August 30, 2013 (Charlotte, N.C.) – The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art opened the exhibition Modernism in Changing Times: Works from 1968 today. The show, which runs through January 24, 2014, presents works from the Bechtler collection that were created in 1968 and surrounding years. On view for the first time in the museum are works by Hockney, Picasso, Calder, Chagall, Chadwick and other artists.

“We are once again dipping into the collection from a purely chronological perspective and have selected a point in time – 1968 – that represents a period of exceptionally successful collecting on the part of the Bechtler family,” said Bechtler President and CEO John Boyer.

With this exhibition, the Bechtler is able to illustrate the breadth of the contemporary art world in 1968 from Pop art with Warhol and Lichtenstein to Realism, figural art and landscape with Hockney, Chagall and Gladwell. The 101 works in sculpture, painting, prints, artist books and textiles represent some of the leading art movements of the 1960s including Post-Painterly Abstraction, Op art, kinetic art and Concrete art.

Figurative works are a predominant theme. More than 50 pieces in the show illustrate references to the real world and particularly to the human figure. Of special interest in the exhibition are artworks related to literature. Woodcut prints by Max Gubler are based on the Ernest Hemingway novel The Old Man and the Sea and linocuts by Hansjürg Brunner are based on the 19th century novella The Black Spider.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Bechtler will present a limited film series: Films of 1968: Style, Revolution and the Future. The films will be shown in the museum or the adjoining auditorium at 7 p.m. Tickets are $4 for non-members and free for members. Scheduled September 29 through December 15 are:

--Planet of the Apes, September 29
--If..., October 6
--Bullitt, October 20
--Rosemary’s Baby, October 27
--Barbarella, November 3
--Sympathy for the Devil, November 10
--Flesh, December 1
--House of Cards, December 8
--2001 A Space Odyssey, December 15

Additional Exhibition-related Programs:

Jazz at the Bechtler (October 4 at 6 and 8:15 p.m.): 1968: The Year in Jazz performed by the Ziad Jazz Quartet featuring the music of Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Miles Davis among others.  

Music and Museum Concert (November 17 at 4 p.m.): The Sounds of 1968 performed by the Bechtler Ensemble. Featuring works by Shostakovich, Roy Harris and string quartet arrangements of Beatles' songs.

Modern Mondays (September 23 at 6 p.m.): Dr. Bradford Collins, author of Pop Art: The Independent Group to Neo Pop, 1952-1990 and Associate Professor of art history at the University of South Carolina, presents the lecture The Pop Art Revolution.

Modern Mondays (Nov 4 at 6 p.m.): Lawrence Toppman, movie and performing arts critic for the Charlotte Observer, presents the lecture The New Permissiveness: Cinema in Flux.

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Interviews and Artwork Images

To schedule interviews, photography and tours of the exhibition, contact Pam Davis, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Director of Communications and Marketing at pam.davis@bechtler.org or office: 704.353.9204 / mobile 704.975.2363. Artwork images available upon request.

About the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to the exhibition of mid-20^th-century modern art. It is named after the family of Andreas Bechtler who assembled and inherited a collection created by seminal figures in modernism. The museum is located at Levine Center for the Arts, 420 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC. Operating hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. For museum details visit www.bechtler.org.