8:25 a.m., Dec. 8, 2008----Stephen Tanis: Paintings 1967-2008 will be on view at the University Gallery of the University of Delaware from Jan. 13 through March 8, 2009.

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The exhibition offers the first retrospective of the works of the contemporary realist painter, Stephen Tanis, University of Delaware professor emeritus of art.

Thirty four paintings, including larger figural subjects, self-portraits and still-life works, will be on view. The works have been loaned from 13 private and institutional collections.

A self-portrait of the artist at 22 years of age offers the point of departure. From there, the exhibition opens the trajectory of the artist's exploration in still-life paintings of the late 1970s and 1980s.

By the late 1980s, Tanis turned toward more complex compositions, often pitting a copy or meditation on an old master painting against a contemporary representation of figures or still-life subjects.

This series culminates with Judgment (1994, 60 x 84 inches), in which two contemporary nude models are set against a background copy of almost 20 nudes depicted in the lower portion of Rubens' Last Judgment (Munich).

Tanis's investigation of tradition continues with large figural compositions of 2000-2005. Alongside these, those who attend will see new experimentation in still-life paintings, from the almost baroque grandeur of Basket of Apples (1998) to the more restrained still-lives of recent years, invoking the austerity associated with Spanish masters.

Tanis has had numerous solo exhibitions at the Sherry French Gallery in New York and the Jane Haslem Gallery in Washington, D.C. Other solo exhibitions include the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, the Swope Art Museum, the Delaware Art Museum and the College of William and Mary.

His works are in several museums, corporate and private collections in the U.S. and Europe, including the University of Delaware, the Delaware Art Museum, Astra Zeneca, Cigna Corp., Nynex Corp., and Fabrique Ebel, S.A.

His work has been reviewed in American Arts Quarterly, Art News, Art and Antiques, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Washington Post.

Tanis is professor emeritus of art at the University of Delaware, where he taught from 1972 until his retirement in 2000.

A fully illustrated catalogue will be published with the exhibition.

The University Gallery is housed in Old College on the University of Delaware campus in Newark. Hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday evenings until 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 p.m.

For information, call (302) 831-8037 or visit the web site.