FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2022
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Press Contact: Rebecca Dawson, Director of Communications
860.443.2545 ext. 2112 / dawson@lymanallyn.org
THE LYMAN ALLYN ART MUSEUM PRESENTS NORMAN IVES: CONSTRUCTIONS & RECONSTRUCTIONS, A MAJOR EXHIBITION OF IVES’S WORK AS ARTIST AND DESIGNER
NEW LONDON – The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is proud to present the opening of Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions, a large-scale exhibition, on Saturday, Jan. 29. The exhibition explores the range and evolution of Norman Ives’s work and features examples of his paintings, collages, screen prints, bas-reliefs, murals, and graphic design. The exhibition will be on view through Apr. 24.
An innovative artist and graphic designer, Norman Ives (American, 1923 – 1978) pioneered the use of type and letterforms as primary subjects for his work designs. He was a student of Josef Albers and taught at Yale University School of Art from 1952 until his death in 1978. Ives experienced success through a multifaceted career as an artist, designer, publisher, and teacher. His mastery of form is seen in his personal work and designs.
“We are excited to include this major exhibition of Ives’s work in our schedule this year,” said Museum Director Sam Quigley. “It represents our ongoing efforts to explore a broader range of art, including Connecticut artists.”
Illustrating the wide range of Ives’s brilliant artistic output, this show traces the artist’s enduring contributions to art and graphic design. He is recognized as an important early twentieth-century modernist.
Ives’s visual skill and passion guided everything he did. His abstract typographic art works, innovative posters, and brochures, along with his elegant symbol designs, inspired generations of designers and artists.
To accompany the exhibition, John T. Hill, designer, author, photographer, and Ives’s student and colleague at Yale, will host an in-person gallery talk on Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 5:30 – 7 pm. On Wednesday, Mar. 16 from 6 – 7 pm., there will also be a virtual lecture with John T. Hill and Leonard Stokes, Professor Emeritus of Art and Design at SUNY Purchase, who was Ives’s assistant, colleague, and friend. For more information on these and other exhibition related events, please visit www.lymanallyn.org.
The virtual opening reception will be Friday, Jan. 28 from 6 – 7 pm. Please visit the calendar of events tab on www.lymanallyn.org for event registration information.
Hill is the author of Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions. Published in 2020, the book is an in-depth chronicle of the spirit and genius of this master fine artist and renowned graphic designer. It introduces unseen treasures, showcasing the brilliant variety and vitality of his work.
This exhibition is made possible with support from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; and an anonymous foundation.
For more information, please contact Rebecca Dawson by email at dawson@lymanallyn.org.
About the Norman S. Ives Foundation
The mission of the Ives Foundation is to preserve, disseminate and promote the work of Norman S. Ives, a fine artist, graphic designer, teacher and publisher. Ives’s work helped to define a period which was a high point at Yale University’s School of Art. For more information, visit us on Instagram, Facebook or at www.normanives.org
About the Lyman Allyn Art Museum
The Lyman Allyn Art Museum welcomes visitors from New London, southeastern Connecticut, and all over the world. Established in 1926 by a gift from Harriet Allyn in memory of her seafaring father, the Museum opened the doors of its beautiful neo-classical building surrounded by 12 acres of green space in 1932. Today, it presents a number of changing exhibitions each year and houses a fascinating collection of over 17,000 objects from ancient times to the present; artworks from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, with particularly strong collections of American paintings, decorative arts and Victorian toys and doll houses.
The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, exit 83 off I-95. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Sundays 1:00 – 5:00 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. For more information call 860.443.2545, ext. 2129 or visit us on Facebook or at www.lymanallyn.org.