Bechtler Museum free through September 9

Current hours of the Bechtler:

• Monday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Tuesday: Closed
• Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Wednesday Night Live — always free admission)
• Thursday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sunday: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Flourish: A Celebration of LGBTQ Arts and Culture

Saturday, August 20th, 2022
12 to 5 p.m.: Free admission
1 to 5 p.m.: Programming

Join Charlotte Pride for “Flourish: A Celebration of LGBTQ Arts and Culture.” A mini-arts festival within the larger Charlotte Pride Festival, Flourish showcases the brilliant talents of local LGBTQ artists — including local LGBTQ choral and other musical groups, dancers, theatre, spoken word, visual art and much, much more!

Hosted at the Bechtler, right in the middle of the Charlotte Pride Festival footprint, the museum will be open for free from 12 PM to 5 PM. Come in for some cool air-conditioning and some even cooler artistic performances!

• 1 p.m.: One Voice Chorus
• 1:30 p.m.: Charlotte Pride Band-Brass Ensemble
• 1:55 p.m: Poet Prophetic
• 2:20 p.m.: Short Film: Brothers
• 2:30 p.m.: Short Film: Waking Hour
• 2:50 p.m.: Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte
• 3:20 p.m.: Patrice Wilson
• 3:45 p.m.: Southern Country Charlotte
• 4:15 p.m.: The Band’s Visit
• 4:35 p.m.: Patricia Corbett

August 17th, 2022, 5 to 9 p.m.: We Are Hip Hop.

AJ Glasco, locally based choreographer, dancer, and community organizer is curating a dancers’ preview for the upcoming We Are Hip Hop weekend on Saturday, September 17, in conjunction with the Charlotte International Arts Festival. The dance acts performing as part of this Wednesday Night Live preview are Jason Dawkins, Jerry Dean, & Michael Graham.

• 6:30 p.m.: DJ/Open Cypher
• 6:45 p.m.: Performance/Q&A – Mike Graham
• 7 p.m.: Performance/Q&A – Ungraceful Jay
• 7:15 p.m.: Performance/Q&A – Jason Dawkins
• 7:30 p.m. Interactive Cypher

The Bechtler Collection

Location: Second Floor Gallery
Time Period: Currently on view

The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is the only museum in the Southern United States dedicated to European and American Modern Art and its legacies. Capturing a remarkable era of art history from the collection of the Zürich-based Bechtler family, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art collection includes works by some of the most important and influential figures of modernism. Featuring 28 key works of art from the Bechtler collection, this intimate exhibition highlights works by Alexander Calder, Le Corbusier, Edgar Degas, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Hans Hartung, Barbara Hepworth, Jasper Johns, Paul Klee, Fernand Legér, Alfred Manessier, Joan Miró, Kenneth Noland, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Niki de Saint Phalle, Gustave Singier, Nicolas de Staël, and Andy Warhol.

Jean Tinguely: A Life in Motion

Location: Third-Floor Gallery
Time Period: Currently on view

Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his mechanical sculptures, officially known as “metamatics,” that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the twentieth century. Born in Fribourg, Switzerland, and raised in Basel, Tinguely studied art at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule (General Trade School) before moving to Paris in 1952. There, he lived and worked among a vibrant community of European artists who came together in search of radical alternatives to the dominant aesthetics of their time, specifically lyrical abstract painting. Using collage and assemblage techniques, this new generation of artists sought to dissolve the traditional boundaries between art and life. For Tinguely, this meant developing a compelling body of kinetic motorized sculptures and related works cobbled together from scraps and the detritus of urban life that barely hold together when in motion.

In addition to being one of the most important and forward-thinking European artists to emerge in the latter half of the twentieth century, Jean Tinguely was also the partner of Niki de Saint Phalle, a close friend of the Bechtler family and the artist who created the iconic Le Grand Oiseau de Feu sur l’Arche on the Bechtler Museum’s entrance plaza. On view are three major sculptures and a selection of painted and collaged illustrated letters sent to various members of the Bechtler family.

Sol Lewitt: All Ideas Are Art

Location: Fourth Floor Gallery
Time Perios: October 15th, 2022 to February 19th, 2023

Considered one of the founders of both Minimalism and Conceptual Art, the American artist Sol LeWitt (1908–2007) created nearly 1,350 wall drawings between 1969 and his death in 2007. LeWitt is best known for his proposition that an artist need only provide an idea or a set of instructions for a work of art, leaving the actual production of the work to someone else. LeWitt was championed by the Bechtler family, who purchased an early sculpture by the artist in 1969 and also brought two significant wall drawings to Charlotte–Wall Drawing #683 at the Carillon Building, and Wall Drawing #995, currently installed in the lobby of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.

In the first major museum survey of LeWitt’s work in the Southern United States in almost 50 years, Sol LeWitt: All Ideas Are Art, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, will provide unprecedented access for residents of the southern region to works of art by one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Featuring ten of LeWitt’s large scale wall drawings and a selection of sculptures spanning four decades of his career, the exhibition, presented in collboration with the Sol LeWitt Estate, will be installed in conversation with the museum’s signature Mario Botta designed architecture, providing visitors with the experience of engaging with an intimate and site-specific installation.