Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited
by By Levy, David C. (FRW) and Johnson, J. Seward
Category: Art , Sculpture & Installation

J. Seward Johnson, Jr., is best known for his life-size and lifelike cast-bronze sculptures of everyday people that inhabit parks and other public spaces around the country and around the world. Now Johnson has turned his hand to re-creating famous Impressionist paintings in three dimensions. His life-size tableaux of Manet's Olympia, van Gogh's The Bedroom, Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, and many other iconic paintings invite viewers to walk straight into these hallowed scenes. At once thought-provoking and self-consciously over-the-top, Johnson's Beyond the Frame is the lead exhibition for fall 2003 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.Beyond the Frame illustrates the process Johnson uses to create his cast-aluminum tableaux, designed to withstand tactile exploration. Readers will also get to see the finished works, not only from the perspective that replicates the two-dimensional painting (the so-called sweet spot) but also from other angles that reveal behind-the-scenes touches introduced by Johnson. An essay by noted art historian Petra ten-Doesschate Chu considers Johnson's tableaux in the context of illusion and representation in art going back to the fifteenth century. A conversation between the artist Red Grooms and the curator Jacquelyn Days Serwer offers insight into the paradox of producing art for a public well beyond the art world. A pop-up of Manet's provocative Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe at the center of the book captures the playful spirit of the show.