ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art explores the development of modern and contemporary art by selecting key years in art history that represent watershed moments in the 20th century in the upcoming exhibition “Fast Forward: Modern Moments 1913 ›› 2013”.

The exhibition presents approximately 100 works of art created during the years 1913, 1929, 1950, 1961, and 1988, as well as the art of today. The exhibition examines the years prior to the start of World War I and the Great Depression, the lead-up to postwar American prosperity and the years preceding the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall and how artists responded to and were influenced by events on the world stage.

The exhibition also presents the works of contemporary artists Aaron Curry, Katharina Grosse, and Sarah Sze, whose work extends themes first explored in the 20th century and updates them for the 21st century.

“Fast Forward: Modern Moments 1913 ›› 2013” is one of the largest surveys of 20th-century art to ever be exhibited in the southeastern United States. Co-organized by the High Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA), as part of the two museums’ ongoing collaboration, the exhibition is on view from October 13, 2012, through January 20, 2013.

“These periods of time ushered in new ways of thinking that forever transformed the artistic landscapes,” said Michael E. Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., Director. “We’re delighted that this partnership with MoMA will enable our visitors to see how the work of artists from different eras was influenced by major historical events.”

The exhibition includes iconic works from each represented year, including:
· 1913: Umberto Boccioni’s Futurist sculpture “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”
· 1929: Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist painting “Illumined Pleasures”
· 1950: Willem de Kooning’s landmark of Abstract Expressionism, “Woman, I”
· 1961: Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop art masterpiece “Girl With Ball”
· 1988: Jeff Koons’s famed porcelain sculpture “Pink Panther”

Michael Rooks, the High’s Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, has chosen Aaron Curry, Katharina Grosse and Sarah Sze to highlight the art of 2013. Sarah Sze, who represents the United States in the 2013 Venice Biennale, created a site-specific installation for the High. Aaron Curry debuts three new works—monumental, polychromed steel sculptures titled “Boo,” “Thing” and “Deadhead”—which have been installed on the Museum’s lawn. Rounding out the selection, a large three-dimensional painting by Katharina Grosse is on display on the skyway level of the Wieland Pavilion.

“Aaron Curry, Katharina Grosse, and Sarah Sze are artists who push the boundaries of artistic practice,” said Rooks. “Each is known for their conceptually open-ended and physically immersive works that invite viewers to walk through and around them. In the process of physically exploring these works, viewers draw out the present moment, stretching time toward moments yet to come.”

“Fast Forward: Modern Moments 1913 ›› 2013” continues a multi-year, multi-exhibition collaboration between the High and MoMA, which began in 2009 with “Monet Water Lilies,” the first in a series of six exhibitions, followed by “Modern by Design” in summer 2011 and “Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters,” which is currently on view through April 29, 2012. The initiative builds on successful past collaborations between the High and MoMA that resulted in four exhibitions presented in Atlanta between 1997 and 2000. This project will extend ties between the institutions through professional exchanges, development of educational programs and publications and reciprocal admission benefits.