The McMaster Museum of Art is pleased to present the first of our summer exhibitions – Structure of the World, an exhibition of collection works, most being shown at McMaster for the first time. It opens tomorrow in the Museum’s main floor Panabaker Gallery and continues until August 16.

The exhibition proposition and title is drawn from a same-titled László Moholy-Nagy 1925 “fotoplastic”; a recent Museum acquisition, which is being shown for the first time. Produced when the Hungarian-born Moholy-Nagy was teaching at the Bauhaus in Germany, the “fotoplastics” offered a metaphor through a reconstruction of the real, rather than the “typically” surreal. One critic reflected on this body of work as being “a radical instrument intended to liberate modern man from the constraints of habit and history.”

In turn, the grouping of diverse works in this installation present concurrent strategies in 20th and early 21st century art practices.
List of all artwork included is below. * marks those being shown at McMaster for the first time.

• Nicolas Baier (Canadian b.1967) Octobre*, 2000 digital prints mounted on steel. Gift of Miriam Shiell 2012
• Radcliffe Bailey (American b.1968) Diamond* , 2004 mixed media in shadow-box frame. Gift of David and Julie Moos 2012
• Andy Goldsworthy (British b.1956) Sticks Stacked Around Two Rocks, Central Park, N.Y., 1993 cibachrome prints. Levy Bequest Purchase 1995
• Tadashi Kawamata (Japanese b.1953) Favela Plan Maquette Nos. 6, 7, 9, 15, 16, 21 ; 1993 plywood, balsa wood, cork, corrugated card and screws. Levy Bequest Purchase 1995
• László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian 1895-1946) Untitled 1922* (from the Berlin Photograms, cr: fgm 16) from the portfolio Vierzehn Fotos, printed 1979 gelatin silver print. Donald Murray Shepherd Trust Purchase 2012
• László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian 1895-1946) Das Weltgebäude / Structure of the World*, 1925 from the portfolio Vierzehn Fotos, printed 1979 gelatin silver print. Donald Murray Shepherd Trust Purchase 2012
• Alexander Rodchenko (Russian 1891-1956) High Jumper*, 1937; printed 1987 gelatin silver print. Donald Murray Shepherd Trust Purchase 2012
• Alexander Rodchenko (Russian 1891-1956) Electric Pylon*, 1927; printed 1987 gelatin silver print. Donald Murray Shepherd Trust Purchase 2012
• Dionne Simpson (Canadian b. Jamaica 1972) Cell 03 and Cell 10: Walking Men Series*, 2001 mixed media. Gift of Miriam Shiell 2012