Announcing Robert Indiana: The Source, 1959–1969

Kasmin in collaboration with the Star of Hope Foundation announces a focused exhibition of works drawn from the personal collection of visionary American artist Robert Indiana.

February 19, 2025—Kasmin announces Robert Indiana: The Source, 1959–1969, a focused survey of the transformative decade in which Indiana established his unique artistic language, achieving wide recognition and cementing his place as an icon of American art. Featuring over 20 paintings drawn exclusively from the artist’s personal collection as endowed by Indiana to the Star of Hope Foundation, the exhibition will also include an example from the artist’s first edition of LOVE sculptures, conceived in 1966 and executed between 1966–1968, and a vitrine display of archival materials including some of the artist’s journals. This exhibition marks Kasmin’s first collaboration with the Star of Hope Foundation, which was established by the artist in his lifetime, and the gallery’s eighth solo exhibition of work by Indiana since 2003. Robert Indiana: The Source, 1959–1969 will be on view at 509 West 27th Street, New York, from February 27–March 29, 2025.

Robert Indiana: The Source, 1959–1969 will chronicle the Minimalist origins of Indiana’s signature use of signs, symbols, words and numbers. Pairing canonical works with those rarely seen by the public, the exhibition will provide a deeper understanding of Indiana as an artist whose output remains emblematic of American culture. The paintings on view demonstrate the personal iconography the artist ascribed to his artwork: as his peers withdrew from the aesthetics of self-expression, Indiana embarked on a career-defining inquiry into the power of symbols to represent meaning. Organized thematically, the exhibition will chart Indiana’s influential depictions of words and numbers in bold colors through his early abstractions, reflections on his personal history and the stages of life, and the poetic inevitability of transcendence—a return to the source.

Nicholas Olney, President of Kasmin, says: “We are delighted to partner with the Star of Hope Foundation to present this major Robert Indiana exhibition, offering a singular opportunity to view these significant works together in New York for the first time. This collaboration not only highlights Indiana’s artistic significance but importantly advances the foundation’s mission to support working artists in Maine. It’s a full-circle moment: Kasmin has been active in supporting Indiana’s art and legacy since 2003, and I have many fond memories of traveling with Paul Kasmin to visit Indiana at the Star of Hope Lodge. As we approach the artist’s centenary in 2028, this core group of extraordinary paintings act as a powerful reminder of Indiana’s boundless complexity and his importance as a key figure in American art.” 

Adam D. Weinberg, Director Emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art who serves on the Board of Directors of the Star of Hope Foundation, says: “This special exhibition presents very significant paintings from Indiana’s personal collection—works which he kept over many decades and lived alongside in his home and studio. We are excited to be working with Kasmin, whose longstanding support of Indiana’s art and legacy, and depth of connoisseurship on the work, is well recognized. This partnership will aid in furthering the mission of the Star of Hope Foundation, which was endowed by Indiana before his death, to support artists and cultural initiatives in Indiana’s longtime home in the state of Maine.”

Robert Indiana: The Source, 1959–1969 is presented in dialogue with Pace Gallery’s upcoming exhibition Robert Indiana: The American Dream, opening May 9 at 540 West 25th Street, New York. The Star of Hope Foundation, in collaboration with Kasmin Gallery, and The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, represented by Pace Gallery, have developed these distinct exhibitions in parallel to explore different aspects of Indiana’s artistic output and offer a diverse set of perspectives on the most formative decade of his career.

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About Robert Indiana
One of the preeminent figures in American art since the 1960s, Robert Indiana (1928–2018) played a central role in the development of assemblage art, hard-edge painting, and Pop art. Indiana, a self-proclaimed “American painter of signs,” created a highly original body of work that explores American identity, personal history, and the power of abstraction and language, establishing an important legacy that resonates in the work of many contemporary artists who make the written word a central element of their oeuvre. His work continues to resonate through contemporary art and popular culture worldwide.  Indiana’s artwork has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world, and his works are in the permanent collections of important museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York; Tate Modern, London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Menil Collection in Houston; the Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany; the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands; MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien) in Vienna, Austria; the Art Museum of Ontario in Toronto; and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He has also been included in numerous international publications and is the subject of a number of monographs.

About the Star of Hope Foundation
The Star of Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by American artist Robert Indiana in 2016. Its mission is to support artists and cultural initiatives in Maine and on the island of Vinalhaven, where Indiana lived in the historic Star of Hope building for 40 years. As an artist-endowed foundation, the Star of Hope Foundation’s activities are overseen by a Board of Directors whose philanthropic priority includes promoting visual arts in the State of Maine and the community of Vinalhaven. The Star of Hope Foundation will collaborate with other Maine-based entities to promote the visual arts and support working artists, while partnering with the Archives of American Art to assemble and organize Indiana’s personal and professional papers, memorabilia, and photographs.

About The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative
The Robert Indiana Legacy Initiative, represented worldwide by Pace Gallery, is the leading entity dedicated to the advancement of the artist’s work and is also responsible for The Robert Indiana Catalogue Raisonné, which is available online and can be found at www.robertindiana.com.