Installation view of After Modernism: Selections from the Neumann Family Collection at Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania. Center of the room: Xavier Veilhan, “Le Gisant” (1994) (photograph by Eric Sucar)
April 3, 2025
After Modernism Is a Lesson in Curating
This exhibition of works from the Neumann family collection takes a unique approach, bringing University of Pennsylvania art students into the curatorial process.
by Judith Stein | Hyperallergic | April 2, 2025
PHILADELPHIA — Of all the important private art collections in the United States, the Neumann family’s coffers may be the most unique. Amassed by four generations during the past seven decades, this treasure chest of nearly 3,000 20th- and 21st-century artworks swells with abundant examples by little-known newcomers and celebrated elders such as Man Ray, Keith Haring, Hannah Höch, and Claes Oldenburg. After Modernism: Selections from the Neumann Family Collection, currently on view at the University of Pennsylvania’s newly renovated Arthur Ross Gallery, presents 56 works from this distinctive, rarely exhibited trove.
Stationed near its threshold, a VR headset whisks wearers to the five-story West Side Manhattan townhouse owned by Hubert Neumann, the collection’s voluble skipper. This virtual tour confirms that the Ross installation strategy reflects the home’s eccentric aesthetic of horror vacui, a “fear of empty space.”
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Installation view of "After Modernism: Selections from the Neumann Family Collection" at Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania (photograph by Eric Sucar)