In the Moment: Art from the 1950s to Now

Contemporary art can capture the political and cultural essence of our time while contemplating and transcending our everyday realities. As time passes, this art connects us with the defining spirit of an era, becoming a visual record of a moment. Comprised of paintings, sculpture, and photography from the museum’s permanent collection and Memphis private collections, this exhibition encourages reflection on shifts in art over the past seventy years. What happens when art that was once contemporary becomes historical? How have the questions and issues that have preoccupied artists in the past morphed and potentially found new meaning over time?

This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

All exhibitions at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are underwritten by the MBMA Exhibition Fund. 

Major annual support is provided by Mary Lee Copp Formanek and Maggie and Milton Lovell, with generous annual funding from Gloria and Kenneth Boyland, Deborah and Bob Craddock, Michael and Maria Douglass, Harry Goldsmith, Eleanor and William Halliday, Buzzy Hussey and Hal Brunt, Dr. James Patterson, Dr. Rushton Patterson, and Carl and Valerie Person.