To celebrate, the Butler plans a masterworks exhibit.

To celebrate, the Butler plans a masterworks exhibit.
By TRACEY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- When Winslow Homer's painting "Snap the Whip" went to Grand Rapids, Mich., last year as part of a touring exhibit from the Butler Institute of American Art, it was met with great excitement. Proclaimed a headline in the local newspaper: "America's 'Mona Lisa' Arrives."
"Snap the Whip," considered the most famous painting in American art, is part of the prestigious collection held by the Butler, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year.
In honor of the occasion, the Butler will display 200 masterworks -- including "Snap the Whip" -- from its permanent collection in its newly restored galleries beginning Sunday. The installation is possible through a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation of New York.
"The Butler's permanent collection, a nationally known collection, is considered one of the greatest collections of American art in history," said Dr. Louis Zona, director of the museum. "In the art world, as one New York art dealer said, the Butler is Mecca. This is a unique thing we have in Youngstown ... and re-installing it all gives us a chance to show what we really have here -- a comprehensive collection of America. There's nothing like this anywhere in the country."
Chronology of art
Zona said the exhibit will represent every age of America with the most significant artists of that particular period.
The collection will be hung in chronological order beginning with the earliest works, done during the Colonial days of America, in the entrance of the museum.
To enhance the display, Zona said, wall labels have been created to help tell the story of America's contributions to the visual arts. Zona said the museum is also programming touch-screen kiosks in every gallery with an image of virtually every piece of art, to provide information on the artists and their works.
"Anything we can do to add information and education to our collection is going to make people's visits to the Butler that much more meaningful. That is the value of [these kiosks] -- I think it will enrich the experience," Zona said.
To embellish the experience of viewing Homer's "Snap the Whip," Zona said, a DVD player will be set up at the painting. Patrons can view a 90-second clip from an HBO movie, "Winslow Homer: An American Original," depicting Homer painting the piece.
"This is probably the most famous painting in America. It's hard to believe it's here in Youngstown, Ohio. It's absolutely priceless," Zona said.
A reinterpretation of the collection by well-known art historians Barbara Novak and Brian O'Doherty is a feature of the installation, which will be accompanied by a year of special events to highlight Butler masterworks. Novak and O'Doherty also advised on the representation of the Butler's permanent collection historically. "One thing that has come out of their input is that we're going to put our entire Western collection in a section upstairs," Zona said.
Upcoming features
The "American Western Art" exhibit will feature well-known Butler works by some of the masters of the American Western genre, including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, Elbridge Ayer Burbank and Victor Higgins.
Additionally, a series of classic films and documentaries that celebrate the American West are planned on Thursdays and Sundays in February and March. Special menu items coinciding with the Western theme will be offered at Winslow's Cafe in the Butler.
Also planned is "America on Paper," an inaugural exhibition in the new Giffuni Pastel Gallery. A grant from Flora B. Giffuni of New York City has allowed the Butler to devote a gallery to the display of pastel works of art. The inaugural display will feature 20 works drawn from the Butler's permanent collection, including pastels created by such notable American artists as Isabel Bishop, Clarence Holbrook Carter, Harvey Dinnerstein, Charles Kaelin, Everett Raymond Kinstler and Wolf Kahn.
The Giffuni Pastel Gallery will feature rotating exhibitions of the Butler permanent collection of historic pastel works and shows of contemporary pastel artists, as well as national invitational showings of pastel works.
Museum's history
The Butler Institute, the first museum in the country dedicated exclusively to the collection of American art, was created in 1919 by the founder of Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Joseph G. Butler Jr. Butler, a passionate patron of American art, started collecting American art exclusively in 1917 after his first art collection, which included both European and American art, was lost in a fire.
In 1917 he commissioned the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to design a building to house his collection, and in October 1919 the museum was opened, displaying the founder's newly acquired works, including the centerpiece of the collection, Homer's "Snap the Whip."
Butler stated, "In erecting this building ... I have sought to provide for the people of this city an opportunity to enjoy the best work of American artists ... and have limited the canvases permanently hung in its galleries to those by American painters."
A portrait of Joseph Butler hangs in the entrance to the museum. Pictured behind him in the painting is the McKim, Mead and White architectural drawing of the museum.
"He was a great man. What a visionary to think that America could have its own art museum back then," Zona said.
Notable collection
The Butler now has a permanent collection of more than 12,000 works, and it continually adds to its holdings. It is nationally noted for its comprehensiveness.
The collection includes Fitz Hugh Lane's "Ship Starlight," Thomas Cole's "Italian Landscape" and Robert Vonnoh's "In Flanders Field," as well as works by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Frederick Judd Waugh, Albert Bierstadt, George Luks, Georgia O'Keefe, Charles Ephraim Burchfield, Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol.
Over the past 85 years, the building has been restored and greatly expanded.
In 2001, the Butler's first-floor historic galleries were restored. Most recently, the Andrews Pavilion was completed, featuring a restaurant, Winslow's Cafe, and an expanded gift shop and a gallery for sculpture display. Additionally, hardwood flooring and an updated lighting system have recently been installed in the museum.