A Modern Menagerie

January 29 - March 22, 2025

A Modern Menagerie explores how we see and interact with animals. Whether wild or domestic, we depend upon our feathered and furry friends to be our companions, our models, and our amusement. The exhibition presents a survey of artworks drawn from the GW Collection that feature representations of real and imagined creatures. It includes works that engage with animal imagery for symbolic, cultural, and documentary purposes, and to comment—sometimes satirically—upon human relations and events. The exhibition encourages visitors to examine the multitude of ways in which animals impact our lives.

The exhibition was curated by graduate art history students in Art Historiography taught by Associate Professor of Art History, Dr. Lisa Lipinski in Fall 2024.  Support for this exhibition is provided by the following:

Lewis Levy Photography Fund

Francine Zorn Trachtenberg Fund for Photography

Friends of the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery       

Image: Philippe Halsman,Tippi Hedren [cropped], 1962, gelatin silver print, 14" x 11." Gift of Gary Granoff, 1983, P.83.13.23. © Halsman Archive