On Paper: List Art Collection

In celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 2009, 82 limited edition prints and posters commissioned by the Albert and Vera List Collection were exhibited at UBS Art Gallery in New York City.  The MMFA is pleased to present that exhibition in Montgomery. Beginning with the first limited edition serigraph poster by Ben Shahn announcing the opening of Philharmonic Hall in 1962, the Lincoln Center/List Collection commissioned works by a variety of prominent contemporary artists.  Early posters by Marc Chagall, Larry Rivers, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol lent the fledgling program considerable impact and good will.

 In 1970, the List Collection broadened its scope by publishing its first signed and numbered print edition (by James Rosenquist), as a complement to the poster component. Since 1970, the List Collection has published four to six signed editions annually, making the List Collection print publishing program one of the oldest in the country in continual operation.

The List Collection provides a window on the last half-century of contemporary art.  Minimalism, Pop Art, Color Field, and Abstract Expressionism are only a few of the art movements represented in this impressive collection.  In addition to the artists mentioned above, Josef Albers, Elizabeth Murray, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Kushner, Robert Motherwell, Julian Schnabel, Jamie Wyeth, Jennifer Bartlett, Helen Frankenthaler, and many more artists are included. The exhibition is organized and circulated by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.