Current Loans
Concept of a Visualist: Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas
Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies
Aspen, CO
June 2023–April 2024
On view in the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies, this exhibition examines Herbert Bayer’s 1953 World Geo-Graphic Atlas, a landmark work of visual education and modernist design. Marking the seventieth anniversary of the atlas’s publication, this is the first exhibition devoted to this groundbreaking and influential work that has come to occupy a key place within graphic design history. In addition to exploring Bayer’s contributions to map design and scientific illustration, Concept of a Visualist provides new insights into Herbert Bayer’s larger body of artwork and highlights the atlas’s continued relevance for audiences today.
Kirkland Museum is loaning two paintings.
Gio Ponti: Designer of a Thousand Talents
Denver Art Museum
October 24, 2021–January 1, 2025
This exhibition is one of the inaugural exhibitions in the Martin Building’s new design galleries, showcasing objects from the museum’s architecture and design collection and highlighting the work of Gio Ponti (1891–1979), one of the most inventive Italian architects and designers of his time.
Kirkland Museum is loaning furniture and ceramic pieces from its International Decorative Art collection, including a chair from the Pallazzo per Uffici Montecatini.
Kirkland Museum as a Lending Institution
Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art’s collections of over 30,000 works are attractive to other prestigious institutions locally, nationally and internationally. Loaning, publishing and exhibiting are three ways Kirkland Museum gains exposure for Colorado art and international decorative art. Sharing our works exposes the richness and breadth of the Museum’s three collections to new audiences.
Loans have been an important part of Kirkland Museum’s mission since before the institution opened to the public in 2003, and continuing now. Kirkland Museum’s Founding Director & Curator Hugh Grant began curating exhibitions for Vance Kirkland (1904–1981) in 1976. Many organizations have borrowed several times from Kirkland Museum. Mr. Grant and the Museum have loaned to around 100 institutions including:
- Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
- Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma
- Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
- Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
- The Wolfsonian, Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida
European Tour
From April 24, 1997 through February 25, 2000, selections of Vance Kirkland paintings traveled to 13 institutions (11 museums and 2 exhibition halls) in 10 European countries, organized by Hugh Grant. All 5 of Kirkland’s painting periods were represented in all 13 exhibitions, demonstrating the strength of his entire career. 11 of the 13 exhibitions were accompanied by a published catalog. The exhibitions at the Kiscelli Múzeum in Budapest, Museum of Modern Art in Vienna and National Museum of Art, Lithuania were the first all-American artist exhibitions to be held at those institutions.
- Kiscelli Múzeum (Fóvárosi Képtár), Budapest, Hungary
April 24–June 1, 1997 - Museum of Modern Art (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien), Vienna, Austria
July 4–September 15, 1997
Exhibition from the Denver Art Museum including 43 paintings by Vance Kirkland. - The State Gallery of Poland (Państwowa Galeria Sztuki), Sopot, Poland
October 3–27, 1997 - National Museum of Art (Nacionalinis M.K. Čiurlionio Dailès Muziejus), Lithuania, Kaunas
November 14, 1997–January 11, 1998 - Latvian Foreign Art Museum (Latvijas Ārzemju Mākslas Muzejs), Riga, Latvia
January 23–February 28, 1998 - The Czech Museum of Fine Arts (České Muzeum Výtvarných Umění), Prague, Czech Republic
March 25–May 17, 1998 - Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
June 16–August 2, 1998 - National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), Warsaw, Poland
November 27, 1998–January 31, 1999 - Sala Parpalló, in the Museum Complex of València, Spain
May 4–June 13, 1999 - Museum of Fine Arts (Szépmüvészeti Múzeum), Budapest, Hungary
May 18, 1999–February 2000 - Stadtmuseum, Düsseldorf, Germany
July 3–August 22, 1999 - Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
September 6–October 7, 1999 - The State Russian Museum, The Marble Palace, St. Peterburg, Russia
January 20–February 25, 2000