The Progress of Love (Menil Collection) (Menil Collection (YUP))

How do today’s artists understand and depict notions of love? As witnessed in this compelling book, they often transcend traditional European romantic notions to create representations of love in less familiar manifestations. The title of this volume, The Progress of Love, refers to a group of 18th-century paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, who represented love as a contemporary phenomenon rather than in the guise of allegory or fiction. Today’s artists go further.

Exploring the forces that shape our conceptions of love, The Progress of Love brings together the work of 30 artists from Africa, Europe, the African diaspora, and the New World. Beautiful color images show works in a range of media by a dazzling array of contemporary artists, including Kelechi Amadi-Obi, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Sophie Calle, Mary Ellen Carroll, Kendell Geers, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Romuald Hazoumé, Zanele Muholi, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, and Yinka Shonibare.

Exhibition Schedule:

Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos
(10/13/12–01/27/13)

Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts(11/16/12–04/20/13)

The Menil Collection(12/02/12–03/17/13)

Kristina Van Dyke is the director of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis. Bisi Silva is the director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.