Since 1895, the Carnegie Museum of Art has been organizing the finest of contemporary European and American art in a series of exhibitions known as the Carnegie Internationals. Today, the Carnegie Museum collection includes a significant number of acquisitions from the Internationals, the majority of which can be characterized by their reliance on the investigation of materiality to create meaning.

The approximately fifty works selected by Guest Curator Sheryl Conkelton ranged from minimalist sculpture to examples of the various schools of painting in the 1980s, to recent works that incorporate objects that refer to or bear traces of real-life activity. Conkelton traced the principal artistic movements of the last three decades, exploring in particular the reduction and expansion of the artistic gesture in relation to the choice and manipulation of material. The exhibition presented the particular strengths of the Carnegie’s collection as episodes in a material history of contemporary art, as opposed to the visual conceptual/optical view. Highlights included Carl Andre’s Aluminum-Lead Plain (1969); Elizabeth Murray’s Don’t Be Cruel (1985–86); Gerhard Richter’s 612-1 Untitled (1986); Cindy Sherman’s #147 (1985); Gilbert & George’s Fallers (1984); and Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (Yellow Bath) (1996). Video-based artworks by Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, and Tony Oursler were also among the selections in the presentation and reflect the Carnegie’s commitment to the diverse media of modern art. The fully illustrated catalogue published by the AFA features individual entries on each work, as well as essays by Ms. Conkelton and the museum’s director, Richard Armstrong.

Exhibition Itinerary: The Oklahoma City Museum of Art (May 16–August 10, 2003); the Nevada Museum of Art (January 18–April 4, 2004); the Mobile Museum of Art (January 7–March 20, 2005); and the Columbus Museum of Art (May 6–August 14, 2005).