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Martha Diamond: Deep Time

Your life is defined in time. The way I relate to this in my work is by thinking of infinity: to the time of religion, of history…using shapes that have been significant to people for thousands of years.

—Martha Diamond, interviewed for the Whitney Biennial 1989

Colby College Museum of Art: July 13 to October 13, 2024
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum: November 17, 2024 to May 18, 2025

Martha Diamond is among the most perceptive painters of the last five decades. Her works formal concision and painterly bravado reflect an inner dialogue with generations of abstract artists, and the results are exceptional: an inimitable handling of gesture and space that reimagines the landscape tradition while deftly sliding between abstraction and representation. Comprised of paintings, works on paper, and monotypes, this focused survey of Diamonds career proposes “deep time” as a new way of understanding her contribution to American painting.

As a concept, deep time has two histories: Enlightenment scientists, poets, and theologians have theorized it to trace symmetries and parallels across the development of human civilization, and geologists use it to describe cycles of stability and upheaval across many millions of years on this planet. In conversation with both ancient monuments and the modern skyscraper, and carrying its own distinctive psychology and ecology, Diamond’s art thinks about time and across time.

This exhibition spotlights the architectural and compositional fascinations that define Diamonds singular vision. It emphasizes her unswerving commitment to capturing the emotional character of built space, tracking throughlines across mediums and methods to reveal a process that combines spirited experimentation with perceptive observation. The exhibition features rarely seen pieces from the Lower Manhattan studio Diamond occupied for fifty-four years, from the little-known single-picture” images of the 1970s to the vertiginous paintings of her native New York City during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s to the vivid abstractions that increasingly characterized her later work.

The exhibition is accompanied by the artists first major monograph, an amply illustrated catalogue that includes an original essay by the exhibitions co-curators, a chronology, and texts reprinted from some of Diamonds most insightful critics: New York poets steeped in the visual arts. Martha Diamond: Deep Time documents the inspirations that converge in, and are transformed by, Diamonds enigmatic and utterly original work.

This exhibition is co-organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Colby College Museum of Art, and co-curated by The Aldrichs Chief Curator, Amy Smith-Stewart and Colbys Katz Consulting Curator, Levi Prombaum.

About The Artist

Martha Diamond (1944-2023) received a BA from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1964 and, after a period of living abroad in Paris, an MA from New York University in 1969. She was an active participant in New York’s art and poetry scenes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her work has been shown at major New York galleries and institutions from the mid-1970s on, including solo exhibitions at Robert Miller Gallery, Brooke Alexander Gallery, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, and the New York Studio School and important group shows at Skarstedt, the Hill Art Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She also had concurrent solo exhibitions in 1988 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, and the Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Her work is in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine; the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Minneapolis Institute of Art; and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Her work was in the former collection of The Aldrich and was exhibited at the museum in group exhibitions in 1973, 1974, 1985, and 1988. She is currently represented by David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles and New York. For more information, please visit marthadiamondtrust.org.

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Funders

Martha Diamond: Deep Time is co-organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Colby College Museum of Art. Major support for the exhibition and accompanying publication is provided by an anonymous donor; additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, David Kordansky Gallery, and The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation. Support at The Aldrich was also provided by Diana Bowes and Jim Torrey and the Eric Diefenbach and James Keith Brown Publications Fund.


Related Events

November 16, 2024 at 3:00 pm | Exhibition Opening, Member Event, Member Preview, Special Event

VIP and Member Opening for A Garden of Promise and Dissent, Martha Diamond, Miles Huston, and Moko Fukuyama

Members and friends, please join us to celebrate the reopening of our Sculpture Garden and explore A Garden of Promise and Dissent, Martha Diamond: Deep Time, and Moko Fukuyama before the exhibitions open to the public, and Miles Huston: Overshoot.

November 17, 2024 at 12:00 pm | Free Admission, Public Programs

Community Day in Celebration of the Sculpture Garden

The community is invited to join us for a free afternoon at The Aldrich to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated campus and Sculpture Garden!

November 17, 2024 at 12:30 pm | Free Admission, Children and Family Programs

Community Day Storytime

Bring your budding artists to The Aldrich for Story Time, in collaboration with the Ridgefield Library! Together, we will explore the work of artist Martha Diamond, whose brand-new exhibition at The Aldrich features paintings of buildings. Then, we will read the story Windows by Julia Denos, illustrated by E. B. Goodale. Finally, we will gather in the studio to paint buildings and windows!

November 20, 2024 at 1:00 pm | Group Tours

Seniors-Only Tour

Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Education and Access Specialist Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!

November 24, 2024 at 2:00 pm | Group Tours

All Ages Discovery Tour

Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum not knowing where to start? If you answered yes, join Education Assistant Antonio Paone for a free tour of the exhibitions designed to activate your curiosity and engage your attention.

December 18, 2024 at 1:00 pm

Seniors-Only Tour

Join us for this in-person gallery tour of highlighted works from our current exhibitions, guided by Education and Access Specialist Holly Lapine, reserved specifically for senior adults ages 60 and above!

December 18, 2024 at 5:30 pm | Group Tours

Curator-Led Tour with Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart

Join Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart for a tour of Martha Diamond: Deep Time, a five-decade survey exhibition of the artist's work. Members please join us for a 5pm reception with refreshments prior to the tour.

December 21, 2024 at 10:00 am | Third Saturdays, Free Admission

Third Saturdays

Visit the Museum for FREE the third Saturday of every month as part of our Third Saturdaysprogram.

December 21, 2024 at 1:00 pm | Third Saturdays, Free Admission, Group Tours

All Ages Discovery Tour

Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum without knowing where to start? If you answered yes, this free, interactive, and judgment-free tour of our current exhibitions guided by a Museum Educator is perfect for you!

December 29, 2024 at 2:00 pm | Group Tours

All Ages Discovery Tour

Have you ever looked at contemporary art and wished you knew what it meant? Have you ever entered a museum not knowing where to start? If you answered yes, join Education Assistant Antonio Paone for a free tour of the exhibitions designed to activate your curiosity and engage your attention.


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Top image: Martha Diamond, Untitled, 1973, Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 72 inches. Collection of Jasper Campshure. Photo: Jason Mandella