargent, Niwako Tanami, Walasse Ting, Andy Warhol, and Mikio Watanabe.
The paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, artist book and furniture span the years 1652 to 2000.
Among the most prominent objects in the exhibition are a Mao print by Andy Warhol, an Eero Saarinen tulip table and Rembrandt’s “Christ Preaching (La Petite Tomb)” etching. Within the compass of a small black-and-white print, Rembrandt conveys the spellbinding power of Christ’s voice over a group of Jerusalem townsfolk, so intent on the words spoken that no one looks at the speaker. Of the 28 individuals of all ages deftly characterized, only a babe-in-arms and a toddler scribbling in the dust are unaffected by Christ’s charismatic presence.
Eero Saarinen’s iconic table began with his observation that “the underside of typical tables and chairs makes a confusing, unrestful world.” A master of expressive, sculptural forms, he designed the Saarinen table with a pedestal base inspired by a drop of high-viscosity liquid.
U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong in China, which ended years of diplomatic isolation between the two nations, captured Warhol’s imagination. An extension of his fascination with celebrity, the Mao paintings and prints utilize Warhol’s characteristic silkscreen process to transfer to canvas and paper one of the most recognized portraits in the world: the photograph of Mao reproduced throughout China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76).
As interpreted by Warhol, these works, with their repeated image painted in flamboyant colors and with expressionistic marks, may suggest a parallel between political propaganda and capitalist advertising.
Southwest pots, traditional and modern Japanese prints and Noh theater masks demonstrate the diversity of Norton’s interests.
Among the prints is a mezzotint of an abstract female nude by Mikio Watanabe. Mezzotint artists work from dark to light by smoothing areas of a roughened printing plate to create the image in a broad tonal range.
First developed in 17th century Europe, the technique was used to create nuanced reproductions of famous paintings, but nearly died out after the invention of photography. Its 20th century revival can be credited in large part to two Japanese masters who exploited the medium’s expressive possibilities.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, Nick Norton practiced law in Buffalo until 2005.
He then spent the next 12 years serving his community as the Arkwright Town Supervisor. Norton caught the collecting bug from his father F. Paul Norton and bought his first artwork, a Miró print, in 1956.
Since 1961 Norton has served Rotary in many capacities, as president, board member, and district governor. He is a Paul Harris Fellow with four sapphires, a benefactor, and a recipient of the Rotary Foundation’s Citation for meritorious service.
Norton is a past president of the New York State School Attorneys Association and a past chairperson of the Municipal Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. As an active volunteer he has been on the boards of Studio Arena Theater, Theater of Youth, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Between 1998 and 2000, Norton gifted more than 500 prints that he and his father collected to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
The gallery dedicated the F. Paul Norton and Frederic P. Norton Family Prints and Drawings Study Center in 1999.
For more information about “Living with Art” or to schedule a group tour (limited to no more than 20 people), contact Marion Art Gallery Director Barbara Räcker via email or 716-673-4897.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. and by appointment. The gallery is located on the main level of Rockefeller Arts Center. All visitors must wear a mask.
Funding for the exhibition is provided by the Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment of the Fredonia College Foundation as well as the Friends of Rockefeller Arts Center.
