{"id":1933649,"date":"2026-05-13T15:29:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1933649"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:29:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:29:52","slug":"hirshhorn-announces-314-new-acquisitions-during-50th-anniversary-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1933649","title":{"rendered":"Hirshhorn Announces 314 New Acquisitions During 50th Anniversary Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Danny-Lyon.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n\tThe Smithsonian\u2019s\u00a0Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden\u00a0used its 50th anniversary year to dramatically expand its collection, announcing 314 new acquisitions in 2025 that reflect a broader push into photography, mixed-media work, and artists shaping contemporary American visual culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe acquisitions range from large-scale mixed-media works by\u00a0Lorna Simpson,\u00a0Sarah Sze, and\u00a0Mickalene Thomas\u00a0to documentary photography by\u00a0Danny Lyon\u00a0and\u00a0Graciela Iturbide, as well as major gifts tied to the museum\u2019s current exhibitions, including works by\u00a0Adam Pendleton\u00a0and\u00a0Mark Bradford.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere has been a deliberate effort over the last few years to deepen certain areas of the Hirshhorn collection, particularly photography, mixed media practices, and the artists who are defining American visual culture including Marilyn Minter, Lorna Simpson and Mickalene Thomas,\u201d museum director\u00a0Melissa Chiu\u00a0told ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cWhat made 2025 significant was that those priorities converged with the momentum of the Hirshhorn\u2019s 50th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
Mickalene Thomas,\u00a0Interior: Zebra with Two Chairs and Funky Fur<\/em> (2012). Gift of Ellen Susman, in honor of the Hirshhorn\u2019s 50th anniversary. \u00a0Photo by\u00a0shootArt.\u00a0Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin.<\/span>shootArt Mobile<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tChiu said the anniversary helped spur major gifts from artists and longtime supporters, many of whom already had deep relationships with the museum. \u201cSeveral acquisitions also grew organically out of artists\u2019 ongoing engagement with the Hirshhorn,\u201d she said, pointing specifically to Bradford\u2019s\u00a0Shattered Lightbulb<\/em>\u00a0and Pendleton\u2019s\u00a0Spray Paint Originals Archive<\/em>. \u201cSo, while the year saw an extraordinary number of important acquisitions, it was very much the result of long-term relationship-building and a sustained curatorial vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat anniversary framing runs throughout the acquisitions list. The museum said several of the gifts were specifically tied to its 50th year, including Simpson\u2019s large-scale mixed-media work\u00a0Vista<\/em>\u00a0(2025), Sze\u2019s sprawling sculptural painting\u00a0High Tide<\/em>\u00a0(2025), and Thomas\u2019s nearly 11-foot-wide\u00a0Interior: Zebra with Two Chairs and Funky Fur<\/em>\u00a0(2012).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the biggest additions is the first tranche of a promised multi-year gift from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon: 176 works forming the foundation of an archive dedicated to Pendleton\u2019s works on paper. The archive includes hundreds of spray-paint studies and screen-printed compositions made between 2019 and 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe museum also continued building on recent exhibition histories and institutional priorities. A group of 13 contemporary Chinese works expands on the legacy of the Hirshhorn\u2019s 2022 exhibition \u201cA Window Suddenly Opens,\u201d while a newly acquired Thomas Houseago sculpture currently on view in the museum\u2019s \u201cRevolutions\u201d exhibition places the artist into conversation with canonical modernists already in the collection, including Willem de Kooning and Alberto Giacometti.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPhotography emerged as another major focus. Alongside Iturbide and Lyon, the museum acquired nine photographs by architectural photographer Ezra Stoller documenting the Hirshhorn\u2019s opening in 1974, ahead of the reopening of its sculpture garden next year. The museum also received 19 gelatin silver prints and a drawing by photographer Joel-Peter Witkin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe acquisitions bring the Hirshhorn\u2019s holdings to more than 13,000 works.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/hirshhorn-314-new-acquisitions-during-50th-anniversary-year-1234785215\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Danny-Lyon.jpg?w=1024″] The Smithsonian\u2019s\u00a0Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden\u00a0used its 50th anniversary year to dramatically expand its collection, announcing 314 new acquisitions in 2025 that reflect a broader push into photography, mixed-media work, and artists shaping contemporary American visual culture.\u00a0 The acquisitions range from large-scale mixed-media works by\u00a0Lorna Simpson,\u00a0Sarah Sze, and\u00a0Mickalene Thomas\u00a0to documentary photography by\u00a0Danny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1933649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1933649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1933649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1933649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1933649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}