The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era
Leading up to the 20th century, worldwide expansion of factories and cities transformed the natural environment and challenged the landscape genre in painting. Many artists continued to find inspiration in nature, while others responded to the new realities of rapid growth with divergent reactions ranging from celebration and veneration to anxiety and ambivalence. In The Big World, unspoiled panoramas and pastoral scenes transition to power plants and skyscrapers, and finally to vistas ruined by war and environmental disregard. Representations of this unprecedented era of change are found not only on canvas, but also in furniture, ceramics, glass, and textiles. Drawing from The Wolfsonian's diverse collection, the exhibition explores how artists ventured well beyond the fine arts to make sense of this new world and represent the landscapes of modernity.
Starting November 21, 2024, keep an eye out in the galleries for labels by students from FIU professor John Bailly's Honors College class. Inspired by select landscapes in The Big World, these creative writings offer new perspectives on the exhibition's themes.
Presented in connection with Bridge Deconstruction Site and The Breath Eaters.
Dates:
August 30, 2023–May 25, 2025
Curators:
Silvia Barisione, Lea Nickless
Credit:
The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era is organized by The Wolfsonian–FIU.
Antipasto service, 1929–30
Bruno Munari (Italian, 1907–1998), designer
Torido Mazzotti (Italian, 1895–1988) for Casa Giuseppe Mazzotti
Albisola, Italy
Glazed earthenware
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 83.7.34 a–g
Painting, Panama Canal, 1934
Virginia Berresford (American, 1904–1995)
United States
Oil on canvas
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, XX1989.178
Painting, Untitled, c. 1930
Denman Fink (American, 1880–1956)
Miami
Oil on canvas
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Promised Gift, WC2002.11.17.1
Painting, Oncoming Storm, c. 1940
Kyra Markham (American, 1891–1967)
New York City
Tempera on board
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, XX1989.180
Recommended Reading
See below for a list of readings recommended by the exhibition curators.
Andrews, Malcolm. Landscape and Western Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Braddock, Alan C., and Karl Kusserow. Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018.
Mitchell, W. J. T., ed. Landscape and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
O'Connell, Kristin. The Industrial Sublime: Modernism and the Transformation of New York's Rivers, 1900–1940. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.
Curator's Choice: The New Deal
Miami Beach Culture Crawl | Free Guided Tour
Museum and a Movie: Koyaanisqatsi
Public Opening | The Big World
Members Only | The Big World Preview
