The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Announces Fall Exhibition In the Company of Artists: 25 Years of Artists-in-Residence

BOSTON, MA (August 2019) – This October, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will open In the
Company of Artists: 25 Years of Artists-in-Residence, an exhibition celebrating the Museum’s
legacy of inviting artists to live at the Museum, explore the collection, and create new works
inspired by their experience. The exhibition will feature work from dynamic Artists-in-Residence
including Sophie Calle, Bharti Kher, Luisa Lambri, Laura Owens, Rachel Perry, Dayanita Singh,
and Su-Mei Tse. In selecting the seven women artists for the exhibition, the Museum recognizes
and furthers the legacy of its founder—a woman with a bold creative spirit, who championed
the artists of her own time. In the Company of Artists will be on view in the Museum’s Hostetter
Gallery from Oct. 17, 2019 to Jan. 20, 2020.

"In the Company of Artists reminds us that Isabella’s tradition of inviting artists to experience the
collection and beauty of the Museum lives on here every day,” said Pieranna Cavalchini, the
Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art. “We call it the gift of time: time to draw,
write, and imagine new work. Artists who live on the property have a unique perspective on the
Museum and are given special access to the collection and inner workings of the institution.
Bringing different minds from many cultures, and using the Museum—what many have called
Isabella’s total work of art—as a building block for new thinking and creative engagement is a
unique part of the Gardner Legacy."

In the Company of Artists’s works on view will include:
● Sophie Calle, What Do You See? (Rembrandt, A Lady and Gentleman in Black), 2013,
What Do You See? (Vermeer, The Concert) , 2013, Two lambda prints, two lithographs on
Rives BFK paper.
● Bharti Kher, 6 Women , 2013-2015, Plaster of Paris, wood, metal.
● Luisa Lambri, four untitled works, 2008-2012, Laserchrome print.
● Laura Owens, one untitled work, 2001, Watercolor and pencil on paper.
● Rachel Perry, Halos, 2014-ongoing, Braille punch, graphite, and gold leaf on paper.
● Dayanita Singh, Museum of Shedding, 2013, Wood furniture and photographs.
● Su-Mei Tse, Bleeding Tools, 2009, Steel, wood, paper, brushes.

Many of the artists in the exhibition drew inspiration from the Gardner itself—its collections,
environment and history. Laura Owens’s watercolor and pencil work reinterprets a 17th-century
Spanish embroidery from the Raphael Room; Sophie Calle’s What Do You See? are two works
from a series responding to the infamous 1990 Gardner Museum theft; and Rachel Perry’s Halos is
inspired by the Museum’s abundance of religious paintings and sculptures. Other artists have
been re-energized by their time at the Museum. Their residencies and the immersive
environment of the Museum led to creative renewal for Bharti Kher, Luisa Lambri, Dayanita Singh,
and Su-Mei Tse.

The Gardner is one of the only museums in the world to welcome artists to live and work on
site—usually for about a month in a specially designed apartment in the Museum—to
experience the collection in personal, intimate ways. Since its inception, the Gardner Museum
has been a haven for artists of all disciplines. In her time, Isabella Stewart Gardner nurtured and
supported many creative minds—inviting them to activate the galleries through their work,
ranging from painting to performances of music and dance, to literary readings. John Singer
Sargent is considered the Museum’s first Artist-in-Residence, since Isabella Stewart Gardner
invited him to live at the Museum and use the Gothic Room as his studio in 1903. In 1992, the
Museum’s then-Director, Anne Hawley, started the Artist-in-Residence program as a way to
connect more directly with artists and re-energize the Museum with the founder’s creative spirit.
“During Isabella’s lifetime, she surrounded herself with artists of every discipline and saw her
Museum as a vibrant space for concerts, performances, salons, and creativity in many forms,”
said Peggy Fogelman, the Museum’s Norma Jean Calderwood Director. “This exhibition
celebrates her legacy and 25 years of our Artist-in-Residence program, which has become an
incredibly rewarding partnership between the Museum and artists from around the world. We
look forward to them bringing the Museum to life through their works and sharing their stories and
experiences with our visitors.”

In addition to the exhibition on display in Hostetter Gallery, other Artists-in-Residence will activate
spaces throughout the Museum and the historic palace, with participatory artworks and
performances including Sonic Blossom (2013-present) by Lee Mingwei, live portrait drawing with
Charmaine Wheatley, and storytelling with Gcina Mhlophe.

Supporting fall programming includes a three day film festival in November featuring works by
Artists-in-Residence, Museum Salon Luminaries and local filmmakers.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum will launch its first artist-guided audio tours
recorded by Steve Locke, Elisa Hamilton, and Gregory Maguire—giving visitors the experience of
seeing the Museum’s galleries and Courtyard from their perspectives and personal experiences.
In its entirety, In the Company of Artists and its supporting elements and programming will
reintroduce to visitors all the ways the Museum works with the creative community—both local
and international—across all stages of their careers.

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