/ Kruizenga Art Museum

Past Exhibitions

Object Lessons: Selected Gifts from the Kamansky-Wheaton Collection, 2014–2024

June 4–August 10, 2024

This exhibition features a selection of the artworks that have been donated from the Kamansky-Wheaton collection over the past 10 years. The artworks were chosen by KAM curator Charles Mason to demonstrate the quality of the collection and to illustrate the range of stories the objects can tell. The museum is immensely grateful to David Kamansky and Gerald Wheaton.

Image: Portrait of Margaret Ramsden, attributed to: Cornelius Johnson (English, 1593–1661), Circa 1625. Oil on canvas. Hope College Collection, gift of David Kamansky in honor of his husband Gerald Wheaton, 2023.29.3

This painting depicts a street vendor selling bottles of cooking oil at a  Zimbabwean street market. The thick paint and collaged stickers capture the colors and rhythms of contemporary life. 

Deep Roots, New shoots

January 12–May 18, 2024

Deep Roots, New Shoots features 40 African artworks created between the 1960s and the early 2020s, all of which belong to the Kruizenga Museum’s permanent collection. The artworks span the length and breadth of the African continent, from Morocco to South Africa and Nigeria to Ethiopia. They represent a diverse variety of artistic styles and movements, and reflect a broad range of themes and issues, including celebrations of ethnic and national pride, struggles against various forms of inequality and injustice, and critical reflections on the enduring impacts of colonialism and global consumerism.

Image: Cookoil pa Speed. Sky Salanje (Zimbabwean, b. 1992), 2022. Acrylic on canvas. Hope College Collection, 2023.28

This painting depicts a street vendor selling bottles of cooking oil at a  Zimbabwean street market. The thick paint and collaged stickers capture the colors and rhythms of contemporary life. 

A New Art for a New China

August 26–December 16, 2023

This exhibition features a selection of Chinese prints dating from the late 1930s to the early 2020s that reflect the broader history of China and Chinese printmaking during that period. The artworks belong to a collection of more than 1,500 modern Chinese prints that was formed by Dr. David Ihrman and his late wife Huang Dong Ihrman, and donated to the Kruizenga Museum in 2021. The Ihrman collection ranks among the largest collections of modern Chinese prints to be found outside of China.

Image:The Dream of the Butterfly. Shao Mingjiang (Chinese, b. 1956), 1993. Woodcut. 2021.2.1100

Yellow and blue butterfly encompased by an abstract pink flower

Portrait Stories

Every portrait tells a story. What’s yours?
January 13–May 13, 2022

Portrait Stories was curated by five Hope College students working under the supervision of Kruizenga Art Museum Director Charles Mason. The exhibition features 49 artworks representing a broad range of cultures, time periods and media. It includes portraits by famous historical artists like Rembrandt van Rijn, James Tissot, Kathe Kollwitz and Salvador Dali as well as works by contemporary artists like Rashid Johnson, John Valadez and Zachary Drucker. The artworks in the exhibition were selected by the students to explore different aspects of portraiture and to show how the genre has evolved over time.

Image: Tattoo Series No. 5. Qiu Zhijie (Chinese, b. 1969), 2000. Dye coupler print. Hope College Collection, 2015.64

Portrait Stories Exhibition

No Planet B

September 2–December 10, 2022

No Planet B features 41 artworks that reflect critically on the many environmental problems that currently face our planet, from climate change and sea level rise to industrial pollution and biodiversity loss. The title of the exhibition comes from a catchphrase popularized by former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that there can be no plan B for solving the world’s environmental problems because there is no planet B. The exhibition was organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum.

Image: Cité Soleil 15. Antonio Bolfo (American, b. 1981). Archival inkjet print. 2013. Hope College Collection, 2022.49

Cité Soleil 15 print by Antonio Bolfo

Chicanx Art

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
September 2–November 5, 2022

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, this exhibition features 11 artworks by Chicano and Chicana artists that reflect different aspects of Mexican American culture.

Image: Electric Hero: Cesar Chavez. Linda Vallejo (American, b. 1951), 2009. Acrylic on canvas. Hope College Collection, 2022.35

Electric Hero: Cesar Chavez painting by Linda Vallejo

the golden age of dutch delftware

Selections from the Jack E. Lapp Collection
June 3–August 6, 2022

The Golden Age of Dutch Delftware: Selections from the Jack E. Lapp Collection features a selection of historical and early modern Delftware ceramics drawn from the collection of Hudsonville resident Jack E. Lapp. Formed over a period of 40 years, the Lapp Collection includes more than 250 examples of Dutch Delftware spanning four centuries of production and representing a broad assortment of forms and designs.

Image: Dish with Baroque Scrolling Design. Dutch, ca. 1720-1740.Tin-glazed earthenware. Loan from the Jack E. Lapp Collection.

Dish with Baroque Scrolling Design

say it loud

Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride
June 3–August 6, 2022

The KAM celebrates Pride Month with Say It Loud: Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride, an exhibition of 15 artworks by LGBTQ+ artists. Ranging in date from 1911 to 2022, the artworks in the exhibition represent a variety of different countries and cultures. Most of the works are recent acquisitions that have never before been displayed at the museum.

Image: Love. Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018). Circa 1968. Lithograph. Gift of Dr. Winton Stephan, 1991.2.5.

"Love" by Robert Indiana

SHANK'S MARE TOKAIDO: Misadventures Along the Eastern Sea Road

January 14–May 21, 2022

Shank’s Mare Tōkaidō: Misadventures Along the Eastern Sea Road featured a suite of 60 Japanese woodblock prints depicting places and people along the famous Tōkaidō Road that once ran along the eastern coast of Japan, connecting the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. The exhibition also included six earlier original woodblock prints of the Tōkaidō by Utagawa Hiroshige, along with paintings, photographs, clothing, household wares and other items that shed additional light on the people, places and things portrayed in the Tōkaidō images.

Image: Kawasaki. Fujikawa Tamenobu (Japanese, active ca. 1900-1920). 1918. Woodblock print, ink and colors on paper. Hope College Collection, 2014.13.4

"Kawasaki" by Fujikawa Tamenobu

Color, Texture, Form: Modern European and American Art from the Brummel Collection

September 10–December 11, 2021

Color, Texture, Form featured a selection of 62 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures drawn from the collection of Hope College Class of 1957 alumnus Mike Brummel. Most of the pieces were created by artists active in the cities of New York and Paris during the middle decades of the 20th century. The display included both representational and abstract artwork and featured a special selection of works by the French artist Françoise Gilot.

Image: Bird and Blue Flowers (L’oiseau et les fleurs bleues). Françoise Gilot (French, born 1921). Ca. early 1960s. Oil on canvas. Loan from the M.L. Brummel Collection

"Bird and Blue Flowers" by Françoise Gilot

Michael Ayrton's Minotaur Suite

May 28–August 28, 2021

Michael Ayrton’s Minotaur Suite featured a suite of 10 etchings created by British painter, printmaker and sculptor Michael Ayrton in 1971 that portray the life of the Minotaur, a fearsome half-man, half-bull creature from classical Greek mythology. The 10 prints of the Minotaur Suite were accompanied by 22 additional paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures by Ayrton that illustrated his deep engagement with classical Greek mythology over the last 20 years of his career. The museum is grateful to Hope College Professor Emeritus Jack Nyenhuis whose scholarship on Michael Ayrton underpinned the interpretive content of this exhibition and who, along with his wife, Lee, lent or donated many of the artworks included in the display.

Image: Minotaur Risen, Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975), 1971, Etching, Hope College Collection, purchased with funds donated by Mr. and Mrs.George Strumbos, 1988.2.8

"Minotaur Risen" by Michael Ayrton

DRAWING WITH LIGHT: MEZZOTINT PRINTS FROM THE ROSSOF COLLECTION

January 19–June 26, 2021

Drawing with Light offered a chronological survey of mezzotint printmaking from the 17th century to the present day. It intentionally included works by many different artists representing a broad range of subjects and styles. The majority of the prints featured in the exhibition were donated or lent from the collection of Arthur and Kristine Rossof of Douglas, Michigan.

Image: Mindscape, Gatja Helgart Rothe (German, 1935–2007), 1977, Mezzotint, Gift of Arthur and Kristine Rossof, 2017.69.5

"Mindscape" by Gatja Helgart Rothe

Salvador Dali: Memories of Surrealism

January 19–April 17, 2021

Salvador Dali was a leading figure in the Surrealist art movement from the 1920s to the 1970s. Salvador Dali: Memories of Surrealism was a focus exhibition featuring twelve lithographic prints created by Dali in 1971 as a reflection on his long artistic career.

Salvador Dali: Memories of Surrealism exhibition poster

DOMINION OVER THE EARTH

November 1–December 20, 2019

Dominion Over the Earth was an online exhibition organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum in conjunction with the Hope College 2020 NEA Big Read Lakeshore program. In consideration of the 2020 Big Read book, Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, which recounts the story of the crew of an early 19th-century American ship that sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while hunting whales, this online exhibition features a selection of artworks from the Kruizenga Art Museum collection that explore changing attitudes toward the natural environment in Europe and America from the 18th century to the present.

"Earth on Fire" by Cleon Peterson

BLACK LIVES MATTER, BLACK CULTURE MATTERS

August 18–December 5, 2020

Black Lives Matter, Black Culture Matters featured fifty artworks that address a variety of topics in African American history and culture from the end of the Civil War to the present. The exhibition attempted to provide some historical context for the current Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism in criminal justice, education, jobs, health care and housing. It was additionally a celebration of Black culture and the many ways that Black culture has enriched American life over the past two centuries.

"John Brown Praying" by Jacob Lawrence

Resilience, Resistance and Revival in 20th-Century Yoruba Art

January 17–December 18, 2020

Resilience, Resistance and Revival in 20th-Century Yoruba Art examined the survival and evolution of Yoruba art and culture in Nigeria through the periods of British colonization and post-colonial independence. The artworks included in the exhibition illustrate how Yoruba art has been shaped by the twin forces of continuity and change through the 20th and into the 21st centuries.

"Justice" by Lamidi Fakeye

TRUTH TO POWER

November 1–December 20, 2019

Truth to Power was organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum in conjunction with the Hope College 2019 NEA Big Read Lakeshore program. The exhibition highlighted a small selection of 20th and 21st-century artworks from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, all of which represented the spirit of speaking truth to power.

 "Execution" by Leopoldo Mendez

DEITIES AND DEVOTION IN MONGOLIAN BUDDHIST ART

August 30–December 14, 2019

Deities and Devotion in Mongolian Buddhist Art explored the role that art plays in the religious beliefs and devotional practices of Mongolian Tantric Buddhism. 

 Vajrapani

 

STILL LISTENING: NEW SCULPTURES BY TODD ERICKSON

May 31–August 3, 2019

Still Listening featured sculptures by Detroit artist and Hope College alumnus Todd Erickson. 

Betsie River II

ONCE WERE NOMADS: TEXTILES AND CULTURE IN BALUCHISTAN

January 15–May 11, 2019

Once Were Nomads used textiles to examine the traditional life and culture of the nomadic peoples of Baluchistan, a territory that straddles the modern borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

 Bag Face with Tree of Life Design

LIVING TRADITION: CONTEMPORARY ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIAN ART FROM THE SOBANIA COLLECTION

September 21–December 15, 2018

Living Tradition explored the beliefs and practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as they are reflected in contemporary paintings, icons, liturgical objects and other works of art. The 67 artworks in the exhibition were collected and donated to the Kruizenga Art Museum by Dr. Neal Sobania, a Hope alumnus from the Class of 1968 who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia and later went on to make Eastern Africa the focus of his academic career.

Jesus and His Apostles Went Up the Mountain (detail) by Qes Adamu Tesfaw

IN MEMORY: THE ART OF BILLY MAYER

May 29–September 8, 2018

In Memory: The Art of Billy Mayer offered a commemorative look at artist and Hope College faculty member Billy Mayer's artwork.

Greatest Battle by Billy Mayer

CULTURE, COMMERCE AND CRITICISM: 500 YEARS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PRINTS

January 12–May 19, 2018

Culture, Commerce and Criticism explored how artists in Western culture used prints over the past five centuries as vehicles to transmit knowledge, generate income and critique current events.

"Samson and the Lion," Albrecht Durer

FROM BEYOND THE STARS: INNOVATION AND INSPIRATION IN MEIJI JAPANESE ART

August 29–December 16, 2017

From Beyond the Stars: Innovation and Inspiration in Meiji Japanese Art, explored some of the major new developments that occurred in Japanese art during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and revealed how art contributed to the larger political, social and economic changes that transformed Japan into a modern world power at that time.

From Beyond the Stars

ACCESS POINTS: RECENT ACQUISTIONS OF A TEACHING MUSEUM

May 30–August 12, 2017

Access Points presented a diverse selection of artworks that had been recently acquired by the Kruizenga Art Museum. The exhibition included artworks from Asia, Africa, Europe and America that were either generously donated or strategically purchased since 2014. 

"Cloud Garden" by Wang Juojun

GOSPEL STORIES: OTTO DIX AND SADAO WATANABE

January 10–May 20, 2017

Gospel Stories showcased 47 pieces of work from two important 20th century artists — Otto Dix and Sadao Watanabe — who were inspired to engage deeply with the Christian faith as a result of their experiences during World War II and its aftermath.

"The Last Supper" Otto Dix

AFTER THE RUPUTURE: NEW DIRECTIONS IN MEXICAN ART 1960s1980s

August 30–December 17, 2016

After the Rupture featured a selection of 32 paintings, prints and drawings by 15 artists associated with the Rupture Generation — a group of Mexican artists who broke away from the Muralist School and explored a wider range of styles and subjects between the 1960s and 1980s. 

I'm Not a Geisha

PAST PRESENT EAST WEST: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

September 9, 2015–May 14, 2016

Past Present East West showcased approximately 70 works of art from the founding collection. The exhibition was divided between the museum's two galleries, with artworks from Europe and the Americas displayed in one gallery, and artworks from Asia displayed in the other.

I'm Not a Geisha