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THE ART OF EZRA TUCKERProduced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.     PREMIERE Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum
TOUR Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
The Haggin Museum
The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts
The Nicolaysen Art Museum
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts
Turtle Bay
Brookgreen Gardens
Fort Wayne Museum of Art
ADDITIONAL DATES MAY BE AVAILABLE John Aldridge, Director of Exhibit Design & Production, The Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: "The work is spectacular and easily the most significant collection we've ever had the opportunity to host." Bill Anthes, Ph.D., Claremont, California, Pitzer College, A Member of the Claremont Colleges Author of Native Moderns: American Indian Painting, 1940-1960, and Edgar Heap of Birds (both published by Duke University Press) and co-editor of Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe (Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian): "I very much admire Ezra Tucker’s paintings, which continue a tradition of classic American illustration and figurative art; and they are much more than what they might seem at first glance. In his luminous images of majestic animals in their natural settings, Tucker’s deftly captured depictions demonstrate that the artist possesses a zoologist’s eye for accuracy, while also imbuing his subjects with the dignity of formal portraiture, cultivating empathy and respect for the creatures with whom we share a world. Tucker’s historical subjects also effect a subtle and important shift in perspective. I am particularly charmed by his paintings of the animal performers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, at ease in a quiet moment and placed center stage with no human protagonists in sight. Other works are loving homages to the artists who mythologized the American West but with a crucial difference: Tucker depicts a Black experience of the frontier and borderlands that remains underrecognized and unappreciated in the art world and amongst the wider public. While Tucker’s technique and style are traditional, his viewpoint is anything but; his art offers a much-needed fresh perspective on our relations to the natural world and the legacies of American history." James Bellis, Jr., President, Blauvelt-Demarest Foundation, Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum: "We are proud to be hosting the premiere dates, and the only exhibit scheduled for the New York metropolitan area, of this nationwide traveling museum exhibition that is planned to run through the end of 2025 in cities throughout the country.” “Ezra Tucker’s mastery in illustrating the magic and majesty of wildlife through his paintings is sure to capture the attention of our visitors this summer." William W. Gwaltney, Oahu, Hawaii: "As a retired National Park Ranger and former Chief Naturalist, who happens to be African American, it was my honor at several national parks to direct the interpretation of the natural world. I believe that those experiences allows me to write this endorsement for the Wildlife Art of painter Ezra Tucker. While done with a nod of the head to the rich style of famous American illustrator Howard Pyle, Mr. Tucker’s work is both lyrical and specific at the same time. His artwork captures the majesty and special qualities of American wildlife, especially in the open spaces of the West. Mr. Tucker speaks to how painting these creatures connects with both his sense of imagination and also wonder, but you can also see in his work how he takes great pains to paint from life and imbues his wildlife, whether from the American Plains or the Steppes of Africa, with a sense of presence, reality and individuality. Harkening back to the days when outdoor magazines and product illustrations demanded the painstaking work of artists and illustrators, it strikes me that Mr. Tucker’s paintings can serve to excite a new generation of Americans, of all backgrounds, with the natural world and the animals that are at the heart of that world. These works speak not only to the grandeur of what Park Rangers used to call ‘Charismatic Megafauna;’ large animals whose size, shape, beauty and ways of movement proved to be fascinating on so many levels, but also to how human beings continue to relate to these animals . . . " Thomas J. "Dr. Colorado" Noel, Ph.D., Professor of History and Director of Public History, Preservation & Colorado Studies at University of Colorado Denver: "Black Experience in the history of The American West has gone untold for too long. Ezra Tucker’s paintings pictorially tell the stories of African American bronco busters, Pony Express riders, Buffalo Soldiers, Indian scouts and others who shaped the frontier." David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Curator/Tour Director, The Art of Ezra Tucker and Author, American Wildlife Art: "Ezra Tucker is widely admired for paintings that portray wildlife, notably mammals but also birds as well as historic scenes. The artist approaches wild subjects as a naturalist might, but with a modern, minimalist aesthetic to capture personality and texture, in motion and repose. His paintings of mammals are direct and imbued with a sense of poise and self-assurance, but they also can have an easygoing calm tantamount to unconcern or even indifference, which give his work a sense of irony in this alarming age of environmental concern." Todd Wilkinson, Bozeman, Montana, Author, Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet: "On so many different levels, [Ezra] Tucker is an enigma in the world of contemporary wildlife art—in one sense a disciple of the grand, Old World tradition of painting and America’s Golden Age of Illustration—and yet his work possesses an engaging, modern approach to composition so aesthetically alluring the eye cannot look away. When Tucker paints, it is with a deeply personal conviction that animals are life forces. He does not create merely to commemorate or render subjects. Instead, his scenes activate a wild spirit in the spaces we inhabit." The Art of Ezra TuckerMillennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere Stanford University David J. Wagner, L.L.C. Davidjwagnerllc.com is the official website of David J. Wagner. |