Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation
Brings Tropical Plant-Inspired Exhibition to The Wolfsonian-FIU
Thanks to the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, a surprising new exhibition at The Wolfsonian–FIU reveals how tropical plants have inspired art and design. The foundation’s prestigious biennial exhibition award, and an accompanying $150,000 grant, is the largest ever granted to The Wolfsonian for a single exhibition.
Created in 1998, the award encourages curators, in partnership with a museum or nonprofit art space, to develop unconventional exhibitions. The grant, awarded to The Wolfsonian in 2014, enabled curator Christian Larsen to fully explore his concept for “Philodendron: From Pan-Latin Exotic to American Modern.” His curatorial project resonates with foundation namesake Emily Hall Tremaine’s legendary interest in fresh and experimental art.
Emily Hall Tremaine, together with her husband Burton G. Tremaine, Sr., built a museum-worthy collection by seeking out the work of artists who were just starting to define contemporary art. The visionary collection spanning the 1940s to 1980s was later sold to create the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, a nonprofit granting institution known for supporting curatorial development and innovative exhibitions such as “Philodendron.”
The exhibition, which will run through February 2016, examines an overlooked element of modern design that has embellished our homes and gardens since the turn of the twentieth century. It follows the evolution of the philodendron across three hundred years, drawing together objects from the Amazon, Caribbean, and beyond. “Philodendron” examines the global impact of this Pan-American cultural exchange. “I argue that plants are the material basis for everything we make,” Larsen says. “There’s some sort of plant part in the raw material of design, and we’re looking at how they’re becoming cultural symbols.”
Notably, “Philodendron” reaches outside the timeframe of The Wolfsonian’s 1850s to 1950s collection, bringing the conversation into present tense with works by more than 25 contemporary artists. The exhibition fits well with the museum’s aim to use objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design, to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, historical, and technological changes that have transformed our world.
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