ExhibitService030112..

Traveling Exhibition Service
Project Title:
"GREAT ICONS OF THE 20th & 21st CENTURIES" by Sidney Randolph Maurer
Project Description:
Mr. Maurer has painted over 325 portraits of the men and women of his time
who, each in their own way, has had a profound impact on the lives of countless
others. Scientists, statesmen, actors, artists, musicians, singers and sports figures –
all experienced some measure of celebrity in their lifetimes, yet all too many have
been forgotten, though their influence on our lives is still being felt. How many
remember what it was exactly that Madame Curie discovered and what it still
means to us today? You may change or add icons as long as the original is still
available.
Arts education faces serious challenges nationwide: according to The
Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, budget constraints put arts
education programs at risk of being reduced or eliminated-- despite countless
programs and research that demonstrate the value of arts learning. The Center for
Education Policy reported in 2006 that 22 percent of school districts surveyed had
reduced instructional time using the arts. Sadly, as school systems across the
country face funding challenges and budget cuts, learning programs of this nature
are among the first to be axed. Faced with this disturbing national trend,
alternative venues must be offered to develop critical alternative “art links” to
enhance students’ academic and social development.
Presenting the iconic personalities of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
in museum settings is an ideal opportunity to address this issue. Not only will it
befriend an entire new audience to the wonders of the museum world. It will
enhance students’ academic and social development in an informal setting by
introducing them to the iconic figures who shaped their culture, history and
environment. Museums are places of signs, symbols, culturally significant artifacts,
tools and activities. What better place to engage students with the powerful and
strategic messages crafted by the subjects that artist Sidney Maurer so skillfully has
portrayed?
Here are the images that we believe many museums would be proud to
exhibit for their constituents in each city. 85% of them are 20 x 30 inches in size.
All but 3 are painted on plywood; the others are backed foam core. Three of them
are 24” x 36” and one is 25” x 40.5”. 12 pieces are nicely framed in simple 2” black
frames.
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Winston Churchill
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mohandas Gandhi
Martin Luther King
Ronald Reagan
Nelson Mandella
Golda Meir
Dalai Lama
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Charlie Chaplin
Chang Kai-shek
Charles de Gaulle
Charles Lindbergh
Amelia Earhart
Christiaan Barnard,
MD
Edward R. Murrow
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Albert Einstein
Ted Turner
Paul Robeson
Louis Armstrong
Alexander Graham Bell
Madame Marie Curie
Sigmund Freud
Tony Bennett
Leonard Bernstein
The Wright Brothers
Tennessee Williams
Alfred Hitchcock
Thomas Edison
Vladimir Horowitz
Claude Rains
George Bernard Shaw
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The Beatles
Woody Allen
Steven Spielberg
Cecil B. DeMille
Jascha Heifetz
Audrey Hepburn
Dolly Parton
Quincy Jones
Diana Ross
Mick Jagger
Johnny Cash
Michael Jackson
Neil Diamond
Stevie Wonder
Arthur Rubinstein
Bette Davis
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Greta Garbo
Clark Gable &
Vivien Leigh
Elizabeth Taylor
Marilyn Monroe
Gregory Peck
Humphrey Bogart
Tony Curtis
Eleonora Duse
Judy Garland
Maria Callas
Milton Berle
Marcel Marceau
Marlene Dietrich
Marlon Brando
Kirk Douglas
Katherine Hepburn
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Laurel & Hardy
Orson Wells
Rudolph Valentino
Sophia Loren
The Marx Brothers
Steve McQueen
Shirley Temple
W.C. Fields
Benny Goodman
Billy Holiday
Edith Piaf
Sidney Potier
Ella Fitzgerald
George Gershwin
Dizzy Gillespie
Elvis Presley
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Michael Jackson
John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Jerry Garcia
Billie Jean King
Babe Ruth
Arnold Palmer
Muhammad Ali
John Elway
Michael Jordan
Johnny Weissmuller
Sandy Koufax
Ted Williams
Joe Louis
Willie Mays
Satchel Paige
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Ernest Hemingway
Pablo Picasso
Leonardo DiCaprio
Angelina Jolie
Georgia O’Keeffe
Salvador Dali
Al Pacino
Johnny Depp
Robert Redford &
Paul Newman
Christopher Plummer
Morgan Freeman
Denzel Washington
Robert De Niro
Peter O’Toole
Mikhail Baryshnikov
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Mr. Maurer worked alongside Andy Warhol – they both designed and created
album covers for RCA Records in the early 1960’s. They both used a photographic
technique. Andy transferred the B&W images on to silk screens and then added
inks to the screens creating various colors and producing colored silk screens. Mr.
Maurer, being an easel painter did the following. (I will be paraphrasing Mr.
Maurer’s description to me.) He first blew up the photo to the size of the plywood
on which he would gesso as for an oil painting. He then applied powerful glue to the
dried gesso, and glued the blown up photo onto the glued plywood permanently
setting the paper upon the wood that would last longer and stronger than any oil
painting on canvas. Finally, he’d then bombard the image completely and change
the B&W photo into a unique, original work of art using acrylics, inks, crayons, and
any color media he could find to reach the finished quality he wanted.
At a Music Icon exhibit of
Mr. Maurer’s paintings at
California State University,
Northridge in September, 2010,
very few of the students knew or
heard of Leonard Bernstein,
Vladimir Horowitz, Maria Callas,
etc. And at the Screen Actors
Guild Foundation in November,
2010, many young actors in
attendance did not recognize the
portraits of great comedians and
performers like Buster Keaton,
W.C. Fields, Edward G. Robinson,
or Gregory Peck.
What we are proposing is a
travelling museum exhibition of
115 Sidney Maurer original
paintings of great figures of the 20th
and 21st Centuries, each
accompanied by a single-sheet
thumbnail biography – a
combination of beautifully
rendered art and the historical context in which to view that art. Narrated DVD’s
covering all the icons will also be produced that can run on a continuous loop at the
exhibition and be sold to patrons by the participating museums as well.
Thematically, the use of great art as an educational tool is extremely
powerful. The very act of painting a portrait is an effort on the part of the artist to
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memorialize the subject forever, to freeze that subject in a moment in time -- the
moment, and the person, in a very real way, live on as long as the painting itself
exists.
Is it important for people today to know the history of their own times?
Indeed it is, for that knowledge makes life fuller and more interesting.
The paintings themselves are the main attraction – beautifully rendered, the
portraits are full of color and verve, and the painter’s deep feelings for each subject.
Mr. Maurer began this project in 1997, almost by accident, when he realized that a
number of portraits of famous baseball players could be expanded into a body of
work memorializing great figures of our times in all walks of life. Years into the
project, Maurer faced the tragedy of his own lifetime – his eldest son was diagnosed
as untreatable, and spent two years dying of pancreatic cancer. It was a period of
intense emotional turmoil for the artist – grief and rage and sadness. He painted his
son during this time, and he used his own broken heart as the stimulus for creating
more and more portraits of others whom he deeply respected for their contribution
to our lives.
Economic Opportunities:
One of the major opportunities to benefit the museums is the ancillary
income that might result in poster sales. There are many possibilities to benefit the
museums while exhibiting exciting portraits of special people.
Timeframe and Budget:
Allan Rich is the point man for this project, and having already experienced
with SITES an extremely successful partnership on an exhibition of the works of
George Hurrell, he expects he’ll have the same terrific working relationship with the
organization on this exhibition of the works of Sidney Maurer.
Market:
Anyone from eight to eighty-eight, rich or poor, simple or sophisticated, will
be drawn to this exhibition, nationally or internationally. Parents and grandparents
will proudly explain to their children and grandchildren all about their favorite
icons of the 20th Century and the kids will happily tell the old folks about their
favorites of the contemporary stars of their times. All in all it will be a wonderful
family event in each venue.
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Project Personnel:
Allan Rich
2400 Whitman Place
Los Angeles, CA 90068
323-465-4007
213-435-2025 cell
allanrich.com
Sidney Randolph Maurer
1808 The Valley N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30328
770-587-2254
sidneyrandolphmaurer.com/
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Sid Maurer is a man with many stories.
His long career in the world of Art and Music
began at seventeen when he was hired as
assistant art director at Columbia Records in
New York City, where he spent weekends
playing trumpet in Jazz clubs for extra money.
In the period that followed, the music business
exploded, and Maurer worked designing album
covers and promotional material for popular
artists.
His co-worker at the time: a young artist by the
name of Andy Warhol.
As Andy left to pursue a career in "serious" art,
Maurer expanded his commercial art studio to tackle a wide range of
projects for the music and film industries. His position brought him into
contact with a group of artists whose names are well-recognized today, from
Pollack to Rauschenberg, and Maurer was strongly influenced by their work
and ideas as he developed his own unique style of painting.
Throughout the mid-sixties, Maurer continued his work for the music
industry. He worked with famed British recording artist Donovan,
developing album covers, poster designs, and even a film for Warner
Brothers. It was during this period that Maurer's work as a painter first
gained recognition, appearing in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and
Paris.
In the early nineties, Maurer realized that the
empire of music and art that he had helped to
build left him little time to pursue his true
passion: painting. He moved to Atlanta where he
has lived ever since, developing a vast catalog of
works and perfecting his personal style. In the
last decade, his work has hung in a wide variety
of venues, including the Georgia Capitol, the
Eisenberg Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, and the
U.C.L.A. campus museum and CSUN campus
museum.
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His commissions include work for organizations like ESPN and MotorSport
America magazine, as well as for individuals such as David Bowie, Boy
George, and his old friend Donovan.
His recent works vary widely in subject matter, addressing fascinatingly
disparate elements within culture.
Maurer's series "Vanishing Georgia", made up of 30 paintings, depicts key
events and periods in the history of his new southern home. He also
celebrates the heroes of our culture in "Sport Legends", as well as the
personalities that entertain us in series' such as "Movie Stars" and "Famous
Musicians".
As a painter, Maurer creates large mixed media pieces that are very much a
product of his varied training and experience. His style combines bold,
dynamic colors and strokes with painstaking layouts and typographical
elements. The result is the unique blend of a painter's passion tempered with
the calculating compositional eye of a graphic designer. He explores his
themes and subject matter primarily through symbols and personalities
evoking pride, nostalgia, and hope.
His newest work, from the series "America, America", and "The Great
Americans", depicts the symbols of our nation, as well as the heroes to
whom we owe our freedom (from George Washington to Martin Luther
King). These works were born of Maurer's reaction to the 9/11 tragedy and
the apathy toward America that he perceived on the part of many of her
citizens. As the child of immigrant Jews who escaped the Holocaust and as a
participant in American art and music, he has a strong emotional attachment
to his subject.
He challenges us in his painting and in his words:
"Wake up America! Celebrate your country and its symbols of freedom. We Americans
have had many father figures: Washington, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, among
them. They belong not only in our hearts and memories, but also on the walls of our
homes, workplaces, and public buildings; they deserve that honor."
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In 1953, Maurer’s childhood friend, Allan Rich, a flourishing young actor, was
blacklisted. Maurer supported Rich and his family until he could get back on his feet.
Rich has since become a successful and well recognized actor with over 150 films and
television shows to his credit (“Serpico”, “Quiz Show”, a current episode of “House”). In
the 1980s, Maurer’s work came to a sudden halt following the vandalism of his studio,
causing emotional trauma that resulted in physical paralysis of his painting arm. Rich
moved him to Atlanta and began buying his paintings. Maurer has flourished ever since.
This is a tale of friendship and loyalty that has continued for 77 of their 84 years.
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Allan Rich Biography
By Bruce Eder of the Yahoo All Movie Guide
Not every blacklistee spent his or her life as a victim -- some of them, such as Lionel
Stander and Selena Royale, ended up pursuing successful second careers, and a few,
including Stander and Jeff Corey, went on to very busy late-in-life acting careers. Allan
Rich fits into both categories. Born in New York in 1926, he aspired to a performing
career at an early age, and came of age in the midst of the Second
World War. Rich got to work on-stage with the likes of Edward G.
Robinson, Ralph Bellamy, Kim Hunter, and Henry Fonda, and
seemed poised to make the jump to movies when the Red Scare
swept over Hollywood. Like a lot of other New York-based actors
who had made no secret of their belief in liberal values, Rich was
blacklisted from the end of the 1940s. He followed a route, which
was also followed by Lionel Stander, to Wall Street; though he was
too "Red" to work in movies, Rich was sufficiently capitalist to
succeed as a stock broker, and he eventually opened his own firm.
He was successful enough to pursue his other great love -- contemporary art -- by
opening a gallery on New York's Upper East Side.
By the early '70s, however, Rich was drawn back into acting, in a stage production of
Journey of the Fifth Horse, with Dustin Hoffman. In 1973, he made his long-delayed
screen debut as District Attorney Herman Tauber in Sidney Lumet's Serpico. The
following year, he was in The Gambler, and in 1975, he appeared in episodes of Baretta
and Kojak. Over the decades since, Rich has appeared in movies as different as The
Frisco Kid (1979), Frances (1982), Betsy's Wedding (1990), Highlander II: The
Quickening (1991), Quiz Show, Disclosure (both 1994), and Amistad (1997), and in
television productions ranging from Kojak and CHiPs in the 1970s through Hill Street
Blues and Barney Miller in the 1980s, The Nanny and CSI in the 1990s to NYPD Blue
and The Division in the 21st century. Playing featured and supporting roles as desk
sergeants, attorneys (crooked and honest), judges (crooked and honest), college
professors, doctors, and other professionals, Rich has used his resonant voice and skilled
portrayals to evoke respect, contempt, cynicism, and laughter from audiences. Fans of
Happy Days who lingered to the late seasons may remember Rich best for his role in the
episode "Potsie Quits School," as the mean-tempered, cynical Prof. Thomas. He showed
something more of his full range, however, in the 2004 NYPD Blue episode "You Da
Bomb," portraying an aging Russian immigrant. Rich has also authored more than a halfdozen screenplays and had a film about Salvador Dali (based on his own friendship with
the artist), in production as of 2005. Equally adept at comedic and sinister roles, Rich is
one of the busiest character actors of his generation, which is poetic justice of a sort -- he
was still earning a good living in his chosen profession (after having proved to be a better
capitalist than most of his political foes), decades after those foes were in the ground and
all-but-forgotten. ~
Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
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Allan Rich with George Hurrell
(circa 1980) Mr. Rich published 4
portfolios by Hurrell.
Salvador Dali in front of Allan Rich
Galleries (1973)
Salvador Dali with Allan Rich at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City.
Rich published Dali’s “Memories of Surrealism” in 1973.
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