Denver Art Museum to Unveil Reimagined Hamilton Building Collection Galleries in May 2023

The DAM’s Arts of Africa gallery will showcase highlights from the museum’s collection of African arts, which encompasses about 800 objects, largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, across media—including painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and jewelry, as well as recent acquisitions of contemporary art. The updated presentation, spanning 2,300 square feet on level 4 of the Hamilton Building, centers a collection that illustrates the diversity, relevance and dynamism of creativity and culture across Africa. For the first time, the gallery will present an expansive and inclusive view of the arts from the African continent with works from the sub-Sahara, Egypt and North Africa.

The presentation will be organized around three anchoring themes: the self, power and transformation and manifestation. The first section, exploring the self, will examine how beauty is portrayed and communicated through the objects, clothes and accessories in the collection, throughout history and in the present day. Works presented will include ancient and modern hair picks, ceremonial headwear and textiles. Among several pieces featured will be a new acquisition by Ethiopian artist Selome Muleta.

The Modern and Contemporary Art galleries reopen with a broad survey of the art of our times. Encompassing 16,000 square feet across two floors, the newly installed galleries feature selections from the museum’s collection of approximately 8,000 artworks made between 1900 and today, as well as from collecting areas in African arts, Indigenous arts of North America, Latin American art, photography and textile art and fashion. Featuring artists from around the globe, the reinstall looks anew at the work of historically recognized figures, established contemporary artists and important emerging voices.

Organized by theme rather than by chronology, the reinstallation acknowledges and transcends art historical movements, showcasing visual connections and common interests. Thematic groupings include Uncanny Objects, Renegade Bodies, Intimacy + Intuition, Precarious Life, Gravity + Gesture, Resplendent Terror, Elemental, Material Matters, Truth + Beauty, Metamorphosis and Kinship. A dedicated gallery will highlight the work of American artist Manuel Neri, featuring two examples of his life-size figurative sculptures alongside several of his daring drawings of the human body.

Artworks by notable artists represented in the galleries include a headless and hollowed humanoid made of burlap by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Mark Bradford’s poignant abstractions comprising torn paper, Robert Colescott’s painting of race-relations, Elaine de Kooning’s monumental painting of a bullfight, the quiet and minimalist lines of Agnes Martin, a double portrait by Henri Matisse, Julie Mehretu’s symphonic interpretation of a Wagner opera, a beguiling still life by Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell’s triumphant abstractions, a haunting dreamscape by Stacey Steers, an installation of Toshiko Takaezu’s sensuous ceramic vessel forms and Dyani White Hawk’s blend of modernist abstract painting that honors beadwork and porcupine quillwork by Indigenous women, among others. Recent acquisitions on view include works by Cornelius Annor, Federico Herrero, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Raquib Shaw, Emmanuel Taku and Sandra Vásquez de la Horra.

Returning visitor favorites that have been off view for more than a decade include Jennifer Bartlett’s Plaid House, Dan Flavin’s illuminated and fluorescent sculpture Untitled (for A.C.), Jennifer Steinkamp’s mesmerizing Rock Formation, a digital video projection depicting a waterfall of fabric gliding over unseen rocks. Richard Serra’s monumental steel sculpture Basic Maintenance will be a welcome surprise to visitors old and new.

"The reinstallation of the Hamilton Building galleries is an opportune moment to rethink how modern and contemporary art is experienced at the DAM and to consider how we can tell the story of our times through our collection," said Rory Padeken, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. "In recent years, the DAM has acquired significant new works by Trenton Doyle Hancock, Julie Mehretu, Emmanuel Taku and an incredible series of portraits titled Land of Dreams by Iranian American photographer Shirin Neshat. Presented in dialogue with existing works in the collection, these recent acquisitions help us to broaden our perspectives on our contemporary moment."

"Hastings-McFall’s immersive, meditative installations promote a sense of human connection through universal themes of loss, resilience and artistry, while visitors are at the same time confronted with the details of a history not often taught in the United States," said John P. Lukavic, PhD, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Native Arts, whose department includes the Arts of Oceania collection.

"Through this inaugural exhibition, DAM aims to dispel romantic notions of the Pacific Islands as a tourist’s paradise through a nuanced exploration of the area’s vibrant cultural landscape, challenging visitors to examine their perception of this vast and extremely diverse region," added Emelihter Kihleng, PhD, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Native Arts at the DAM, and curator of this presentation.

A full reinstallation of the Arts of Oceania galleries, scheduled to open in 2024-2025, will further highlight the museum’s holdings of approximately 1,000 treasures that represent the vast artistic heritage of Oceania.

The Arts of Africa, Modern and Contemporary Art and Arts of Oceania collections are part of the DAM’s larger holdings of more than 70,000 works of art representing global artistic traditions and cultures from across the world. The collection spans 12 departments, also including architecture and design, art of the ancient Americas, Asian art, European and American art before 1900, Indigenous arts of North America, Latin American art, photography, textile art and fashion and Western American art.