A Letter from the Chief Curator

Dear Member,

One of the most important moments of 2020 for me was the reopening of Crystal Bridges and the Momentary this past summer. I saw our extraordinary art collection and spaces anew, from the new Modern Art Gallery installation with artworks never before on view to the new outdoor home for Louise Bourgeois’s Maman which allowed me to sense the movement of her forms and her expression of natural power in the open landscape of our Ozark forest. I also found new points of connection with our special exhibitions—from Hank Willis Thomas and State of the Art 2020 to Nick Cave to Ansel Adams. I felt revitalized by the art and more motivated than ever by its importance to our lives. Art can help us understand the past, grapple with the present, and contemplate the future.

Crystal Bridges’ collection includes some of the finest achievements in American art from the seventeenth century to today. It is one job of curators to continue to acquire works to add to the collection. We work hard to identify and present outstanding objects—especially by artists underrepresented in history—to develop an even more brilliant, expansive, and inclusive collection. In collaboration with departments across the museum, the Curatorial team is creating ways for our collection and special exhibitions to convey the traditions of American art and its evolution, to embrace multiple perspectives, and to create a sense of belonging for you. This collection is your collection. These exhibitions are for you. Consider our upcoming exhibition Crafting America (opening February 6), which looks at how craft is a diverse, dynamic, and democratic art form and celebrates craft’s integral role in shaping American art and identity. Look as well to Companion Species, the first exhibition co-organized by Crystal Bridges and the Museum of Native American History. This inaugural collaboration features artworks by Native and non-Native American artists that express the valuable relationships between humans, animals, and the land. In addition, these exhibitions and all our galleries will now feature Spanish language labels, offering bilingual ways to learn and think about American art.

The exhibitions I’ve mentioned, and those upcoming in 2021 (see pg. 23), all feature new and recent acquisitions and signal the important ways we broadened the collection in 2020. As of November 2020, we have acquired more than 100 artworks, including 31 by artists featured in State of the Art 2020.

We remain committed to adding more great American artists from diverse backgrounds to our collection in 2021 and to energizing your experience of American art indoors as well as outdoors.

Whenever we are at Crystal Bridges or the Momentary, we are on an American journey. We are honored to navigate this with you and to collect and present the artworks and the artists that light our way.

Austen Barron Bailly Chief Curator