Entertainment

DAYTON — If you're captivated by dramatic plots and last-minute rescue operations, you need look no farther than the Dayton Art Institute exhibit opening Saturday, Feb. 23.

The art on display, all owned by the DAI, was saved in the nick of time from being auctioned at Sotheby's in New York City.

"Limited Editions: 20th Century Prints From the Ponderosa Collection" represents a third of the total artwork acquired by the museum in 1987. Included in the treasure trove are works by Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.

"The comprehensive collection of major works represents the important artists and art movements from the 1960s through the 1980s," says Carl Solway, the Cincinnati gallery owner who was entrusted with the responsibility of selecting art for the headquarters of the Dayton-based national chain of steak restaurants.

Exhibition curator Eileen Carr says this exhibit reflects a printmaking revolution in America that began in the 1950s, when publishing houses and print workshops on the East and West coasts — Gemini, GEL and Tyler Graphics — began collaborations with contemporary artists.

Delicate works on paper, she explains, normally remain in storage and can only be shown for short periods of time. As a result, much of this art — there are 109 pieces in the exhibit — has not been seen by the public.

If the word "print" conjures up small and boring black-and-white images, think again.

"These are sizable prints; bold and very colorful," says Carr. Subjects range from Roy Lichtenstein's bulls — appropriate for a steakhouse collection — to Nancy Graves' "Lunar Orbiter" and "Apollo Landing Sites." You'll meet Mickey Mouse and Howdy Doody, Santa and Superman.

Many of the artists are in the news: Johns, for example, whose "Target With Four Faces," is one of the DAI's icons for the show, is the subject of an exhibit that recently moved from the Art Institute of Chicago to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. And Julian Schnabel, Oscar-nominated director of "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," is represented in the DAI show with a lovely etching titled "A Boy From Naples."

So how did this significant art collection wind up in the hands of the DAI?

The adventure began in 1987, when locally based Ponderosa Inc. was the target of an unfriendly takeover, and art dealer Solway got a call asking how the art should properly be shipped to New York. He and his wife called back to get more details.

"When we learned that they wanted to sent it to auction, I called Bruce Evans, then director of the DAI, and alerted him," recalls Solway. "Bruce and I stayed up all night, appraised the collection."

The next day, Solway went to the First National Bank in Dayton, where president Fred Schantz was an old friend of his and who agreed to lend the museum the monies needed.

Evans called a meeting of his board; the board approved the purchase.

"Bruce, several board members and myself flew to New York City to make the deal with the new owners of Ponderosa," recalls Solway, who says it was remarkable for a museum to act so fast.

"They made an incredible buy," says the art dealer, who believes the value of the collection today is "significantly greater" than the original $1.5 million purchase price.

"My guesstimate is conservatively seven or eight times the original cost the DAI paid," he says. "For example, the Warhol set of prints, acquired at perhaps $30,000, is now valued at $400,000."

Carr says the collection made a vast difference in the DAI holdings, filling an important modern-art gap in the institution's art inventory.

In addition to the 109 works on display in the special exhibition, 12 other Ponderosa pieces throughout the museum are now easily identified with the "Target" symbol.

"It's a groovy time," says Carr about the '60s and '70s, when much of this art was being created. "People were experimenting, meditating on different aspects of the elements of our world."

You'll learn more about the printmaking process if you take time to view the short film that shows Johns creating silk screens.

Solway says the best way to learn about art is to read and find out what artists in each movement were thinking about and why they are considered important.

"Read, ask questions, attend lectures and do a lot of looking," he suggests.

"It is learning a new language, the visual arts language, and the language about the issues and ideas of the times in which we live."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440

or mmoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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How to go

What: "Limited Editions: 20th Century Prints From the Ponderosa Collection"

When: Saturday, Feb. 23, through April 27. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursdays. Cafe Monet is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and for beverages and desserts from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

Where: Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park N.

Admission: $11 for adults, $9 for seniors and students, $5 for youth 7 to 18. Free for children 6 and younger, and members.

Also: Docent-on-Call is available at 2 p.m. or 6 p.m. Thursdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Docent-led group tours and group museum packages are available. Call (937) 512-0152. A number of special workshops and programs highlighting aspects of the exhibit are being offered. At 2 p.m. March 16, DAI Director Jan Driesbach and others will discuss collecting prints.

For ticket information: (937) 223-4278 or (800) 296-4426, or www.dayton

artinstitute.org

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