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Photography of three paintings against white walls at the Hill Art Foundation.
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.
Black chairs and tables at the Hill Art Foundation with stained glass window, purple painting,...
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.
Black chairs and tables with white and black painting with text and multicolor paintings mounted...
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.
Black and white painting hung on white wall and black bronze sculpture on wooden floor at the Hill...
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.

A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection
March 1–April 13, 2024
Hill Art Foundation

A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection celebrates the five-year anniversary of the Hill Art Foundation by examining the Hill Collection through the lens of Valentin Bousch’s 16th-century stained-glass window, The Creation and the Expulsion from Paradise, which is permanently installed at the Hill Art Foundation’s Chelsea building. Unveiled as the centerpiece of the 2022–23 exhibition Spencer Finch: Lux and Lumen, the window has been off view since summer 2023. Now back on display, the masterwork is a testament to the Foundation’s commitment to artistic dialogue between mediums, geographic regions, and time periods. The exhibition places the Bousch window in conversation with works by Robert Bergman, Robert Gober, Mark Grotjahn, Wang Guangle, Caroline Kent, Willem de Kooning, Albert Oehlen, Agnes Martin, Adam Pendleton, Ed Ruscha, Rudolf Stingel, Antonio Susini, Sarah Sze, Joos van Cleve, Liu Wei, and Christopher Wool. 

The exhibition spans the four major categories of the Hill Collection: Renaissance and Baroque bronzes, Old Master paintings, paintings and sculptures by Modern masters, and Contemporary art. This eclectic mix offers a glimpse into the process of collecting, and the major acquisitions that have shaped and given direction to the collection as a whole. Additional furniture selected by architect Peter Marino further evokes the private sphere of the home. The exhibition takes its title from Caroline Kent’s A Dark Hymn (2021), a recent acquisition that alludes to themes of language, symbolism, and the sublime that emerge in this grouping and throughout the collection at large.

The Hill Art Foundation was founded in 2019 on the dual pillars of education and access, with a special focus on programming for high schoolers. A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection is the first exhibition to be developed in partnership with the Foundation’s Teen Curators and HAF Educators. Students had the opportunity to research and write object labels, giving real-world application to the arts education they receive through Foundation programs. Educators will also offer a weekly public tour on Saturdays at 3 pm.

Photography of one white framed photography and gold sculpture hung on beige wall with a white...
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.
Photography of one white framed photograph and wooden framed painting hung on a beige wall with...
Installation view: A Dark Hymn: Highlights from the Hill Collection. Hill Art Foundation, March 1–April 13, 2024. © Hill Art Foundation. Photo: Matthew Herrmann.
Multicolor, angular figures against black background
Caroline Kent, A Dark Hymn (detail), 2021. Acrylic on unstretched canvas, 103 1/4 × 81 1/4 inches (262.23 × 206.38 cm). Photo: Jason Wyche.
Creation and Expulsion Window

Explore Valentin Bousch’s Creation and Expulsion window panel-by-panel below. To learn more, click here.

  • A stained glass window installed against a backed lighting depicting a biblical scene of the Creation...
Valentin Bousch, The Creation and the Expulsion from Paradise, 1533. Stained glass, 114 × 90 inches (289.6 × 228.6 cm).
Beige lines against white background

Agnes Martin

Untitled, 1979

Watercolor and ink on paper

11 × 11 inches (27.9 × 27.9 cm)

Black, gray, and white blotches

Albert Oehlen

BBQ, 2008

Oil on canvas

82 ⅝ × 102 ⅜ inches (210 × 260 cm)

Photograph of man with beard in dark clothing.

Robert Bergman

Untitled, 1990

Inkjet on Arches Infinity 100% cotton rag, hand coated with an isolation coat of BA/MMA copolymer, and multiple additional hand-applied coats of microcrystalline wax

23 ¾ × 16 inches (60.33 × 40.64 cm)

Gold Jesus figure in crucifixion pose with arms drawn to either side and legs together.

Antonio Susini

Cristo morto (Dead Christ), cast circa 1590–1615

Gilt bronze

12 ½ × 10 ¾ × 3 inches (31.8 × 27.3 × 7.6 cm)

Photograph of man in brown suede jacket looking at the viewer.

Robert Bergman

Untitled, 1989

Inkjet on Arches Infinity 100% cotton rag, hand coated with an isolation coat of BA/MMA copolymer, and multiple additional, hand-applied coats of microcrystalline wax

23 ¾ × 16 inches (60.3 × 40.6 cm)

Painting of man in renaissance dress holding golden scroll

Joos van Cleve

Portrait of a Nobleman with a Beard, n.d. 

Oil on oak panel

32 ⅝ × 26 inches (83 × 66 cm)

Differing shades of white lines spread across canvas

Mark Grotjahn

Untitled (White Butterfly), 2002

Oil on linen

26 × 23 inches (66 × 58.4 cm)

Multicolor stained glass window mounted on white wall

Valentin Bousch

The Creation of the World and the Expulsion
from Paradise, 1533

Green, red, purple, blue and clear glass with silver stain and vitreous enamel

114 × 90 inches (289.6 × 228.6 cm)

Deep purple painting with lighter purple edges.

Wang Guangle

180620, 2018

Acrylic on canvas

110 ¼ × 70 ⅞ inches (280 × 180 cm)

Black and white clouds with words reading war! alchemy! taxes! plague! damsels! firewood! melancholia!

Ed Ruscha

17th Century, 1988

Acrylic on canvas

56 × 134 inches (142.2 × 340.4 cm)

Apples against wallpaper with leaves, miniature radiator, and empty box of cigarettes enclosed...

Robert Gober

Untitled, 1978–2018

Copper, beeswax, forged iron, paper, soil, balsa wood, oil and acrylic paints, and hand-printed silkscreen on paper

24 × 24 × 5 ⅞ inches (61 × 61 × 15 cm)

Multicolor, angular figures against black background

Caroline Kent

A Dark Hymn, 2021

Acrylic on unstretched canvas

103 ¼ × 81 ¼ inches (262.3 × 206.4 cm)

Blue, black, and white thin lines across three separate framed canvases.

Liu Wei

Colors No. 13, 2013

Oil on canvas

53 ⅛ × 198 ⅞ inches (135 × 505 cm)

Black and white lines and letters

Adam Pendleton

Untitled (A Victim of American Democracy), 2017

Silkscreen ink and spray paint on canvas

84 × 60 inches (213.4 × 152.4 cm)

Black bronze standing figure

Willem De Kooning

Clamdigger, 1972

Bronze

59 ½ × 29 × 23 ¾ inches (151.1 × 73.7 × 60.3 cm)

Multicolor painting with flame in center

Sarah Sze

Flicker, 2023

Oil paint, acrylic paint, archival paper, acrylic polymers, ink, diabond, aluminum, wood

97 × 120 ½ × 3 inches (246.4 × 306.1 × 7.6 cm)

Black text reading 'THE SHOW IS OVER THE AUDIENCE GET UP TO LEAVE THEIR SEATS TIME TO COLLECT THEIR...

Christopher Wool

Untitled, 1990

Enamel on paper

52 × 40 inches (132.1 × 101.6 cm)

black text reading 'YOU MAKE ME' across white background

Christopher Wool

Untitled (You make me), 1997

Enamel on paper

31 ¼ × 23 ¼ inches (79.4 × 59.1 cm)

Luminous gold with miscellaneous carvings

Rudolf Stingel

Untitled, 2012

Electroformed copper, plated nickel and
gold in 4 parts

Each panel: 47 ¼ × 47 ¼ inches (120 × 120 cm)

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