This winter and spring, the Reading Public Museum proudly presents the art of modernist Jules Olitski (1922-2007) in an exhibition called Jules Olitski: On an Intimate Scale, which will be on view in The Museum's Cohen Modern and Contemporary Gallery from January 19 through May 26, 2013.

More than thirty small canvases from each stage of the artist's career beginning in the early sixties through 2007, the year of his death, will be featured. The artist's Stain, Spray, Baroque, High Baroque and Late Orb paintings trace his exploration of abstraction through a variety of techniques, which range from ethereal to painterly.

The Museum's curator of art and civilization Scott Schweigert notes, "All of the paintings in the exhibition measure two feet or smaller in size, but pack a big punch - either through color or texture - and leave a major impression on the viewer."

Olitski was brought into public prominence by art critic Clement Greenberg, who coined the term "post-painterly abstraction." Olitski applied the paint by staining, then spraying, and later used unconventional tools such as brooms, mops, and leaf blowers, among other things. His richly diverse surfaces diffused color and light, often with rich variations in texture.

The exhibition draws on works from the Olitski Family Estate and premiered at The George Washington University's Luther W. Brady Gallery in the fall of 2012. Artwork from this exhibition was included in an online slideshow of the "Best of 2012," which accompanied a recent article by Karen Wilkin in the Wall Street Journal titled "A Range of Revelations."

The Reading Public Museum is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, PA 19611. Admission per day is: $10 adults (18-64), $6 children/seniors/college students (w/ID) and free to members and children three years old and under. Hours are Monday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Web: www.readingpublicmuseum.org

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