MCC Forges East-of-the-River Partnership with New Britain Museum of American Art

Manchester Community College is collaborating with the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA) to give east-of-the-river exposure to world-class art collections.

The first such exhibition, “Planet Pulp,” opens September 19 at the Adolf & Virginia Dehn Gallery in the Manchester Community College Arts and Education Center, MCC on Main. A reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the gallery.

The show, which features original oil paintings from the Robert Lesser Collection of American Pulp Fiction illustrations on loan from NBMAA, along with the paperbacks that the art was used for, will run through November 1.

“The Robert Lesser Collection of Pulp Fiction illustrations is the finest in the country and was assembled over decades by Robert Lesser, who has a passion for collecting,” Douglas Hyland, director, NBMAA, said.

Although it was the stories that kept readers buying pulp paperbacks, cover artists had the crucial job of transforming pulp authors’ words into visually dynamic scenes that would grab potential readers’ attention. Hyland added, “The illustrators are among the most successful of the 20th century and painted images that guaranteed the success of the publications whose covers they graced. Studying these paintings is an adventure of American popular culture and reveals a lot about the way Americans reviewed adventure stories and mysteries for decades.”

Dr. Gena Glickman, MCC president, and Hyland first broached the idea of an east-of-the-river collaboration earlier this year.

“One of the main focal points of MCC on Main is our Dehn Gallery,” Dr. Glickman said. “The gallery hosts seven to eight exhibitions a year by local and regional professional artists, as well as community organizations, high school and college students and Manchester Community College alumni. The prospect of adding more exhibitions of the caliber of “Planet Pulp” on loan from NBMAA is an exciting honor.”