James Howell – Resolution and Independence
James Howell – Resolution and Independence at the Josef Albers - Museum Quadrat, Bottrop
“The exhibition title Resolution and Independence points toward the sensual clarity and the singular stillness of James Howell’s artistic practice. The phrase comes from the poem Resolution and Independence by William Wordsworth, a deeply moving poem conveying a wide range of emotions experienced in the vast landscape of the moor. Like Wordsworth, Howell in his work integrates the opposites of happiness and sorrow, of light and darkness. And just as the upliftedness of nature is a prominent theme in Wordsworth’s poetry, so in Howell’s work do we sense allusions to open vistas. We are reminded of a wide view from the coast through the bright and shifting fog and over the Pacific Ocean in Washington State, where the artist lived and worked for many years.”
exhibition CHECKLIST
“Between the lines” by Dr. Heinz Liesbrock
About Dr. Heinz Liesbrock
Dr. Heinz Liesbrock studied art history, American studies, and German literature in Bochum, Germany; Swansea, Wales; and Washington, DC. From 1992 to 1999 Liesbrock was director of the Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster. He then worked at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. In March 2003, Liesbrock succeeded the founding director Ulrich Schumacher as director of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop. His research, publications and curatorial activities are devoted in particular to the writings of the Bauhaus master Josef Albers, Concrete Art and American art, photography and literature as well as the works of Robert Adams, Raymond Chandler, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Gotthard Graubner, Gary Hill, Edward Hopper, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Giorgio Morandi, Ad Reinhardt, Stephen Shore, and Georg Trakl. One of his most important recent projects has been the expansion of the Bottrop museum center, which has been under construction since 2018, with a second extension (designed by Annette Gigon from the Zurich office Gigon/Guyer). The institution reopened in spring 2022.
James Howell – Resolution and Independence was curated by Dr. Heinz Liesbrock and was supported by the James Howell Foundation.
James howell foundation advisory board
D. Joy Howell, President
Deborah Berke
Robert Rosen
Jason Mesiarik
Susan Kempin
Sandorf Kempin
Victoria Sanbunaris
Lilly Wei
James howell foundation team
Laura Bardier, Executive Director
Asia Szczepanowska, Office Manager
Lisette Morris, Curatorial Assistant