RIDGEFIELD, CONN.- The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum has been chosen as one of six nationwide sites to exhibit work donated to the Whitney Museum of American Art by eminent philanthropist Emily Fisher Landau. The exhibition is on view in Ridgefield, CT, from June 8 through September 2, 2013.

The Aldrich is the only venue to focus on significant photographs by influential artists from the collection: Richard Artschwager, Matthew Barney, Keith Cottingham, Lynn Davis, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, John Dugdale, Nan Goldin, Rodney Graham, Robert Longo, Vera Lutter, Robert Mapplethorpe, Abelardo Morell, Shirin Neshat, Victoria Sambunaris, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

This focused exhibition is an iteration of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection, which showcased an historic collection of works—diverse in media—promised to the institution by their long-time supporter.

The Aldrich has chosen twenty photographs—created between 1980 and 2004—that reflect a period when photography as a medium stood at the forefront of contemporary art practice. They highlight Ms. Fisher Landau’s enterprising vision and enduring commitment to artists, often from the start of their careers. Her dedication to significant and challenging art is shared by The Aldrich, which also fosters the careers of emerging artists, many of whom have gone on to achieve great acclaim.

Legacy is being presented in galleries adjacent to the Museum’s camera obscura, a permanent architectural feature designed to frame discussion around perception and the act of looking. A number of works in the exhibition, including those by Rodney Graham, Vera Lutter, and Abelardo Morell, directly relate to the nature of the camera obscura, and particularly its relationship with the history and development of photography.

Aldrich executive director Alyson Baker said, “It is a great honor to collaborate with the Whitney and to expand the celebration of Emily Fisher Landau’s Legacy into the state of Connecticut.

Emily Fisher Landau
Mrs. Landau became a trustee of the Whitney in 1990 and in 1995 established an endowment to support the Biennial, the Whitney’s signature contemporary exhibition. In 1991, the Fisher Landau Center for Art, devoted to art education and the exhibition and study of the Fisher Landau Collection, was founded in Long Island City. In 1999, Mrs. Landau established the Fisher Landau Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University and she has also supported programs at Columbia University Teachers College and New York University that help students with learning disabilities. She was made a Chevalier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, by the government of France in 1986, received the Haym Solomon Award from the Anti-Defamation League in 2006, and was honored with the 2008 CITYarts Making a Difference through the Arts Award.