An American Place: Selections from the James and Barbara Palmer Collection
January 29 - May 1, 2022
Special Exhibitions Gallery, Second Floor
The story of the coming of age of American art is filled with alliances and ruptures, expatriates and immigrants, transatlantic dialogues and the search for an authentic aesthetic rooted in America. An American Place examines the complexity of this national narrative, highlighting a century of American art from the post-Civil War decades through the Civil Rights era. The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, and sculptures drawn from the recent bequest of collectors and philanthropists James and Barbara Palmer.
Amassed over more than three decades, this remarkable collection features notable works by well-known nineteenth-century artists and boasts strengths in realist Ashcan portraits and gritty genre scenes. It also includes experimental avant-garde canvases associated with the modernist circle of gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, whose “An American Place” gallery supported a core group of American artists for nearly two decades. The Palmers lovingly shared the works they acquired with friends and their community, essentially creating “An American Place” of their own for students of all ages. Their signature collection includes a broad array of mid-century voices—many of them once marginalized—demonstrating the discerning inclusivity of their vision and the diverse breadth of the story of American art.
An American Place is organized in four thematic sections: Breaking Ties, Embracing Modernity, America as Place, and Diverse Voices. Artists represented include Thomas Anshutz, Romare Bearden, Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Cadmus, Mary Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, Martin Johnson Heade, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Jacob Lawrence, Seymour Lipton, George Luks, John Marin, Alfred Maurer, Georgia O’Keeffe, Theodore Robinson, John Sloan, and George Tooker.
Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art.
