TCNJ News
For Immediate Release
December 8, 2004
Circa 1855 Opens Spring Semester in
College Art Gallery,
January 26
EWING, NJ .The College is proud to present Circa 1855, this year's blockbuster event in The College Art Gallery. The show will begin with an opening reception on January 26, from 5-7 p.m. and run through March 30. It will, however, be closed during The College's spring break, March 6-13.
The title comes from the founding date of The College and will help to put The Trenton Normal School's inception into a more global context. American, French and Japanese work from roughly 1835 to 1875 will be on display throughout the show.
According to Dr. Lois Fichner-Rathus, co-chair of the art department, "The works assembled in Circa 1855 represent, at once, the tell-tale characteristics of their countries of origin and the blending of artistic devices from places other. The visitor will find American realism in family portraits and a romantic touch in Abraham Lincoln; a sentiment for the land in a farm painting and a nostalgia for historic architecture in the subject of Notre Dame. The influence of the Japanese is both subtle and palpable in prints and works of porcelain. A green ball gown will conjure the spectacle of an inaugural ball; a child's chair an intimate moment in the life of a family. Circa 1855 is intended, at once, to suggest a panorama and to narrow one's focus. It is intended to celebrate the founding of the Trenton Normal School in the context of the world."
Works on display include Ames, Corot, Daumier, Hiroshige, Homer, Pissaro, Troyon and Whistler. Institutions lending to this exhibit include Montclair Art Museum, Morris Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, Skidmore College Tang Museum and Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday noon to 3 p.m., Thursday 7 to 9 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 3 p.m. The Gallery is located on the first floor of Holman Hall, 2000 Pennington Road, Ewing, NJ.
For more information on Circa 1855, please contact Judy Masterson, director of The College Art Gallery, by email at masterjp@tcnj.edu or phone 609.771.2198.
About The College of New Jersey
TCNJ currently is ranked as one of the 75 "Most Competitive" schools in the nation by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, is rated the No. 1 public institution in the northern region of the country by U.S. News & World Report, and is one of Kiplinger's Personal Finance's top educational values in the country. In 2006, the College joined an elite group of institutions when it was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Fewer than 10 percent of the nation's colleges and universities share this honor.
