A Good Day for Painting: The Art of Bernard Chaet August 24 to October 9, 2005 Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums More than forty paintings are featured in this mini-retrospective of contemporary New England artist Bernard Chaet (American, born 1924). Included is a self-portrait from 1949, still life studies from the 1960s, and expressionistic, plein-air paintings of the landscapes of the rocky coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts -- the artist's primary theme during the past two decades. The artist once wrote, "One sees what one wants to see in nature -- or, better, finds what one needs." In her essay in the exhibition catalogue, art historian Isabelle Dervaux concludes, "Chaet has found the natural expression of the abstract ideas he pursues in his art, the balance of forms, colors, rhythms, and textures that best materialize his sensations and emotions on the canvas."
Born in Boston, Chaet studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1942-43, 1947) and Tufts University (1947-49). He taught painting from 1951 to 1990 at Yale University, and in 1994 he was elected to be a National Academician by the National Academy of Design, New York. Previous one-person exhibitions of his work have been organized at the Alpha Gallery in Boston, the Delaware Art Museum, and the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and many others. His work is in the collections of numerous museums, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, in collaboration with the artist and David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York. It is made possible in part with the generous support of an anonymous donor and with funds from the Louis S. Booth Fund for the Arts. An illustrated exhibition catalogue with an essay by Isabelle Dervaux, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Academy Museum, New York, and published by the University of Richmond Museums, is available. After closing at the Harnett Museum of Art on October 9, 2005, the exhibition will be on view at David Findlay Jr. Fine Art, New York, from November 1 to 23, 2005.