Exhibitions Closing TODAY March 11, 2022
Facing History: Social Commentary in Contemporary American Art
Artists confront the legacies of past injustices in Facing History: Social Commentary in Contemporary American Art. Drawn from the Benton’s collection, these works explore issues of colonialism, gender and ethnic bias, and oppression through a variety of means. Some artists juxtapose appropriated imagery and symbols to subvert dominant narratives. Others use the language of advertising to level their critique. By drawing attention to difficult aspects of American history and culture, these works demand change while underscoring the enduring impacts of the past on contemporary society.
The exhibition brings together works of art by Philip Guston, Guerrilla Girls, Melvin Edwards, Todd Gray, Kerry James Marshall, Enrique Chagoya, Roger Shimomura and Hank Willis Thomas. It is co-sponsored by the American Studies program at the University of Connecticut.
Remembering the Nut Museum: Visionary Art of Elizabeth Tashjian
In April 1972, Old Lyme artist Elizabeth Tashjian (1912-2007) opened on the ground floor of her Victorian mansion a museum devoted to nuts. The Nut Museum operated until 2002 and featured Tashjian’s nut paintings and sculptures, as well as a collection of nuts, nutcrackers and nut-related memorabilia.
This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Nut Museum’s opening. Curated by Connecticut College Art History professor Christopher Steiner, the exhibition recreates the Nut Museum’s main exhibition gallery, with all of its original furnishings, art and displays. It also features a retrospective of Elizabeth Tashjian’s paintings and sculptures, as well as a video compilation of her media appearances (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Howard Stern) on national television. Under Professor Steiner’s stewardship, Connecticut College was entrusted to preserve approximately 150 paintings, 200 drawings, 20 sculptures, 100 boxes of documents and photographs, and all furniture and displays from the museum portion of the house.
THE WILLIAM BENTON MUSEUM OF ART
University of Connecticut
School of Fine Arts
245 Glenbrook Road
Storrs, CT
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