Underexamined, women-led pattern and decoration movement explored in expansive exhibition
Installation image of With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985, June 26 November 28, 2021. Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-onHudson, NY. Photo: Olympia Shannon.
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY
.-The Hessel Museum of Art is presenting With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 19721985, the first full-scale scholarly North American survey of the groundbreaking yet understudied Pattern and Decoration art movement, originally on view at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), from October 2019 to March 2020.
Spanning the years 1972 to 1985 and featuring 45 artists from across the United States, With Pleasure examines the Pattern and Decoration movements defiant embrace of forms traditionally coded as feminine, domestic, ornamental, or craft-based and thought to be categorically inferior to fine art. On view from June 26 to November 28, 2021, as part of CCS Bards 30th anniversary season, the exhibition includes major works from the Marieluise Hessel Collection of Contemporary Art, which CCS Bard Co-Founder Marieluise Hessel dedicated for the colleges exclusive and active use, including Robert Kushner, Kim MacConnel, Barbara Zucker, and Robert Zakanitch, among others.