Sunday, January 24, 2010

Exhibitions of Interest January/February 2010

1. 2,000 Years of Geography and Mapping at the Bruce Museum
Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, Antwerp, 1570. Private collection.

GREENWICH, CT.- The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, presents the new exhibition Writing the Earth: 2,000 Years of Geography and Mapping from January 30 through May 2, 2010. The exhibition features a selection of world maps that were printed between 1511 and 1800 and are on loan from a private collection. The show also includes a small group of maps from 1570 featuring the Americas. Many maps are startlingly accurate; many are measures of the continuing professional progress of human ignorance. Among the most endearing qualities of any old map is the degree to which its errors vastly outnumber its truths. They are all a record - in line, graphic, color, and word - of the history of the Earth as its keener, commercially ..





2. New York Harbor Quadricentennial Saluted with Extensive Exhibition
These antiquarian maps tell the story from a centuries-old perspective. Photo: Courtesy of The New York Public Library.
NEW YORK, NY.- The New York Public Library celebrates Henry Hudson and Dutch acumen with "Mapping New York's Shoreline: 1609-2009," a comprehensive exhibition featuring rare and extraordinary maps, atlases, books, journals, broadsides, manuscripts, prints, and an animation superimposing historical maps on a three-dimensional Google Earth model drawn primarily from the Library’s Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, and from other New York Public Library collections. In September 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into New York Harbor and up the river that would later be named in his honor, performing detailed reconnaissance of the Valley region. Other explorers had passed by ... More



3. Metropolitan Museum, New York - Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from Australia, December 15, 2009–June 13, 2010The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, 1st floor


This installation features fourteen bold and colorful paintings created by contemporary Aboriginal Australian artists. Drawn from a private collection in the U. S., the installation provides an introduction to Aboriginal painting, which has become Australia’s most celebrated contemporary art movement and has attained prominence within the international art world. The works on view—all of which have never before been on public display—were created primarily over the past decade by artists from the central desert, where the contemporary painting movement began, and from adjoining regions, to which the movement spread. On view are paintings by prominent artists, including some of the founders of the contemporary movement, as well as emerging figures. This is the first presentation of contemporary Australian Aboriginal painting to be held at the Metropolitan Museum.





4. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming - “Splendid Heritage” opens to the public May 1 and presents more than 140 masterworks of American Indian art from the Northeastern Woodlands, Plateau and Plains regions. The MetLife Foundation grant completes funding for the exhibition, which has also received a grant from the Wyoming Humanities Council and a donation from Naoma Tate, a member of the Historical Center’s Board of Trustees.
The 18th- and 19th-century Plains, Plateau, and Northeastern American Indian objects in the exhibition are all from the private collection of John and Marva Warnock. Pieces include beaded tobacco bags, weapons, dolls, cradles, war shirts, dresses, moccasins and more — most of which had never been on public view prior to the exhibition’s February 2009 debut at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, which spearheaded the project.

5.

Some Thoughts from an Artist

Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs. Picasso

Friede - de Young Update


A few weeks ago, it was announced that a tentative settlement has been reached in the four- way dispute among the de Young Museum, John Friede, Friede's two brothers, and Sothebys.

The attorneys involved announced that the agreement if confirmed will give the de Young clear title to 274 of 398 pieces of Papua New Guinea artwork housed at the city-owned museum - a compilation that nation's ambassador to the United States hailed as an "unparalleled and extensive collection of masterpieces."

The fate of the remaining 124 pieces at the de Young Museum, dozens of them on loan from Sotheby's, is still unresolved and could result in some of the pieces being sold to satisfy a roughly $20 million debt to the auction house.

New York philanthropists John and Marcia Friede collected 4,000 or more pieces of New Guinea tribal art over four decades and promised the prized works to the de Young Museum in a series of agreements dating to 2003.

The de Young Museum specifically designed an 8,000-square-foot gallery named for the couple to house the collection when it rebuilt its Golden Gate Park home. The artwork, named the Jolika Collection after the first letters in the Friedes' three children's names, was to be transferred over a period of years. But the couple also used the works to secure loans from Sotheby's to acquire more pieces and, at the insistence of John Friede's brothers, put the collection up as collateral in an inheritance dispute following the 2005 death of John Friede's mother, Evelyn A.J. Hall, sister of publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg.
The result was a series of legal battles in California, New York and Florida. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera went to court in September 2008 to try to prevent John Friede's two brothers from seizing the collection and selling parts of it to raise up to $20 million after a Florida judge ruled that Friede had violated the terms of a legal settlement involving their mother's estate. In that case, John Friede had agreed to pay his brothers $30 million and put up the Jolika Collection as collateral, despite already having pledged it to the de Young. He values the entire collection at about $300 million.

John Friede had paid his brothers more than $22 million of the $30 million, but legal fees and interest made the shortfall around $10 million, court documents show. In April, the city agreed to sell 76 works not at the museum to help pay the Friedes' debts. Only some have been sold.
Under the settlement, the balance John Friede owes his brothers will be set at $5.65 million and will be paid from three sources: John Friede's one-third share of the Pierre Bonnard painting "Le dejeuner" that he owns with his brothers; a portion of a $3.7 million payment from his mother's estate that was to go the de Young to pay for upkeep, promotion and study of the Jolika Collection; and proceeds held in escrow from the sale of some of the works not housed at the museum, lawyers involved in the case said.

The brothers, Thomas Jaffe and Robert Friede, agree to give the de Young clear ownership of 168 works at the museum, on top of the 106 collection pieces the de Young indisputably owns.
"We've achieved a great result in protecting the museum's works from the brothers' claims," Deputy City Attorney Don Margolis said. "Everyone compromised to some extent."
Rosemary Halligan, an attorney for Friede's half-brother, Thomas Jaffe, noted that the agreement is tentative.

"We're not there yet, but we're hopeful that we'll get there," Halligan said. The Board of Trustees for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which oversees the de Young, signed off on the proposal Dec. 10. 'Very, very pleased' John Friede said it is premature to comment before the settlement is finalized, but added that he is "very, very pleased with the progress."
Also unclear is what will happen to about 3,500 pieces at the Friedes' Rye, N.Y., home, which the couple has planned to gradually turn over to the de Young. Some could be sold to resolve the Sotheby's case in New York. "We believe it's still (the Friedes') desire to bequeath these works to the museum," Margolis said. (Refer to http://www.sfgate.com/)

So in summation the Friedes still have an obligation both to Sothebys and Friede's brothers. Clearly the success at auction of the Friede pieces offered to date suggests this dispute will soon be settled.

Another Great Success for Nelson-Atkins

Credit must go to Marc Wilson, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and his exhibition "Magnificent Gifts for 75th" which has inspired 75 matrons to donate over 400 works of art to celebrate this important date in the museum's history. Considering the substantial gift of Northwest Coast and Eskimo art by Estelle and Morton Sosland, this has to be considered extraordinary in these economic time. The lead gift of 7 African works by Edele and Donald Hall (Hallmark cards) will be a great boost to a small but fine African collection. The collection has been without specific curatorial expertise since the departure years ago by African art expert David Binkley, who left for the National Museum of African Art. This is a significant addition that will one hopes will attract a first rate African curator.

"KANSAS CITY, MO.- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art today announced a promised gift of seven extraordinary works of African art from the private collection of longtime Museum patrons Adele and Donald Hall, in honor of the Museum’s 75th Anniversary. The gifts, each a superb example of African art, will greatly elevate and broaden the Museum’s range of holdings in this area. Among the gifts are an intricately carved ivory Salt Cellar from the late 15th to early 16th century and an outstanding example of a wooden carving by the Luba artist known as the “Master of the Cascade Coiffure.”

The seven works will be on view in the exhibition Magnificent Gifts for the 75th that opens to the public Feb. 13 as the capstone event of the anniversary year. The exhibition is the result of a year-long collecting initiative that inspired 75 Museum patrons to give or promise more than 400 works of art to the Nelson-Atkins, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, new media art, ceramics, glass, furniture and books. The exhibition will feature 130 of the gifts.

“The outpouring of gifts has been tremendously gratifying and, as is often the case, Adele and Don led the way with their generosity,” said Marc F. Wilson, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell Director/CEO. “They are setting once again an example of what individuals can do to share their passion in a way that matters and that benefits the public. Each of these works of art has a personality and a story, almost like a family member in the Hall household. Any museum would be thrilled to have these, but we are especially honored to receive art personally acquired by the Halls.”

The Halls are long-time benefactors of the Nelson-Atkins who have greatly influenced and supported the Museum’s collection-building and recent expansion project. Mr. Hall is chairman of the board of Hallmark Cards Inc., a company founded in Kansas City by his father, Joyce Hall, 100 years ago. Mr. Hall has served on the Nelson-Atkins Board of Trustees for 29 consecutive years, beginning in March 1980, and Mrs. Hall helped lead fund-raising efforts in support of the Generations Campaign and a $100 million endowment initiative.

The Halls bought their first piece of African art within the first year of their marriage. They found themselves drawn to African works because of the tremendous sculptural quality, the power and contemporary nature of the designs, and the function of the objects within their cultures. Throughout the years, they have been advised by curators and specialists in the field, and they continue to acquire important works.

“None of these pieces were originally made to be in a private collection,” Mrs. Hall said. “They were designed to honor an ancestor, or to carry soil from one home place to another, or to bind a contract, or for ensuring fertility. There was a great deal of ceremony involved.”

Masterworks from the Hall Collection

The seven works promised to the Nelson-Atkins are as follows:

• Headrest, African, Attributed to the Master of the Cascade Coiffure, Luba peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo, late 19th – early 20th century. Wood, glass beads, and copper, 5 5/16 x 4 ½ x 3 ½ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 14.2010.2.

High-ranking Luba women and men slept with headrests such as this to protect elaborate hairstyles, which indicated civilized refinement and both exterior and interior beauty. This headrest is attributed to the “Master of the Cascade Coiffure,” one of the most renowned 19th-century Luba artists. With its animated female figure, it is an outstanding representative of the diminutive, elegantly carved headrests attributed to this artist, or workshop.

• Salt Cellar, African, Sierra Leone, late 15th – early 16th century. Ivory, 7 ¾ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 14.2010.3.

This intricately carved salt cellar with its beautifully rendered figures is one of the more important Sapi-Portuguese ivories. It is attributed to a workshop distinguished by salt cellars featuring cylindrical, openwork bases, and it is carved from one piece of ivory (excepting the lid). A luxury object, it would have been commissioned by Portuguese from local workshops, and incorporates an inventive combination of European and African design elements. The egg-shaped container is decorated with narrow beaded bands (a European embellishment) and supported by four standing figures (an African innovation).

• Trance Diviner’s Figure, African, Baule peoples, Ivory Coast, 19th century. Wood, beads, and cloth, 19 ½ x 5 ¼ x 6 inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 10.2007.2.

This elegant sculpture was created to house one of the powerful wilderness spirits that communicated with Baule diviners during trance possession. Wilderness spirits, although frightful and inhuman, are attracted to images of ideal human beauty, characterized by this figure’s enlarged head, intricate hairstyle and beard, elongated neck and scarification. The wilderness spirit may partner with a male or female by possessing and placing the diviner in a trance state. The spirit can then communicate remedies for personal or community misfortune to the diviner.

• Female Spirit Mask, African, Punu peoples, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 19th century. Wood and pigment, 10 x 6 ½ x 6 ½ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 10.2007.1.

Worldly, wise and peaceful, this beautiful mask with its elaborate coiffure and scarification captures the idealized beauty of a mature Punu woman. It is an outstanding example of masks of this type, which would have appeared in masquerades during funeral celebrations to represent a young woman’s spirit. Applications of white kaolin clay were associated with the spiritual realm to depict female and male ancestral spirits.

• Personal Shrine Figure, African, Igbo peoples, Nigeria, ca. 1900. Wood and pigment, 29 ½ x 9 ¾ x 10 ¼ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 12.2001.9.

This masterfully carved personal shrine figure is one of the most important Igbo ikenga figures, or those dedicated to male power and achievement. Rams’ horns symbolize male aggression and determination, and the curved sword symbolizes decisive action. The eagles and python-reigning creatures of sky and water allude to supreme achievement in life, including military endeavors. Human trophy heads symbolize military success, and European pith helmets on the trophy heads express continuing power despite the challenges of colonial rule

• Seated Female Figure, African, Baule peoples, Ivory Coast, early 20th century. Wood, 14 ½ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 14.2010.1.

This serenely composed figure, adorned with armlets and waistbeads, displays the idealized traits of a Baule spirit wife: an elegant coiffure, beautifying scarification and filed incisors. According to customary beliefs, all men and women have other-world mates with powers to influence their human partners’ lives. Sculptural representations of one’s spirit spouse could be commissioned for a shrine situated in the privacy of one’s sleeping room.

• Royal Staff Finial, African, Kongo Kingdom, Yombe peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 17th – 18th century. Ivory with palm oil, 7 7/8 x 2 ¾ x 1 ½ inches. Promised gift of Adele and Donald Hall in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 12.2001.11.

The ivory figure, half female and half leopard, appears to represent a founding ancestress of the Yombe. The royal woman holds two gourds that may contain potent medicines associated with rulers’ occult powers. The snarling leopard with its serpent-headed forepaws is a fearsome representation of royal authority and military prowess. Two spiraled staffs flanking the leopard may be royal mvwala staffs drawing power from the earth and ancestral dead. Ivory and the warm, red tone of this figure, achieved through the application of red palm oil, represent powerful spiritual forces. " ArtDailey.org

Washkuk figure - Picture of the Month


Channeling Other Worlds
Washkuk Mindja figure
1st half 20th century