Unique art exhibit 7 years in the making opens at 3 local museums

Por Antonio Rey | Editor SDUN

The San Diego Museum of Art, Timken Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) have come together to stage one groundbreaking exhibition: “Behold, America!: Art of the United States from Three San Diego Museums.” In a process that dates back to 2005, the institutions are sharing ideas, resources and works of art on one project for the very first time.

Open now through Feb. 10, 2013, “Behold, America!” showcases U.S. art from each museum’s permanent collection, with works spanning from 1761 – 2009. Amy Galvin, project curator for American art at the San Diego Museum of Art and the exhibit’s curator, said the decision to combine the three museums on this project has many benefits.

“It seemed like a natural fit to bring together the art of the United States, because each institution has strong examples of work created in the U.S., but none of the institutions can claim a comprehensive holding of art in the United States,” she said.

Galvin joined the project in 2009 when she was hired to work exclusively on the exhibit, including research, selecting pieces for inclusion, coordinating the extensive educational programs and helping to put together the exhibit’s 412-page accompanying catalog.

“We’re all really passionate about what we’re doing, so it’s always kind of a negotiation process of how [we can] get together these great minds, great ideas and great collections,” Galvin said. “We’re stronger together than we are by ourselves.”

While the initial idea was to create the “best American art survey” possible, including better-known artists like Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keefe, Galvin said, the idea soon broke into three distinct areas: forms, figures and frontiers.

“A form, to me, is everything from a traditional still life to a great example of minimalism,” Galvin said. “A frontier can be a 19th century landscape, but then [also] a contemporary installation dealing more with the ideas of the unknown, or pushing boundaries.”

Portraits play a big part in figures, but Galvin said she wanted to push what people think constitutes portraits as well, including how they have both been presented in and represent U.S. history.

“Each one [of] these three very broad concepts are interrelated. There’s certainly forms that could be figures, and vice versa, but I wanted to create three shows that were interrelated,” Galvin said.

While each museum will focus on one area – Forms at the Timken, Figures at the San Diego Museum of Art and Frontiers at MCASD in La Jolla – forms will be represented in each, and Galvin said she hopes the individual museums will provide a complete experience. The Timken and Museum of Art are located in Balboa Park.

“One of the ways in which I think our show is somewhat groundbreaking is its inclusion of work all the way to the present,” Galvin said, adding that many surveys of U.S. art stop mid-century and that contemporary art remains a part of a larger, “international conversation” in art history.

“While I think that’s true, I also think the international artists working in the United States are contributing to the visual culture of the United States,” she said. Those artists, too, are included in the show.

Idea for the collaboration began in 2005, when the directors of each museum began discussing a show on U.S. art. Of the three – Hugh Davies of MCASD, Derrick Cartwright of the Museum of Art and John Peterson of the Timken – only Davies remains in his position, however Cartwright continues to play an integral role in the show.

After leaving the Museum of Art in 2009, the same year Galvin was hired, Cartwright moved to Seattle to take over a similar position at the Seattle Art Museum. He has since returned to San Diego and is currently a professor and gallery director at the University of San Diego (USD).

“It’s really important to say that this project would not have happened without him, as he was one of the founders of the project,” Galvin said of Cartwright. “He really has been so supportive.”

Including his contribution of an essay for the catalog, Cartwright has also brought students from USD to the exhibit for a private tour with Galvin, and presented a lecture at the Nov. 10 exhibition symposium in conjunction with “Behold, America!”

The symposium, Galvin said, was just one of many educational programs that have been planned for the exhibit, which are one part of the bigger process of staging a show like this.

“I have been working in collaboration with our education teams for three years,” she said. “Very early on, it’s hard not to get excited about different types of programming, different speakers we could have [and] different films we could show.”

Galvin, who will be speaking about the exhibit at the San Diego Central Library on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 2 p.m., said one of the most exciting programs scheduled happens next year. On Jan. 17, 2013 current museum directors Roxana Velásquez of the San Diego Museum of Art, John Wilson of the Timken Museum and Davies will present a panel discussion on “Behold, America!”

“As far as I know this is the first public opportunity to come to MCASD in La Jolla, and hear all three directors talk and be able to pose questions,” Galvin said. “I think it is an exciting opportunity and it speaks to the uniqueness of the project.”

For more information on the entire exhibit, visit beholdamerica.com, mcasd.org, timkenmuseum.org or sdmart.org. Additionally, you can call the Museum of Art at 619-232-7931.