A year and-a-half before it's scheduled to open, planning has started for a new, major exhibition at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. Wednesday the museum hosted a meeting for other cultural organizations in the area that might want to set up their own special programs at the same time.
Director of Education at the Figge Melissa Mohr says "For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design" will feature 100 paintings, by 79 artists. The academy was founded in 1825.
"We're really considering this theme of what it means to be an artist in this country - what it means today, what that means in the early 19th century - as these paintings were being collected. And what different lenses we can use to help us interpret what has been done and what we are doing, and what will be done in the future - visually and artistically."
More than 60 possible "partner" organizations were invited to Wednesday's meeting, including the QCSO, RME, Ballet Quad Cities, and the Botanical Center.
The exhibition will only go to seven museums during the next two years, and it's due to open at the Figge early in 2021, and be on display here for about two months. Some of the well-known artists in the upcoming exhibition include Winslow Homer, Albert Bierstadt, Maxfield Parrish, and Andrew Wyeth.
This will be the second in the museum's Major Exhibition Series, following "French Moderns: from Monet to Matisse" late last year.
