Artworks

Happy Birthday, and What That Means

One hundred years ago, the last emperor of China abdicated; the Saturday Evening Post published its first Norman Rockwell cover; war raged in Europe and the Near East; Gregory Peck was born; and the Cleveland Museum of Art opened its doors.

Thus, as 2015 turned into 2016, the Cleveland museum rang in the start of its 100th anniversary season with a party in its giant atrium, with a DJ and live performances. And, Cleveland Scene says,

In addition to a complimentary champagne toast and desserts at midnight, the party includes gallery programs, psychedelic visuals in the Atrium, curator-led tours, free admission to Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, a cash bar and additional surprises. All of the museum’s permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions will be open during the party.

What happens in the coming months is more important. I read about the events and program so far in the museums November-December and January-February editions of Cleveland Art, its magazine. They include exhibitions, of course, such as Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt, opening in March; members-only events; a two-day centennial festival weekend in July that inaugurates a three-year partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra and a Centennial gala. I like three other elements best:

A Centennial Art Truck, which will drive to various parts of Cleveland with pop-up art exhibitions, the capacity for art-making by the public and art conversations.
“A Big Draw Event,” a Sunday in October when everyone will drawing in the museum galleries. Ok, not every one, but I hope many people.
Masterpiece Loans, from other museums, including Titian’sÂ Portrait of Alfonso dâ€™Avalos, Marchese del Vasto, in Armor with a Page, on loan from the Getty Museum and now on view (pictured); Kerry James Marshall’sÂ Bang, from the Progressive Art Collection, also on view now; and Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on view in mid-April.

Cleveland has not announced all the loans yet; but this effort reminds me of what the Dulwich Picture Gallery did in 2010 for its 200th birthday–a loan of a masterpiece each month. Each of those was spectacular, and the fact that they were put on view in a monthly, very orderly way, made it easy for the public to keep the effort in mind.

Cleveland’s seems to be a little less organized, but it’s still a wonderful thing. You and I may travel to museums to see special art works, but not everyone does. And I’ve always been a fan of the focus on one picture.

So happy birthday, CMA; you’re off to a good start.

And To All A Good Night…

It’s my tradition at Christmas time to share a beautiful nativity scene with readers of Real Clear Arts. This year, I’ve chosen a painting by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi–a tondo titled Adoration of the Magi and now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, though once in the possession of the Medicis. Measuring just over 54 inches in diameter, it dates to the mid 15th century and came to the NGA courtesy of Samuel H. Kress.

Here is the NGA’s description. The Wikipedia entry on the painting is quite extensive, and though I did not check out its accuracy, I found it to be enlighteding, partly because it also contains pictures of two tondos worth knowing, one by Botticelli and the other byÂ Domenico Veneziano, as well as details of the Angelico/Lippi work. And if you really want to inspect it, go to its place in the Google Cultural Institute trove.

Merry Christmas to all!

Small Museum Makes Waves

For Sotheby’s, the continuing sales of Alfred Taubman’s estate have got to be a disappointment. The auctioneer may not even make back its $500 million-plus guarantee, based on sales of his Impressionist, Modern, contemporary and American art, let alone make a profit.

This week, his The Great Florida SunsetÂ (at left) by Martin Johnson Heade sold for a record $5.85 million, including the buyer’s premium, but that was far below the presale estimate of $7- to $10 million, without fees. Further, eight of his 31 American works were bought in and are now presumably owned by Sotheby’s.

Nonetheless, there’s a bit of sunshine in this news for the public. Heade’s painting is headed for a museum! It’s a little-known one in Winona, Minn. called the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Founded and funded by Mary Burrichter and her husband, Bob Kierlin, the museum will display the piece, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, beginning next spring. The couple apparently retains ownership (at least for now).

Last year, the couple purchased a version of Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware,Â similar to the one at the Metropolitan Museum.

A visit to the museum’s website–its motto is “Great Art Flows Through Us”–shows an active program and a collection that runs from traditional, through Impressionist and Modern to contemporary marine paintings. I’d like to go.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Sotheby’sÂ

Becoming An Art Convert In Spain–And Why

Earlier this year, I made an art pilgrimage to Valladolid,Â the home of Spain’s National Museum of Sculpture. So much Spanish Renaissance and Baroque sculpture resides and stays in Spain, sometimes because it can’t leave and sometimes because there is no demand to borrow it, and I had felt remiss in not having seen enough Spanish Old Master Sculpture.

I particularly wantedÂ to see JuanÂ de Juni’s TheÂ Burial of Christ, which I had proposed for theÂ Masterpiece column that runs every Saturday inÂ The Wall Street Journal. It was an easy sell. And my piece, headlined A Tableau Animated by Grief, ran this past weekend.

But among the public, I think Spanish Renaissance and Baroque art is a hard sell. It’s too religious, too unflinching for these secular times, some say. I didn’t like all the blood either. But, as I wrote in the Masterpiece column, I am now a convert. Just take a look at what Juni’s ensemble, sixÂ figures surrounding the dead Christ (detail above), looks like. It is spectacular. (You can see two additional close-ups here.)

The museum in Valladolid was a real treat because it tells a long and beautiful story, and–best of all–it tells it in a way that allows comparison among artists. You can easily contrast Juni (c. 1507â€“1577) with the other major sculptor of this era,Â Alonso Berruguete (1488â€“1561). Berrugete is represented there by a massive, multi-section altarpiece, one fragment of which I have posted here at right.

As it turned out, the WSJ had already published a Masterpiece column on a sculpture called The Sacrifice of Isaac in 2014. You can read that article and see the piece here.

But that was all right with me. In Valladolid, I realized that I had chosen the right guy. While I was there, I spoke with the museum’s subdirector,Â Manuel Arias MartÃnez, about the two. He had pointed out their similarities and their differences.Â Berruguete, he said, was a painter as well as a sculptor and had worked quickly in a refined, elegant Mannerist style. Juni, purely a sculptor, slowly and carefully carved his pieces in a more detailed, more realistic style.

Then he said the best line:Â â€œBerrugueteâ€™s sculptures are to see. Juniâ€™s are to pray.â€ Trueâ€”overallâ€”but I think Juniâ€™s The Burial of Christ surely does double duty.

At the museum, Berruguete’s art takes up a long gallery and more on the ground floor. Upstairs, after a couple of small galleries, Juni’s sits at the end of a long, beautifully carved set of choir stalls. Here’s what that looks like:

Juni had carved a similar version of the burial for the Segovia cathedral, so naturally I also went there to see what that looked like. For one, it has some of the outer structure of the sculpture that, in Valladolid, has been lost. It’s also, obviously, more of a relief than a sculpture.

And just for your comparison, here are two more entombment scenes that I saw in Spain–nice but not Juni.

On The Road: The Maine Art Museum Trail

If you ever have the opportunity, drive the Maine Art Museum Trail. Did you even know there was a MAMT? Or that it includes eight institutions around the state, from the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in the south to the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor?

Truth is, it should be better known. This summer, the museums are trying with a special exhibition called “Directors’ Cut” at the Portland Museum of Art; for it, each museum director was given a certain amount of space to fill and each chose works for that space. What results is kind of a mishmash, but that’s ok–it’s a small sampling meant to whet the appetite for more.

I did it the trail last month, and it was well worth my time. In fact, I wish I had taken more time than the four days I spent on the trail. The museums present mostly American art, except for the three largest–the Colby College Museum of Art,Â the Portland Museum, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. All told, they say they own 73,000 works of art. Yes, the collections are uneven. The university collections are for teaching, after all. But on the trail you will see lots of treasures and the occasional masterpiece, plus manyÂ representative works worth seeing.

Tomorrow’s Wall Street JournalÂ has my take on the trail, headlined Hunting Beauty on Maine’s Art Museum Trail. It occupies a full page, and has includes four art works.

What can I add here? More pictures.