Although it will not take place for months, the Canton Museum of Art is already enthusiastic about its planned exhibit of the work of American Impressionists, which it announced recently. The exhibit's working title is ‘Dancing in the Light’.
The idea for the upcoming exhibit came from another exhibit the museum put together, and which resulted in record numbers of people visiting the facility. The museum held the ‘Kimono As Art’ show from the fall of 2008 until the spring of 2009, when it presented oversized kimonos (Japanese dresses) created by Ituchiku Kubota. Kubota, who died in 2003, was a celebrated textile artist, and the show of his kimonos drew over 56,000 people. There was a huge amount of buzz about the exhibit, which was described as a “blockbuster.” Efforts like this can be enhanced if organizers use poster printing to create colorful advertising for the show.
The museum is hoping to create the same kind of publicity with a similar “blockbuster” that will break the record set by the Kubota show. ”Dancing in the Light” will include as many as 70 works from American Impressionists. The artists as belonging to this school include Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Childe Hassam, who were active from about the 1890s until the 1920s. Many of the works from the American Impressionists will be gathered from private collectors, so visitors to the show will be able to see artwork that has not previously been displayed.