Frist Art Museum Presents STORIED STRINGS: THE GUITAR IN AMERICAN ART

The Frist Art Museum presents Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art, the first exhibition to explore the instrument's symbolism in American art from the early nineteenth century to the present.

Featuring 125 works of art as well as thirty-five exceptional instruments, Storied Strings will be on view in the Ingram Gallery from May 26 through August 13, 2023. The companion photography exhibition Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today, which celebrates Nashville's diverse music scene, will be presented concurrently in the always-free Conte Community Arts Gallery from April 21 through August 20, 2023.

Organized by Dr. Leo G. Mazow, the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Storied Strings explores fascinating connections and contrasts that show how guitars figure prominently in the visual stories Americans tell about themselves. Works by artists such as John Baldessari, Thomas Hart Benton, Lonnie Holley, Dorothea Lange, and Annie Leibovitz and seminal instruments by Fender, Gibson, and C. F. Martin & Company show how guitars have served as symbols of American history, cultural attitudes, identities, and aspirations. For the presentation at the Frist, notable instruments and other artworks drawn from Middle Tennessee collections will be on view, reflecting Nashville's internationally renowned status as Music City, a mecca for outstanding guitarists and socially impactful music.

Storied Strings is organized thematically into sections including "Leisure, Culture, and Comfort: 18th and 19th Century America;" "Amateurs and Professionals;" "Hispanicization;" "Blues and Folk;" "A Change is Coming;" "Iconic Women of Early Country Music;" "Cowboy Guitars;" "The Visual Culture of Early Rock and Roll;" "Personification;" and "Aestheticizing the Motif." Linking these disparate themes is the premise that the malleable image of the guitar has long enabled artists and their human subjects to address a wide range of themes and stories that otherwise would go unexamined. Several key objects in the exhibition are on loan from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and throughout the summer, a series of programs featuring live performances and exhibition tours will be offered by the neighboring museums. Reciprocal admission for Frist and CMHoF members will be offered on select dates.

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