Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment

Martin Johnson Heade, Cattleya Orchid, Two Hummingbirds and a Beetle, ca. 1875-90, oil on canvas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville.

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment is an interdisciplinary project taking inspiration from the influential series of paintings The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) by Martin Johnson Heade, but expands outward to explore pollination in nature and ecology, cultural and artistic influence and exchange, and the interconnection between art and science from 19th into the 21st century. Paintings, sketches, and natural history specimens from the collections of Thomas Cole National Historical Site, The Olana Partnership, and Crystal Bridges form the core of the checklist.

Heade’s The Gems of Brazil will be shown in conversation with artworks by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, along with their natural specimen collections. Additionally, the exhibition will highlight artworks by Cole’s daughter Emily Cole, Church’s daughter Isabel Charlotte Church, and works by contemporary artists, including Vik Muniz, Roxy Paine, Maya Lin, and Paula Hayes.