In The Block Museum’s Eloise W. Martin Study Center – a multifaceted space that offers patrons and classes a setting for up-close study of artwork in the museum’s collection – visiting paper conservator Kim Nichols carefully inspects a piece from The Block’s permanent collection. Because of the clay pigments used in its making, protective tissue […]
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Artist’s multichannel video installation, THE GIVERNY SUITE, will be jointly owned by the three institutions, allowing national access to the powerful artwork The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL; the Hammer Museum at UCLA; and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, will jointly acquire the multichannel video installation The Giverny […]
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Following a ten-week long decision process, The Block Museum of Art and the 2021-2022 Block Museum Student Associates (BMSA) cohort are pleased to announce the acquisition of Blue DNA#1205L – #1201R (2021), Worlds #0318 (2020), and The Beast Diagnosis #8942 (2019) by Illinois-based interdisciplinary artist Michael Koerner. Koerner’s work explores his family history and genetics through […]
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In this online tour Block Museum curators Essi Rönkkö and Kate Hadley Toftness discuss the work of two artists whose works seek to reframe the narratives of history. The discussion focuses on the work of Shan Goshorn and Rosalie Favell, two contemporary artists presenting art as a critical intervention in the histories of harm and […]
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What stands out to you? What do you wonder? The Block Museum Student Associates spent Fall 2021 considering works in the museum’s collection that were on view as part of the exhibition Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts: Thinking about History with The Block’s Collection. While their own work this season involved tours, research, and […]
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Throughout 2020-21 The Block Museum is reflecting on artworks from the collection that explore ideas of excess, consumption, and the environment, and offer an interdisciplinary perspective on the climate crisis. Our project is inspired by The Story of More by Hope Jahren, Northwestern University’s 2021-2022 One Book One Northwestern (OBON) selection. This online talk by […]
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The Block is proud to announce that its undergraduate Student Docent team has made the formal recommendation to Block Museum director Lisa Corrin for the acquisition of Quarantine Blues (2020), a photograph by Chicago-based artist Leonard Suryajaya from his series of the same name. The recommendation comes after an intensive 7-week selection process by the […]
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With over 6,000 works in The Block Museum collection, there are countless opportunities to ask questions and pursue areas of research depth. Throughout 2021 our Curatorial Undergraduate Research Assistants Janitza Luna and Joyce Wang have supported the museum by seeking information about artworks within our collection database. As they became familiar with the collection, one […]
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How do artworks talk to us… and to one another? And how can we learn to talk back? Northwestern undergraduates in The Block Museum Student Docent Program considered these questions in a unique lunchtime Art Talks! series pairing two works from the museum collection that have something to say to one another (and to us.) In Winter 2021 , […]
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How do artworks talk to us… and to one another? And how can we learn to talk back? Northwestern undergraduates in The Block Museum Student Docent Program considered these questions in a unique lunchtime Art Talks! series pairing two works from the museum collection that have something to say to one another (and to us.) In Winter […]
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