No single style encapsulates the 57 pieces of American Moderns, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s latest exhibition.
“It’s not a linear, chronological survey, but a nice sampling in a 50-year span,” said Alison Amick, curator of collections. “We have a number of different artists addressing ideas of what it means to be modern.”
Among the talents weighing in are Norman Rockwell, depicting his opinion of tattooists; Grandma Moses,
with a postcard-perfect winter wonderland; N.C. Wyeth, whose Vision of New York looks positively Tolkien-esque; and Georgia O’Keeffe, represented with four stylistically different works.
Grouped into six thematic sections, from character-focused to Cubist experiments, the exhibition explores an evolving American identity through two World Wars and one Great Depression — a revolutionary time of change reflected in the paintings and sculptures that marks “a new approach to an old medium,” said Bryon Chambers, assistant curator of education.
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2012.