February 5, 2025 to September 21, 2025
The Great Search: Art in a Time of Change, 1928–1945 (Part 2)
The Great Search: Art in a Time of Change, 1928–1945 surveys the period from the beginning of the Great Depression to the end of World War II to demonstrate how pluralism was a hallmark of the modern American art world. This exhibition features works by Ernest Fiene, Arthur Dove, and others. Experience the second phase of this exciting exhibition with new artworks recently conserved and on view for the first time.
The Great Search's title references American Art Today, the World’s Fair exhibition held in New York City in 1939. Organizer Holger Cahill, then national director of the Federal Art Project, spoke in his address of the modern artist’s “search that takes many paths”—a yearning desire to seek out new and enduring forms that would aid democracy. One of The Westmoreland’s best-known and loved paintings, Ernest Fiene’s Night Shift, Aliquippa (1936), was included in this pivotal presentation. Drawn primarily from The Westmoreland’s collection, amplified by key loans, the exhibition will provide fresh insight into the individuals, experiences, and both new and traditional aesthetics that define American modern art.
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The Westmoreland Museum of American Art221 N. Main St.
Greensburg, Pennsylvania 15601