Ellarslie Open XXVI: 2008 Salon des Refuses

In the 1860s, the Salon de Paris, the official exhibition sponsored by the Académie des Beaux-arts de l’Institut de France, received submissions from 5,000 artists. Fewer than half had work accepted to be hung. Reacting to the uproar in studios across Paris, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that there would be a separate show for rejected work. He could do this because the Salon was in essence a State exhibition.

At the Ellarslie Open, jurors have pared down the entries to 150 for years. However, when asked to further pare down the exhibit to 80 works, they had commented that the rejected works themselves would make a great exhibit.
And thus began a new tradition of the Salon des Refusés last year with the 25th Anniversary of the Ellarslie Open. This year we continue the tradition with one small change. Because of simultaneous scheduling of exhibits at the museum, the Salon work will be exhibited for only two weeks. Again this year, for a donation of $1.00, the public will be invited to vote for their selection of “Best in Show” at the Salon des Refusés. As before, all donations will go to the winning artist.

Ellarslie Mansion has been home to the Trenton City Museum since 1978.