To support “’Human Systems’ as Cultural Ready-mades: The Work of Douglas Huebler,” a conference intended to bring together an international group of scholars to examine Huebler’s oeuvre within and beyond the context of conceptual art. The conference takes place in October 2014, at Université Catholique de Louvain. Conference papers are being published as an edited volume.
To support volumes 3 and 4 of the Terra Foundation for American Art’s international publication initiative, “Perspectives in American Art,” which explores fundamental ideas shaping American art and culture. This publication will consist of thematic volumes—each articulated around a single concept—bringing together essays by US and international scholars.
To support a translation prize for a book-length publication by a non-US author that contributes to scholarship on historical American art. Single-author, book-length academic publications in a non-English language—whether unpublished or published within the previous five calendar years—are eligible for consideration. The prize seeks to advance and internationalize scholarship on American art by giving a non-US scholar the opportunity to publish with a leading US academic press. The winner receives a $5,000 cash prize, and the manuscript is published by Yale University Press.
To support “Rome Revisited: Rethinking Narratives of Postwar American Art,” a series of two workshops dedicated to new scholarship on American artists in Rome in the immediate post-War years. The workshops are organized in partnership with the American Academy in Rome (AAR) and take place in winter 2014 and spring 2015.
To support the 2015–17 Terra Research Travel Grants. These grants support short-term travel, giving scholars studying American art outside the United States the opportunity to consult resources which are only available in the US. Nine to thirteen grants are awarded yearly, depending on the projects and their estimated expense.
To support American Encounters: Simple Pleasures, Still-Life and American Art, the fourth and final iteration of the American Encounters series, curated in partnership between the Terra Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the High Museum of Art, and the Musée du Louvre. The presentation investigates the blossoming of a national voice in American still-life painting and comprises eight nineteenth-century American paintings along with one Dutch and one French example. A publication accompanies the presentation. The exhibition travels to the Louvre, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the High Museum of Art throughout 2015 and 2016.
To support a major retrospective devoted to the American artist William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), co-organized by the Phillips Collection; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia; and the Terra Foundation. With 90 paintings and pastels, the exhibition re-examines this significant American artist through all phases of his long career. The exhibition travels to the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the International Gallery of Modern Art/Ca’Pesaro, Venice, in 2016–2017.
To support publication grants designed to advance and internationalize scholarship on American art and provide individuals outside the United States with greater access to resources in the field. The program subsidizes promising forthcoming publications in three award categories: grants to US publishers to support books on American art in an international context, grants to non-US publishers to support books on American art, and translation grants to support American art publications to or from English. Applications are competitive and awarded annually through the College Art Association starting in 2015.
To support From Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic: Landscape Painting in the Americas, a collaborative project between the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; and the Terra Foundation. The exhibition examines landscape painting c. 1830–1930 in a pan-American context and features approximately 120 works of art. The exhibition is accompanied by a 300 page scholarly book, an exhibition website, and multiple programs at each venue. It can be seen at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; and the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo in 2015 and 2016.
To support the second year of “American Sources: Using Visual Art in the Humanities Curriculum,” a professional development program for teachers that grew out of the Terra Foundation’s Teacher Lab. The program explores the use of art from the Terra Foundation and Art Institute’s collections as primary-source documents and guides participants in developing related curriculum that aligns with Common Core Standards in English Language Arts. It is expected to serve up to 30 local middle and high-school teachers, including 20 Chicago Public Schools teachers.
To support “The Wall of Respect and People’s Art Since 1967,” a two-part public program and a working session for scholars that takes place in fall 2014. The program examines the history and influence of The Wall of Respect, a Civil-Rights era mural created in 1967 on Chicago’s South Side to counter negative media representations of people of color. The wall was a milestone in the mural movement and in Chicago’s cultural history. The programs is realized in conjunction with the South Side Community Art Center, the University of Chicago, and the committee WOR50, and informs plans for the fiftieth anniversary of the wall in 2017.
To support three years of “Lectures in American Art: Innovation and Scholarship,” a program encompassing 11 public lectures in total for the 2014–15, 2015–16, and 2016–17 seasons. This marks the fourth year of the series, which presents fresh and innovative scholarship in American art and links these findings to the art in the AIC’s permanent collection. The 2014–15 series is themed “Discoveries in American Art.”
