The first survey in New England of African American artists focuses on the Harlem Renaissance and its legacy, with paintings and sculptures by Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, among others.
The first survey in New England of African American artists focuses on the Harlem Renaissance and its legacy, with paintings and sculptures by Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, among others.
Founding trustees Thomas Metcalf and W.G. Russell Allen step in as acting co-directors while James Plaut leaves Boston to serve in the war. Plaut’s wartime activities (1942–46) include directing the Art Looting Investigation Unit, tasked with sorting and returning works of art pillaged by the Nazis.
The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art is founded.
Modern Mexican Painters presents the work of Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, among others.
The ICA relocates to 210 Beacon Street.
As part of Picasso: Forty Years of His Art—organized by MoMA’s Alfred Barr—the ICA presents the Boston premiere of Picasso’s 1937 antiwar masterpiece Guernica, conceived in response to the Spanish Civil War, all the more timely as World War II sweeps the globe.
The Walker Art Center is founded.
James S. Plaut becomes the institution’s first director, defining its identity as an “experimental laboratory” for contemporary art.
The ICA relocates to the Boston Art Club at 270 Dartmouth Street.
Leading the way in presenting both visual and performance art, the ICA sponsors the debut performance of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, which includes works produced in collaboration with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.