Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions, 2010-2020 will open on March 13.
This month, visitors to the Delaware Art Museum will have the chance to see some of the most exciting art acquired by the Museum over the past decade, brought together in a special exhibition. Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions, 2010-2020, will be on view from March 13 – September 12.
The recent acquisitions span centuries, styles, cultures, and mediums, and now call the Delaware Art Museum home. Through this exhibition, visitors are invited to sample some of the 1000+ recent additions to the collection and learn how and why the museum collects.
Collecting and Connecting also encourages connections between works of art that might not normally share a space together. The exhibition mixes art from different times and places, encouraging fresh comparisons.
The cascading drapery in a pencil drawing by Edward Burne-Jones is placed next to an abstracted waterfall by Walter Pach; the falling water echoing the folds of the flowing drapery. Pach’s waterfall in turn speaks to a double photograph of a young Black man in profile against a riveted metal backdrop. The abstract patterning in the photograph echoes the fragments of color emanating from the waterfall hanging nearby. This grouping of unrelated work moves from realist to abstract; 19th to 20th century; England to America in a seamless flow emphasizing unanticipated visual relationships.
“It has been a fascinating exercise to look across the museum’s recent acquisitions and see how much a work from 1857 and one from 2005 can tell the same story,” says Caroline Giddis, 2020 Delaware Art Museum Appel Curatorial Fellow. “What happens when you place two unrelated works of art from different continents, centuries, movements, and artistic backgrounds next to one another on a gallery wall? Something magical.”
Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions, 2010-2020 opens on March 13 and runs through September 12, 2021, in the Anthony N. and Catherine A. Fusco Gallery, with additional recent acquisitions installed and highlighted throughout the Museum and Copeland Sculpture Garden.
Press Contact: Amelia Wiggins, Assistant Director of Learning & Engagement, awiggins@delart.org or 302-351-8503.
Acknowledgement of Support: This exhibition was organized by the Delaware Art Museum and is made possible by the Hallie Tybout Exhibit Fund. The Delaware Art Museum is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
About the Delaware Art Museum
For over 100 years, the Museum has served as a primary arts and cultural institution in Delaware. It is alive with experiences, discoveries, and activities to connect people with art and with each other. Originally created in 1912 to honor the renowned illustrator and Wilmington native, Howard Pyle, the Museum’s collection has grown to over 12,000 works of art in our building and sculpture garden. Also recognized for British Pre-Raphaelite art, the Museum is home to the most comprehensive collection of Pre-Raphaelite art on display outside of the United Kingdom and a growing collection of significant contemporary art.
Under the leadership of our Board of Trustees, the Delaware Art Museum is implementing a comprehensive approach to community and civic engagement. This exciting new strategic direction requires that we increase our value and relevance to all audiences. Visit delart.org for the latest exhibitions, programs, and performances or connect with us via social media.
Installation image of Collecting and Connecting: Recent Acquisitions, 2011 – 2020. Artwork (left to right): Pear, not dated. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (1827-1891). Watercolor and graphite on wove paper, 9 13/16 × 6 3/4 inches, frame: 16 x 20 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 2017; Study for “A Bather“, c. 1891. Albert Joseph Moore (1841–1893). Colored chalks on buff paper, sheet: 18 × 8 5/8 inches, frame: 25 7/8 x 15 ¾ inches. Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 2017; Torso, c. 1972. Bernard Felch (1925–2008). Maple, 34 × 19 × 12 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Edward and Joy Schweizer, 2013.© Estate of Bernard Jackson Felch; Hymen, the Goddess of Marriage Holding a Harp, and A Married Couple Being Blessed, 1876. Edward Burne Jones (1833–1898). Graphite on paper, compositions: 12 3/4 × 6 1/4 inches and 13 × 6 1/2 inches, frame: 22 3/8 x 24 3/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 2019.