The NIU Art Museum is hosting a “Fall 2024 Portrait Exhibition Suite.” It consists of three separate exhibits, “Seeing Each Other: Portraits in Time and Space,” “Hold Still: Portraits from the Permanent Collection” and “Homage to Humanity: Portrait Prints by Sidney Chafetz.”
The exhibit opened Aug. 28 and will close Oct. 19.
SEEING EACH OTHER: PORTRAITS IN TIME AND SPACE
The “Seeing Each Other: Portraits in Time and Space” exhibit highlights the current issues and complexities of identity and expression. Although completed years ago, each piece has a timeless essence that speaks to us as an ever-evolving human race. Each portraiture in a unique way depicts universal narratives and difficulties within intimate and personal imagery.
HOMAGE TO HUMANITY: PORTRAIT PRINTS BY SIDNEY CHAFETZ
Sidney Chafetz, who dedicated his life to education and the arts, was passionately interested in politics, justice, education and literature. Chafetz believed his artwork was a bit like “using satire to stab at pomposity, whether in my own field of academe or in our politics” and “honoring the great poets and writers who speak to the human condition.”
The NIU Art Museum presented Sidney Chafetz’s Array of Portraits from Chafez’s cultural “Hall of Fame.” The portraits included Chafez’s social and literary heroes such as Sigmund Freud, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsburg, Amy Lowell, Walt Whitman and many more.
HOLD STILL: PORTRAITS FROM THE PERMANANT COLLECTION
The title “Hold Still” refers to the act of making a portrait and the way that museums hold items confidently in public, maintaining culture for future generations.
Spread all throughout the portrait gallery of the “Hold Still” exhibition are large and medium sized photos of various styles of clothes from different walks of life and time periods. The exhibition wanted to highlight how clothing contributes to our perception of our chosen identity.
Other portraits in the “Hold Still” exhibition are of human faces, which of all visual imagery capture our attention the most. We relate it automatically to the locus of someone’s identity, a concept where one’s actions and identity are shaped by external factors, like clothing or facial features.
For those who are interested in an intimate connection to the pieces, there is the Portrait Suite Opening Reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the NIU Art Museum, located on the Altgeld Hall First Floor, where the artists of the portrait exhibition will provide insight into their artwork.
