Detroit Institute of Arts 2016 exhibitions
Updated May 3, 2016
Exhibitions are free with museum admission unless otherwise noted.
Hours: Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m.–10 p.m.; Saturdays–Sundays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Admission: $12.50 adults, $6 ages 6–17, $8 seniors (ages 62+). Free for DIA members and residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Fifty Years of Collecting: Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs Anniversary Exhibition
December 15, 2015–June 18, 2016
Since its founding in 1965–66 as the Drawing and Print Club, a support group for the DIA’s then Graphic Arts Department (now Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs), the Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs has commissioned, purchased or given as gifts hundreds of works on paper to the DIA collection. This 50th-year exhibition acknowledges and honors past achievements of this dynamic group of museum devotees.
Among the featured works are Berenice Abbott’s “New York at Night,” Robert Frank’s “Belle Isle Detroit,” Erich Heckel‘s 1908 “Die Brucke” poster, Edvard Munch’s “Lovers,” Richard Diebenkorn’s “Touched Red,” Helen Frankenthaler’s “Tales of the Genji III,” Judy Pfaff’s “Money Tree,” Serena Perrone’s “Through the Periscope” and selections from Robert Rauschenberg’s “Bellini Series.”
Dance: American Art, 1830 to 1960
March 20–June 12, 2016
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” presents more than 90 of America’s finest paintings, sculptures, photographs and costumes relating to dance from 1830 to 1960, brought together for the first time to demonstrate the central place of dance in this country’s artistic imagination. Works are from the DIA and other leading American and international museums as well as from private collections.
The exhibition includes 19th-century paintings that portray dances from America’s diverse communities, from the sacred dances of indigenous North Americans to Irish jigs and Spanish flamencos; paintings that show class distinctions, from the refined quadrille to a sidewalk tarantella; pastoral fantasies of expressive dances performed outdoors; paintings from the turn of the 20th century featuring international female superstars; works by Harlem Renaissance artists, who challenged negative stereotypes and sought to create and sustain a vibrant cultural identity; and modern objects that demonstrate a fluid dialogue between visual artists, dancers and choreographers.
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” is accompanied by a richly illustrated scholarly catalogue, featuring essays by art historians and dance specialists. Support for the catalogue has been provided by the Ida and Conrad Smith Fund.
The exhibition has been organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, an Art Dealers Association of America Foundation Curatorial Award and the Association of Art Museum Curators.
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” will travel to the Denver Art Museum July 10–Oct. 2 and conclude at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas Oct. 22, 2016–Jan. 16, 2017.
This is a ticketed exhibition.
DIA Guest of Honor: “Gallery of the Louvre” by Samuel F. B. Morse
June 16–Sept. 18
“Samuel F. B. Morse’s ‘Gallery of the Louvre’ and the Art of Invention” is part of a national tour organized by the Terra Foundation for American Art and also includes Morse’s copy of Titian’s famous portrait of the French King Francis I made from the original at the Louvre. It is part of the DIA’s popular “guest of honor” series, which features masterpieces on loan from renowned museums.
Today Morse is mostly associated with his role in the invention of the telegraph and as co-developer of the Morse code, but prior to his career as an inventor he was a leading American artist.
The 6.2 x 9-ft. “Gallery of the Louvre” depicts a gallery imagined by Morse, in which he included 38 miniature versions of what were the Louvre’s most famous paintings, two sculptures and several people, among them Morse, his daughter, and American author James Fenimore Cooper. Among the artists represented are Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony Van Dyke and Peter Paul Rubens.
The Louvre was one of the world’s first public art museums, and because there were no such museums in the United States, Morse wanted to expose American audiences to European masterpieces and art history. He presented the paintings as being in one gallery, intending it as a “miniature museum” for American audiences. When Morse sent the painting to New York for public display in 1832, it simulated the experience of viewing original artworks not available to most Americans until the late 1800s.
Morse publicly exhibited “Gallery of the Louvre” only twice—in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. While the painting received praise from critics, the public’s reaction was lukewarm, which greatly disappointed Morse. He quit painting several years later and focused his attention on long-distance communication technology, for which he is best known today.
In preparation for the exhibition, the Terra Foundation had the painting conserved, commissioned essays about the painting from a large group of influential scholars, and published an exhibition catalogue, “Samuel F. B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention.”
The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip
June 17–September 11, 2016
“The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip” is the first exhibition and book to explore the story of the American photographic road trip—one of the most distinct, important and appealing themes of the medium. Images document the evolution of American car culture, the idea of the open road and how photographers embraced America. Among the 19 photographers featured are Robert Frank—whose 1955 road trip resulted in his 1958 book “The Americans,” Ed Ruscha, Stephen Shore and Alec Soth.
After World War II, the American road trip began appearing prominently in literature, music, movies and photography. The myth of the American frontier encouraged many photographers to purposefully embark on similar journeys during the post-World War II era. They created a body of work about America and their place in it.
This exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation, New York, David Campany and Denise Wolff, Curators, and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Detroit after Dark: Photographs from the DIA Collection
October 21, 2016–April 23, 2017
Glittering skylines, quiet streets, raucous night clubs and corner bars are just some of the images that appear in “Detroit After Dark: Photographs from the DIA Collection.” The exhibition explores photographs of Detroit beginning with rare after-hours views by Robert Frank from 1955 along with dramatic architectural studies, street scenes, graffiti and otherworldly vignettes found in photos by Jon DeBoers, Scott Hocking, Ralph Jones, Rob Kangas, Dave Jordano, Russ Marshall and Tom Stoye. Most of the photographers are native Detroiters.
The exhibition also features images of Detroit’s most legendary night haunts like the premier jazz club Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the legendary Grande Ballroom and punk and garage rock dens like Bookie’s Club and the Gold Dollar.
A section of musicians includes photographs by Doug Coombe, Russ Marshall, Jenny Risher, Sue Rynski, Steve Shaw and Leni Sinclair and features nighttime portraits of Detroit's Hip Hop legends Awesome Dre and Guilty Simpson among others.
Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea, & Chocolate
November 20, 2016–March 5, 2017
Coffee, tea, and chocolate were strongly associated with 18th-century Europe as the fashionable beverages of the day, yet none of the plants required for their preparation were native to the continent.
Coffee arrived from Africa and the Middle East, tea from Asia, and chocolate from the Americas. Such beverages not only stimulated the body and mind, but also the desire for colonial expansion. Their introduction to Europe in the 1600s as the “new hot drinks” caused a near revolution in drinking habits and social customs, as well as an insatiable demand for specialized vessels, such as coffeepots, tea canisters and chocolate pots.
“Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea & Chocolate retraces the story of how the beverages appeared on European tables starting the in late 16th century. The works of art range from rare examples of porcelain and metalwork to important paintings, prints, and sculptures. A scholarly catalogue with a fully illustrated checklist of the more than 60 objects in the show will be available.
The exhibition is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts and is a ticketed exhibition.
The Edible Monument: The Art of Food for Festivals
December 16, 2016–April 16, 2017
“The Edible Monument” includes about 140 prints, rare books and serving manuals from the Getty Research Institute collection and private collections. The artworks illustrate in lush detail the delectable monuments and sculptures made of food that were an integral part of street festivals as well as court and civic banquets in Europe in the 16th to 19th centuries. The exhibition has been organized by the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
Public celebrations and street parades featured large-scale edible creations made of breads, cheeses and meats. At court festivals, banquet settings and dessert buffets featured elaborate table monuments made of sugar, flowers and fruit. These edible sculptures didn’t last long, but images of towering garden sculptures and lavish table pieces designed for Italian and French courts have survived in illustrated books and prints, many of which are featured in the exhibition.
The exhibition includes a monumental sugar sculpture based on an 18th-century print. “Palace of Circe” by sculptor and culinary historian Ivan Day is set on an 8-foot table and features sugar paste sculpted into a classical temple with sugar statues and sugar-sand gardens. The figures were meant to impart the consequences of gluttony with a story about the ancient Greek hero Ulysses. When he landed on the island of Aeaea, his men were so greedy that the sorceress Circe turned them into pigs.
By the mid-17th century cookbooks and guides to the new skills and professions of carving and pastry-making were published. Copied and plagiarized, they became models that spread throughout European court culture. Examples of such books are included in the exhibition, such as one by Bartolomeo Scappi, the “private cook” to Pope Pius V; Joseph Gilliers, the dessert chef to King Augustus of Poland; and Juan de la Mata, court chef to the Spanish kings Philip V and Ferdinand VI.
Exhibitions are free with museum admission unless otherwise noted.
Hours: Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m.–10 p.m.; Saturdays–Sundays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Admission: $12.50 adults, $6 ages 6–17, $8 seniors (ages 62+). Free for DIA members and residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Fifty Years of Collecting: Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs Anniversary Exhibition
December 15, 2015–June 18, 2016
Since its founding in 1965–66 as the Drawing and Print Club, a support group for the DIA’s then Graphic Arts Department (now Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs), the Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs has commissioned, purchased or given as gifts hundreds of works on paper to the DIA collection. This 50th-year exhibition acknowledges and honors past achievements of this dynamic group of museum devotees.
Among the featured works are Berenice Abbott’s “New York at Night,” Robert Frank’s “Belle Isle Detroit,” Erich Heckel‘s 1908 “Die Brucke” poster, Edvard Munch’s “Lovers,” Richard Diebenkorn’s “Touched Red,” Helen Frankenthaler’s “Tales of the Genji III,” Judy Pfaff’s “Money Tree,” Serena Perrone’s “Through the Periscope” and selections from Robert Rauschenberg’s “Bellini Series.”
Dance: American Art, 1830 to 1960
March 20–June 12, 2016
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” presents more than 90 of America’s finest paintings, sculptures, photographs and costumes relating to dance from 1830 to 1960, brought together for the first time to demonstrate the central place of dance in this country’s artistic imagination. Works are from the DIA and other leading American and international museums as well as from private collections.
The exhibition includes 19th-century paintings that portray dances from America’s diverse communities, from the sacred dances of indigenous North Americans to Irish jigs and Spanish flamencos; paintings that show class distinctions, from the refined quadrille to a sidewalk tarantella; pastoral fantasies of expressive dances performed outdoors; paintings from the turn of the 20th century featuring international female superstars; works by Harlem Renaissance artists, who challenged negative stereotypes and sought to create and sustain a vibrant cultural identity; and modern objects that demonstrate a fluid dialogue between visual artists, dancers and choreographers.
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” is accompanied by a richly illustrated scholarly catalogue, featuring essays by art historians and dance specialists. Support for the catalogue has been provided by the Ida and Conrad Smith Fund.
The exhibition has been organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, an Art Dealers Association of America Foundation Curatorial Award and the Association of Art Museum Curators.
“Dance! American Art 1830–1960” will travel to the Denver Art Museum July 10–Oct. 2 and conclude at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas Oct. 22, 2016–Jan. 16, 2017.
This is a ticketed exhibition.
DIA Guest of Honor: “Gallery of the Louvre” by Samuel F. B. Morse
June 16–Sept. 18
“Samuel F. B. Morse’s ‘Gallery of the Louvre’ and the Art of Invention” is part of a national tour organized by the Terra Foundation for American Art and also includes Morse’s copy of Titian’s famous portrait of the French King Francis I made from the original at the Louvre. It is part of the DIA’s popular “guest of honor” series, which features masterpieces on loan from renowned museums.
Today Morse is mostly associated with his role in the invention of the telegraph and as co-developer of the Morse code, but prior to his career as an inventor he was a leading American artist.
The 6.2 x 9-ft. “Gallery of the Louvre” depicts a gallery imagined by Morse, in which he included 38 miniature versions of what were the Louvre’s most famous paintings, two sculptures and several people, among them Morse, his daughter, and American author James Fenimore Cooper. Among the artists represented are Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony Van Dyke and Peter Paul Rubens.
The Louvre was one of the world’s first public art museums, and because there were no such museums in the United States, Morse wanted to expose American audiences to European masterpieces and art history. He presented the paintings as being in one gallery, intending it as a “miniature museum” for American audiences. When Morse sent the painting to New York for public display in 1832, it simulated the experience of viewing original artworks not available to most Americans until the late 1800s.
Morse publicly exhibited “Gallery of the Louvre” only twice—in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. While the painting received praise from critics, the public’s reaction was lukewarm, which greatly disappointed Morse. He quit painting several years later and focused his attention on long-distance communication technology, for which he is best known today.
In preparation for the exhibition, the Terra Foundation had the painting conserved, commissioned essays about the painting from a large group of influential scholars, and published an exhibition catalogue, “Samuel F. B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention.”
The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip
June 17–September 11, 2016
“The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip” is the first exhibition and book to explore the story of the American photographic road trip—one of the most distinct, important and appealing themes of the medium. Images document the evolution of American car culture, the idea of the open road and how photographers embraced America. Among the 19 photographers featured are Robert Frank—whose 1955 road trip resulted in his 1958 book “The Americans,” Ed Ruscha, Stephen Shore and Alec Soth.
After World War II, the American road trip began appearing prominently in literature, music, movies and photography. The myth of the American frontier encouraged many photographers to purposefully embark on similar journeys during the post-World War II era. They created a body of work about America and their place in it.
This exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation, New York, David Campany and Denise Wolff, Curators, and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Detroit after Dark: Photographs from the DIA Collection
October 21, 2016–April 23, 2017
Glittering skylines, quiet streets, raucous night clubs and corner bars are just some of the images that appear in “Detroit After Dark: Photographs from the DIA Collection.” The exhibition explores photographs of Detroit beginning with rare after-hours views by Robert Frank from 1955 along with dramatic architectural studies, street scenes, graffiti and otherworldly vignettes found in photos by Jon DeBoers, Scott Hocking, Ralph Jones, Rob Kangas, Dave Jordano, Russ Marshall and Tom Stoye. Most of the photographers are native Detroiters.
The exhibition also features images of Detroit’s most legendary night haunts like the premier jazz club Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the legendary Grande Ballroom and punk and garage rock dens like Bookie’s Club and the Gold Dollar.
A section of musicians includes photographs by Doug Coombe, Russ Marshall, Jenny Risher, Sue Rynski, Steve Shaw and Leni Sinclair and features nighttime portraits of Detroit's Hip Hop legends Awesome Dre and Guilty Simpson among others.
Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea, & Chocolate
November 20, 2016–March 5, 2017
Coffee, tea, and chocolate were strongly associated with 18th-century Europe as the fashionable beverages of the day, yet none of the plants required for their preparation were native to the continent.
Coffee arrived from Africa and the Middle East, tea from Asia, and chocolate from the Americas. Such beverages not only stimulated the body and mind, but also the desire for colonial expansion. Their introduction to Europe in the 1600s as the “new hot drinks” caused a near revolution in drinking habits and social customs, as well as an insatiable demand for specialized vessels, such as coffeepots, tea canisters and chocolate pots.
“Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea & Chocolate retraces the story of how the beverages appeared on European tables starting the in late 16th century. The works of art range from rare examples of porcelain and metalwork to important paintings, prints, and sculptures. A scholarly catalogue with a fully illustrated checklist of the more than 60 objects in the show will be available.
The exhibition is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts and is a ticketed exhibition.
The Edible Monument: The Art of Food for Festivals
December 16, 2016–April 16, 2017
“The Edible Monument” includes about 140 prints, rare books and serving manuals from the Getty Research Institute collection and private collections. The artworks illustrate in lush detail the delectable monuments and sculptures made of food that were an integral part of street festivals as well as court and civic banquets in Europe in the 16th to 19th centuries. The exhibition has been organized by the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
Public celebrations and street parades featured large-scale edible creations made of breads, cheeses and meats. At court festivals, banquet settings and dessert buffets featured elaborate table monuments made of sugar, flowers and fruit. These edible sculptures didn’t last long, but images of towering garden sculptures and lavish table pieces designed for Italian and French courts have survived in illustrated books and prints, many of which are featured in the exhibition.
The exhibition includes a monumental sugar sculpture based on an 18th-century print. “Palace of Circe” by sculptor and culinary historian Ivan Day is set on an 8-foot table and features sugar paste sculpted into a classical temple with sugar statues and sugar-sand gardens. The figures were meant to impart the consequences of gluttony with a story about the ancient Greek hero Ulysses. When he landed on the island of Aeaea, his men were so greedy that the sorceress Circe turned them into pigs.
By the mid-17th century cookbooks and guides to the new skills and professions of carving and pastry-making were published. Copied and plagiarized, they became models that spread throughout European court culture. Examples of such books are included in the exhibition, such as one by Bartolomeo Scappi, the “private cook” to Pope Pius V; Joseph Gilliers, the dessert chef to King Augustus of Poland; and Juan de la Mata, court chef to the Spanish kings Philip V and Ferdinand VI.