DES MOINES.- The Des Moines Art Center presents the exhibit Group Dynamic: Portfolios, Series, and Sets starting September 15 – December 29. Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? The exhibition Group Dynamic considers this cliché by exploring artworks produced as groups, primarily in the form of artists’ portfolios, series, and sets from the Art Center’s permanent collections. Henri Matisse’s iconic Jazz portfolio (1947) provides a lively centerpiece and starting point for the exhibition. Recently conserved thanks to the donations of Art Center supporters, the Jazz series of 20 stencil prints derives from Matisse’s vibrantly colored paper collages and presents themes of the circus and theater.

Like Matisse, some Group Dynamic artists explore particular themes or objects, while others use multiple images to tell a story or combine like a puzzle to form a single image. The prints, photography, and sculpture in the exhibition include works by Robert Cottingham, Marcel Duchamp, Anna Gaskell, Glenn Ligon, Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Alec Soth, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others. Group Dynamic is organized by Patricia Hickson, curator and downtown gallery manager.

Special thanks to the Des Moines Art Center, Matisse Jazz Series Conservation Donors Carroll Stoner and Robert Bergazyn, Pamela Bass-Bookey and Harry Bookey, Edwina Brandon, Jeff Chelesvig, Teresa and Johnny Danos, Charlie Edwards, Karolyn Sherwood and Wayne Graham, Karin Holms, Mark and Marie Louise Kane, Carol Kuhle, D.O., Jeanne and Richard Levitt, Madeleine and David Maxwell, Randy McNeal, David Llewelyn II and Jeffrey Morgan, Sara Ghrist Otrok and Tom Otrok, John Taylor, Kevin White, Sue and C. Arthur Wittmack, Diane and Dennis Young.