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Spotlight on the Collection
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MAM’s bimonthly series, Spotlight on the Collection, highlights artworks from the permanent collection and original scholarship by MAM staff.
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William Baziotes (1912-1963), “Toy Animal,” 1947 Oil on canvas Museum purchase; Members Acquisition Fund, 1972.16
 

Toy Animal (1947) by William Baziotes

William Baziotes was a key figure in the emergence of Abstract Expressionism in New York during the early 1940s. Prompted by Surrealist émigré Roberto Matta Echaurren, Baziotes and other colleagues, including Motherwell, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollock, began to experiment with spontaneous methods of painting. 

 

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Todd Gray (b. 1954), “Euclidean Gris Gris (Tropic of Entropy),” 2019, Four archival pigment prints in artists frames and found frames, UV laminate.
 

Euclidean Gris Gris (Tropic of Entropy) (2019) by Todd Gray

Dividing his time between Los Angeles and Ghana, Todd Gray uses photography, performance, and sculpture to investigate the dynamics of power in relationship to the African Diaspora.

 

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Detail of "Untitled" (2020) by vanessa german
 

Untitled (2020) by vanessa german

german's primarily female power figures explore themes of strength, love, and justice while engaging with the complicated history of race in the United States.

 

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"Three Witnesses" (1931-2) by Ben Shahn
 

Three Witnesses (1931-2) by Ben Shahn

Absorbed by social and political concerns, Ben Shahn, the twentieth century New York City-based artist, often addressed important events through his art.

 

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"Day in Midwinter" (1945) by Charles E. Burchfield
 

Day in Midwinter (1945) by Charles E. Burchfield

Like Henry David Thoreau, whose writings inspired him, Burchfield saw nature as a source of spirituality and was especially awed by the changing of the seasons. 

 

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Skunk Cabbage (1927) by Georgia O’Keefe
 

Skunk Cabbage (1927) by Georgia O’Keeffe

In the painting Skunk Cabbage from the 1920s, Georgia O’Keefe created an immersive experience of nature through the simple combination of thick green lines, yellow accent highlights, and maroon circles and semi-circles.

 

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Crown for the Victor (1896) by William Couper
 

Crown for the Victor (1896) by William Couper

With Crown for the Victor (Beauty’s Wreath for Valor’s Brow), Couper perfected his neo-classical style by crafting an ornate Greek maiden weaving a crown of olive branches for an Olympic victor.

 

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Misty and Joey at Hornstrasse, Berlin (1992) by Nan Goldin
 

Misty and Joey at Hornstrasse, Berlin (1992) by Nan Goldin

Simultaneously intimate and iconic, Goldin’s photo of her friends and drag queens, Misty and Joey, is part of a series of photographs capturing the artist’s friends and lovers navigating love, sex, and relationships in the era of AIDS.

 

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"Camera Obscura Image of Brookline View, in Brady’s Room" (1992) by Abelardo Morell
 

Camera Obscura Image of Brookline View, in Brady’s Room (1992) by Abelardo Morell

For more than 30 years, Cuban-American photographer Abelardo Morell has captured the magic of photography through the camera obscura...Since the early 1990s, Morell has transformed rooms, beginning with his home in Brookline, Massachusetts and expanding to places far-flung across the globe. 

 

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Detail of "Doll" (1941) by Artist Once Known (Diné)
 

Doll (1941) by Artist Once Known (Diné)

Diné women began adapting Euro-American wrapper dress styles with full skirts into a new look that expressed Navajo values and artistry: a velveteen blouse with silver buttons paired with a floor-length tiered skirt, as seen here.

 

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Detail of "Borrowing Animals" (1970" by Jim Dine
 

Borrowing Animals (1970) by Jim Dine

Employing recognizable motifs, including tools, clothing, and stylized hearts, Dine produces an array of colorful paintings, collages, prints, and sculptures. His works draw inspiration from popular culture and commercial imagery, transforming ordinary items into extraordinary works of fine art.