As we ponder the ways in which we are destroying the beauty of nature and human habitat, the exhibition opening May 25 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art should give us a little background in America’s regard for and interaction with the environment for the past 300 years.
“Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment,” curated by the Princeton University Art Museum, will feature paintings, photographs and installations, from Alfred Bierstadt’s 1871-73 painting of Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite to Valerie Hegarty’s 2007 “Fallen Bierstadt,” a burned and melting copy of the painting on foam core and paper mache. The 100 works of art in the show were pulled from 70 collections and include pieces by 19th century artists Charles Willson Peale, John James Audubon and Thomas Moran; 20th century artists Frank Lloyd Wright, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and Ana Mendieta; contemporary artists Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kent Monkman, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Alexis Rockman, Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Walton Ford; and the artists’ collective Postcommodity.
Tickets are $12 to non-members, free to members. For $16, nonmembers can get tickets to both “Nature’s Nation” and a show opening in June, “Color Field.”
Members may preview “Nature’s Nation” from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, May 24.