SAN JOSE, California (May 12, 2014) — This summer, the San Jose Museum of Art will kick off its year-long 45thanniversary celebration with a landmark exhibition of postwar American art by such prominent artists as Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol. Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, on view June 5 – September 14, 2014, is a survey of American art since the 1960s. The exhibition is drawn from the historic gift of art pledged to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, by private collector Emily Fisher Landau.
“Legacy gives Bay Area audiences access to extraordinary works by a pantheon of innovative and pivotal artists,” said Susan Krane, Oshman Executive Director. “These stellar American artists are now part of the American canon of contemporary art history. Yet when Emily Fisher Landau collected their art, they were radically adventurous and far from famous.The collection she shaped with such gumption is an exciting overview of one of the most important and expansive periods in American art, when no few styles or movements held sway.”
Legacy comprises some seventy works by thirty-eight artists who pushed the boundaries of painterly abstraction, realism, and social commentary. The broad variety of media represented includes painting, ink on paper, collage, screen printing, and sculpture. The exhibition encompasses many postwar art movements: abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism, conceptualism, feminist art, and postmodernism.
“These artworks heralded seismic changes, not just in American society, but in the way the artist’s role has evolved over the decades,” said Susan Leask, acting senior curator at the San Jose Museum of Art. “This exhibition offers insights into the visual thinking and political consciousness of American artists from the 1960s through 2002, and takes a particularly close look at the 1970s and 1980s.”
On view will be works by Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Mathew Barney, Peter Cain, William de Kooning, Carroll Dunham, William Eggleston, Eric Fischl, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Rodney Graham, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Peter Hujar, Michael Hurson, Neil Jenney, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, Annette Lemieux, Sherrie Levine, Glenn Ligon, Robert Longo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Agnes Martin, John McLaughlin, Martin Puryear, James Rosenquist, Susan Rothenberg, Allen Ruppersberg, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Mark Tansey, Al Taylor, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and David Wojnarowicz. Also highlighted in Legacy are works by some of the artists that Emily Fisher Landau collected in depth— Richard Artschwager, Jasper Johns, and Ed Ruscha—a reflection of her longstanding relationships with these artists.
Fisher Landau began collecting art in the late 1960s and started exploring the burgeoning New York art scene in the 1980s. It was there, in downtown galleries and artists’ studios, that she discovered a group of younger artists who were driving a new social and political dialog. She quickly began to support their work. Bold and often controversial, these young artists took risks stylistically, thematically, and conceptually: they challenged the very notions of art. “Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection is the culmination of a single collector’s enduring commitment to contemporary artists and to sharing a love of art,” said Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director. “The gift goes beyond showcasing the best of American art to demonstrate a sense of adventure and a willingness to challenge conventional taste and fashion.”
Legacy is a fitting exhibition for SJMA’s 45th-anniversary year. It harkens back to a series of collaborations between SJMA and the Whitney from 1994 -2000 that filled SJMA’s new wing with a bang. Drawn from the Whitney’s preeminent collection, these large-scale exhibitions of 20th-century art brought extraordinary masterpieces to this community. “Legacy sets the stage for the anniversary year by reconnecting with the spirit of those much-beloved collaborations and by surveying the adventurous path of contemporary art during SJMA’s lifespan,” said Krane.
This exhibition traces the ideas that have shaped art since the late 1960s: questions about the relevance and possibilities of painting in the aftermath of minimalism; debates about representation and identity politics; the fraught censorial era of the “culture wars”; and a revived interest in personal narrative. Legacy illuminates the sociopolitical issues at the forefront of the 1980s downtown New York scene. Important works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin, Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, and Lorna Simpson confronted society’s most sensitive subjects: AIDS, politics, and issues of gender and race.
This exhibition was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The San Jose presentation has been made possible by the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, the Myra Reinhard Family Foundation, University Art, Doris and Alan Burgess, and Carol and Gerry Parker. The exhibition will open with a members’ reception on Wednesday, June 4, followed by a free community day and 45th-anniversary “open house” on Saturday, June 7, from 11 AM to 8 PM. Other related public programs include two DIY Art: Summer Sundays, which will combine an art-making activity inspired by works in Legacy with a gallery talk (July 20 and August 17, 1 – 4 PM). On Thursday, July 17, from 7 – 10 PM, the Museum’s popular after-hours program ArtRage will feature music and retro DIY Art activities from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Details on these and other public programs are available at www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.
SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART
The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates new ideas, stimulates creativity, and inspires connection with every visit. Welcoming and thought-provoking, the Museum rejects stuffiness and delights visitors with its surprising and playful perspective on the art and artists of our time.
The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 408-271- 6840 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.
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