Kunin Collection Focus: Philadelphia Modernism

The story of modern art in the United States has frequently been told from a New York point of view. But the development and spread of modern art was more complex. Artists in cities across the United States—not just in New York City—contributed new ideas and artistic methods as they expanded the boundaries of art. In Philadelphia, home to the first museum and school of fine art—the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, founded 1805—a group of radicals emerged in the 1910s to challenge the status quo. Philadelphia had been known for its tradition of realism and the merging of art with science. Hugh Breckenridge, Arthur B. Carles, and Morton Schamberg made abstractions exploring the expressive possibilities of color. Breckenridge and Carles taught students to follow their instincts rather than rely on traditional methods. The artists gathered together here spent their careers or formative years in Philadelphia, and each helped shape new ways of making and seeing art at the beginning of the 20th century.

This is part of an ongoing series of exhibitions that present ways of seeing through artwork in the Kunin collection.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website