Allen Memorial Art Museum

Founded in 1917, the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is one of the finest college or university collections in the United States. Comprising more than 12,000 works of art from virtually every culture and spanning the history of art, the AMAM's collection is a vital cultural resource for the students, faculty, and staff of Oberlin College as well as the surrounding community. Notable strengths include seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art, nineteenth and early twentieth-century European and contemporary American art, and Asian, European, and American works on paper.

"Starry Dome: Astronomy in Art and the Imagination"
(September 1 - December 23, 2009)
Four hundred years after Galileo Galilei became the first astronomer to look through a telescope, this exhibition uses early lunar maps, star charts, and groundbreaking treatises by scientists such as Galileo, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton to examine the necessity of close observation and illustration in the development of astronomy.  The works on view, drawn entirely from the Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Oberlin College Library, equally explore the allure of the sky across diverse times and cultures, from the omnipresent full moon in Japanese prints to the imaginative, personalized cosmologies of modern and contemporary artists such as Joseph Cornell, Ansel Adams, James Rosenquist, and Vija Celmins.  The exhibition demonstrates how two distinct disciplines converge as both astronomers and artists struggle—as the earliest scientists and stargazers did—with fundamental questions about space, time, and the human place in an expanding universe.

This exhibition, curated by Anna-Claire Stinebring (OC ’09), supports the Oberlin College course “Introductory Astronomy” and celebrates the Year of Science and the International Year of Astronomy.  Funding for the exhibition was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


"Engaging Spirits, Empowering Man: Sculpture from Central and West Africa"
(September 1 - December 23, 2009)
The dynamic African sculptural works exhibited here are primarily from Central and West Africa and were all made in the twentieth century. The twenty-one pieces––from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, and other African countries––were chosen to supplement the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s permanent collection of African art, which has a strong emphasis on West African art of the Yoruba peoples.

The masks, furniture, figures, and other works on view played a critical role in the spiritual life of the community. These functional objects were used in public and private rituals––including initiations, masquerades, processions, and funerals––seeking to mediate the physical world of man with the closely related world of spirits and ancestors. Their form and decoration communicate directly their spiritual significance through symbolic visual references. Themes such as fertility and women, temporal power, initiation, agricultural prosperity, and divination emerge as focal points of traditional African life, engaging both the individual and the community.

These works do not simply reproduce or abstract nature, but rather through ritual practices become powerful conceptual objects that focus on unseen forces and empower man. Aesthetically engaging, these objects possess a visual command that reflects their concealed power and continues to captivate a contemporary audience.

This exhibition was curated by Mara Spece (OC ‘10) and Stephanie Wiles. We wish to extend our thanks to the PoGo Family Foundation for its generous support.


"Out of Line:  Drawings from the Allen from the Twentieth Century and Beyond"
(September 1 - December 23, 2009)
This exhibition of drawings dating from 1900 to 2007 showcases the outstanding and highly diverse permanent collection of the Allen Memorial Art Museum.  Included among over 125 stellar works are those by Close, De Chirico, De Kooning, Diebenkorn, Kandinsky, Klimt, Lichtenstein, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, Pollock, Prendergast, Rauschenberg and Wegman.  The exhibition additionally highlights a wide variety of exciting new acquisitions, including an ethereal Sam Gilliam from Carl Gerber (OC 1958), a 1923 João Alves de Sá landscape (one of three drawings by this artist, the first Portuguese works to enter the AMAM’s collection) from Oberlin Emeritus Professor of Music Theory Gil Miranda and his wife Sharon, a striking František Kupka showgirl from Frederic (OC 1955) and Zora Pryor, a luminous 1949 Ad Reinhardt from the artist’s grandson James Reinhardt Rutherford, an intricate work by Oberlin Professor John Pearson from Marjorie and Anselm Talalay, and a wide selection of works from Kenneth and Barbara Watson, including important drawings by Arshile Gorky and Theodore Roszak.

The works in the exhibition exemplify the diversity of thought and practice from the 20th century to today.  Many of them question previously-held conceptions of art, and some test the boundaries of the definition of drawing. A wide variety of techniques is on view, from the use of traditional drawing media such as graphite, ink, pastel and watercolor, to more experimental forms of drawing with acrylic and collage. The major movements and themes explored are equally diverse, with Oberlin itself – town, College, and museum – providing inspiration for several works that span the decades.

This exhibition is co-curated by Andria Derstine and Franny Brock (OC 2009).