Sat 17 Jun 2017
Sun 18 Jun 2017
Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG
The American Dream: pop to the present9 March – 18 June 2017The British MuseumAmerica. Land of the free. Home of the brave. Trace the creative momentum of a superpower in this major new exhibition.The past six decades have been among the most dynamic and turbulent in US history, from JFK’s assassination, Apollo 11 and Vietnam to the AIDS crisis, racism and gender politics. Responding to the changing times, American artists produced prints unprecedented in their scale and ambition.Starting with the explosion of pop art in the 1960s, the exhibition includes works by the most celebrated American artists. From Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg to Ed Ruscha, Kara Walker and Julie Mehretu – all boldly experimented with printmaking. Experience this extraordinary history through their eyes.Taking inspiration from the world around them – billboard advertising, global politics, Hollywood and household objects – American artists created highly original prints to rival their paintings and sculptures. Printmaking brought their work to a much wider and more diverse audience.The sheer inventiveness and technical ingenuity of their prints reflects America’s power and influence during this period. Many of these works also address the deep divisions in society that continue to resonate with us today – there are as many American dreams as there are Americans.The American Dream exhibition presents the British Museum’s outstanding collection of modern and contemporary American prints for the first time. These will be shown with important works from museums and private collections around the world. At the British Museum, book The American Dream tickets today! Sponsored by Morgan Stanley. Supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Image Credit: Edward Ruscha (b. 1937), OOO. Colour lithograph, 1970. © Ed Ruscha. Reproduced by permission of the artist.
The British Museum was founded in 1753, the first national public museum in the world. From the beginning it granted free admission to all 'studious and curious persons'. Visitor numbers have grown from around 5,000 a year in the eighteenth century to nearly 6 million today. The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Over his lifetime, Sloane collected more than 71,000 objects which he wanted to be preserved intact after his death. So he bequeathed the whole collection to King George II for the nation in return for a payment of £20,000 to his heirs. The gift was accepted and on 7 June 1753, an Act of Parliament established the British Museum. The founding collections largely consisted of books, manuscripts and natural specimens with some antiquities (including coins and medals, prints and drawings) and ethnographic material. In 1757 King George II donated the 'Old Royal Library' of the sovereigns of England and with it the privilege of copyright receipt. The British Museum opened to the public on 15 January 1759 . It was first housed in a seventeenth-century mansion, Montagu House, in Bloomsbury on the site of today's building. Entry was free and given to ‘all studious and curious Persons’. With the exception of two World Wars, the Museum has remained open ever since, gradually increasing its opening hours and moving from an attendance of 5,000 per year to today's 6 million.WHEELCHAIR SPACES: Yes
DISABLED TOILETS: Yes
INFRA-RED SYSTEM: Yes
GUIDE DOGS: Yes
NEAREST TUBE/RAIL STATION: Russell Square, Holborn and Tottenham Court Road
BUSES: 8, 10, 14, 24, 29, 73, 134 and 390
NEAREST CAR PARKS: Bloomsbury Square