Current exhibits

Art and Popular Culture From the Permanent Collection

Through July 5, 2009
Popular culture is a major influence on artists across art movements and societies. The Pop Art movement focused on consumer culture, but many other artists, historic to contemporary, also reference popular culture. This exhibition includes works by renowned Pop artists such as Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos, Larry Rivers, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol. Historic, modern and contemporary artists in the collection – such as Jonathan Borofsky, Alexander Calder, Honore Daumier, Red Grooms, Ed Paschke, Pablo Picasso and Melville Price – use symbols, entertainment, politics, and ephemera of a wider culture.

An All Consuming Passion:
Selections from West Virginia Private Collections
May 23 through July 26, 2009
Featuring historic to contemporary paintings, drawings and prints by European and American artists, as well as stone sculptures by African artists, this exhibition reflects the richness of private collections in Kanawha and Putnam Counties. Many works have not been displayed in a public venue before, including six Hans Hofmann paintings and drawings which have never been on the open market. Among the lenders to the exhibition are: Frank and Marion Baer, John Casto and Lisa Fischer Casto, John and Fonda Elliot, Mr. and Mrs. David Giltinan, Jr., John and Ruth McGee, Harvey and Jennifer Peyton, Dr. Gina Puozzoli, Jim and Keith Straw, and Henry B. and Sharon Wehrle. Each collection is as unique as its owners. Collection focuses include: women artists, modern and contemporary West Virginia artists, African American artists, and American and European modernists.

Hans Hofman
Dunes, 1943
Gouache on paper
Private Collection, Charleston, WV