New Perspectives: The Collection in Dialogue
Part 1: The Art of HIV/AIDS
The Collection in Dialogue series, hosted by Dr. Tanya Sheehan, professor of art at Colby College and executive editor of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art Journal, invites leading scholars of American art to analyze objects in the Addison’s permanent collection and makes their research accessible to interested students, educators, museum visitors, and a broad audience of art enthusiasts.
The first lecture in the series was presented on World AIDS Day. The Addison has amassed a strong collection of artworks produced by Americans during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and by artists who continue to be impacted by HIV/AIDS. This includes the work of Mark Morrisroe, Hunter Reynolds, Eric Rhein, Tim Rollins and K.O.S., David Wojnarowicz, and others. In conversation were Fiona Johnstone (Durham University), author of the forthcoming book AIDS and Representation: Portraits and Self-Portraits During the AIDS Crisis in America, and Jonathan Katz, curator of numerous exhibitions on the art of HIV/AIDS including Art AIDS America (2015). (Recorded on December 1, 2022)
Generous support for New Perspectives: The Collection in Dialogue has been provided by the Lana Lobell Fund and the Alumni/Alumnae Lectureship Fund.
Works from the Addison’s collection featured in this presentation:
Mark Morrisroe, Self Portrait, December 1981, chromogenic print, 8 x 5 inches, museum purchase and partial purchase as the gift of Louis Wiley, Jr. (PA 1963) and John Clarke Kane, Jr. (PA 1963) in memory of Paul L. Monette (PA 1963) on the occasion of their 50th Reunion, 2011.26
Mark Morrisroe, Embedded Bullet, 1989, two gelatin silver prints, 20 x 15 3/4 inches each, purchased as the gift of Louis Wiley, Jr. (PA 1963) and John Clarke Kane, Jr. (PA 1963) in memory of Paul L. Monette (PA 1963) on the occasion of their 50th Reunion, with additional support from the Monette-Horwitz Trust, 2011.25a,b
Tony Feher, Endless Spring, 1999, paper cups and packing tape, 61 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches, gift of Adam D. Weinberg, 2004.2
Tony Feher, Untitled, 1999, white wire coat hangers and wire, museum purchase, 1999.22
David Armstrong, Birches, Berlin, 1993, gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 inches, gift of Judy Ann Goldman, 2017.40