William Sommer, one of America’s great modernists, yet still relatively unknown throughout the country, will be the subject of a long overdue retrospective this spring. Sommer, a master lithographer by trade, was also the most well-known and highly respected artist in Cleveland at the turn of the last century. Influenced by the controversial, avant-garde Europeans, Sommer developed his own shocking palette and began a prolific career, often using his own rural milieu to create brilliant modern compositions.
The core of the exhibition is derived from the 60-year collection of Martin Lerner, an art historian and former curator best known for his tenure as the Senior Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, a position he held from 1972 until his retirement in 2003. This collection began during Lerner’s tenure at the Cleveland Museum of Art and continued throughout his life.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated publication featuring original essays and scholarship by William H. Robinson, former Curator of Modern European Art and Head of the Department of European and American Painting and Sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibition will be supported by public programming, including guided tours, lectures, and educational outreach programs. Additional lenders include both public institutions and private collections.