[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/rising.jpg” caption=”Rising to the Occasion: The Long 18th Century, features 75 works exploring 18th century art and its ongoing influence. Photo by McMaster Museum of Art.”]In one of its most ambitious projects to date, the McMaster Museum of Art has gathered significant works of art from collections across North America and devoted its entire facility to one single exhibition theme. The project, titled Rising to the Occasion: The Long 18th Century, comprises five distinct exhibitions and 75 works exploring 18th century art and its ongoing influence.

This is a rare occasion for Canadians to view a significant subject work by Angelica Kauffmann, considered the most renowned and successful woman artist of the 18th century. The exhibit also contains John Verelsts' 1710 Four Kings, portrait paintings of First Nations delegates.

Also among the historical paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture on view are major works by 18th-century artists Jean-Antoine Houdon, Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney and Jean-Joseph Taillasson, as well as historically significant artist impressions of the Pacific from the second and third voyages of Captain Cook.

The exhibitions will also interweave contemporary art inspired and influenced by the 18th century, including works by senior Canadian artists Don Andrus, Rebecca Belmore, Angela Grauerholz, John Massey, Tony Scherman and Jinny Yu.

“What we're examining is more than art,” said McMaster Museum of Art Senior Curator Ihor Holubizky. “It is the beginning of a global view of the world in the 18th century. But we're also looking at a living culture through contemporary works as they look at the legacies of the past.”

The works span time, culture and politics. Jinny Yu's work which examines an 18th century Italian mural (Tiepolo's painting of the Israelites exodus from ancient Egypt) that survived the Napoleonic Wars.

Rising to the Occasion: The Long 18th Century exhibitions are presented as a complement to the 18th Century Conference (John Douglas Taylor Conference) at McMaster University, October 27-29, 2011.

For more information, see the Museum of Art's website.