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At the Heart of Progress:
Coal, Iron, and Steam since 1750 - Industrial Imagery from the John P. Eckblad
Collection
January 24 - May 17, 2009
In 2009 the Ackland
Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill presented
a special exhibition drawn from one of the most 
extensive
private collections of prints and posters associated with industry and labor:
At the Heart of Progress: Coal, Iron, and Steam since 1750 - Industrial
Imagery from the John P. Eckblad Collection. The exhibition was on view
at the museum January 24 - May 17, 2009. It included approximately seventy-five
pieces selected from the collection of Dr. John P. Eckblad. The exhibition
included works that explore the world of coal production and consumption,
featuring such artists as Camille Pissarro, Theophile Steinlen, Constantin
Meunier, Joseph Pennell, C. R. W. Nevinson, and Craig McPherson, as well
as a wealth of commercial and documentary imagery. At the Heart of Progress
was part of the Ackland's fiftieth anniversary celebration, with other installations
in the Museum honoring the importance of collectors and collecting. (right:
James E. Allen, American, 1894-1964, Teeming Ingots, 1935, etching,
22 x 16 inches)
The exhibition is presently on view at the Palmer Museum
of Art from October 19, 2010 - January 23, 2011.
Curated by Ackland Curator of Collections Timothy Riggs,
At the Heart of Progress surveys the Faustian bargain between humanity
and carbon. Though the trinity of coal, iron, and steam supports industrial
civilization, its enormous benefits are counterbalanced by equally enormous
tolls. These tensions are apparent in the works included in At the Heart
of Progress, pitting capitalist pride against social unrest, groundbreaking
industrial development against the profound human and environmental consequences.
The exhibition focuses on seven primary themes, including
mining, iron and steel making, smokestack landscapes, and images of labor
and life. In addition, At the Heart of Progress will include an installation
in the Ackland's Education Resource Center exploring the various industrial
processes depicted in the images and the history of industry in North Carolina
and elsewhere.
"Unique in its scope and focus, the Eckblad Collection
is important for both its aesthetic and historic value," said Ackland
Director Emily Kass. "The Ackland is honored to have the opportunity
to be the first to present a major exhibition of this extraordinary group
of images."
Dr. Eckblad amassed this singular collection over the last
three and a half decades. Dr. Eckblad, who divides his time between Paris
and Chapel Hill, spent much of his childhood in the coalmining hills of
western Pennsylvania and for decades worked as a management consultant to
large petrochemical complexes in northeastern England and northern Europe.
In his work, Dr. Eckblad was surrounded by landscapes marked by cooling
towers, pipe bridges, cat crackers, methane fermenters, machine works, and
nuclear power plants. "Having had the privilege of working in heavy
industry, my collection helps me recall the rhythms, colors, sounds, and
feel of these places and times," said Eckblad. "The memories have
become a constant reference. For over thirty-five years I've continued to
search for similarly captivating views in life and art."
Curator
Curator of Collections Timothy Riggs (PhD, Yale University)
has worked at the Ackland Art Museum at The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill since 1984. Formerly Curator of Prints and Drawings at the
Worcester Art Museum and researcher for the Print Council of America, Riggs
has over thirty years of museum experience. In addition to the catalogue
for At the Heart of Progress, Riggs authored the definitive text
The Print Council Index to Oeuvre-Catalogues of Prints by European and
American Artists, as well as several catalogues, including The Second
Fifty Years: American Art, 1826-1876 and Three Sides to a Sheet of
Paper: How Prints Communicate, Represent and Transform. He coauthored
Visions of City and Country: Prints and Photographs of Nineteenth-Century
France, and has contributed to many more catalogues and publications.
Catalogue
At the Heart of Progress is
accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue featuring twenty-nine full
color illustrations. It includes an introduction by Ackland Director Emily
Kass, a collector's statement from John P. Eckblad, and critical essays
by Curator Timothy Riggs. It is distributed through UNC Press, www.uncpress.unc.edu,
or 800.848.6224.
Object label text
To view the object label text from the exhibition please
click here.
Introductory wall text
To view the introductory wall text from the exhibition
please click here.
Additional images
(above: Louis Lozowick, American, 1892-1973, Edison Plant,
1929, lithograph, 22 x 16 inches)
(above: Elizabeth Olds, American, 1896-1991, "Bootleg"
Mine, Pennsylvania, 1937, lithograph, 16 x 22 inches)
(above: E. M. Ashe, American, 1867-1941, After the Welcome
Home, a Job, 1919, color lithograph, 34 x 47 inches)
The Ackland Art Museum
The Ackland Art Museum is located at the corner of South
Columbia and East Franklin Streets on the historic campus of The University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an academic unit of the university,
the Ackland serves broad local, state, and national constituencies. The
Ackland Collection consists of more than 15,000 works of art, featuring
significant collections of European masterworks, twentieth-century and contemporary
art, North Carolina's premier collections of Asian art and works of art
on paper (drawings, prints, and photographs), as well as African art and
North Carolina pottery and folk art.
For hours and fees please see the museum's website.
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