During the first half of the 20th century, visual artists, writers, musicians, and other cultural figures committed themselves to shedding Victorian sensibilities and embracing an exciting new modernity. Many of these American moderns flocked to New York City, where they discovered communities of kindred spirits that shared a propensity for experimentation and abstraction. In 1913, several artists, including Arthur B. Davies and Walt Kuhn, organized the Armory Show. The first large-scale introduction of modern art presented to North American audiences, it ushered in a period of American modernism that sparked new perceptions of beauty, novel modes of expression, and alternative ways of thinking and talking about the visual arts.
American Modern highlights five key areas and groups across the larger timeline of the period, including the first generation of modern artists in America and Europe, the avant-garde in the Southwest U.S., the Transcendental Painting Group, the American Abstract Artists group, and the significant cohort of women artists who worked across these areas and collectives. Featured works include paintings, works on paper, and sculptures from the PhxArt Collection by well-known artists such as Davis, Kuhn, Abraham Walkowitz, Joseph Stella, Alexander Archipenko, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Oscar Bluemner, Max Weber, William Zorach, Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Blanche Lazell, Eugenie Baizerman, Helen Torr, Florine Stettheimer, among others.
The Collection: American Modern is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Betsy Fahlman, PhD, adjunct curator of American art. The Collection: American Modern is made possible through the generosity of Men’s Arts Council.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
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