“If I say ‘thank you for coming,’ it implies that you are already there.” —Faye Driscoll

One of dance/performance’s most astonishing experimental voices, Faye Driscoll wraps up her Walker-supported trilogy—Thank You For Coming—with a moving requiem on art, the body, loss, and human connectivity. Space builds on and diverges from Driscoll’s earlier works, beloved by audiences across the country, with “an exhilaratingly personal culmination of the series” (Artforum). The intimate new performance piece, presented within an immersive installation on the McGuire stage, is informed by art-historical imagery and emerges as a collaborative creation between the artist, her astute design collaborators, and the audience. Contains mature content.

Through an alchemy of bodies and voices, objects and live sound, choreographer Faye Driscoll (US, b. 1975) conjures worlds that are, like ourselves, alive and forever changeable. The artist poses performance as one of the last secular social spaces, where the vulnerability, necessity, and complexities of our everyday relationships are heightened and made palpable. Driscoll’s projects draw on our shared power to question and shape the structures that govern our behavior. Characterizing her work as “dances that are mistaken for plays,” she creates sets designed to break apart; musical scores made from the performers’ stomps and vocalizations; and props that are worn, used, and reused.

Faye Driscoll is a Bessie Award-winning performance maker who has been hailed as a “startlingly original talent” (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times) and “a postmillenium postmodern wild woman” (Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice). Her work has been presented nationally at the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Walker Art Center, The Institute for Contemporary Art/Boston, MCA/Chicago and BAM/Brooklyn Academy of Music and internationally at La Biennale di Venezia, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Melbourne Festival, Belfast International Arts Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens and Centro de Arte Experimental (Universidad Nacional de San Martín) in Buenos Aires. Driscoll has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital award, a NEFA National Dance Project Award, MAP Fund Grant, a French-US Exchange in Dance Grant, Jerome Foundation Grant, a Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant, a Doris Duke Artist Award, and a US Artists Doris Duke Fellowship and she is the recipient of the 2018 Jacob’s PIllow Dance Award. She recently choreographed for Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men on Broadway and for Madeline’s Madeline, a film by Josephine Decker.

In her trilogy of performances Thank You For Coming, Driscoll engages with the political as well as physical and emotional states, at once balancing poignancy and tenderness with irreverent wit and humor, summoning “the unnamed forces that surge between the viewer and the viewed.” Each of the works in the series—Attendance (2014), Play (2016), and Space (2019)—takes a distinct form, whether exploring rituals of storytelling, ways that we speak through and for each other, or human connectivity and loss.

Faye Driscoll: Come On In, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition, was developed by Driscoll and her long-term artistic collaborators Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin. Exploring human interdependence and connectivity, the show draws from the themes of the trilogy, which was presented and co-commissioned by the Walker and subsequently toured around the world over the past six years. Bringing the immersive experience of her theater works into the gallery, Driscoll invites us to become active participants through a series of prompts and subtle directives that leads us on a shared journey.

Faye Driscoll: Come On In and Faye Driscoll’s Thank You For Coming: Space are presented as part of the Walker’s multiyear Interdisciplinary Initiative, made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which specifically supports the institution’s commitment to artists working at the intersection of the performing and visual arts, both making work and presenting it across gallery, stage, and public space. Between 2016 and 2020, the Interdisciplinary Initiative has supported projects with artists Maria Hassabi, Theaster Gates, Laure Prouvost, Jason Moran, Rabih Mroué, and Meg Stuart, as well as Resonance: A Sound Art Marathon.

Faye Driscoll: Come On In opens Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 5 pm and runs through Sunday, June 14, 2020.

Curators: Pavel Pyś, curator, Visual Arts; with Molly Hanse, curatorial assistant, Performing Arts

Presented in conjunction with Thank You For Coming: Space, performed in the Walker’s McGuire Theater March 5–8, 2020.

RELATED EVENTS

Opening Reception with Faye Driscoll
Thursday, February 27, 2020, 6 – 8 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Free; part of Target Free Thursday Nights

Join the celebration of the opening of the new exhibition Faye Driscoll: Come On In.

Meet the artist, enjoy light snacks and a cash bar, and be the first to experience the installation, which is the choreographer’s first time working in the context of the gallery. Remarks with Faye Driscoll and curators Pavel Pyś and Philip Bither will take place at 6:30 pm.

Faye Driscoll: Thank You For Coming: Space
Thursday–Saturday, March 5, 6 and 7 at 8 pm
Sunday, March 8 at 2 pm
$26 ($20.80 Walker members)

Walker Commission

Mack Lecture Series
April 8–29, 7 pm$15 ($12 Walker members, students, and seniors)Walker Cinema

Hear directly from explorers of our culture and contemporary moment during the Mack Lecture Series. Throughout the month of April, artists, writers, and other great thinkers at the forefront of diverse fields share their vision on topics ranging from artificial intelligence in performance art to gender politics and gonzo journalism.

Annie Dorsen and Catherine Havasi with Simon Adler
April 8, 7 pm

Writer-director Annie Dorsen tries “to make perceptible how ideas change over time: where they come from, how they influence and are influenced by politics and culture, and how they take root in the body, physically and emotionally.” For this conversation, she explores the intersection of algorithms and live performance with artificial intelligence researcher and computational linguist Catherine Havasi, moderated by Simon Adler, a producer for WNYC’s Radiolab.

Annie Dorsen’s performance work Yesterday Tomorrow, takes place in the Walker’s McGuire Theater March 27–28.

JD Samson
April 15, 7 pm

Genderqueer political activist, visual artist, and musician JD Samson is perhaps best known as leader of the band MEN and one-third of the electronic-feminist-punk band Le Tigre. As a self-defined “gender outlaw,” she will investigate the precarious masculinity of the butch/masculine-of-center body, play with traditional concepts of ownership and destruction, and break down the charged heteronormative history of queer sex dynamics.

Charles Ray
April 22, 7 pm

Making the commonplace strange is central to the work of Los Angeles–based artist Charles Ray. Redefining the boundaries of sculpture since the 1980s, his subversive and painstaking style has shifted over the past 20 years to a figurative approach paired with highly technical strategies of fabrication. In this lecture, Ray weaves together sculptural art, its creation, and its meaning in civic space and time.

Jon Ronson
April 29, 7 pm

Jon Ronson has spent (a lot of) time with serial killers, conspiracy theorists, and porn stars. Fascinated by madness, strange behavior and the human mind, Jon has spent his life exploring mysterious events and meeting extraordinary people. He is regular contributor to BBC and the popular NPR program This American Life, he is also the author of eight books, including The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Psychopath Test, and So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. His TED talk on the Psychopath Test has been viewed over 22 million times. In July 2017, Jon released an Audible Original audio series called The Butterfly Effect, which went straight to number one on the US audio charts and TIME named his most recent podcast, the Last Days of August, one of the Best of 2019.

This season, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum offers programs for families, kids, teens, and educators in conjunction with exhibitions on view, including Countryside, The Future; The Fullness of Color: 1960s Painting; and Marking Time: Process in Minimal Abstraction.

FOR FAMILIES

Second Sunday Family Tours

Sundays, February 9, March 8, April 12, and May 10, 10:30 am–12 pm

For families with children ages 5 and up

Explore the museum with an interactive, family-friendly tour that includes creative, hands-on gallery activities. Each tour is organized around a single theme and highlights artworks on view from the permanent collection and special exhibitions.

February 9: KISS: Keep It Simple, Silly

See what happens when artists put limits on themselves.

March 8: Color Fields

Investigate different ways artists use color in their work.

April 12: Is It Art?

Visit artworks that stretch our ideas of what art can be.

May 10: Art Getaway

Explore portraits in the Guggenheim’s collection.

$25 per family, free for Family Members and Cool Culture families. Includes admission and tour for two adults and up to four children. Space is limited. Registration required at guggenheim.org/familyprograms.

Stroller Tours

Tuesdays, March 10, April 14, and May 12, 3–4 pm

For families with children up to 24 months

Enjoy a stroller-friendly tour designed for small children and their caregivers. Led by museum educators, this interactive exploration of current exhibitions includes touchable objects, art-making, and adult conversation.

$25 per stroller, free for Family Members and Cool Culture families. Includes tour plus museum admission for one stroller (single strollers and front baby carriers only) and up to four adults. Registration required; for more information, visit guggenheim.org/familyprograms or contact strollertours@guggenheim.org.

Little Guggs

Sundays, February 23, March 29, April 26, and May 24, 11 am–12 pm

Wednesdays, February 5, March 4, April 1, and May 6, 11 am–12 pm

For families with children ages 2–4

In this program designed for young art lovers and their caregivers, participants explore works of art on view and then create their own art in the studio. Each program includes a short story, a trip to the galleries, and art-making activities.

$30 per family, $15 for members. Includes admission, art materials, and snacks. Registration required at guggenheim.org/familyprograms.

A Year with Children 2020

May 8–June 16

Learning Through Art (LTA), the Guggenheim’s pioneering arts education program, presents A Year with Children 2020.This annual presentation showcases select artworks by students in grades two through six from twelve public schools that participated in the LTA program during the 2019–20 school year. More than one hundred creative and imaginative works, including collages, drawings, found objects, installations, paintings, and prints, will be on display. Participating from the Bronx is PS 86 (Kingsbridge Heights); from Brooklyn, PS 8 (Brooklyn Heights), PS 9 (Prospect Heights), and PS 188 (Coney Island); from Manhattan, PS 28 (Washington Heights), PS 38 (East Harlem), and PS 145 (Harlem); from Queens, PS 219 (Flushing), PS 130 (Bayside), PS 144 (Forest Hills), and PS 317 (Rockaway Park); and from Staten Island, PS 48 (Grasmere).

Free with museum admission. For more information visit guggenheim.org/ywc2019.

Guggenheim for All: Sensory Sundays in Support of Autism Acceptance Month

Every Sunday in April 2020

1–4 pm

Stop by the special sensory-friendly Open Studio during the month of April. Participate in art-making activities connected to the exhibitions on view and relax in the nearby sensory room. Direct access to the Studio Art Lab will be available via the ramp at 88th Street and 5th Avenue.

Free with museum admission. Through the Guggenheim for All initiative, the museum is able to offer reduced admission for families of children with autism. To request, please visit their website.

Guggenheim for All: Art for Families with Children on the Autism Spectrum, Sunday, March 8, 11 am–1 pm

For families with children ages 6 and up.

In this drop-in program designed for children on the autism spectrum and their families, explore works of art in sensory-friendly experiences in the galleries and create your own art in the studio.

Free. Capacity is limited, registration required. For more information visit guggenheim.org/familyprograms.

FOR KIDS

Spring Art After School

8 Sessions starting February 25, 4–6 pm, Ages 8–11

This after-school program offers art-making activities and in-gallery exploration led by museum educators. Participants experience the museum’s spectacular Frank Lloyd Wright–designed architecture and permanent collection as well as special exhibitions during gallery visits, which serve as inspiration for in-depth art projects in the studio. Students learn about a wide range of art mediums and techniques, including painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, collage, and photography. The program concludes with a mini-exhibition for family and friends.

Fee: $500, $400 for members. Includes all art materials, snacks, a family pass, and photos documenting the program. For more information, call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

Midwinter Break Camp

February 17–21, 9:30 am–4 pm, Ages 8–11

This five-day camp features conversation and activities that foster creativity and critical thinking. Each session includes guided explorations of the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright building and special exhibitions, followed by hands-on, interactive workshops where campers make their own works of art. These individual and collaborative art-making projects encourage participants to experiment with various mediums and methods, including painting, sculpture, collage, and digital media. The week concludes with a mini-exhibition for kids to share their creations with family and friends.

Fee: $700, $600 for members. Includes all art materials, snacks, a family pass, and photos documenting the program. Registration is required at guggenheim.org/kids. Scholarships are available upon request. For more information, call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

Spring Break Camp

March 16–20, 9:30 am–4 pm, Ages 8–11

This five-day camp features conversation and activities that foster creativity and critical thinking. Each session includes guided explorations of the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright building and special exhibitions, followed by hands-on, interactive workshops where campers make their own works of art. These individual and collaborative art-making projects encourage participants to experiment with various mediums and methods, including painting, sculpture, collage, and digital media. The week concludes with a mini-exhibition for kids to share their creations with family and friends.

Fee: $700, $600 for members. Includes all art materials, snacks, a family pass, and photos documenting the program. Registration is required at guggenheim.org/kids. Scholarships are available upon request. For more information, call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

Summerscapes Art Camp for Grade Schoolers

Week 1: June 22–26

Week 2: July 20–24

Week 3: July 27–31

Week 4: August 3–7

Week 5: August 10–14

9:30 am–4 pm, Students grades 3–5

In this exciting five-day vacation camp, children will focus on building and improving their creative skills with teaching artists through gallery and studio explorations. In the galleries, campers will discover works of art in our permanent collection and special exhibitions. In the studio, they will experiment with new approaches and techniques while developing a personal artistic style through a variety of mediums.

Fee: $700, $600 for members. Includes all art materials, snacks, a family pass, and photos documenting the program. For more information, call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS AND TEENS

Middle School Summerscapes Art Camp

July 6–10, 2020, 9:30 am–4 pm, Students grades 6–8

Exclusively for middle school students, this five-day camp features conversations and activities that foster creativity and critical thinking. Each session includes guided explorations of the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright building and special exhibitions, followed by hands-on, interactive workshops where campers make their own works of art. These individual and collaborative art-making projects encourage participants to experiment with various mediums and methods, including painting, sculpture, collage, and digital media. The week concludes with a mini-exhibition for kids to share their creations with family and friends.

Fee: $700, $600 for members. Includes art materials, snacks, a family pass, and photos documenting the program. For more information, please call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

Guggenheim Teens

Grades 9–12

The Guggenheim is looking for energetic and outgoing high school students to participate in the Guggenheim Teens program. Guggenheim Teens assist adult staff and volunteers by acting as liaisons for families at the Family Activity Kiosk and facilitating gallery activities in the Open Studio programs. Throughout the year, they also participate in a series of workshops to learn more about working in a museum environment, and receive a stipend for their work each semester. Applications for the 2020–2021 academic year are due April 20. To apply, please fill out and send the application form along with a resume or list of related skills and coursework to Carolyn Keogh, Manager, School and Youth Programs, at ckeogh@guggenheim.org with your full name and “Guggenheim Teens” in the subject line of the email.

For more information and to apply, call 212 360 4254 or email Carolyn Keogh at ckeogh@guggenheim.org.

FOR EDUCATORS

Connecting Collections Summer Institute

July 13–17, Applications due May 15

For educators of grades 3–12, all subject areas

Learn techniques for analyzing and interpreting modern and contemporary art in New York City’s premier art museums. This week-long institute is cohosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Up to forty participants will be accepted. For more information, call 212 570 3985 or email educatorprograms@metmuseum.org.

Teaching Modern and Contemporary Asian Art

Teaching Modern and Contemporary Asian Art is a resource that features 27 artists in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s collection. The artists in this resource are from countries across East Asia and Southeast Asia, but many live and work between two or more cities around the world. Intended to introduce students to the contemporary history, art, and culture of China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, the resource provides discussion questions, activity prompts, and historical context for K–12 educators.

Designed for flexible use, these materials can easily be woven into interdisciplinary lesson plans to provide additional insight or context and establish foundational knowledge of modern and contemporary Asian art.

This program is supported by a grant from The Freeman Foundation.

For more information, please contact guggenheimteachers@guggenheim.org or visit https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/teaching-modern-and-contemporary-asian-art.

FOR SCHOOL GROUPS

These guided programs are facilitated by museum educators. All programs accommodate students with special needs. Discounted tour rates of $1 per student are available for NYC public schools that receive Title I funding. For more information or to schedule a program, call 212 423 3637 or visit www.guggenheim.org/schools.

Gallery Tour

Grades K–12, 60- or 90-minute interactive gallery tour

$225 or $300 per 30-student group. For more information, call 212 423 3637 or email Emma Jones, Education Associate, School, Youth, and Family Programs, at ejones@guggenheim.org.

Tour and Workshop

Grades K–12, 2.5-hour interactive gallery tour and hands-on workshop

$400 per 30-student group. For more information, call 212 423 3637 or email Emma Jones, Education Associate, School, Youth, and Family Programs, ejones@guggenheim.org.

Guggenheim for All: Reaching Students on the Autism Spectrum

All grade levels

This three-part program (pre-visit, museum visit, post-visit) is uniquely developed to engage schools and classes with students on the autism spectrum in gallery and art-making activities.

$1 per student. For more information or to schedule a program, call 212 360 4339 or visit www.guggenheim.org/schools.

ONGOING

Open Studios, Sundays, 1–4 pm

For families with children ages 3 and up

Stop by the Sackler Center Studio Art Lab and create a work of art inspired by themes and techniques from the Guggenheim’s current exhibitions. Free with museum admission.

Family Activity Guides

Daily, 10 am–4 pm, For families with children ages 4 and up

Pick up a Family Activity Guide from the Admissions desk to engage the whole family in fun gallery activities and discussions. Free with museum admission.

Family Activity Kiosk

Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am–4 pm, For families with children ages 4 and up.

Borrow a Family Activity Pack with materials featuring fun conversation and activity ideas that will captivate the entire family.

Saturday Sketching, Saturdays, 10 am–4 pm

Sketching materials are available for loan at the Family Activity Kiosk to explore, by hand, Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural shapes and spaces.

The Sackler Center for Arts Education is a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler Family. Endowment funding is provided by The Engelberg Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, The Elaine Terner Cooper Foundation, the Esther Simon Charitable Trust, and the Goldring Education Endowment Fund.

Educational activities and/or public programs are made possible in part by Ornellaia; The Freeman Foundation; JW Marriott; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Katherine and Peter Kend, Annie and Gaines Wehrle, and Michael Wehrle in honor of Ebersole Gaines and Peter Lawson-Johnston; The Pinkerton Foundation; The Hilla von Rebay Foundation; The Kate Cassidy Foundation; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Funding is also provided by Guggenheim Partners, LLC; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; The Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation; Gail May Engelberg and The Engelberg Foundation; The Keith Haring Foundation; Jacadi Paris; The Barker Welfare Foundation; Credit Suisse; CBRE; Cindy Chua-Tay; Dorothy and Elihu Modlin; and an anonymous donor.

Additional support from the Sidney E. Frank Foundation; Peter Bentley Brandt; Con Edison; JPMorgan Chase; Peggy Jacobs Bader and John Bader; Margarita and Ari Benacerraf; Bobbi and Barry Coller; Lisa and Jeffrey Thorp; the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc.; Maria and Valentin Fuster; The Kibel Foundation; and the Henry E. Niles Foundation, Inc.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation thanks the members of the Education Committee and the Middle Eastern Circle for their support.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. An architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is now among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission: $25, $18 for students and seniors (65+), free for members and children under 12. Learn about Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark building and the Guggenheim’s collection and exhibitions at guggenheim.org/guide.

Museum Hours: Open daily from 10 am–5:30 pm, Tuesdays and Saturdays extended hours until 8 pm. On Saturdays, beginning at 5 pm, the museum hosts Pay What You Wish. For general information, call 212 423 3500 or visit guggenheim.org.

A Selection from the Acquisition will be Featured in a Gallery Titled Gordon Parks and the Atmosphere of Crime in the Museum’s Spring Collection Rotation in May 2020

The Museum of Modern Art has acquired 56 prints from American artist Gordon Parks’s series of color photographs made in 1957 for a Life magazine photo essay titled “The Atmosphere of Crime.” The Museum and The Gordon Parks Foundation collaborated closely on the selection of 55 modern color prints that MoMA purchased from the Foundation, and the Foundation has also given the Museum a rare vintage gelatin silver print (a companion to a print Parks himself gave the Museum in 1993). A generous selection of these prints will go on view in May 2020 as part of the first seasonal rotation of the Museum’s newly expanded and re-envisioned collection galleries. The collection installation Gordon Parks and the Atmosphere of Crime will be located on the fourth floor, with Parks’s work as an anchor for exploring representations of criminality in photography, with a particular focus on work made in the United States.

One of the preeminent photographers of the mid-20th century, Gordon Parks (1912–2006) left behind a body of work that documents American life and culture from the early 1940s to the 2000s. Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks worked as a youth in St. Paul, Minnesota, before discovering photography in 1937. He would come to view it as his “weapon of choice” for attacking issues including race relations, poverty, urban life, and injustice. After working for the US government’s Farm Security Administration in the early 1940s, Parks found success as a fashion photographer and a regular contributor to Ebony, Fortune, Glamour, and Vogue before he was hired as the first African American staff photographer at Life magazine in 1948.

In 1957, Life assigned Parks to photograph for the first in a series of articles addressing the perceived rise of crime in the US. With reporter Henry Suydam, Parks traversed the streets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, producing a range of evocative color images, 12 of which were featured in the debut article, “The Atmosphere of Crime,” on September 9, 1957. Parks’s empathetic, probing views of crime scenes, police precincts, hospitals, morgues, and prisons do not name or identify “the criminal,” but instead give shape to the ground against which poverty, addiction, and race become criminalized. Shot using available light, Parks’s atmospheric photographs capture mysterious nocturnal activity unfolding on street corners and silhouetted figures with raised hands in the murky haze of a tenement hallway.

A robust selection from this acquisition will anchor a display within a fourth-floor collection gallery, titled Gordon Parks and the Atmosphere of Crime. Using Parks’s work as a point of departure, the installation will draw from a range of other works in the Museum’s collection, offering varied representations of crime and criminality. Since the 1940s, the Museum has collected and exhibited photographs of crime as represented in newspapers and tabloids, exemplified by the dramatic, flash-lit work of Weegee, complemented by 19th-century precedents such as mug shots, whose purported objectivity was expected to facilitate the identification of criminals, as well as acquisitions across media that point to subsequent investigations and more contemporary concerns.

While Parks’s work was first displayed at MoMA in 1948, and was included in the landmark exhibition The Family of Man in 1955, it wasn’t until 1993 that five of his photographs were approved for the Museum’s collection (including a large-scale gelatin silver print from the 1957 series on crime mentioned above). The Museum has since supported the acquisition of additional vintage prints in 2011 and 2014 (including Harlem Newsboy, currently on view on the Museum’s fifth floor).

“As an artist of the highest order and a passionate advocate for civil rights, Parks made iconic photographs that continue to speak poignantly to the complexity of cultural politics and racial bias in the United States,” said Sarah Meister, curator in MoMA’s Department of Photography. “This acquisition substantially improves the Museum’s holdings of Gordon Parks’s achievement, reflecting our commitment to the artist and fostering the possibility of situating his work within a broad range of contemporary concerns. His enduring impact on the history of photography and representation cannot be overstated.”

“MoMA’s acquisition reinforces the significance of Gordon Parks as an artist whose practice continues to inspire future generations,” said Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of The Gordon Parks Foundation. “Parks knew that his camera could be a powerful weapon, more potent than violence, and that pictures and words could further social change. The Atmosphere of Crime series remains as timeless and relevant today as when the photographs were made more than 50 years ago.”

Sarah Meister has also collaborated on The Gordon Parks Foundation’s forthcoming publication Gordon Parks: The Atmosphere of Crime, 1957, to be published by Steidl in spring 2020. The book’s expansive selection of never-before-published photographs from Parks’s original reportage was selected and sequenced by Meister, and her illustrated text situates this critically important photo essay within both Parks’s career and historic representations of crime and criminality. Other contributors include Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy (Spiegel & Grau, 2014), and Nicole Fleetwood, professor of American studies and art history at Rutgers University and author of Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Harvard University Press, 2020). The book also features a foreword by MoMA’s director Glenn D. Lowry and The Gordon Parks Foundation’s executive director, Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr.

Exhibition Features Major Loans From Museums in Mali, Morocco and Nigeria and Is on View in Washington for the First Time

“Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa” opens at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art April 11 and runs until Nov. 29. The first major exhibition to explore global medieval Saharan Africa, “Caravans” features over 300 works primarily from the eighth–16th centuries A.D. from across the Saharan region of West Africa as well as its diverse peripheries and sites of exchange—from England and Italy to Iran and China, as well as Nigeria and Ghana.

Developed at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University by its Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs Kathleen Bickford Berzock, the exhibition includes unprecedented loans from national museums and institutions in Morocco, Mali and Nigeria, the result of nearly a decade of collaborative research and planning with partners on the African continent.

“The exhibition is a landmark opportunity to reconsider our understanding of world history,” said Kevin D. Dumouchelle, curator at the National Museum of African Art and coordinator of the exhibition in Washington. “Gold from West Africa was the engine that drove the movement of things, people and ideas across Africa, Europe and the Middle East in an interconnected medieval world. As the incredible works in this exhibition show, it is not possible to understand the emergence of the early modern world without this West African story. Africa’s history truly is a world history.”

“Caravans of Gold” draws on recent archaeological discoveries, including rare fragments from major medieval African trading centers like Sijilmasa in Morocco and Gao and Tadmekka in Mali. Built in close collaboration with partner institutions in Africa, the exhibition displays only archaeological works from African museum collections or those in U.S. public collections legally exported from their country of origin. These “fragments in time” are seen alongside works of art that invite audiences to imagine them as they once were. The exhibition features works in a variety of media—terracotta, copper alloy, ivory, glass, leather, textiles (including fragments of Africa’s oldest), paper and parchment, and of course gold—that together tell the story of medieval Saharan West Africa, beginning with the spread of Islam in the eighth century A.D. and receding with the arrival of Europeans along the continent’s Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15th century. During this era, the Sahara Desert supported routes that connected to global networks of exchange. As these networks spread, so too did cultural practices, fostering the broad circulation of distinctive Saharan aesthetic and intellectual traditions connected to Islam.

The exhibition also includes significant works that illustrate the global interconnection of far-flung regions in the medieval period: from French sculptures of Mary and the infant Jesus carved in African ivory, to Italian altar pieces adorned with African gold, to world-famous sculptural works from sites in Nigeria, including Igbo-Ukwu and Ife, that remain marvels of technical sophistication and use European-sourced metals and trade-goods.

“‘Caravans of Gold’ is the starting point for a new understanding of the medieval past and for seeing the present in a new light,” Berzock said. “The legacy of medieval trans-Saharan exchange has largely been omitted from Western historical narratives and art histories, and certainly from the way that Africa is presented in art museums. ‘Caravans of Gold’ has been conceived to shine a light on Africa’s pivotal role in world history through the tangible materials that remain. We are honored to join with our colleagues in Mali, Morocco and Nigeria, as well as at the National Museum of African Art, in order to share this world-shaping story.”

HI Smartphone Application

Visitors to the exhibition can engage further with the artworks on their smartphones using the Smithsonian-developed, web-based HI application. Visitors can scan an interactive map to discover an added layer of digital content, including videos, images and key facts connecting the site and its histories and networks of exchange with art works featured in the exhibition. The HI application does not require download, and it can be accessed at www.hi.si.edu.

Educational and Public Programs

Public programs will accompany the exhibition to engage the museum’s diverse audiences K–12 to adult. The exhibition’s curator will conduct a “first look” public tour of exhibition highlights Saturday, April 11, at 2 p.m. Visitors should meet at the museum’s visitor desk on the Pavilion level at 2 p.m.

Exhibition Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time, edited by Berzock and co-published by the Block Museum of Art and Princeton University Press. Shortlisted for The Alice Award, the publication draws on the latest discoveries and research to construct a compelling and interdisciplinary look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. In the lavishly illustrated volume, 21 international contributors present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time. Topics include descriptions of key medieval cities around the Sahara; networks of exchange that contributed to the circulation of gold, copper and ivory and their associated art forms; and medieval glass bead production in West Africa’s forest region.

Kevin D. Dumouchelle joined the National Museum of African Art in October 2016. He conceived and opened “Heroes: Principles of African Greatness,” a new permanent collection installation at the museum in November 2019. He was the project lead for “Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa’s Arts” (2017), the museum’s award-winning permanent galleries, along with chief curator Christine Mullen Kreamer and curator Karen E. Milbourne. He was the coordinating curator for “World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean” (2018) and “Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women” (2018). Previously, Dumouchelle was at the Brooklyn Museum for a decade as the curator in charge of the arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Kathleen Bickford Berzock is the associate director of curatorial affairs at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, and curator of “Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time.” At the Block Museum of Art, she provides artistic leadership of the museum’s exhibition, publication and collection programs.

The National Museum of African Art is the only museum in the world dedicated solely to the collection, conservation, study and exhibition of Africa’s arts across time and media. The museum’s collection of over 12,000 artworks spans more than 1,000 years of African history and includes a variety of media from across the continent—from sculpture and painting, to photography, pottery, jewelry, textile, video and sound art. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. The museum is located at 950 Independence Ave. S.W., near the Smithsonian Metrorail station on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines.

For more information, call (202) 633-4600 or visit the National Museum of African Art’s website: www.Africa.si.edu. For general Smithsonian information, call (202) 633-1000. #CaravansOfGold or #CaravansNMAfA.

Expansive Exhibition Will Trace Gilliam’s Six-Decade Career

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will present the first American museum retrospective of Sam Gilliam in more than 15 years opening in spring 2022. This groundbreaking exhibition will encompass Gilliam’s six-decade-long practice, from his early explorations of the ideas of the Washington Color School and his now-iconic “Drape” compositions to key examples of his most recent work.

One of America’s most influential living artists, Gilliam (b. 1933) is best known for abandoning the traditional stretcher apparatus to transform painting into a medium that bridged painting, sculpture and architecture and thus stands among the earliest examples of installation art. This major exhibition will span the full arc of Gilliam’s career, bringing attention to key moments in his innovative practice through a selection of paintings, sculptures and works on paper drawn from the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection and public and private collections. Among the exhibition’s highlights will be Gilliam’s “Light Depth” (1969), one of his most important “Drape” paintings, which was commissioned by Walter Hopps for an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and gifted to the Hirshhorn upon the Corcoran collection’s dispersal. This retrospective will be organized by Evelyn C. Hankins, senior curator at the Hirshhorn, with the full cooperation of the artist.

“We are honored to present a Sam Gilliam retrospective,” said Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu. “This overdue in-depth survey builds on our museum’s mission: to showcase the most important local, national and international artists of our time. Gilliam’s influence spans these three realms. There is no more fitting place to celebrate his contribution to our understanding of abstraction than on the National Mall in his chosen hometown of Washington, D.C., at the national museum of modern art.”

“Inspired by the Hirshhorn’s extraordinary holdings, this exhibition is our opportunity to situate Sam Gilliam’s practice in a broader international context while acknowledging his profound influence on subsequent generations of artists,” Hankins said.During the exhibition, the Hirshhorn will expand on its dynamic ongoing educational programs for intergenerational audiences, including local schoolchildren and teens participating in ARTLAB, the museum’s radically inclusive maker space for students ages 13 to 19.

For six decades, Gilliam (American, b. 1933, Tupelo, Mississippi) has created groundbreaking work in a range of media. After earning his Bachelor of Arts (1955) and Master of Fine Arts (1961) from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1962 and has since lived and worked here. Gilliam’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group shows at institutions such as Tate Modern, London; the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland; the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Dia:Beacon, New York; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, among others. His work is held in the collections of major museums worldwide, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Menil Collection, Houston; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City; and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the national museum of modern and contemporary art and a leading voice for 21st-century art and culture. Part of the Smithsonian, the Hirshhorn is located prominently on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. With nearly 12,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, mixed-media installations, works on paper and new media works, its holdings encompass one of the most important collections of postwar American and European art in the world. The Hirshhorn presents diverse exhibitions and offers an array of public programs on the art of our time—free to all, 364 days a year (closed Dec. 25). For more information, visit www.hirshhorn.si.edu.

The Art Institute of Chicago announced this week the acquisition of an extraordinary memorial window, attributed to Agnes F. Northrop and made by Tiffany Studios in 1917. Originally commissioned for the Central Baptist Church (now known as Community Church of Providence) as the gift of Mary L. Hartwell in memory of her husband, Frederick W. Hartwell, the window is a pinnacle achievement in the medium of stained glass.

Art Institute President and Eloise W. Martin Director James Rondeau shared: “It is with great pride we welcome this transformative work of art into the collection, an object that demonstrates the highest level of achievement in American glass production and exemplifies our ongoing commitment to excellence. Tiffany Studios became synonymous with radiant materials and technical brilliance, and this monumental work of stained glass by the firm is an unparalleled example of beauty, ingenuity, and universality. Prominently installed in our galleries, with the rich architectural history of Chicago as a stunning backdrop, this singular work will certainly inspire visitors and undoubtedly has the power to become one of the museum’s icons.”

The design of the window is attributed to Agnes F. Northrop, the firm’s leading landscape window designer. At twenty-three feet high by sixteen feet wide, and made up of 48 different panels, the scene depicts a distant view of Mount Chocorua, one of the most beloved peaks of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Numerous landscape painters including Thomas Cole and John F. Kensett memorialized the mountain as a powerful symbol of the American landscape. In its scale, intricacy of design, and complexity of glasswork, it is one of the largest and most ambitious landscape window projects ever undertaken by Tiffany Studios.

This majestic window had been housed in the sanctuary of the Community Church of Providence. Speaking on behalf of the church, Pastor Evan Howard noted: “Our congregation decided to find a new home for the window where it could be experienced by a broad public audience that includes scholars, artists, and visitors from around the world. The church approached a number of different museums and ultimately selected the Art Institute of Chicago as the ideal institution to care for and display the window.” Added Pastor Howard, “We are extremely pleased that this exceptional work of art has entered such a renowned collection.”

Sarah Kelly Oehler, Field­–McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art stated: “Landscape windows are rare within the overall production of Tiffany Studios, and the opportunity to acquire such a superlative example of Tiffany glass is one that will likely never be repeated. The Art Institute has a strong commitment to collecting the work of women artists, and we are especially thrilled to showcase Agnes Northrop, whose vision truly shaped the aesthetic of Tiffany Studios. This acquisition positions the museum as a leading institution for visitors to experience the artistry and vitality of stained glass as it joins other works in the medium, especially the iconic America Windows by Marc Chagall. We are thrilled to be the stewards of this remarkable and deeply resonant work of art for future generations.”

The window is currently undergoing conservation treatment at the Art Institute of Chicago. It will be installed this fall in the Henry Crown Gallery at the top of the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase. Located near the Michigan Avenue entrance, it will welcome visitors as they begin their journey through the museum.

This summer, the High Museum of Art will premiere “Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Books” (June 20–Sept. 20, 2020), an exhibition organized in collaboration with The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

The exhibition is the first of its kind to delve into the events, people and themes of the civil rights movement, both celebrated and forgotten, through one of the most compelling forms of visual expression, the children’s picture book. The more than 80 artworks on view, ranging from paintings and prints to collages and drawings, will evoke the power and continuing relevance of the era that shaped American history and continues to reverberate today.

The year 2020 marks the anniversary of several key events from the civil rights movement. Sixty-five years ago, in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Ruby Bridges integrated her New Orleans elementary school, and four black students catalyzed the sit-in movement at the segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

These actions and more are explored in the exhibition with titles by beloved children’s book authors and artists as well as talented newcomers. “Picture the Dream” will emphasize children’s roles as activists and tell important stories about the movement’s icons, including Parks, Bridges, Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“One of the guiding aspects of our mission is a commitment to family audiences. Through our children’s book exhibitions, we aim to help adult visitors open meaningful dialogues with the children in their lives and create memories that will last a lifetime,” said Rand Suffolk, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director of the High. “This exhibition will spark important conversations across generations about a crucial period in our nation’s history that connects directly to our city, a birthplace of the civil rights movement.”

The exhibition will be organized into three thematic sections that explore the forces that sparked the civil rights movement, its key players and events, and stories about the reemergence of activism in contemporary America. From Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the March on Washington and Black Lives Matter, the picture books’ topics bridge the past and present, emphasizing how historical moments and leaders continue to inspire the struggle for equal rights.

“Great picture books prompt great conversations,” said Alexandra Kennedy, executive director at The Eric Carle Museum. “What better way for parents and teachers to introduce the difficult history of civil rights than through stories about the people who fought for equality? We believe the powerful illustrations in ‘Picture the Dream’ will inspire visitors of all ages to ask hard questions and look anew at issues of equality and justice.”

Books featured in the exhibition will include the following:

• “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down” by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
• “Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly, illustrated by Laura Freeman
• “A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation” by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
• “If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks” written and illustrated by Faith Ringgold
• “My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Martin Luther King III, illustrated by A.G. Ford
• “Child of the Civil Rights Movement” by Paula Young Shelton, illustrated by Raul Colón
• “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The mission of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a non-profit organization in Amherst, Massachusetts, is to inspire a love of art and reading through picture books. A leading advocate in its field, The Carle collects, preserves, presents, and celebrates picture books and picture-book illustrations from around the world. In addition to underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form, The Carle offers educational programs that provide a foundation for arts integration and literacy.

“Picture the Dream” marks the High’s fifth collaboration with The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, where the exhibition will be on view from October 18, 2020, through January 17, 2021. The exhibition is guest curated by New York Times–bestselling and Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning children’s book author Andrea Davis Pinkney. A publisher and editor at Scholastic Inc. in New York, Pinkney has written numerous celebrated fiction and non-fiction books for children and young adults.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Alliance Theatre at The Woodruff Arts Center, of which the High is also an arts partner, will present the world–premiere play “Sit-In” (June 10-July 12, 2020), based on Andrea Pinkney’s book “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down.” The publication is one of Pinkney’s many collaborations with her husband, artist Brian Pinkney. Brian is the award-winning illustrator of several beloved picture books and the son of Jerry Pinkney, who was the subject of the High’s first ever children’s picture book show in 2013. The Alliance’s production, inspired by the book, is written by Atlanta-based playwright, poet, novelist and activist Pearl Cleage and explores the role young people can play in addressing the injustices of their time.

“Working with the creative teams on this exhibition and theatrical production has underscored the power picture books have in reaching readers of all ages,” said Andrea Pinkney. “Through an immersive tapestry of images and ideas, the artwork in ‘Picture the Dream’ and the depictions in the ‘Sit-In’ play take viewers by the hand, guiding them through times of bravery and triumph. It’s an honor to collaborate in this page-to-stage experience that delivers a front-row seat to the dramatic events that continue to shape our world.”

The exhibition and play are made possible through a grant to the High from the Rich Foundation and through a grant to The Woodruff Arts Center from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation to expand programming and increase access for family audiences.

“Picture the Dream” will be presented in the special exhibition gallery on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

“Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Books” is co-organized by the High Museum of Art and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts. Major funding for this exhibition is provided by the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation and the Rich Foundation, Inc. This exhibition is made possible by Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Invesco; Exhibition Series Sponsors Northside Hospital and WarnerMedia; Premier Exhibition Series Supporters the Antinori Foundation, Sarah and Jim Kennedy, and Louise Sams and Jerome Grilhot; Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporter Anne Cox Chambers Foundation; Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Tom and Susan Wardell and Rod Westmoreland; and Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Lucinda W. Bunnen, Marcia and John Donnell, W. Daniel Ebersole and Sarah Eby-Ebersole, Peggy Foreman, Robin and Hilton Howell, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Margot and Danny McCaul, Joel Knox and Joan Marmo, and The Ron and Lisa Brill Family Charitable Trust. Additional support is provided by 2020 Grandparents Circle of Support members Spring and Tom Asher, Anne Cox Chambers, Ann and Tom Cousins, Sandra and John Glover, Shearon and Taylor Glover, Sarah and Jim Kennedy, and Jane and Hicks Lanier and by Lavona Currie, Nena Griffith, Ellen and Tom Harbin, and Margaretta Taylor. Generous support is also provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Isobel Anne Fraser–Nancy Fraser Parker Exhibition Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, and the RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund.

The Museum of Modern Art announces the appointment of Clément Chéroux as the next Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator of Photography. MoMA has exhibited and collected photography since its founding in 1929, and formally established a Department of Photography in 1940. Chéroux succeeds Quentin Bajac, who served as Chief from 2013-2018, and now directs the Jeu de Paume, Paris. Chéroux will lead a department with a renowned legacy and unparalleled collection of more than 30,000 works that continues to play an important global role in exploring photography’s diverse and powerful impacts on modern life. He will guide all aspects of the department, including its installations, acquisitions, exhibitions, publications, and loan programs. Chéroux will join MoMA in June 2020.

“After an extensive and international search, we’re thrilled to welcome Clément as the new Chief Curator of Photography,” said Glenn D. Lowry, the David Rockefeller Director of MoMA. “Clément’s outstanding success and reputation as a gifted leader, curator, scholar, and collaborator is matched by his deep passion for and knowledge of the diversity of modern and contemporary photography practice.”

Chéroux is currently the Senior Curator of the Pritzker Center for Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco—one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center. At SFMOMA, he organized exhibitions including Don’t! Photography and the Art of Mistakes (2019); snap + share. Transmitting photographs from mail art to social networks (2019); Louis Stettner. Traveling light (2018); Johannes Brus (2018); The Train, RFK’s Last Journey: Paul Fusco, Rein Jelle Terpstra, Philippe Parreno (2018); Carolyn Drake, Wild Pigeon (2018); and Walker Evans (2017).

From 2007-2016, Chéroux served in the Department of Photography at the Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris—first as Curator, and then leading the department as Chief Curator from 2013-2016. He organized more than 25 exhibitions featuring the work of Walker Evans, Josef Koudelka, Jafar Panahi, Agnès Varda, Thierry Fontaine, Valérie Belin, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edvard Munch, and many others. Chéroux has published more than 45 books and catalogues and lectured widely on the topic of photography, its history, and its modern and contemporary contexts.

Chéroux previously held positions as a freelance curator, as executive editor of the magazine Études Photographiques published by the Société française de photographie, and as a lecturer at the Universities of Paris I, Paris VIII, and Lausanne. He holds a doctorate in art history from the University of Paris I Panthéon/Sorbonne and a degree from the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (Arles).

“It was a pleasure to work at SFMOMA for three years and to have the support of a fantastic Bay Area photo community. I am very excited to be part of the energy of the new MoMA and to work with the team and collection to develop great projects,” shared Chéroux.

Immersive Audio Experience Featuring the Music of David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, and Other Rock & Roll Icons and a Recreation of the Fillmore East’s Famous “Joshua Light Show” Bring Visitors into the Rock & Roll World

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution On View Now Through August 23, 2020

The New-York Historical Society presents the rock & roll world of Bill Graham (1931–1991), one of the most influential concert promoters of all time. Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution, (opened February 14 and) now on view through August 23, 2020, explores the life and work of the legendary music impresario who worked with the biggest names in rock music—including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones—and launched the careers of countless music luminaries at his famed Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York City. Organized by the Skirball Cultural Center, which debuted the exhibition in Los Angeles, this comprehensive retrospective of Graham’s life and career explores some of the 20th century’s momentous cultural transformations through the lens of rock & roll.

Showcasing more than 300 objects—including rock memorabilia, photographs, and concert posters—the New-York Historical presentation, coordinated by Associate Curator of Exhibitions Cristian Petru Panaite, highlights Graham’s personal connections to New York. Admission to the exhibition will be via timed-entry tickets and begins with a site-specific installation of “The Joshua Light Show,” the trailblazing liquid light show conceived in 1967 by multimedia artist Joshua White that served as a psychedelic backdrop to Graham’s concert productions in New York.

Unique to New-York Historical is a special, immersive audio experience, providing a musical tour through the exhibition with songs by rock & roll superstars the Allman Brothers, Chuck Berry, Blondie, David Bowie, Cream, the Doors, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Tom Petty, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Carlos Santana, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, and Neil Young, among others. Included in the four-hour soundtrack available to visitors are also mambo hits by Tito Puente that Graham loved in his early years in New York. The audio experience is generously sponsored by luxury audio brand Master & Dynamic. A playlist of featured songs is available on Spotify.

“Even though Bill Graham and the Fillmore East transformed the city’s music scene in the late 1960s, few know about Graham’s immigrant background and New York roots,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of New-York Historical. “We are proud to collaborate with our colleagues at the Skirball Cultural Center to present this exhibition in New York—Graham’s first American hometown—and to highlight his local experience. His rock & roll life was a pop-culture version of the American dream come true.”

“Master & Dynamic is proud to sponsor Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution in our hometown of New York City,” said Nathaniel Teichman, head of strategy & business development at Master & Dynamic. “We are committed to supporting the New York-Historical Society and to helping bring to life the story of Bill Graham, who transcended incredible odds after escaping the Nazis to become one of the most influential figures in rock history.”

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution begins with family snapshots of Graham’s experience as a Jewish emigrant from Nazi Germany and his journey to America. Born in Berlin as Wolfgang Grajonca, he arrived in New York at the age of 11 as part of a Red Cross effort to help Jewish children fleeing the Nazis. He lived with a foster family in the Bronx and spent his teenage years in New York City before being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Korean War. Graham relocated to San Francisco in the early 1960s as the hippie movement was growing and took over the lease on the Fillmore Auditorium, where he produced groundbreaking shows throughout the decade, including sold-out concerts by the Grateful Dead, Cream, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Doors, among many others.

The exhibition showcases performance and backstage photographs of these and other music icons, including blues legend B.B. King, who reportedly saw “long-haired white people” lining up outside the venue to watch him perform and said: “I think they booked us in the wrong place.” Graham was committed to booking diverse acts at his venues, saying: “I never give the public what it wants. I give the public what it should want.” Also on view are guitars played by legendary performers such as Carlos Santana, Pete Townshend of the Who, and Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, as well as numerous psychedelic-art concert posters showing Graham’s mastery of promoting and marketing artists. Stage costumes worn by Jimi Hendrix and Peter Frampton as well as Janis Joplin’s microphone and tambourine are on display.

In 1968, Graham opened the Fillmore East on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, historically the heart of New York’s Jewish immigrant community, just as it was becoming a countercultural hub. During its three-year run, rock fans filled the 2,700-seat venue to hear the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and others. A highlight of the Fillmore East experience was “The Joshua Light Show,” a mesmerizing liquid light show, conceived by multimedia artist Joshua White, that played as the backdrop as bands performed; in this installation, specially created for the exhibition, a colorful explosion of choreographed artistic projections set to music greet visitors at the entrance of the exhibition.

Graham felt that rock & roll was a powerful force for supporting humanitarian causes and was instrumental in the production of milestone benefit concerts in the 1980s such as Live Aid (1985) and Human Rights Now! (1988), as well as the American-Soviet Concert for Peace in Moscow (1987). Outspoken about politics, Graham said, “My love for America was always founded on the feeling that here, I had my rights.” He often faced criticism for his views, however, and in 1985, his San Francisco office was firebombed—the exhibition features items salvaged from his office, including a charred telephone and scale model of the Bill Graham Menorah in Union Square, one of the first Menorah lighting celebrations outside of Israel. Graham died in a helicopter accident in 1991, after leaving a concert.

Timed-entry tickets for Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution are on sale on December 20. Visit nyhistory.org.

On February 26, scholars discuss how Jewish families in Germany similar to Graham’s struggled to find refuge in the years leading up to WWII and the heated debate in the U.S. government over whether to admit those seeking to escape the Holocaust. In the spring, a series of walking tours of Greenwich Village explore the history, music, and culture of the neighborhood.

A special family guide is available for young visitors to explore the exhibition, featuring activities like scavenger hunts, sketching prompts, and quizzes. During February School Vacation Week, kids create rock & roll-inspired crafts, and Sunday Story Time in the spring features music-themed books.

Support
Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution is organized and circulated by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in association with the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation, and made possible by the support of Alex Graham, David Graham, and Danny Scher. The exhibition is coordinated at New-York Historical by Cristian Petru Panaite, associate curator of exhibitions. New-York Historical is grateful for the cooperation of the National Museum of American Jewish History. The audio experience is generously sponsored by luxury audio brand Master & Dynamic.

Exhibitions at New-York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Seymour Neuman Endowed Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.

The New-York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street), New York, NY 10024. Information: (212) 873-3400. Website: nyhistory.org.

Now Accepting Donations for the MFIT Hip Hop Style Archive

#50yearsofhiphopstyle

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop, and to commemorate the occasion, The Museum at FIT (MFIT) will present Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style (February–April 2023), an exhibition that examines the roots and history of hip hop fashion from inception to the present time. This exhibition will explore several themes, such as the transition of hip hop from the ‘hood to the runway; luxury and designer influence; the impact of hip hop celebrities on the fashion industry; and the growth of hip hop style as an international phenomenon. Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style is made possible by the support of The Couture Council.

“For 50 years, hip hop has made its mark on U.S. culture and the world,” says Elena Romero, exhibition co-curator and assistant professor, Advertising and Marketing Communications at FIT. “It is the perfect time to exhibit, examine, and celebrate the contributions of our youth and people of color who ignited a multibillion-dollar industry, once considered a passing fad.” Romero has extensively chronicled hip hop fashion as a journalist, author, and scholar. She is the author of Free Stylin’: How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry and has been featured in several documentaries on the subject, including Fresh Dressed and The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion.

“The Museum at FIT has established the Hip Hop Style Archive in preparation for our big 2023 exhibition,” says Dr. Valerie Steele, director of MFIT. “We have already acquired some important pieces—ranging from Dapper Dan to Chanel—but we are dedicated to finding much more material that will elucidate a very important cultural phenomenon.” The archive, founded in 2019 in recognition of the importance of hip hop style in the 20th and 21st centuries, is a continually growing collection within The Museum at FIT’s permanent holdings and is comprised predominantly of male and female garments, footwear, and related accessories. It includes works from a range of designers, including American sportswear and luxury designers, European luxury brands, and most significantly, works by designers of color, particularly African American and Latinx designers who helped initiate hip hop style’s international success.

MFIT is currently seeking and accepting donations of objects to continue to build the Hip Hop Style Archive and to accurately represent hip hop fashion in the upcoming Fresh, Fly and Fabulous exhibition. If you wish to donate an object, please click here to submit your information through an online form.

Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style will be supported by an advisory committee made up of experts from the fields of fashion, music, journalism, academia, and education. The exhibition will be organized and co-curated by Romero and Elizabeth Way, assistant curator of Costume at The Museum of FIT.

The Museum at FIT, which is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is the only museum in New York City dedicated solely to the art of fashion. Best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions, the museum has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. Like other fashion museums, such as the Musée de la Mode, the Mode Museum, and the Museo de la Moda, The Museum at FIT collects, conserves, documents, exhibits, and interprets fashion. The museum’s mission is to advance knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, publications, and public programs. Visit www.fitnyc.edu/museum. (Museum hours: Tuesday–Friday, noon–8 pm; Saturday, 10 am–5 pm. Closed Sunday, Monday, and legal holidays. Admission is free.)

The museum is part of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a State University of New York (SUNY) college of art, design, business, and technology that has been at the crossroads of commerce and creativity for 75 years. With programs that blend hands-on practice, a strong grounding in theory, and a broad-based liberal arts foundation, FIT offers career education in nearly 50 areas, and grants associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. FIT provides students with a complete college experience at an affordable cost, a vibrant campus life in New York City, and industry-relevant preparation for rewarding careers. Visit www.fitnyc.edu.

The Couture Council is a philanthropic membership group that helps support the exhibitions and programs of The Museum at FIT. The Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion is given to a selected designer at a benefit luncheon held every September. For information on the Couture Council, call (212) 217-4532 or email couturecouncil@fitnyc.edu.

Tour Launches at Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, Missouri, March 28

A new exhibition exploring the life and work of artist Robert Blackburn, whose innovation and masterful expertise with the medium helped define the overall aesthetic of the American graphics “boom,” will debut at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, March 28. “Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking,” curated by Deborah Cullen, is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in cooperation with the Trust for Robert Blackburn and The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts’ Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Program. The exhibition will remain on view through Aug. 2 before continuing an eight-city national tour through 2022.

Blackburn was a key artist in the development of printmaking in the United States. He became known as an influential teacher and master printer, engaging with avant-garde artistic ideas while promoting a new collaborative approach to a traditional medium. The exhibition traces Blackburn’s artistic evolution alongside the original prints of other iconic 20th-century American artists with whom he collaborated.

“The exhibition brings together a variety of works that highlights the prolific life of an artist and a skilled technical printmaker who openly shared his knowledge with the community, providing an open graphics studio for artists of diverse social and economic backgrounds, ethnicities, styles and levels of expertise,” said Myriam Springuel, director of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and Smithsonian Affiliations.

Blackburn was born to Jamaican immigrants Dec. 10, 1920, and raised in Harlem, New York, during the Harlem Renaissance, an unparalleled flourishing of the arts centered in New York City’s creative black community. The arts were considered crucial to the well-being of society as well as a fertile medium for activism, and these values resonated with Blackburn throughout his life and work. In 1947, he founded a printmaking workshop as a welcoming space where artists of any level could learn and create together, and it remains in operation to this day. Blackburn’s art gradually shifted from figurative work to highly colored abstraction, creating a fascinating and engaging body of work.

“Robert Blackburn help forge a modernist graphic aesthetic, producing work of astonishing relevance for more than 60 years,” Cullen said. “He also directed the oldest and largest artist-run print workshop in the United States, welcoming thousands of artists from around the world.”

“Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking” celebrates both the artist and the democratic, diverse and creative community that he created. It features approximately 60 works, including lithographs, woodcut, intaglio and watercolors by Blackburn and the artists with whom he collaborated, including Grace Hartigan, Robert Rauschenberg, Elizabeth Catlett and Romare Bearden, among others. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and funding from the Smithsonian’s Provost Office.

SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 65 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. For more information, including exhibition descriptions and tour schedules, visit www.sites.si.edu.

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders and fostering international understanding. The foundation’s American Art Program, a leader in arts funding since 1982, supports museums, arts organizations and universities, in their efforts to advance the understanding and experience of American and Native American visual arts through research, exhibitions, collection projects and publications. For more information, visit www.hluce.org.

The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The museum, which strives to be the place where the power of art engages the spirit of community, opens its doors free of charge to people of all backgrounds. The museum is an institution that both challenges and comforts, that both inspires and soothes and it is a destination for inspiration, reflection and connecting with others. For more visit www.nelson-atkins.org.

Museum Renames Prestigious Award to Honor Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins

Honoring Astronaut Michael Collins’ legacy in aviation and space, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is renaming its trophy for the Apollo 11 command module pilot. The recognition is awarded annually for Lifetime and Current Achievements. The 2020 recipients are Charles Elachi for Lifetime Achievement and the Hubble Space Telescope Team for Current Achievement. The recipients will receive their awards March 26 at a ceremony at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The National Air and Space Museum Trophy event is made possible through the support of Atlas Air Worldwide, BAE Systems Inc., Blue Origin, Booz Allen Hamilton, The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, Jacobs, Leidos, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, National Business Aviation Association, Pratt & Whitney, Seabury Capital, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Thales.

Established in 1985, the award recognizes outstanding achievements in the fields of aerospace science and technology and their history. Trophy winners receive a miniature version of “The Web of Space,” a sculpture by artist John Safer. The renaming of the trophy recognizes Collins’ contributions to aerospace and his service to the museum as director during a critical time in its evolution.

“I am deeply honored to have been made a part of the museum’s legacy recognizing the best in the aerospace industry,” said Michael Collins. “The National Air and Space Museum is a testament to thousands who helped craft it into the wonder it is today. I hope the award inspires future generations to keep reaching outward bound.”

2020 Michael Collins Trophy Recipients

Elachi will receive the 2020 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement honoring his distinguished career in the fields of remote sensing, planetary science and spaceflight-program management. After pioneering techniques in radar remote sensing for surface, ocean and atmospheric phenomena, he executed these techniques in leadership roles in various missions. He was the director for space and Earth sciences for almost 20 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), and the director of JPL for 15. Under his leadership, JPL achieved many successful planetary, earth and astronomy missions including several Mars lander, rover and orbiter missions, pioneering missions to outer planets, such as the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the Spitzer and Kepler Space Telescopes. The breadth of his expertise allowed synergy between the technical aspects of radar remote sensing and the interpretation of the acquired science data, which is now a standard approach in Earth and planetary science. Through this lifetime of success, he has also served as a significant mentor to many in industry and academia.

As the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 30th year in operation, the team behind Hubble will receive the 2020 Collins Trophy for Current Achievement. Hubble has changed humans’ fundamental understanding of the universe, having taken over 1.4 million observations and provided data that astronomers have used to write more than 17,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications on a broad range of topics. Through the efforts of the Hubble team since 2018, the observatory has continued to produce science unachievable with any other instrument, including studies of the first possible moon orbiting a planet outside the solar system, imaging the first known interstellar object to visit the solar system and finding water vapor on an extrasolar planet in the habitable zone. System engineers in Hubble’s control center and science operations facility have continued to find creative ways to operate the 30-year-old spacecraft to make this revolutionary science possible and ensuring its capabilities will continue for years to come.

The National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at 655 Jefferson Dr. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. Both facilities are open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free, but there is a $15 fee for parking before 4 p.m. at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

More information about the Michael Collins Trophy and a complete list of past winners are available at https://airandspace.si.edu/trophy-award.

In recognition of Women’s History Month, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center in New York highlights the stories and artistry of Native women. The schedule of programs in March will feature scholarly talks about artworks by women, and a film that touches upon the many layers of identity navigated by Indigenous women.

Talks

In conjunction with “Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting,” there will be two scholarly talks addressing the works of several women artists represented in the exhibition.

Marking Space: Abstraction and Place will take place Thursday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. This talk, presented by museum curator Rebecca Head Trautmann, considers the significance of landscape, place and narrative in the abstract paintings of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish/Cree/Shoshone, b. 1940), Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, b. 1935) and Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo, b. 1956).

On Thursday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m., Patricia Marroquin-Norby, the New York museum’s senior executive, will present20th Century Art and Environmental Conflicts. Highlighting the art of Tonita Peña (San Ildefonso/Cochiti Pueblo, 1893–1949) and Helen Hardin (Santa Clara Pueblo, 1943–1984), this scholarly talk examines connections between Pueblo watercolor paintings and environmental conflicts in 20th-century northern New Mexico.

Film Screening

On Saturday, March 7, the museum will screen The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019, Canada/Norway, 105 min.) from 2–5 p.m. Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/ Sámi) and Kathleen Hepburn, the film tells the story of two Indigenous women living very different lives who are briefly brought together on the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia, by desperate circumstances. The story of their encounter explores the complexities of motherhood, class, race and the ongoing legacy of colonialism. A discussion with actress Violet Nelson will follow the screening.

Panel Discussion and Workshop

The museum will host the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience for two days of programing that explore how to remember, acknowledge and contemplate the presence of Haudenosaunee women in the landscape of western New York. On Thursday, March 12, the museum will host a panel discussion at 6 p.m. titled “Rethinking the Landscape: Haudenosaunee Women.” On Friday, March 13, a daylong workshop is offered to staff and volunteers from museums and historical sites, university students and faculty, and other interested parties. More information about the workshop is available at their Eventbrite page.

Both events feature Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora Nation), director of the American Indian and Indigenous Program at Cornell University; Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida Nation), founder and CEO of Rematriation magazine; and architect Julia Watson. The events will be facilitated by Linda Norris, global networks programs director at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The National Museum of the American Indian is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present and future—through partnership with Native people and others. The museum’s George Gustav Heye Center is located at One Bowling Green in New York City. For additional information, including hours and directions, visit AmericanIndian.si.edu. (Follow the museum via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.)

Connect @FristArtMuseum

This year the Frist Art Museum is expanding two of its public program series to enhance the visitor experience and increase learning opportunities for guests of all ages and backgrounds. The changes to Art After Dark and ARTlab are effective immediately and will continue to evolve over the course of the year.

Art After Dark is a grouping of fun and educational offerings that takes place on the third Thursday of every month* from 5 to 9 p.m. Guests are invited to combine their viewing of current exhibitions with participation in gallery programs and activities such as Drop-In Drawing, as well as access to live music, food trucks, and cash bars. The evenings are free to members; regular admission is required for not-yet-members.

“Art After Dark evenings provide a chance to enrich your visit and meet fellow art lovers,” says Frist Art Museum educator for interpretation Meagan Rust. “Every month, the programs will change and offer something new for everyone to enjoy. We look forward to exploring creative connections in the Middle Tennessee community and helping visitors engage with the exhibitions in new ways.”

Gallery talks will now be regular components of Art After Dark. Discussions will be led by Frist educators and special guests who will offer different interpretations of and perspectives on works on view and foster dialogues with visitors.

In Drop-In Drawing sessions, visitors are encouraged to study the works in the galleries or the architecture of the building as they practice with materials provided by the Frist. All skill levels are welcome, and Frist educators and volunteers are available to supply hands-on technical guidance.

On most Art After Dark Thursdays, there will be food trucks in the Turner Courtyard, and cash bars in the café and the lobby. Guests can enjoy a meal while listening to some of Nashville’s best and brightest performers from the worlds of jazz, soul, blues, Latin, country, folk, bluegrass, and classical music.

*With occasional exceptions. See dates and lineups at FristArtMuseum.org/ArtAfterDark

ARTlabs are hands-on studio sessions designed to offer a creative outlet for teens, adults, and participants of all ages. Visitors are encouraged to drop in to explore themes of current exhibitions and experiment with techniques in the company of professional artists. ARTlabs will be offered on various days throughout the year at the Frist, on select Art After Dark evenings, and at community events.

Upcoming Art After Dark and ARTLab Dates

Thursday, February 20

Teen ARTlab: Illustration and tattoo art with Elisheba Israel Mrozik

• 4:00–6:00 p.m.
• (for ages 13–19).
• Free; registration not required; materials provided

Drop-In Drawing

• 5:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members
• Materials included (first come, first served). All skill levels welcome

Educator SPARK

• 6:00–7:30 p.m.
• Free for K–12, homeschool, and college/university educators (gallery admission and parking validation included)

Music in the Café: Classical guitarist Grant Ferris

• 6:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free

Curator’s Perspective: J.M.W. Turner

• David Blayney Brown, senior curator, 19th-century British art, Tate Britain
• 6:30 p.m.
• Free; first come, first seated

Thursday, March 12

Teen ARTlab: Documentary filmmaking with Lesa Dowdy

• 4:00–6:00 p.m.
• (for ages 13–19)
• Free; registration not required; materials provided

Drop-In Drawing

• 5:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members
• Materials included (first come, first served)
• All skill levels welcome

Happy Hour with the National Museum of African American Music

• 5:30–6:15 p.m.
• Free; cash bar

Tour: Focus on J.M.W. Turner

• 6:00 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members

Educator SPARK

• 6:00–7:30 p.m.
• Free for K–12, homeschool, and college/university educators (gallery admission and parking validation included)

Music in the Café: Mondo Bistro (world music)

• 6:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free

Artist’s Perspective: Jitish Kallat

• 6:30 p.m.
• Free; first come, first seated

Thursday, April 16

Teen ARTlab: Photography with DaShawn Lewis

• 4:00–6:00 p.m.

Drop-In Drawing

• 5:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members
• Materials included (first come, first served)
• All skill levels welcome

Tour: Focus on Terry Adkins

• 6:00–6:30 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members

Educator SPARK

• 6:00–7:30 p.m.
• Free for K–12, homeschool, and college/university educators (gallery admission and parking validation included)

Music in the Café: Classical guitarist Michael Roberts

• 6:00–8:00 p.m.
• Free

Gallery Talk: Dyer Observatory

• 6:30 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members

In-Gallery Workshop

• The Star-Spangled Untangled: A Poetic Unfolding of the U.S. Flag presented by Ciona Rouse
• 7:00 p.m.
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members
• Space is limited. Visit FristArtMuseum.org/flagpoems to register.

Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19

• Adult ARTlab: Watercolor en plein air presented by Todd Saal
• 1:00–4:00 p.m.
• Frist Art Museum and Riverfront Park
• $100 members, $120 not-yet-members (includes all supplies,
• gallery admission, and parking validation for the Frist Art Museum’s visitor lot)
• 18+ only. All skill levels are welcome.
• Space is limited. Visit www.FristArtMuseum.org/studio by April 10 to register

Join teaching and practicing artist Todd Saal for a two-day workshop to experience painting en plein air (outside), with J.M.W. Turner: Quest for the Sublime as inspiration. On Saturday, tour the exhibition and learn basic watercolor techniques with Saal in the Frist Art Museum studios. On Sunday, practice these techniques while creating paintings en plein air at Riverfront Park.

The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. The Frist Art Museum’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features interactive stations relating to Frist Art Museum exhibitions.

Information on accessibility can be found at www.FristArtMuseum.org/accessibility. Gallery admission is free for visitors 18 and younger and for members, $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and college students with ID, and $8 for active-duty and retired military. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings (with the exception of Frist Fridays), 5:00–9:00 p.m. Groups of 10 or more can receive discounts with advance reservations by calling 615.744.3247. The galleries, café, and gift shop are open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 1:00–5:30 p.m., with the café opening at noon. For additional information, call 615.244.3340 or visit FristArtMuseum.org.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has named Benjamin Filene as its new associate director of curatorial affairs as the museum engages in a strategic-planning process focused on public history and an audience-centered approach. Filene began his appointment Feb. 3.

The museum embarked on a strategic-planning process in November 2019 to shape how it will present history and engage with diverse audiences into 2030. The plan will be designed to guide the museum through one of the country’s most significant anniversaries – the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. With the vision of becoming the most accessible, inclusive, relevant and sustainable history institution in the nation, the museum is reaching out to the public with a bilingual (English/Spanish) national public survey asking for input.

Filene joins the museum from the North Carolina Museum of History, where he served as the chief curator, responsible for shaping the museum’s exhibition program and collections development. Before that, he was the director of public history and a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where he initiated projects that brought together students and community partners to collaborate on projects designed to engage the public with historical issues that had contemporary resonance. He served as the senior exhibition developer at the Minnesota History Center, one of the nation’s largest state history museums. Filene gained a global perspective from Fulbright Fellowship work with the Helsinki City Museum and the University of Helsinki, which further developed his goals to re-envision national museums to foster collective identity.

“A committed public historian, Benjamin Filene has devoted three decades to the museum field as a leading scholar, curator, exhibition developer and a professor and mentor to many,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the museum. “He is a true believer in museums, committed to ensuring that audiences see themselves reflected in history.”

With a doctorate in American Studies from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree with honors in American History from Brown University, Filene brings a broad portfolio to the museum as a public historian committed to creating and shaping new spaces for the intersection of history with contemporary issues. As a leading scholar, his role will be to support the museum’s intellectual foundation, expand the public’s access to the museum’s collections and lead a division of 140 curators, historians, conservators, archivists and collections managers and other experts such as registrars and digital record specialists.

As a respected scholar and accomplished exhibition developer, Filene envisions museums as places where people see themselves and each other. He looks forward to sharing his passion for creating an environment where “visitors can engage with the past and recognize that they have a stake in it.”

Filene co-edited Letting Go? Historical Authority in a User-Generated World, which included two of his essays along with those of other scholars addressing key questions of ownership, audience and interpretation. His award-winning book, Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2000, remains a seminal work.

Filene succeeds Catherine Eagleton who served in the position January 2017 through July 2019 and left to be director of museums at St. Andrews University in Scotland.

Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. It helps people understand the past in order to make sense of the present and shape a more humane future. The museum is located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th streets, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For more information, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.

• Semifinalists move on to a closed competition on Monday, February 24 for the chance to advance to the Grand Finals
• Finalists will then compete at the public Grand Finals Concert on the Met stage, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and conductor Bertrand de Billy, on Sunday, March 1
• Winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000 and invaluable exposure in the opera world

The 23 young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country’s leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Monday, February 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition—the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 1.

The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, now in their 66th season, are a potentially career-making opportunity for aspiring opera singers, given the reach of the auditions, the number of applicants, and the program’s long tradition.

The Met National Council Auditions have been crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt, Thomas Hampson, Stephanie Blythe, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, Eric Owens, Angela Meade, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Latonia Moore, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nadine Sierra, Jamie Barton, and Ryan Speedo Green. The competition gained international notoriety with the release of the 2008 feature-length documentary The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, which chronicled the 2007 National Council Auditions season and Grand Finals Concert.

This year’s semifinalists were chosen from more than 1,000 singers who participated in auditions held in 40 districts throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, and who then competed in the 12 regional finals. These auditions are sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council and administered by National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the country.

The semifinalists, ranging in age from 23 to 30, arrive at the Met on Saturday, February 22 to rehearse for the semifinals competition on Monday, February 24. The finalists of this event will then go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m., hosted by soprano Lisette Oropesa, who was a Grand Finals winner in the 2005 competition.

The 2020 semifinalists include ten sopranos, four mezzo-sopranos, one countertenor, three tenors, two baritones, two bass-baritones, and one bass.

The ten soprano semifinalists, along with the regions they represent in the competition and their hometowns, are:

• Erika Baikoff (Upper Midwest Region: New York, New York);
• Claire de Monteil (Middle Atlantic Region: Paris, France);
• Cara Gabrielson (Northwest Region: Portland, Oregon);
• Courtney Johnson (Eastern Region: Chesapeake, Virginia);
• Chasiti Lashay (Western Region: Houston, Texas);
• Jana McIntyre (Midwest Region: Santa Barbara, California);
• Whitney Morrison (New England Region: Chicago, Illinois);
• Alexandria Shiner (Middle Atlantic Region: Waterford, Michigan);
• Denis Vélez (Gulf Coast Region: Mexico City, Mexico) and
• Suzannah Waddington (Gulf Coast Region: West Palm Beach, Florida).

The four mezzo-sopranos competing in the semifinals are:

• Katherine Beck (Rocky Mountain Region: Bennington, Vermont);
• Gabrielle Beteag (Southeast Region: Lilburn, Georgia);
• Lindsay Kate Brown (Upper Midwest Region: Waterloo, New York);
• Katherine DeYoung (Great Lakes Region: Traverse City, Michigan).

The countertenor semifinalist is:

• Key’mon Murrah (Southeast Region: Louisville, Kentucky).

The three tenor semifinalists are:

• Jonah Hoskins (Rocky Mountain Region: Saratoga Springs, Utah);
• Joseph Leppek (Upper Midwest Region: Novi, Michigan); and
• Joshua Sanders (Eastern Region: Madison, Wisconsin).

The two baritone semifinalists are:

• Blake Denson (Midwest Region: Paducah, Kentucky) and
• Xiaomeng Zhang (New England Region: Wenzhou, China).

The two bass-baritone semifinalists are:

• Joel Allison (Central Region: Ottawa, Canada); and
• Ben Brady (Western Region, Denver, Colorado)

A bass rounds out the list of semifinalists:

• Brent Michael Smith (Middle Atlantic Region: Owosso, Michigan).

The finalists who advance to the Grand Finals will have a week of training with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for the Grand Finals Concert. Each finalist will sing two arias on the Met stage with conductor Bertrand de Billy leading the Met Orchestra. Tenor Javier Camarena will perform for the audience while the judges deliberate. Following the performance, the winners will be announced, each of whom will receive a cash prize of $15,000 and career-making exposure. Results will be posted to @MONCAuditions Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert are on sale now and may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at (212) 362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

The High Museum of Art today announced the appointment of Monica Obniski as its curator of decorative arts and design. Obniski currently serves as the Demmer curator of 20th- and 21st-century design at the Milwaukee Art Museum. She will join the High on March 16, 2020.

Obniski will oversee the decorative arts and design department, including related exhibitions and programs, as well as its collection of more than 2,300 objects dating from the 17th century to the present. These holdings include significant international contemporary design with works by Joris Laarman Lab, Jaime Hayon, Ron Arad and nendo, as well as the renowned Virginia Carroll Crawford Collection – the most comprehensive survey of 19th- and early 20th-century American decorative arts in the southeastern United States. Other significant works are represented in the Frances and Emory Cocke Collection of English ceramics, the Marjorie Eichenlaub West Collection of Meissen ceramics and the Museum’s extensive holdings of historical decorative arts from the southeastern United States. Obniski also will lead the High’s Piazza activations, a multiyear initiative that launched in 2014 to animate the Museum’s outdoor space with site-specific commissions that engage visitors of all ages in participatory art experiences.

“Monica is a forward-thinking curator with a proven track record of achievement organizing compelling exhibitions, creating new scholarship and building strong collections,” said Rand Suffolk, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director of the High. “These accomplishments, combined with her commitment to expanding the field and engaging diverse audiences, make her perfectly positioned to lead the continued growth of our decorative arts and design department.”

Added Kevin Tucker, the High’s chief curator, “We look forward to Monica joining the High’s team, knowing her efforts will enrich a program of true international significance and resonance with our region and communities. Considering the varied strengths of the Museum’s curatorial program, her collaborative nature, diverse expertise and interest in forging connections—including that between historical and contemporary design—makes her an exemplary choice for the position.”

Obniski earned a doctorate in art history, with specialization in architecture and design, from the University of Illinois at Chicago; a Master of Arts in history of decorative arts and design from the Bard Graduate Center; and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago.

Beginning her career in the American wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Obniski then served in the American art department at the Art Institute of Chicago from 2007 to 2014, including four years as assistant curator of American decorative arts. There she collaborated on special exhibitions including “Art and Appetite” (2013) and “Apostles of Beauty” (2009), completed several gallery installations and continued to build the collection.

Obniski joined the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2015, where she oversees an expanding collection of historical and contemporary design and manages an active exhibition program, including “Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980,” organized with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which begins its international tour this year. Other notable exhibition projects include “Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America” (2018) with the Denver Art Museum and “Jaime Hayon: Technicolor” (2017-18), which originated at the High. She reinstalled the Milwaukee Art Museum’s modern and contemporary design galleries for its November 2015 reopening, with a presentation geared toward audience engagement through traditional methods and new technologies. She also stewarded important acquisitions to build the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection.

As a design historian, Obniski has edited and contributed to many publications, including the catalogues for “Scandinavian Design and the United States,” “Currents 38: Christy Matson” and “Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America” (Milwaukee Art Museum). She lectures widely, has taught art and design history, and has received grants from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Center for Craft, among other institutions.

“I am excited to contribute to the High’s mission centered on diversity, inclusion and accessibility as well as build on the museum’s noteworthy decorative arts and design collection,” noted Obniski. “As a curator and historian who is committed to the discursive power of design, I look forward to connecting with Atlanta’s architecture and design communities and to convening conversations around meaningful topics.”

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs. Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 17,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper. The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process. For more information about the High, visit www.high.org.

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday, Feb. 11, to pass H.R. 1980. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), calls for the creation of a Smithsonian Women’s History Museum and includes cost-sharing language that is consistent with that used for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture—a 50/50 split of federal and private funds for the development and construction of a new museum. The bill must now pass through the Senate and then be signed by the President.

“With full support from Congress, the Smithsonian has proven adept at creating museums that paint a more comprehensive picture of the American experience,” said Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian. “We remain committed to that goal, and we look forward to working with Congress and supporters nationwide to illuminate the profound impact women have had on the American story.”

The Smithsonian is committed to recognizing and celebrating the stories of all Americans. If the legislation is enacted into law, the Smithsonian will use its resources and expertise to create a world-class museum dedicated to telling the stories of women’s contributions throughout American history.

In the meantime, the Smithsonian has used funds appropriated by Congress ($4 million) and privately raised funds to begin a robust program of exhibitions, public programs and research focusing on women’s contributions to American history. In 2018, the Smithsonian officially launched the American Women’s History Initiative—“Because of Her Story”—to document, research, collect and exhibit the stories of women who have helped shape America. To date the initiative has:

• Raised nearly $10 million toward the development of exhibitions, programs, educational material and digital content across the Smithsonian
• Hired four curators dedicated to women’s history, with five more curatorial positions pending
• Mentored 13 paid interns through the Because of Her Story Internship Program
• Published Smithsonian American Women, a book that offers a unique, panoramic look at women’s history through objects from the Smithsonian’s collections

The Frist Art Museum presents Mel Ziegler: Flag Exchange, an installation of fifty American flags—one from each state—suspended row after row from the ceiling. The exhibition invites consideration of the American flag as a symbol of national identity and ideals, and it will be on view in the Frist’s Upper-Level Galleries from March 13 through June 28, 2020. 

Mel Ziegler (b. 1956), the Paul E. Shwab Chair of Fine Arts Professor at Vanderbilt University, is renowned as a social and community engagement artist whose work seeks to foster discourse and the sharing of ideas relating to history, politics, and society. He divides his time between Nashville and rural Nebraska, where he is the founder and executive director of the Sandhills Institute, a grassroots organization dedicated to civically engaged art, in part by connecting local ranchers and farmers with artists around the world.

During his travels across the United States, Ziegler frequently saw the American flag on display in front of schools, homes, small businesses, construction sites, or simply alongside the road. Many were in poor condition—often ragged, faded, or torn. “Mel was intrigued that these expressions of national pride were kept on view by people who either couldn’t afford to replace them or in many cases hadn’t noticed or cared whether theirs had gotten shabby,” says Frist Art Museum Chief Curator Mark Scala. “And he wondered if their owners might be willing to trade theirs for a fresh new flag.”

So, from 2011 to 2016, in what Ziegler calls “inquisitive travels,” he visited all fifty states, with a supply of American flags, and offered to replace old flags with new ones, renewing people’s outdoor displays while acquiring the materials for the exhibition.

“Flag Exchange is simultaneously a physical installation, an expression of an idea, and a site for performance,” says Scala. “The flags themselves symbolize a nation that has survived tumult and stress.” Displayed in the gallery, the rows of flags create a dense spatial layering. “The effect is optically powerful, as the inherent beauty of the flags’ patterns is intensified through repetition and the irregularity of the damaged cloth,” says Scala.

Flag Exchange has been installed in large spaces, often surrounding or hanging behind a stage or podium. At the Frist, a stage will be part of the installation and may be used for speeches, readings, musical performances, and discussions about the relationship between people and their ideas of democracy. The overall experience is one in which the civic realm is re-imagined in an atmosphere committed to the respectful exchange of viewpoints.

The symbolism of frayed and worn flags in Flag Exchange raises questions about the capacity of the American experiment to be sustained through national triumphs and shortcomings, including our own time of extreme political divisiveness. Ziegler writes that when he started acquiring the flags, “I could have never known what the political climate in the United States might be like today. It seems rather significant and pertinent that this project should help develop open, unpartisan dialogue at a moment when it seems to be needed most.”

Throughout the process of gathering and showing the flags, Ziegler was careful to follow the dictates of the U.S. Flag Code regarding their proper handling and display. In thus demonstrating that respect for the flag should rise above partisanship, he hopes to inspire viewers to find common ground in the vision of indivisibility for which the flag stands.

“In the end, it is the act of collecting the flags—the openness and vulnerability of an artist who is keenly interested in interacting with people in all corners of the country—that will inspire the trust and enthusiasm of all participants as they work to find common ground in the meaning of the flag and the promise of the nation,” says Scala.

Mel Ziegler earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Ziegler has had solo exhibitions at such venues as Artpace, San Antonio; the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; the Canadian Center for Architecture, Montreal; Secession, Vienna; and the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. He has been a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard School of Design and a Visual Arts Fellow with Creative Capital and has received grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Ziegler’s work is held in many collections, including those of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; the Des Moines Art Center; the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the San Diego Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Public Programs

Artist’s Perspective: Mel Ziegler

• Friday, April 3
• 6:30 p.m., Frist Art Museum Auditorium
• Free; first come, first seated

From 2011 to 2016, Nashville artist Mel Ziegler periodically drove across the United States with a supply of new American flags. When he saw a flag that was faded, weathered, or frayed, he would offer to replace the old flag with a new one, renewing people’s outdoor displays while acquiring the materials for Flag Exchange. Ziegler says, “It is good that we renew and regenerate weathered flags. . . . Capturing them in this moment is what . . . gives them new meaning, new life.” During this lecture by the artist, learn more about Flag Exchange and his artistic practice, which is centered on social and community engagement.

Thursday, April 16

• In-Gallery Workshop
• The Star-Spangled Untangled: A Poetic Unfolding of the U.S. Flag presented by Ciona Rouse
• 7:00 p.m., Upper-Level Galleries
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members. Space is limited. Visit FristArtMuseum.org/flagpoems to register.

Poets have long used the symbolism of the flag in their poetry to wrestle with the many triumphs and complexities of U.S. history. In this workshop, we’ll confront and discern our relationship with the flag by discussing a select group of poems. The evening will end with guests creating their own written pieces in response to a prompt inspired by Mel Ziegler: Flag Exchange. No poetry background necessary.

Ciona Rouse is the author of the chapbook Vantablack. Her poetry has appeared in The Account, Talking River, Gabby Journal, Matter, and other publications. She is poetry editor of Wordpeace. Along with poet Kendra DeColo, Rouse hosts the literary podcast Re/VERB.

Thursday, May 21

• In-Gallery Performance: Free Speech—The Remix presented by the Free Speech Center, Middle Tennessee State University
• 7:00 p.m.
• Upper-Level Galleries
• Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members

Created and narrated by Ken Paulson (host of The Songwriters on PBS), Free Speech—The Remix tells the story of America’s social struggles and progress through pop, rock, gospel, soul, country, and hip-hop music. Join us for this celebration of songs that shaped America during this in-gallery musical performance in conjunction with the exhibition Mel Ziegler: Flag Exchange. In addition to serving as the founder and director of the Free Speech Center, Paulson is a current columnist and former editor-in-chief of USA Today.

Visit FristArtMuseum.org for additional information about public programs. Organized by the Frist Art Museum, in cooperation with Perrotin. The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

From 1994-2010, the Walker Art Center presented an annual month-long screening series featuring women directors, starting with a touring program “Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC): Homegirls”, which blossomed into the Walker’s very own “Women With Vision” (WWV) festival. This March, the Walker Art Center will celebrate the legacy and influence of these groundbreaking programs that both launched and inspired so many women directors from our region.

Celebrate the legacy and influence of the Walker’s Women with Vision programs, which supported female filmmakers and sought to bring their experiences and perspectives to the forefront. Celebrated international directors screened side by side with local artists at all stages of their careers. Two past participants, Melody Gilbert and Kelly Nathe, guest curate and pay tribute to this era of film programming, largely helmed by Senior Curator Sheryl Mousley.

“My indie filmmaking career kicked off in 2002 when Sheryl Mousley selected my first indie doc Married at the Mall to screen at the Walker in the Women with Vision program. I was so honored, and I know there are so many other women in our region who came up through this program just like me. Finding those filmmakers and having a reunion as well as celebrating the up-and-coming women filmmakers of today are reasons why I wanted to guest curate this program with Kelly Nathe. We both had life-changing experiences by screening films at the Walker, and we wanted to find out what happened to the others. And with the Academy Awards leaving women off the best director list again, we thought now would be a good time to do this.” —Melody Gilbert

The four-day program includes shorts screenings, on-stage conversations, introductions of new films by emerging local directors and a celebratory reception.

“I have always believed that filmmaking is women’s work. When I came to the Walker in 1998, I took on the annual film program that had started in 1994 called “Women in the Director’s Chair” which had a local sidebar called “Homegirls.” I turned the program into Walker’s “Women With Vision” film festival, always keeping the local filmmakers at the center,” states Sheryl Mousley, Senior Curator, Moving Image. “After my eleven years with the festival, and only when a woman, Katherine Bigelow, in 2010 finally won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director, did I hear the shout, “We’ve won!” While ending the series on a high note, I vowed to continue showing women filmmakers at Walker throughout all our programs. I am proud to say that 25% of the Walker Dialogues are women, and the year-round cinema program continues to give voice to local filmmakers and celebrate the legacy and influence of women in international cinema. I am proud of all the Minnesota filmmakers who have shown their films at Walker. It is a wonderful history and confirmation of home-based talent.”

“My very first short film, Rock-n-Roll Girlfriend, screened in the WIDC: Homegirls program back in 1995 when I was still a student, and I can’t begin to explain how much my inclusion in the program meant to me back then. It remains a badge of honor to this day! I’ve always wondered what happened to all the women who started here. Where did they end up and how did the Walker program that focused on women directors shape their careers? Melody Gilbert and I were co-chairs of Film Fatales in Minnesota, an international organization of women and non-binary directors of feature films, and we both pondered that question and decided to go on a journey together to find these women as well as celebrate the emerging filmmakers in our region.” adds Kelly Nathe

Women with Vision: Then and Now
Guest curated by Melody Gilbert and Kelly Nathe
Thursday–Sunday, March 12–15

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Film Fatales Presents: New MN Shorts Showcase
Post-screening conversation with Film Fatales
Thursday, March 12, 7 pm
Walker Cinema, Free

Enjoy a sampling of recent works directed by MN women and selected by Film Fatales, a national organization of women and non-binary filmmakers advocating for intersectional parity in the film industry. The evening’s screening is followed by an onstage conversation led by Film Fatales about making the leap to feature filmmaking in our region.

• Film Fatales Twin Cities Reel, 10 min
• Santuario, Christine Delp & Pilar Timpane, 3 min. (excerpt)
• A Winter Love, Rhiana Yazzie, 4 min. (excerpt)
• Master Servant, Julie Anne Koehnen, 3 min. (excerpt)
• North Side Boxing Club, Carrie Bush and Amanda Becker, 3 min.
• Peeled, Naomi Ko, 2 min.
• Muslim Sheroes of MN: Nimo Omar, Ariel Tilson, 4 min. (excerpt)
• The Coyote Way, Missy Whiteman, 4 min. (trailer)
• Oh My Stars, Cynthia Uhrich, 3 min. (excerpt)
• Happily Married After, Alison Guessou, 3 min. (excerpt)
• Little Men, Ayesha Adu, 3 min. (excerpt)
• Untitled Hmong Doc, Joua Lee Grande, 3 min. (excerpt)
• Underground, Beth Peloff, 3 min.
• Self-Creation, Shelby Dillon, 5 min.
• Jasmine Star, Jo Rochelle, 5 min. (excerpt)

Total run time: approximately 60 min.

Secret Screening
Directed by Laura Gabbert
Post-screening conversation with Amy Thielen
Friday, March 13, 7 pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker members, students, and seniors)

Women with Vision alumna and Minnesota native Laura Gabbert (City of Gold) returns to the Walker for a sneak peek of her latest documentary, which follows a master chef and the creation of spectacular desserts. Stay for a conversation with the director, led by James Beard Award–winning chef and writer Amy Thielen (The New Midwestern Table) after the screening.

Amy Thielen is a two-time James Beard Award-winning food writer. She’s the author of two books—The New Midwestern Table, and the memoir Give a Girl a Knife–and her next book, a radically casual entertaining cookbook, will come out in the fall of 2020 from W.W. Norton. She was the host of Heartland Table on Food Network, and before that, spent seven years working as a line cook in the New York City fine dining scene—a job from which she’s been in recovery for twelve years and counting. She lives with her husband, visual artist Aaron Spangler, and their son in rural northern Minnesota.

Directors on Stage: A Conversation
Saturday, March 14, Free
Walker Cinema, 2 pm

A conversation with Minnesota directors who emerged through the Women with Vision programs, presented with selected clips from their early and current work. Guest curators and directors Melody Gilbert and Kelly Nathe will moderate a panel of filmmakers including Laura Gabbert, Gayle Knutson, Jila Nikpay, and Thalia Drori Ramirez.

A Celebration of Women with Vision
Saturday, March 14, Free
Walker Cinema, 7 pm

A screening of short films reunites these regional directors featured in Women with Vision festivals. Stay for a celebratory gathering and reception honoring the service and influence of Senior Curator of Moving Image Sheryl Mousley.

• differences, Lu Lippold, Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) 1994, 1 min.
• Three, Cheryl Wilgren Clyne, Women with Vision (WWV) 2006, 3 min.
• Wednesday’s Child, Mary Ahman, WIDC 1994, 15 min.
• Mulching Blade, Michele Lepsche, WIDC 1995, 8 min.
• Gaze, Eleanor Savage, WWV 2002, 3 min.
• Ramona, Kella (Prill) Alam, WIDC 1995, 7 min.
• sHe hEr heR, Tomoko Oguchi, WIDC 1999, 3 min.
• Shroud and Torrent, Jila Nikpay, WWV 2004, 6 min.
• Rebel in Soul, Marie-Francoise Theodore, WWV 2003, 13 min.
• Corporate Sponsorship Parade, Thalia Drori, WIDC 1998, 3 min.
• Venus of Mars, Emily Goldberg, WWV 2002, 7 min. (trailer)

Video and film transfers courtesy Augsburg University Department of Communication Studies, Film, and New Media. Special thanks to Professor Jenny Hanson, Director of Film and New Media, Augsburg University.

Women with Vision in the Mediatheque
Sunday, March 15, 11:30 am–4:30 pm Free
Bentson Mediatheque

A daylong program of select films originally featured in the Walker’s Women with Vision programs. Women in the Director’s Chair programs are noted with WIDC and Women with Vision programs are noted with WWV.

11:30 am

• This is Destiny, Shelli Ainsworth, WIDC 1996, 21 min.

12 noon

• Rock and Roll Girlfriend, Kelly Nathe, WIDC 1995, 10 min.
• Happy are the Happy, Sarah Jane Lapp & Jenny Perlin, WWV 2000, 18 min.

12:30 pm

• Married at the Mall, Melody Gilbert, WWV 2002, 55 min.

1:30 pm

• Mother Logic, Liza Davitch, WIDC 1995, 26 min.

2 pm

• Grandfather’s Birthday, Gayle Knutson, WWV 2000, 17 min.
• C. Beck, Deb Wallwork, WWV 2009, 9min.

2:30 pm

• Indian Princess Demystified, Lorraine Norrgard, WIDC 1999, 26 min.

3 pm

• Birth Stories, Lu Lippold, WIDC 1995, 27 min.

3:30 pm

• Moving in a Mirror, Joanna Kohler, WWV 2006, 35 min.
• What’s with the Hijab, Barbara Weiner, WWV 2004, 12 min.

Video and film transfers courtesy Augsburg University Department of Communication Studies, Film, and New Media. Special thanks to Professor Jenny Hanson, Director of Film and New Media, Augsburg University.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) held the opening of MassArt Art Museum (MAAM), Boston’s newest, free contemporary art museum this past weekend. MAAM will offer an accessible contemporary art experience for all, partnering with emerging and established artists to bring diverse perspectives to Boston. As a teaching museum, MAAM will educate MassArt students about the professional museum field and bring inspirational and aspirational exhibitions to campus.

After extensive renovations, MAAM opened in the space formerly known as the Bakalar & Paine Galleries at the heart of MassArt‘s campus on the Avenue of the Arts. MAAM will be a kunsthalle, or non-collecting museum, showing temporary exhibitions that feature the work of emerging and established artists to bring fresh, diverse perspectives to Boston. As MassArt’s teaching museum, MAAM will be a resource for MassArt students and faculty, educating students about contemporary art, partnering with faculty to support the curriculum, and preparing students for careers in the museum field. As an extension of the College’s public mission, the Museum will also be a vital resource to the community, offering a pathway to education in the arts and free, unique educational programming to Boston-area public schools and community groups. Always free, MAAM will be open year-round to the public. (To learn more visit maam.massart.edu.)

MAAM’s inaugural exhibitions will feature the U.S. solo premiere of internationally-renowned artist Joana Vasconceles; a group exhibition titled Game Changers: Video Games & Contemporary Art; and a site-specific installation by artist duo Ghost of a Dream.

Inaugural Exhibitions

Joana Vasconcelos: Valkyrie Mumbet (On View: February 22 – August 2, 2020)

To mark the grand opening of MAAM, Vasconcelos’ new Valkyrie commission, Valkyrie Mumbet, honors a courageous American – Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman – the first woman of African descent to sue for her freedom in Massachusetts and win, starting the chain of events that helped make slavery illegal in Massachusetts. The work is tailored to fit exclusively in the MAAM space, highlighting the myriad possibilities of the new gallery’s 37 foot high ceiling and 40 foot wide second level art viewing balcony. These distinctive architectural attributes will allow visitors to see the work from different vantage points – beneath the sculpture from the gallery floor, and from over 20 feet high from the balcony.

Game Changers: Video Games & Contemporary Art (On View: February 22 – April 19, 2020)

The Game Changers: Video Games & Contemporary Art exhibition features works by a group of artists (Paloma Dawkins, Cao Fei, Tracey Fullerton, Dan Hernandez, Nyamakop, MassArt professor Juan Obando, Momo Pixel, Skawennati and Brent Watanabe) who are creating at the confluence of contemporary art and video games.

Ghost Of A Dream: Yesterday Is Here (On View: February 22, 2020 – February 28, 2021)

For the grand opening of the MassArt Art Museum (MAAM), artist collective Ghost of a Dream will transform the new lobby with a site-specific installation titled Yesterday is Here. Ghost of a Dream‘s artwork centers on people’s hopes and dreams, and is made from the ephemera they create in pursuit of those aspirations. In Yesterday is Here, the collective uses the past to imagine a new future for the Museum; the duo has cut up, combined, and spliced together images from over 30 years of exhibition catalogs and announcements from the MassArt Bakalar & Paine Galleries, to create a kaleidoscopic look through the history of the Galleries and create an experience that speaks to MAAM’s future.

“MAAM strives to showcase artists at all stages of their careers – from emerging to established – as well as diverse contemporary art practices,” said Lisa Tung, Executive Director of the museum. “MAAM is committed to educating and empowering the next generation of artists, both on campus and throughout the world.”

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) is a public, independent institution that prepares artists, designers, and educators to shape communities, economies, and cultures for the common good. Since 1873, MassArt has built a legacy of leadership as the first freestanding public college of art and design in the country, and the nation’s first art school to grant a degree. MassArt offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, and art education, taught by world-class faculty.

The Exhibition Features Quilts And Wall Hangings By The Artist That Showcase Her Expressive And Narrative Approach To Quiltmaking.

A new exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum presents colorful quilts and wall hangings made by artist Pauline Parker (1915-2013), who used fabric and stitching as a platform for storytelling.

Opening March 20, 2020, The Quilts of Pauline Parker features more than thirty objects that showcase her expressive approach to quiltmaking, illustrating how Parker transformed a traditionally domestic craft into one that highlighted current events, historical and Biblical figures, and her own travels and experiences.

“Parker’s works are a wonderful result of her training as a painter, her exquisite eye for pattern, and her ability to create beautifully cohesive compositions from disparate parts,” said Margaret Andera, Curator of Contemporary Art. “The Milwaukee Art Museum has a long and rich history of presenting quilt exhibitions, dating back to the 1930s, and we are pleased to continue that tradition by presenting the work of this talented artist.”

Parker studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but her work in fabric began in Wisconsin, where she moved upon retirement. She initially worked with traditional patterns and used techniques she had learned from her mother and aunts, before expanding her subject matter, stitching more freely and exploring a less traditional approach to quiltmaking.

Many of Parker’s narrative quilts, or “fabric collages” as she termed them, resemble paintings in their construction, use of perspective and three-dimensionality. Each quilt was inspired by a personal experience, a poem or a misprinted piece of fabric, which could often lay the groundwork for a story. The artist layered fabrics and materials, including netting, buttons and shells, to build her compositions. Parker made the more than thirty fabric collages featured in the exhibition between the late 1980s and early 2000s.

The Quilts of Pauline Parker runs from March 20 through July 19, 2020, in the Bradley Family Gallery, and is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and curated by Margaret Andera, Curator of Contemporary Art.

The McCombe and Pfeifer Families and the Gottlob Armbrust Family Fund in Memory of Helen Louise Pfeifer is the Presenting Sponsor of this exhibition. The Milwaukee Art Museum’s Garden Club is the Contributing Sponsor.

Exhibitions are made possible by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Visionaries: Debbie and Mark Attanasio, Donna and Donald Baumgartner, John and Murph Burke, Sheldon and Marianne Lubar, Joel and Caran Quadracci, Sue and Bud Selig and Jeff Yabuki and the Yabuki Family Foundation.

Programming

Gallery Talks

• Tues, 1:30 p.m.
• March 24, April 28, May 12
• With Margaret Andera, Curator of Contemporary Art
• Free with Museum admission, free for Members

Gallery Talk with Special Guest

• Thurs, March 19, 6:15 p.m.
• Discover the stories behind the works in the exhibition during this in-gallery conversation with the artist’s daughter, Margaret Parker, and Margaret Andera, Curator of Contemporary Art.

Stitch 2-Gather

• Sun, 1-4 p.m.

• March 22, March 29, April 5
• East End
• Bring your sewing project to the East End to sew and socialize with (and get tips from!) the guest artist. Museum admission is not required.

“Jitish Kallat: Return to Sender” March 13–June 28, 2020

The Frist Art Museum presents Return to Sender, an exhibition of immersive installations created by the celebrated Indian artist Jitish Kallat. The dramatic works, which engage both mind and body, are inspired by historic messages that reveal the best and worst of humanity. The exhibition will be on view in the Frist’s Upper-Level Galleries from March 13 through June 28, 2020.

Jitish Kallat is a Mumbai native who produces installations, paintings, photographs, and sculptures that often recall historic acts of speech. Return to Sender brings together two works based on missives: Kallat’s widely exhibited work titled Covering Letter (2012), which was selected for India’s pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), and a new project called Covering Letter (terranum nuncius) (2019). “Kallat’s explorations of the epistolary mode are well suited to our museum as our building is the former main post office of Nashville,” says Frist Art Museum Curator Trinita Kennedy. “From here countless letters have been sent and received.”

Covering Letter is a haunting interactive digital projection of a 1939 typewritten letter from Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler, sent just a few weeks before the outbreak of World War II. The letter is seen on a curtain of traversable dry-fog in the dark. “Gandhi makes a radical appeal for peace, anticipating the brutal bloodshed that the impending war would unleash,” says Kennedy. In the spirit of his doctrine of universal friendship, Gandhi uses the salutation “Dear Friend…” and urges Hitler to resist “reducing humanity to a savage state.” Visitors walk through the screen of descending mist, simultaneously inhabiting and dissipating the moving text. Kallat describes the letter as “a space for self-reflection; a petition from one of the greatest proponents of peace to one of the most violent individuals who ever lived. It can also be read as an open letter from the past destined to carry its message into our turbulent present, well beyond its delivery date and intended recipient.” Kennedy hopes the work will have special resonance in Nashville. “This exhibition marks the first time that Covering Letter has been exhibited in the American South, a place where Gandhi’s ideas about of nonviolent resistance were a vital part of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Covering Letter (terranum nuncius) commemorates and reinvokes the Golden Record, sent as time capsules aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes launched by NASA in 1977. For those expeditions, select sounds, music, and images were placed on two gold-plated phonographic records with the intent to represent life on Earth to any extraterrestrial discoverer. Currently located over 13 billion miles away from planet Earth, they are expected to continue their cosmic journey well beyond the probable extinction of our species and our planet.

Upon entering this installation, visitors will hear a chorus of humanity greeting the universe in 55 languages. There is a projection of a map indicating Earth’s position in our solar system and a large round table with over a hundred images printed on parallax lenses, which are illuminated by lights that pulsate at the rate of human breath. The images, drawn from the Golden Record, include scientific and cosmological diagrams, representations of our genetic makeup and anatomy, as well as other life forms, and architecture, often annotated with measurements. “This is an epic presentation of Earth to an unknown other,” says Kennedy. At a time when we find ourselves in a deeply divided world, Kallat foregrounds these sounds and images for a collective meditation on ourselves as united residents of a single planet.

In Covering Letter (terranum nuncius) there is also a bench shaped like the hands of the Doomsday Clock. This symbolic clock, updated annually by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, represents a hypothetical human-made global catastrophe as midnight, and the proximity of the world to apocalypse as a number of minutes or seconds to twelve. “The Golden Record’s presentation of unity and harmony among earthlings is belied by the actual state of the world,” says Kennedy. “The reality is that our planet hangs in the balance through circumstances of our own making, and the clock bench is an ominous metaphor that differs from the euphoria and optimism associated with the midnight on occasions such as New Year’s Eve.” Woven into the hour are humankind’s worst fears and greatest hopes.

This exhibition marks the first time that Kallat’s two Covering Letter installations will be shown together. Exhibited in darkened galleries and open ended in meaning, they are intended to provoke contemplations of our world and the universe.

Born in India in 1974, Kallat has exhibited his work widely across the world in contexts such as galleries, museums, and biennials. In 2017, the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) presented a mid-career retrospective of his work titled Here After Here, 1992–2017, curated by Catherine David. Kallat has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Bhau Daji Lad Museum (Mumbai), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other museums.

He has exhibited widely, at Martin-Gropius-Bau (Berlin), the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Serpentine Galleries (London), Tate Modern (London), the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Spain), and other institutions. His work has been part of the Asian Art Biennial, the Asia Pacific Triennial, the Curitiba Biennial, the Gwangju Biennale, the Havana Biennial, the Kyiv Biennial, and the Venice Biennale, among others. Kallat also served as the curator and artistic director of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale’s second edition, in 2014.

Public Programs

Thursday, March 12

Artist’s Perspective: Jitish Kallat

6:30 p.m., Frist Art Museum Auditorium

Free; first come, first seated

Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat will share a cross section of his work, exploring the many processes, themes, and ideas that recur throughout his wide-ranging artistic practice. Kallat’s works often engage with the ideas of time, transience, sustenance, the ecological, and the cosmological. These explorations take the form of investigative animation videos, photo-works, paintings, sculptures, and elemental drawings that participate in atmospheric phenomena such as wind and rain. In works such as Covering Letter (2012), which will be on view at the Frist, a historic moment is invoked, prompting a contemplation on our present by mediating it through the past. This artist-talk may unfold into a dialogue, as a Q&A session will follow Kallat’s lecture.

Thursday, April 16

Gallery Talk Presented by Dyer Observatory

6:30 p.m.

Frist Art Museum Upper-Level Galleries and Turner Courtyard

Free to members; admission required for not-yet-members

Join Vanderbilt University’s Dyer Observatory staff to learn more about the Golden Records and the Voyager 1 and 2 projects that inspired Jitish Kallat’s Covering Letter (terranum nuncius). If clear skies permit, the Dyer staff will also offer telescope viewings of our closest planetary neighbor, Venus, after the talk.

Outshone only by the sun and moon in our sky, Venus owes its brilliance to its proximity to Earth and to its highly reflective clouds, which unceasingly and completely obscure its surface. As Venus orbits the sun within our orbit, one may observe it going through a complete set of phases, much as the moon does. Since late 2019, Venus has appeared in the western sky after sunset as the “evening star.” This April and May, Venus will sport a gorgeous crescent phase that you can easily see with a small telescope or pair of binoculars.

Dyer Observatory is a Vanderbilt University facility dedicated to inspiring students and the public in science through the wonders of astronomy and space exploration. Surrounded by scenic Radnor Lake State Park and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Dyer’s telescopes have pointed toward the sky since 1953.

Exhibition Credit: Organized by the Frist Art Museum

Supporter Acknowledgment

Silver Supporter: The Sandra Schatten Foundation

The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Connect with @FristArtMuseum #FristKallat

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to announce the 2020-21 recipients of VMFA fellowships. Twenty-six students and professional artists were selected from more than 500 applicants to receive a total of $146,000 towards professional advancements in the arts. The VMFA Fellowship Program has awarded more than $5.8 million to over 1,395 artists since 1940. Recipients must be Virginia residents and may use the award as desired, including for education and studio investments. Each year, professional curators and working artists serve as jurors to select fellowship recipients.

“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Program is proud to support student and professional artists working across the Commonwealth,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA director and CEO. “We offer one of the largest fellowship programs of its kind in the United States and recognize this effort as a core part of our mission.”

Fellowship Recipients

VMFA awarded ten professional fellowships of $8,000 each this year. Professional fellowship recipients are:

• Paul Finch, New & Emerging Media, Richmond;
• Emma Gould, Photography, Richmond;
• Sterling Hundley, Drawing, Chesterfield;
• Sue Johnson, Mixed Media, Richmond;
• Abigail Lucien, Sculpture, Richmond;
• Margaret Meehan, Sculpture, Richmond;
• David Riley, Film/Video, Richmond;
• Dash Shaw, Drawing, Richmond;
• Jon-Philip Sheridan, New & Emerging Media, Richmond; and
• Susan Worsham, Photography, Richmond.

Veronica Roberts, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Blanton Museum of Art, was the juror for the professional fellowship entries.

Undergraduate fellowships of $4,000 went to ten students this year. The recipients are:

• Tatyana Bailey, Photography, Virginia Commonwealth Univeristy (VCU), Richmond;
• Emma Carlson, Film/Video, VCU, Des Moines, IA;
• Nicolas Fernandez, Photography, VCU, Fredericksburg;
• Erika Masis Laverde, Mixed Media, VCU, Glen Allen;
• Amuri Morris, Painting, VCU, Richmond;
• Megan O’Casey, Mixed Media, VCU, Arlington;
• Zoe Pettit, Mixed Media, VCU, Mechanicsville;
• Sarah N. Smith, Sculpture, VCU, Williamsburg;
• Nadya Steare, Drawing, George Mason University (GMU), Falls Church; and;
• Elizabeth Yoo, New & Emerging Media, VCU, Glen Allen.

Gayle Paul, curator at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, was the juror for the undergraduate fellowship entries.

Five graduate students were awarded $6,000 each this year. The recipients are:

• Kelvin Parnell, Art History, University of Virginia (UVA), Charlottesville;
• Katie Revilla, Crafts, VCU, Richmond;
• Aniko Safran, Photography, James Madison University (JMU), Harrisonburg;
• Abed Elmajid Shalabi, Sculpture, VCU, Richmond; and
• Dennis Wymer, Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Mouth of Wilson.

Katelyn D. Crawford, PhD and the William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, and Gayle Paul, curator at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, were the jurors for the graduate fellowship entries.

The Cy Twombly Graduate Fellowship, which honors the renowned Virginia artist and two-time VMFA Fellowship winner, was inaugurated into the VMFA Fellowship Program last year. The award is supported by the McClintock Endowment. This year’s awardee is Gary Abbott, a graduate student studying New and Emerging Media at Hollins University.

The Fellowship Program was established in 1940 with a generous contribution made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg. Offered through the VMFA Statewide Program, fellowships are still largely funded through the Pratt Endowment and supplemented with gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J. Warwick McClintic Jr. Scholarship Fund. In addition to providing financial rewards to all recipients, VMFA exhibits works by past fellowship winners in VMFA’s Amuse Restaurant and Claiborne Robertson Room, VMFA’s Pauley Center Galleries and select spaces at Richmond International Airport. Several past and present fellowship recipients have also shown their work in the galleries of the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and the Capital One Commons in Richmond.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret art and to encourage the study of the arts. Through its Statewide Program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences, and workshops by visual and performing artists.

In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 6,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass nearly 50,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, the finest collection of Art Nouveau outside of Paris, and one of the nation’s finest collections of American art. VMFA is also home to important collections of Chinese art, English silver, French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, British sporting and modern and contemporary art, as well as renowned South Asian, Himalayan, and African art. In May 2010, VMFA opened its doors to the public after a transformative expansion, the largest in its history.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is the only art museum in the United States open 365 days a year with free general admission. For additional information, telephone 804.340.1400 or visit www.VMFA.museum.com.

In Fall 2020, A Lifetime Retrospective Dedicated To Jasper Johns Will Be Presented Simultaneously In New York And Philadelphia

In an unprecedented collaboration, this major exhibition is jointly organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

October 28, 2020–February 21, 2021

#JasperJohns

The most ambitious retrospective to date of the work of Jasper Johns, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, will be presented simultaneously in New York and Philadelphia this fall. A single exhibition in two venues, this unprecedented collaboration, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, will be the artist’s first major museum retrospective on the East Coast in nearly a quarter century. It opens concurrently in Philadelphia and in New York on October 28, 2020. Visitors who attend the exhibition at one venue will enjoy half-price adult admission at the other when presenting their ticket. And throughout the duration of the exhibition, members of each institution will receive free admission at both venues. (Additional details will be available at whitney.org and philamuseum.org.)

Filling almost 30,000 combined square feet across the two venues, the exhibition will contain nearly 500 works. It is the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to Johns, creating an opportunity to highlight not only his well-known masterpieces but also many works that have never been exhibited publicly. Conceived around the principles of mirroring and doubling that have long been a focus of the artist’s work, this two-part exhibition, which follows a loose chronological order from the 1950s to the present, offers an innovative curatorial model for a monographic survey. It will chronicle Johns’s accomplishments across many mediums—including paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, working proofs, and monotypes—and highlight the complex relationships among them.

Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director, commented, “We are delighted to present this unique retrospective together with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an important occasion for both museums, which have had connections with the artist going back decades. The Whitney has been collecting and showing Johns since the 1960s and we are thrilled to honor his ninetieth birthday in 2020, which also marks the ninetieth anniversary of the Whitney’s founding. Enigmatic, poetic, rich, and profoundly influential, Johns’s work is always ripe for reexamination.”

“Given the crucial place that Jasper Johns holds in the art of our time, this collaboration enables our two museums, together, to examine the artist’s vision in all its multiplicity and depth,” added Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and CEO, Philadelphia Museum of Art. “The Philadelphia Museum of Art has long dedicated a gallery to the display of Johns’s work, which, given his admiration of Cézanne and Duchamp, richly resonates with our collection. Along with our colleagues at the Whitney, we hope to introduce a new generation of visitors in our respective cities to the exceptional achievements of this artist over the course of a career that now spans nearly seven decades.”

Jasper Johns (b. Augusta, Georgia, 1930) grew up in South Carolina where he pursued an interest in art at an early age. He attended the University of South Carolina before moving to New York in 1948, and briefly attended Parsons School of Design. For two years he served in the army and was stationed in South Carolina and Japan. He returned to New York in 1953, where he met Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham, with whom he would famously collaborate. His work has been the subject of numerous retrospectives and solo shows, including Jasper Johns: A Retrospective at the Jewish Museum (1964), Jasper Johns at the Whitney (1977), Jasper Johns: Works Since 1974 at the PMA (1988–89, which traveled to the Venice Biennale, where Johns was awarded the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement), Jasper Johns: A Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1996–97, the last comprehensive East Coast survey), and most recently Jasper Johns: ‘Something Resembling Truth’ at the Royal Academy, London, and The Broad, Los Angeles (2017–18). The innovative collaboration and structure of the Whitney and PMA’s retrospective distinguishes it from these previous shows and will account not only for the complexity and originality of Johns’s body of work at a new scale, but also will seek to test some of the conventional perceptions of it.

Since the early 1950s, Jasper Johns (b. 1930) has produced a radical and varied body of work distinguished by constant reinvention. In his twenties, Johns created his now-canonical Flag (1954–55), which challenged the dominance of Abstract Expressionism by integrating abstraction and representation through its direct, though painterly, deadpan visual power. His works have continued to pose similar paradoxes—between cognition and perception, image and object, painting and sculpture—and have explored new approaches to abstraction and figuration that have opened up perspectives for several generations of younger artists. Over the course of his career, he has tirelessly pursued an innovative body of work that includes painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, books, and the design of sets and costumes for the stage.

The exhibition is conceived as a unified whole, comprising two autonomous parts, and is co-curated by two longtime scholars who each has a close relationship with the artist: Carlos Basualdo, The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the PMA, and Scott Rothkopf, Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator at the Whitney. Basualdo noted, “We attempted to create an exhibition that echoes the logic of Johns’s work, and it is structured in a mimetic relation to his practice. Galleries at each venue will serve as cognates, echoes, and inversions of their counterparts at the other, allowing viewers to witness and experience the relationships between continuity and change, fragment and whole, singularity and repetition which Johns has used throughout his career to renew and transform his work.”

Rothkopf said, “One of our primary aims was to revivify the incredible sense of daring and discovery at the heart of Johns’s art. He stunned the establishment as a young man but continues to astonish audiences with surprising new ideas as he nears ninety. Surveying the whole of his career, we see an artist propelled by curiosity, constantly challenging himself—and all of us.”

The full breadth of the exhibition will offer visitors an opportunity to appreciate not only Johns’s most iconic paintings and sculptures but also his works on paper, which represent some of the most inventive prints and drawings created during the past fifty years. The structure of the exhibition will open a window onto the beauty, meaning, and remarkable artistic order that organizes Johns’s work. Inspired by the artist’s fascination with mirroring, symmetry, reversals, and doubles, the exhibition’s two halves will mirror one another. The retrospective is divided between the two venues, with pairs of related galleries designed to illuminate a different aspect of Johns’s thought and work through a specific methodological lens, whether by spotlighting themes, processes, images, mediums, and even emotional states.

For example, one pair of galleries will explore the effect of specific places and communities on Johns’s art, with a room at the PMA devoted to his formative time in Japan and one at the Whitney focused on South Carolina, where he spent part of his childhood and later worked as a young adult. Other pairs of galleries will re-create exhibitions Johns staged at the Leo Castelli gallery in 1960 and 1968, respectively, and highlight his groundbreaking use of found motifs, as seen in a gallery at the Whitney devoted to his Flags and Maps and another at the PMA focused on his recurrent fascination with numbers. The unique double-venue framework aims to challenge the traditional format of the retrospective as a unified overarching and univocal narrative, providing an alternative model for tracing the arc of an artist’s lifework.

Drawing significantly on its collection of 215 works by Johns, the Whitney’s display will occupy the entirety of its 18,000-square-foot, fifth-floor Neil Bluhm Family Galleries, the building’s largest contiguous exhibition space, and the adjacent Kaufman Gallery. The Whitney’s installation will consist of more than 250 objects from domestic and international public and private collections, including nearly fifty works from the artist’s own collection, many of which are largely unknown to the public. At the Whitney, a progression of approximately eleven galleries will track the artist’s surprising evolution, with each gallery custom-built to create dramatic installations that emphasize specific aspects of Johns’s thought. One highlight will be a gallery of his early Flags and Maps, organized as a stately faceoff between examples in color and those in black-and-white to evoke powerful associations about a divided United States. To accompany the Whitney’s own Three Flags, 1958—one of the icons of the Whitney Museum’s collection—many extraordinary loans have been secured for the occasion, including White Flag, 1955 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); Flag on Orange Field, 1957 (Museum Ludwig, Cologne), and Flags, 1965 (artist’s collection, on long-term loan to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis). The gallery will also reunite Johns’s three monumental Map paintings from the early 1960s for the first time in more than twenty years.

Another gallery will reveal Johns’s unique approach to printmaking through a suite of fifteen large-scale Savarin monotypes, which find him exploring variations on image and palette to astonishing effect. Taking advantage of the Whitney’s signature views, another gallery will feature Johns’s recent sculptures bathed in natural light against the panoramic sweep of the Hudson River. Other major loans include the pivotal According to What, 1964 (private collection, on long-term loan to the PMA), the subject of an entire gallery; Device, 1961–62 (Dallas Museum of Art); and Montez Singing, 1989 (private collection), a celebrated painting indicative of the artist’s 1980s style—all three works have not been on view in New York since 1996–97. A gallery exploring Johns’s recent work will feature one of his largest works in the last decade, Regrets, 2013 (private collection). Acting as a mirror between the two venues, an edition of Johns’s landmark sculpture of two Ballantine ale cans, Painted Bronze, 1960, will appear at each venue—the Whitney’s from the artist’s collection and the PMA’s from Museum Ludwig, Cologne.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s equally comprehensive display will be spread across eleven rooms in the Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries and adjoining Korman Galleries. It will feature approximately 250 works by the artist from both public and private collections in the US and abroad, including approximately sixty works from the artist’s collection, many of which have never been exhibited to the public before. Upon entering the installation visitors will be confronted by Flag, 1954–55 (Museum of Modern Art), Johns’s earliest extant flag painting, an undisputable masterpiece of contemporary art and among the most influential images ever produced by an American artist. Flag will be followed by a gallery of the artist’s groundbreaking early works, including Painting with Two Balls, 1960 (collection of the artist), Fool’s House, 1961–62 (private collection), and Device, 1962 (Baltimore Museum of Art). A gallery dedicated to the artist’s treatment of numbers, a signature motif Johns has explored throughout his career, will feature a suite of four large paintings on the theme of 0 through 9, made between 1960 and 1961, photographs by the Italian artist Ugo Mulas of Johns’s masterful drawing 0 through 9, and the extraordinary set of color lithographs that Johns produced in 1969. Among the extraordinary loans to Philadelphia will be Untitled, 1972 (Museum Ludwig, Cologne), a key work, which has not traveled since 1996 and will be the focus of an entire gallery. Philadelphia will devote a section of the show to exploring Johns’s enduring relationship with Japan and Japanese culture, which dates to his Army service there in 1953 and further developed during return visits in 1964 and 1966. This section will include works that he made in Japan, such as Watchman, 1964 (The Broad), and the two existing versions of Souvenir (collection of the artist) and Souvenir 2 (private collection), both of 1964, as well as works by Japanese artists in Johns’s collection.

Echoing the Whitney’s presentation of Savarin monotypes, a gallery in Philadelphia will be dedicated to a captivating display of working proofs related to the print Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue), and another Untitled print, both from the 1990s, illuminating the artist’s daring experimentation. A gallery of recent work will feature Johns’s extraordinary 5 Postcards, 2011 (private collection), and Untitled, 2018 (private collection), based on a photograph of a soldier, Lance Corporal James Farley, taken during the Vietnam War by LIFE photographer Larry Burrows, a motif that Johns has used in a number of recent works, along with several recent drawings and paintings that have never been exhibited before, including a series devoted to the theme of skeletons. In Philadelphia, one entire room will be devoted to the display of a large selection of prints by the artist, exhibited according to the strategies developed by John Cage in his celebrated exhibition Rolywholyover A Circus, in an homage to the close friendship between the artist and the musician.

The two-venue exhibition will be accompanied by a single publication conceived as a key and fulcrum to the retrospective’s bipartite structure. The fully illustrated catalogue, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, will include introductory texts by Basualdo and Rothkopf, and feature essays by a diverse group of sixteen authors, who include established art historians of Johns’s work along with new voices of emerging scholars, writers, and artists, in order to resituate Johns in the vitality of the present. Contributors include Emmanuel Alloa, Andrianna Campbell-LaFleur, Carroll Dunham, Flavio Fergonzi, Ruth Fine, Michio Hayashi, Terrance Hayes, Michael Ann Holly, Ralph Lemon, Alexander Nemerov, R.H. Quaytman, Jennifer L. Roberts, Drew Sawyer, Sandra Skurvida, Colm Tóibín, and Hannah Yohalem. A selection of archival materials illuminates each institution’s long history with the artist. The unique book will join the two halves of the exhibition into one engaging whole, providing a new perspective on Johns’s entire career. Co-published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, the book will contain more than 300 pages and 600 illustrations. It will be distributed throughout the world by Yale University Press (ISBN 978-0-300-25325-9).

Carlos Basualdo, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was the lead organizer of Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens, which represented the United States at the Venice Biennale and was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation in 2007. He also organized Michelangelo Pistoletto: From One to Many, 1956–1974 (2010), which traveled to MAXXI (Museo nazionale delle arti del secolo XXI); Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg and Duchamp, 2012, (with Erica Battle) which traveled to the Barbican Gallery; Embracing the Contemporary: The Collection of Keith L. and Katherine Sachs (2016); and Bruce Nauman, Contrapposto Studies (2017). Basualdo served on the curatorial teams for Documenta11, the 50th Venice Biennale, and organized Tropicalia: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture (2004-5), which was seen at the MCA Chicago, Barbican Gallery, London, Bronx Museum, New York, and the Museu de Arte Moderna, in Rio de Janeiro. From 2010 until 2013 he served as curator at large at MAXXI Arte, in Rome, Italy.

Scott Rothkopf is the Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He joined the Whitney’s staff in 2009 as curator and in that role has served as a curator or co-curator for Glenn Ligon: AMERICA (2011), Wade Guyton OS (2012), Sinister Pop (2012), Singular Visions (2010), Jeff Koons: A Retrospective (2014), America Is Hard to See (2015), Open Plan: Andrea Fraser (2016), Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection (2016), Virginia Overton: Sculpture Gardens (2016), Laura Owens (2017) and Nick Mauss: Transmissions (2018). Previously, he served as Senior Editor of Artforum.

Bank of America is the National Sponsor. The Opening Celebrations are sponsored by Christie’s.

In Philadelphia, major support is provided by Constance Hess Williams and Sankey Williams. This exhibition is also supported through the museum’s endowment with the Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, the Robert Montgomery Scott Endowment for Exhibitions, the Kathleen C. and John J. F. Sherrerd Fund for Exhibitions, and the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Fund for Exhibitions.

In New York, this exhibition is sponsored by Delta. Major support is provided by Susan and John Hess. Generous support is provided by Judy Hart Angelo and Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz.

Additional support is provided by Chris Harland and Ashley Leeds, the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation, Martin Z. Margulies, and Norman Selby and Melissa Vail Selby.

$10,000 Award Recognizes Best Booth Devoted To A Woman Artist In The Fair’s Main Galleries Section

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is proud to announce that June Edmonds has won the inaugural AWARE Prize at The Armory Show 2020 in New York. The juried award is presented by the Paris-based nonprofit Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions (AWARE) and the Aware Foundation in collaboration with The Armory Show. The $10,000 prize goes to a female artist whose work is shown as a solo booth presentation within the fair’s main Galleries section.

“There are a lot of prizes today, but very few women [get them],” Aware cofounder Camille Morineau says. “A few years ago we launched a French Aware Prize in Paris, and when I was invited by the Armory to walk through the fair [around then], I became conscious that there were quite a lot of women in the fair and solo booths, and this felt new, interesting and strong.”

At the 2020 Armory Show, Edmonds was unanimously selected by the jurors who coalesced around the discovery of her flag paintings – a new body of work presented by Luis De Jesus Los Angeles at this year’s Armory Show. “We were all flabbergasted by Edmond’s work. I think that’s what fairs are about, discovering work and having strong experiences of the art that is beyond words,” Morineau says. “I didn’t know June’s work well, and fairs are a place of surprises and a place to learn. I hope that the prize will be about sharing these surprising and strong moments with other people.“

June Edmonds was born 1959 in Los Angeles, where she lives and works. She received her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, and a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University. She also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and is the recipient of a 2018 City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Grant (COLA) and Exhibition at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; a California Arts Council Individual Artist Grant; Paducah Artist Residency in Kentucky; Helene Wurlitzer Foundation artist residency in Taos, NM; and Dorland Mountain Community artist residency in Temecula, CA. Edmonds has exhibited at the California African American Museum, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Luckman Fine Art Gallery at CalState Los Angeles, Watts Tower Art Center in Los Angeles, CA; Angels Gate Art Center in San Pedro, CA; and the Manhattan Beach Art Center in Manhattan Beach, CA. Edmonds has completed several works of public art with the city of Los Angeles and the Department of Cultural Affairs, including an installation at the MTA Pacific Station in Long Beach, CA.. Her paintings are held in collections throughout the United States including the Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; as well as Rodney M. Miller Collection, New York, NY; and Kelly Williams Collection, New York, NY, among others.

Edmonds’s Flag Paintings explore the American flag as a malleable symbol of ideals, promises, and identity and create space for the inclusion of multivalent identities that consider race, nationality, gender, and political leanings. Each flag is associated with the narrative of an African American, past or present, a current event, or an anecdote from American history.

Color has played an especially important role in the intersection of Edmonds’s personal, political, and artistic journeys. Color associations can be tied to culturally symbolic imagery, trauma, and emotion, giving color the unique discursive ability to communicate about power and systemic disenfranchisement. The Flag Paintings explore the psychological construct of skin color utilizing the primary colors of brown skin tones to build Edmonds’s radical propositions: symbols of American identity that not only more accurately reflect the broader changes in the racial and ethnic makeup of the country’s population but the ideals and promises enshrined in the Constitution. With thick, shifting brushstrokes in rich earth colors organized into columns of varying widths, the flags are oriented vertically, shifting the flag from a strategically designed symbolic object into a portrait of black and brown embodiment—challenging the misrepresentation, capitalization, subjugation, fetishization, policing, disenfranchising, or invisibility of black and brown bodies.

Edmonds’s Flag Paintings are created through methodically applied sculptural paint strokes in columns of varying widths. The titles of the paintings make direct allusion to lesser-known African Americans and their stories, and the palette is derived from the spectrum of black skin complexions, which in themselves embody the narrative of the global geopolitical diaspora of which American history is such a touchstone. They are vertically oriented as portraits because, as the artist says, they “stand for something” and directly express the degree to which the black body is actually the subject of the project.

Among the paintings presented at The Armory Show is the Shadd Cary Flag and Capitol Chasm Flag. Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born a free African American woman in Wilmington, Delaware in 1823, and was an American and Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher, and lawyer. She was the first Black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. Shadd Cary was an abolitionist who became the first female African-American newspaper editor in North America when she edited The Provincial Freeman in 1853.

Capitol Chasm Flag is named after Mary Eliza Church Terrell. Terrell was born on September 23, 1863 in Memphis, and was a well-known African American activist who championed civil rights and women’s suffrage in the late 19th and 20th century. An Oberlin College graduate, Terrell was a founder and charter member of the NAACP. She said: “Surely nowhere in the world do oppression and persecution based solely on the color of the skin appear more hateful and hideous than in the capital of the United States, because the chasm between the principles upon which this Government was founded, in which it still professes to believe, and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawn so wide and deep.“

About the Flag Paintings, Edmonds states: “In February 2017 I did an Artist Residency in Paducah, KY run by Alonzo Davis (co-founder of Brotman Gallery). I was not concerned [for my safety] about being there until the [2016 presidential] election. It felt like the end of a Second Reconstruction and I became intensely curious about the first one and the Civil War era before that, especially in the area where I was visiting. I started and finished a painting [titled Story of the Ohio: For Margaret (2017)] dedicated to Margaret Garner, an enslaved woman from Kentucky, in an area very close to where the residency was located. Her story was the inspiration for Toni Morrison’s book Beloved. I did some reading and listened to books on the subject while painting. The Flag Paintings came to me in a dream some months later. I was tremendously moved when I learned that the formally enslaved viewed their Americaness intensely. They were extremely loyal and committed to American ideals and their relationship to the flag was that of complete ownership. Their passion even in those horrendous times is just mind-blowing to me. That sense of ownership and a full understanding of this country’s promises were energizing powers that my American ancestors harnessed.

Fighting in the Civil War gave the formally enslaved agency and I see Colin Kaepernick and other athletes [protesting by] kneeling as a complementary battle. This idea has worked into my flags from the very beginning in contemplating what it meant and what it means to be American. Kaepernick, Muhammed Ali, Tommy Smith, John Carlos (of 1968 Olympic black power fist fame), and Jessie Owens are all heroic athletes because of their bravery to rebel. I would say that the American flag, in the hands of white supremacists, has been reappropriated into a tool of violent exclusion. I think we have this new understanding, no matter how we use this (newest) definition or respond to it. I am sure this is what inspired my dream in the first place.“

“We are very proud to partner with Camille Morineau and Aware for this year’s Armory Show,” says Eliza Osbourne, the fair’s Deputy Director. “Her thoughtful and erudite commentary on the work of women artists address our greatest goal – to give a platform to and to reward exceptional work.”

The 2020 Armory Show continues tomorrow, Sunday, March 8, 12-6 pm.

All images courtesy of the Luis De Jesus Los Angeles Gallery, 2685 S La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 | T 310 838 6000

Born in Mozambique, Malangatana Ngwenya (1936-2011) was a painter, a poet, a revered national hero, and a pioneer of modern African art.

Opening March 21 and on view through July 5, the Art Institute of Chicago will be showcasing Malangatana: Mozambique Modern, an exhibition that brings together over 40 key paintings and drawings that highlight the years between 1959 and 1975. It was during this time that Malangatana developed a signature painting style, characterized by a dense assembly of figures on the picture plane, the phantasmagoric depiction of animals, humans and supernatural creatures, and a composite palette of bright and dark colors. Moreover, in this period Malangatana imbued his paintings and drawings with social commentary and critique of the colonial situation in Mozambique.

Malangatana: Mozambique Modern is organized by Hendrik Folkerts, Dittmer Curator of Contemporary Art; Felicia Mings, Academic Curator; and Constantine Petridis, Chair of the Department of Arts of Africa and the Americas.

In choosing the subjects of his work, Malangatana took a decidedly allegorical approach, taking inspiration from local religious practices, his own cultural background, and life under Portuguese rule. As such, many of the symbols in Malangatana’s paintings show the artist’s early exposure to Christian education and motifs that reference religious and cultural practices of the Ronga people to which he belonged.

Hendrik Folkerts, Dittmer Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago mentions: “The work of Malangatana presents an exceptional opportunity for the Art Institute to think more globally and critically about international modernisms, in both our exhibition program and the museum’s collection. Malangatana: Mozambique Modern proposes that modern art is an inherently unstable art-historical category that requires constant revision and questioning.”

Though largely self-taught, Malangatana took painting classes in the late 1950s at the Industrial School and the Núcleo de Arte da Colónia de Moçambique (Colonial Arts Center of Mozambique)—the latter a center of artistic activity in the capital Maputo (then Lourenço Marques). In this period, Malangatana became active in the artistic and cultural milieu of Maputo and found his first teachers and sponsors in artists and architects João Ayres, Augusto Cabral, and Pancho Guedes. While his first paintings show traces of the styles of European modernism he encountered in his art education and through the interaction with his mentors, Malangatana soon established his unique aesthetic, ranging from his distinct color palette to the inclusion of elements from daily life in fantastical scenes.

“Malangatana’s stunning aesthetic will captivate audiences. This, paired with the social impulse of these works as well as his larger oeuvre and life, make him a truly prolific, civically engaged artist––someone that we can all learn from. He is also a figure that had a tremendous impact on Mozambican art history, so I am delighted to be part of a team that is bringing further visibility to his work,” says Felicia Mings, Academic Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The changes in Mozambique’s political history during the 1960s and 1970s significantly impacted Malangatana’s life and work. A Portuguese colony until 1975, Mozambique was among the last African countries to gain independence from colonial rule. As the quest for liberation grew with the formation of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) in 1962 and the beginning of the armed resistance against the Portuguese in 1964, a strong anticolonial sentiment and a need for new artistic and cultural forms emerged. Malangatana had touched on social and political themes in earlier work, but from the mid-1960s through the 1970s he articulated them more explicitly, while always retaining an allegorical tendency in his approach.

Constantine Petridis, Chair of the Department of Arts of Africa and the Americas states: “The vibrant paintings of Malangatana provide a window into the political and cultural milieu in which the artist established himself as a pioneering modernist. Marked by both decolonization and nationalism, Malangatana’s oeuvre compels us to revisit the prevailing Eurocentric definition of the art-historical canon.”

The works in this exhibition invite us to consider the simultaneous development of Malangatana as an artist with the emergence of modern art on the African continent, as his work exemplifies the confluence of artistic innovation and political liberation that has shaped the history of modern art in Africa during the second half of the twentieth century. Malangatana: Mozambique Modern is the first survey of Malangatana’s early work after his death in 2011, and champions the work of this pioneering modern artist at the Art Institute.

Major funding for Mozambique Modern is provided by Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel and the Alfred L. McDougal and Nancy Lauter McDougal Fund for Contemporary Art.

Additional support is contributed by the Miriam U. Hoover Foundation.

Members of the Exhibitions Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Exhibitions Trust includes an anonymous donor; Neil Bluhm and the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation; Jay Franke and David Herro; Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr.; Kenneth C. Griffin; Caryn and King Harris, The Harris Family Foundation; Josef and Margot Lakonishok; Robert M. and Diane v.S. Levy; Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff; Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel; Anne and Chris Reyes; Cari and Michael J. Sacks; and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.

To best protect the health and safety of our community, the museum will be closed March 14–27

MoMA Temporarily Closes Museums and Stores in New York

MoMA announced today that it will close The Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street, MoMA PS1 in Queens, and the MoMA Design Stores on 53rd Street and in Soho, effective immediately and through March 30. MoMA will continue to monitor developments with COVID-19 and regularly reassess this temporary closure.

Glenn D. Lowry, The David Rockefeller Director of The Museum of Modern Art, said: “Nothing is more important to MoMA than the health and safety of our community. We take seriously our responsibility as a civic institution to serve the public good. With that in mind, as it is more and more challenging to predict the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we have decided to temporarily close MoMA.”

MoMA has been prepared for this possibility for several weeks and made the decision in ongoing consultation with public health experts, city and state officials, peer institutions, and the Boards of The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1. There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among MoMA employees. Plans are in place to continue to support employees and MoMA’s better than best practice cleaning and sanitization protocols.

MoMA plans to re-open at the first opportunity that ensures the health and safety of all visitors and employees.

All Events at Carnegie Hall from Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 31, 2020 are Cancelled

All March events cancelled in effort to reduce spread of COVID-19

With the health and safety of its public, artists, and staff as its foremost priority, Carnegie Hall today announced that it will be closed for all public events and programming through the end of March, effective midnight tonight, in an effort to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

All events and programming at Carnegie Hall from Friday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 31, 2020 have been cancelled. For a list of performances at Carnegie Hall that are affected, please see the attached list or click here. Carnegie Hall events on Thursday evening, March 12 will take place as scheduled.

Upcoming education programming presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute—whether taking place at Carnegie Hall or in off-site locations—is suspended through March 31. All free Carnegie Hall Citywide performances in venues throughout New York City are cancelled through March 31.

All other scheduled concerts and programming starting on April 1, 2020 and beyond remain on the schedule pending the reopening of Carnegie Hall. The general public is encouraged to check carnegiehall.org/events for the most up-to-date programming information.

Patrons who purchased tickets by credit card from Carnegie Hall for a performance that has been canceled will receive automatic refunds; those who purchased by cash at the Box Office may email a scan or photo of the tickets to feedback@carnegiehall.org, along with complete contact details (name, mailing address, and phone number), through June 30, 2020, for a refund. Those who purchased tickets directly from other concert presenters should contact that presenter for refund information.

Patrons who have any further questions should contact CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or email feedback@carnegiehall.org. Please note that email and call volume may be high with limited in-house staff, and tickets may be refunded on a delayed schedule. We thank you for your patience as we navigate this evolving situation together.

Asian Art Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Announce Temporary Closure Effective March 14, 2020

The Asian Art Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) collaboratively announce a temporary closure to the public effective at 5 pm PST on Friday, March 13. With their united focus on the health and safety of their visitors and staff members, the museums made this decision to align with local and federal guidelines and social distancing recommendations for the containment of the coronavirus.

The Asian Art Museum and SFMOMA will tentatively reopen to the public on Saturday, March 28, 2020, and the FAMSF museums will reopen on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The museums will individually evaluate whether the closure timeframe needs to be extended.

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

The closure of the Asian Art Museum includes the museum, its café (Sunday at the Museum) and its store. More information can be found at asianart.org.

FINE ARTS MUSEUMS (FAMSF)

Both the de Young and the Legion of Honor, including museum cafes and stores, will be closed. Please find the most up-to-date information at deyoungmuseum.org/coronavirus-response.

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (SFMOMA)

SFMOMA’s closure includes the museum, its restaurants (In Situ, Cafe 5 and Sightglass coffee bars), stores (museum and SFO store) and the Artists Gallery at Fort Mason. For the most up-to-date information including information on rescheduling a visit, go to sfmoma.org/coronavirus-update.

The Walker Art Center Temporarily Closes

As a tourist destination and community gathering place, we are committed to support Minnesota’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. We feel it is our responsibility to those around us to temporarily close the Walker galleries effective March 14, 2020. This closure includes the Walker’s Esker Grove restaurant and shop.

The Walker knows the vital role that art and artists play in helping people make sense of the world, to comfort, to examine the past and imagine the future. Although we are temporarily closing our physical space, we are committed to remain open to art lovers around the world and to offer any solace or inspiration we can. We understand feeling the need to be connected during stressful times. Please reach out or follow us on social media @walkerartcenter. And if you want something”Walker” during this physical closure, visit us online to explore themes and artworks in our Living Collection Catalogue and contemporary issues on the Walker Reader.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden remains free and open to the public every day.

For the most up-to-date information on the Walker’s response to COVID-19, please visit walkerart.org.

Known for presenting today’s most compelling artists from close to home and around the world, the Walker Art Center features a broad array of contemporary visual arts, music, dance, theater, and moving image works. Ranging from concerts and films to exhibitions and workshops, Walker programs bring us together to examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. The adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States, holds at its center the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen as well as some 60 sculptures on the 19-acre Walker campus. Visit walkerart.org for more information on upcoming events and programs.

Parkway Cultural Institutions’ Short-Term Closure

The safety of our visitors, members, staff, and volunteers is paramount. In a proactive measure to protect against the spread of COVID-19, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the Barnes Foundation, The Franklin Institute, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art have made the joint decision to temporarily close to the public and postpone or cancel public programming and events for a minimum of two weeks, effective at close of business today.

There have not been any reported cases of infection or exposure at our respective institutions, but we believe it is important to follow the science and the best practices for social distancing as outlined by government agencies and the World Health Organization to ensure the well-being of our community. This is a time to unite in service to our community, and we will continue to work with Philadelphia and Pennsylvania health officials and one another to coordinate our efforts.

We look forward to welcoming the public back to our respective institutions soon.

DENVER ART MUSEUM TO CLOSE THROUGH MARCH 31, 2020

Following guidance from public health and government officials, the Denver Art Museum will close at the end of regular business today, Friday, March 13, 2020 at 8:00 p.m.

While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to the museum, this action is being taken for the safety of our community.

The museum will remain closed through Tuesday, March 31. At that time, the museum will evaluate the situation to determine appropriate next steps to serve the community and help manage the spread of the virus.

Please visit the museum’s website and social media platforms for updates and details on this situation.

Thank you and be well.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Announces Temporary Closure

Beginning Friday, March 13, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is temporarily closed to the public until further notice. The closure is a proactive measure to protect the health of the museum’s visitors and staff in response to the coronavirus COVID-19, and in accordance with the state and city’s declaration of a state of emergency. All public events scheduled through April 30, 2020 are canceled or postponed.

According to Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, “Our leadership team has been closely monitoring the developing coronavirus outbreak. Though we have suspended staff travel, increased our on-site sanitization procedures, and advocated social distancing policies, we feel it is now prudent and necessary to close the New York museum and our office locations to reduce the escalation of community spread. We have made this decision in consultation with New York–area peer institutions. We hope that in the coming weeks we can once again invite visitors to enjoy the museum.”

Refunds will be issued to guests who have purchased general admission tickets to the museum from guggenheim.org on a day the museum is closed, or purchased tickets to an event or program that has been cancelled.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice is closed in compliance with the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) from March 8 through April 3, 2020. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao remains open to the public but has enacted social distancing policies, and is in consultation with local government agencies.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will continue to monitor recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New York Department of Health. For updated information on museum hours and programming, visit guggenheim.org/coronavirus.

To learn more about precautions that can be taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, please refer to information from the CDC.

Temporary Closure of New-York Historical Society

In response to heightened concerns relating to the spread of novel coronavirus COVID-19, the New-York Historical Society will close temporarily as of Friday, March 13 at 6 PM until the end of March. All onsite programs will be cancelled through the end of April. These decisions were made to support New York City’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to prioritize the health of our staff and visitors. Although no case of COVID-19 has been connected to the Museum, we are taking these preventive measures out of an abundance of caution to help ensure everyone’s safety. Visitors who have purchased tickets to a program will be contacted shortly to arrange either a refund or a ticket-to-donation to New-York Historical. In the meantime, New-York Historical is encouraging the public to stay connected online and explore our wealth of digital content at nyhistory.org. We are also offering curated digital content through our weekly eblasts.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely, and look forward to resuming full operation as soon as possible. We will continue to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, Governor’s Office, Mayor’s Office, and Department of Cultural Affairs. For future updates, please visit nyhistory.org.

NMAAHC To Close March 14

As a public health precaution due to COVID-19 (coronavirus), the National Museum of African American History and Culture will temporarily close to the public starting Saturday, March 14. 

We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of all our visitors, employees, and volunteers. We are in close communication with local health officials and the Centers for Disease Control. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation, we are not announcing a re-opening date at this time. 

We will provide updates on a week-to-week basis via our website. Follow @NMAAHC on Twitter for updates about the museum’s operating status. In the meantime, we invite you to visit NMAAHC.si.edu to explore our virtual exhibitions, online collections and educational resources.

Nordstrom and COVID-19

On behalf of everyone at Nordstrom, our hearts go out to all those impacted by COVID-19—this includes not only those diagnosed with the virus, but also their friends and family, those whose jobs and schools have been impacted and so many more. Our focus is, as always, on the health and safety of our employees, customers and communities.

The situation is changing rapidly, and to do our part in slowing the spread of the virus, we have decided to temporarily close all our stores. The two-week closure will go into effect on Tuesday, March 17. This decision includes all our U.S. and Canada stores. We remain open and ready to serve you through our apps and online at Nordstrom.com, Nordstromrack.com, HauteLook.com and TrunkClub.com—including digital styling, online order pickup and curbside services at our full-line stores, as we are allowed by local regulations.

We realize the impact a closure can have on our store employees, and this is not a decision we made lightly. We want to take care of them as best we can and will be providing them with pay and benefits during this two-week period as well as providing additional resources to help them through this challenging time.

There is no question this is a time of great uncertainty. While we don’t know exactly what the future may hold, we feel confident that by sticking together and supporting each other, we’ll emerge from this stronger than before.

Engage with the Frist through Online Resources

Dear Frist Art Museum Community,

In an effort to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19, the Frist Art Museum will be closed to the public from Monday, March 16, through Tuesday, March 31. We want to reiterate that there have been no known cases of COVID-19 in connection to the Frist, however, along with many other businesses and places of gathering, we believe closing our space is the right thing to do

The Frist will continue to monitor guidance from the Metro Public Health Department and the Tennessee Department of Health. Updated information will be posted on the Frist Art Museum website and circulated in our e-newsletter. We look forward to announcing when we will be able to open our doors again.

We are waking up each morning to days filled with uncertainty as we watch this burgeoning pandemic affect every area of our society and culture. We are extremely grateful for the leadership and guidance of our local government officials, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, and the camaraderie of our peer institutions here in Nashville and beyond.

While we have never seen a time quite like this, we have seen times that have tested us in profound ways. History and art have valuable lessons to teach in this present moment: we are a resilient and optimistic people; we support each other in difficult times; and we look to artists of the past and present to soothe, teach, and inspire.

While our building is closed as we heed the guidance of government officials, we invite you to engage with us online. Though the galleries are unavailable, each exhibition has its own online presence at FristArtMuseum.org. On the landing pages for our current exhibitions, you will find a variety of resources that enhance enjoyment and understanding of this magnificent art. We invite you to explore the links that can be found under the “Resources” heading on each exhibition’s page. There we have posted gallery guides, educator resources, media coverage of the exhibitions, and video. And with children out of school, FristKids.org is a tremendous resource for home learning and fun activities.

Like many cultural institutions, businesses, and organizations, we are all improvising and doing whatever we can to fulfill our missions. While the March 19 curator’s gallery tour of J.M.W Turner: Quest for the Sublime has been cancelled, we will be working with chief curator Mark Scala in the next days to prepare a video walk through the galleries to learn more about Turner’s techniques, visionary ideas, and his pursuit of the Sublime—the sensation of awe and terror felt when confronted with the extreme forces of nature. We will post the video on our website and social media platforms when complete.

We also invite you to visit the Frist Art Museum’s Youtube channel, where you will find Tate Senior Curator David Blayney Brown’s lecture on Turner, along with an extensive archive of lectures, instructional videos, short features, and in case you missed it, the entire performance of Nick Cave: Feat. Nashville filmed from the live performance at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Museums all over the world are working to make their collections available online. While their physical buildings may be closed, art is all around us in virtual spaces.

As many of us work remotely and shelter in place with our families, we continue to look to the future with optimism knowing there is hope, solace, and beauty in art.

Thank you for your support,

Susan H. Edwards, PhD 
Executive Director and CEO

The Whitney to Close Temporarily Beginning March 13

The Whitney Museum of American Art has been actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation as circumstances in New York City evolve. In the interest of protecting the wellbeing of our staff, volunteers, and visitors, and following guidance from local, state, and federal authorities regarding measures that best promote public health, we have decided to temporarily close the Whitney to the public and cancel all events, beginning on Friday, March 13, at 5 pm. Any patrons who have purchased advance tickets for museum admission or public programs will be contacted for refunds.

During this time, the Whitney will continue to monitor the situation and assess the need for continued closure. For the most current information please visit whitney.org.

Should you have any questions, please email us at info@whitney.org. Our team will make every effort to respond to inquiries in a timely fashion. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

Sending best wishes to you and your community. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Whitney soon.

The Museum has temporarily closed its three locations. Temporary Closure Effective March 13

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has temporarily closed all three locations—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters—effective March 13, to support New York City’s effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Met’s priority is to protect and support our visitors, staff, and volunteers, and we have been taking several proactive precautionary measures, including discouraging travel to affected areas, implementing rigorous cleaning routines, and staying in close communication with New York City health officials and the Centers for Disease Control. While we don’t have any confirmed cases connected to the Museum, we believe that we must do all that we can to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our community, which at this time calls for us to minimize gatherings while maintaining the cleanest environment possible. We look forward to soon announcing when we’ll be able to welcome our staff and visitors back to the Museum.

Museum’s Grand Opening Film “August 28” To Air Publicly for 24 Hours

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall to March for Jobs and Freedom. This month, more than 50 years later, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will commemorate the March on Washington with a digital resource webpage exploring the historical significance of the march with collection objects, stories, videos and content related to the historic march. This page will include voices of A. Phillip Randolph, Rep. John Lewis, and many unsung activists and a performance by singer Marian Anderson. The resource webpage is available at nmaahc.si.edu/marchonwashington.

To mark the anniversary day (Aug. 28), the museum will also make available the film commissioned for its grand opening by Ava Duvernay,August 28: A Day in the Life of a People. The film will be available to view on the museum’s homepage and YouTube channel starting at 10:00 a.m. for 24 hours.

“This Friday marks the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, which in 1963, brought together more than a quarter-million people advocating for racial justice,” said Spencer Crew, acting director of National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Demonstrations have long been a way for American citizens to help the nation live up to its stated ideals, making Friday’s anniversary and march not just a commemoration, but the continuation of an American tradition that began centuries ago.” Crew continued, “Evidence of not only how far we have come since 1963, but the long journey ahead to justice and equality.”

March on Washington Programming

NMAAHC Presents Why we march…(a short video)

Friday, Aug. 28

“Why we march…” is a three-minute video exploring the role of marching in social justice reform. The video uses photography from the museum’s collection to illustrate more than 50 years of community activism and protest movements for racial and social justice and equity in the United States to begin to answer the question, why we march. Click video below or visit @NMAAHC’s YouTube channel or the March on Washington webpage to see the video.

Cinema and Conversation—Black Journal: Black Women

Thursday, Aug. 27; 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

This series will feature two rare films from the museum’s collection, The Black Woman and Alice Coltrane, from the seminal program Black Journal (1960–1970). Alice Coltrane is an intimate visit with musician Alice Coltrane at her home. The Black Woman focuses on—in the words of Black Journal host Tony Brown—one of the greatest institutions in the world: “The Black woman.” Curator of photography and film Rhea Combs will introduce the movie, followed by a discussion with scholar Philana Payton and journalist Joan Harris, who was interviewed in The Black Woman. Co-presented with Screen Slate, the films will be available for viewing at www.twitch.tv/screenslate.

NMAAHC “Takeover” National Geographic Instagram: March on Washington

Thursday, Aug. 27

In a digital collaboration with National Geographic, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will “takeover” National Geographic’s Instagram page (@NatGeo). Through their account, NMAAHC’s curator Damion Thomas will examine the 1963 March on Washington ahead of the upcoming National Action Network’s Commitment March.

August 28: A Day in the Life of a People, Available Publicly for 24 Hours

Friday, Aug. 28

For 24 hours, @NMAAHC’s YouTube channel will offer the grand-opening film produced by Ava DuVernay, August 28: A Day in the Life of a People. The 22-minute film features six significant events in African American history that occurred Aug. 28. Visit @NMAAHC’s YouTube channel Friday, Aug. 28, to see the film.

Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has welcomed more than 7 million visitors. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu, follow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000.