By ROBIN CAUDELL
Milt Kobayashi's painting "Symboint" resonates with Cecilia Esposito.
"It came in with the Jeremyn Davern Collection," said Esposito, director of the Plattsburgh State Art Museum.
"When I look at this portrait, personally, I feel that I know this person. I feel very connected to her. She seems to be a very familiar and very gentle person I can relate well with."
"Symboint" is among the 62 works of art pulled from the college's permanent collection for "Expression: Portraits from the Permanent Collection," showing through Jan. 24, 2010. On view in the Burke Gallery are portraits by Pablo Picasso, Peter Black, Paul Cezanne, Edward Steichen, Philippe Halsman, Daniel Leary, Rockwell Kent and many others.
"We had the idea to do full-length portraits from the permanent collection," Esposito said. "When we started to do the research and look at what we had in the collection, I refined the show to reflect primarily the face, from mid-bust up."
DIVERSE ARTISTS
There were a few exceptions, such as "Chinese God" by an unknown artist.
"For the most part, we focused our selection on the face. The idea being that the expression, whether it be the expression of the individual painted, drawn or photographed as well as the interpretation of that expression by the artist, would be a very interesting study."
The show is rich with portraits from diverse artists, time periods and media.
"You see prints, drawings, three-dimensional pieces. In their own way, they express the personality of the individual differently. It's an interesting study in the art of the portrait."
Esposito finds the works interesting for different reasons and in relationship with each other. There's a difference in the power that exudes from a 17th-century wooden bust of a bishop and Pierre-August Renoir's "Claude" (1905).
Steichen's photogravure of Rodin depicts the great artist six years before his death. It ranks among Esposito's favorite works in the show.
"That piece appeared in Camera Work, Alfred Stieglitz's publication. It was published in 1911. The magazine itself was dedicated to Rockwell Kent from Stieglitz. It came in as part of the Rockwell Kent collection. It's a beautiful, beautiful photograph."
RICH COLLECTION
The show includes Egyptian portraits, which give an idea of portraiture from a very early age, as well as portraits of Buddha and Indian goddesses.
"In their way, they are portraits as well, though they may reflect an idea," Esposito said. "It reflects what that person would be like."
Planning "Expression" was a lot of fun, she said.
"When we curate exhibitions, I bounce my selections off my staff. We all look at them and make changes, take something out or put something in."
The collaborative process includes Esposito's museum interns.
"This year for the first time, they did the research and biographical information that accompanies the exhibition. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to do original research and a bit of label copyrighting and enter the education side of the exhibition."
Throughout the years, patrons have seen these works in various groupings.
"When you pull them off together in one space, they start to speak to each other and have a significant impact on the viewer," Esposito said.
"I find that fascinating — that we can have such a rich collection here and have it be diverse and cohesive at the same time."
E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
