MoMA's EYES CLOSED/EYES OPEN Drawings Exhibition Opens Today, 8/9

Eyes Closed/Eyes Open: Recent Acquisitions in Drawings opens today, August 9, 2012 and continues through January 7, 2013 in the Museum of Modern Art's Paul J. Sachs Drawings Galleries, third floor.

This installation from the collection highlights three series of recently acquired works, Franz Erhard Walther's First Work Set (1963-69), Williem de Kooning's 24 Untitled drawings (1966), and Martha Rosler's House Beautiful: Bring the War Home (1967-72).

Over the second half of the 1960s, drawing was taken apart as a discipline and put to multiple uses. Highlighting concepts of process, participation, and protest, these three series of works were produced at the climax of a decade that witnessed radical upheavals across social, political, and cultural borders. This simple chronological coincidence connects them in one aspect, yet in purpose, aesthetics, and address, the three artists have taken vastly divergent approaches. Whether turned inward, outward, or sideways, the visual experiences these works engender speak to the varied ways we choose to be present in the world.

Franz Erhard Walther emphasized the relationship between the art object and the body in space with his First Work Set, a group of 58 fabric elements that can only be fully activated through human participation. Facilitators will be present in the galleries during designated hours to assist visitors in performing a selection of Walther's First Work Set. Accompanying the fabric elements is a suite of Work Drawings that Walther likened to musical scores, and that illustrate each object on both a functional and a conceptual level. The 24 Untitled drawings that Willem De Kooning sketched with his eyes closed offer a counterpoint to Walther's project in their focus on the artist's internal vision and personal action. Finally, Martha Rosler's two House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home series turn a critical eye on the era's sociopolitical context and expanding media sphere, especially as they played out in the bodies of women and victims of military violence.

Facilitator hours: Wednesdays, August 15, 2012–January 2, 2013, 12:00–4:00 p.m.; third Saturday of each month, August–December 2012, 12:00–4:00 p.m.

Eyes Closed/Eyes Open is organized by Christian Rattemeyer, The Harvey S. Shipley Miller Associate Curator of Drawings, with Ingrid Langston, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings.

Pictured: Willem De Kooning. Untitled. 1966. Charcoal on paper, 10 x 8″ (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Gift of Jan Christiaan Braun in honor of Rudi Fuchs. © 2012 The Willem De Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

More Articles by This Author...