LACMA will bring the lauded exhibition Outliers and American Vanguard Art to its galleries starting November 18. The project explores pivotal moments when avant-garde artists and outsiders changed the trajectory of American art — ultimately telling stories of unique explorations, assimilation and the history of American modernism in multiple mediums. The works in Outliers and American Vanguard Art are divided into three periods: The first section focuses on the early years of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, when it championed folk artists before the rise of abstract impressionism. The second section hones in on the 1960s, when the Chicago imagists and practitioners of the West Coast assemblage became leading visionaries. And the third section examines the continued impact of outlier practices on contemporary American art today. The exhibition features upwards of 250 works from more than 80 artists — some formally trained, others self-taught. This list includes Henry Darger (who created everything from idyllic landscapes to disturbing scenes of torture), folk art sculptor William Edmondson and Lonnie Holley — who became known for incorporating found objects into his sculptural work, alongside many others. The exhibit has been curated by Lynne Cooke and organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Cooke is a renowned art scholar and the senior curator of Modern Art at the National Gallery. Other notable exhibitions that bear her imprint include Cristina Iglesia: A Place of Reflection, Rosmarie Trockel: A Cosmos and Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years. As Cooke has done extensive research on the relationship between self-taught and trained professional artists (including penning a book on the topic), she brings a deft touch the project, which addresses this fascinating intersection in the depth it deserves. lacma.org
From Left, the Art above is:
Sister Gertrude Morgan
Revelation 7. chap.,
c. 1970.
paint on wood
Eugene von Bruenchenhein
Marie von Bruenchenhein,
c. 1943
hand-colored gelatin silver print
Elie Nadelman
Two Acrobats, 1934
glazed ceramic
Marsden Hartley
Adelard the Drowned,
Master of the “Phantom”,
c. 1938-1939
oil on board
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Last modified: July 8, 2019
