Visit the Albuquerque Museum to see the following exhibitions now on display.
John Biggers, Shotgun, Third Ward #1, 1966, tempera and oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution
African American Art in the 20th Century
Through January 19th, 2014
The exhibition presents 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs by 43 African American artists from the premier collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, more than half of which are being shown for the first time.
The exhibition features artists who came to prominence during the period bracketed by the Harlem renaissance and the Civil Rights movement.
Some trained in the country's most prestigious art schools, others in the ateliers of Paris. Many were teachers; others worked at whatever jobs allowed them time to create. All participated in the multivalent dialogues about art, black identity, and the rights of the individual that engaged American society throughout the 20th Century.
The Museum would like to thank the educational sponsor of this exhibition, The Albuquerque Chapter of the Links, Incorporated.
Robert Christensen, "Louie's, Cleveland, New Mexico," 1977, Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, gift of the artist
Vernacular Architecture of New Mexico: Photographs by Robert Christensen
Sept. 21, 2013 – March 16, 2014
In 52 stunning black and white photographs, Belen-based photographer Robert Christensen has documented in a spare compositional format, spontaneously designed buildings such as gas stations, garages, barns, bars, sheds, and shops.
The artist states, "While quite a few of these buildings still stand, as a genus they are fading away, along with the individualism and self-reliance that produced them. Some have been replaced by mundane new construction, some have been chicly remodeled at the expense of their original allure, and some have just vanished."
This installation includes recent prints of images created from 1974 through 2013 which were donated by the artist to the Albuquerque Museum.
Samuel Colman, The Rocky Spires of the Grand Canyon, ca. 1888, pastel on paper, 16 x 18 in., Museum purchase, 1991 General Obligation Bonds, 1992.77.1
Landscape Drawings from the Collection
April 27-October 27, 2013
The first exhibition in the Museum’s new Works on Paper Gallery, this exhibition will highlight drawings and watercolors by Seth Eastman, Samuel Colman, Raymond Jonson, Charles Burchfield, and Gene Kloss dating from the 1850s to the 1950s.
Caballero (Cavalryman) and alabardero (footsoldier), c. 1598, Iron, steel, brass, leather, cotton, Photographer: Damian Andrus, PC1981.219.1.a-j, 1982.20.1.a&b, 1982.38.1, 1981.213.1.a&b, 1982.35.1.a&b, 1982.197.1.a-k, 1981.229.1.a-e, 1982.191.1, 1981.75.1
Albuquerque: Along the Rio Grande
Nov. 20, 2011 - January 2014 (North and Transition Galleries)
For more than one hundred and twenty centuries, humans have lived in the region now known as the central Rio Grande Valley.
When Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s army camped in the area in 1540-1542, they encountered an indigenous Tiwa-speaking native culture well adapted to a high desert environment and battling to retain its autonomy and cultural beliefs.
For the next four centuries and especially after the founding of La Villa de Alburquerque in 1706, Spain, Mexico and ultimately the United States governed a population focused on survival, weathering harsh weather extremes, and building a unique economy based on agriculture, ranching, weaving, and merchant trade. Change came quickly after the railroad arrived in 1880 and especially after World War II, leading to huge population growth and making Albuquerque the creative and diverse city it is today.
Curator of history Deb Slaney notes, "This exhibition is just the right size and scope to carry us through to completion of our new core history exhibit, due to open in the Fall of 2014.
"Heavily drawn from 'Four Centuries: A History of Albuquerque,' it includes many of our most beloved and iconic artifacts. This exhibit is important because it allows us to continue to provide a context for students, families and out-of-town guests for learning about Albuquerque history while we are under construction during the next year and a half."
A Family Guide is available free of charge for this exhibition, thanks to the generous support of Lovelace Health Plan and Bank of Albuquerque.
Ernest Blumenschein, Star Road and White Sun, 1920, Museum Purchase
Common Ground: Art in New Mexico
Permanent Exhibition (East Gallery)
A permanent art exhibition highlighting a significant and museum-owned works from the late 19th century to the present day, including some that have never before been viewed by the public.
In January 2013, Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy presented poems he had written based on artwork in the Common Ground exhibition. The poetry is available for visitors to view in the exhibition, or you may download it here.
