DOYLESTOWN, PA.- In a special exhibition, the James A. Michener Art Museum invites visitors to explore stylistic transformations, changing patterns of taste, and cultural shifts in the past 100 years of American art. The Death of Impressionism? Disruption & Innovation in Art exhibition centers on the lingering allure of Impressionism, a movement significantly embraced by early 20th century artists in Bucks County, and the historical tension that emerged in 1913—and reverberated for decades—when artists with modernist tendencies pronounced Impressionism “dead.” Featuring Impressionist, modernist, and contemporary paintings, The Death of Impressionism? includes work by more than forty artists, including George Inness, Edward Willis Redfield, John Folinsbee, Charles Frederick Ramsey, Charles Rosen, Chris Jordan, Rae Sloan Bredin, Lilias Barger, Helen Mirkil, M. Elizabeth Price, Jane Irish, and Illia Barger, among others. The exhibition will be on view through February 26, 2017.

“The Death of Impressionism?—with a question mark—explores not only the transformation of American art in the past century, but also transformative moments in the lives of individual artists,” said Kirsten M. Jensen, Ph.D., Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest Chief Curator of the Michener Art Museum. “At the core of this show is the rift between the old guard and the new guard, and the effect of this discord on art production as well as the artists themselves.”

“This is a very thought-provoking exhibition that will invite viewers to slip into history and form their own solid conclusions about eras and art,” said Lisa Tremper Hanover, director and CEO of the Michener Art Museum. “Its visual elegance, combined with its scholarly framework, renders this a particularly powerful show. We hope to welcome many visitors this holiday season.”

Complementing The Death of Impressionism? Disruption & Innovation in Art will be a lecture series and gallery talks.

From January 10 through January 15, the Michener Art Museum will host a College Week, when college students with valid ID will be admitted free.