Knowing and Naming: Abstraction Beyond Reality

On view in the Post-1950s Gallery

For over a century, artists have turned to both materials and abstraction—and away from “realism”—to comprehend the nature of reality. The concept of taking something nonrepresentational and naming it after something “real” unites the works in Knowing and Naming: Abstraction Beyond Reality. In each case, meaning is complicated, expanded, or deepened by the work’s title. Though they reference time, travel, spirituality, and vision, in the end, they illustrate the difference between knowing something and knowing its name.

The exhibition features work by Richard B. Beaman | Albert Bierstadt | Jane Haskell | John McCracken | Melissa Meyer | Thaddeus Mosley | Larry Poons | Mark Tobey | Russell Twiggs

All exhibitions are supported by the Hillman Exhibition Fund of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Free admission to exhibitions is generously supported by UPMC Health Plan.