Transforming Chronologies is a two-part exhibition that approaches the drawings collection from a new direction, presenting works not by date but by specific sequences of forms. Just as anthropologists see a myth as the summation of all of its many versions, we may say that in art history a form, motif, or theme is the sum of its variations and differences. Transforming Chronologies is a curatorial application of this concept, suggesting that the meaning of a work of art depends not only on its own internal structures but also on its relationships to other works. The exhibition explores the possibilities of these interactions by presenting drawings in groupings intended to provoke transformations of meaning, both among themselves and in the way viewers perceive them.

Organized by Luis Peréz-Oramas, Adjunct Curator, Department of Drawings.

The exhibition is supported by Gonzalo Parodi.

The accompanying publication is made possible by the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund.

Pictured above left:
Kai Althoff. Untitled (Two Students). 2001. Lacquer, watercolor, and varnish on two sheets of paper mounted on canvas, 27 5⁄8 x 23 3⁄4" (70.1 x 60.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art. Fractional and promised gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg. © 2005 Kai Althoff

Pictured above right:
Odilon Redon. The Giant (Man with a Club). c. 1890. Oil on prepared paper, 25 1⁄2 x 20 1⁄4" (64.8 x 51.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art. Gift of The Ian Woodner Family Collection