UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.- Three exhibitions on view this fall and winter at the Palmer Museum of Art commemorate the Museum’s 50 years by exhibiting key works from the collection and renderings of its new building, set to open at the Penn State Arboretum in early 2024. Two exhibitions, Looking at Who We Are: The Palmer at Fifty (Sept. 23-Dec. 18) and The Art of Remembering: A Selection of Gifts (Aug. 26-Dec. 18) feature 87 works from the Palmer’s collection, while Designed for the Future: The New Palmer Museum of Art at the Arboretum (Oct. 15, 2022-May 8, 2023) includes sketches, models and an animated fly-through video of the new building.

“We are at a transformative moment in the history of the Palmer Museum of Art,” said Museum Director Erin M. Coe. “As we celebrate five decades of serving our communities as the largest academic art museum in Pennsylvania, we look toward a bright future in the new building that will double the Palmer’s exhibition space and enhance accessibility. We invite everyone to celebrate this momentous occasion with us as we look to our collection to chronicle the past and offer glimpses of what is to come.”

Looking at Who We Are: The Palmer at Fifty

Penn State’s iconic cheer “We Are” inspired the title of Looking at Who We Are: The Palmer at Fifty. The exhibition signals an introspective reckoning as the Museum marks a historic milestone and reflects on its past, present and future. Featuring 74 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures from the permanent collection, the exhibition explores how history, place and community shape our conception of museums and ourselves. An impressive 30-foot-long timeline details the most notable events in the Museum’s five decades, including significant additions to the collection; groundbreaking exhibitions; and the institution’s renaming in 1987 in honor of James and Barbara Palmer, who donated $2 million to initiate a campaign for a major addition to the building and later bequeathed their collection to the Museum.

Looking at Who We Are is divided into four sections — History, Place, Community and Future. Together, they offer a broad view of personal and cultural identity through the lens of specific works of art, encouraging visitors to consider how collections are formed and institutional histories are written. History examines how art functions to contain, transmit and create history. Place focuses on Pennsylvania and its national and international connections. Community surveys how shared histories and personal identities inform how we construct communities and Future features images that, through design, construction and purpose, reveal hope and potential for new possibilities.

Featured artists in the exhibition include Eleanor Antin, John Biggers, Simon Dinnerstein, Mary Beth Edelson, Theodoor Galle, Harry Gottlieb, Utagawa Kunisada II, Jacob Lawrence, Yolanda López, Roberto Lugo, Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Richard Mayhew, Steve McCurry, Matthew Northridge, George Loftus Noyes, Philip Pearlstein, Pablo Picasso, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Alexander Rodchenko, Charles Sheeler, Preston Singletary, Neal Slavin, John Sloan, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, W. Eugene Smith, Raphael Soyer, Therman Statom, Andy Warhol and Marion Post Wolcott.

Designed for the Future: The New Palmer Museum of Art at the Arboretum

Focusing on the transformational new building for the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State, Designed for the Future: The New Palmer Museum of Art at the Arboretum will allow visitors to experience its innovative and versatile design through the architect’s model, drawings, plans, renderings and animation. Allied Works, internationally known for their sensitive and elegant bridging of nature and architecture, was selected as the architect based on their deep expertise in the design of arts and educational facilities and for their interdisciplinary and collaborative approach.

The new 71,000-square-foot museum will neighbor the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens in The Arboretum and seamlessly integrate art, architecture and nature. The new design will substantially boost accessibility to the University’s art collections and double the gallery space, allowing for more study and stewardship of the collection and special exhibitions.

The Art of Remembering: A Selection of Gifts

The Art of Remembering: A Selection of Gifts seeks to honor the gifts to the permanent collection of the Palmer Museum of Art. The collection has grown significantly because numerous patrons have generously donated works of art since the founding of the Museum in 1972. Nearly three-quarters of the 10,300 objects in the collection are gifts, including works of art donated in memory of family members, friends, alumni, colleagues, Museum staff, volunteers and university and community leaders.

This intimate exhibition brings together a selection of works on paper by 19th- and 20th-century European and American artists, each one a testament to the enduring memory of an individual life and evidence of art’s power to foster the act of remembering. The label texts accompanying the selections offer thoughts on those being remembered, the donors who gifted or provided funds to acquire the works and the artists who created them.

All three exhibitions were organized by the Palmer Museum of Art as part of its 50th-anniversary celebration.