past exhibitions

In Pursuit of Light and Leisure: Impressionist Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection
March 14-June 29, 2008
in the Lockhart Gallery

Edgar Degas’s Dancers, Claude Monet’s Towing a Boat, Honfleur and Mary Cassatt’s Young Mother, Daughter and Baby are among the treasures in this exhibition that includes 25 paintings and works on paper by Impressionist masters, as well as by artists of the period who influenced and were influenced by the Impressionist movement. Many of the works demonstrate an intense interest in the visual effects of atmospheric changes, particularly the ephemeral nature of the reflection of light on water; others depict popular leisure activities of the era—the dance, theater, music and outdoor bathing.

Preview selected images

In Pursuit of Light and Leisure is offered in conjunction with American Impressionism: Paintings from The Phillips Collection, on view at the Gallery April 13-June 15. This exhibition is made possible in part by a gift from Dorothy Centner in memory of her husband, William.

Thinking on Paper: Preparatory Drawings from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery
November 9, 2007 – March 2, 2008
in the Lockhart Gallery

Thinking on Paper will showcase preparatory drawings from the Gallery’s collection for works currently on view. Exploring the drawings for some of the Gallery’s best-known American paintings, sculpture and prints allows a behind-the-scenes tour of the creative process. Drawings by Stuart Davis, Ralston Crawford, David Smith, George Bellows, and John Koch will be featured. Twenty-two drawings, 3 watercolors, 1 photograph and 1 maquette make up the show, while most of the final works will be displayed in the main galleries. Scaled-down color reproductions will be displayed along with the preparatory works for side-by-side comparisons.

Preview selected works in the exhibition

Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts
January 20–March 16, 2008
in the Grand Gallery

Far from simple exercises in geometric patterning, the 25 quilts in this exhibition represent a free-wheeling tradition in which improvisation, asymmetry, and experimentation are the norm.  Selected by Janet Berlo, University of Rochester professor of art history, from the collection of the International Quilt Study Center, these quilts explore the once-radical proposition that some 19th-century American women were “painting with fabric.”  Ranging in date from about 1825 to 1989, the quilts were made by artists both known and unknown, all of whom share an essential quality:  the desire to push the boundaries of their medium in their own time.

Opening Party Invitation (SOLD OUT!) and Wild by Design programs

Preview selected works

This exhibition was organized by the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In Rochester, it is underwritten by Lynne Lovejoy.

Michael James:  Reinventing Quilts in a Digital Age
January 20–March 16, 2008
in the Grand Gallery

Author, artist and professor Michael James is one of the pre-eminent contemporary quiltmakers in this country.  In recent years, he has been experimenting with the challenging process of designing and printing fabric patterns digitally before piecing and quilting in the traditional manner.  Highly original and labor-intensive, James’s quilts explore the double meaning of “digital” by combining the computer and the artist’s hand.

Preview selected works

Sponsored, in part, by The Humanities Project at the University of Rochester, with additional funds from the Gallery Council.
“Theories and Things: Re-evaluating Material Culture” is one of nine projects funded by the Humanities Project. For more information about this and other projects and events, visit the Humanities Project at www.rochester.edu/college/humanities.

MAGnificent Inspiration: The Art Quilt
January 20—February 17, 2008
On View until March 16 by Popular Demand
Offered in conjunction with Wild By Design, this interpretive quilt show and sale brings together 36 quilts by 30 area quilters, whose wall-hung art quilts (approximately 20 x 22 in.) respond to works in MAG's permanent collection. The quilts will be displayed next to their sources of inspiration and offered for sale at the show's end through the Gallery Store.

Preview the sale

Sponsored by the Gallery Council, with sale profits to be shared by the artist and MAG.

Pedestrian Photographs:
Recent Work by Larry Merrill
December 10—February 3, 2008
in the Lucy Burne Gallery

Forty photos of street life in New York City show the keen eye of Larry Merrill, longtime director of the Gallery’s Creative Workshop. The exhibition coincides with MAG’s publication of a book of Merrill’s photos, with an essay by noted author Wendell Berry.

TRANSactions:  Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art
October 6–December 30, 2007
in the Grand Gallery

Art created by contemporary Latin American and Latino artists moves across and beyond geographical, cultural, political and aesthetic borders.  By turns humorous and critical, inspirational and tragic, this exhibition’s goal is to dispel the myth that Latino artists are a homogeneous group with common experiences and ambitions.  TRANSactions features artists from the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.  Approximately 38 paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, textiles and electronic media from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (by 32 artists) are accompanied by bilingual wall labels and a fully-illustrated, bilingual exhibition catalogue.

View Across Borders community events

Preview images from the exhibition

Download lesson plans

Read the Keep on Crossin' Manifesto

TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The exhibition is made possible by the generous contributions of MCASD’s International Collectors, the Cochrane Exhibition Fund, the City of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture, The James Irvine Foundation and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.

In Rochester, the exhibition is sponsored in part by Deborah Ronnen, with additional support from Charlotte and Raul Herrera, the City of Rochester, and the Rochester Hispanic Business Association; and with the assistance of New York State Senator Joseph Robach.

German Expressionism: Art in an Age of Turbulence
August 3-October 28
in the Lockhart Gallery

This exhibition includes paintings and prints by artists as varied as the social, political and philosophical changes that shaped the early years of the 20th century. Ranging from the vivid watercolors of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Emil Nolde to the dark and brooding woodcuts of Ernst Barlach and satirical drawings of George Grosz, German Expressionism explores these artists’ desire to express their personal identities and spiritual beliefs, as well as to create a fervent dialogue with the public.

In honor of the Docents in appreciation for their dedication to the Memorial Art Gallery and its collections.

Preview selected images

2007 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition
June 17–September 2, 2007
in the Grand Gallery
Every two years, Rochester's oldest and most prestigious juried exhibition showcases works by artists from around our region. This year's Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, which opens June 17, will be juried by Mark Alice Durant, professor of visual arts at University of Maryland and faculty member, Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts, Bard College, and Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy, curator and programs manager at Art in General, New York City.

More info about the Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition
View images

Exhibition underwritten by Richard F. Brush.

Glory in the Flower
April 27–July 22, 2007
in the Lockhart Gallery
While it is understood universally to be a harbinger of spring, the flower has been used by artists and poets to embody concepts of beauty, vigor, life, death and rebirth. This exhibition interweaves floral images from the permanent collection with related poetry.

Sponsored by Eastman Kodak Company.

Natura Morta: Still-Life Painting and the Medici Collections
April 1-May 27, 2007
in the Grand Gallery
The Medici dynasty dominated the political and cultural life of Florence, Italy, from the 15th to the mid-18th century. The family name is synonymous with merchants, bankers, rulers, patrons of the arts and sciences, and extraordinary collectors. Medici rulers from Cosimo II (1590–1621) to the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gian Gastone (1671-1737) collected and commissioned more than 600 still life paintings, known in Italian as natura morta. This exhibition, featuring 38 sumptuous paintings brought together from Florentine villas and museums, beautifully illustrates the artistic concern with “abundance in nature” that so influenced the development of western art and culture.

Preview selected works

Natura Morta Party Invitation

Invitation to April 26th Lecture by Georgina Wilsenach, vice president and specialist in Old Master paintings, Christie's

Organized by the Contemporanea Progetti, Florence, Italy, in collaboration with The Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, DC. In Rochester, made possible with public funds secured by New York State Senator James S. Alesi, with additional support from the Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery, the Gouvernet Arts Fund of Rochester Area Community Foundation, and Michael and Joanna Grosodonia.

After Lifes: Recent Work by Shimon Okshteyn
April 1—May 27, 2007
in the Grand Gallery
The Ukrainian-born Shimon Okshteyn offers a contemporary twist on paintings like those included in the concurrent Natura Morta exhibition. A virtuoso draftsman, Okshteyn first reproduces classic 17th-century still lifes in his signature graphite and charcoal. But colorful hand-made frames incorporating faux pearls. artificial flowers, ceramic fruit baskets, tiny baby dolls and piggy banks stimulate a conversation about marketing, kitsch, and popular culture.

Preview selected works

Pollock on Paper
January 31–April 15, 2007
in the Lockhart Gallery
"Pollock on Paper" will explore two portfolios by the master of abstraction—Jackson Pollock. The first, a group of six etchings with drypoint done in 1944, three years before his iconic action painting breakthrough, and the other, a series of six serigraphs created in 1951—four years after. As in his paintings, the differences between the prints made before and after the critical year of 1947 are profound.

Preview selected images

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Anxious Objects: Willie Cole's Favorite Brands
January 21-March 11, 2007
in the Grand Gallery

Willie Cole's provocative art explores identity, race relations, consumerism, the environment and other contemporary concerns. Bicycles, irons, hair dryers and high-heeled shoes are among the urban artifacts he transforms into powerful, iconic, "Africanized works." This nationally touring, mid-career retrospective features 31 assemblages, prints and mixed-media works created between 1988 and 2006. At MAG, the exhibition also includes a work that¹s not part of the original tour—a monumental chessboard from a private collection, with lawn jockey playing pieces.

Preview selected images and Willie Cole events. Explore an interactive website from the Montclair Art Museum about Willie Cole's works America #1 and How do you Spell America #7?

This exhibition was organized by the Montclair Art Museum with support from the State of New Jersey, Department of Treasury; Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro; the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Altria Group, Inc.; Ruth and William True; Merrill Lynch; the Cowles Charitable Trust; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; and by funds from the Judith Targan Endowment Fund for Museum Publications of the Montclair Art Museum.

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Georgia O'Keeffe: Color & Conservation
October 1—December 31, 2006
in the Grand Gallery

MAG is one of only three venues for this new touring exhibition, which was organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art (Jackson) in cooperation with the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe). Featuring 25 oil paintings and 2 pastels, the exhibition includes work from all periods of O'Keeffe's brilliant career. Through a series of never-before published letters between the artist and her conservator, Caroline Keck, visitors will gain a new appreciation of O'Keeffe's painstaking working methods and the importance of color in her pioneering work. Photographs of O'Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, from the archives of the George Eastman House, are a special addition for Rochester visitors only.

The Annie Laurie Swain Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series, organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson. This exhibition is made possible in Rochester by a major gift from Presenting Sponsor M&T Bank. Supporting Sponsors are Riedman Foundation, University of Rochester Medical Center/Strong Health, Wendy’s Restaurants of Rochester, Inc. and Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP. The Media Sponsor is the Democrat and Chronicle. Additional support is provided by New York State Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle and New York State Senator Joseph E. Robach.

Find out more about this exhibition

My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection, 1900-1955
October 25–December 24, 2006
in the Grand Gallery

In the first decades of the twentieth century, American Jewish artists found themselves in an exciting position: living outside the European ghettos of their ancestors and having gained certain civil liberties in the United States. Despite harsh economic and political realities, this freedom allowed them to forge new identities as artists and American citizens.

The title, My America, speaks to the individualism of artists as they reacted to their worlds—past and present, social and political, Jewish and secular—and as they claimed this country as their own. In the first half of the twentieth century, the artists in this exhibition expressed their artistic and social freedoms in styles ranging from Social Realism to Modernism to Abstract Expressionism. An eclectic group of paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper is presented thematically to explore five key issues:

• Becoming American, which looks at the impact of modern life on American artists, especially on New York's Lower East Side, where there was a substantial Jewish community.
• Picturing Ourselves, featuring both traditional and psychological self-portraits of Jewish immigrant artists.
• Striving for Social Justice, which examines the impact of artists who drew upon historical Jewish mandates to work for social change.
• Reacting to Tragedy, which reflects the upheaval, chaos and devastation European artists experienced, even after escaping to America.
• Moving Toward Abstraction, an examination of Jewish religious traditions and how they were visually reinterpreted by artists working in abstract styles.

Among the artists included are Theresa Bernstein, Ilse Bing, Adolph Gottlieb, William Gropper, Jacques Lipchitz, Elie Nadelman, Larry Rivers, Ben Shahn, Aaron Siskind, Raphael Soyer, Alfred Stieglitz and Weegee.

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For teachers

This exhibition has been organized by the Jewish Museum, New York. In Rochester, this exhibition is underwritten by New York State Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, Mr. and Mrs. Harold S. Feinbloom and Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz. Additional support is provided by Laurence and Karen Kessler, Dennis Kessler and Andrea Miller, and the Jewish Community Federation of Greater Rochester.

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Romanticism and the Politics of Taste
July 25—October 15
in the Lockhart Gallery

Yearning for the natural world, longing for the past and emotional intensity—all are characteristics of European Romanticism, a general term encompassing many artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th centuries. This exhibition includes such varied works as picturesque landscapes by Turner, eastward-looking works by Gericault and the tortured inner visions of Goya.

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2nd Rochester Biennial
June 17—September 10, 2006
in the Grand Gallery

This is the second presentation of the Rochester Biennial, an invitational exhibition of work by contemporary regional artists. Largely dedicated to mid-career artists with a demonstrated commitment to their craft, the show also includes one artist selected on the strength of his or her entry in the previous year's juried Rochester Finger-Lakes Exhibition.

This year, the six artists represented are: Carl Chiarenza (photography); Sydney Licht (painting); Michael Rogers (glass); Carol Taylor (fiber); Allen Topolski (sculpture); and Phillia Yi (printmaking).

This exhibition is sponsored by The Rochester Group and an anonymous donor.

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Print Club of Rochester
June 16—August 3, 2006
in the Lucy Burne Gallery, Creative Workshop

Founded in 1934, the print Club of Rochester sponsors programs on print collecting as well as printmaking. This exhibition, held every three years at MAG, features work by Club members.

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Lee Bontecou: Fifth Stone Sixth Stone
April 19—July 9, 2006
in the Study Case

Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone is an unbound portfolio of 6 etchings with poetry by Tony Towle. It was produced in an edition of 33 at United Limited Art Editions, in Long Island, New York.

"...textured, loosely fragmented gestural shapes encircling a void or hole - that she had created in her drawing and sculpture. Her explorations with lithography and etching continued at ULAE until the early 1980's". Sue Scott Proof Positive ULAE 1957 - 1997

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Robert Marx: Considering the Voluntary Absence of God
April 21—July 16, 2006
in the Lockhart Gallery

Robert Marx's portfolio Considering the Voluntary
Absence of God (2003) is a meditation on the apparent human inclination toward intolerance, self-righteousness and zealotry. Joining his images of masked, grotesque and brooding figures are quotes that the artist had collected over the years by a wide range of authors, including science fiction writers, scientists, philosophers and historians, all of whom eloquently express concern for the human condition and the fate of the world. Combining intaglio and letterpress, Marx's chef-d'oeuvre provides a visual feast and food for thought.

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Wendell Castle in Rochester
Through June 18, 2006

During more than four decades as an artist, Wendell Castle has changed styles as often as Picasso—moving from laminated "organic" wood pieces to large fiberglass sculptures, from trompe l'oeil furniture to monumental public commissions, from classically derived works to whimsical clocks.

Along the way, Castle has built an international reputation. He's been called a "trailblazer," "an American phenomenon," a "major catalyst in the emergence of the art furniture movement." As he has challenged traditional concepts of furniture design, he has moved from the narrow confines of the craft world to the broader world of fine arts.

A long-term exhibition of Castle's furniture and sculpture, Wendell Castle in Rochester includes nine works from the Gallery's permanent collection, plus four works, both classic and new, on loan from the artist. Also on view are preliminary drawings and photos of some of Castle's large-scale commissions.

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