Portions of the first, second and third floors of the Chazen building are now open—make an appointment to visit—and the back area of the Pleasant T. Rowland Gallery now hosts a new accessions exhibit, featuring additions to the Chazen collection gathered from 2018 to now. We hope you’ll visit us in the museum, but if you can’t make it—or want a sneak peek of the exhibit—we’re going to highlight all the works now on display here online in a series of short news articles.
Rudy Autio, (American, 1926 – 2007), Cobalt Blues, 1997, Glazed stoneware, 24 x 27 x 15 in., Gift of John W. Green, PhD (’63) and Carol L. H. Green 2018.30
Rudy Autio is considered a pillar of contemporary ceramics. The way that he constructs and shapes his vessels is distinctive and a hallmark of his production. After building up a hollow ceramic cylinder, he adds rounded projections that extend the vessel’s curvilinear surface. Nude female figures applied in glaze float across the surface. Evident in the subject matter is the influence of the abstract and curving nude figures of Henri Matisse. His sculpture, Cobalt Blues, is currently on display in our new accessions show in the back Rowland Gallery.