Neuberger Museum of Art

AMERICAN VANGUARDS:
GRAHAM, DAVIS,
GORKY, DE KOONING,
AND THEIR CIRCLE,
1927-1942

JANUARY 29–APRIL 29, 2012

In the 1920s through 1940s, the enigmatic and charismatic John Graham (1886–1961) and his circle of New York artists, which included Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, and Willem de Kooning, helped redefine ideas of what painting and sculpture could be. They, along with others in Graham’s orbit, such as Jackson Pollock and David Smith, played a critical role in developing and defining American modernism.

American Vanguards showcases more than sixty works of art from this vital period that demonstrate the inter-connections, common sources, and shared stimuli among the members of Graham’s circle.

This exhibition, curated by notable scholars William C. Agee, Irving Sandler, and Karen Wilkin, will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue co-published by the Addison and Yale University Press. This critical reconsideration sheds new light on the New York School, Abstract Expressionism, and the vitality of American modernism between the two world wars.

RELATED PROGRAMS

NOON AT THE NEU

Friday, April 27

Free with Museum admission;

Museum admission waived with purchase of lunch in café

RECENT PRESS

The New York Times, February 19, 2012

Debunking a Myth of Solitary, Barely Literate Painters

by Martha Schwendener

The New York Times, February 2, 2012

The Modernist Musketeers are Reunited

by Karen Rosenberg

The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2012

Waiting for Picasso

by Richard B. Woodward

___________

American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927–1942 is organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.

Generous support for this exhibition and publication was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and The Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.

Curated by scholars William C. Agee, Irving Sandler, and Karen Wilkin, the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue co-published by the Addison and Yale University Press.