David Hartt

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David Hartt, The Garden (Arctium Iappaceum, Glechoma hederacea, Aegopodium podagraia, Taraxacum officinale, Silene dioica / Heemstede, Netherlands / May 24, 2023), 2023

David Hartt (b. 1967 in Montréal; based in Philadelphia) is a multidisciplinary artist who explores how historic ideas and ideals persist or transform over time. His research often transcends fields of art history, anthropology, and botany. Recent works have examined biodiversity and the migration of landscapes as it relates to the social and cultural histories of human diasporas. Hartt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hartt's solo exhibition, Peripheries, is now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through February 7, 2027. Other recent solo exhibitions include The Art Institute of Chicago; Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut; the Graham Foundation, Chicago; and the Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, New York, among others.

His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Jewish Museum, New York; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among others.

Exhibitions

Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: Metabolic Rift

Metabolic Rift

14 Jun – 28 Sep 2025

Georg Kolbe Museum
Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: Natural World

Natural World

30 Sep 2022 – 15 Jan 2023

Cincinnati Art Museum
Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: The Histories (Old Black Joe)

The Histories (Old Black Joe)

21 Aug 2021 – 2 Jan 2022

Hammer Museum
Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: in the forest

in the forest

14 Sep 2017 – 6 Jan 2018

Graham Foundation
Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: Interval

Interval

4 Jun – 11 Oct 2015

Art Institute of Chicago
Featured Image (Installation View) of exhibtion: Stray Light

Stray Light

17 May – 11 Aug 2014

Carnegie Museum of Art

Press

Mimi Zeiger David Hartt: Paradise Lost Aperture Jun 2024Travis Diehl David Hartt: Digging up modernist myths at the Glass House Artforum Nov 2022Osman Can Yerebakan The Philadelphia artist activating Frank Lloyd Wright's only synagogue Wallpaper Oct 2022Louisa Shepard Of the Moment Penn Today Aug 2021Felix Burrichter David Hartt: On Architecture & Black Authorship SSENSE Feb 2021Alex Jen David Hartt: The Histories (Le Mancenillier) The Brooklyn Rail Nov 2019Aimee Walleston David Hartt: Studio Museum in Harlem Art in America Sep 2013