Artworks by Lisette Model, Barbara Morgan, Aaron Siskind, Frederick Sommer, and Alfred Stieglitz will be paired with musical compositions by Ernest Bloch, John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg, Henry Cowell, and Christopher Washburne. Historically and conceptually relevant musical compositions were chosen to provoke, compliment, enhance, and challenge a reading of the visual artworks. Music served as literal or ideological inspiration for these artists, who sought to create images with the equivalent potential to communicate or translate abstract concepts directly.
The exhibition title derives from Alfred Stieglitz’s historic series, Songs of the Sky, the artist’s original title for the Equivalents (1925-1937). Similar to notes in a musical score, these images of cloud patterns form an abstract, universal visual language analogous to the artist's inner state, emotion, and ideas. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to view such a large collection of Equivalents.
The exhibition encourages visitors to pause, listen and experience the synthesis of art and music. The artists and composers are paired in the gallery as follows:
Lisette Model Arnold Schoenberg
Barbara Morgan Henry Cowell
Aaron Siskind John Cage
Frederick Sommer Chris Washburne
Alfred Stieglitz Ernest Bloch
