Jundt Art Museum Presents ‘Views of Rome’ and ‘Andy Warhol Photographs’

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University presents “Views of Rome: Eighteenth-Century Prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and His Contemporaries” and “Andy Warhol: Photographs” in the Jundt Galleries. The exhibition opens May 24 and runs through Aug. 9.

“Views of Rome: Eighteenth-Century Prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and His Contemporaries” includes more than 25 prints drawn from the Jundt Art Museum’s permanent collection and features influential printmakers and their 18th-century images of the Eternal City. Included in the exhibition are etchings by some of Piranesi’s contemporaries, such as French artists Jean-Laurent Legeay and Jerome-Charles Bellicard. “Andy Warhol: Photographs” presents a sampling of the 156 Polaroids and black-and-white photographs donated to the Jundt Art Museum in 2008 by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Piranesi, a Venice native and trained architect and engineer, traveled to Rome for the first time in 1740 and learned etching. His interest in architecture greatly influenced the scenes of his works of art, including many of the ancient monuments and historic buildings of the city. In Rome, Piranesi joined an international community of artists interested in the classical traditions and the history of the city. “Views of Rome: Eighteenth-Century Prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and His Contemporaries” features a number of prints from the “Various Views of Ancient and Modern Rome” portfolio given to the Jundt Art Museum by Norman and Esther Bolker. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the Bolkers.

Over the course of his renowned career, Andy Warhol took thousands of photographs – some created as part of his artistic process and others that were never intended for public display. “Andy Warhol: Photographs” offers a glimpse into Warhol’s personal world, where artistic expression, business, and everyday life intermingle.

Included in this small exhibition of Warhol’s photographs are images of Dorothy Hamill (figure skater and 1976 Olympic champion), Tom Seaver (Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher), Sean Lennon (the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono), and Caroline Louise Marguerite Grimaldi (eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and his wife, former American actress Grace Kelly), among others.

Meanwhile, some of the other photographs in the exhibition highlight Warhol’s interest in everyday scenes and landscapes. Last year, the Jundt Art Museum received several prints – “Flowers” (1970), “Joseph Beuys” (1980/83), “$1” (1982), “Alexander the Great” (1982), “Saint Apollonia” (1984), “Hans Christian Andersen” (1987), and “Sitting Bull” (1986) – as a further gift from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.  These seven new acquisitions will also be on display.

A free public walk-through with Paul Manoguerra, director/curator of the Jundt Art Museum, will be held on Friday, May 30 at 10:30 a.m. in the Jundt Galleries.

The museum’s exhibitions are free and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The museum is closed Sundays and University holidays. For more information, please contact Karen Kaiser, curator of education, at (509) 313-6613 or via e-mail.