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Panorama of the American
Landscape by William Dunlap
October 10, 2004 - January 9, 2005
The Gibbes Museum
of Art announces the opening of the special exhibition Panoroma of the
American 
Landscape on October 10, 2004. Originally
commissioned for installation in the rotunda of the Corcoran Gallery of
Art in Washington, D.C., this landmark exhibition by American artist William
Dunlap is comprised of fourteen distinct canvases, which together read as
a large-scale narrative painting with multiple levels of meaning. On view
in the round as it was originally conceived, the exhibition is on view in
Rotunda Gallery of the Gibbes Museum of Art through January 9, 2005. (right:
William Dunlap [American, b. 1944] Detail, Panorama of the American
Landscape, 1985, acrylic on canvas, Collection of the artist)
"We are absolutely thrilled to present, for the first
time, this tour de force in painting to the community of South Carolina,"
states Betsy Fleming, Executive Director of the Gibbes Museum of Art. "A
Southern by birth, Bill Dunlap is among the preeminent American painters
working today. Anyone interested in contemporary culture and how American
values may be expressed through painting will find this exhibition visually
exciting and provocative. Since its debut at the Corcoran in 1985, Panorama
of the American Landscape has toured the United States with installations
at The Aspen Museum of Art in Colorado, the Sherry French Gallery in New
York and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem.
It is a fitting moment for its premier showing in South Carolina. In addition,
its cycloramic installation in the Gibbes Rotunda promises our visitors
a fresh art-viewing experience."
From the beginning of his artistic career, William Dunlap
has both explored recurrent themes in the history of American art and invented
an evolving repertory of personal, often autobiographical, images and subjects.
Panorama
of the American Landscape draws from history and
memory. Dunlap uses the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and Maryland as
a backdrop for his commentary on contemporary culture and conflict. With
its layers of meaning and multitude of stories, Panorama of the American
Landscape explores the landscape of the South. The cyclorama includes
an homage to the Civil War battlefield of Antietam, provocative images of
animals, both living and plundered, haunting, mysterious architectural renderings
and a series of numbers and symbols that function on literal and allegorical
levels.(right: William Dunlap [American, b. 1944] Detail,
Panorama of the American Landscape, 1985, acrylic on canvas, Collection
of the artist)
A native of Webster County, Mississippi, William Dunlap
(American, b. 1944) attended Mississippi College and received an M.F.A.
from the University of Mississippi, Oxford in 1969. Dunlap has co-curated
several important exhibitions through Meridian International Center in Washington,
D.C. In addition to his extraordinary accomplishments as an artist, he serves
as arts commentator on the Public Broadcasting Systems's program Around
Town, produced by WETA-TV in Washington, D.C.
Dunlap's work is part of some of the most prestigious collections
in the United States and abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Corcoran Gallery of Art, IBM Corporation and The Equitable Collection. He
is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships from the Rockefeller
Foundation, the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest 
Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation and the
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. An inspiring speaker and lecturer
on art related subjects, Dunlap has taught at Appalachian State University
in North Carolina and Memphis State University. He currently maintains studios
in McLean, Virginia, Mathiston, Mississippi, and Coral Gables, Florida.
Dunlap currently is working on an exhibition of contemporary Cuban painting.
Panorama of the American Landscape opens in the Rotunda Gallery of the Gibbes Museum of Art on October
10, 2004, and will be on view through January 9, 2005. This exhibition is
made possible through the generous support of Gibbes, Etc. and Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Waring. Additional media support provided by CHARLESTON magazine.
(right: William Dunlap [American, b. 1944] Detail, Panorama of
the American Landscape, 1985, acrylic on canvas, Collection of the artist)
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