The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum acquired more than 80 works over the past year

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Backyard, the Trendy and modern artwork department of the Smithsonian Establishment’s community in Washington, DC, has acquired greater than 80 artworks over the previous yr, it revealed on Wednesday (22 November).

Among the many greater than 45 artists whose works the museum acquired are Dawoud Bey, Cindy Sherman, Guadalupe Maravilla, Dyani White Hawk, Wangechi Mutu and Cao Fei. The acquisitions had been made by way of reward and buy by the museum since November of 2022, and run the gamut from sculpture to time-based performative media.

​​“Because the Hirshhorn approaches its fiftieth anniversary subsequent yr, we’re increasing the everlasting assortment to replicate the transnational narrative of recent and modern artwork historical past,” Melissa Chiu, the museum’s director, stated in an announcement.

The current acquisitions underline the Hirshhorn’s dedication not solely the breadth of its assortment, but additionally including depth to its holdings by sure artists. For example, tthree artworks by Nam June Paik starting from the early Nineteen Seventies to the yr earlier than his demise in 2006 contextualise his legacy as a visionary within the historical past of video artwork; Glenn Ligon’s 2022 neon Untitled (America/Me) would be the seventh of his works to discover a house on the Hirshhorn.

Joseph H. Hirshhorn’s foundational reward highlighted artists of the Latin American diaspora, a concerted space of enlargement within the museum’s newest acquisitions marketing campaign. Latest additions embrace a large-scale set up by El Salvador-born artist Maravilla that utilses sound tub immersion to interact viewers, and video works by Panama-based artists Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker.

Additional additions to the Hirshorn’s holdings underscore the establishment’s curiosity in amassing from museum exhibitions, together with artworks by Toyin Ojih Odutola and Kunie Sugiura.