(Lower Level)
Beverly Buchanan, I Broke the House
September 25, 2024-Mar 1, 2025
We are pleased to present Beverly Buchanan: I Broke the House at the Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery on view from September 25, 2024 to March 1, 2025. This exhibition originated at ETH Zurich and offers a comprehensive exploration of Beverly Buchanan's (1940–2015) diverse body of work. It features sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, writing, and printed material.
I Broke the House brings together a wide range of contemporary voices, artworks, and historical contexts. It critically engages with Buchanan's exploration of the built environment, addressing themes of race, memory, and resistance. The exhibition emphasizes Buchanan’s ability to challenge traditional exhibition practices by reimagining the spaces that hold her work. Through her focus on eroded surfaces, vernacular dwellings, and marginalized histories, Buchanan provides a poignant commentary on the sociopolitical landscape of her time.
Curated in collaboration with GTA exhibitions at ETH Zurich, the Engine for Art, Democracy, and Justice (EADJ), and Fisk University, this exhibition project builds on the earlier presentation at ETH Zurich in the spring of 2024. That iteration of I Broke the House involved contributions from a range of artists and scholars, including Elena Bally, Jennifer Burris, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Aria Dean, Fredi Fischli, Jack Halberstam, Harvard University GSD students, Alicia Henry, Anna Gritz, Tonja Khabir, Parity Group, Prudence Lopp, Park McArthur, Devin T. Mays, Ana Mendieta, Siddhartha Mitter, Kazuko Miyamoto, Senga Nengudi, Niels Olsen, Sarah Richter, Cameron Rowland, Jamaal Sheats, Adam Szymczyk, and the Tubman African American Museum in Macon.
This collaborative project is an exploratory exercise, as Siddhartha Mitter describes it, in "thinking with" Beverly Buchanan's practice and legacy. The presentation at Fisk includes objects from the permanent collection and archive. As part of this ongoing project, Haus am Waldsee in Berlin will also host a future exhibition inspired by Buchanan’s work, continuing the dialogue around her impact on contemporary art, particularly her connection to the American South.
ORIGINS OF INFLUENCE IV: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Modern Art
(Main Level)Georgia O’Keeffe, Radiator Building — Night, New York (1927)
As the 20th century dawned, America was alive with a spirit of change, dissent, revolution, and hope, heralding new paths in politics, the arts, and quality of life. This period, characterized by a critical reassessment and experimentation, marked a departure from established norms and traditions, setting the stage for the emergence of early modernism. Origins of Influence IV honors the legacy of early modernist movements.
Alfred Stieglitz Collection
Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), a pivotal figure in American modern art, revolutionized the field as a photographer, gallery owner, and editor. His influential galleries developed modern American artists and served as conduits for European modernists to reach American audiences. After Stieglitz's death in 1946, Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), with the assistance of Doris Bry (1920-2014), undertook the task of cataloging his collection, donating a significant portion to various institutions both domestic and abroad. Among the first recipients was Fisk University, which included institutions such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art, and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others. The donations extended to The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Library of Congress, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Phillips Collection, The George Eastman House, and The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Japan.
The Connection
Dr. Charles S. Johnson (1893-1956), the first African-American president of Fisk University, and Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964), a prominent New York writer, photographer, and philanthropist, played a key role in O'Keeffe's decision to select Fisk University as beneficiaries of the collection. This gift led to establishing the university's first permanent art gallery in 1949, named in honor of Van Vechten, on November 4th.Pearl S. Creswell (1912-1994) led the gallery and served in various capacities from 1949 to 1989. She was instrumental in connecting the campus and the community with the collection.
The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, comprising 101 items including paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, and a selection of African artifacts, showcases Stieglitz's extensive engagement with the modern art movement and his relationship to American modernists. The collection provides a remarkable introduction to Stieglitz as both an artist and a collector, illustrating his network and the early modernist movements in America and Europe.
Diego Rivera, Le sucrier el les bougies (Sugar Bowl and Candles ). (1915) (On Display) Better known for his monumental murals depicting Indigenous heritage, working-class laborers, and Mexican national history, Diego Rivera’s earlier works—like this still- life painting— represent his practice when he lived in Paris from 1911 through 1920.
Gino Severini, Femme et enfant (1916) (On display). Known as significant figure in the Italian Futurist movement, Severini celebrated the technology, speed, and energy of modern life. The subject reflects Severini’s family experience. His wife gave birth to their daughter Gina in 1915.
Charles Demuth, Cyclamen (1916) (On display). Throughout his career, Charles Demuth was inspired by the technical possibilities and challenges of the watercolor medium. His work shows his immense skill at using controlled blotting, pooling, and washes to create subtle shading and visual texture.