HAMMER GALERIES TO PRESENT 'RENOIR' EXHIBITION

HAMMER GALLERIES, NEW YORK, PRESENTS AN IMPORTANT EXHIBITION OF TEH WORLD RENOWNED FRENCH IMPRESSIONIST ,ASTER PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR FOR ITS INAUGURAL EXHIBITION AT ITS PARK AVENUE LOCATION. RENOIR, CURATED BY GALLERY PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR HOWARD SHAW, FOCUSES ON THE SECOND HALF OF RENOIR'S DYNAMIC SIXTY YEAR LONG CAREER, A PRODUCTIVE, YET OFTEN OVERLOOKED PERIOD, RECENTLY TEH SUBJECT OF A MAJOR EXHIBITION, RENOIR IN THE 20th CENTURY (GRAND PALAIS, PARIS; LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART AND TEH PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART). RENOIR FEATURES 25 OILS AND PASTELS, RANGING IN DATE FROM THE MID 1880s-1912. FOCUSING ON KEY WORKS FROM TEH LAST THIRTY YEARS OF TEH ARTIST'S LIFE, HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE LARGE OILS AND PASTELS OF CLOSE FAMILY MEMBERS, PORTRAITS OF YOUNG WOMEN AND CLASSICAL NUDES AND BATHERS. LES LAVEUSES IS A MAGNIFICENT EXAMPLE OF RENOIR'S FAVORITE THEME WHICH DOMINATED HIS LATER WORKS, THAT OF FEMALE FIGURES DEPICTED IN A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. OTHER WORKS INCLUDE, CLAUDE RENOIR DESSINANT AND FEMME AU FAUTEUIL VERT EACH HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY AND DOMESTIC LIFE WHICH RENOIR GREW TO GREATLY CHERISH IN HIS LATER YEARS. AS RENOIR'S INTERESTS TURNED FROM CAPTURING TEH FLEETING MOMENTS OF MODERN URBAN LIFE, TO THE PURSUIT OF TIMELESS, CLASSICAL SUBJECTS, SPECIFICALLY THE THEME OF THE FEMALE NUDE, HIS FOCUS SHIFTED TO CLASSICAL THEMES INSPIRED BY TEH TRADITION OF RAPHAEL, TITIAN AND RUBENS AS WELL AS THE PAINTERS OF THE FRENCH 18th CENTURY. HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR EXPLORING THEMES AND SUBJECTS BEYOND EXPRESSIONISM IS EVIDENT AS RENOIR STARTED IN 1913, 'I AM JUST LEARNING HOW TO PAINT', SIX YEARS BEFORE HE DIED AT AGE 78. THIS IS THE THIRD TIME RENOIR IS TEH FOCUS OF A SOLO EXHIBITION AT HAMMER GALLERIES, THE FIRST TAKING PLACE IN 1959 AND TEH SECOND IN 1984.