Upcoming Exhibitions

Curated by Fairfield University Phoebe Charpentier ‘23

The exhibition – the first exhibition in FUAM’s history to have been fully developed and curated by an undergraduate student – features more than 50 contemporary artworks by women artists.

Among the artists included in the exhibition are photographers Laurie Simmons and Donna Ferrato, painter and sculptor Linda Stein, and artist Ruby Sky Stiler. The majority of artworks in the exhibition will come from FUAM’s own collection, with select loans from the Westport Public Art Collections (WestPAC) and private collectors.

Image:  Ethel Fisher, Room on East 89th Street, 1965, oil on linen. Gift of Margaret Fisher, 2022 (2022.09.02)

This whimsical exhibition of Peter Anton’s outsized, hyper-realistic sculptures of sweets will include ice cream cones, cakes and confections. Anton has experimented with various methods, including wood, metal, plaster, resin, and oil and acrylic paints to achieve the physicality of his monumental desserts. He chooses subjects that encourage people to think about their own relationship to food, and the memories and nostalgia that these childhood favorites conjure.

This exhibition will feature over 60 works by the acclaimed Polish Jewish miniaturist and political cartoonist Arthur Szyk (1899-1951), including political cartoons, illustrations of critical texts of the Jewish tradition, and stamps and seals that honor the power and importance of democratic ideals. The exhibition is organized around the theme of human rights, a vital through-line in Szyk's prolific career. A witness to the rise of totalitarianism in Europe, Szyk emigrated to the United States from Poland in 1940. His political cartoons animated the covers of magazines such as Time Magazine and Collier's raising awareness of the plight of European Jews and helping to sway public opinion toward support for American participation in the Second World War. Arthur Szyk, a self-described “soldier in art,” was famous for using his pen and brush to advocate for religious tolerance, racial equality, and human dignity. Active in the years leading up to World War II and during the Holocaust, Szyk became one of America’s most celebrated political artists for his powerful artistic and social contributions against Nazism and fascism. As our communities continue to face global unrest and confront issues of structural racism and social upheaval, this exhibition provides a platform for conversations on the urgent topic of human rights.

Organized by the University of California, Berkeley, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, where it opened in May 2021, this exhibition is on view at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans through May 7, 2023, before coming to the Fairfield University Art Museum, which is its only stop in the Northeast. The exhibition will be on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries. In the Walsh Gallery, the "Szyk Digital Experience" invites visitors to explore and recombine motifs from Szyk's works into new images, which will be projected on the gallery walls. Additional films and other materials will be on view in this interactive display.

Image: Arthur Szyk, Madness, 1941, Watercolor, gouache, ink and graphite on paper, Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley