Extensive Collection of Steven Barbash on Display at Dowd

08/26/2010 

“Shared Experience, the Steven Barbash Collection,” a sampling of artwork collected by SUNY Cortland Distinguished Professor Emeritus Steven Barbash, will be on exhibit from Wednesday, Sept. 1-Friday, Oct. 1, in the Dowd Fine Arts Gallery.

An opening reception, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at the gallery. An artist’s talk will be held from 5-6 p.m. the same day.

A guest lecture by Andrew C. Weislogel, associate curator/master teacher at Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, will take place at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 22, in the gallery. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art initiated and organized “Shared Experience, the Steven Barbash Collection” and Weislogel allowed SUNY Cortland to reprint his interview with Steven Barbash in the exhibition catalog.

An Etching by Zevi Blum, Greater Groingazer, from the portfolio Little known Birds of the World Volume VII, 2002, is part of the Steven Barbash collection on display at Dowd Gallery.

The exhibition represents a fraction of the work Barbash has collected over the course of more than 50 years working and exhibiting in the art world. This collection includes works by former students, academic contemporaries and masters of the craft.

“For Barbash, each piece is just as important as the next, for each has a story and constitutes a personal connection,” said Bryan Thomas, interim gallery director. “There are historically important works hung next to contemporary local art pieces. It is this culmination of eclectic yet specific individuals that help make Steven Barbash’s collection so impressive.”

Barbash has worked for, with, or taught each individual represented in his collection.

“His personal connection to these pieces is what makes this a cohesive body of work,” said Thomas. “Over time many of these pieces have gained historical significance and validated Barbash’s appreciation of both the technical and aesthetic attributes of art. It is through networking that this collection has developed.”

Barbash was a SUNY Cortland faculty member for 28 years and retired in 1999. In 1985, Barbash was designated distinguished professor of art by the State University of New York, the highest honor conferred by the university to members of its faculty. Only five people in SUNY Cortland’s history have received this honor. He was also appointed as a SUNY faculty exchange scholar in 1987 in recognition of his eminence in his discipline. In that capacity, he was invited to visit other campuses for lectures and programs.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and by appointment.

For more information or to schedule a group tour, contact Thomas at (607) 753-4216, or visit the gallery website.