We have a special place in our hearts for Crystal Bridges. An amazing collection, a gorgeous building set in the water within a beautiful landscape. And if you can't get there in person, virtually explore with Smarthistory as your guide.
Some background
videos + essays
Link to the Crystal Bridges's website
Marie Watt’s Companion Species (Speech Bubble): Blankets, Community, and Intersectionality
Conversations between part and whole, between individual and community, are at the core of Companion Species.
Florine Stettheimer, Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz
This portrait gives us a glimpse into the creative circle of Alfred Stieglitz in 1920s New York, with references to Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Henry McBride, and others.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd
Painted after the end of World War I and amid pressure to "represent his race" as a Black man, Tanner brings biblical scenes into the modern world
Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits
One of the most recognized paintings in American history, this painting is an ode to friendship and nature
Edmonia Lewis, The Old Arrow Maker
Edmonia Lewis, an artist of Black and Indigenous heritage, uses a neoclassical style to depict Indigenous subjects from a popular novel around the time of the U.S. Civil War
Rosa Rolanda, Self-Portrait
Rolanda, a close friend of Frida Kahlo, explores her Mexican identity in the 1930s with surrealism and a volcano
Georgia O’Keeffe, Radiator Building—Night, New York
O'Keeffe takes on the New York skyline in the 1920s
Amy Sherald, Precious Jewels by the Sea
This monumental painting of Black people at the beach speaks to a dearth of Black figures in the art history canon
Alma Thomas, Lunar Rendezvous—Circle of Flowers
Thomas takes inspiration from both the 1969 moon landing and her backyard garden
Kerry James Marshall, Our Town
The American Dream is not what it seems in this artwork that combines painting and collage
Suchitra Mattai, Exodus
Although there are no figures in this massive tapestry, the South Asian diaspora is manifest through the almost 200 globally sourced saris.
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