Phoenix has a wonderful reason to return to Phoenix Art Museum: George Elbert Burr: The Desert Etchings is now on view through April 11, 2027, in the Orme Lewis Gallery of the Ballinger Wing. Happy City News is delighted to share an exhibition that celebrates both the Arizona desert and one of the artists who helped create this museum.
The installation brings together more than 50 prints drawn from the Museum’s extensive collection of prints and drawings. Burr, an American painter and printmaker, is best known for his depictions of high desert landscapes across Arizona, Colorado and Southern California. His etchings of resolutely American subjects have been exhibited alongside those of Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Rijn, and up close his fine lines turn cactus, rock and desert light into something quiet and unforgettable.
Burr’s Phoenix story is just as special. He was instrumental in founding the Phoenix Fine Art Association and in the community-building efforts that led to the establishment of Phoenix Art Museum in 1959. Fittingly, this show is an inaugural installation of the James K. Ballinger Wing, organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Olga Viso, the Selig Family Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. Find the Museum at 1625 North Central Avenue – a perfect, inspiring outing in the heart of the city.
Photo: Phoenix Art Museum
