Different Realities

January 16 – May 10, 2009
Print Gallery

Different Realities presents a selection of European and American works on paper created during the 1920s and ‘30s. The period between the two world wars produced dazzling experimentation as well as entrenched conservatism in the visual arts. This exhibition juxtaposes artworks that exemplify contrasting styles, approaches, and concerns of European and American artists during the decades between the wars. But rather than focusing on the typical “representation versus abstract” divide, Different Realities concentrates on examining European and American artists’ diverging approaches to representational art.

Drawn primarily from the permanent collections of the Des Moines Art Center, the exhibition presents three recent and important acquisitions – John Steuart Curry’s lithograph, John Brown (1939); Paul Cadmus’ etching, Two Boys on a Beach #1 (1938); and Michael Disfarmer’s photograph, Hazel Faust, Age 13 (1936). American artists in the exhibition include Caroline Armington, John Taylor Arms, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Louis Lozowick, Erma Lukenbill, Reginald Marsh, Persis Weaver Robertson, Everett Shinn, A.C. Webb, and Grant Wood.

The exhibition compares and contrasts Regionalist and American Scene prints, drawings, and photographs with works from a variety of contemporary European movements. European artists include Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Jeanne Mammen, Henri Matisse, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso, and Josef Sudek.

Different Realities is organized by Amy N. Worthen, curator of prints.

Different Realities
Related Programs

Preview Party (in conjunction with the After Many Springs Preview Party)
Thursday, January 29, 6 – 8 pm
Music by Brownian Motion
Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar
Admission $5; FREE for members

Gallery Talk
Amy Worthen
Thursday, April 23, 6:30 pm
FREE admission

Join Worthen as she discusses the works in Different Realities.

The Des Moines Art Center Print Club has generously provided funding for the exhibition and its gallery guide.

About Print Club

Download the Gallery guide here: Different Realities Gallery Guide

The Gallery Guide is a PDF file and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, which is a free download.