The exhibition Black Mountain College and Its Legacy will open at the Loretta Howard Gallery on Thursday September 15, and continue through October 29, 2011.
Despite the celebrity of Black Mountain College, there has not been a recent exhibition in the New York City area that displays the remarkable accomplishments of the artists associated with the school. Approximately fifty works in a variety of media by over twenty-five artists will be exhibited.
Black Mountain College (1933-56) provided one of the most important creative educational communities of the modern era. The institution drew together many of the most celebrated artists of its age including; Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, John Cage, John Chamberlain, Merce Cunningham, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Robert De Niro Sr., Ray Johnson, Franz Kline, Jacob Lawrence, Richard Lippold, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Robert Rauschenberg, Dorothea Rockburne, Kenneth Snelson, Theodore Stamos, Cy Twombly, Jack Tworkov and Susan Weil.
The exhibition will present works created at Black Mountain College as well as later legacy works. The pairing illustrates the conceptual and aesthetic relationship with the works created during the Black Mountain College era.
In the interactive spirit of Black Mountain College, the exhibition will include music, video of dance and recordings of poetry. Historical photographs of faculty, students, the environment and such archival material as letters and publications will be on view.
The exhibition is co-curated by Loretta Howard and author and scholar Robert Mattison and will be accompanied by a catalogue. Several events such as dance, music performances and poetry readings will be scheduled during the exhibition.