People are used to looking at art in the context of its time and genre. But look closer at this seemingly haphazard grouping of works, and a theme emerges: The three artworks are part of a larger section exploring recreation and leisure in America. In this way, BYU's exhibition uses art to illustrate shifting views of a young, evolving nation.
"Museums determine to a great extent how the public appreciates art," says curator Marian Wardle, a BYU professor of art history. "You put an artwork in a new context and new meanings emerge. We hope that visitors will reflect on how these works are displayed. We hope it'll help viewers see them in a new way."
"American Dreams" is essentially a reconfiguring of the BYU art museum's impressive permanent collection, 87 percent of which is American art. All but three pieces in the show are drawn from the museum's holdings. The exhibition features some 265 works in a variety of media, although only 115 will be on display at a time. The rest, such as the museum's 10 Warhol Marilyns, will be rotated through the five-year run of the show.
Speaking of which, there's no need to rush to Provo to see the exhibition - it'll be around for five years. "American Dreams" replaces "150 Years of American Painting," which has been on view for the past 11 years.
Museum director Campbell Gray says "American Dreams" is BYU's attempt to freshen its collection by telling a "thematic history" of American art. "The things that are driving the exhibition are the ideas and themes that we wanted to explore . . . to see how the idea of the American dream has changed."
The show, which opens with a reception Wednesday, is full of big names. In addition to Warhol, visitors will encounter landscapes by Frederic Edwin Church and N.C. Wyeth, bronzes by Frederic Remington, portraits by John Singer Sargent, woodcuts by Winslow Homer, illustrations by Norman Rockwell and abstract paintings by Alexander Calder. Many of Utah's greatest artists are represented, too, from Young and sculptor Cyrus Dallin to painters Edwin Evans, Maynard Dixon and Minerva Teichert.
Although the exhibition is not grouped chronologically, visitors may wish to begin with a section called "The Dream of Eden" that explores early artistic visions of America as an unspoiled paradise. The "Eden" section opens with a group of landscapes depicting pastoral Eastern scenes. Some show a wilderness untouched by humans, while others show early settlers coexisting harmoniously with the land. Among these are several works from the famed Hudson River School, whose paintings romanticized the scenery of 18th-century upstate New York.
The next group of works transfers that optimistic viewpoint to the American West, where settlers migrated in search of new frontiers. These innocent portraits of mountains, deserts and American Indians soon give way to more nuanced portrayals. A series of photo collages by contemporary artist Patrick Nagatani, for example, explores an ironic view of the West. One shows a desert monument to the Trinity site where government scientists first tested the nuclear bombs later dropped on Japan; surrounding the monument are camera-wielding Japanese tourists.
The exhibition's second big section, "American Aspirations," is split into two groups that explore an idyllic lifestyle. The first group contains portraits of genteel Americans in their finest clothes, representing visible proof of attainable status and affluence. An adjoining room reflects 19th- and 20th-century America's growing middle class and its pursuit of leisure, from ice skating in New York's Central Park to the glamour of Hollywood represented by icon Marilyn Monroe.
Finally, the show's downstairs galleries present "Envisioning America," a group of artworks that offer multiple perceptions of American identity. In one room are paintings and sculptures of historical figures such as Pocahontas, Paul Revere and immigrants arriving at Ellis Island that reinforce visions of America as a nation of myth, of independence, of equality and inclusion.
In another room, these identities are examined in more complex ways. Dixon's famous painting "Forgotten Man" captures the despair felt by many American workers during the Depression. A Rockwell painting comments on religion's place in American society by showing downcast pedestrians passing a church whose marquee is being fitted to read, "Lift Up Thine Eyes."
The exhibition's final gallery offers visions of 20th-century America, most notably Robert Indiana's "Love" sculpture, which became an early-1970s cultural icon (appearing on T-shirts and postage stamps) while juxtaposing American consumerism with a hippie ideal.
Visitors to the show are encouraged to make their own connections among the works while noting artists' evolving commentary on American ideals.
"I'd like [viewers] to think about the ways that artists envision our country," says Wardle, "and the ways that art has influenced how we envision our country."
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Contact Brandon Griggs at griggs@sltrib.com or 801-257-8689. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
Dream on at BYU
"American Dreams," Brigham Young University Museum of Art's new exhibition of its permanent American collection, will open with a free public reception Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the museum on North Campus Drive in Provo. Visitors will enjoy music by the Mason Dixon Bluegrass Band and a barbershop quartet. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibition will continue through February 2011. For more information, call 801-422-8287.
