Bruce Museum
through Jan. 7, 2024
Connecticut’s creative legacy shines in ‘Connecticut Modern: Art, Design, and the Avant-Garde, 1930-1960’
Exhibition features works by 20th-century masters Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns and others
Celebrate Connecticut as a center of international artistic innovation with “Connecticut Modern: Art, Design, and the Avant-Garde, 1930-1960,” on view through Jan. 7, 2024 at the Bruce Museum. The exhibition transports visitors to three decades in the 20th century when European artists settled in the New England state and transformed the region into a hub for arts, architecture and design. Paintings and sculptures by Alexander Calder, Anni and Josef Albers, Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Chase-Riboud, David Hare, Walker Evans and other renowned artists chronicle this creative period in Connecticut’s history that has largely gone unnoticed.
“‘Connecticut Modern’ features an extraordinary selection of modern works of art and design by many of the greatest talents of the 20th century, as well as offering what we believe is a surprising and compelling context for their creation,” said Kenneth E. Silver, Ph.D., adjunct curator of art at the Bruce Museum. “For three decades, Connecticut was the beating heart of the modern movement in America. ‘Connecticut Modern’ celebrates this notable period and shines a light on Connecticut’s critical role in 20th-century art and design.”
Alexander Calder’s move from Paris to Roxbury, Connecticut in 1933 precipitated a mass migration of transplanted Parisian artists to the Nutmeg State. Soon, sculptor David Hare moved near the Calders, husband and wife painters Yves Tanguy and Kay Sage settled in Woodbury and Rose and André Masson moved to nearby New Preston. Significant artists of the Magic Realist mode also lived and worked in Connecticut, including Peter Blume, Pavel Tchelitchew and Paul Cadmus. French sculptor Louise Bourgeois relocated to Easton in 1941 and the great painter Arshile Gorky lived in Roxbury. Pioneering Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer as well as Philip Johnson and Eliot Noyes built innovative houses in New Canaan in the late 1940s.
“Connecticut Modern: Art, Design, and the Avant-Garde, 1930-1960” showcases the seminal works by these 20th-century masters and spotlights Connecticut’s role in artistic innovation.
The exhibition is curated by Kenneth E. Silver, professor of art history at New York University, and sponsored by Bank of America, lead sponsor of the new Bruce, and Lugano Diamonds. Additional support is provided by Hollis Taggart Galleries, NY.
Josef Albers (American, b. Germany, 1888–1976)
"Study for Homage to the Square: Green Tension," 1951
Oil and casein on Masonite, 24 x 24 in.
Private Collection
© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2023
Photo: Paul Mutino
Charles Sheeler (American, 1883-1965)
"On a Connecticut Theme," 1958
Oil on canvas, 19 1/8 x 29 1/8 in.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Lawrence H. Bloedel Bequest
Photo Credit: Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY
Katherine Dreier (American, 1877-1952)
"Explosion," 1940-47
Oil on canvas, 24 1/16 x 29 15/16 in.
Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Katherine S. Dreier to the Collection Société Anonyme
Alexander Calder (American, 1898-1976)
"Big Bird," 1937
Sheet metal, bolts, and paint, 88 x 50 x 59 in.
Calder Foundation, New York
© 2023 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
George Marinko (American, 1908-1989)
"Hypothetical Gallipot," c. 1938
Oil on Masonite, 5 x 7 in.
Collection of the Mattatuck Museum; Gift of Mr. George Heard Hamilton, 1978