(Un)Settled: The Landscape in American Art

(Un)Settled: The Landscape in American Art celebrates the rich, complicated, and evolving topic of the landscape in American art, from its origins in 19th century painting into contemporary art. The show highlights the unsettled, or evolving, conversations around landscape and its relationship to establishing cultural and national identity over the last two centuries. This multidisciplinary project comprises of forty artworks and includes examples of material culture such as furniture, glass, ceramics, and baskets. Building upon noted Hudson River School paintings, the show offers a deeper look at the topic of landscape through the eyes of different artists, including works by Fidelia Bridges, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Benny Andrews, William Christenberry, Ana Mendieta, Ed Ruscha, Jeffrey Gibson, and Jacqueline Bishop. Taken together, (Un)Settled offers a more expansive view of the topic, both in terms of the artists/makers and the scenery depicted help foreground multiple historic and cultural perspectives and ensure the conversation includes different regions of the United States and Latin America.

Supported by the Art Bridges Cohort Program, (Un)Settled is a collaborative exhibition presented by the American South Consortium. Led by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (CT), the cohort includes three partners: the Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC), the Mobile Museum of Art (Mobile, AL), and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (AL). This innovative cross-regional partnership will explore new ways of interpreting art and the American experience through dynamic exhibitions and an array of complimentary public programs.