Permanent Collection Installation: Recent Gifts and Acquisitions

Cauleen Smith, <i>Light up My Life (For Sandra Bland)</i>, 2020, Neon, MDF, paint, faceted hematite and aluminum chain, 48 x 42 in., Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey Chicago
 Cauleen Smith, Light up My Life (For Sandra Bland), 2020, Neon, MDF, paint, faceted hematite and aluminum chain, 48 x 42 in., Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey Chicago,
Eric Aho, <i> Beekeeper</i>, 2015, Oil on linen, Charles F. Smith Fund
 Eric Aho, Beekeeper, 2015, Oil on linen, Charles F. Smith Fund,
Abaham Rattner, <i> Old Shoe Arrangement No. IV </i>, 1951, Oil on canvas, Gift of Sandra and Howard Fromson
 Abaham Rattner, Old Shoe Arrangement No. IV , 1951, Oil on canvas, Gift of Sandra and Howard Fromson,
Leonard Everett Fisher, <i> Arizonascape </i>, 1998, Acrylic polymer emulsion on canvas, Gift of the artist
 Leonard Everett Fisher, Arizonascape , 1998, Acrylic polymer emulsion on canvas, Gift of the artist,
Brenda Manning, <i> Dave (Coffee Break)</i>, 1991, Oil on canvas, Gift of the artist
 Brenda Manning, Dave (Coffee Break), 1991, Oil on canvas, Gift of the artist,
Joseph McNamara, <i>Madrid Interior (Portrait of Antonio Lopez Garcia)</i>, 2015, Oil on board, Gift of Gail and Arnst von Metzsch
 Joseph McNamara, Madrid Interior (Portrait of Antonio Lopez Garcia), 2015, Oil on board, Gift of Gail and Arnst von Metzsch,
Paul Baylock, <i> Universal I</i>, 2013, Acrylic on plywood, Charles F. Smith Fund
 Paul Baylock, Universal I, 2013, Acrylic on plywood, Charles F. Smith Fund,

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Permanent Collection Installation: Recent Gifts and Acquisitions

The NBMAA is thrilled to present a selection of acquisitions and gifts that have entered the Museum’s collections in the last five years, currently on view throughout our second floor in Robert and Dorothy Vance Gallery, Stitzer Family Gallery, and nearby A.W. Stanley Gallery. These works, many on view for the first time, span over 100 years of American art history and reflect a multitude of important art historical periods and figures. Artists featured are both internationally recognized and locally beloved, and include Milton Avery, Joan Snyder, Elizabeth Catlett, Jim Dine, Abraham Rattner, Cauleen Smith, Betye Saar, Shantell Martin, Carol Summers, Leonard Everett Fisher, Kara Walker, Paul Baylock, Carrie Mae Weems, Eric Aho, Joseph McNamara, Nicole Chesney, Stephanie Syjuco, Martine Gutierrez, and many others.

In Stitzer Family Gallery, numerous works by Pop artists and printmakers Jim Dine, Carol Summers, and Gordon Mortensen are on view thanks to the generosity of Dr. Paul M. Kanev, who has long supported these artists. Celebrated Connecticut-based artist and illustrator Leonard Everett Fisher is represented by his surreal painting Arizonascape, 1998, gifted by the Artist. The Museum is also debuting MADRID INTERIOR (Portrait of Antonio López García), 2015 by Joseph McNamara, donated by Gail and Ernst von Metzsch in 2019. In A.W. Stanley Gallery, also on the second floor, a suite of early Milton Avery landscape paintings gifted by Russell N. Shenstone in 2017 are being shown together for the first time, in dialogue with several mature work by Avery.

Purchases on view include numerous works that were acquired as part of the Museum’s 2020/20+Women @ NBMAA initiative dedicated to increasing representation of women in the arts. These include prints, photographs, and sculptures by Betye Saar, Elizabeth Catlett, Carrie Mae Weems, Ana Mendieta, Martine Gutierrez, and the Guerrilla Girls, among many others. With these and other purchases made in 2020 and 2021, the NBMAA has increasingly reflected the diversity of our community and nation, doubling the number of Black and African American female artists and tripling the number of Latin American female artists represented in our permanent collection.

We extend our profound gratitude to those who are able to support the New Britain Museum of American Art through invaluable donations of acquisition funds or artworks that expand and strengthen our collection and provide us with the ability to tell a richer and more nuanced history of American art in our galleries. We are honored to present these and other recent additions to the collection, for the benefit and enjoyment of our Museum visitors for generations to come.