About the Exhibition

Featuring over thirty works by New York artist Howard Skrill (b. 1962), this exhibition explores the impact of public monuments, as well as their removal, and their absence. Howard Skrill is an artist and art professor at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY and Essex College in Newark, NJ. He has exhibited extensively throughout New England, and his pictorial essays and other works have appeared in publications worldwide. In his drawings and paintings, Skrill documents figurative public statuary, surveys their destruction or relocation, and explores the fractured nature of personal and public memory, as well as the contemporary reaction to these historical works. Many of Skrill’s works were painted en plein air, or in the open air, recording not just the monuments, but the constant changes of light and color encountered out of doors.

On July 14, the Fairfield University Art Museum's Executive Director Carey Weber will host a virtual interview with the artist Howard Skrill as they discuss his works of art and the exhibition "Howard Skrill: Monumental Follies". The link can be found on the main page of the museum's website on the Programs tab under Tours and Gallery Talks.

On October 8, art historian Dr. Harriet Senie will give a talk entitled: Memorials Today: New Subjects, New Forms, and the Public Process. In this conversation, Dr. Senie will unpack the complex and often opaque bureaucratic processes underlying how the decisions that shape the memorials occupying real estate in our prime public spaces are made.

Harriet F. Senie is Director of the M.A. Program in Art History and Art Museum Studies at City College, CUNY, and teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of several books and numerous articles on public art, and is co-founder of the international organization Public Art Dialogue and co-editor of its journal, Public Art Dialogue. She was a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, and the She Build New York Advisory Committee.

Watch a video introduction by the artist:

 

Watch Dr. Harriet Senie's Open Visions Espresso event,
"Monumental Controversies: Mount Rushmore, Four Presidents, and the Quest for National Identity"

Browse Artwork

1 / 40
Washington from Federal Plaza, Manhattan, 2016
2 / 40
Washington from Washington Square Arch, Manhattan, 2015
3 / 40
General John Brown Gordon on Horseback [Atlanta], 2018
4 / 40
Jefferson from Columbia University, 2014
5 / 40
Asia from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan, 2015
6 / 40
America from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan, 2014
7 / 40
Africa from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan, 2015
8 / 40
Seated Lincoln, Newark Courthouse, Newark, NJ, 2015
9 / 40
Sherman from Grand Army Plaza, Manhattan, 2017
10 / 40
Confederate Monument, Greenville, SC, 2015
11 / 40
Catlin’s Greeter from Green-Wood Cemetery, 2015
12 / 40
WWI Memorial, Manhattan, 2014
13 / 40
Pioneer Man Removal, San Francisco, 2019
14 / 40
Morgan Removal, Lexington, KY, 2018
15 / 40
New Orleans, Jefferson Davis Removal with Crane, 2019
16 / 40
Removal of Columbus from LA, 2018
17 / 40
Foster-Uncle Ned Removal Pittsburgh, 2019
18 / 40
Lee Removal UT Austin, 2019
19 / 40
New Orleans Lee removal with Crane, 2019
20 / 40
Dallas Lee Removal with Ropes and Yellow Vest, 2019
21 / 40
Lee Removal Dallas [Workers], 2018
22 / 40
Dallas Lee Removal, Nighttime with Tractor, 2018
23 / 40
Lee Removal, 2019
24 / 40
Protest of TR Monument, Manhattan, 2019
25 / 40
Cemetery Portrait Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, 2018
26 / 40
Forrest Protest before Removal, Memphis [Embracing Legs], 2018
27 / 40
Forrest Protest before Removal, Memphis, 2018
28 / 40
Removal of Forrest from Memphis, 2018
29 / 40
Removal of Civic Virtue, Queens, NY, 2018
30 / 40
Absence of Civic Virtue from Kew Gardens, Queens, 2016
31 / 40
Civic Virtue in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, 2015
32 / 40
Absence of the Portrait Bust of Robert E. Lee from Bronx Community College, 2017
33 / 40
Obelisk on Sims' tomb at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, 2018
34 / 40
Lassoing of the Monument of J. Marion Sims from Central Park, Manhattan, 2018
35 / 40
Removal of Sims Statue, Manhattan, 2018
36 / 40
Post Removal Sims Plinth, Manhattan, 2018
37 / 40
Plinth that Held Snowden Bust in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, 2017
38 / 40
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022
39 / 40
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022
40 / 40
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022

 

<em>Washington from Federal Plaza, Manhattan</em>, 2016
<em>Washington from Washington Square Arch, Manhattan</em>, 2015
<em>General John Brown Gordon on Horseback [Atlanta]</em>, 2018
<em>Jefferson from Columbia University</em>, 2014
<em>Asia from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan</em>, 2015
<em>America from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan</em>, 2014
<em>Africa from Customs House in the Battery, Manhattan</em>, 2015
<em>Seated Lincoln, Newark Courthouse, Newark, NJ</em>, 2015
<em>Sherman from Grand Army Plaza, Manhattan</em>, 2017
<em>Confederate Monument, Greenville, SC</em>, 2015
<em>Catlin’s Greeter from Green-Wood Cemetery</em>, 2015
<em>WWI Memorial, Manhattan</em>, 2014
<em>Pioneer Man Removal, San Francisco</em>, 2019
<em>Morgan Removal, Lexington, KY</em>, 2018
<em>New Orleans, Jefferson Davis Removal with Crane</em>, 2019
<em>Removal of Columbus from LA</em>, 2018
<em>Foster-Uncle Ned Removal Pittsburgh</em>, 2019
<em>Lee Removal UT Austin</em>, 2019
<em>New Orleans Lee removal with Crane</em>, 2019
<em>Dallas Lee Removal with Ropes and Yellow Vest</em>, 2019
<em>Lee Removal Dallas [Workers]</em>, 2018
<em>Dallas Lee Removal, Nighttime with Tractor</em>, 2018
<em>Lee Removal</em>, 2019
<em>Protest of TR Monument, Manhattan</em>, 2019
<em>Cemetery Portrait Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest</em>, 2018
<em>Forrest Protest before Removal, Memphis [Embracing Legs]</em>, 2018
<em>Forrest Protest before Removal, Memphis</em>, 2018
<em>Removal of Forrest from Memphis</em>, 2018
<em>Removal of Civic Virtue, Queens, NY</em>, 2018
<em>Absence of Civic Virtue from Kew Gardens, Queens</em>, 2016
<em>Civic Virtue in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn</em>, 2015
<em>Absence of the Portrait Bust of Robert E. Lee from Bronx Community College</em>, 2017
<em>Obelisk on Sims’ tomb at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn</em>, 2018
<em>Lassoing of the Monument of J. Marion Sims from Central Park, Manhattan</em>, 2018
<em>Removal of Sims Statue, Manhattan</em>, 2018
<em>Post Removal Sims Plinth, Manhattan</em>, 2018
<em>Plinth that Held Snowden Bust in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn</em>, 2017
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022
A view of the virtual exhibition created using Kunstmatrix, June 4 2022-May 20, 2022

Audio Guide

Fairfield University Art Museum · Howard Skrill: Monuments (2020)

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