American Made: Selections from The Huntington's Early American Art Collections Sept. 5, 2015–Jan. 5, 2016
A World of Strangers: Crowds in American Art
Oct. 17, 2015–April 4, 2016
Y.C. Hong: Advocate for Chinese-American Inclusion
Nov. 21, 2015–March 21, 2016
The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920
Jan. 23, 2016–May 9, 2016
Geographies of Wonder, Part 1: Origin Stories of America's National Parks, 1872-1933
May 14, 2016 – Sept. 3, 2016
SAN MARINO, Calif. — The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced today a diverse slate of upcoming exhibitions united by a broad common theme—the concept of what it is to be American and how both national and international influences have shaped American culture.
In September, a selection of the earliest works from The Huntington’s American art collection will take center stage in a large temporary installation spotlighting great paintings and works of decorative art from the Colonial period to the mid-19th century. The show presents highlights from the collection that usually are found in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art; they will be on display in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery while the Scott Galleries are under construction.
Later in the fall, a focused loan show explores 20th-century artists’ depictions of crowds in American public life.
And in a completely different take on the topic, visitors will get an inside look into the struggles of one Chinese-American citizen and his fight for inclusion in American society.
In the spring, celebrating the great American outdoors, the national travelling exhibition “The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement” makes its only West Coast appearance at The Huntington, and the centennial of the National Park Service is celebrated with a two-part exhibition showcasing the history and impact of America’s national parks.
Exhibition Schedule Through 2016
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
American Made: Selections from The Huntington’s Early American Art Collections
Sept. 5, 2015–Jan. 5, 2016
MaryLou and George Boone Gallery
While a portion of the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art is closed for expansion and reinstallation, 25 selections from among the earliest works in the collection are spotlighted in a temporary installation, focusing on masterworks in various media made between 1700 and 1868. Paintings by the most influential American artists of the period, such as Frederic Edwin Church, John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, and Benjamin West, are joined by representative furniture, silver, and sculpture from the Colonial, Federal, and Civil War periods.
A World of Strangers: Crowds in American Art
Oct. 17, 2015–April 4, 2016
Huntington Art Gallery
PRESS KIT
Crowds are the temporary groups that strangers form. They take shape at baseball games and in subway stations, at patriotic parades and in angry riots. Fickle and ephemeral, crowds can be joyous, destructive, or somber. “A World of Strangers: Crowds in American Art” explores how artists have represented these teeming and fluid masses from the early 20th century to today. This focused loan exhibition includes about 20 prints, photographs, and other works by artists such as George Bellows, Walker Evans, Armin Landeck, George Luks, Benton Murdoch Spruance, and Weegee.
Y.C. Hong: Advocate for Chinese-American Inclusion
Nov. 21, 2015–March 21, 2016
Library, West Hall
PRESS KIT
Drawn from The Huntington’s You Chung Hong family papers, acquired in 2006, this exhibition is the first opportunity for the public to get a deeper sense of the life of an extraordinary figure in Chinese-American history. Through some 75 items, including historical documents, correspondence, photographs, maps, and ledgers, “Y.C. Hong: Advocate for Chinese-American Inclusion” examines Chinese-American immigration in early 20th-century Los Angeles. The name Y.C. Hong (1898–1977) still elicits respect and pride among longtime residents of Los Angeles’ Chinatown. As one of the first Chinese-Americans to pass the California Bar, Hong was a major figure in the Los Angeles Chinese community during the period of the Chinese Exclusion Act and beyond.
The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920
Jan. 23, 2016–May 9, 2016
MaryLou and George Boone Gallery
PRESS KIT
During the only West Coast stop on a national tour, The Huntington’s presentation of “The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920” showcases a hand-picked selection of 17 paintings from the exhibition that originated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, exploring the connections between the American impressionist movement and the emergence of gardening as a middle-class leisure pursuit. Featured artists include Philip Leslie Hale (1865–1931), Childe Hassam (1859–1935), and John Henry Twachtman (1853–1902). A richly illustrated catalog complements the exhibition.
Geographies of Wonder, Part 1: Origin Stories of America’s National Parks, 1872-1933
May 14, 2016 – Sept. 3, 2016
Geographies of Wonder, Part 2: Evolution of the National Park Idea, 1933–2016
Oct. 22, 2016–Feb. 13, 2017
Library, West Hall
The year 2016 marks the centennial of the National Park Service. To celebrate this anniversary, The Huntington presents two consecutive exhibitions exploring the origins and evolution of the national park idea through rare materials selected from The Huntington’s American history archives. To illuminate the dynamic interplay between American landscapes and national identity, each of the focused exhibitions explores national parks over time, their cultural influences, and their eventual incorporation into a system of public lands known as the nation’s “crown jewels.” Diaries, letters, and travel narratives written by explorers, politicians, and tourists join guidebooks, promotional literature, posters, photographs, and maps that helped promote tourism. The exhibitions, together featuring some 85 objects, spotlight many items rarely seen by the public, including stunning images of national park scenes by artists such as Ansel Adams, William Henry Jackson, and Thomas Moran.
The first of the two exhibitions highlights Americans’ early encounters with natural scenic wonders such as Niagara Falls and the Hudson River Valley, and follows the story through the creation of the first national parks, including Yellowstone and Yosemite. The second exhibition explores how public interest in the parks has grown from the era of the Great Depression to the dawn of the 21st century, even as the concept of how a national park should best serve the public has undergone significant changes.
NOW ON VIEW
Weird, Wild & Wonderful: The New York Botanical Garden Second Triennial Exhibition
Ends Aug. 23, 2015; weekends only
Brody Botanical Center, Flora-Legium
PRESS KIT
The eccentric beauty of the plant kingdom is celebrated in this traveling exhibition of 47 contemporary botanical illustrations by artists from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Velvet Paintings: 18th-Century Pastels from The Huntington’s Art Collections
Ends Sept. 7, 2015
Huntington Art Gallery
This exhibition features nine 18th-century pastels by masters of the medium such as Rosalba Carriera, Francis Cotes, and William Hoare, brilliantly demonstrating why the late 17th-century French art theorist Roger de Piles called pastel “the most commodious type of painting.”
Between Modernism and Tradition: British Works on Paper, 1914–1948
Ends Sept. 28, 2015
Huntington Art Gallery
Early 20th-century modernism in Britain drew its inspiration from avant-garde art movements in France, Germany, and Italy, the best known of which was vorticism, a dynamic style of jarring colors and bold lines that embraced modernity and the machine age. This exhibition of about two dozen drawings, watercolors, and prints, all from The Huntington’s collections, explores the great range of artistic styles employed by British artists through a period of dramatic social upheaval and change.
Magna Carta: Law and Legend, 1215–2015
Ends Oct. 12, 2015
Library, West Hall
PRESS KIT
Celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, this exhibition explores the language and ideology of constitutionalism and the rule of law. While the cornerstone of the show is The Huntington's 13th-century draft of the Magna Carta, the themes move beyond medieval England to explore the relevance of the Magna Carta to later English history, the history of the United States, and the modern world, drawn from The Huntington’s collections.
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Contacts
Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, tpage@huntington.org
Lisa Blackburn, 626-405-2140, lblackburn@huntington.org