Modernism in art is recognized as a time of unprecedented stylistic growth and change. Artists in the first decades of the twentieth century broke away from academic traditions and embraced a new approach to sculptural form and line drawing. Drawing and working spontaneously on paper and with print-making techniques took on a new urgency as artists worked out their methods freely. In sculpture, artists sought freedom from the constrictions of the past by employing non-traditional materials and exploring bold, abstract forms.

A comparative view of the American West from 1866 to the present, this exhibition examines the role of photography in popularizing divergent ideas and documenting changing visions of the West. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the West has stood out as a destination and center for photographic activity. Spectacular vistas combined with unique land formations and bright, clear light attracted early photographers, who recorded the natural beauty of the West for the enjoyment of local and East coast audiences. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Carleton Watkins, famous for his large format photographs, created images of the majestic views of Yosemite. This appeal for images of wonder and exploration influenced a second generation of twentieth-century landscape photographers, predisposing them to the notion of the West as a sublime and spiritual “Garden of Eden.”

Sven Birger Sandzén (1871-1954), a Swedish-born artist, trained in Paris and participated in its famous fin de siècle milieu. In 1894 he immigrated to the United States and settled in the center of the American prairie in Lindsborg, Kansas where he was invited to become an art professor at Bethany College. Considered a post-Impressionist for his use of color and expressionist in technique, Sandzén vibrant and dynamic paintings of prairie and western landscapes from Kansas to the California coast have been relatively unknown outside the Midwest until recently.

The glass center is installed with glass works drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and new works on loan from significant private collectors of contemporary glass in the desert communities. Noted national and international artists in this exhibition show a range of glass techniques and their diverse subjects range from the narrative and figurative to the natural world and the exploration of color in space.

This exhibition features the gifts and promised works from Donna and Cargill MacMillan, Jr., who have been building a personal collection of the art of their time for more than 20 years. The exhibition features more than 75 contemporary sculptures, paintings, design objects, and works on paper from the era’s most well known and art historically significant artists. It will inaugurate newly designed galleries in the Steve Chase Wing, which completes the museum’s dramatic changes following three years of transformative renovations.

The human form has been a source of inspiration for artists of every era and geographic area. Over time, images and representations of human figures have referred to every day, ordinary people and gods and goddesses alike. In the case of ancient Mesoamerican figures, the distinctions between the two are sometimes unclear. The ancient American artwork in this exhibition was produced for funerary purposes meant to be buried in high-ranking rulers’ tombs and includes what have been interpreted as warriors, musicians and shamanic figures.