Category: Past Exhibitions

August 31 – December 12, 2010

These photographs, taken by Stephen Shore between 1965 and 1967, depict the scene at Andy Warhol’s studio, the Factory. At the time, Warhol was emerging as a prominent visual artist and avant-garde filmmaker and the Factory was populated by a diverse group of musicians, artists, actors, writers and aspiring cultural sophisticates; among them were members of the provocative band the Velvet Underground. Today, Warhol and the Velvet Underground are frequently cited for their importance and influence on artists, musicians, and broader culture and society.

The presentation of this exhibition is supported by an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery, the Libby Kuhn Foundation and individual contributions.

August 25 – December 13, 2009

The Art of Persuasion​ surveys a century of development in the visual language of posters. Presented in three distinct thematic groups – Pleasure & Leisure, Politics & Propaganda, and Commercial Advertising – this broad selection of posters highlights transformations in the art, culture, and technology of posters. Disseminating vital information through use of diverse visual strategies, poster artists engage the viewer to sell ideas and products.

Many of the posters in the exhibition are widely recognized and have been collected for their historic and cultural significance as well as their aesthetic qualities. Also included are posters identified as emerging landmarks in this ever evolving medium. Selections were drawn fromUMBC’s ​​Special Collections​ as well as public and private collections.

7:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Exhibition Talk​: Poster Design

The discussion will be led by​ ​Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen of Post Typography,​ an award winning design studio based in Baltimore, Maryland. Specializing in graphic design, conceptual typography and custom lettering/illustration, Post Typography’s posters are collected by high school punk rockers and prominent designers alike. A reception will follow.

The presentation of this exhibition is supported in part by a General Operating Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council​, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery, the Libby Kuhn Endowment, and private contributors.

January 28 – March 23, 2009

The photographs of James L. Amos are a celebration of art, life, geography and design. They show the connection between human beings and their world, and they revel in color and beauty. Renowned for his career as a National Geographic photographer, Amos’s images also reflect his strong interest in music, his extraordinary technical skills and craftsmanship, and something of his inner terrain.

4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Artist’s Talk​: James L. Amos

A program of speakers, including Mr. Amos, is planned in cooperation with UMBC’s Department of Geography and Environmental Systems.​​

September 10 – December 10, 2008

The Creative Photograph in Archaeology is an exhibition that brings together for the first time new ways of seeing archaeological sites, monuments and sculpture, from the invention of photography to the present day. The work of influential photographers such as Robertson, Konstantinou, Stillman, Boissonnas, Hege, List, Hellner and Mavrommatis show new tendencies in the representation of antiquities, and suggests a new way of seeing beyond the obvious — and revealing the creative presence of the photographer.

The exhibition is curated by Costis Antoniadis and is organized by Socratis Mavrommatis and the Benaki Museum in Athens, in collaboration with Fairfield University.

Public Program

4:00 p.m.
October 22
Exhibition Tour led by Dr. Richard Mason, Ancient Studies, UMBC

Installation Views

April 14 – June 29, 2008

Dramatic political, social, economic, and technological changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries inspired modernization throughout the world. In the arts, the movement called Modernism was one response to those changes, and in retrospect overarching characteristics of this very diverse movement have been identified. A survey of twentieth century images selected from UMBC’s Photography Collections provide evidence not only of those characteristics, but also some of the paradoxes of Modernism. This exhibition will present 75 photographs that will survey Modernism from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Photographs by: Bernice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Jim Amos, Diane Arbus, A. Aubrey Bodine, Brassai, Richard Buswell, Harry Callahan, Michela Caudill, Chim, Imogen Cunningham, Cary Beth Cryor, Robert D’Alesandro, Judy Dater, William Eggleston, Elliot Erwitt, Walker Evans, Jan Faul, Robert Fichter, Eric Fischl, Robert Frank, Roland Freeman, Lee Friedlander, Sally Gall, Ralph Gibson, Mildred Grossman, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Philippe Halsman, Ralph Hattersly, Robert Heinecken, Eikoh Hosoe, Richard Jaquish, Barbara Kasten, Richard Kirstel, George Krause, David Lebe, Jenny Lynn, Ralph Meatyard, Ray Metzker, Martin Miller, Roger Miller, Lisette Model, Barbara Morgan, Joan Netherwood, Arnold Newman, Dorothy Norman, Starr Ockenga, Bart Parker, Gilles Peress, Irving Henry Phillips, Sr., David Plowden, Charles Pratt, August Sander, Jaromir Stephany, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Walter Rosenblum, Christian Schad, Aaron Siskind, Neal Slavin, Ralph Steiner, Paul Strand, George Andrew Tice, Philip Trager, Barbara Traub, Jerry Uelsmann, Edward Weston, Minor White, William Williams, Gary Winogrand, John Wood, Barbara Young.

January 28 – March 24, 2008

In 1967, the year after the Black Panther Party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Stephen Shames was invited to photograph party activities, and he continued to do so until 1973. His close friendship with the Panthers, and Seale in particular, gave Shames unusual access to the organization, allowing him to capture not only the public face of the Party—street demonstrations, protests, and militant posturing—but also unscripted behind-the-scenes moments, from private meetings held in the Party headquarters, to Bobby Seale at work on his mayoral campaign in Oakland. The immediacy and intimacy of Shames’s photographs offer an uncommonly nuanced portrait of this dynamic social movement, during one of the most tumultuous periods in recent U.S. history.

Public Program

4:00 p.m.
February 20

Talk: Stephen Shames

The presentation of this exhibition is supported by an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery and individual contributions.

10 September – 10 December 2007

This exhibition presents black and white and color photographs made by the Austrian-born Inge Morath, documenting an eighteen-day trip across the United States made with fellow Magnum photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1960. The trip concluded with covering the filming of The Misfits, the motion picture starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, in Reno, Nevada. Excerpts from Morath’s personal travel journal accompany the photographs which offer perspectives of America exotic even to most Americans.

The Road to Reno is a touring exhibition organized by the Inge Morath Foundation. Support for presentation of the exhibition at UMBC comes from an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery.

Exhibition Views

April 10 – May 27, 2007 

This exhibition showcases nineteenth and twentieth century photographs acquired by UMBC’s Photography Collections over the last decade. Founded in 1974, the Photography Collections now hold more than 2 million images along with cameras and a library of books on photography and related subjects.

Photographs by Bernice Abbott, Jim Amos, Thomas Annan, Ken Ashton, Gary Auerbach, Edward Bafford, Tom Baril, Thomas Barrow, A. Aubrey Bodine, Edouard Boubat, Marilyn Bridges, John G. Bullock, Kristen Capp, Clarence Carvel, Michela Caudill, Larry Clark, Harold Edgerton, Peggy Fox, Roland Freeman, Sally Gall, Ralph Gibson, John Gutman, Ralph Hattersly, Richard Jaquish, Erica Lennard, Jenny Lynn, Stephen Marc, Mary Ellen Mark, Jill Mathis, John Blair Mitchell, Joel Meyerowitz, Gilles Peress, John Pfahl, Elliot Porter, Thomas J. Reaume, Ed Ross, David Seltzer, Ted Serios, David Seymour, Eve Sonneman, Raymond H. Starr, Jr., Jaromir Stephany, Pete Turner, David Yager.

The presentation of this exhibition is supported by an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery.

January 29 – March 24, 2007

Commemorate the centenary of Samuel Beckett, the leading twentieth century writer and dramatist, with Celebrating Samuel Beckett at 100. The Irish-born author, whose stirring texts in French and English were recognized by the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969, is considered by some the best writer of English since Shakespeare and the greatest French playwright since Molière. 

Curated by Angela Moorjani, Emerita Professor of French and Intercultural Pragmatics, in association with the Library Gallery, this show presents Beckett’s words and images as filtered through the imaginative work of a number of visual and stage artists. On view are select photographs, etchings, artist books, and rare editions of Beckett’s works. 

Public Program

4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
February 8, 2007

This public program will feature UMBC’s resident Beckettians: Xerxes Mehta, Angela Moorjani, and Wendy Salkind, in readings, performances, and discussions related to the works on display. 

Reception to follow 

January 29 – March 23, 2007

The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is pleased to present Photographs of the Athenian Acropolis: The Restoration Project created by Socratis Mavrommatis, Chief Photographer of the Acropolis Restoration Service, documenting the interventions and transformations of Acropolis monuments since 1975. The exhibition, produced by the Acropolis Restoration Service of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, opened in Athens at the renowned Benaki Museum in 2002, and has traveled to Brussels, Paris, Rome, and London. The North American tour is organized by the Thomas J. Walsh Gallery, Fairfield University. The presentation at UMBC is co-organized by Associate Professor Richard Mason, Ancient Studies Department, and the Library Gallery.

Concurrent with Photographs of the Athenian Acropolis: The Restoration Project is The Glory of Ruins on display in the Library Rotunda and curated by a group of eight students taking part in an Ancient Studies/Honors College internship. This exhibition displays nineteenth and twentieth century photographs depicting classical Athens and Attica, all from the Special Collections of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery.

The presentation of these exhibitions is supported by an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Additional support comes from the Friends of the Library & Gallery and the Ancient Studies Department.

Public Program

4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Exhibition Talk​: Katherine A. Schwab, Associate Professor of Art History at Fairfield University

Dr. Katherine A. Schwab will speak on The Parthenon East Metopes: Technologies of the 21st Century and New Discoveries.

Sponsored by the Humanities Forum with a reception to follow.