Big Plans

Picturing Social Reform

June 20 - September 15, 2019
Hostetter Gallery

Big Plans: Picturing Social Reform examines how landscape architects and photographers advocated for social reform in the development of Boston, New York, and Chicago in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Using city plans, maps, photographs, and archival materials, this exhibition presents the invention of landscape architecture as a progressive response to the social and environmental conditions for working-class immigrants, and invites visitors to consider how artists and designers are addressing the contemporary urban challenges and social conditions of our time.

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Works in this Exhibition

Explore the large-format urban plan drawings and small-format documentary photographs at the heart of this exhibition.

Map This

Map This is a Community Engagement project undertaken with Nathalia JMag in partnership with local youth-serving organizations.

Picture Yourself Here

Share your images with us and make a statement about how parks impact people and communities today.

Picturing Social Reform: Contemporary Voices
Four influential cultural producers that currently practice their work consider the visions of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles Eliot, Lewis Wickes Hine, and Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Exhibition-Inspired Programming

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The lead sponsors of Big Plans: Picturing Social Reform are Gwill York and Paul Maeder. Additional support is generously provided by the Wallace Minot Leonard Foundation. The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.