Through composition, subject matter, and paint application—along with such tools as an implied grid, arresting color, and brushwork— artists in the second half of the twentieth century engaged profoundly with the materiality of paint and its potential to convey both grandeur and intimacy.
Ricker Library of Architecture and Art has developed a library guide with details about this exhibition, as well as supplementary materials and curator-recommended readings: Library Guide for Emphatic: American Painting from the Collection
Drawn from KAM’s collection and including artwork by Sue Coe, Louise Fishman, Leon Golub, Robert Indiana, Annette Lemieux, David Park, Mark Rothko, Hedda Sterne, and Purvis Young, this exhibition features works that offer resolute statements on the physical and emotional significance of painting. Their emphatic tones resonate despite—or because of—the artists’ great ambivalence towards the representability of history, violence, and desire.
Emphatic is a preview of Art Since 1948, an upcoming reinstallation of KAM’s modern and contemporary art collection opening in August 2019.
Curated by Amy L. Powell, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
