The Visionary Decade: New Voices in Art in 1940s Boston
September 6 to November 10
Opening Reception Thursday, September 5, 6-8 pm

BOSTON-- The Boston University Art Gallery opens its season with The Visionary Decade: New Voices in Art in 1940s Boston. The exhibition explores the role of artists, critics, dealers, and collectors in the art of the 1940s. The Visionary Decade features a selection of prints, drawings, photographs, and paintings from a variety of regional collections, presented in an historical context.

In the 1940s, the Boston art scene opened its doors to new points of view, new styles, and many new talents. As European émigrés settled in the United States following World War I, Boston, known for its impressive educational and cultural institutions, benefited from this inflow of international creative talent.

A vigorous atmosphere of experimentation in the arts laid the foundation for new expression-the groundwork that would set the pace for the development of contemporary art in Boston. The founding of the Institute of Modern Art (now the Institute of Contemporary Art), new venues for aesthetic exchange such as the galleries of Boris Mirski and Margaret Brown, and visionary leaders in institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and eventually Boston University's School of Visual Arts, provided a system of support for these artists to flourish throughout the decade.

The Visionary Decade: New Voices in Art in 1940s Boston traces the influence of such luminaries as Jack Levine and Hyman Bloom, both trained in Boston, as well as the German émigré Karl Zerbe. Their work laid the foundation for the humanist expressionism that would come to define progressive art in Boston at mid-century.

Exhibiting Artists

Gallery Talk
Wednesday, September 18 12:30 pm
Stephanie Mayer, Warren Adelson Curatorial Fellow of American Art at Boston University
Boston University Art Gallery

Lecture
Wednesday, October 9 6pm
Sinclair Hitchings, Keeper of Prints, Boston Public Library
Boston's Visionary Decade
Boston University Art Gallery

Also on view
As a complement to The Visionary Decade, the Sherman Gallery will present Human Expressionism at Boston University, 1955 to 1965 beginning in October. This exhibition showcases the founders of CFA's School of Visual Arts-well known as "the second generation of Boston Expressionists." The exhibit includes David Aronson, Reed Kay, John Wilson and Arthur Polonsky. The exhibition also inaugurates the newly renovated Sherman Gallery, made possible by the generous support of Al and Rosa Silverman. The Sherman Gallery is located in the George Sherman Union at Boston University. For information, the public may call 617/358-0295

Public Information
Please call the gallery or visit the BU Art Gallery website at www.bu.edu/ART for events and programming during the season.