Financial History Issue 113 (Spring 2015) | Page 10

THE TICKER  MUSEUM NEWS Museum Displays “Legal Tender” Exhibition Featuring Currency Flag Paintings of Artist Emily Erb On April 1, the Museum opened “Legal Tender,” an exhibition featuring the work of Philadelphia-based artist Emily Erb. The solo exhibition consists of large-scale flag paintings depicting US paper currency produced from 1862 through the present. In 2012, Erb began to examine the subject of money through her painting practice. Pulling a dollar out of her pocket and photocopying the front and back at 18 times its original size, the artist then layered silk fabric over the enlarged photocopy and trace-painted the two sides of the giant bill. The result was an enlarged replica that the artist hung like a flag in various public spaces throughout Philadelphia. In “Legal Tender,” Erb ironically offers up 12 representations of metaphorically counterfeit money as a luxurious creative medium of exchange in silk paintings installed from flagpoles. Conflating American currency with patriotic symbols of national identity, the artist initiates a dialogue on what constitutes the nation’s collective value system. “Legal Tender” was curated by the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts’ Gretchen Hupfel Curator of Contemporary Art, Maiza Hixson. It will be on view through August 31, 2015.  Artist Emily Erb employs the ancient Indian technique of silk painting to reflect a global perspective on the history of American money. Shown here are the fronts of three of the 12 flags in the “Legal Tender” exhibition. JUN 2 1987 President Reagan taps an economic consultant named Alan Greenspan to replace the renowned Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve. 8    FINANCIAL HISTORY  |  Spring 2015  | www.MoAF.org JUN 6 1964 The Securities Exchange Act — which created the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) — is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.