Supported by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Art of the Americas department presents a series of three, one-year exhibitions that use understudied works from the 澳门六合彩开奖现场直播鈥檚 permanent collection to address critical themes in American art and the formation of modern American identities. All three shows explore the multiplicity of voices that create American art and culture, giving special attention to how those voices have been represented in the past and how the process of examining them in new ways changes our perceptions of these collections and the role of museums in building stronger communities today. The grant also provides research and administrative support for the exhibitions through a three-year curatorial research associate position and three paid summer internships for college students from underrepresented backgrounds.
The first exhibition, 鈥淐ollecting Stories: Native American Art,鈥 explored the range of perspectives, motives, and voices involved in building the Native American art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibition reflected the viewpoints of Indigenous artists and communities, historic and contemporary alike. The second show, 鈥淐ollecting Stories: A Mid-Century Experiment,鈥 examined a short-lived moment in the 澳门六合彩开奖现场直播鈥檚 history when it launched a trial initiative to acquire contemporary American art, allowing the Museum to hold works without adding them to the permanent collection until it could be determined that they had stood the 鈥渢est of time.鈥 The third and final exhibition in the series, 鈥淐ollecting Stories: The Invention of Folk Art,鈥 on view in 2021, reconsiders the term folk art by looking at works from the 澳门六合彩开奖现场直播鈥檚 Karolik Collection of American Folk Art. The exhibition marks the beginning of the 澳门六合彩开奖现场直播鈥檚 multiyear initiative to explore new approaches to the display and interpretation of works historically labeled as folk art.
A range of live and virtual programs, including lectures, courses, and demonstrations by contemporary artists accompany all three exhibitions.
The Henry Luce Foundation鈥檚 American Art Program was established in 1982 to support universities, museums, and arts organizations in their efforts to advance the understanding and experience of American and Native American visual arts through research, exhibitions, publications, and collection projects.