Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein

November 7, 2018–March 3, 2019

Discover the connections between the scientific and artistic revolutions of the early twentieth century with this groundbreaking exhibition, which reveals how artists responded to scientific advances with bold new forms of creative expression.

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Barbara Hepworth: Project for Wood and Strings, Trezion II, 1959; oil, gesso, pencil on board; 14 7/8 x 21 1/8 in.; Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts; gift of Richard S. Zeisler (Class of 1937). © Bowness.
Helen Lundeberg: Microcosm and Macrocosm, 1937; oil on Masonite; 37 x 19 1/2 in.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. © The Feitelson / Lundeberg Art Foundation. Digital Image © 2018 Museum Associates / LACMA; licensed by Art Resource, NY.
Joan Miró: Composition, 1937; BAMPFA; gift of Julian J. and Joachim Jean Aberbach. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2018. Photo: Jonathan Bloom.

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Selected Exhibition Objects

Painting

Microcosm and Macrocosm

Helen Lundeberg

1937
Oil on Masonite
37 x 19 ½ in.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. (M.2003.50). © The Feitelson / Lundeberg Art Foundation. Digital Image © 2018 Museum Associates / LACMA. Licensed by Art Resource, NY.
Painting

Self Portrait

Helen Lundeberg

1944
Oil on canvas
17 × 28 in.
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, gift of The Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg Feitelson Arts Foundation. © The Feitelson / Lundeberg Art Foundation. Photo: Peter Jacobs
Painting

Composition

Joan Miró
Spain

1937
oil on composition board
47 3/4 x 35 3/4 in.
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Julian J. and Joachim Jean Aberbach. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2018. Photo: Jonathan Bloom.
1966.20
Painting

Young Girl in an Armchair

Pablo Picasso

1917
Gouache and black ink over graphite on wove paper
12 5/8 × 8 1/4 in.
Speed Art Museum, Louisville; purchase, Museum Art Fund (1962.9). © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Past Events

Sunday, February 24, 2 PM
Colloquium: When Science Entered Modern Art

Leading UC Berkeley faculty members in mathematics, astrophysics, biophysics, and the history of science join the curator of Dimensionism for a fascinating look at how scientific advances of the early to mid-twentieth century permeated the world of modern art.

BAMPFA
Saturday, December 8, 11:30–1 PM or 1–2:30 PM
Gallery + Studio: Experiments in Three Dimensions

Explore the 3-D artistic experiments on view in Dimensionism and create sculptural artworks of your own.

BAMPFA

For ages 6 to 12 with accompanying adult(s)
Wednesday, November 14, 6 PM
Gallery Talk: Abigail Polin and Victoria Xu: Relativity and Quantum Mechanics Made Simple

A lively and accessible explanation of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics—key concepts in modern physics that inform artworks on view in Dimensionism.

BAMPFA
Thursday, November 8, 6 PM
Lecture: Vanja Malloy: The Intersection of Art and Science in the Age of Einstein

The curator of Dimensionism explores how this groundbreaking exhibition examines the intersection of art and science in the modern era.

BAMPFA
Wednesday, November 7, noon
Curator’s Talk: Vanja Malloy on Dimensionism

Join the curator of Dimensionism for an exhibition walk-through that grapples with how early twentieth-century scientific advances informed the vision of innovative midcentury artists.

BAMPFA

Past Films

Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein

November 7, 2018–March 3, 2019

In the early twentieth century, inspired by modern science such as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, an emerging avant-garde movement sought to expand the “dimensionality” of modern art, engaging with theoretical concepts of time and space to advance bold new forms of creative expression. Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein illuminates the remarkable connections between the scientific and artistic revolutions that shaped some of the most significant works of the time, from Alexander Calder’s kinetic sculptures to Marcel Duchamp’s early experiments with Conceptual art. Others were inspired by emerging research into interstellar and microscopic spaces, while expanding knowledge of quantum mechanics transformed many artists’ views of the world, leading to new approaches to understanding the nature of everyday reality.

The exhibition title derives from the Dimensionist Manifesto—a 1936...

The exhibition title derives from the Dimensionist Manifesto—a 1936 proclamation calling for an artistic response to the era’s scientific discoveries, which was signed by many of the artists in the exhibition and reflected the artistic interests of many others on both sides of the Atlantic. Dimensionism brings together rarely seen works by artists such as Joseph Cornell, Barbara Hepworth, Wassily Kandinsky, Helen Lundeberg, Man Ray, André Masson, Roberto Matta, Joan Miró, László Moholy-Nagy, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Pablo Picasso, Yves Tanguy, and Dorothea Tanning, along with poetry and other ephemera associated with the Dimensionist movement. This unprecedented exhibition invites visitors to reconsider work by some of the most important artists of the twentieth century in a fresh historical framework that emphasizes their engagement with the world of science—a powerful influence on the trajectory of modern art. By illuminating this forgotten history, Dimensionism reveals that major swaths of avant-garde art can never fully be understood unless contextualized within the social and scientific upheavals that shaped them.

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Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein is organized by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College and curated by Vanja Malloy, curator of American art. The exhibition is made possible with the generous support of Henry Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Hall and Kate Peterson Fund, the David W. Mesker ’53 Fund, and the Wise Fund for Fine Arts. The BAMPFA presentation is organized by Lawrence Rinder, director and chief curator, with Matthew Coleman, curatorial assistant, and made possible with lead support from Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman and major support from Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau and Orton Development, Inc.

Supporter

The Henry Luce Foundation
Supporter

Terra Foundation for American Art

Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein

November 7, 2018–March 3, 2019

Selected Exhibition Objects

Painting

Microcosm and Macrocosm

Helen Lundeberg

Painting

Self Portrait

Helen Lundeberg

Painting

Composition

Joan Miró Spain

Painting

Young Girl in an Armchair

Pablo Picasso

Past Events

Colloquium: When Science Entered Modern Art

Gallery + Studio: Experiments in Three Dimensions

Gallery Talk: Abigail Polin and Victoria Xu: Relativity and Quantum Mechanics Made Simple

Lecture: Vanja Malloy: The Intersection of Art and Science in the Age of Einstein

Curator’s Talk: Vanja Malloy on Dimensionism

Past Films

Joan Miró
Spain