Current Exhibitions
Matthew Buckingham: Play the Story
Pressing Issues
Iowa Artists 2008: Drawing
Upcoming Exhibitions
Past Exhibitions

The Confederacy: Mississippi

Robert Indiana (American, b. 1928)
The Confederacy: Mississippi, 1971
screenprint on paper
38 3/16 x 31 3/16 inches
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections;
Gift of the American Republic Insurance Company, 1972.8

Pressing Issues

January 11, 2008 – April 27, 2008
Print Gallery

As the 2008 U.S. presidential nomination process moves into high gear, and as American politicians set out their plans for solving issues that trouble the nation and the world, the Des Moines Art Center presents an exhibition of prints by artists from the 17th to 21st centuries who confronted some of the burning political issues and social challenges of their times. Their attitudes ranged from disengaged reporting to impassioned advocacy. Artists, and the problems they explored, include William Hogarth on human cruelty, Winslow Homer on slavery and secession, George Grosz on war profiteering, Käthe Kollwitz on elderly suicide, Robert Indiana on segregation, Nancy Spero on abortion rights, and Luis Jiménez on U.S.-Mexican border controls and illegal immigration. Many of the problems these artists confront in their works are still strikingly relevant today. Drawn from the permanent collections, Pressing Issues is organized by Amy N. Worthen, curator of prints.

Related Program

Gallery Talk
Amy Worthen, curator of prints
Thursday, March 27, 6:30 pm
FREE Admission

Join Amy Worthen as she discusses the artists and works in this exhibition.

Print Club Logo
About Print Club

Top | Home | Visit | Info | Exhibitions | Collections | Art Center Downtown
Calendar | Education | Support

DES MOINES ART CENTER 4700 GRAND AVE. DES MOINES, IA 50312-2099515.277.4405

Luis Jiménez (American, 1940—2007) (Detail) Tan Lejos de Dios; Tan Cercas de los Estados Unidos
(So Far from God; So Close to the United States), 2001 Lithograph, 32 x 57 inches
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Purchased with funds from the Kay Reynolds Stroud Art Fund, 2007.6

Frank Moore (American, 1953-2002) Oily Rainbow, from "3 Landscapes", 1999
Color woodcut, wood engraving, photoengraving on paper 13 x 18 inches
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of the Gesso Foundation, 2007.10.2

Frank Moore (American, 1953-2002) Prairie, from “3 Landscapes", 1999
Color woodcut, wood engraving, photoengraving 13 x 18 inches
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of the Gesso Foundation, 2007.10.1

Henri Laurens (French, 1885–1954) La Joueuse de Guitare (The Guitar Player), 1919 Fruitwood
Nathan Emory Coffin Collection of the Des Moines Art Center; Purchased with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust, 1964.141