IRC in Atlanta Presents Twentieth Century Masters in Flight Art Exhibit

The IRC in Atlanta is pleased to announce an exhibit of “Flight: The Refugee Artist’s Experience,” a collection of pieces by twentieth century artists including Marc Chagall and Joan Miro, at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center in Madison, GA from November 8, 2012 through February 24, 2013.

The IRC in Atlanta hosted a tour of the exhibit on Saturday, November 10. During the tour former refugees, Naima Abdullahi and Vivian Norman, told their personal stories to raise awareness for the IRC’s work with refugees in Georgia and increase visibility for the world’s refugee population.

Naima Abdullahi and Vivian Norman
Photo by: Muffie Michaelson

Flight is a special portfolio of individual works by 12 twentieth century masters representing their interpretation of the struggle of those who flee from their homes in search of freedom. The collection consists of eleven lithographs and one serigraph and includes the work of Eugene Berman, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Vieira da Silva, Adolph Gottlieb, Wifredo Lam, Jacques Lipchitz, André Masson, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell (the serigraph), Edouard Pignon, and Fritz Wotruba.

Flight was organized by Varian Fry, an IRC representative in France during World War II who rescued over 2,000 writers, artists, intellectuals and other refugees who were being targeted by the Nazis.  Among those Fry helped to escape from France were Hannah Arendt, André Breton, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Wanda Landowska, Jacques Lipchitz, and Heinrich Mann. In the 1960’s, to raise funds for the IRC’s work, Fry began to assemble a portfolio by twelve established artists whose work would be based on the theme of flight, to reflect the plight of refugees. All plates were destroyed by the artists after the printing.

For more information about the Flight collection, please contact Meghann Adams at meghann.adams@rescue.org or call 678-636-8929.