Émilie Charmy, International Loan Exhibition Émilie Charmy, the international loan exhibition funded by The Jefferson Trust in the 2013 grants cycle, was on view at the Fralin Museum of Art from August 23, 2013 through February 2, 2014 and then later traveled to the Arts Club of Chicago, where it was on view from February 27 through May 17, 2014. Curated by Matthew Affron, the Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, who was formerly the Curator of Modern Art at The Fralin Museum of Art and an Associate Professor in the McIntire Department of Art, this exhibition was the first American retrospective of the work of Émilie Charmy (French, 1878 1974). This survey exhibition, developed with the support of major collectors in the United States, France, and Great Britain, and which included significant loans from museums, offered a unique opportunity to view a broad range of Charmy's work, represented by approximately forty paintings and drawings, most of which have never before been exhibited in the United States. To accompany the exhibition, the Fralin published a fully illustrated, multiauthored publication that examined the artist s oeuvre in the light of new scholarship and that analyzed how Charmy's artistic practice and critical reception raised considerations of gender, genre, artistic identity, and the stakes of modernism in the early decades of the twentieth century. It provided a venue through which viewers could discover the art of Charmy, one of the most original female voices of modern art in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century. Charmy s painting engaged with major artistic currents, from impressionism and post-impressionism to fauvism before World War I, and pursued an expressive, sensuous, modernist naturalism thereafter. Despite early success, it was only recently that Charmy s reputation and works have begun to resurface and The Fralin was pleased to present this important retrospective of her work. The total cost of the Émilie Charmy exhibition was $230,787.32. The exhibition has concluded and all of the funding from The Jefferson Trust grant was utilized. Total visitation to both venues was 19,285 and many were astounded by the beauty of Charmy s work. Many viewers were exposed to her vibrant work for the first time and it was amazing to witness their delight, as well as to realize that she was a
prolific female painter; one who was not afraid to deal with controversial social issues impacting women during that time period. The Émilie Charmy exhibition had an enormous impact upon the University and community. Jordan Love, the Mellon Curator of Education, worked extensively with departments across Grounds to bring University classes into the exhibition, and exceeded our original estimate of attendance. A total of 462 students visited the exhibition, including 12 University classes, which came from these departments: Architecture, Art History, English/creative Writing, French, and Medicine, as well as other University groups such as International Studies and Development. Seventy-five student docents gave tours of the exhibition through Writer s Eye. Four Final Friday events were held during the Charmy exhibition, with a total attendance of 2,631; the majority of these were University students. Seventy-eight teachers viewed the exhibition at a reception at the beginning of the academic year. The exhibition was advertised to area schools for our Writer s Eye program, resulting in docent-led tours for 3,607 students in grades K-12, and tours for 85 adults. Six gallery tours of the exhibition with hands-on art-making sessions for ages 5-12 were given with total participation of 83. Attendance at Charmythemed story times for ages 3-4 was 43. The Eyes on Art program for people with Alzheimer s brought 58 people through the exhibition. The curators provided three public gallery talks with a total attendance of 48 people, as well as training for 37 of the Museum s docents. A special lecture by scholar Anne Higonnet was attended by 30. Of the 19,285 total visitors to the exhibition, 7,084 visitors participated in an educational program planned by the Museum. We are most grateful for the generosity of The Jefferson Trust, for providing funding for the Émilie Charmy exhibition. The Emilie Charmy exhibition was extraordinarily successful, in that it attracted new audiences to view exhibitions in The Fralin and substantially raised the Museum s profile, as it was an international collaboration of a female artist whose work is largely unknown, but distinctive and well-regarded by art historians.