This spring we are excited to present three special exhibitions, as well as a new installation in our Collections Gallery:
Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976), Formulation: Articulation II, II:25, 1972 (Detail). Screen print. Sheet: 15 x 40 in. (38.1 x 101.6 cm) © 2022 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887-1986), Save Our Planet Save Our Air, 1971, Olivetti Ltd., sponsor. Poster, color offset printing over screen printing. Museum collection 2003.6.433 LA
Shanta Lee Gander, CROW GODDESS, 2020. Archival pigment print, 26 3/4 x 40 in. (68 x 101.6 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Raffia flower corsage, early to mid-20th cent. Raffia, dyed and woven. Museum Collection 2006.3.284 LA
Labels with personal reflections are displayed in the "absences" where we have removed artwork whose subject matter or background is harmful to members of our community.
Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976), Formulation: Articulation II, II:27, 1972 (Detail). Screen print. Sheet: 15 x 40 in. (38.1 x 101.6 cm) © 2022 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018), Lilac and Zinnia from A Garden of Love, 1982. Screen print, edition: 9/100, 5 of set of 6. Gift of Robert Suslow 1983.33.5A–D and F
Shanta Lee Gander, ORIGINAL BERSERK, 2020. Archival pigment print, 26 3/4 x 40 in. (68 x 101.6 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
This spring we are excited to present three special exhibitions, as well as a new installation in our Collections Gallery:
The exhibition Formulation: Articulation is a chance to look at every color differently—through the lens of an artist’s teaching exercises that show how our perceptions of colors are affected by the environments in which they are viewed. In color studies like Homage to the Square, artist and educator Josef Albers (1888-1976) demonstrates how immediate proximity changes our viewing of shades and values of color.
This exhibition explores the significance of text and context to the processes of making, interpreting, and displaying art. Bringing together art objects that prominently feature words, images, symbols, and gestural or abstract marks, Art/Text/Context considers the power of these artworks to prompt critical reflection and, in some cases, also to spur social action.
Changes are afoot at the Fleming. We are currently re-envisioning the Collections Gallery (formerly the European/American Gallery). In areas freshly painted gray or blue, you’ll find a new selection of artworks installed among some objects from the prior display. This ongoing reinstallation project expands possibilities for connecting with the collection in new and exciting ways.
Dark Goddess: An Exploration of the Sacred Feminine, an exhibition of Shanta Lee Gander’s photo series of the same name, has been six years in the making. The series started off as an initial idea and inquiry: Who or what is the Goddess when she is allowed to misbehave? Who is the Goddess when she is allowed to expand beyond bearer of life, nurturer, and all of the other boxes that we confine women to within our society?
Markers of Absence: Seeing and Unseeing the Fleming’s Collection will be on view as large labels throughout the Museum. In these spaces, we have removed artwork or are deinstalling galleries that have been on view for decades and whose subject matter or background is hurtful to members of our community. Instead of filling these spaces with new artworks immediately, we have left them as intentional signs of the Museum’s commitments to transparency and holding itself accountable. Staff and students are using these texts to reflect on the problematic histories behind the collections and galleries, and to rethink what we collect, how we display it, and the words that accompany it.
Support for this Spring is provided by the Kalkin Family Exhibitions Fund, the 1675 Foundation, and the Walter Cerf Exhibitions Fund.
The staff at the Fleming Museum have been reckoning with how to become an anti-racist museum that’s more responsive, relevant, and inclusive. We want to know what you think about our ongoing conversations about our values and priorities.
This semester we feature a rich schedule of programs and events related to our current exhibitions.
Join the Fleming Community Circle, It's free!