GRAND RAPIDS, MI (AAPNW) – Opening January 13, 2023, “Rethinking Monuments: American Sculptures in its Time, 1850-2000” will be an exhibition at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. On Saturday, January 21, 2023, “Gallery Chat: Rethinking Monuments” is set for 1:00-2:00 pm.
This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Detroit Institute of Arts as part of the Art Bridges Initiative tracing some of these changes, featuring sculptors who created large and small monuments that were made from bronze and plywood, found in the home and city streets. In diverse ways, their works experiment with ways to confront the past, shape the present, and hope for the future.
Additionally, the show will include works from the collections of four Michigan museums that frame the history of American sculpture and allow space for renegotiation of the histories, ideas, and legacies they embody. Artists in the exhibition include, Hiram Powers, Harriet Frishmuth, Paul Manship, Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Hunt, and Melvin Edwards, among others.