Hirshhorn’s Monumental Mark Bradford Commission “Pickett’s Charge” Is Extended Through 2021
Oct. 2, 2018
Hirshhorn’s Monumental Mark Bradford Commission “Pickett’s Charge” Is Extended Through 2021
Extension Will Include Continued Programming Around the Historically Inspired Exhibition
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has announced that internationally acclaimed artist Mark Bradford’s large-scale exhibition “Pickett’s Charge” has been extended through 2021, following international critical acclaim and more than 700,000 visitors during its first year. The installation, which marked the artist’s first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., comprises a series of eight works that span the entire third-floor inner-circle galleries, using the museum’s distinctive circular architecture to create a 360-degree panoramic experience that extends nearly 400 linear feet. Originally intended to be a yearlong exhibition, the extension allows for an ongoing discourse around global history that the exhibition addresses, within the Washington community and beyond.
Bradford has achieved worldwide recognition for his technically inventive and uniquely powerful abstraction steeped in a personal exploration of collective memory and the sociopolitical issues shaping the world. For “Pickett’s Charge,” Bradford took as his point of departure Paul Philippoteaux’s landmark 1883 cyclorama of the same name, a dramatic opus depicting the final charge of the Battle of Gettysburg—an event that historians cite as the critical turning point in the Civil War and, consequently, in American history. Philippoteaux’s famous work, which resides at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, portrays the infamous Confederate Army infantry assault from which the Southern military never recovered. Situated on the National Mall, the Hirshhorn marks a meaningful site to showcase the work, allowing for viewers to consider the historical resonance that the work has in the nation’s capital.
“Mark is one of the most influential artists alive and working today,” said Hirshhorn Director Melissa Chiu. “His compelling body of work is imbued with social, political and historical motifs, and it demonstrates the many ways that art gives a voice to global issues of our time.”
Throughout the course of the exhibition, the Hirshhorn has developed a number of programs in partnership with Howard University, the Civil War Trust and Gettysburg National Park, including several lectures and studio visits. Forthcoming programming includes plans to continue the museum’s outreach initiatives, inspiring local students to discover all that the museum world has to offer.
“Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge” is organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and has been made possible through generous lead support from Altria Group, the Emanuel/Addington Living Trust, and Hauser & Wirth. Major support has been provided by the Glenstone Foundation, Agnes Gund, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, Harold J. and Ruth Newman, Eileen Harris Norton, and Chara Schreyer. The Museum is also grateful for the additional funding provided by the Hirshhorn International Council and the Hirshhorn Collectors’ Council.
About the Hirshhorn
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the national museum of modern and contemporary art and a leading voice for 21st-century art and culture. Part of the Smithsonian, the Hirshhorn is located prominently on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. With nearly 12,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, mixed-media installations, works on paper and new media works, its holdings encompass one of the most important collections of postwar American and European art in the world. The Hirshhorn presents diverse exhibitions and offers an array of public programs on the art of our time—free to all, 364 days a year. For more information, visit hirshhorn.si.edu.
Image: Mark Bradford at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden with details of Pickett’s Charge, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Erin Schaff.
