With strengths in American and European surrealism, abstract painting, midcentury kinetic and Pop art, and art addressing powerful themes of history, land use, and identity, Art Since 1948 is a continuing collection installation that surveys the collection and encourages formal and conceptual connections across six decades.
Ricker Library of Architecture and Art has developed a library guide that includes details about work contained in this gallery, as well as supplementary materials and curator-recommended reading: Library Guide to Art Since 1948
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has long prioritized the art of our time. The College of Fine and Applied Arts, established in 1931, made an uncommon commitment to organizing curated and juried exhibitions, facilitating artist-in-residence programs, and building an outstanding collection of contemporary painting and sculpture.
These activities were understood as fundamentally interdisciplinary and undertaken for the benefit of all university students, not only for those studying art and art history. Faculty, students, and visiting artists in ethnic studies, music, dance, and computer science, along with art and design, have all played vital roles in producing and bringing contemporary art to our campus.
This long-term installation begins chronologically with works of art collected in the late 1940s, from the first years of what became the university’s historic Festival of Contemporary Arts, and continues to the present.
Composed primarily of painting and sculpture from KAM’s holdings, the exhibition also features key loans from the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, the American Indian Studies Program, and local collections. Some works—particularly in our deep holdings of works on paper—will rotate each semester, leaving room for small focused exhibitions and ongoing dialogue about the history and future of contemporary art on the University of Illinois campus.
The gallery, designed by Julia Di Castri, a University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture graduate, was first installed in 2019. It is updated and reinstalled every semester with artwork utilized to highlight the gallery’s main themes.
Curated by Amy L. Powell, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Portfolio: Art Since 1948 [Exhibition Ongoing]
With strengths in American and European surrealism, abstract painting, mid-century kinetic and light works, and art addressing powerful themes of history, land use, and identity, Art Since 1948 surveys the collection and encourages formal and conceptual connections across six decades. Curator: Amy Powell.
permalink: https://collection.kam.illinois.edu/prt650
![Image of N.Y. 1 [Road #4]](https://collection.kam.illinois.edu/Media/Previews/2000s/2006/2006-3-1.png)
Kozangrodek III
- Alejandro Lugo [2]
- Annette Lemieux [1]
- Antonio Frasconi [1]
- Arthur Osver [1]
- Arthur S. Siegel [1]
- Arthur Tress [1]
- Barbara Morgan [1]
- Ben Shahn [1]
- Bradley Walker Tomlin [1]
- Chet La More [1]
- Chryssa [1]
- David Philpot [1]
- De La Torre Brothers [1]
- Ellen Lanyon [1]
- Frank Stella [1]
- Fritz Scholder [2]
- Harry Callahan [1]
- Hedda Sterne [1]
- Kay WalkingStick [1]
- Laurel Nakadate [5]
- Louise Bourgeois [1]
- Mark Rothko [1]
- Mavis Pusey [1]
- Michael Stone [1]
- Michael West [1]
- Nancy Hild [1]
- Philip Guston [1]
- Rafael Ferrer [6]
- Robert Davidson [1]
- Robert Gwathmey [1]
- Robert Indiana [1]
- Robert von Sternberg [1]
- Roberto Matta [1]
- Seong Moy [1]
- Sonny Assu [1]
- Suda House [1]
- Sylvia Snowden [1]
- Thomas Albert Sills [1]
- Vera Klement [1]
- W. Eugene Smith [1]
- William Kentridge [1]
- Willie Cole [1]
