Humble and Human: Impressionist Era Treasures

In Humble and Human: Impressionist Era Treasures from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Detroit Institute of Arts, an Exhibition in Honor of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., a selection of more than forty Impressionist and post-Impressionist treasures from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Detroit Institute of Arts traces the arc of a period that elevated the irreducible beauty of the everyday to the status of fine art.

A testament to the power of collaboration among artists, museums, and cities, the exhibition explores the pioneering work of leading Impressionist and post–Impressionist artists, including Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Berthe Morisot. It also celebrates the life and vision of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., who saw in the art of these late nineteenth-century avant-gardists, especially that of Claude Monet, evocations of values and ideas that were close to his own heart, capturing the ephemerality of the everyday experience while dignifying hard work, simple pleasures, and ordinary people.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.