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Chrysler Sponsors Vatican Exhibition

27 August 1998

Chrysler Sponsors Vatican Exhibition

    DETROIT, Aug. 26 -- Chrysler recently announced
that it is the national corporate sponsor of a U.S. touring exhibition of art
works from the priceless collections of the Vatican Museums.  The art portrays
angels as envisioned by Raphael, Reni, Fra Angelico, Salvador Dali and other
renowned artists.
    See video at http://www.videonewswire.com/play?video=1998082003
    "The Invisible Made Visible: Angels from the Vatican" will visit five U.S.
cities from February 1998 through March 1999, giving the public a rare glimpse
of more than 100 paintings, sculptures, artifacts, ceramics and other works
shown together for the first time ever.
    "Chrysler is very proud to sponsor this once-in-a-lifetime event," said
Robert J. Eaton, Chrysler's chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"The artists portrayed something they couldn't see or touch.  This exhibition
will bring their creative vision to thousands of people."
    The Vatican exhibition will comprise some of the world's best but rarely
seen works of art portraying angels.  Spanning more than two millennia, the
collection will feature works from the Assyrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman and
Christian traditions.  Visitors will get a rare glimpse of original paintings,
sculptures, pottery and sacred artifacts currently preserved in the Vatican's
13 museums.

    An Unprecedented Partnership
    This tour is the first collaboration of its kind between the Vatican and
Chrysler Corporation.  The works for display were selected by a team of
Vatican scholars under the direction of Father Allen Duston, O.P., Vatican
director of the exhibition, and Dr. Arnold Nesselrath, curator of Byzantine,
Medieval and Renaissance painting in the Vatican Museums and Pontifical
Galleries and guest curator for the exhibition.
    "The Angels from the Vatican exhibition demonstrate the enduring human
fascination with spiritual intermediaries," Father Duston said.  "These works
of art show how angels have fired the imaginations of great artists for
centuries."

    Enduring Appeal
    According to Father Duston, the tour comes at a time of renewed interest
in angels, even as reflected in the popularity of recent movies and television
shows on the subject.
    The first stop for the Angels from the Vatican tour will be the City of
Angels -- Los Angeles, California -- at UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of
Art and Cultural Center from Feb. 4 - April 12, 1998.  From there, the
exhibition moves to the Saint Louis Art Museum, May 9 - Aug. 2; The Detroit
Institute of Arts, Aug. 23 - Oct. 18; The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore,
Nov. 8, 1998 - Jan. 3, 1999; and the Morton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach,
Fla., Jan. 23 - March 21, 1999.
    "Chrysler's sponsorship of the 'Angels' tour is another way we are giving
something back to enrich the communities in which we live, work and sell our
products," Eaton said.
    A scholarly catalogue, fully illustrated with color plates of all works in
the tour, will accompany the exhibition.  In addition to a history of the
Vatican collection and other scholarly essays, the 240-page catalogue will
contain a map of the Vatican indicating where each work of art is permanently
housed.
    Art Services International (ASI), based in Alexandria, Va., has organized
and is circulating the "Angels" exhibition in addition to publishing the
catalogue which accompanies it.  ASI is a nonprofit educational institution
specializing in organizing art exhibitions of the highest quality.
    Chrysler is a multibillion-dollar company that manufactures and sells
cars, minivans, sports-utility vehicles and trucks for customers in more than
100 countries worldwide.