Coming to the Art Museum July 24 through December 21, 2025

Giants and Gems will juxtapose the largest and the smallest works from the LIM’s Art and History collections, including fine arts, crafts, costumes, and household objects. Viewers will be confronted by the effects of varying scale and consider the way this artistic decision impacts the viewing experience. When an artist conceives of a new work, one of their first decisions must be about the size of the final piece. Will it be larger than life, enveloping the viewer’s entire field of vision? Or will it be scaled down, forcing both the artist and the viewer to come close to it and treat it delicately? Size and scale are important components in both the intellectual and emotional responses to art. Taking a recognizable object or figure and dramatically enlarging or miniaturizing it disorients the viewer, allowing a new experience with something familiar. This new perspective lends itself to discovery as the viewer must interact with and view the object in an unusual way, often seeing details and reading meanings missed in the conventional object.