Art historian’s lecture breaks ‘Boundaries’

“I think a painting is more like the real world if it’s made out of the real world,” opined artist Robert Rauschenberg, the lauded painter who used bits of humanity’s detritus in works that were as much sculpture as painting.
At 7 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 10 the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art will host a lecture by art historian Ann Wiklund entitled, “Rauschenberg and Johns: Breaking Boundaries”  focused on the museum’s current breakthrough exhibition, “From Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and the Aesthetic of Indifference.”
“The two artists who clearly redefined the boundaries of art in the 1950s and 1960s were Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns,” said Wiklund, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and a master’s degree from the University of Kansas, both in art history. She has taught art history for more than a quarter-century and has led numerous study programs on European art and architecture in Florence and Paris. She teaches parttime and also lectures at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo.
Wiklund will discuss elements of the 42-piece exhibit (on loan from the Anderson Collection and the Anderson Graphic Arts Collection), which was curated by Dr. Louise Siddon and named after art critic Moira Roth’s 1977 Art Forum essay “The Aesthetic of Indifference.”
Beginning in the 1950s, artists including Johns, Rauschenberg and post-war avant-garde composer John Cage began a skeptical exploration of what they perceived as the apolitical, non-narrative aspects of works of abstract expressionism, which, as Roth wrote, “made and talked about an art characterized by tones of neutrality, passivity, irony, and, often, negation.”
“Theirs is a unique tale of collaboration and sharing of ideas in utterly new and profound ways,” explained Wiklund. “From Rauschenberg’s stuffed angora goat to Johns’ American flags and targets, the art world would never the same.”
In her lecture, Wiklund intends to celebrate the “lives and legacies” of the artists as well as to explore the influence of other artists in the exhibition including Roy Lichtenstein, Claus Oldenburg and  Wayne Thiebaud. All told, the exhibit includes prints, monotypes and paintings focused on works by Johns and Rauschenberg as well as such abstract expressionists as Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Francis and Robert Motherwell, and pop artists like Alan D’Arcangelo and Ed Ruscha.
Wiklund will likewise explicate the influence of Cage and his frequent collaborator choreographer Merce Cunningham – both of whom shared a creative rapport with both Rauschenberg and Johns.
Advance tickets to Ann Wiklund’s  lecture “Rauschenberg and Johns: Breaking Boundaries”  are $10 for museum members, and $15 for non-members.  To make reservations, call the museum at 707.939.7862 or e-mail admin@svma.org. During exhibitions, the museum is open to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays.  Admission is $5 for individuals, $8 for families, and free to members, with admission free to the public on Sundays. The museum is located at 551 Broadway, Sonoma. For further details, visit www.svma.org.