MoMA Presents Edward R. Broida Collection Showcasing 1970s Avant-Garde Art

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting 'Against the Grain: Contemporary Art From the Edward R. Broida Collection' until July 10, 2006. This exhibition occupies the Contemporary Galleries and the Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron atrium at 11 West 53rd Street. Edward Broida, who died in April 2006, began collecting in the late 1970s and eventually bequeathed 175 works from his collection of approximately 700 pieces to MoMA. His first acquisitions were two major Philip Guston canvases purchased through dealers David and Renee McKee. Broida's collection reflects a specific taste for artists who blended minimalist rigor with personal expression, humor, and poetry. Jennifer Bartlett's monumental 1975–76 work 'Rhapsody,' consisting of over 900 enamel-painted steel plates, dominates the atrium and exemplifies this aesthetic. The show features 38 artists, including nine represented by the McKee Gallery, such as Vija Celmins, Joel Shapiro, and Susan Rothenberg. Other notable artists include John Walker, William Tucker, Jake Berthot, John Lees, Jeanne Silverthorne, and Bob Kane. The exhibition highlights Broida's prescient focus on Philip Guston, whose controversial return to figuration in the late 1970s later influenced neo-Expressionism. Works like Guston's 'Edge of Town' (1969) and 'Painter in Bed' (1973) are included. The collection contrasts with corporate acquisitions like the UBS collection, emphasizing MoMA's historical roots in passionate private collecting.