Wofford’s own Schmunk curates Baroque exhibition
On Thursday, Feb 21 at 7 p.m., Dr. Peter L. Schmunk delivered a curator talk discussing his exhibition, “Sacred and Secular: Netherlandish Baroque Paintings from Regional Collections.”
Consisting of paintings donated from the Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery in Greenville, SC, the Columbia Museum of art in Columbia, SC, and the Robicsek Family Collection in Charlotte, NC, “Sacred and Secular” focuses on Baroque art from the Netherlands and the various political, religious and social themes that enabled the creative expression present in the European Baroque.
Schmunk began his curator talk by introducing the nature of the paintings and detailing some of the defining characteristics of the Baroque style, including dark colors, dramatic expressions and light and dark contrast often employed by Baroque artists like Caravaggio.
Focusing on the concepts of sacred and secular, Schmunk gave brief descriptions of each of the works he selected for the exhibition. He discussed iconographic features of the paintings and provided religious context for several of the paintings depicting saints. He also discussed societal and cultural aspects of Europe that enabled artists to succeed via the painting of landscapes, genre scenes and religious works.
The collection of works has been the focus of other events on campus apart from Schmunk’s gallery talk; on Tuesday, Feb 19 at 7 p.m., the South Carolina Bach Society and the North Carolina Baroque Chamber Players performed works by Bach and Vivaldi in the Jerome Johnson Richardson Theatre in the Center for the Arts.
The concert was intended to complement Schmunk’s show by performing vocal and instrumental music of the Baroque period. Following the concert, Schmunk gave a condensed version of his gallery talk to visitors.
When asked about Schmunk’s favorite image in his curated show, he identified the Madonna and Child as the painting he admires the most. He also emphasized his happiness with Wofford’s newly added exhibition spaces within the Center for the Arts, as well as the willingness of other institutions to loan works for the exhibit.
“Sacred and Secular: Netherlandish Baroque Paintings from Regional Collections,” will be on display in the lower gallery of the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts until May 19.
