Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum

The Baker Museum is one of the foremost fine art museums in Southwest Florida. The museum hosts several traveling exhibitions annually to complement installations of work from its permanent collection. Comprising more than 4,000 objects, the museum's broad holdings of 20th-and 21st-century art reflect the generosity and commitment of area collectors. Of particular strength are The Baker Museum's collections of American and Mexican modern art and significant gifts from the personal collection of Olga Hirshhorn.

With more than two decades of collecting and exhibiting, the museum is dedicated to stewardship and scholarship from both its growing permanent collection and outside sources. At the same time, The Baker Museum seeks out the best traveling exhibitions from the leading arts institutions in the world, including recently the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Smithsonian Institutions, to enrich the Southwest Florida community.

In fall 2020, Artis—Naples celebrated the opening of an 18,000-square-foot expansion of The Baker Museum, designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, that created new spaces for multidisciplinary exploration and social interaction.

Exhibits

Helen Frankenthaler: Late Works, 1990-2003
September 6 through November 27, 2022
The innovative and experimental soak-stain paintings of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) established her as one of the great artists of the 20th century. This exhibition, on loan from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, is the first museum exhibition dedicated to the last phase of the painter’s prolific career and features 20 paintings on paper and 10 paintings on canvas.
Frankenthaler played a defining role in the history of postwar American painting. Her innovative soak-stain technique inaugurated the shift from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting and influenced artists such as Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, Friedel Dzubas and Kenneth Noland. In Louis’ words, Frankenthaler’s work was “a bridge between [Jackson] Pollock and what was possible.” The works on view in this exhibition demonstrate Frankenthaler’s long-standing interest in the relationship between landscape and abstraction and reveal her continued sensitivity to the emotional effects of color.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jeri L. Wolfson and the Myra Janco Daniels Legacy Fund.

Jesús Rafael Soto: Extension and Half Sphere
2022-23 Season, Ongoing Installation
The monumental outdoor sculpture Extension and Half Sphere (1991) by Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005) activates the north lawn of The Baker Museum this season. Composed of acrylic and aluminum, this sculpture exemplifies Soto’s pioneering contributions to kinetic art.

Envisioning Evil: “The Nazi Drawings” by Mauricio Lasansky
September 17, 2022 through February 19, 2023
The son of Jewish immigrants in Argentina, Mauricio Lasansky (1914-2012) forged a flourishing career as an artist in the United States, creating work that often explored themes of war and violence. In 1961, coinciding with the televised trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, he began a series of monumental drawings to grapple with the Holocaust. Confronted with the atrocities, he said, “I was full of hate, poison, and I wanted to spit it out.”

The Artis—Naples exhibition is generously sponsored by the John and Cindy Family Foundation.

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