Painting in Boston: 1950–2000

September 14, 2002 – February 23, 2003

DeCordova's landmark retrospective, Painting in Boston: 1950–2000, is unprecedented in scope and depth. Although the history of the first half century of the discipline–the period of the so-called "Boston School"–has been well studied and represented, this cannot be said for the latter half. DeCordova addresses this situation of neglect in a timely manner, while many of the significant painters of the period are still living and able to contribute their knowledge and perspective. Major funding for this exhibition comes from Fidelity Investments through the Fidelity Foundation.

Painting in Boston: 1950–2000 identifies and analyzes the work of the 67 most important painters of the period. The exhibition presents the significant thematic and stylistic developments within the medium as practiced in the Boston area, and delineates the art historical relations among local, national, and international schools of painting. This project is also the first scholarly investigation of the totality of the painting community and its necessary support structures in the city of Boston: the artists, galleries, museums, educational institutions, critics, collectors, and patrons. It tells the story of how these interlocked persons and organizations functioned to collectively establish the character and scope of painting.

Drawn from DeCordova's Permanent Collection, other museums, and the collections of both private collectors and the artists themselves, 75 paintings by 67 artists will be mounted in the Museum's main public galleries, which total over 10,000 square feet of exhibition space. The exhibition is structured chronologically around the four major stylistic tendencies that have dominated painting in the Boston area over the last five decades:

Realism, with its rich local legacy stretching from early Colonial portraiture on through nineteenth-century Precisionism and American Impressionism (Allan Rohan Crite, Linda Etcoff, Emily Eveleth, Gregory Gillespie, Michael Mazur, John Moore, Walter Murch, George Nick, Scott Prior, Barnet Rubenstein, Donald Shambroom, Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz, Sarah Supplee, James Weeks);

Expressionism/Neo-Expressionism, which reveals Boston's institutional and individual ties to the heritage of early twentieth-century German Expressionist painting (Doug Anderson, David Aronson, Gerry Bergstein, Hyman Bloom, Bernard Chaet, Dana C. Chandler (Akin Duro), Robert Ferrandini, Aaron Fink, Alex Grey, Philip Guston, Timothy Harney, Jon Imber, Todd McKie, Flora Natapoff, Arthur Polonsky, Henry Schwartz, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, Lois Tarlow, John Walker, Candace Walters, Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship, Karl Zerbe);

Abstraction, demonstrating a direct link to the dominance of international Modernism and especially Abstract Expressionism at the mid-century (Albert Alcalay, Natalie Alper, Gregory Amenoff, Domingo Barreres, Jack Clift, Friedel Dzubas, Kofi Kayiga, Gyorgy Kepes, Roger Kizik, Lawrence Kupferman, John McNamara, Rob Moore, Maud Morgan, David Ortins, Katherine Porter, Paul Shakespear, Bill Thompson, Irene Valincius);

The New Painting, which describes a vital group of artists working since the mid-1980s with Postmodern interests in culture, gender, identity, and politics (Ahmed Abdalla, Laylah Ali, Ambreen Butt, Frank Egloff, Ellen Gallagher, Anne Harris, Colleen Kiely, Annette Lemieux, Catherine McCarthy, Tabitha Vevers, Lucy White, Richard Yarde).

Painting in Boston is a component of the Millennium Exhibition Project, the first major, comprehensive study of how modern American art developed in the Boston area in the late twentieth century. The Project began with Photography in Boston: 1955–1985 (September 16, 2000 – January 21, 2001). Painting in Boston: 1950–2000 follows from September 14, 2002 – February 23, 2003, and Sculpture in Boston in autumn 2005. Each exhibition is organized as a distinct component, yet each is being formatted and presented to constitute a larger whole as a series to foster a more focused, in-depth understanding of the art produced during this period and the multiple interrelations of media, artists, and institutions.

Painting in Boston: 1950–2000 is organized by Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Curator Nicholas Capasso, and Curatorial Fellow Jennifer Uhrhane. This exhibition is made possible by Fidelity Investments through the Fidelity Foundation and by a grant from the LEF Foundation. The exclusive broadcast media partner for this exhibition is 102.5 WCRB, Boston's only 24-hour classical music station.

The exhibition's accompanying 264-page hardcover illustrated catalogue, which is distributed by the University of Massachusetts Press ($44.95, The Store @ DeCordova), contains five thematic essays that analyze the different periods and movements of painting in the Boston region and discuss the academic institutions, galleries, and museums that nurtured and promoted the artists. The essayists are Carl Belz, Nicholas Capasso, Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, John Stomberg, and Ann Wilson Lloyd. Brief biographical profiles, an extensive chronology of key events, and a selected bibliography round out the contents. Purchase online

Additionally, extensive educational programming has been developed for Painting in Boston: 1950–2000 and is listed below.

Programming in Conjuction With This Exhibition

WGBH’s “Greater Boston Arts”

Wednesday, November 27 at 8:30–9pm on WGBH 2

“Greater Boston Arts” traces Boston’s Expressionist tradition during a tour of the DeCordova Museum’s landmark retrospective, Painting in Boston: 1950–2000. Guided by DeCordova curator Nick Capasso, the series chronicles the generational evolution of the city’s most resilient painting tradition. Please visit www.wgbh.org/gbarts for more information.

Sunday, December 1 at 11pm on WGBH 2
Monday, December 2 at 10:30pm on WGBH 2
Saturday, December 7 at 11:30pm on WGBH 44
Sunday, December 8 at 11:30pm on WGBH 44
Saturday, December 14 at 11:30pm on WGBH 44