ColorForms

March 11, 2010 - January 2011 (TBD) (new opening & closing dates)
Lower Level
A selection of artworks from the Hirshhorn's collection and several paintings on loan from the National Gallery's renowned Mark Rothko holdings reveals some of the diverse ways that contemporary artists explore color's evocative possibilities, from the purely optical to the metaphysical. Dating from the post-war era to the present, on view are works by Wolfgang Laib, James Turrell, and Paul Sharits, along with a linear yarn sculpture by Fred Sandback, a prismatic light installation by Olafur Eliasson, a spherical sculpture by Anish Kapoor, and luminous paintings by Mark Rothko.

Josef Albers: Innovation and Inspiration

February 13, 2010 - April 11, 2010 (new opening date)
2nd Level
This exhibition presents more than 60 of Albers' works from the museum's collection, along with key objects on loan from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation on view for the first time. The exhibition encompasses the artist's distinguished career from his years teaching at Germany's famed Bauhaus through his influential role at Black Mountain College in North Carolina after he moved to the United States in 1933. He was best known for the standardized format that he called Homage to the Square, in which images created optical illusions and challenged viewers' visual acuity. Also on view are documentary photographs, a video, and examples of his teaching aids, and conclude with several galleries representing a range of works by artists who knew, studied under, worked with, or were influenced by Albers.

Black Box: Phoebe Greenberg

November 30, 2009 - April 11, 2010 Rotating Exhibiti
Lower Level
The Black Box theater showcases rotating exhibitions of contemporary artists who use film or video as their creative medium. Films or videos run continuously.

November 30, 2009-April 4, 2010:
Curator and arts advocate Phoebe Greenberg worked with Caroline Binet, Denis Villeneuve, Jacques Davidts, and a feature film-style team to bring this part dream, part morality tale scenario to life.

Next Floor (12 min., 2008, created and produced by Phoebe Greenberg) -- part nightmare, part morality tale -- is inspired by the lavish cinematic tableaux associated with Peter Greenaway and responds to the endless appetites of pre-economic crash consumerism. The themes suggested in this film continue to resonate during a time of global struggle to regain economic equilibrium. In 2008, it was awarded Best Short Film in Cannes, France.

Directions -- John Gerrard

November 5, 2009 - May 31, 2010
3rd Floor
As part of the Directions series, this exhibition features works by Irish artist John Gerrard (b. 1974, Dublin) who photographed actual sites of farms and oil fields from 360 degrees and then simulated cinematic movement around the sites using the computer, complete with shifting, natural lighting effects.

With new technologies offering artists opportunities to create works with dimensions no one has seen before, he uses customized 3-D gaming software to re-imagine landscape art. A former student of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gerrard is inspired by the look, the history, and politics of the Dust Bowl region. He creates contemplative, vivid scenes of farms and oil fields that raise questions about the effect of human progress on the environment.

Outdoor Installation: UP7TH

October 2, 2009 - Indefinitely (TBA) (new closing date)
Offsite at the corner of 7th & H Streets, NW
The Hirshhorn Museum debuts new works by animator David Polonsky (b. 1973, Kiev, USSR) on three massive high-resolution LED screens outside above the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro Station (7th and H Sts.). Several times each hour, a 30-second-long artwork appears.

Outdoor Sculptures

- Indefinitely
Plaza and Sunken Sculpture Garden
-- Hirshhorn Plaza: The plaza redesign, by landscape architect James Urban (completed in 1993), includes granite surfaces, trees and other plantings, areas of lawn, an outdoor pathway, and ramp accessibility from the northwest end of the Ripley Garden. (For more details, see October 1991 Torch article.)

Works on view include: Spatial Concept: Nature (1959-60, cast 1965) by Lucio Fontana; Subcommittee (1991) by Tony Cragg; Needle Tower (1968) Kenneth Snelson; Last Conversation Piece (1994-95) by Juan Munoz; Geometric Mouse: Variation 1, Scale A (1971) by Claes Odenburg; Antipodes (1997) by Jim Sanborn; and Throwback (1976-79) by Tony Smith.

Note: Calder's stabile Two Discs was removed (effective Oct. 7, 2006) for conservation and is now on loan.

Addition:
• Brushstroke: This 32-foot-high by 20-foot-wide towering black-and-off-white painted aluminum sculpture reinforced with I-beams is one of the last examples of Roy Lichtenstein's (American, 1923-1997) ongoing engagement with the brushstroke motif. Based on a model created in 1996, it was enlarged and fabricated 2002-2003 by Amaral Custom Fabrications in Massachusetts under the supervision of the Lichtenstein estate. Installed week of September 16, 2003, on the Plaza near Jefferson Drive.

-- Sunken Sculpture Garden: The garden's extensive renovation that included making it wheelchair accessible with new landscaping and reinstallation of approximately 75 contemporary sculptures was completed Sept. 15, 1981.

Works on view include: The Drummer by Flanagan; Nymph by Maillol; Standing Woman (Heroic Woman) by Lachaise; Burghers of Calais, Monument to Balzac, and Walking Man by Rodin; Horse and Rider by Marini. Other sculptors represented include Archipenko, de Kooning, Giacometti, Lipchitz, Manzu, Miro, Moore, Shea, and Smith.

Addition:
• For Gordon Bunshaft 2007: This site-specific work by conceptual artist Dan Graham consists of a triangular pavilion with two-way mirrors (with glass doors to enter the structure) and an open wooden lattice that stands approximately 7.5-foot tall. The two-way mirrors allow visitors inside and outside to simultaneously see themselves, each other, and the surrounding landscape. Graham describes this mirror-and-wood structure as a hybrid because one side is derived from traditional Japanese architecture while the other two sides allude to modern corporate architecture and Bunshaft's design of the iconic Hirshhorn building. Installed near the reflecting pool in the Sunken Sculpture Garden May 30, 2008.

• Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) 1967: Installed in the street level section adjacent to the sunken sculpture garden, this sculpture created by Mark di Suvero (b. 1933) is composed of industrial I-beams painted bright red and rises some 40 feet from the ground. The 10-ton work refers to a poem by the American poet Marianne Moore (1887-1972). Installed August 22, 1999.

Note: The book A Garden for Art: Outdoor Sculpture at the Hirshhorn Museum is available in the Museum Store for $15.95.

Permanent/Indefinite: Collection Highlights

- Indefinitely
Lower Level, 2nd Floor, 3rd Floor
Collection Highlights is a rotating display of works from the museum's permanent collection. Each installation offers a different grouping of works gathered around a theme or individual artists and provides new ways of looking at its diverse holdings as well as in-depth exploration of notable artists. These installations often display rarely seen or innovative recent works as well as favorite masterpieces.
Note: The term "Gyroscope" has been phased out and replaced by the term "Collection on View" and has since changed to "Collection Highlights."

Lower Level:
This level provides a first view of recent additions to the collection.

2nd Floor: This level also provides a first view of recent additions to the collection, as well as space for traveling exhibitions.

3rd Floor: The galleries offer an in-depth look at 5 individual's work: the groundbreaking mobiles of Alexander Calder; the modern figural paintings of Balthus; a chronicle of Willem de Kooning's expressionist style as it evolved during his 50-year career; the abstract, richly textured creations by Clyfford Still; and the recently restored paintings by D.C.-based Color Field artist Morris Louis. Recent acquisitions are also on view.

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