Artists in Motion: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from the Pearlman Collection

Artists in Motion: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from the Pearlman Collection features approximately 40 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that explore the intersecting lives of the most celebrated late 19th- and early 20th-century European artists collected by Henry Pearlman (1895 – 1974). 

In his collecting, Pearlman was drawn to artists whose travels and emigration stimulated their individual creative process. The social bonds that developed between artists and how those exchanges impacted their collective aesthetic styles were equally fascinating. As a result, the works on view showcase multiple crossroads and connections that artists developed, from casual friendships to more structured networks, such as the artists’ residences La Ruche (the Beehive) in Montparnasse. 

Artists in Motion navigates the multitude of relationships that drove experimentalism and creativity in Europe during the transformative artistic period at the turn of the century. Among the artistic exchanges explored are works by some of the most renowned modern artists, including Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, and Jacques Lipchitz.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a free, richly illustrated digital publication, which will include essays, an interview, and poems that will explore the themes of travel, migration, and creativity.

Entry is General Admission + $5

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About the Pearlman Collection 

The Henry & Rose Pearlman Foundation Collection was assembled by Henry Pearlman (1895 – 1974) and is one of the finest such collections in private hands. Pearlman, the son of Russian immigrant parents, was born in New York City. A self-made businessman, he founded, at 24, the Eastern Cold Storage Insulation Corporation in New York, selling and installing cold storage solutions on ships and other commercial applications. In January 1945 Pearlman happened to pass the window of a Manhattan auction house, and spotted a Chaim Soutine landscape. Enchanted by the painting, he made a successful bid for the work - View of Céret (1921 – 1922), on view in this exhibition – and that purchase triggered a passion for collecting that endured for the rest of his life. The Pearlman Collection has been on loan to the Princeton University Art Museum since the mid-1970s. 

Artists in Motion: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from the Pearlman Collection is organized by the Princeton University Art Museum in collaboration with the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.

Major support for this exhibition at the Norton was provided by the George and Valerie Delacorte Endowment Fund, the Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment, and the Heidi and Thomas McWilliams Endowment.