Collection

Description

The MCA’s permanent collection includes more than 2,500 artworks that span media and movements from the 1920s to the present. Although not on permanent display, works from the collection appear regularly in our many rotating exhibitions. The entire collection, with images and descriptions, is presented here for the first time. Explore it by artist, title, or creation date. Images in this section are published for educational use under the umbrella of the Fair Use doctrine.

Artist last name index

Title index

Decade index

A primarily beige-looking canvas is actually composed of many small dots of light blues, pinks, oranges, and purples.

...Pindell has said, “in graduate school I remember that a woman artist would be criticized if she used pink. If a man used pink it was considered a mix of red and white… . When I noticed this, I started using the things that I was told not to use. Glitter. Pink. This was my way of resisting.”

Short A primarily beige-looking canvas is actually composed of many small dots of light blues, pinks, oranges, and purples.

Works on View

On viewKatinka Bock, Miles and Moments for Paris, 2011
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On viewScott Burton, Three-Quarter Cube Bench, 1986
On viewAlexander Calder, The Ghost (maquette), 1964
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On viewLiam Gillick, (The What If? Scenario) Report Platform, 1996
On viewJene Highstein, Floating World, 1986
1. Short Photograph of a person-sized rounded outdoor sculpture made of grey, textured stone
On viewGladys Nilsson, Reclyning Blackveenus Rabbit, 1971
On viewJim Nutt, She Seams Up Set, 1971
On viewB. Ingrid Olson, Projection, Body Parsed, 2018
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On viewDan Peterman, Accessories to an Event (plaza), 1998
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On viewPope.L, Crying Painting, 2016
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On viewCharlotte Posenenske, Vierkantrohre Series DW (Square Tubes, Series DW), 1967
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On viewCharlotte Posenenske, Vierkantrohre Series DW (Square Tubes, Series DW), 1967
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On viewGeorge Rickey, Two Lines Oblique, 1968
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On viewThomas Schütte, Ganz Grosse Geister (Big Spirits XL), 2004
1. Short Three yellow sculptures of abstract human figures stand as if communicating with each other outdoors in an urban setting.
2. Long Three yellow and white forms are installed on an outdoor terrace. The forms resemble human bodies, yet they have no faces. The heads of the forms are created from coiled, hard textured material and the bodies are similarly constructed of coiled material, arranged into torsos, arms and legs. The scale of the figures is about double the size of an average person and the are arranged about a half of a figure length apart from each other. The figure on the left appears to have its head tilted to the sky, while the center figure faces to the right, where the third figure bends lightly towards the ground, hand upraised. The bright color of the figures contrasts with urban scene in the background: behind the figures a black fence, green leafy trees and tall gray buildings are visible. The sky is bright blue and the bright light of mid-day casts sharp shadows below the figures.
On viewErin Shirreff, Sculpture for Snow, 2011
1. Short A matte black geometric sculpture juts out from the snowy ground. Two of its faces, one square and one triangular, are perfectly covered by a white layer of snow.
On viewGedi Sibony, The Silly Tuck It In, 2011
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On viewJesús Rafaël Soto, Jai-Alai, 1969
On viewBuzz Spector, Malevich, 1992
On viewBuzz Spector, Malevich: With Eight Red Rectangles, 1991
1. Short A vertical white surface has eight rectangular depressions. Beneath this surface are eight red books in the same shape as the unique rectangles, as if they fell from their depressions.
On viewDaniel Spoerri, Dinner by Dorothy Podber, 1964
On viewTakis, Magnetic Mobile, c. 1964
On viewRosemarie Trockel, Ich kenne mich nicht aus (I am Stumped), 1988

Gloved hands review a 4x5 color transparency and a roll of 35mm black and white film over a light box with a viewing loupe.

To request images—including exhibition installation views and permanent collection works—or MCA-created text or media, fill out a media and image application.

Short Gloved hands review a 4x5 color transparency and a roll of 35mm black and white film over a light box with a viewing loupe.