Mia Munzer Le Comte at Art On Main

                                      The Young Norman Mailer, Plywood Cutout by Mia Le Comte

The Garden Party, Oil on Canvas by Mia Le Comte

Mia Munzer Le Comte: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" begins Saturday, June 29, 2014

For Immediate Release

Mia Munzer Le Comte: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

June 28 – September 4, 2014

Reception to honor the artist: Saturday, August 30, 2014 from 5-7 p.m.

Art On Main, The Gallery at Barnbrook Realty

271 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230

Contact Information: Peggy Reeves, Curator, (413) 528-2446

Open during regular business hours of Barnbrook Realty, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

 

Great Barrington, MA – Art On Main is very pleased to present the work of Mia Munzer Le Comte, (1909-2003), who lived and painted in the Berkshires from 1966 to 2003 at her home in Alford.  The exhibition of her paintings was made possible with the help of her son, Douglas Le Comte who has been caring and keeping track of the collection through the years. A tour through the home in Alford, now a family retreat, traces the trajectory of his mother’s life, an account of her odyssey through her art.

Married to a writer, John Milton scholar, college professor, Edward Le Comte for 60 years, Mia Le Comte was herself a writer. Much of what we know about the life that gestated this art is from her memoir published in 1986 which is dedicated to her mother who perished in a concentration camp in Poland. “I Still Dream of Prague” is the story of “the halcyon days in Prague before World War I, the aftermath of that war, her marriages, her success as an artist, and the approach of World War II.”  Hitler’s occupation of Prague on her 30^th birthday is the beginning of the story of her survival as she escapes the horrors of the war and her transformation from innocence to worldliness through the emigration experience. In this exhibit, we will see Le Comte’s deep connection to the universal longing for the “land that I heard of once in a lullaby,” in paintings such as “The Flight,” and “The Leaving” which recounts the Biblical exodus from Egypt.  We make the long psychic journey as Mia Le Comte did escaping to Rome, Nice, Paris, Lisbon and finally to “the blue skies” of America in a series of paintings with more idyllic subjects set in the “Garden of Eden” and “Garden Party” with friends in the Berkshires.

After earning a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 1929, Le Comte studied with two famed Expressionists, Karl Hofer (1878-1955) in Berlin and Oskar Kokoschka, (1886-1980) in Paris.  Hofer’s lighter, happier palette appears to be the greater influence.  From Hofer we see domestic scenes, families and gatherings of figures in stillness and tranquility while from Kokoschka, Le Comte has absorbed the power and direction of the brushstroke and movement. The dream is always present as it filters through her subjects and appears on canvas in the forms, sometimes floating, of people and places from a rich imagination.  One may feel the presence of Chagall, of a Surrealism based on the deep connection to the immigrant consciousness, framed by the pogroms of the past and the Holocaust about to happen.

 Shortly after her exhibition at the Galerie Rousseau in 1939, Hitler occupied Paris and Mme. Le Comte fled to the US, arriving after a harrowing journey which took many months.  She left most of her paintings in the custody of a friend, the writer Andre Germain.  When she returned to Paris after the war, her friend had disappeared without a trace and the paintings have never been located. After seeing New York for the first time in January 1941, she set to work for an exhibition of modern Czech artists which toured the US and Canada. The Berkshire Museum mounted two one-women shows in the 70s and her audience expanded here and abroad.

The collective title of the 26 paintings exhibited in 1970 at the Berkshire Museum “The Family Album,” was inspired by a visit to Prague in 1965 which brought back memories to her of “all that is lost and gone.” She brought with her to the US something of the trauma of her central European heritage but adversity is, very often, the breeding ground for humor.  Le Comte farmed that wit with a series of plywood cutout figures of cultural icons of theater, politics, music and literature.  Josephine Baker, Benny Goodman and many others are in private collections but Norman Mailer and Ed Koch will be attending this show.

With representation at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York and the show at the Berkshire Museum, Le Comte’s work was very briskly collected in the 70s and then again shows at the Spencertown Academy in the 90s propelled her work into the spotlight.  Her paintings are widely exhibited internationally and in many public and private collections in the Berkshires.  An extensive list of galleries and private collectors is available at www.artonmain.blogspot.com.

Mia Munzer Le Comte’s work is represented in Great Barrington and is on view at Wingate Ltd., 420 Stockbridge Rd., Great Barrington.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

Opening Reception Saturday, May 17 from 5-7 at Art On Main

Irmari Nacht PhotoCollages at Art on Main Gallery during May-June

Irmari Nacht of Englewood, NJ and South Egremont, MA will be showing photocollage assemblages from her "Facades/Background" series and "Pages " series at Art on Main, the Gallery at Barnbrook Realty in Great Barrington, MA from May 3 through June 26.  In this show, the artist uses one or more photographs to create compound or fragmented images exploring the concepts of altered realism, segueing of colors, and multiple imagery.

Irmari Nacht’s art is in many corporate and public collections, such as AT&T, PSE&G, ADP, Newark Museum, International Museum of Collage, Mexico, Bowdoin College, Jimmy Carter Museum, Cleveland Institute of Art, Rutgers University, and Yale Art Museum. She has exhibited internationally, as well as nationally, and received two NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowships in Sculpture. She received a second Puffin Foundation Grant for “Who Am I?” an interactive project where the viewer becomes part of the artwork.

Her work has been recently exhibited in the Newark Museum, NJ State Museum, Berkshire Museum, Belskie Museum, NJ, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, MA, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Denmark, Westport Library, Conn, WAH Center, NY, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, ME, Univ of Northampton, UK, and in solo shows at the Atrium Gallery, Bard College at Simon's Rock, MA and the Intermezzo Gallery, BergenPAC, NJ.

The “Facades/Backgrounds” series, uses small round raised pictures to tell a story that relates to the larger images. Nacht explained, "Because the work appears on two planes, you can see the images in details or fragments, as well as viewing it as a larger, complex picture."  In “Cellphonia” and “Glitterati” Nacht depicts celebrities as well as everyday people in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The “Sunset Segue” pieces explore the relationship of color placement - the changes of light, tone, and mood as one color is placed next to another. 

The photo collage series "Pages" incorporates the ancient technique of encaustics, the traditional media of painting, photography, photogram, recycled objects, with the contemporary methods of computer enhancements. The inclusion of written materials from books - words, sentences, fragments, and slivers - add another dimension imparting information and new ideas.  The images of shadows and reflections through windows, clouds on a beautiful sunny day and during the deepening skies of sunset, artifacts of murders, money from around the world, fasteners and unfasteners, tiny watch parts and metal shavings are unified by slivers of cut-up book pages and the grid format.

The public is invited to the opening reception Saturday, May 17 from 5-7pm at Art On Main, the Gallery at Barnbrook Realty, 271 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA. The gallery is open from May 3 to June 27 during Barnbrook's regular business hours, usually 10 - 5 everyday. For further information, contact irmarinac@aol.com or check her websites: irmari.com, or for book works, irmarinacht.shutterfly.com

Opening Reception of Irmari Nacht PhotoCollages Saturday, May 17 from 5 - 7

Irmari Nacht PhotoCollages at Art on Main Gallery during May-June

Irmari Nacht of Englewood, NJ and South Egremont, MA is showing photocollage assemblages from her "Facades/Background" series and "Pages " series at Art on Main, the Gallery at Barnbrook Realty in Great Barrington, MA from May 3 through June 26.  In this show, the artist uses one or more photographs to create compound or fragmented images exploring the concepts of altered realism, segueing of colors, and multiple imagery.

Irmari Nacht’s art is in many corporate and public collections, such as AT&T, PSE&G, ADP, Newark Museum, International Museum of Collage, Mexico, Bowdoin College, Jimmy Carter Museum, Cleveland Institute of Art, Rutgers University, and Yale Art Museum. She has exhibited internationally, as well as nationally, and received two NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowships in Sculpture. She received a second Puffin Foundation Grant for “Who Am I?” an interactive project where the viewer becomes part of the artwork.

Her work has been recently exhibited in the Newark Museum, NJ State Museum, Berkshire Museum, Belskie Museum, NJ, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, MA, Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Denmark, Westport Library, Conn, WAH Center, NY, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, ME, Univ of Northampton, UK, and in solo shows at the Atrium Gallery, Bard College at Simon's Rock, MA and the Intermezzo Gallery, BergenPAC, NJ.

The “Facades/Backgrounds” series, uses small round raised pictures to tell a story that relates to the larger images. Nacht explained, "Because the work appears on two planes, you can see the images in details or fragments, as well as viewing it as a larger, complex picture."  In “Cellphonia” and “Glitterati” Nacht depicts celebrities as well as everyday people in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The “Sunset Segue” pieces explore the relationship of color placement - the changes of light, tone, and mood as one color is placed next to another. 

The photo collage series "Pages" incorporates the ancient technique of encaustics, the traditional media of painting, photography, photogram, recycled objects, with the contemporary methods of computer enhancements. The inclusion of written materials from books - words, sentences, fragments, and slivers - add another dimension imparting information and new ideas.  The images of shadows and reflections through windows, clouds on a beautiful sunny day and during the deepening skies of sunset, artifacts of murders, money from around the world, fasteners and unfasteners, tiny watch parts and metal shavings are unified by slivers of cut-up book pages and the grid format.

The public is invited to the opening reception Saturday, May 17 from 5-7pm at Art On Main, the Gallery at Barnbrook Realty, 271 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA. The gallery is open from May 3 to June 27 during Barnbrook's regular business hours, usually 10 - 5 everyday. For further information, contact irmarinac@aol.com or check her websites: irmari.com, or for book works, irmarinacht.shutterfly.com

photo caption3: "Pages19Reflections" (detail), a photocollage by Irmari Nacht showing at the Art on Main Gallery May - June, opening reception May 17, 5-7pm

photo caption1: "Pages3Bookmarks" (detail), a photocollage by Irmari Nacht showing at the Art on Main Gallery May - June, opening reception May 17, 5-7pm

photo caption2: "St Michael's Sunset", a photocollage by Irmari Nacht showing at the Art on Main Gallery May - June, opening reception May 17, 5-7pm

Cuba has arrived at Art On Main



"Cuban Odyssey: Photography by Elaine Radiss" Now Showing at Art On Main

“Cuban Odyssey: Photography by Elaine Radiss”

March 1 – May 1, 2014

Reception for the artist: Saturday, April 5, 2014, from 5 to 7 pm.

Art On Main, The Gallery at Barnbrook Realty

271 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230

Contact Information: Peggy Reeves, Curator, (413) 528-2446

Open during regular business hours of Barnbrook Realty, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

 

Great Barrington, MA – Art On Main is very pleased to present “Cuban Odyssey: Photographs by Elaine Radiss ”during the months of March and April 2014.  While love of nature was her initial portal into photography, Radiss’s vision has expanded with experiences away from her garden toward life in far away cultures such as Tanzania and Mexico.  This latest body of work marks a departure away from her usual focus on the natural world and presents her photographic impressions of the people of Cuba as well as the rich, colorful culture of the country which has kept its doors only slightly ajar for travelers from the USA.

Happy to invite you into their homes, Radiss found the people of Cuba warm and open. The gorgeous colors inside and outside their houses and the textures of crumbling facades provide a wonderful backdrop for the images. “Cuban music was heard everywhere and the whole trip was a feast for the senses. Of all the bodies of work I have produced thus far, Cuba has been my favorite.” Though vicarious, there is no doubt that the viewer will feel some of the visual and emotional thrill of the Cuban experience while viewing these works. Travel along with us to Cuba at Art On Main.

 

 

Marilyn Orner Cromwell: Recent Paintings opens today

Marilyn Orner Cromwell: Recent Paintings

December 28, 2013 – February 28, 2014

Reception for the Artist: Saturday, January 4, 2014 from 5 to 7

Art On Main, The Gallery at Barnbrook Realty

271 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230

Contact Peggy Reeves, Curator, at (413) 528-2446 for more information

 

Great Barrington, MA – Marilyn Orner Cromwell will be exhibiting her recent paintings at Art On Main, The Gallery at Barnbrook Realty, through the months of January and February 2014.  A resident of Egremont, MA, the artist is also an art educator at Berkshire Country Day School and has taught art there for over 30 years.  She has a Masters in Creative Arts in Teaching from Lesley University.

Having raised her own children and juggled a committed teaching schedule for so long, Orner Cromwell is now more focused on her own studio practices.  With her children grown, she has moved her attention to creating oil paintings that concentrate on readily available still-life subjects.  Working with inanimate domestic objects as her main theme, she is able to work on aesthetic problems which she intentionally sets up to challenge herself.  Placement, light, color, compositional weight, spatial relationships and textural surfaces are combined to form an interesting problem for which she is drawn to paint a solution. 

Orner Cromwell’s work has been seen in solo and group shows throughout the country and locally at the Lenox Library and the Image Gallery in Stockbridge.

Art On Main is open during the regular business hours of Barnbrook Realty.  It is located in the center of downtown Great Barrington at 271 Main Street.  Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, January 4, 2014 at 5 pm.  Refreshments will be served and all are welcome.