Art Center Sarasota to Exhibit Rare Victor Lundy Works in
“Artist + Architect: Victor Lundy”
November 12-December 3
Art Center Sarasota will be open to the public for the MODWeekend,
Saturday, November 12, 10 a.m. -4pm and Sunday, November 13, 1-4 p.m.
The exhibit features examples of Lundy’s works from 1944 to the present as part of Sarasota Architectural Foundation’s third annual SarasotaMOD Weekend,
Two of Lundy’s recent paintings will be exhibited for the first time in Sarasota.
(Sarasota, FL) Art Center Sarasota is hosting “Artist + Architect: Victor Lundy,” Nov. 12-Dec. 3, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., as part of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation’s third annual SarasotaMOD Weekend. The exhibit features examples of Victor Lundy’s body of work from 1944 to the present, including two recent paintings that have never been shown before in Sarasota. Lundy, 93, is an artist, acclaimed architect and one of the last surviving leaders of the Sarasota School of Architecture movement. An opening celebration with the artist will be held on November 11, 5:30 p.m., at the Blue Pagoda Building. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at http://www.sarasotamod.com/
Art Center Sarasota is located at 707 N. Tamiami Trail, in Sarasota. For more information, call 941-365-2032 or visit www. artsarasota.org.
“We’re excited to partner with SAF to present this significant exhibition,” says Lisa Berger, Art Center Sarasota’s director. Berger explains that the exhibition includes several of Lundy’s watercolor renderings of the iconic Blue Pagoda Building on North Tamiami Trail, as well as replicas of Lundy’s sketchbooks documenting his travels in Europe during and after World War II plus two recent works.
Victor Lundy lived and worked in Sarasota from 1951 through 1960. After he first arrived, he won a watercolor competition. Karl Bickel, one of the exhibit jurors, discovered that Lundy was also an architect. He was particularly impressed by Lundy’s watercolor of Notre Dame Cathedral. Bickel was part of a search committee looking for an architect to design the new Chamber of Commerce building. When he asked Lundy to create a sketch, he created the watercolor paintings of the Blue Pagoda building that will be shown in this exhibit. Bickel loved what he saw, and the committee approved it. The result is the celebrated Blue Pagoda building, topped with its celadon blue roof tile. It was one of Lundy’s early classics and his first architectural commission in Sarasota.
According to Janet Minker, chair of Sarasota Architectural Foundation board, Lundy is still a prolific painter. “Artist + Architect: Victor Lundy,” features two of his newest large watercolors.
The exhibit also features replicas of Lundy’s sketchbooks documenting his service in World War II, as well as his travels in Europe after the war. Thanks to a Rotch Traveling Scholarship, Lundy toured the towns and countryside of England, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Middle East, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia from 1948 to 1950. His intimate drawings offer a rare glimpse of a vanished world.
The third annual SarasotaMOD Architecture Festival, celebrating artist and architect Victor Lundy’s life and work, which runs November 11-13, 2016. Events include legacy presentations, a documentary, and tours of Lundy’s landmark buildings.
For more information, visit www.sarasotamod.com.
About Art Center Sarasota
Art Center Sarasota was the first arts and cultural institution in Sarasota. It was founded in 1926 as the “Sarasota Art Association” by Marcia Rader, the art supervisor for the Sarasota County schools district. In the early years, the group met monthly and sponsored exhibits in rented facilities. The Association was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 1943 and has been in its current location in the Sarasota Bayfront Cultural District since 1949. Art Center Sarasota is now a membership-based organization that offers curated and juried exhibitions, adult and youth education programs, outreach initiatives for underserved youth, and culturally related public programming. Art Center Sarasota’s mission is to inspire individual creative expression, nurture artistic talent and provide the community with accessible and diverse visual art opportunities.
About the Sarasota Architectural Foundation (SAF)
SarasotaMOD is presented by the Sarasota Architectural Foundation (SAF), a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that celebrates the Sarasota School of Architecture movement and advocates to preserve the midcentury modern structures that exemplify its forward-looking principles.
Art Center Sarasota
707 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236
Phone: 941-365-2032 § Fax: 941-366-0585
www.artsarasota.org
Gallery Hours:
Free admission
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Closed Sunday
