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A Legacy of Firsts: The Everson Collects

On View November 16, 2019 – January 3, 2021

In 1911, the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts (known today as the Everson) made history as the first museum in the country to declare that it would focus on collecting works made by American artists. This decision, implemented by Museum Director Fernando Carter, was the first of many made by directors that ultimately defined the Everson’s collection as it exists today. This exhibition examines over one hundred years of the Museum’s collecting priorities, from the Museum’s earliest acquisitions in 1911 to work acquired in 2019.

Yoko Ono: Remembering the future

The culmination of the Everson Museum of Art’s 50th anniversary year, Yoko Ono: Remembering the Future situates the groundbreaking conceptual artist’s landmark 1971 exhibition at the Everson (her first solo museum show) within her enduring artistic work devoted to healing human connections and exposing social and political injustices. The survey spans more than six decades, bringing together significant works in film, music, performance, and visual art.

Suné Woods: When a heart scatter, scatter, scatter

On view September 16 – December 31, 2017

Based in Los Angeles, Suné Woods works in multi-channel video installations, photography, and collage. Presenting intimate vignettes of couples or solitary actions of individuals in two video installations, When a heart scatter, scatter, scatter is a vulnerable exploration of desire, forgiveness, and resilience.

TR Ericsson: I Was Born To Bring You Into This World

On view September 16– December 31, 2017

TR Ericsson uses the story of his mother to present a searing, soft, and complex portrait of post-industrial life in America. “I Was Born To Bring You Into This World” begins as an intimate encounter with an artist’s family archive and becomes a potent opportunity to reflect and scrutinize the trials and tribulations of our own lives.

That Day Now: Shadows Cast by Hiroshima

On view August 23 – November 26, 2017

That Day Now centers around a special visit to Syracuse by Keiko Ogura, a survivor of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima in 1945 and the official a-bomb storyteller for the city. The exhibition examines today’s relevance of the atomic attack on Hiroshima and combines material dating from 1945 drawn from the Everson, Syracuse University Art Galleries, and Syracuse University Special Collections.

Bradley Walker Tomlin: A Retrospective

February 11 – May 14, 2017

The Dorsky Museum, in partnership with the Everson, is organizing the first retrospective and catalog of American painter Bradley Walker Tomlin (1899-1953) since 1975. This exhibition, including over 40 paintings, works on paper, and printed materials, charts Tomlin’s development from art nouveau illustrations of the 1920s to large-scale Abstract Expressionist paintings of the 1950s. The exhibition explores his formative years in Syracuse, early patronage by Condé Nast, and the important role played by the Woodstock art colony.

Angela Fraleigh: Between Tongue and Teeth

September 24 – December 31, 2016

Angela Fraleigh, based in New York City and Allentown, co-opts the techniques, media, and styles of the European Old Masters to create monumental paintings of female figures that explore social constructs of gender, power, and identity. Combining abstraction and realism, her visually seductive and complicated paintings reflect on art history, literature, and popular culture.

Three Graces

September 25, 2015 – January 3, 2016

In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, three enchanting goddesses known as Graces personified the attributes of creativity: beauty, joy, and wonder. In a recasting of this mythical triumvirate, the Everson introduces three contemporary artists from New York City whose colorful abstract works embody the same sensibilities but in very different forms and media. Joy, wonder, and beauty abound in the paintings of Carrie Moyer, the vibrant fabric and clay sculptures of Polly Apfelbaum, and the magical site-determined installations of Tony Feher.

Prendergast to Pollock: American Modernism from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute

February 7, 2015 – May 10, 2015

Paintings from the collection of Edward Root, focusing on American art from the first half of the 20th century.

Shadows – by: Fernando Orellana / Performing Media: Works by Signal Culture Artists in Residence

September 20, 2014 – January 11, 2015

The interactive artworks found in Shadows are designed to be used posthumously. Inspired by paranormal research, spiritualism, and ghost folklore, these machines continuously search for the dead, attempting to allow the departed continued use of their worldly possessions. Extracted from recent estate sales, the personal objects found in these techno-effigies are in a constant state of potential energy, awaiting their owner’s return.

The Other New York: 2012

September 22, 2012 – January 6, 2013

The Other New York: 2012 is a community-wide, multi-venue biennial exhibition that is the result of a major collaboration among fourteen art organizations in Syracuse. This ambitious project aims to highlight the rich talent of artists across Upstate New York, with a special focus on Central New York and the surrounding counties.

From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America

October 1, 2011 – January 12, 2012

From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America provides a focused look at an extraordinary photographer whose compelling images of the American road and its unexpected turns form powerful narrative vignettes.

From New York to Corrymore: Robert Henri and Ireland

February 11, 2012 – May 13, 2012

This exhibition examines Robert Henri, the American artist, whose work focused on the Irish landscape and people, particularly children, created between the time of his first trip to Ireland in 1913 and his last trip there in 1928.

Oñgweson gyastoñh Haudenosaunee: Elements

November 13, 2010 – January 16, 2011

The act of creating works of art is embedded in the Haudenosaunee way of life and has been for centuries. This exhibition presents works by contemporary Haudenosaunee artists from the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Reynolds Unwrapped: The Cartoon Art of Dan Reynolds

March 12 – July 10, 2011

This exhibition features more than 100 original works of art by cartoon artist Dan Reynolds that are seriously hilarious. The small-scale drawings depict the comedic daily lives of humans and animals alike, and are all rendered by hand in a variety of media.

Ah Leon: Memories of Elementary School

March 12 – June 5, 2011

Taiwanese artist Ah Leon created a monumental ceramic installation showcasing a classroom of stoneware desks and chairs in neat rows, like the classrooms of our youth, creating an environment that would “lead audiences to remember their childhood stories.”

Turner to Cézanne Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales

October 9, 2009 – January 3, 2010

This exhibition is drawn from an extraordinary group of 260 nineteenth- and early twentieth-century paintings assembled largely between 1908 and 1923 by sisters Margaret and Gwendoline Davies. The fifty-three works included here present a survey of modern art, from Turner’s Romantic naturalism to Cézanne’s modern aesthetic innovations.

Fantasies and Fairy-Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of the Print

April 29 – July 11, 2010

Fantasies and Fairy-Tales represents the first comprehensive sampling of Parrishʼs work in a variety of printed media including advertisements, lithographs, and magazines.

Good Design: Stories From Herman Miller

August 14 – October 17, 2010

This exhibition explores the collaborative design process employed at Herman Miller, the world-renowned furniture company that used design to solve problems for the home and workplace for almost ninety years. The Edge of Art: New York State Artists Series Designed to Scale August 14 – October 24, 2010. Designed to Scale showcases significant designers from the Central New York region.

On the Move: Images of Travel from Everson Museum of Art and Syracuse University Collections

February 1- May 25, 2008

On the Move displays a wide range of objects focusing on travel as a universal experience from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. Featuring objects from the Everson Museum and the multiple collections of Syracuse University, the exhibition highlights dreams of idyllic travel as well as the harsher realities of getting from one place to another.

Under One Roof Reprise

September 29, 2007 – January 13, 2008

The exhibition highlights the diverse artistic strategies of a group of women who work and teach at Syracuse University. The exhibit includes site-specific installations, video, objects created for the public to touch or to act as co-creators with the artist. The artists use traditional and nontraditional materials ranging from bronze, wood and paper to fabric, toys and soap. Several themes and issues are represented.

Passionate Observer: Eudora Welty Among Artists of the Thirties

March 3 ‐ May 27, 2007

This exhibition highlights the Depression-era photography of author Eudora Welty. At the center of the exhibit are dramatic photographs of Mississippi, Louisiana and New York during the Great Depression. Welty’s photographs bear witness to America’s courage in the face of adversity.

African Shapes of the Sacred: Yorùbá Religious Art

June 16 – September 16, 2007

Organized by the Longyear Museum of Anthropology at Colgate University, this exhibition includes mostly 20th century traditional objects such as figures, masks, headdresses, divination trays, staffs, vessels and shrine furniture made by the Yorùbá People of Western Africa.

Marie Antoinette: Styling the 18th Century Superstar

September 20, 2008 – January 11, 2009

Syracuse University Professor and internationally acclaimed artist and fashion designer Jeffrey Mayer presents an exhibition of 20th and 21st-century fashion design, inspired by the 18th-century fashion aesthetic of Marie Antoinette.

Miriam Beerman: Eloquent Pain(t)

September 16, 2006 – January 7, 2007

Eloquent Pain(t) surveys the paintings, collages and artist books created by Miriam Beerman. Beerman draws inspiration for her richly textured, expressively colored paintings and collages from poetry and from the history of human suffering, presenting brutal events and suffering through her unique painting style.

Aftermarket: Art, Objects and Commerce

September 17, 2005 – February 19, 2006

Contemporary artist John D. Freyer explores the increasingly complex relationship between art and commercial culture. The exhibit includes components of four different, but inter-related projects, including AllMyLifeForSale.Com, Walm-Art.Com, Surplus and Big Boy.

Only an Artist: Adelaide Robineau, American Studio Potter

March 11 – May 21, 2006

Only an Artist features approximately 100 porcelains by Adelaide Alsop Robineau. These exquisite works are drawn largely from the Everson’s collection, with additional key works from other public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, beginning with Robineau’s early experiments dating from 1904 to 1910.

Framing Sight The Nancy and Russell Carlson Collection of American Landscape Photography

September 18, 2004 – January 30, 2005

Framing Sight includes 25 landscape photographs created between 1861 and 2003, featuring subjects ranging from the majestic mountains of the American West to the lakes, woods, and milder mountains of the Northeast. What unites them is the concept of landscape itself.

Adirondack Vernacular: The Photography of Henry M. Beach

September 19, 2003 – February 22, 2004

American photographer Henry Beach captures a changing America during the Civil War era, focusing on his native Adirondacks.

Clay Works: American Ceramics from the Everson Museum of Art

March 13 – May 23, 2004

Highlights from the Everson’s collection of twentieth-century American ceramics divided into ten thematic groupings. Artists include Adelaide Robineau, Peter Voulkos, Maria Martinez, Robert Arneson and more.

Some Assembly Required: Collage Culture in Post War America

September 27, 2002 – January 26, 2003

A collection of collage works by artists Miriam Schapiro, Joseph Cornell, Romare Bearden and more.