Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein

Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein explores how modern art was influenced by advances in science, from Einstein’s theory of relativity to newly powerful microscopic and telescopic lenses. A first-of-its-kind touring exhibition, Dimensionism is organized by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College and opened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

The exhibition is inspired by the 1936 “Dimensionist Manifesto,” which declared that artists should respond to the era’s scientific advances by exploring the new physical realities and philosophical queries of their day. Under the leadership of Hungarian poet Charles Sirató, an international group of artists endorsed the Manifesto. A section of the exhibition is devoted to Sirató, his roots in the Hungarian avant-garde, and his evolution from a poet to a theorist who envisioned a radical new coalition of creative thinkers. The Manifesto’s collection of signatures represents some of the best-known modern artists, including Hans Arp, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Francis Picabia, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

The exhibition includes others who engaged with these ideas in their art, such as Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth, Adeline Kent, Helen Lundeberg, Herbert Matter, Isamu Noguchi, Wolfgang Paalen, and Dorothea Tanning. Their works reflect the drive of many modern artists throughout Europe and America to discover a new vision for human existence and expression, inspired by emerging research into interstellar and microscopic spaces, as well as an expanding understanding of quantum mechanics. By rediscovering this forgotten history and tracing a transnational flow of information and ideas, Dimensionism reminds us that science played a significant role in the development of twentieth-century avant-garde art.

Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein is organized by Vanja Malloy, curator of American art at the Mead Art Museum. The exhibition is made possible with the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Arts at Amherst, the Hall and Kate Peterson Fund, the David W. Mesker ’53 Fund, and the Wise Fund for Fine Arts.

At the Zimmerli, grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Fund.  Additional support is provided by donors to the Zimmerli’s Major Exhibition Fund: James and Kathrin Bergin, Alvin and Joyce Glasgold, Michael McCulley, Sundaa and Randy Jones, Hemanshu and Heena Pandya, and the Voorhees Family Endowment.