Exhibitions, 1911 - 2005, 1911-2005

This series contains records relating to the planning and development of exhibitions. The files provide information on the various stages involved in the preparation and mounting of exhibitions as well as related activities such as symposia and lectures. The department organized major exhibitions of artists of international renown, such as Albert Bierstadt, Art & Enterprise (1991) and Louise Bourgeois: The Locus of Memory, Works 1982-1993 (1994), as well as shows that featured local and emerging artists. These included Brooklyn Society of Miniature Painters (1915), Paintings and Sculpture by Brooklyn and Long Island artists (1934) and the Contemporary division's Working in Brooklyn series in the 1980s and 1990s, which featured works by painters and sculptors with studios in Brooklyn. Files in this series also include materials regarding collaborative exhibitions with other museum departments; photography exhibitions through the mid-1970s; and exhibitions that were cancelled after the initial planning stages.

Materials include correspondence, registrar's forms, contracts with touring institutions, didactics, press releases, invitations to openings, gallery plans, checklists, catalog materials, photographs, negatives, and transparencies. Also included in many of these files are letters from notable artists.

For records relating to rejected exhibition proposals and general administrative information regarding exhibitions such as proposals for the Grand Lobby projects, see Departmental administration series. Files regarding permanent installations of objects are located in the Objects series.