Federal Independent Agencies
Here's a look at documents from federal independent agencies
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Inter-American Development Bank: 'Norms Behind Closed Doors: A Field Experiment on Gender Norm Misperceptions and Maternal Employment Decisions in Couples'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Norms Behind Closed Doors: A Field Experiment on Gender Norm Misperceptions and Maternal Employment Decisions in Couples."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Mothers' labor-force participation remains far below fathers' despite strong stated support for women's employment in most countries in the world (Bursztyn et al., 2023). In Bogota, Colombia, 96 percent of fathers with children under six privately support mothers' right to work outside the home, yet they estimate
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Norms Behind Closed Doors: A Field Experiment on Gender Norm Misperceptions and Maternal Employment Decisions in Couples."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Mothers' labor-force participation remains far below fathers' despite strong stated support for women's employment in most countries in the world (Bursztyn et al., 2023). In Bogota, Colombia, 96 percent of fathers with children under six privately support mothers' right to work outside the home, yet they estimatethat only 61 percent of other men agree.1 This 35-percentage-point gap between private attitudes and perceived social norms exemplifies pluralistic ignorance, the systematic misperception of others' beliefs. Such gaps are widespread: Bursztyn et al. (2023) documents large discrepancies between actual and perceived support for working women in sixty countries.
When beliefs about others' views are biased downward, second-order beliefs can operate as an informational friction since individuals may behave as if a restrictive norm prevails even when most privately disagree (Bicchieri, 2016; Kuran, 1995; Prentice and Miller, 1993). If individuals underestimate societal or spousal support for maternal employment, they may conform to a norm they privately reject, thereby reinforcing existing gender roles. This paper therefore distinguishes between norms-as-preferences (what people personally endorse) and norms-as-beliefs (what people think others endorse), and asks whether the latter can be a binding constraint even when the former is already supportive.
The effects of these misunderstandings may be especially severe within households, where decisions about women's labor force participation are rarely made in isolation.
When couples misinterpret each other's support for maternal employment, coordination failures may prevent women from entering the labor market even when both partners would privately prefer otherwise.
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View full text here: file:///Users/moirasirois/Downloads/Norms-Behind-Closed-Doors-A-Field-Experiment-on-Gender-Norm-Misperceptions-and-Maternal-Employment-Decisions-in-Couples.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Network Transmission of Fiscal Demand Shocks in Commodity-Dependent Economies'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Network Transmission of Fiscal Demand Shocks in Commodity-Dependent Economies."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
In economies where the state is a large buyer, fiscal contractions often affect private firms through public procurement. Cuts in government purchasing withdraw demand from public contractors and can propagate to other firms through supplier-buyer linkages. This paper asks a simple question: when a procurement-driven fiscal contraction occurs, how
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Network Transmission of Fiscal Demand Shocks in Commodity-Dependent Economies."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
In economies where the state is a large buyer, fiscal contractions often affect private firms through public procurement. Cuts in government purchasing withdraw demand from public contractors and can propagate to other firms through supplier-buyer linkages. This paper asks a simple question: when a procurement-driven fiscal contraction occurs, howmuch of the resulting decline in real economic activity reflects the direct effects on firms that lose public demand, and how much reflects second-order spillovers transmitted through production networks?
We study these effects by exploiting a large contraction in public procurement triggered by the 2014 collapse in international oil prices. Our setting is Ecuador, a resource-dependent, dollarized economy in which the state is the largest buyer of goods and services. Public procurement accounted for an average of 10.6 percent of GDP from 2010 to 2014, but only 6.2 percent from 2015 to 2024, reflecting a persistent procurement-driven fiscal contraction following the oil price collapse.
The origin of the shock was global and orthogonal to firm-level conditions and when combined with Ecuador's institutional environment makes public procurement a natural transmission channel (Zanoni and Pedemonte, 2025). While Ecuador provides a useful laboratory, the mechanism is broader: commodity-price volatility and sizable public procurement are common features of many middle-income economies (OECD, 2019).
To answer the research question, we assemble and link administrative data covering the universe of formal firms and government entities from 2012 to 2019. The data include firms' balance sheets, transaction-level procurement records, and detailed buyer-supplier relationships.
In addition to firm-state transactions, we also observe firm-to-firm transactions. These features allow us to construct firm-level exposure measures that map the procurement contraction into the production network.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Network-Transmission-of-Fiscal-Demand-Shocks-in-Commodity-Dependent-Economies.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Measuring the Sources of Taste-Based Discrimination Using List Experiments'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Measuring the Sources of Taste-Based Discrimination Using List Experiments."
Here are excerpts:
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1. Introduction
This paper measures attitudes from supervisors, co-workers, and customers that may contribute to workplace taste-based discrimination against sexual minority individuals by drawing on a large, nationally representative online sample in Chile. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: What is the level of comfort with sexual minority individuals
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Measuring the Sources of Taste-Based Discrimination Using List Experiments."
Here are excerpts:
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1. Introduction
This paper measures attitudes from supervisors, co-workers, and customers that may contribute to workplace taste-based discrimination against sexual minority individuals by drawing on a large, nationally representative online sample in Chile. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: What is the level of comfort with sexual minority individualsin the workplace among supervisors, co-workers, and customers? Is there evidence of misreporting in these self-reported attitudes? Do individuals underestimate the broader societal support for sexual minority individuals? Finally, are these stated attitudes linked to real-world behaviors?
Measuring attitudes toward minority individuals is itself policy relevant: attitudes can affect health and socioeconomic behaviors, outcomes, and disparities (Aksoy, Chadd, and Koh 2023; Glasman and Albarracin 2006; NASEM 2020), as well as occupational sorting (Plug, Webbink, and Martin 2014; Gutierrez and Rubli 2024b). Attitudes can also directly induce minority stress, that is, stress due to internalized homophobia and transphobia, anticipated rejection, constant efforts to hide one's identity, and actual experiences of discrimination and violence (Meyer 1995). In addition, while there is evidence of positive effects of employment anti-discrimination laws (Donohue and Heckman 1991; Klawitter and Flatt 1998; Neumark and Stock 2006; Klawitter 2011; Button 2018; Neumark et al. 2019), the effectiveness of such employment protections depends on compliance and the level of support that they receive: if employers have a high distaste for sexual minority individuals (or if they believe that other employees or customers may dislike interacting with such individuals), they will try to find ways to circumvent these laws. Relatedly, support for certain groups or policies may actually impact voting behavior (Friese et al. 2012; Castanho Silva, Fuks, and Tamaki 2022).
Relatedly, understanding the sources and drivers of discrimination carries important policy implications for reducing inequality and improving the allocation of human capital. For instance, for statistical discrimination due to incorrect beliefs, informational campaigns may be necessary to correct such beliefs. In contrast, taste-based discrimination that is rooted in employers' preferences calls for appropriately enforced anti-discrimination laws, whereas such laws may be less effective against customer-driven taste-based discrimination. Therefore, to effectively inform policymakers, researchers need to not only uncover evidence of discrimination against different groups but also analyze its causes.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Measuring-the-Sources-of-Taste-Based-Discrimination-Using-List-Experiments.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Long-run Effects of Universal Pre-primary Education Expansion: Evidence From Argentina'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Long-run Effects of Universal Pre-primary Education Expansion: Evidence from Argentina."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Expanding pre-primary education is considered a good investment in a country's future by improving children's cognitive and social skills, increasing long-term educational outcomes, and creating a more productive labor force (Berlinski & Schady, 2015; Currie & Almond, 2011; OECD, 2011).1 There has been a large global expansion in preprimary
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Long-run Effects of Universal Pre-primary Education Expansion: Evidence from Argentina."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Expanding pre-primary education is considered a good investment in a country's future by improving children's cognitive and social skills, increasing long-term educational outcomes, and creating a more productive labor force (Berlinski & Schady, 2015; Currie & Almond, 2011; OECD, 2011).1 There has been a large global expansion in preprimaryenrollment worldwide, with the global gross enrollment ratio increasing from 29% in 1990 to 61% in 2019 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2024). Although there is substantial evidence of short-term benefits from these investments, an important question remains: do they pay off in the long term? This study examines the longterm effects of increasing universal pre-primary education in Argentina, where the pre-primary enrollment rate increased from 49% to 78% between 1990 and 2000.
In the 1990s, Argentina implemented a large-scale public school construction program to increase pre-primary education attendance. This initiative, carried out from 1993 to 1999, constructed new classrooms to accommodate approximately 186,200 additional children in pre-primary education. The government strategically targeted construction in more economically disadvantaged areas with low pre-primary enrollment rates. All of the new pre-primary places created by the construction program were quickly filled, contributing to an increase in pre-primary enrollment of 7.5 percentage points (Berlinski & Galiani, 2007). Students who gained access to preschool through this expansion performed better in third grade on standardized test scores and behavioral measures, including attention, effort, class participation, and discipline (Berlinski et al., 2009).
We estimate the causal effect of the pre-primary school expansion on educational attainment and on fertility. We implement a difference-in-differences identification strategy that compares high construction areas to low construction areas using data from several decennial population censuses and the location and intensity of the construction program in the universe of departments (over 500--roughly equivalent to a US county).
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Long-run-Effects-of-Universal-Pre-primary-Education-Expansion-Evidence-from-Argentina.pdf
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Inattention or (Mis)Information? Explaining the Demand for Populist Anti-inflationary Policies'
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Inattention or (Mis)Information? Explaining the Demand for Populist Anti-inflationary Policies."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Inefficient policies are pervasive in electoral democracies and frequently enjoy broad public support. Such support extends to populist politicians who advocate easy but ineffective solutions to complex economic and social problems. Examples of such policies include limits on carbon emission (usually less efficient than carbon taxes)
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in January 2026 entitled "Inattention or (Mis)Information? Explaining the Demand for Populist Anti-inflationary Policies."
Here are excerpts:
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1 Introduction
Inefficient policies are pervasive in electoral democracies and frequently enjoy broad public support. Such support extends to populist politicians who advocate easy but ineffective solutions to complex economic and social problems. Examples of such policies include limits on carbon emission (usually less efficient than carbon taxes)(Mildenberger et al. 2022; Woerner et al. 2024); rent controls (typically less efficient than rent subsidies and policies to increase housing supply) (Dolls, Sch~ule and Windsteiger 2025; M~uller and Gsottbauer 2021; Brandts et al. 2022); and layoff restrictions (which may impose larger costs on non-incumbent workers than benefits on incumbents) (Duval et al., 2024). Incomplete information is one, widely-researched explanation for this support: voters may be unaware of the efficiency costs of competing policies. Another, though, is inattention: inattentive voters prefer policy alternatives that they can understand with less cognitive effort.
This paper analyzes voters' demand for two anti-inflationary policies in Argentina in 2023 (when inflation reached an annual rate of 211 percent): price controls and limits to monetary emissions. Most survey respondents, 58 percent, rated price controls as equally or more effective than monetary policy in controlling inflation.
What explains this support? One possibility is that voters are poorly informed about the effectiveness of the two policies. However, a growing literature (e.g., Eliaz and Spiegler 2020) suggests that policies are more appealing to inattentive voters if they have a narrative that is easy to grasp, and if easily accessible evidence is consistent with the narrative. We refer to these characteristics as directness and visibility. Policies that are direct and visible are Simple and more appealing to inattentive voters. Those that are less visible and indirect are Complex and less appealing.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Inattention-or-MisInformation-Explaining-the-Demand-for-Populist-Anti-inflationary-Policies.pdf
[Category: IADB]
First Exhibition to Explore Photography's Relationship With Resource Extraction Opening at the National Gallery of Art
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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First Exhibition to Explore Photography's Relationship with Resource Extraction Opening at the National Gallery of Art
Beneath the Surface to feature some 150 photographs by 100 artists spanning 185 years of society and industry in the United States
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The National Gallery of Art presents Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography, the first exhibition to exclusively examine the relationship between resource extraction and American photography throughout its history. Spanning nearly 200 years,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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First Exhibition to Explore Photography's Relationship with Resource Extraction Opening at the National Gallery of Art
Beneath the Surface to feature some 150 photographs by 100 artists spanning 185 years of society and industry in the United States
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The National Gallery of Art presents Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography, the first exhibition to exclusively examine the relationship between resource extraction and American photography throughout its history. Spanning nearly 200 years,the exhibition examines how photographers have approached the challenge of capturing the significant but often hidden processes and impacts of the extraction of minerals, coal, and fossil fuels and its associated industries.
Featuring 150 photographs by more than 100 artists, including Richard Avedon, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Dorothea Lange, David Maisel, Gordon Parks, Mitch Epstein, Carleton Watkins, Will Wilson, and more, Beneath the Surface reveals how generations of photographers have utilized evolving technologies and distinctive visual strategies to document the industries that power and shape modern life. Beneath the Surface will be on view at the National Gallery of Art from May 23 to August 23, 2026, before traveling to the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
"As a defining visual medium of our modern age, photography is an essential tool to capture and communicate our shared history," said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art. "Beneath the Surface bring together a dynamic range of works to shed light on the medium's intersections with a shaping force in American history and industry."
The featured works, many of which are drawn from the National Gallery's significant photography collection, span early daguerreotypes from the time of the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s to pictures of rapid industrialization in the 20th century and contemporary photographs produced at an immense scale. This expansive selection traces the layered history of extraction and how artists have used photography as a lens through which to communicate the industry's relationship with society and the natural world.
"Photography itself is dependent on precious metals for its very existence, from the light sensitivity of silver in early processes to the copper of contemporary digital-camera batteries. At the same time, it has been the principal visual medium employed to depict extractive industries, evolving alongside the expansion of mining on an industrial scale since the 19th century," said Diane Waggoner, co-curator of the exhibition and curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art. "Beneath the Surface unites photographs made for a variety of purposes, from explicitly promotional and commercial uses to documentation efforts and socially engaged activism, shedding light on both the rewards and costs of resource extraction."
The exhibition orients visitors with an introductory gallery displaying contemporary work, foregrounding themes relevant to the current moment and providing a critical framework for understanding the six broad, chronological sections that follow. Viewers will encounter works not only by historical photographers recognized for their work in capturing mining, drilling, and industrial subjects, such as Carleton Watkins, Margaret Bourke-White, Marion Post Wolcott, and Bernd and Hilla Becher, but also by less expected practitioners Florence Kemmler, Alma Lavenson, and Mary Morris. The exhibition includes works by contemporary photographers Edward Burtynsky, Binh Danh, Terry Evans, Victoria Sambunaris, and Cara Romero, among others.
"For almost two centuries photographers have played a central role in public understanding of resource extraction, drawing on a succession of technologies and strategies to capture activities that enable modern life but resist portrayal," said Kristen Gaylord, co-curator of the exhibition and Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts at Milwaukee Art Museum. "This exhibition demonstrates how, time and again, photographers have creatively pushed against the medium's boundaries in a quest to impart the enormity of the country's extractive activities and their effects."
Beneath the Surface centers on the challenges artists face in capturing the colossal scale of extraction and its far-reaching impacts on communities and the environment. It also reveals the inventive strategies they have employed to depict this subject. The works on view reflect the full breadth of the medium, spanning landscapes, portraits of workers and panoramas of affected communities, photobooks, aerial imagery, analog and digital collage, camera-less photography, historical processes, narrative and performance work, and pictures that otherwise harness photography to communicate the scope of these industries.
Exhibition Tour
National Gallery of Art, Washington, May 23-August 23, 2026
Milwaukee Art Museum, October 23, 2026-January 18, 2027
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, February 14-May 9, 2027
Exhibition Organization and Support
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Major support for the exhibition has been provided by the Center for Contemporary Documentation.
The exhibition is also made possible through the leadership support of the Trellis Charitable Fund.
Additional support for this exhibition was provided by Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman.
Exhibition Curators
This exhibition is curated by Diane Waggoner, curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum.
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About the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millions of people come through its doors each year--with even more online--making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery's renowned collection includes over 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.
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Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography
National Gallery of Art, Washington, May 23-August 23, 2026
Milwaukee Art Museum, October 23, 2026-January 17, 2027
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, February 14-May 9, 2027
Dependent on precious metals from its inception, photography has always been intertwined with the natural resources that are fundamental to modern industrialized life. Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography is the first exhibition to exclusively examine how photographers from the mid-19th century to today have powerfully captured the effects of resource extraction on the land and communities of the United States. Featuring some 150 photographs that span 185 years, this exhibition focuses especially on the subterranean removal of the minerals and fossil fuels that power this country's economy and industry. Together, these works demonstrate how photographers have drawn on changing technology and unique visual strategies to rise to the challenge of picturing these colossal industries.
Made for a variety of purposes, ranging from commercial boosterism and celebration of technical advancement to social documentation and community activism, the pictures in the exhibition shed light on how photography has revealed the costs of extraction and who benefits from its success. Divided into six broad, chronological sections that contextualize the complex history of photography and extraction, from daguerreotypes of the Gold Rush to large-scale, immersive photographs made in the last decade, Beneath the Surface highlights how artists have used photography to explore the relationship between extraction, society, and the environment.
This exhibition is curated by Diane Waggoner, curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum.
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Major support for the exhibition has been provided by the Center for Contemporary Documentation.
The exhibition is also made possible through the leadership support of the Trellis Charitable Fund.
Additional support for this exhibition was provided by Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman.
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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/first-exhibition-explore-photographys-relationship-resource-extraction-opening-national-gallery-art
Dear America Draws From the National Gallery of Art's Collection to Highlight Artists' Interpretations of the American Experience
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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Dear America Draws From the National Gallery of Art's Collection to Highlight Artists' Interpretations of the American Experience
Exhibition presents works by Ansel Adams, Ruth Asawa, Thomas Moran, Gordon Parks, Paul Revere, Carrie Mae Weems, and more as part of America's 250th anniversary commemoration
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As part of its yearlong commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, the National Gallery of Art presents Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience, an exhibition
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
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Dear America Draws From the National Gallery of Art's Collection to Highlight Artists' Interpretations of the American Experience
Exhibition presents works by Ansel Adams, Ruth Asawa, Thomas Moran, Gordon Parks, Paul Revere, Carrie Mae Weems, and more as part of America's 250th anniversary commemoration
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As part of its yearlong commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, the National Gallery of Art presents Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience, an exhibitionexamining how artists have portrayed and interpreted key aspects of American culture over the last 250 years. Comprising approximately 115 works from the late 18th century to the present--including many recent acquisitions and works that have never been on view at the National Gallery before--the exhibition highlights artists' wide-ranging depictions of American experience across time and place and is framed by the themes of land, community, and freedom. Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience will be on view in the West Building from April 11 to September 20, 2025.
Drawn primarily from the National Gallery's leading collection of American art, Dear America brings together works on paper by more than 95 artists. Among the objects on view are photographs by Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Margaret Bourke-White, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk Nation), Sally Mann, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Gordon Parks, Alfred Stieglitz, James Van Der Zee, Carleton E. Watkins, and Carrie Mae Weems; drawings by Thomas Moran, Tonita Pena, Eunice Pinney, and John Wilson; artists' books by Dindga McCannon and Kara Walker; and prints by Emma Amos, Ruth Asawa, Charles Gaines, Jane Hammond, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Fritz Scholder, and Juan Sanchez.
"Artists have long helped us see America not just as a place, but as a living idea shaped by many voices," said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art. "Through these remarkable works from the National Gallery's collection, visitors to the nation's art museum can witness the power of art to illuminate our shared past, illustrate the experiences of our lives, and inspire our collective future."
"Showcasing exemplary prints, drawings, and photographs made in the last 250 years, this exhibition is a testament to collaboration across curatorial disciplines as well as the strength of our permanent collection," said E. Carmen Ramos, the National Gallery's chief curatorial and conservation officer. "Dear America reveals the wide range of subjects, approaches, and techniques through which America's artists have sought to interpret their own and others' experiences."
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About the Exhibition
Comprising works that span the breadth of US history and geography, from the nation's founding through the present, Dear America seeks to explore how artists have considered the question of what is, has been, and could be the nature of the American experience. The exhibition is organized in three thematic sections: Land, Community, and Freedom, each highlighting artists' expansive interpretations of American culture and iconography.
The first section, Land, explores our collective understanding of America as a place and as a site of wonder and belonging, survival and memory. Works from the 19th century by Thomas Moran, Frances Flora Bond Palmer, William H. Rau, and Carleton E. Watkins capture the variety of natural geographies across the North American continent and the early stages of the expansion of railways and settlements from east to west. Examples by 20th- and 21st-century artists, such as Bernarda Bryson, Leo Limon, Richard Misrach, and Margaret Bourke-White, address the impact of the growing populace, human-built environments, and major cities that comprise America today. This section shows how artists have drawn inspiration from the grandeur of the country's mountain ranges and canyons, as well as from roadside gas stations, hydroelectric dams, and skyscrapers.
The second section, Community, begins with four large multipart works that fill an entire gallery. Dear America (2002), composed of 16 photographs by contemporary artist Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk Nation), was the inspiration for the title of the exhibition. In this suite, Jones combined scans of historical postcards with lyrics from the song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" to incorporate Native American experiences into narratives of American history. Also featured is a set of life-size figure drawings for John Wilson's unrealized mural Young Americans (1973-1975). These drawings depict the artist's teenage children and their friends, who hung out at the Wilson home in the 1970s. Their youthful potential represented a hopeful vision of the future to the artist. Nearby is a group of some 30 portraits from a suite of 101 offset lithographs by Sedrick E. Huckaby that are based on sketches he created while he interviewed people living and working in his community. The largest multipart work in this section is Richard Avedon's The Family (1976), a series of 69 photographs. Made during the Bicentennial, they depict America's power elite--politicians, media moguls, financiers, and activists. These works and others by artists such as Charles Milton Bell, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Michael Jang, Cesar A. Martinez, and Cara Romero highlight artists' portrayals of the many types of communities that have shaped the American experience, from politicians and prominent public servants, to friends and family members, neighborhoods, and religious and cultural gatherings.
The exhibition concludes with the section Freedom, weaving histories of revolution and liberation with deeply personal snapshots of American life. The works included here serve as both witnesses to the moments they portray and catalysts to connect us to our own sense of freedom. This section explores artists' considerations of the freedoms envisioned by the founders of the United States as well as by later generations who have continually sought to protect fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and promote greater freedom for all people. Featured are scenes from the American Revolution and Civil War, including Paul Revere's famous print depicting the Boston Massacre of 1770, an event that was prompted by escalating tensions between the American colonists and Great Britain. Also on view are historical portraits of figures like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and George Washington, all of whom advocated for freedom, while portraits of soldiers by artists such as Maya Freelon and James Van Der Zee remind us of the cost of defending that freedom. Other photographs by Lewis Wickes Hine and Alfred Stieglitz capture the early 20th-century mass movement of people who were fleeing oppression and seeking new opportunities. And Faith Ringgold's screenprints of events from the civil rights movement that accompany Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and Robert Indiana's boldly colored screenprint Liberty '76 (1974-1975), made for the occasion of the country's 200th anniversary, document and celebrate the continual pursuit of freedom that is fundamental to our democracy.
Exhibition Organization and Support
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
The exhibition is made possible through support from Daniel W. Hamilton.
Exhibition Curators
The exhibition is curated by Angelica Becerra, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow; Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs (retired); Rena Hoisington, curator and head of Old Master prints; and Shelley Langdale, curator and head of modern prints and drawings, all at the National Gallery of Art.
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About the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art welcomes all people to explore art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Millions of people come through its doors each year--with even more online--making it one of the most visited art museums in the world. The National Gallery's renowned collection includes over 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Admission to the West and East Buildings, Sculpture Garden, special exhibitions, and public programs is always free.
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Original text here: https://www.nga.gov/press/dear-america-draws-national-gallery-arts-collection-highlight-artists-interpretations-american
