Glenstone Museum’s summer/fall 2021 exhibition schedule includes a major monographic survey of work by Jeff Wall, an installation of more than a dozen works by Vija Celmins, and presentations by four additional artists: Isa Genzken, Rachel Harrison, Arthur Jafa, and Charles Ray.
Glenstone also announced that Faith Ringgold, the first traveling exhibition to be hosted at the museum, will remain on view through Oct. 24. The presentation, which opened in March, features more than 70 works spanning the American artist’s six-decade career. The exhibition was organized by Serpentine Galleries, London before traveling to Bildmuseet, Sweden.
“For many of the artists on view this summer and fall, this will mark their first presentations at Glenstone, and we look forward to sharing their work with visitors,” said Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone Museum.
Glenstone in August
Two assemblage works—an installation by Isa Genzken and a sculpture by Rachel Harrison—will be installed in the Passage of the Pavilions in August.
Hemd/Jacke (Shirt/Jacket) (1998) by Isa Genzken (German, b. 1948) is comprised of eighteen painted and collaged shirts and jackets on wire hangers, a key example from the artist’s radically inventive and influential practice. The work transforms found material—in this case, clothing worn by the artist—into dynamic objects blurring the line between painting and sculpture that comment on the relentless cycle of consumer culture.
Sculpture with Boots (2017) by Rachel Harrison (American, b. 1966) is a nearly eight-foot-tall, abstract form that recalls natural rock formations, but is painted with vibrant hues that segue from gridded patches to more free-form gradations of iridescent color. Known for combining “high” and “low” cultural references, Harrison affixed a framed photograph she took at the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs, New York, of worn, paint-splattered shoes identified as “Lee Krasner’s painting boots” to the sculpture. It may be read as a gesture of tribute to one of the few prominent female artists associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement, who is known to have closely influenced Pollock.
Glenstone in September
On view this fall in Room 6 of the Pavilions will be the first solo presentation in the Washington, D.C. area of works by Arthur Jafa (American, b. 1960), who is best known for his films incorporating powerful montages of found images and videos that reference the pain, beauty, and creativity inherent in Black American life. Jafa’s presentation in Room 6 will bring together a variety of modes and mediums central to the artist’s practice, including film, sculpture, and photography. He is the winner of the top prize at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.
Glenstone in October
A major monographic exhibition of works by Jeff Wall (Canadian, b. 1946), his first in the Washington, D.C. area since 1997, will open on October 21 in Room 2 of the Pavilions. This will be the artist’s largest exhibition in the United States since his 2007 mid-career survey at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Comprised of nearly 30 artworks spanning five decades, the exhibition will bring together the full range of the artist’s pioneering oeuvre, from early pictures displayed in backlit lightboxes and black and white silver gelatin prints to more recent large-scale inkjet color prints.
Glenstone in November
In the Gallery, Glenstone will present a selection of paintings, drawings, mezzotints, and sculptures by Vija Celmins (American, b. Latvia 1938) from the 1960s through the past decade. The exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation in the Washington, D.C. area since 1979. Celmins is acclaimed for her meticulous renderings of images of the natural world—the night sky, the ocean surface, and spiderwebs, among others—many of which were featured in To Fix the Image in Memory, a major retrospective of her work that traveled the United States and Canada from 2018-2019, installed at the Met Breuer, SFMOMA, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Glenstone in December
In Room 8 of the Pavilions, Glenstone will open the third in a series of rotating exhibitions by Charles Ray (American, b. 1953). Organized in close collaboration with the artist, the selections on view will showcase Ray’s practice from early in his career to the present day, with works ranging in material from concrete and steel to the hand-made paper used to realize a recent self-portrait, Return to the one (2020).
Please note that the dates above are subject to change. For updates, please check Glenstone’s website, https://www.glenstone.org.
Visiting Glenstone
Since March 2020, Glenstone has operated in various capacities to support the community’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, offering a mixture of indoor, outdoor, and digital-only engagements. The museum implemented a phased reopening beginning in March 2021 and has since resumed operating the grounds, both art buildings, and outdoor dining services.
At Glenstone, masks are currently required except when visitors and associates are outdoors and more than six feet apart from other households. For a list of current visitor guidelines, please review the Plan Your Visit page on https://www.glenstone.org.
About Glenstone
Glenstone, a museum of modern and contemporary art, is integrated into nearly 300 acres of gently rolling pasture and unspoiled woodland in Potomac. Established by the not-for-profit Glenstone Foundation, the museum opened in 2006 and provides a contemplative, intimate setting for experiencing iconic works of art and architecture within a natural environment. The museum includes its original building, the Gallery, as well as additional structures opened in its 2018 expansion: the Arrival Hall (LEED platinum), the Pavilions, and the Café (both LEED gold).
Glenstone is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors are also invited to explore the grounds or participate in self-guided sculpture tours. Admission to Glenstone is free and visits can be scheduled online at: https://www.glenstone.org. Same-day visits can be scheduled online.