Recent Exhibitions
Earl Cunningham’s America
March 4–September 7, 2008, Lincoln Square branch
“Earl Cunningham’s America” examines the paintings of Earl Cunningham (1893–1977), a landscape artist who worked in the tradition of memory painting. This retrospective, accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, presents the artist as a folk modernist who used flat space and brilliant color to create sophisticated compositions with complex meanings about the nature of American life. The exhibition features 50 of the more than 400 canvases Cunningham painted during his life and places his work in the context of the folk art revival that brought Edward Hicks, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, Horace Pippin, and other folk masters to national attention.
Cunningham’s imaginary landscapes are marvels of the unexpected and the unlikely: pink flamingos dot the shoreline of the Maine coast, New England cottages sit at the edge of Florida swamps, Viking ships float in harbors with schooners, and Seminole Indians wear feathered headdresses. In this make-believe world, Cunningham presents a nostalgic view of the past in which life is simple and elements of modern life are absent. His fascination with the past was in line with a larger national revival of interest in vernacular culture and American folk art in the 1920s and 1930s.
Organized by Virginia Mecklenburg for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Cunningham’s imaginary landscapes are marvels of the unexpected and the unlikely: pink flamingos dot the shoreline of the Maine coast, New England cottages sit at the edge of Florida swamps, Viking ships float in harbors with schooners, and Seminole Indians wear feathered headdresses. In this make-believe world, Cunningham presents a nostalgic view of the past in which life is simple and elements of modern life are absent. His fascination with the past was in line with a larger national revival of interest in vernacular culture and American folk art in the 1920s and 1930s.
Organized by Virginia Mecklenburg for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Publications
Exhibition Catalog
Earl Cunningham’s America
By Wendell Garrett, Virginia M. Mecklenberg, and Carolyn Weekley. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2007. 160 pages. Available at the museum shop.
Earl Cunningham’s America
By Wendell Garrett, Virginia M. Mecklenberg, and Carolyn Weekley. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2007. 160 pages. Available at the museum shop.
Reviews & Related Media
• New York Times review
Credits
“Earl Cunningham’s America” is made possible by generous support from Darden Restaurants Foundation; the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation; the Arts and Cultural Affairs Office of Orange County, Florida; CNL Financial Group; Bright House Networks; Lockheed Martin; and Friends of The Mennello Museum of American Art. The exhibition's tour is supported in part by the C.F. Foundation, Atlanta.
The presentation of the exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum’s branch location at Lincoln Square is supported by Joyce Berger Cowin.
The presentation of the exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum’s branch location at Lincoln Square is supported by Joyce Berger Cowin.