The Art of Change: American Art on Display, 1973-2023

Join Kathleen A. Foster, the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art and Director of the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for a look at changing presentations of American art, beginning with the Gallery’s trendsetting installation American Arts and the American Experience (1973). The 2021 reinterpretation of the American collections in Philadelphia offers insight into the mix of old and new strategies of display as art museums respond to a changing world. Specifically, Foster charts a shift from an emphasis on formal analysis, craftsmanship, connoisseurship, and regional and national styles to wider topics such as class, race, gender, and the diverse identities of American artists. Generously sponsored by the Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Lectureship Fund.