6 / AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU ON VIEW / ELLEN JOHNSON GALLERY / JAN 17–JUL 16 LIKE A GOOD ARMCHAIR: GETTING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART This exhibition examines the racial, ableist, gendered, and ageist politics of who gets to sit, when, and how. The Allen is fortunate to have a permanent collection with enough breadth to be able to speak to complex and nuanced topics, even in the context of a routine gallery rotation. This exhibition uses contemporary thinking around the body to revisit the impact and significance of some of the most cherished works in the collection alongside lesser-known ones. In 1908, the painter Henri Matisse wrote that art should offer “a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” Yet, as the 20th century progressed throughWorldWars, decolonization, and social upheaval, one of the major contributions of vanguard art has been its ability to challenge viewers to question their assumptions and routines. Each thematic section of the exhibition is anchored by chairs and chair-adjacent artworks, several on view for the first time. Rather than a chronological survey, the exhibition focuses on the racial, ableist, gendered, and ageist politics of who gets to sit, when, and how. Artworks by George Grosz, Yayoi Kusama, and Shannon Finnegan foreground disability and the ways that bodily variation conditions our experiences of the built environment. Berthe Morisot, Eva Hesse, Alice Neel, Nan Goldin, and Diane Arbus examine the way women are encouraged to sit and pose—often with legs crossed and a pleasant or downcast gaze. Renée Green, Alison Saar, Kara Walker, and Margarita Cabrera present chairs and seated bodies as vessels of intergenerational trauma as well as wisdom and resilience. Their works respond both to the
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