Memorial Art Gallery presents “Desire and Abundance: American Culture and the Still Life” opening December 13
Rochester, NY, December 9, 2025— The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) invites visitors to explore a selection of American still lifes spanning from the 1800s to the present in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Desire and Abundance: American Culture and the Still Life features works from MAG’s collection and will be on view December 13, 2025, through July 5, 2026, in the Forman Gallery.
American values take shape in the objects we make, desire, cherish, and discard. A table laden with ripe fruit, a meal served up at a luncheonette, the inside of a medicine cabinet—ordinary materials around us chronicle our lives. The still life, a genre of art that dates back to the ancient world, captures those objects of everyday life while often conveying deeper meanings and hidden messages.
Desire and Abundance brings together a diverse assortment of artistic expressions from across two centuries of American art. Taken together, these artworks present an array of items that underscore shifting tastes in American art, commerce, and daily life. Access to Desire and Abundance is included with general museum admission. More information about the exhibition can be found here.
About the Memorial Art Gallery
The Memorial Art Gallery showcases art from antiquity to the present day, including the outdoor public Centennial Sculpture Park. In addition to its permanent collection, MAG offers a year-round schedule of special exhibitions, lectures, concerts, tours, after-hours social events, and family activities. Learn more at mag.rochester.edu
Press contact: Paige Engard, Marketing & PR Specialist: 585.474.7695 / pengard@mag.rochester.edu
Photo 1: John Francis, Still Life with Fruits, 1865, oil on canvas. Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 1971.7