 500
Years of Wine in Art:
The Sterling Vineyards Print Portfolio
Sterling Vineyards is placing major portions
of its extensive collection of fine prints on display at its vineyard
location in Napa Valley. Fittingly, each one of these prints is inspired
by some aspect of wine.
The exhibition, composed of 100 examples of etchings, engravings and
woodcuts, includes works by Van Leyden, Picasso, Daumier, Altdorfer,
Erni, Maillol, Chagall, Diderot and Currier & Ives. The breadth
of the printer's craft, and a cultural appreciation of wine through
five centuries of art, are expressed in the show. As well as underlying
themes of grape harvest, wine production and scenes of celebration the
exhibition includes sub-categories of botanical prints, mythological
and religious themes, harvest themes, social satires and cartoons and
early advertising.
“As a body of work devoted to the subject of wine, this collection
is truly unique,” says Vivendi Universal curator Carla Caccamise
Ash , who recently collaborated with Napa Valley Museum curator Randolph
Murphy on displaying the works. "The diversity of the collection
is particularly striking. One minute you are looking at a 17th century
etching of a Bacchanalian scene and the next you can see an interpretation
of the same subject by Picasso. There are 19th century illustrations
of California vineyards and 20th century woodcuts illustrating Aesop’s
fable of the Fox and the Grapes. Although some of the print pieces have
been displayed in public before, this is the first comprehensive exhibition
of the Sterling Print Collection that has been mounted.”
The Sterling Vineyards Portfolio of Wine
Art and History was collected over a thirty-five year period and displayed
in the Wine Museum of San Francisco. In the 1980’s and early 90’s
much of the artifact collection was exhibited at The Seagram Museum
in Canada. Prior to the completion of “Project Shine”, an
$8 million major renovation program at Sterling Vineyards, the collection
was exhibited at the Napa Valley Museum. Major portion of the collection
will now be on permanent display at the winery and open to the public.
Images of the Sterling Print Collection, are available on CD by arrangement
with Balzac Communications 707.255.7667.
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