Past Exhibitions

The artwork in this exhibition is drawn from the List Visual Arts Center’s extensive Student Loan and Permanent Collections. Formally inaugurated in 1951, the MIT Permanent Collection began with a gift of 26 paintings and drawings from the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Because MIT had no gallery space in which the work could be permanently displayed, the decision was made to exhibit them throughout the campus. Established in 1966, The Student Loan Art Program makes work by leading contemporary and 20th-century artists available to students for their living or work spaces for the academic year. Through the program, the List Center fosters a relationship with art beyond gallery and museum spaces, creating the opportunity for students to interact with art in a personal setting.

Today, the collections are comprised of close to 3,000 works. In conjunction with the changing exhibits at the List Visual Art Center, the campus itself becomes a museum, expanding the realm of art into the day to day lives of MIT students, faculty, staff and visitors.

Among the pieces on display in Selections, visitors may recognize the work of Harold “Doc” Edgerton, an alumnus and former professor at MIT. Edgerton pioneered the technique of using a strobe to capture events too fast for the human eye to see. His iconographic works include a photograph of a bullet piercing an apple (Making Applesauce at MIT, 1964), and a series in which a drop of colored liquid splashes into milk (Dyedrop Into Milk, 1960, on view).

Orshi Drozdik is known for overtly feminist works, many deeply rooted in the historical imagery of the biological sciences. Her involved installations often incorporate media spanning from photography and video to sculpture. From a series of intricate anatomical etchings, Untitled (#1) (on view) presents a haunting vivisection of humanity.

Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely is known as one of the founders of the Op-Art movement. His pieces play with the eye, invoking motion and depth through the manipulation of shape and color. A complex interweaving of ovals and dizzying bars, Untitled (1966) (on view) seems to defy its flat canvas and pop in several directions at once.

Selections highlights the MIT collection’s emphasis on contemporary art. Proper framing is crucial to the quality and longevity of many such works, and The List Visual Arts Center is grateful to the Dean’s Office of the Sloan School of Management for helping to reframe and refurbish the pieces currently on display.

Artists on view:

Richard Anuszkiewicz, William Bailey, Chris Burden, Jack Bush, Orshi Drozdik, Harold “Doc” Edgerton, Mary Frank, Bill Jacobson, Brice Marden, Joan Miro, John L. Moore, Peter Plagens, Erik Sandberg, Rosalind Solomon, and Victor Vasarely.