Three new exhibitions will be unveiled at Framingham State University’s Danforth Art Museum this summer, featuring the work of two contemporary photographers, highlights from the permanent collection, and a mixed-media exhibition focused on the intricacies of covering the body and the meaning held in garments.

On July 30th, the museum will open Populuxe, featuring the work of contemporary photographers Sean Sullivan and Steven Duede, who explore the color, design, and popular luxury of the car and home in the postwar era.

Also on July 30th, Highlights from the Permanent Collection will go on display, featuring works from the early nineteenth century to today in all media with a focus on some of the favorites in the collection, including Charles Sprague Pearce’s A Village Funeral in Brittany.

In late August, the exhibit Dressed will open, featuring six contemporary artists who reference the intricacies of covering the body and the meaning held in garments such as the dress form. There is a particular emphasis on adorning the body and the gendering of handwork. Work by Catherine Bertulli (sculpture), Jodi Colella (mixed media fiber art), Merill Comeau (mixed media fiber art), Mia Cross (painting and sculpture), Nancy Grace Horton (photography and alternative processes), and Marky Kauffmann (alternative process photography).

Additional details about the upcoming exhibits are below. To learn more about Framingham State University’s Danforth Art Museum and Danforth Art School, visit Danforth.framingham.edu.

*Front Page Image: Charles Sprague Pearce’s A Village Funeral in Brittany

Upcoming Exhibitions
Populuxe (July 30-October 13) a term coined by design critic and historian Thomas Hine, merges popular and luxury to reference the over-the-top aesthetics of consumer products in the late 1950s to early 1960s. In this exhibition, two contemporary photographers reimagine the Populuxe vision. Sean Sullivan photographs classic cars, delineating them down to the most extraneous, yet eye-catching, details. Steven Duede photographs toy plastic houses stripped of their surroundings and hovering in space. His work evokes the disquieting idea that every house can be a home, but it can also be isolating and artificial, a feeling often applied to the postwar suburbs.

Highlights from the Permanent Collection (July 28-May 2020): Featuring works from the early nineteenth century to today in all media with a focus on some of the favorites in the collection, including Charles Sprague Pearce’s A Village Funeral in Brittany.

Dressed (August 31st-December 29): To be dressed is to cover, adorn, or envelop the body in the guise we present to the outside world. To be dressed can be an exercise in simplicity, or an elaborate over-the-top performance. This exhibition presents the work of six contemporary artists working in a range of media whose works reference the intricacies of covering the body, and the meaning held in garments. Broadly addressing materials, imagery, iconography, and memory, each artist experiments with the fluidity of form while acknowledging gendered constrictions placed on the body. (Below: Jodi Colella, Fascinator; Marky Kauffmann, Eloise in Blue Dress; Nancy Grace Horton, Cinderella Falling)