This dynamic and vibrant exhibition features drawings and paintings from the private collection of one of the country’s most pioneering collectors of modern American art. In 1957, Edward Wales Root donated a collection of American art to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York. The exhibition’s curator noted that he “supported young artists who became the leading figures of the field when very few others did.” In 1953, the Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed more than one hundred works from Root’s holdings; it was the first private collection of contemporary art ever exhibited at that institution.
Hopper to Pollock showcases key works from nearly every major American artist from the first half of the twentieth century and displays the radical and visual transformation of art in that period. The exhibition features 40 masterpieces of modern art by celebrated American artists including Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and more. The exhibition will be supplemented by a small selection of works from the private collection of Reynolda’s founder and visionary behind the Museum’s collection, Barbara Babcock Millhouse, in order to explore the story of a single collector’s vision more fully.
Image: Edward Hopper, American (1882-1967), The Camel's Hump, 1931, Oil on canvas, 32 1/4 x 50 1/4 in. Edward W. Root Bequest, 57.160. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, NY