Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection
Collector Richard Harris (Photo: Jyoti Srivastava)
Morbid Curiosity showcased Collector Richard Harris’s wild and wonderfully eclectic collection of nearly 1,000 works of fine art, artifacts, installations and decorative objects, including creations by many of the greatest artists of our time, which explored the iconography of death across a variety of artistic, cultural and spiritual practices from 2000 B.C.E. to the present day.
The two major components of this exhibition are the "War Room," highlighting the atrocities of war in notable works from the 17th century to present day in the 4th floor Exhibit Hall; and the "Kunstkammer of Death," a modern-day "cabinet of curiosities" housed in the Sidney R. Yates Gallery, featuring a wide-ranging survey of mortality across cultures and spiritual traditions.
"War Room"
Mr. Harris presented his rare collection of five great war series, arguably the most remarkable interpretations of war in art, evoking the ongoing cycle of human cruelty and destruction over centuries. Chronologically, the first of the series features Jacques Callot's 17th century Miseries of War prints, followed by Francisco Goya's extraordinary 18th century Disasters of War. The two masterpieces of the 20th century include Otto Dix's Der Kreig and Jake and Dinos Chapman's Disasters of War, both of which are heavily influenced by Goya. Completing the series is the 21st century The Depravities of War by Sandow Birk featuring massive woodblock prints depicting the Iraq war.
"Kunstkammer of Death"
The Italianate Sidney R. Yates Gallery had its own distinct flavor within the exhibition as it is transformed into the style of a 17th century "Kunstkammer of Death" ("Kunstkammer" is the precursor of the Public Museum as we know of them today).
Featured in the "Kunstkammer of Death" were works that explored death in all aspects from the spiritual to the scientific. Incredible works by such artists as Laurie Lipton, Chicago artist Marcos Raya and the Argentinean collective, Mondongo, brought to life the Mexican Holiday, Day of the Dead. Additionally, the gallery was filled with a vast assortment of artistic styles and genres including the Dance of Death, a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death and Vanitas, a type of art that employs symbolic elements, such as hourglasses, rotting fruit and skulls, to signify the brevity of life.
Additional highlights of Morbid Curiosity:
Works by notable artists including Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Bellmar, Odilon Redon, Pavel Tchelitchew, James Ensor, Jasper Johns and Robert Mapplethorpe.
13 ft. high chandelier made of 3,000 handcrafted plaster bones by contemporary British artist Jodie Carey. The piece directly engages the viewer with the irony or contradictions implicit in the decay/beauty aesthetic.
Visually stunning large-scale installation, "Tribute," from Guerra de la Paz entirely built from colorful used clothing that commemorates the Holocaust.
Specimens, medical charts and ephemera.
Work by contemporary artists such as Andres Serrano, Vik Muniz and Hugo Crosswaithe, including his commissioned 10 x 25 ft. site-specific mural, "Death March," among others.
Ethnographic artifacts and art from other cultures, particularly Tibet, Mexico, Africa and New Guinea.
