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Diverse Works: Director's Choice, 1997-2015

DATES April 15, 2015 through August 02, 2015
ORGANIZING DEPARTMENT Special Exhibition
  • Diverse Works: Director's Choice, 1997–2015
    We do not just collect masterpieces; we have a story to tell about individual works of art, about art histories, and about how a museum collection fits into a truly global worldview. By telling those stories we connect people. My commitment is both to enhancing those stories—and to advancing the Museum’s goal of making art make sense of the world for our visitors.

    These stories must be told accurately, boldly, and compellingly to our diverse audiences. The better we tell these stories, the broader and deeper our audiences’ engagement with the collection will be, and the more we will deserve recognition as one of the great museums of the world.

    Artists from across time, from around the world, and from vastly different backgrounds created the diverse array of art in this exhibition. And we have taken a bold step in rewriting the traditional art history narratives that have so often excluded women and people of color from such museum survey exhibitions. Our new narrative, as embodied in the Brooklyn Museum’s collecting agenda over the past nearly eighteen years, is an inclusive one: it seeks to connect people and cultures with the aim of finding shared experiences, mutual understanding, and respect.

    Arnold Lehman
    Shelby White and Leon Levy Director
    Brooklyn Museum


    The works of art included here represent collecting by the Brooklyn Museum, under the direction of Arnold Lehman, from 1997 to 2015. They speak to his vision of the collection: one that is global and pushes boundaries. His vision is diverse, and it proposes that diversity works for all the members of our audience, who, we hope, can find themselves reflected in the art in this exhibition and throughout the Museum.

    Kevin Stayton
    Chief Curator
    Brooklyn Museum