Modern and Contemporary Art Since 1945

Since September 2010, the Corcoran has dedicated a significant amount of space to the display of its renowned collections, including the first permanent installations of contemporary art, photography, and media arts in over 20 years. These have joined recently reinstalled permanent exhibitions of historic American, European, and decorative arts from the collection. The new permanent collection installation highlights the strengths of the modern and contemporary art holdings. These galleries provide a sense of the breadth of practice and the range of ideas that animate postwar and contemporary art. Major works are presented by Lee Bontecou, William Christenberry, Robert Colescott, Rob Fischer, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear, Sean Scully, Jessica Stockholder, Anne Truitt, Andy Warhol, and others.

A portion of the display will be a changing focus space. Currently on view is a small memorial exhibition to Tom Green, one of the central figures of the Washington, D.C. art scene and a teacher at the Corcoran College of Art + Design for nearly forty years.  When Green was diagnosed in 2011 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Corcoran alumni decided to pay tribute to his legacy by acquiring one of Green’s most important paintings, Witness, Beirut, 1982–86, for the museum’s collection. Witness, Beirut is on display in the company of three of Green’s fellow D.C.-area painters: Simon Gouverneur, Robin Rose, and William Willis.