Providence - List Art Building Brown University 64 College Street - RI 02912
The David Winton Bell Gallery serves as Brown University's premier contemporary art gallery and a vital home for a significant portion of the university's permanent art collection. Each year, the gallery presents four to five major exhibitions, alongside annual showcases of student work and a triennial exhibition featuring faculty artists. Dedicated to displaying exceptional contemporary art, the gallery embraces a broad range of media, themes, and artistic perspectives, with a strong commitment to supporting emerging and under-recognized artists on local, national, and international levels. While its primary focus is on contemporary works, the gallery also draws from its historical collections to explore artistic and cultural developments spanning the past five centuries.
Recent exhibitions have featured solo presentations by artists such as Kirsten Hassenfeld, Walid Raad, Charles Long, and Do-Ho Suh, as well as thought-provoking group shows including Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons, Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, and Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner.
The Bell Gallery’s permanent collection comprises over 6,000 works, ranging from the 16th century to the present, with notable strengths in contemporary art and works on paper. The collection includes significant prints and drawings by Rembrandt, Goya, Matisse, and Motherwell, while its painting and sculpture holdings feature works by Frank Stella, Lee Bontecou, Diego Rivera, Alice Neel, Richard Serra, and Joseph Cornell. Additionally, its photography collection is rich in mid-century documentary works, featuring renowned artists such as Walker Evans, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, Larry Clark, and Danny Lyon.
Established in 1971, the gallery is named in memory of David Winton Bell, a Brown University graduate from the class of 1954. It is housed in the Albert and Vera List Art Building, a dynamic multi-use space designed by acclaimed architect Philip Johnson. Perched atop College Hill, near the RISD Museum and downtown Providence, the building’s striking roofline—accented with skylights that illuminate its art studios—adds a distinctive element to the city’s skyline.
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