James Rosenquist, American, b. 1933, Flamingo Capsule, 1973, Color lithograph with screenprint, 36 1/2 x 76 in. Museum Purchase Fund and South Central Arts Committee, Prudential Insurance Company, 1977.02.
Jacksonville, FL — Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA), part of Arts UNF at the University of North Florida, announces The American Century, on view through March 7, 2027. Celebrating and exploring the emergence of a distinct American art that redefined the aesthetic landscape of our era, The American Century spans from the raw energy of Abstract Expressionism to the kaleidoscopic perspectives of today's artists.
The seismic transition of the United States from isolationism in the early twentieth century, to its role as a global leader of democratic ideals post-World War II, brought publisher Henry Luce to famously declare the 20th century as “The American Century.” While crucial economic and political shifts were evolving globally, this change was especially evident in the world of art, when in the late 1940s the center of gravity crossed the Atlantic, shifting from the salons in Paris to the studios in New York City. The American Century charts the birth of a uniquely American vocabulary that, marked by continual innovation and change, would transform the way we understand the arts in our time and place. Through works in MOCA Jacksonville’s permanent collection, the exhibition spans from the transformative raw energy of Abstract Expressionism and its succeeding ramifications, through to the kaleidoscopic perspectives of today’s artists, capturing the richness of our ever-unfolding contemporary narrative.
This exhibition features works by Radcliffe Bailey, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Keith Haring, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, James Rosenquist, Shinique Smith, Frank Stella, Kara Walker, and others from MOCA Jacksonville's permanent collection.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Within the exhibition is a section dedicated to Abstract Expressionism, which emerged in the 1940s and became the first specifically American art movement to achieve international influence. Drawing from postwar existentialism and Surrealist automatism, these painters rejected the representation of the external world. Instead, they championed pure self-expression, transposing what artist Robert Motherwell called “felt experience” directly onto the canvas. This gave the artists an unprecedented freedom of execution. When painting is liberated from the task of representation, the expressive powers of line, color, and form can be explored. As critic Harold Rosenberg famously observed in 1952, the canvas was no longer a space to reproduce an object, but “an area in which to act.” For the Action Painters, the final artwork was the physical trace of an event.
A subsequent generation of artists, known as the “Second Generation”—including Ed Clark, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Michael Goldberg, Al Held, and Joan Mitchell—expanded the movement’s tenets in diverse stylistic directions, leaning variously into the color-field aspects, the gestural characteristics, and the literal or figurative aspects. These developments would allow Color Field painting, Hard-edge abstraction, and Lyrical Abstraction to emerge, but also the happenings, performance art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art that would follow.
SPECIAL THANKS
This exhibition was curated by Senior Curator Ylva Rouse. Special thanks to Lauren and Ted Baker and Joan and Preston Haskell for their generous support and participation.
This exhibition was made possible in part by: the City of Jacksonville, the Donald and Maria Cox Fund, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, Joan and Preston Haskell, the MOCA Jacksonville Board of Trustees, MOCA Director’s Circle Members, the University of North Florida, and by the generous support of MOCA members.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Coffee with a Curator: The American Century with Ylva Rouse
Saturday, August 29, 2026 |11 a.m.–12 p.m. | MOCA Members Free, Non-Members $15
This intimate event offers conversations with a museum curator and guest speakers about current exhibitions at MOCA. Guests can enjoy coffee and snacks from Setlan Coffee Co., and time in the galleries.
MOCA JACKSONVILLE MEDIA KIT & CONTACT
Learn more about The American Century here. For questions or to schedule interviews, please contact Arts UNF Director of Communications Amber Sesnick at amber.sesnick@unf.edu or 904-303-0703. Press release and images can be found here.
ABOUT MOCA JACKSONVILLE
Located in the heart of historic downtown, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville is one of the city’s most significant cultural assets. As the oldest art museum in Northeast Florida and one of the first contemporary art museums to be established in the United States, MOCA is focused on promoting the discovery, knowledge, and advancement of the art, artists, and ideas of our time.
In 1924, a group of visionary local women artists came together to imagine the kind of city they wanted Jacksonville to be — the kind of community they wanted to live in and be a part of. At the core of their vision for a rich, vital, dynamic city were art, culture, and education. Thus, what we now call MOCA Jacksonville was born — first as a series of exhibitions by artists of the day, used as a fundraising tool to support public school education; then as a guild; and later as an art museum and educational leader. In 2009, MOCA became a cultural institute of the University of North Florida and in 2025 the museum became one of only three percent of museums to achieve accreditation through the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition afforded to American museums. More than a century later, MOCA’s mission remains focused on the art, artists, and ideas of our time, with a vision that unites education, creativity, and community building in the heart of downtown Jacksonville.
Among the most prominent contemporary art museums in the Southeast, MOCA’s exhibitions and programs set the pace for arts and art-integrated programming on a regional and national stage, with an emphasis on works created from 1960 to the present. Renowned in this community, MOCA casts the spotlight on Jacksonville as a burgeoning, vital arts destination. The museum is free to the public every Saturday during VyStar Free Saturdays at MOCA, as well as the first and third Wednesday evening of each month during Museum Nights at MOCA presented by Florida Blue.
MOCA Jacksonville is located at 333 N. Laura Street in Downtown Jacksonville. For more information including hours of operation, admission prices, and upcoming exhibitions and programs, call 904-620-1214 or visit mocajacksonville.unf.edu.
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AMBER SESNICK
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
ARTS UNF
W: 904-620-3224 | C: 904-303-0703
MOCA JACKSONVILLE
Part of Arts UNF at the University of North Florida
333 North Laura Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Follow @mocajax