Politics and Daily Life

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September 21 - December 15, 2024

Greider Family Gallery, Level 2

The 2024 presidential election offers an occasion to reflect on the history of national politics and to examine works of art that engage political themes in both overt and subtle ways. Politics and Daily Life presents a selection of prints, drawings, photographs, and a sculpture drawn from the Palmer Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Arranged into three sections—events, people, and symbols—the exhibition features politically inflected imagery by American and European artists from the mid-1800s to the early 2000s. 

Events centers on multifigure gatherings, including the political rituals of voting and parading. Scenes of crowds in the form of both state-sanctioned ceremonies and social justice protests appear in this section. In People, specific individuals and generic types, from elected leaders to ordinary citizens, are political actors or victims subject to the whims of political circumstances beyond their control. Images of dustbowl refugees during the Great Depression resonate with the ongoing contemporary displacement of peoples due to political warfare as well as a warming and unpredictable climate. Finally, the section Symbols explores the significance of maps, flags, and monuments in structuring myths, critiques of inequality, and perceived differences among citizens. 

Artists from the late 1600s to the present day will be featured, including Käthe Kollwitz, William Gropper, Gordon Parks, Elliott Erwitt, Larry Fink, Jasper Johns, Billy Morrow Jackson, Robert Arneson, Eleanor Antin, and Papo Colo.

Politics and Daily Life was organized by the Palmer Museum of Art with research contributions by Alicia Skeath, graduate assistant and doctoral candidate in art history.  

The exhibition is generously sponsored by The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State.

 

Politics and Daily Life is sponsored by

 

 

Organized by the Palmer Museum of Art.