Arms Gallery

Modern and Contemporary Art

The collection at the Mead extends into the 20th century and beyond. Among the Americans represented in the collection are the members of "The Eight" (Arthur B. Davies, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan), as well as Childe Hassam and George Bellows. To complement the 69 works by Bellows in the collection (including paintings, drawings, and prints that span his entire career), the Archives and Special Collections at Frost Library has a rich resource of documents and photographs that came directly from the Bellows family. In addition, there are fine examples of work by Alexander Archipenko, Rockwell Kent, Leon Kroll, Paul Manship, John Marin, Reginald Marsh, and Grant Wood that are on view on a rotating basis. At the same time, the collection reflects some of the more contemporary trends that have occurred with work by Joseph Albers, Milton Avery, Judy Chicago, Joseph Cornell, Ralston Crawford, Lesley Dill, Heide Fasnacht, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. 

Russian art of the 20th century, from the collection of Thomas P. Whitney (Class of 1937), is featured in small focus installations. The collection of some 400 works, donated in 2000, is a pendant to the literary archives of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture, established by Whitney in 1994. Together they form a major resource for Russian culture in New England. Among its significant works are paintings by avant-garde artists Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Alexander Rodchenko, Liubov Popova and Alexandra Exter as well as the only painting by Pavel Filonov in an American collection. Over 250 works on paper span the modernist movements of the early twentieth century. Notable works include complete prints series by Goncharova and Olga Rozanova, as well as key works by Rodchenko, Vladmir Tatlin, El Lissitzky, Ivan Puni, and Naum Gabo. A major Constructivist sculpture by Naum Gabo forms the centerpiece of the gallery installation.

Student-docent Caroline Stern presents her gallery talk during Homecoming weekend, 2007.