Art and Immigration
A new exhibition at Washington’s Tacoma Art Museum explores Western art made by immigrants to America.
Drawing from a vast collection of materials, the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington, is now exhibiting Immigrant Artists and the American West, a new exhibition that features work from artists who came from outside the United States.
The exhibition, which opened on February 2, taps into the personal and political issues that are at the forefront of an ongoing immigration dialogue. It pulls artwork from the museum’s Northwest Art Collection and the vast Haub Family Collection of Western American Art, as well as featuring prominent loans from other museums and private collections. Artists being shown in Immigrant Artists and the American West come from places such as China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Russia, among others.
“Immigration is a topic on many peoples’ minds,” the museum states. “With changing policies and shifting values that affect many people’s lives in our community and beyond, Immigrant Artists and the American West draws attention to how art relates to and responds to personal and political issues around immigration.”
The exhibition will highlight works that show how immigrants often came to the United States looking for better opportunities, and how they had a profound impact on the development of the West. Artists featured include Mian Situ, who was born in China; Canadian-born painter Robert Lougheed; Peter and Thomas Moran, who were both born in England; and modernist painter Kenjiro Nomura, who was born in Japan before coming to the United States as a boy; as well as many other artists.
The exhibition will be on view through June 14, 2020. For more information visit www.tacomaartmuseum.org.