Apocalypse Then

For anyone in the "downstate Illinois" area, there's a terrific exhibit at the Krannert Art Museum, "Apocalypse Then: Images of Destruction, Prophecy, and Judgment from Dürer to the Twentieth Century." From the museum website:

Presenting five centuries of art inspired by apocalyptic writing and thought, this exhibition includes woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer and interpretations of the Book of Revelation by Dürer, Gustave Doré, and Odilon Redon. Other works in the exhibition reveal how apocalyptic imagery was used by artists as diverse as Georges Rouault, Rockwell Kent and Philip Guston to illustrate their political, social, and personal reactions to war and revolution, and William Hogarth, William Blake, Pablo Picasso, and Jasper Johns reacting to the inevitability of evil and death.

Organized by Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For me the most exciting thing was unexpected--Jasper Johns' Skin with O'Hara Poem (1963-65), a print that I've known only from relatively tiny reproductions.

The Krannert Art Museum is located at 500 E. Peabody Drive in Champaign, Illinois (phone 217-333-1860). The museum is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 to 5; Wednesday from 9 to 8, and Sunday from 2 to 5. Admission is free, with a suggested $3 donation. The exhibit closes on April 3, 2005.