ROMANCE




Things to Come: OUTLINES, 1941–1947

an exhibition devoted to the historic Pittsburgh gallery
co-curated by Brittany Reilly
March 20–August 29, 2026

Things to Come: OUTLINES, 1941–1947,  co-curated by Brittany Reilly, revisits the history and impact of Outlines, an experimental gallery active in Pittsburgh between 1941 and 1947. Founded by 21-year-old artist Elizabeth “Betty” Rockwell (1920–1998) along the city’s Boulevard of the Allies, Outlines created a radically interdisciplinary program and meeting ground for the avant-garde that expanded thinking toward hybrid models. Things to Come—titled after H.G. Wells’s speculative fiction screenplay and its 1936 film adaptation shown at Outlines as part of Rockwell’s robust film series—will unfold over the course of five months and as a subtle backdrop for Romance’s concurrent gallery programming. Alongside select archival material and works by artists and designers exhibited at Outlines—including original pieces shown at the historic gallery—an ongoing series of  programs featuring emerging and contemporary artists will engage the model of what Rockwell described as a “public–gallery–library–theater of modern art.” 

Special thanks to the Marty O’Brien Collection of American Art courtesy of the O’Brien Art Foundation; Collection of Jason McClelland; Cathy Raphael; Kris Rockwell Foundation; Jason Tracy; Steven Haines;  the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; and Tracing Outlines, 2015 documentary, Cayce Mell; Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh.


     i. Meshes and Designs

        Anni Albers, Alexander Calder,  Julio De Diego,
        Maya Deren, Gertrude Glass Greene, Sam Kramer,
        Paul Mayén, Peter Müller-Munk  Isamu Noguchi,
        Jens Risom,  Arthur “Art” Smith, Eva Zeisel

 

     ii. Archive Theater

        Joseph Cornell, Werner Drewes, Balcomb Greene,
        Stanley William Hayter, Irene Rice Pereira,
        Jackson Pollock, Russell Gould Twiggs


     iii. “The Store for Art in Craft and People-Made Things”

         Objects and Archives from Betty Rockwell’s “the store,” 1971

 

     iv. Aftersounds (Lectures & Performances)

        Andrew W. Alison, Davine Byon,
        Justin Emmanuel Dumas, Max Guy, Hellmouth
        (Ang Ziqi Zhang/Michael DeMaio), Phil Johnson,
        PEEL, Harrison Kinnane Smith,
        Laurie Trok, Emilia Wang