Giacometti, Alexander and Rauschenberg Exhibitions Announced for Summer Season

Summer 2019 Brings Three Outstanding Exhibitions
to the Vancouver Art Gallery

Upcoming: a Major Exhibition of Alberto Giacometti,
a Vikky Alexander Retrospective and
from the Gallery Collection—Rarely Seen Works by Robert Rauschenberg

This summer, the Vancouver Art Gallery will present three must-see exhibitions, headlined by Alberto Giacometti: A Line Though Time, on view June 16 to September 29, 2019. See an extensive survey of Giacometti’s work alongside antiquities that inspired him from the Mediterranean and Africa. Also featured will be works by several French and British post-war artists who were influenced by or shared similar interests to Giacometti: Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lynn Chadwick, César, Jean Dubuffet, Germaine Richier and others.

In addition, the Gallery is planning two exhibitions of work by celebrated contemporary artists. Vikky Alexander: Extreme Beauty will be a retrospective of Canada’s own leading, feminist figure of photo-conceptualism. Witness the trajectory of this discerning artist who continues to probe the artificiality of images ranging from photographs and montages, to collages and installations. On the same floor will be the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg 1965-1980. From the Gallery’s collection, this exhibition will bring together nearly thirty works produced by the American pop art pioneer during one of the most prolific and experimental periods of his career.

Summer 2019 Exhibitions

Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time
June 16 to September 29, 2019

With more than 130 artworks on view, this exhibition will present the work of Alberto Giacometti, one of the twentieth century’s most renowned and influential artists. Including masterful works in sculpture, painting, drawing and design, it will examine the breadth of Giacometti’s practice while highlighting his place among his contemporaries in Paris and London. The exhibition will also explore his historical sources of inspiration—including notable examples of archaic art of the Mediterranean and ceremonial art of West and Central Africa.

Alberto Giacometti, Annette Without Arms (Annette IX), 1964, bronze, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection]

Vikky Alexander: Extreme Beauty
July 6 to October 27, 2019

The first retrospective of this important Canadian artist whose practice interrogates the mechanisms of display that shape meaning, beauty and desire in our culture. Comprising of more than eighty works, Extreme Beautywill examine the major themes that have occupied Alexander for more than three decades of her career, including the appropriated image, the artificiality of nature and the seduction of space.

[Vikky Alexander, Obsession, 1983, silver gelatin prints, vinyl type, coloured Plexiglas, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of Dr. Doug Foster, Ian Wallace, the Artist, Bill Jeffries and Nora Kelly]

Robert Rauschenberg 1965 –1980
July 6 to October 27, 2019

American artist Robert Rauschenberg was a modern master who used everyday materials and the detritus of popular culture to investigate the intersection of art and life, subvert the familiar and expected, and deconstruct the media’s emergent power in contemporary life. Drawn primarily from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection, this exhibition will focus on Rauschenberg’s experimental approach via billboard-sized prints, intimate sculptural works, large-scale fabric constructions and more.

[Robert Rauschenberg, Rush #10–The Cloister Series, 1980, transfer print on paper and fabric, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Permanent Collection Fund and Public Donations raised through Volunteer Committee, Photo: Robert Keziere, Vancouver Art Gallery]

Enhance your Vancouver Art Gallery experience with a tour this summer!

Public Exhibition Tours:
The Gallery offers tours that enrich and enliven the experience of its exhibitions. Whether coming as art aficionados or first-time Gallery visitors, the public is invited to enjoy our exhibition tours, which provide fascinating cultural and social context to artworks on view.

Tours are free for members with Gallery admission and take place Thursdays & Saturdays: 11AM, 12PM, 1PM, 2PM, 2:30PM and on Sundays at 11AM.

Chinese language tours also offered Saturdays: 11AM, 12PM, 1:30PM, 2:30PM and on Sundays at 12PM.

Described Tours:
As of January 2019, the Vancouver Art Gallery offers monthly Described Tours for blind and partially sighted visitors led by its trained educators. For the complete schedule, visit vanartgallery.bc.ca

Registration is required as capacity is limited. Please contact Donna with VocalEye to register by e-mail: buddies@nullvocaleye.ca

VocalEye’s Sighted Guides are available to meet adults with vision loss (18 years of age and over) at the Burrard Sky Train station and accompany them to and from the Gallery. To arrange a Sighted Guide meet-up, please contact Donna at least three days in advance: buddies@nullvocaleye.ca

The Vancouver Art Gallery is wheelchair accessible. Street-level access is available through our Hornby and Robson street entrances, open during all public hours. Wheelchairs are available to visitors on a first-come first-served basis or may be reserved in advance of your visit by calling 604-662-4700.

Private Group Tours:
Visitors and special groups can also enjoy the exclusive experience of a Private Guided Tour with one of the Gallery’s educators. The Gallery offers special group ticket pricing. Group activities are customizable for visitors to create the event that matches the needs of their group and budget.

For more information about individual and group tours, visit: vanartgallery.bc.ca

About the Vancouver Art Gallery (vanartgallery.bc.ca)

Founded in 1931, the Vancouver Art Gallery is recognized as one of North America’s most respected and innovative visual arts institutions. The Gallery’s ground-breaking exhibitions, extensive public programs, and emphasis on advancing scholarship all focus on historical and contemporary art from British Columbia and around the world. Special attention is paid to the accomplishments of Indigenous artists, as well as to the arts of the Asia Pacific region—through the Institute of Asian Art that the Gallery founded in 2014. The Gallery’s programs also explore the impacts of images in the larger sphere of visual culture, design and architecture.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is a not-for-profit organization supported by its members, individual donors, corporate funders, foundations, the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is situated on traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-waututh) peoples, and is respectful of the Indigenous stewards of the land it occupies, whose rich cultures are fundamental to artistic life in Vancouver and to the work of the Gallery.

Facebook: @VancouverArtGallery

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Media release and images provided by Vancouver Art Gallery.

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