First Major Survey Exhibition of American Art Presented in Moscow at Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, July 24 to Sept 9, 2007
Presentation Commemorates the 200th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between Russia and the United States of America
(Moscow, Russia-June 21, 2007) Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of American art to travel to Russia will be on view at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts from July 24 to September 9, 2007. The presentation of this landmark exhibition, which premiered earlier this year in Beijing and Shanghai, is presented under the patronage of Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the United States of America and Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States. Drawn from several dozen museums and collections in Europe and America, the exhibition presents approximately 100 works by artists who hold an important place in America's art history, and systematically outlines the developments of the last 300 years, from the colonial period of the 18th century to the present. Following the Pushkin Museum presentation, the exhibition will travel to Bilbao where it will be on view from October 10, 2007, to early 2008, as part of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao's tenth anniversary celebrations.
This exhibition has been organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, in partnership with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago.
Made possible by National Reserve Corporation.
Major exhibition sponsorship provided by Alcoa Foundation.
Major support provided by INTERROS Holding Company.
Major original funding provided by The Henry Luce Foundation.
This exhibition is further made possible by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
"In 2005-06, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presented RUSSIA!, the most comprehensive exhibition of Russian art ever assembled," said Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. "That exhibition-which featured the greatest masterworks of Russian art from the thirteenth century to the present, many seen for the first time outside of Russia-was a triumphant success with over a million visitors. With Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation, the Guggenheim can reciprocate with the Russian public by presenting the first exhibition to fully reflect-the entire history of art in the United States. It is a great honor to bring this exhibition to Moscow on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Russia. Undoubtedly, an exhibition of this scope and reach will not be repeated in this generation."
"An international lens informs all that we do at the Terra Foundation," said Elizabeth Glassman, President and CEO, Terra Foundation for American Art. "In the largest sense, our goal for Art in America is to expand and enrich knowledge of American art among Russian audiences. By revealing the complexities of our nation's history and artistic heritage, we seek to distinguish our own culture while simultaneously forging new and enduring connections with the Russians. On the 200th anniversary of Russian and American diplomat relations, we are pleased to partner with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in this historic exhibition and extend our thanks to all the lenders for sharing their treasurers with the world."
"It is with pride that we are able to make this exhibition possible in Moscow, coinciding with the celebration of 200 years of Russian American diplomatic relations," said Alexander Lebedev, Member of the State Duma and founder of the NRC. "Learning more about each other is most important in fostering mutual understanding and best done the vehicle of cultural exchange."
"Alcoa Foundation is pleased to support another important Guggenheim cultural exchange, Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation, and we look forward to sharing these rich representations of the American experience with the Russian people, particularly building on the success of the RUSSIA! exhibition with American audiences," said Alain Belda, Chairman and CEO of Alcoa. "We congratulate the Guggenheim and Terra for assembling this impressive set of works."
"Having made possible the legendary exhibition RUSSIA! in New York in the fall of 2005, it is a pleasure to support its 'mirror event' coming to Moscow two years later," said Vladimir O. Potanin, President of INTERROS Holding Company. "Our ongoing support of the Guggenheim and the State Hermitage, as well as many regional museums across Russia, is a way to significantly contribute to the education of people in both our countries."
"It was in 1998 that the Guggenheim first approached the Henry Luce Foundation with the exciting idea for the exhibition and catalogue Art in America," said the foundation's president, Michael Gilligan. "Given that one of our American art program's objectives is to raise awareness of American art beyond the United States, we are pleased that the Guggenheim is now sharing this artistic heritage with the Russian people."
Exhibition Overview
Divided into six historical periods, Art in America: Three Hundred Years of Innovation demonstrates how the art of each era both reflected and contributed to a complex visual narrative of the nation during times of discovery, growth, and experimentation. The exhibition explores issues of identity, creation, innovation, and scalecharacteristics integral to the American consciousness and derived in part from the variety and vastness of the cultural, political, ethnic, economic, and natural landscapes of the United States. The six sections, each marking significant phases of the country's development, are: Colonization and Rebellion ( 1700-1830), Expansion and Fragmentation (1830-80), Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism (1880-1915), Modernism and Regionalism (1915- 45), Prosperity and Disillusionment (1945-80), and Multiculturalism and Globalization (1980-present). Featured artists from the early 18th century to the present include, among many others: John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, George Catlin, Frederic Edwin Church, Winslow Homer, Martin Johnson Heade, John Singer Sargent, Albert Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, Frederic Remington, Marsden Hartley, Robert Henri, George Bellows, Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Stuart Davis, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, Lawrence Weiner, Richard Prince, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and John Currin.
The curatorial team of the exhibition has been led by Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Susan Davidson, Senior Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Elizabeth Kennedy, Curator of the Collection, Terra Foundation for American Art; and Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugenie Prendergast Senior Curator of 19th-and 20th-Century Art, Williams College Museum of Art have selected and installed the exhibition.