Archives for September 2010

A History Lesson: It’s 1935 — Bruno Hauptman goes on trial for kidnapping the Lindbergh baby, Elvis Presley is born, Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, the Works Progress Administration is created, Parker Brothers introduces Monopoly, FDR dedicates the Hoover Dam.

And the Museum of Modern Art — which had opened its doors six years earlier — is ready to mount its first retrospective for any living American artist.

Whom did it choose? Gaston Lachaise, whose sculpture show ran from Jan. 30 through Feb. 15.

I discovered this in a recent Bruce Museum press release about its acquisition of one of the works in the MoMA exhibition: Lachaise’s Man Walking (Portrait of Lincoln Kirstein), which (at left) was cast in 1934.

Kirstein, of course, was a giant of the arts, both visual and dance. He owned this work and wrote the introduction in the exhibition’s catalogue. Later, he gave the sculpture to the School of American Ballet, which he co-founded with George Ballanchine. ABT deaccessioned it in 1989 at Christie’s. Later it was in the hands of Hirshl & Adler and then Bernard Goldberg, who sold it in May at Christie’s, where the Bruce bought it. Fittingly, for it would seem to belong in a public institution.

All of this, except the first paragraph (about 1935), and much more is contained in the Bruce’s press release — a smart thing, as it makes a story that a plain-Jane acquisition announcement for this work may not have. The Bruce also listed “additional recommended reading” at the bottom of the release, another good idea, even if the listings are picked up by just a few. Have a look.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Bruce Museum

Here we go again: this time, it’s the Seattle Art Museum that has petitioned the court for permission to “borrow” $10 million from its endowment.

SAM is in a precarious position in part because it allied itself with the defunct Washington Mutual bank, a casualty of the mortgage lending debacle. WaMu had leased eight floors in SAM’s new 16-story building, and then it died, leaving SAM without a tenant. Chase Bank, which bought WaMu, gave the museum $10 million, and some of the space intended for WaMu has been leased, but SAM is still out several million dollars.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Through a petition filed Monday in King County Superior Court, the museum said it does not have “sufficient general operating funds” to pay its debt service on the massive downtown expansion project it undertook several years ago.

The museum must pay $4 million a year in debt service on a $60 million bond.

Though SAM’s lawyer told the P-I that the museum was “being very conservative about its stewardship of its endowment” by asking the court for permission — it doesn’t have to — that’s not the way I see it.

SAM’s endowment totals just $96 million — not that much to borrow from. Once again, a museum has created a nightmare out of big dreams:

SAM’s building…opened to great fanfare in 2007. Museum officials then had big dreams of filling the building’s upper floors. “In coming years, future generations will expand SAM upward and inherit the great legacy of a 450,000-square-foot art museum,” then director Mimi Gates had said.

Then came the recession, with its resulting declines in attendance, donations and membership.

I oppose raiding endowments. On the other hand, I agree with Michael Kaiser — who’s been lecturing (mostly performing arts) institutions against cutting their programs. SAM has already cut staff and hours. Where to get the money? It’s hoping its coming show of Picasso paintings from the Musee Picasso in Paris will create fanfare and be a big draw.

It’s the same old story — a museum dreamed too big, now it’s paying — with the added twist of the WaMu saga.

I do credit SAM for going public, but it’s impossible to raise $10 million extra dollars from exhibits. The petition apparently says SAM will now mount a major fund-raising campaign. But the P-I article does not say when, how, how much, or when it plans to repay the loan from its endowment. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

When Julian Zugazagoitia got job of running the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art last March, I was a tad surprised: it’s a big leap from running the Museo del Barrio, with an operating budget of less than $5 million, to directing the encyclopedic Nelson-Atkins, with a budget eight or so times that (according to public records).

He showed up for his first day of work yesterday, and — journalists being journalists — the Kansas City Star last Friday published an article full of people giving him advice on what to do. I have no idea if he will take their suggestions — some of them bad, imho — but in an another article published the same day, Zugazagoitia told the Star some things that sound far more sensible to me.

He intends to “reposition” the museum, because he said that while the city’s residents take pride in it, they don’t necessarily visit. But he wants to do that mainly with “small things to change the perception of who we are” — such as trying free admission on Thursday nights for two special exhibitions. He complimented some recent little things the museum had done, like providing magnifying glasses for visitors to a Mughal miniature show.

Zugazagoitia recently said two things for which he earns major points in my book:

1) He told the Star that he did not think of the museum’s audience in terms of “various constituencies — Latinos, African-Americans, artists, etc. — requiring programs that speak specifically to them.” Wonderful! A museum director who believes in the universality of art and acts that way.

2) In a press release from the musuem, Zugazagoitia spoke of plans during his first year to “explore the most remarkable treasures from the Museum’s 33,500 works of art in a monthly series of Thursday-evening conversations called Art Tasting with Julián. Beginning Oct. 21, Zugazagoitia and a curator will bring to life the finest works of each collection in the series.”

Wow! Based on his opening talk, and moves, this is a director I can applaud.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
 

The wonderful idea of a one- or two-work special exhibition continues to spread. We’ve seen it at the Prado (Velazquez and Sargent), at the Metropolitan Museum (Michelangelo), the Nevada Art Museum in Reno (Raphael and then the Beffi triptych altarpiece) and other museums.

Now the Portland Art Museum, which originated the showing of Raphael’s La Velata that went to Reno and then to Milwaukee, has landed another big loan: It announced this week that it will borrow Thomas Moran’s massive Shoshone Falls on the Snake River from the the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.

Says the press release:

Shoshone Falls, measuring more than 12 feet in length, depicts a breathtaking view of one of nature’s greatest spectacles in North America. Known as the “Niagara of the West,” Shoshone Falls is the largest waterfall along the Snake River, the natural geographic divide between Oregon and Idaho.

And here it is in its glory:

Being so big, and central to the Gilcrease Collection, Shoshone Falls doesn’t travel much — I suspect this will be the first view of it for most visitors to the Portland museum.

The loan must still be approved by the Gilcrease’s board, but that’s considered to be in the bag; the museum owns 1,366  works by Moran, though this is probably the best. It will go on view in Portland on Oct. 23 and run through Jan. 16.

Like me, Brian Ferriso, the Portland museum’s executive director, is a fan of these small shows not only because they are relatively inexpensive but more important because they draw people in to look, really look.

The museum says it will plan special programming about Moran and the painting, and that it won’t charge extra to see the work (as it did for La Velata). But it will issue some timed tickets. The Portland Oregonian has a very nice article about the loan, with good background about Moran etc., here.

Thank you, Gilcrease officials.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Gilcrease Museum