UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – "Archipenko: A Modern Legacy," which offers a fresh assessment of Alexander Archipenko, a pioneer of modern sculpture will be on display in the Palmer Museum of Art on the University Park campus. The exhibition is on view from Sept. 22 through Dec. 13.

Featuring more than 50 sculptures, mixed media reliefs, and works on paper, the exhibition spans Archipenko’s entire career. The exhibition highlights the artist’s manifold abstractions of the figure and the breadth of his creative legacy that has informed our thinking of modern sculpture in the discernible constant of the Archipenko style.

This is a major retrospective exhibition of the life and work of Alexander Archipenko, a maverick in modern sculpture, whose creations remain as important today as they were when they were initially conceived in the 20th century. Drawn from major museum collections as well as private holdings, the exceptional objects chosen for this exhibition will convey the richness of Archipenko’s vision as an innovator of modern art. In addition to the art works, never-before exhibited examples from the artist’s archives, including photographs of sculptures, sketches, installation views, and patent drawings for his machine “Archipentura,” will offer an unprecedented view into the artist’s creative process and philosophy.

Since 2002, Alexandra Keiser is the research curator at the Archipenko Foundation, where her responsibilities include the preparation of the Archipenko Sculpture Catalogue Raisonné. She received her doctorate at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and her master of arts from the University in Trier. Keiser has published and lectured widely on Archipenko.

Additional scheduled U.S tour dates for the exhibit: The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida, Jan. 22–April 17, 2016; and The Faulconer Gallery at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, Sept. 30–Dec. 22, 2016.

Archipenko: A Modern Legacy was organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C., in collaboration with the Archipenko Foundation.

International Arts & Artists in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public. Visit www.artsandartists.org

Exhibition related events:

Alexandra Keiser, research curator, the Archipenko Foundation, will be available to talk with visitors in the exhibition gallery during the student exhibition preview and reception 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, as part of artsUP, a celebration of the arts throughout the Arts District. For more details and events, visit artsup.psu.edu.

Maria Elena Versari, visiting professor of art, Carnegie Mellon University, will give a lecture titled "Archipenko’s Constructed Modernity" at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium.At the end of the 19th century, sculpture became an experiential site in which a variety of scientific theories were combined and collapsed into a new attitude toward materiality and object making. This talk will address the role that Alexander Archipenko played in redefining the importance of matter and materials in artistic practice and highlight how his work helped establish a new canon of modernity in sculpture.

Maria Elena Versari, visiting professor of art, Carnegie Mellon University, will lead a Gallery Talk titled "Archipenko: A Modern Legacy" at 12:10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in the exhibition gallery.

Maureen Carr, Distinguished Professor of Music, will lead a Gallery Talk titled 1917 Revolution in the Arts: Burliuk, Stravinsky, and Archipenko at 12:10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, in the exhibition gallery.

All events are sponsored by the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art unless otherwise noted.

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is located on Curtin Road and admission is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays. Reduced hours: noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, through Sunday, Nov. 29; and noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, through Sunday, Jan. 10. Closed Thursday, Nov. 26; Friday, Nov. 27; and Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015, through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016.

Other exhibitions on view this fall are "Mining the Store II: American Drawings and Watercolors" from the Permanent Collection, Aug. 25 through Dec. 13, and "You Have to See This: Abstract Art from the Permanent Collection," Sept. 1 through Dec. 6.The Palmer Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.