This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

In 1844, trapper and frontiersman Elisha Stevens safely guided the first American emigrant wagons across the Sierra Nevada to California over what came to be known as Donner Pass. Two years later, the Donner Party sought to repeat this trek, but snow stranded them near the lake that would later bear the Donner name. Because of this disaster, a region destined to develop into a world-class destination first entered American history through a dystopian scenario of starvation, death, murder, and cannibalism.

One might think that the tragedy of the Donner Party would have provided a warning for generations to come. In the American West, however, dystopia remained a recurrent possibility. The Sierra Nevada and Donner Pass stood as a barrier to America’s desire to expand westward. As the transcontinental railroad neared completion in 1869, over 20,000 men were employed by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies in some capacity. Around 12,000 of them were Chinese immigrants working in the treacherous Sierra canyons. Accidents, avalanches, and explosions, according to some reports, left as many as 1,200 Chinese laborers dead.

The nineteenth-century paintings and photographs of Donner Pass seen throughout this exhibition tend to offer romantic views of picturesque rail cars and pristine landscapes. Whether intentionally or not, artists typically marginalized or ignored the presence of Chinese workers. Many Chinese and Chinese-American artists working today seek to revisit this visual history, producing artworks in a variety of media to honor and memorialize the stories of those who perished during the construction of the railroad.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

The Sierra Nevada range was a physical and symbolic obstacle to America’s western expansion in the nineteenth century. The legendary struggles of the Donner Party in the winter of 1847, along with an enterprising drive to surmount the summit via railroad, fueled a young nation’s “Manifest Destiny” to stretch its boundary from coast to coast. Artists depicted Donner Lake, the closest body of water to Donner Summit, more frequently than any other in the Sierra range. Unlike the flat, picturesque expanse of Lake Tahoe’s surface, the view of Donner Lake from the summit offered a dramatic, sublime vista layered with historical and symbolic significance.

Visiting artists, photographers, and other tourists often lodged at the Summit Hotel near the top of Donner Pass. Built in 1870, the hotel was a way station for travelers on the Central Pacific Railroad (completed in 1869) and a destination from which travelers could explore the surrounding mountain terrain. For the most part, early photographers such as Alfred A. Hart, Andrew Russell, and Carleton E. Watkins, as well as painters including Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Hill, were drawn to the region because of lucrative commissions provided by railroad executives who sought grand images to celebrate and promote their transcontinental accomplishments.

The American conquest of the now-legendary summit predicted not only the joining of east and west with rails of steel, but the development of the entire far western United States—to which the Tahoe region stood as both barrier and gateway.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

During the Golden Age of American landscape painting in the second half of the nineteenth century, Lake Tahoe and its nearby lakes inspired paintings by artists who were primarily associated with the burgeoning art world of San Francisco. Lake Tahoe itself did not become a subject for serious artists until the 1860s after the discovery of silver on the nearby Comstock. Early tourists to the lake included the influential Unitarian minister, Thomas Starr King, who visited in the summer of 1863 and delivered a rapturous sermon on the beauties of the lake to San Franciscans upon his return—surely enticing many artists to visit.

From the 1860s through the 1880s Lake Tahoe was depicted by artists with an enhanced sense of realism known as the Hudson River School style. Painters associated with that style sought out beautiful natural landscapes and executed their paintings with considerable realism. At the same time, they sought to convey a spiritual or transcendental presence in their paintings to underscore the widely held nineteenth-century belief in nature’s divine origins. Like the California geologists John Muir and Joseph LeConte, many artists believed that nature was God’s handiwork. Painters visiting the Sierra reproduced natural features in ways that inspired thoughts of divinity: mountains were sublime and still water serene.

Many of America’s most noted nineteenth-century artists including  Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, William Keith, John Ross Key, and William Marple considered Lake Tahoe a worthy subject for their landscape paintings. For most city dwellers of the time, the Sierra was considered a remote wilderness destination. However, one might experience a taste of the wilderness through the vicarious agency of a landscape painting. Contemplating a spiritually charged view of the lake in one’s San Francisco or New York living room could provide much of the same magic as being there in person. When exposed to a beautiful painting, the clamor and stress of urban life might be forgotten.

This theme comprises one section of the museum-wide exhibition, Tahoe: A Visual History.

Nineteenth-century American understanding of the Sierra Nevada was shaped by the maps, sketches, photographs, paintings, and written accounts produced by the first Euro-American pioneers to visit the region. John C. Frémont, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, is considered the first Euro-American to view Lake Tahoe on February 14, 1844 from Red Lake Mountain, a peak near what is today Carson Pass. The body of water we now call Lake Tahoe was referred to variously in the nineteenth century as Mountain Lake, Lake Bonpland, and Lake Bigler.

The discovery, mapping, depiction, and cultural assimilation of Lake Tahoe by Euro-Americans is linked to the exploration and settlement of the Great Basin—the last region of the United States to be officially explored and defined by the federal government. After Tahoe’s initial discovery by Euro-Americans, most early nineteenth century pioneers approached the Sierra from the east, after passing through the long desert stretches of the Great Basin.

By the mid-1850s, wagon roads through the Sierra, constructed primarily to service gold and silver mines, became better defined. These routes made the region accessible to travelers from both eastward  and westward directions—including artists and photographers.

The Nevada Museum of Art is proud to present to our community The Horse, a comprehensive exhibition detailing the enduring bond between horses and humanity. The exhibition explores early interactions between horses and humans and portrays how horses have, over time, influenced civilization through advancements in warfare, trade, transportation, agriculture, sports, and many other facets of human life. The exhibition was created by leading scholars and scientists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Dioramas, skeletal mounts, fossils, cultural artifacts from around the world, and interactive computerized modules – will draw visitors into the world of the horse as never before. An immersive multi-media experience, The Horse explores our history, inter-dependence, and emotional connection with this remarkable animal.

The Horse is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH); the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau-Ottawa; The Field Museum, Chicago; and the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Premiere Sponsor

Louise A. Tarble Foundation

Lead Sponsors

Barrick Gold; The Bretzlaff Foundation; Irene and J. George Drews; The Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation; Anne Brockinton Lee and Robert M. Lee

Major Sponsors

Damonte Ranch, Perry M. DiLoreto; Deborah C. Day; Dickson Realty; Hooker Creek Ranch; Nevada Arts Council; Sandy Raffealli, Raffealli Family Trust; Wells Fargo; E. L. Wiegand Foundation

Supporting Sponsors

Kathie Bartlett; Leah Elizabeth Cashman and Rhonda Cashman Evans; Marshall R. Matley Foundation; Jennifer and Jason Patterson; Gigi and Lash Turville; Whittier Trust Company of Nevada

Additional Sponsors

Answerwest; Jeanne Blach; Marc Grock; Clark J. Guild Jr. Charitable Foundation; Charlotte and Dick McConnell; Karen and Bill Prezant

Media Sponsors

Getaway Reno-Tahoe; KUNR; Lake Tahoe TV; Reno-Tahoe International Airport; Tahoe Quarterly; Western Art & Architecture

Celebrate a bygone era during this exhilarating presentation of vintage neon signs that once graced some of Nevada’s most iconic restaurants, casinos, hotels, and business establishments. From flashing incandescent bulbs to candy-colored neon tubes, the nostalgic pieces featured in The Light Circus: Art of Nevada Neon Signs have not been seen publicly since they illuminated street side locales decades ago. Presented in the Museum’s Feature Gallery, the exhibition on view October 13 through February 10, 2013.

The iconic M-shaped cowboy chaps from the long-demolished Mapes Hotel Casino have been re-electrified and will hang alongside the flickering bulbs of Reno’s Harold’s Club and Nevada Club signs, as well as those of the Sahara, a longtime casino icon of the Las Vegas stip. Other forgotten favorites that have been refurbished for the exhibition include signs from Parker’s Western Wear, the Holiday Hotel, and El Cholo, one of Nevada’s oldest Mexican restaurants located in Las Vegas. A last minute addition to the exhibition includes the sign that hung for many years above Reno’s legendary Deux Gros Nez coffee shop, which closed in 2006.

For well over a decade, Reno- collector Will Durham has worked to build this collection of vintage neon signs. For the past year, Durham and the Nevada Museum of Art spent countless hours restoring the light fixtures, controls, and electrical components of each piece, along with their painted and porcelain surfaces. For Durham, who acquired his first sign in 1996, collecting the pieces has been a labor of love. In many cases, he has gone to great lengths to save signs that would have otherwise been discarded. In some cases, salvaging the signs took years of persistence, but Durham recognized that saving them was crucial to preserving Nevada’s history—and that sharing them with the public was even more important.

Lead sponsor

The Bretzlaff Foundation

Major sponsors

Earl and Wanda Casazza, Casazza SLV, IGT, E. L. Cord Foundation and George and Irene Drews

Supporting sponsor

E. L. Wiegand Foundation

Additional support

City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission, Charlotte and Dick McConnell and the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency

Launching a long-term collaboration with New York’s El Museo del Barrio—the leading Latino cultural institution in the U.S. dedicated to Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean art—the Nevada Museum of Art presents a wide-ranging and diverse survey of their stellar art collection. This lively exhibition presents more than fifty objects including sculpture, painting, prints, photographs, and mixed media installations addressing themes such as identity politics, colonialism, emotional connections to homeland, and contemporary visual culture. Artworks created by living artists are contextualized with a concise selection of ancient Taίno stone carvings.

Voces y Visiones: Highlights from the Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York, was jointly organized by the El Museo del Barrio and the Nevada Museum of Art.

Major sponsor

IGT

Media sponsor

Entravision

This exhibition surveys the architecture, urban planning, and design work of American architect William L. Pereira through images, models, drawings, and plans. The exhibition re-examines the modest spaces he created early in his career and the large-scale structures for which he is largely remembered.

The structures Pereira designed were far-flung and often large in scale, ranging from San Francisco’s iconic Transamerica Tower to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the University of California, San Diego Geisel Library to the master plan for California’s Irvine Ranch and the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX); Marineland of the Pacific to Cape Canaveral; a master plan for Doha—the capital city of Qatar—to the National Medical Center of Iran. Pereira became the first architect for the University of California system and master planned and designed many of the buildings for the University of California, Irvine.

The purpose of the project is to frame Pereira’s practice within the histories of architectural modernism and southern California in the mid-twentieth century. Because Pereira’s career parallels the arc of modern architecture and its focus on iconic form, the evolution and trajectory of his work sheds light on the closing window of the modern movement.

Photography is encouraged in this exhibition. Post and share your images with us on your favorite social sites!

Become and Museum fan on Facebook (LINK) and take part in our daily competition throughout August. Answer the question: “What am I looking at?” for the chance to win a prize. A BIG thank you to Scott Mortimore of Mortimore Creative for the images and prose!

Exhibition design by Nik Hafermaas, Uebersee (LINK)

CATALOGUE

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue accompanies the exhibition. The book is introduced by Colin M. Robertson with essays by Curtis Fentress, Alan Hess, Thomas S. Hines, Scott Johnson, Geoff Manaugh, JoAnne S. Northrup, and Elizabeth A.T. Smith. Copies are available for $29.99 in the Museum Store. To purchase a catalogue via phone order, please contact Jackie Clay, Manager, Museum Store at 775.329.3333 ex. 106.

This exhibition is originated by the Nevada Museum of Art and curated by Colin M. Robertson, Charles N. Mathewson Curator of Education, Nevada Museum of Art.

Lead sponsors

Louise A. Tarble Foundation, E.L. Cord Foundation and Nancy and Martin Cohen

Major sponsors

Nancy and Brian Kennedy, Susan and Bill Pereira, Reno Orthopaedic Clinic and Volunteers in Art (VIA)

Supporting sponsors

Dickson Realty, Jan and David Hardie, Eleanor and Robert Preger, and RBC Wealth Management

Additional sponsors

Charlotte and Dick McConnell, MINI of Reno and the Mark E Pollack Foundation

In-kind support

The Irvine Company, LAYAR, and Fortyonetwenty

Media sponsor

KNPB Channel 5 Public Broadcasting

This exhibition celebrates avant-garde artists–—including the legendary Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who were living and working at the center of the artistic and cultural scene of Paris at the turn of the last century. Through a variety of paintings and other materials, visitors will explore the nightlife of cabaret theaters, elaborate circus performances, and intimate café concerts that helped to define Paris as an iconic modern city.

Drawn from prestigious private collections, the artworks in this exhibition were made by a generation of artists who battled against the formality of Academic art standards, rebelling against the styles of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism espoused by artists like Georges Seurat, Paul Gaugin, and Vincent Van Gogh. In addition to paintings by Henri Tolouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassat, Paul Heleu, Juan Gris, and Pierre Bonnard, special attention is given to small groups of artists –the Nauralists, the Symbolists, the Incohérents, and the Nabis—who offered new visions for life and society during this era that has been popularly coined the fin de siècle.

The exhibition includes over 185 objects, ranging from paintings, watercolors, and drawings, to rare cabaret shadow puppets, illustrated theater programs, and archive and ephemera materials from Parisian theaters, circuses, and concerts.

This exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia.

Lead sponsor

George and Irene Drews and the Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation

Sponsor

Goldcorp, US

Supporting sponsors

Earl and Wanda Casazza, Casazza SLV, LLC, and Catherine and John Farahi/Atlantis Casino Resort Spa

His Excellency Francois Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United States of America, is Honorary Patron of the exhibition.

This feature exhibition celebrates the iconic landscape paintings of Phyllis Shafer, while also carefully examining her early artistic influences shaped by her time spent in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area. The title of the exhibition, “I only went out for a walk…” is inspired by a phrase written by nineteenth century naturalist and conservationist John Muir, and links to Shafer’s work as a plein air painter who frequently finds inspiration in the Sierra Nevada.

The largest presentation of her work to date, the exhibition will include nearly 100 paintings, gouaches, and drawings dating from the 1980s to present. In addition, visitors will encounter displays Shafer’s working tools such as brushes, paints, sketchbooks, notebooks and unfinished drawings.

A fully-illustrated book documenting Shafer’s work from the 1980s to the present accompanies the exhibition. Interview by Ann M. Wolfe, Senior Curator | Deputy Director, 112 pages, hard cover, $40 per copy. Copies available for purchase in the Museum Store or call 775.398.7206.

Major sponsor

The Phil and Jennifer Satre Family Fund of the Community Foundation of Western Nevada

Additional sponsors

Mimi Ellis Hogan, The Law Office of Tammy M. Riggs, P.L.L.C., Cheryl Sedestrom, and the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency