At the risk of being repetitive, I am returning to the exhibition of Thomas Moran’s Shoshone Falls, a one-painting show at the Portland Art Museum that opened yesterday. I wrote about it, and sang the praises of these small shows, in September, when PAM announced the loan from the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa (here).
I like them because a focus on one painting seems special to me — just what single painting merits a show of its own? — and it almost forces visitors to look, really look. Probable cost savings, versus large exhibitions, are another plus in these difficult times. I think these shows, of the right high-quality works, should be part of virtually every museum’s mix.
Funny, though — not every museum director seems to agree, at least not wholeheartedly. They worry that people would not make a trip to the museum for a single piece of art. And they wonder if such an exhibit would get a review, or other media coverage.
Fair enough, and I suspect that varies from city to city — and the artwork in question.
Still, I decided to see what kind of a reception Shoshone Falls has received in the Oregon press. And either the Portland Art Museum is very lucky, or these shows are marketable to the public.
In Friday’s Oregonian, Bob Hicks reviewed the painting (here), noting “Whatever you think of single-painting shows, Moran’s got the quality” and concluding “…what a painting. You should see for yourself.”
And there was more: a gallery of 14 photos illustrating the hanging of the painting at the museum (here).
And more: on the same day, Hicks did a Q & A with museum director Brian Ferriso (here), during which he revealed that he’s “finalizing negotiations on a third one-piece exhibition — after Shoshone Falls and last year’s showing of Raphael’s portrait La Velata — and shuffling through ideas with chief curator Bruce Guenther for two more after that. ‘We have some wish lists,’ he says.”
Which is what I’ve been saying: museum directors everywhere ought to have a little list of five or six top-quality works of art, perhaps with some geographic or thematic relevancy to their community, that they’d like to borrow. Dream big — the Gilcrease didn’t originally intend to lend one of its star paintings, after all. You just never know.
Maybe this little parlor game could even be interactive — museums could ask members what single work of art that is able to travel (which leaves out, say, the Mona Lisa) would they like to see on their home turf? It’s worth a shot.
Photo Credit: Amiran White, Courtesy of the Portland Oregonian