RALEIGH, NC.- The North Carolina Museum of Art opened two exhibitions on March 19, 2016: American Impressionist: Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals and Marks of Genius: 100 Extraordinary Drawings from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. American Impressionist features 39 oil and watercolor paintings created by Childe Hassam on the Isles of Shoals, while Marks of Genius includes drawings, watercolors, gouaches, and pastels dating from the Middle Ages to the present.

“This spring the NCMA will be illuminated by Childe Hassam’s breathtaking impressionist landscape paintings and by the incredible skill and diversity showcased in 100 exquisite master drawings,” said NCMA Director Lawrence J. Wheeler. “We are thrilled to present these two exhibitions side-by-side—one featuring bold, colorful paintings of one artist’s singular place of inspiration, and the other highlighting diverse types of drawings by a variety of masters.”

American Impressionist: Childe Hassam and the Isle of Shoals
March 19, 2016−June 19, 2016
Childe Hassam is celebrated as the foremost American impressionist painter. Among his greatest achievements are the hundreds of paintings he created over nearly three decades during summer visits to Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals, a cluster of rocky islands off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire.

This exhibition, jointly organized with the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts, features 39 of Hassam’s finest Shoals paintings in oil and watercolor, borrowed from major public and private collections. The paintings in American Impressionist are arranged as if one were walking around the island—emphasizing that the place is as interesting as the artist.

“Hassam’s paintings possess a rapturous sense of place," said John Coffey, NCMA deputy director for art and curator of American and modern art. “In his pictures you not only see but feel the blue Atlantic breaking against rocky ledges and swirling in tidal pools, the dense thickets of laurel wedged in granite crags, a splendid island garden with its gem-like blossoms, and the whole island world suffused with a silvered northern light. In this exhibition we invite visitors to explore the island in Hassam’s footsteps, and hope that they find the same enchantment that inspired one of America’s great painters more than a century ago.”

Marks of Genius: 100 Extraordinary Drawings from the Minneapolis Institute of Art
March 19, 2016−June 19, 2016
Marks of Genius features 100 of the most important drawings from the superlative collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The selection of drawings, watercolors, gouaches, and pastels dating from the Middle Ages to the present includes examples by such masters as Guercino, Annibale Carracci, Romare Bearden, Edgar Degas, Egon Schiele, Emil Nolde, Henri Matisse, Roy Lichtenstein, Vincent Van Gogh, and Ed Ruscha.

This eye-opening exhibition illuminates the historical and ongoing role of drawing as a means of study, observation, and problem solving; as an outpouring of the artist’s imagination; and as a method of realizing a finished work of art. Including such diverse drawings as illuminated manuscripts and modern preparatory sketches, Marks of Genius presents a glimpse into artists’ minds.

“Whether in a preparatory sketch, documentary rendering, figure study, or fully realized work in its own right, the immediacy and vibrancy of a drawing make it a pleasure to behold,” said Dennis Weller, NCMA curator of Northern European Art and curator in charge of this exhibition. “The works featured in Marks of Genius demonstrate not only these qualities but showcase the tremendous skill and discipline of the artists represented.”

Also On View: Island Boy: Original Illustrations for Barbara Cooney’s Classic Children’s Book
This free exhibition presents the complete original artwork for Island Boy, a classic of children’s literature by Barbara Cooney (1917–2000). Cooney is one of the most beloved American authors and illustrators of children’s books. She once described Island Boy as her “hymn to Maine.” Published in 1988 and loosely based on a 19th-century memoir, Island Boy tells the story of Matthias, who grows up on Tibbett’s Island, sails the world, and finds love and family, only to return to the island in the end.

“Island Boy is the perfect companion show to the Childe Hassam exhibition. Both celebrate the joy and wonder of a small, special place,” Coffey said.