LANCASTER, PA – The Demuth Museum has announced its exhibition Focus on Flora, on view from May 4 through June 30, 2019. This exhibition will include some of Charles Demuth’s earliest depictions of flowers from a childhood sketchbook and works he completed over three decades later as an adult.

Demuth’s watercolors of flowers from his mother’s garden nestled in downtown Lancaster are some of his strongest and best-known works. His florals feature a variety of types of flowers and his treatment of each evolved over his lifetime. Focus on Flora will feature ten pieces, including three from private collectors and loans from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Reading Public Museum as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative. This exhibition is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative. The Demuth Foundation is one of eight Pennsylvania museums to be included in this collaboration and Focus on Flora is its first exhibition as part of the Initiative.

Launched in 2017, the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative is a joint grant program of Art Bridges and the Terra Foundation for American Art that aims to generate exhibitions at more than 50 arts venues nationwide. The initiative supports multi-year, multi-institutional exhibition partnerships among groups that include a metropolitan museum and institutions in primarily non-metropolitan areas that work together to engage local communities with outstanding works of American art. Sharing collections and resources, these collaborative partners create a series of exhibitions of art of the United States that are content rich, include in-depth educational and interpretive materials, and are designed to meet a spectrum of audience interests. The grants also foster professional development exchanges between partners and across groups. For more information, including a list of grantees and partners, please visit terraamericanart.org/who-we-are/art-bridges-terra-foundation-initiative/.

A special exhibition reception open to the public will be held on Friday, May 31, 2019 from 5 to 8pm at the Demuth Museum in celebration of this unique partnership.

The Demuth Foundation operates two art museums in downtown Lancaster—the Demuth Museum and the Lancaster Museum of Art—and works to promote the appreciation and awareness of the visual arts in Lancaster. The Foundation preserves the legacy of modernist painter Charles Demuth and his groundbreaking art, supports local and regional artists, and inspires a new generation of artists. More information about our exhibitions and programs can be found online at www.demuth.org or www.lmapa.org, or by calling 717-299-9940.