The Art Students League of New York will present A League of Nations, a group show exploring the League as a creative nexus for artists from around the world since 1875. This thematic presentation features over 25 artists born outside of the United States who found themselves at the League as either students or instructors during some portion of their career. Whether it was decades of study or a single month-long class, their engagement with the League has impacted their artistic practice. In turn, they are part of the richly diverse fabric that makes up the League to this day.
Founded by and for artists, the League has been instrumental in shaping America’s legacy of visual art, with some of the most influential artists in American history studying and teaching at the League throughout their careers. These careers span beyond the geography of the United States; A League of Nations brings together a roster of artists that exemplifies how for nearly 150 years the League has offered affordable and accessible classes and workshops to train succeeding generations of artists from around the world. In doing so, the Art Students League has been an instrumental force in the art histories of many regions across the globe.
Ksenia Nouril, PhD, Gallery Director and Curator of the Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, shares: “The League is elated to host this seminal exhibition honoring an international cohort of League artists. Born abroad, these artists made their way to New York City and the League as instructors or students – or sometimes both! The League became an intrinsic part of their lives and careers, shaping their understanding of the United States and American art. We are thrilled to bring these important works together, so many of them made during the artist’s time at the League, for our audiences to appreciate.”
As a center of education, the Arts Students League not only represents a place of learning but also a location to form community; students find the League an important place to form social bonds in a city foreign to many.
While some of the works in the exhibition are political in nature, others address aspects of the international artist experience through self-portraiture, narrative scenes, still lifes, and abstraction. Historical highlights include Arshile Gorky’s Mother and Child (1937), John Graham’s Self-Portrait (1923, which was made during the time he was at the League), and Marisol’s large-scale sculptural portrait of Willem de Kooning from 1980. Included are also several more recent works by artists whose careers span the post-war to contemporary periods, such as Louise Bourgeois, Knox Martin, and Kazuko Miyamoto.
This exhibition is curated by Ksenia Nouril, PhD, Gallery Director and Curator with Esther Moerdler, Curatorial Assistant.
Artists On View:
Pacita Abad, Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Jose de Creeft, Mariano Del Rosario, Billy Gerard Frank, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Chaim Gross, George Grosz, Carmen Herrera, Zhang Hongtu, Serge Hollerbach, Morris Kantor, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Louis Lozowick, Marisol, Knox Martin, Jan Matulka, Kazuko Miyamoto, Seong Moy, Krishna Reddy, Kikuo Saito, Raphael Soyer, Joseph Stella, Val Telberg, Solange Umutoni, Vaclav Vytlacil, and Sue Williamson.
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery
215 West 57th Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10019
artstudentsleague.org
October 26 – November 30, 2023
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 26, 6pm – 8pm
