Another major exhibition commemorating the nation’s anniversary is USA @ 250, opening at the end of June and remaining on view through November 8 at Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine.
Featuring nearly 120 works from the museum’s collection that span the Revolutionary era to the present day, the exhibition explores 250 years of American history through 250 years of art. The exhibition seeks to illuminate how artists have approached the diversity and complexity of the American experience and have “documented, shaped, celebrated and contested the nation’s evolving identity,” according to the museum.
John Sloan (1871-1951), Sunday Afternoon in Union Square, 1912. Oil on canvas, 261⁄8 x 321⁄8 in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Bequest of George Otis Hamlin, 1961.63.
USA @ 250 is organized in 25 thematic “episodes” that include two or more works that speak to a defining moment in American history. Featured across sections that include such themes as Americans in Paris, Beginnings of the American Presidency, Native Americans in the Age of Jackson, the Civil War, Abolitionism, the Birth of Abstraction, and Fashion and Celebrity, are works by Gilbert Stuart, Karl Bodmer, Winslow Homer, Kenyon Cox, Elihu Vedde, John Marin, John Sloan, Augusta Savage, Mary Cassatt, Martin Johnson Heade and many others. The episode titled the Recent Past showcases contemporary artists Titus Kaphar, Geo Neptune and Katherine Bradford.
Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904), Newburyport Marshes: Passing Storm, ca. 1865-1870. Oil on canvas, 151/8 x 301/4 in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Museum Purchase, with the aid of the Sylvia E. Ross Fund.
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), The Barefoot Child, 1897. Pastel on off-white wove paper mounted on canvas on stretcher, 281⁄4 x 211⁄8 in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth, in memory of her husband, Dr. Murray S. Danforth, Class of 1901.
“We are very proud to be marking this anniversary with an exhibition that brings together more than 100 artworks from the museum’s collection. Together they tell rich stories about the United States, demonstrating how the history of American art is intertwined with that of the nation,” says Frank Goodyear, co-director of Bowdoin College Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition. Anne Collins Goodyear, co-director of the BCMA, adds, “The artworks in USA @ 250 help us to examine the ideals that have guided the United States, both in times of triumph and in times of turbulence that have tested the resilience of the nation and brought about critical transformations. We hope audiences will find the historical moments highlighted by the exhibition meaningful as we collectively consider where the nation has been and where it is going.”
Joshua Johnson (1763-1824), Portrait of a Man (Abner Coker), ca. 1805-1810. Oil on canvas, 277⁄8 x 22 in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Museum Purchase, George Otis Hamlin Fund.
Simeon Skillin, Jr., after Giovanni Battista Guelfi, Air Pump Finial, 1782-1783. Mahogany, 9¾ x 6 x 2½ in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Bequest of Mrs. Syliva E. Ross by exchange, 2007.29.
The BCMA is hosting a robust schedule of public programming throughout the duration of USA @ 250, including lectures, conversations, performances and collaborations with other regional institutions. The exhibition opens on June 27 with a keynote address by John W. Franklin, former deputy director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visit the museum website for a full calendar of special events. —
Powered by Froala Editor
