Leah Dickerman

When the Museum of Modern Art brought out this catalogue back in 2009, it's arguable that one could still uncritically regard the Bauhaus as one of the the great utopian experiments of the 20th century. Amongst all the fascinating objects, images, and concepts however, it turns out that there is a crack in the substance. While Walter Gropius might have claimed that his school was open to anyone, and that he was aiming for a unity of craft and art, he mostly envisioned running an show more architectural school for men, when the reality is that the Bauhaus evolved into a graphic and industrial design operation where women made up the bulk of the student body. This was a reality Gropius seemed to have issues coping with. To be fair, this work does pick up on some of these tensions, but I wound up having to poke around on YouTube to get a more critical examination of what was going on, with Geoffrey Bunting being particularly helpful in playing up the role of Gunta Stolzl, a woman of strong backbone who managed to impose her will on the befuddled men who fancied themselves to be "New Masters," not the other way around. I still had a good time with this book, but I now long for a study that gives one a better sense of what the female rank and file really thought about their Bauhaus experience. show less

In 1941, Jacob Lawrence, then just 23 years old, completed a series of 60 small tempera paintings with text captions about the Great Migration, the mass movement of black Americans from the rural South to the urban North that began in 1915–16. Within months of its making, the Migration Series was divided between The Museum of Modern Art (even-numbered panels) and the Phillips Memorial Gallery (odd-numbered panels). The work has since become a landmark in the history of African American show more art, a monument in the collections of both institutions and a crucial example of the way in which history painting was radically reimagined in the modern era. In 2015 and 2016, the panels will be reunited in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art (One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Works) and at The Phillips Collection (Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series). This catalogue grounds Lawrence's Migration Series in the cultural and political debates that shaped the young artist's work and highlights its continued resonance for artists and writers today. An essay by Leah Dickerman situates the series within contemporary discussions about black history and an artist's social responsiblities in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Elsa Smithgall traces the acquisition and exhibition history of the Migration Series. Short commentaries on each panel explore Lawrence's career and technique, and the social history of the Migration. The catalogue also debuts ten poems commissioned from acclaimed poets that respond to the Migration Series. Elizabeth Alexander, honored as the poet at President Obama's first inauguration, introduces the section. show less

Loved the exhibit at the East Wing, and the catalog brings it back.

2 copies -- One in NYC Library, the other filed MoMA Books