At Museum, See Art That's Driven By Invention

America has an innate fascination with the automobile and with reinvention. One represents freedom from a fixed place, where the other suggests freedom from one’s self, or one’s born persona.

At the intersection of the two stood one of the primary figures of the pop art movement: Andy Warhol.

He began as a magazine illustrator, then still carrying his full name “Warhola,” and had he stayed in that mode it is likely we would not regard him as we do today—as an innovator, a free-thinker, and in some ways, a huckster. Campbell’s Soup could make you buy its product, but it was Warhol that made it an artistic statement.

On view at  until June 19, Warhol's many sketches, illustrations and silk-screen experiments, all grouped around the theme of the automobile, finds one icon still commenting upon another icon.

Another artworld firebrand also has residency until mid-July, albeit in a somewhat tamer format than usually known for. A series of photographs of flowers, shot by controversial photographer Robert Mappelthorpe and presented by the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, shows a much different side of this sometimes scandalous artist’s vision.

It doesn’t stop there. To celebrate the life and work of renowned artist and printmaker Will Barnett, on the eve of his 100th birthday, a series of his more recent works also receive top-billed treatment at the Montclair Art Museum this year.

Of course, writing about art is, to some degree, a fruitless effort. You have to see it for yourself. That's why we've selected the  for this installment of Day Tripper, a weekly look at destinations that are out of town, but in reach, and worth the trip. We'll tell you about it, but if you follow our tip and check it out, you'll get so much more of an experience.

DAY TRIPPER DIGEST

Estimated Travel Time: 30 minutes.

Why it’s Worth the Trip:  A wide range of cultural activities, a variety of places to eat, a vibrant town center, and natural beauty all come together in Montclair, and nothing binds that cultural diversity together as well as the Montclair Art Museum.

How to Get There from Here: Detailed driving directions. 

You’ll Probably Get Hungry:  Montclair has many places to stop and eat at, with some being more familiar than others. While you’re there why not try something different?  (554 Bloomfield Ave.),  Japanese Restaurant (608 Valley Road),  (556 Bloomfield Ave.),  (28 Church St., in the heart of the town center),  (664 Bloomfield Ave.) and  (700 Bloomfield Ave., one-half block from the Museum) all promise to make your daytrip a unique experience.

While You’re in the Area:  Montclair has several parks and gardens within reach, such as the , , and Kip’s Castle Park, the home built over a three-year period in the early 1900s by Frederic Ellsworth Kip and his wife, Charlotte Bishop Williams Kip.

Clearview Cinemas has two locations in Montclair, the  located in Upper Montclair and the , located on Bloomfield Avenue. While the Bellevue Cinema mostly shows main-stream Hollywood films, the Clairidge Cinema shows different types of movies from documentaries to small scale indy films.

Live theaters include , 's Kasser Theater, MSU's theater in Life Hall, and the Studio Playhouse. On Bloomfield Avenue there is a public stage used for concerts and other events.

Museum marketing director Michael Gillespie laid out the numbers of people required to make the Museum tick. It's “50 full-time and part-time employees, including a director, curators, marketing and publicity personnel, education program administrators, operations personnel, development staff, finance staff. [We have] over 50 part-time teachers in the art school, about 350 volunteers, and a 40-person Board of Trustees,” Gillespie said.

Aside from the temporary exhibitions, Gillespie also mentioned the works that are part-and-parcel of the museum: 

"The museum includes a gallery dedicated to the work of George Inness (1825–1894), regarded by his contemporaries as America’s foremost landscape painter," he said. "During his last years, Inness was inspired by the natural beauty of Montclair, where he resided from 1885 until his death. The Inness Gallery is the only gallery of it kind in the world devoted solely to the work of Inness.

“The museum’s collection of traditional and contemporary Native American art and artifacts represent the cultural achievements in weaving, pottery, wood carving, jewelry, and textiles of indigenous Americans from seven major regions.

“The collection has grown to over 12,000 works. The American collection comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculpture dating from the 18th century to the present, and features excellent works by Benjamin West, Asher B. Durand, George Inness, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as younger and emerging artists such as Louise Lawler, Chakaia Booker, Whitfield Lovell, and Willie Cole. Besides its traditional holdings of American Indian art, the Museum also displays the work of contemporary Native Americans, such as Tony Abeyta, Dan Namingha, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, and Marie Watt.”

When asked what potential visitors should know before they come to the Museum, Gillespie said, “Parking can be tight in Montclair. But visitors can start at the Museum, where parking is plentiful and free, and be within walking distance of the center of town.”

For more on goings-on in Montclair, see Montclair Patch.