Lee Krasner, Siren, 1966. Oil on canvas. 51 ⅝ × 81 ⅛ in. (128.6 × 206.1 cm). The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981. Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Photo: Cathy Carver.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Independence Ave. at 7th St., SW
Washington, DC
To inaugurate its 50th-anniversary season, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden presents Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960, a major survey of artwork made during a transformative period characterized by new currents in science and philosophy, and ever-increasing mechanization. The exhibition captures shifting cultural landscapes through the largely chronological presentation of 270 artworks in the museum’s permanent collection by 126 artists—including Francis Bacon, Jean Dubuffet, Lee Krasner, Wifredo Lam, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock—made during 100 turbulent and energetic years.
Revolutions spotlights the rush of art historical movements and genres that characterized the arc of Modernism and the ascendancy of abstraction, notably through the work of artists interested in engaging the mind, not just the eye. This breadth was evident in Joseph Hirshhorn’s founding gifts to the Museum. An industrialist, collector, and philanthropist, Hirshhorn donated nearly 6,000 works—including a significant number of sculptures—in anticipation of the Museum’s opening on October 4, 1974, and 6,400 more upon his death in 1981. Together these gifts constitute one of the most important collections of postwar American and European art in the world. Today, the Hirshhorn collection comprises more than 13,130 artworks.
