MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain
December 3, 2021–March 27, 2022
This is the first comprehensive survey of the work of celebrated photographer An-My Lê (American, born Vietnam, 1960). The nationally touring exhibition features large-format black-and-white and color photographs from across Lê’s career, which she has dedicated to exploring the complexity that envelops war.
Born in Saigon, Lê was a teenager when the U.S. military evacuated her and her family in the final year of the Vietnam War, in 1975. For the past thirty years, she has been photographing the peripheries of battle: the training, reenactments, and symbols that further extend and entrench the mark of conflict on the people and places involved.
Using a 5-by-7–inch view camera, Lê creates sweeping views that allow us to consider the expansive reach of armed combat, across space and time. Lê draws on the traditions of survey photography and classical painting to create evocative images that look upon the landscape as a witness to history.
An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain
December 3, 2021–March 27, 2022
This is the first comprehensive survey of the work of celebrated photographer An-My Lê (American, born Vietnam, 1960). The nationally touring exhibition features large-format black-and-white and color photographs from across Lê’s career, which she has dedicated to exploring the complexity that envelops war.
Born in Saigon, Lê was a teenager when the U.S. military evacuated her and her family in the final year of the Vietnam War, in 1975. For the past thirty years, she has been photographing the peripheries of battle: the training, reenactments, and symbols that further extend and entrench the mark of conflict on the people and places involved.
Using a 5-by-7–inch view camera, Lê creates sweeping views that allow us to consider the expansive reach of armed combat, across space and time. Lê draws on the traditions of survey photography and classical painting to create evocative images that look upon the landscape as a witness to history.
Illinois State Museum --Springfield
ART ON THE MOVE
September 24, 2021 to February 26, 2022
Art on the Move seeks to inspire visitors of all ages to look at, talk about, and move with art. It showcases two- and three-dimensional works that imply movement through subject matter and/or artistic technique. Each artwork encourages visitors to look for something specific, talk about what they see, and get moving, including prompts to pose, make noise, and dance.
September 24, 2021 to February 26, 2022
September 24, 2021 to February 26, 2022
Art on the Move seeks to inspire visitors of all ages to look at, talk about, and move with art. It showcases two- and three-dimensional works that imply movement through subject matter and/or artistic technique. Each artwork encourages visitors to look for something specific, talk about what they see, and get moving, including prompts to pose, make noise, and dance.
September 24, 2021 to February 26, 2022
Art Institute of Chicago
MORRIS AND COMPANY: THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY
Dec 18, 2021–Jun 13, 2022
Artist, designer, and writer William Morris (1838–1896) founded Morris & Co. 160 years ago, in 1861. The company quickly became regarded for the objects it designed and made for home interiors—handmade wallpapers, textiles, and furniture—and its style became synonymous with the British Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century. Morris was both an avid student of art history and devotee of the natural world, and his and his company’s works were characterized by a design vocabulary drawn from both European and Middle Eastern historical fabric designs and featured, and were titled after, flowers and plants.
Morris and his collaborators—which included his wife Jane Burden Morris, younger daughter May Morris, artisan and designer John Henry Dearle, as well as artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rosetti—considered themselves design reformers. They were on a mission to bring beauty back into the lives of their consumers through thoughtful design and production that foregrounded the agency of artisans and anti-industrial techniques. Accordingly, they experimented with dye recipes based on natural materials, revived hand-printing methods for fabrics and wallpapers, and reintroduced hand weaving for woven wool and silk textiles as well as pictorial tapestries.
Although Morris & Co. closed its doors in 1940, the company’s aesthetic vision remains potent to this day through the continued reimagining and reworking of the textile and wallpaper designs. This exhibition explores that longevity, highlighting Morris & Co’s design tenets and favored techniques as well as Chicago area sites where the work of Morris and his contemporaries appeared. The presentation comprises approximately 40 works, drawn primarily from the Art Institute’s significant holdings.
Dec 18, 2021–Jun 13, 2022
Artist, designer, and writer William Morris (1838–1896) founded Morris & Co. 160 years ago, in 1861. The company quickly became regarded for the objects it designed and made for home interiors—handmade wallpapers, textiles, and furniture—and its style became synonymous with the British Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century. Morris was both an avid student of art history and devotee of the natural world, and his and his company’s works were characterized by a design vocabulary drawn from both European and Middle Eastern historical fabric designs and featured, and were titled after, flowers and plants.
Morris and his collaborators—which included his wife Jane Burden Morris, younger daughter May Morris, artisan and designer John Henry Dearle, as well as artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rosetti—considered themselves design reformers. They were on a mission to bring beauty back into the lives of their consumers through thoughtful design and production that foregrounded the agency of artisans and anti-industrial techniques. Accordingly, they experimented with dye recipes based on natural materials, revived hand-printing methods for fabrics and wallpapers, and reintroduced hand weaving for woven wool and silk textiles as well as pictorial tapestries.
Although Morris & Co. closed its doors in 1940, the company’s aesthetic vision remains potent to this day through the continued reimagining and reworking of the textile and wallpaper designs. This exhibition explores that longevity, highlighting Morris & Co’s design tenets and favored techniques as well as Chicago area sites where the work of Morris and his contemporaries appeared. The presentation comprises approximately 40 works, drawn primarily from the Art Institute’s significant holdings.
Saint Louis Art Museum
OLIVER LEE JACKSON
July 16, 2021–February 20, 2022
Oliver Lee Jackson is known for creating complex and layered images in which figurative elements—or what he calls “paint people”—emerge from abstract fields of vibrant color. Jackson’s practice is informed by a deep understanding of global art history—from early modern European painting to African art. Yet his works do not aim to elevate a single message, narrative, or meaning. Rather, the works serve as an open invitation to slow and close looking, encouraging viewers to stake emotional claim on the paintings and not wait for instructions on what to see.
The 12 paintings, drawings, and prints presented in this exhibition were created from the mid-1960s through 2020, tracing Jackson’s aesthetic evolution over five decades and demonstrating his significance as a highly experimental artist working across a range of media.
Jackson was associated with the Black Artists Group, which was founded in St. Louis in 1968, and a close friend of comember and jazz saxophonist Julius Hemphill. The improvisational nature of Jackson’s work relates closely to his love of the spontaneity and freedom of jazz.
July 16, 2021–February 20, 2022
Oliver Lee Jackson is known for creating complex and layered images in which figurative elements—or what he calls “paint people”—emerge from abstract fields of vibrant color. Jackson’s practice is informed by a deep understanding of global art history—from early modern European painting to African art. Yet his works do not aim to elevate a single message, narrative, or meaning. Rather, the works serve as an open invitation to slow and close looking, encouraging viewers to stake emotional claim on the paintings and not wait for instructions on what to see.
The 12 paintings, drawings, and prints presented in this exhibition were created from the mid-1960s through 2020, tracing Jackson’s aesthetic evolution over five decades and demonstrating his significance as a highly experimental artist working across a range of media.
Jackson was associated with the Black Artists Group, which was founded in St. Louis in 1968, and a close friend of comember and jazz saxophonist Julius Hemphill. The improvisational nature of Jackson’s work relates closely to his love of the spontaneity and freedom of jazz.