Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Another Find In the Basement!

This time, the basement is in Honolulu, not New Haven or Brooklyn or Denver.

Art-Museum4-jpgAccording to KITV, the Honolulu Museum of  Art made a discovery when a group of Korean art historians were looking at uncatalogued art works in a vault. They found a Korean ink painting on silk, dating back to 1586.

They said this is very important. That’s when we knew we came across something special when that happened,” recalled [Shawn] Eichman, [the museum’s curator]….

We found the one that is the gem among gems,” said Eichman. “Ten years after painting [was made] the peninsula was invaded by Japan, who destroyed everything they found. To be able to find anything before invasion is a huge discovery….It’s hands down the most valuable in our Korean collection.”

The museum acquired the work (detail above) in 2003 when it purchased more than 3,000 items from Asian art collector Richard Lane for $26,000.

Eichman didn’t say what the discovered work is worth, but said the collection is now “easily worth millions,” the network said. And who knows what else is in the trove?

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Honolulu Museum of Art

The Sadness of the Corcoran’s Final Throes

CorcoranWhile I was gone, the Corcoran Gallery of Art issued its own obituary and — once again — managed to screw it up. It was only last April that the Corcoran formed an alliance with the University of Maryland to explore a partnership to preserve the school and gallery as one entity, but in the new release — made public last Wednesday — it doesn’t even mention that attempted “solution.”

According to Washingtonian, despite meetings between U-Md. officials and representatives of the Corcoran “as recently as two weeks ago to continue hammering out the details of an arrangement” between the two institutions, U-Md. learned of the new plan from a phone call only moments before the statement was issued. Read the president’s statement and you’ll see just how much work U-Md. put into this effort, now all a waste.

I’ve covered corporate takeovers in which the loser got more notice than that — despite market implications. The lack of basic courtesy by the Corcoran board and staff, if those reports are correct, is astounding.

Now onto the real issue: is the new deal sensible? (If you have not already read the details — the collection goes to the National Gallery of Art, the school to George Washington University, etc. — can read them in the Corcoran’s press release.)  Given the poor and often total lack of management skill at the Corcoran, I say yes, with regret. I would have liked the Corcoran to remain an independent entity, with an engaged and committed board, one that would step up with contributions — which is part of their duty. But that was not in the cards. The fact that trustees let the Corcoran deteriorate so much before going public speaks volumes.

It has been painful to watch the Corcoran’s struggles. Every museum trustee should familiarize him- or herself with the museum’s decline, and make sure that he or she is not going to let it happen at their institution. And directors everywhere, working through the board chair, should encourage discussion about it.

Speed to the Speed For a Discovery

I’m giving you really good news from the Speed Art Museum, because the news from my orthopedist today was really bad. I have to take it easy with my arm, which is getting a new cast on Tuesday, for six weeks. And typing with one hand isn’t easy.

klee-untiledBut the Speed news is a simple story: while the museum is expanding, it has been assessing the condition of works in its collection, planning to repair damage suffered over the years. Looking through a 1998 gift from General Dillman A. Rash and Nancy Baton Rash, which included paintings by Picasso, Chagall, Dubuffet and Utrillo, it sent another part of the bequest, — Seven Blossoms, a drawing by Paul Klee — to paper conservator Christine Young in Nashville, asking her to remove the acidic core of the paperboard to help preserve it. Picking up from the press release:

In the course of her work, Young made a surprising—but very welcome—discovery. As she cautiously removed the original drawing from its mount, she uncovered a previously unknown second drawing by Klee on the reverse. “It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t happen to a conservator very often,” remarked Young, “but when it does, it’s exciting.”

The newly discovered watercolor (seen in above image) drawing depicts a town or village with stylized, geometric buildings set against a landscape. Triangles on the right evoke hills or mountains, while the circle and ovoid forms in the sky are reminiscent of the celestial bodies of the moon and stars that appear in Klee’s paintings from the 1910s and early 1920s.

To Young, it quickly became apparent that no one had seen the drawing on the reverse in nearly a century. “I realized that the last person to lay eyes on it was Klee,” observed Young.

It’s very different from Plum Blossoms. So, this Friday and Saturday, the Speed will show the work at its satellite space, Local Speed. The drawing will be displayed in a double-sided frame that makes both of Klee’s compositions visible.

Good job! A preview is above right.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Speed

 

 

Im Back, But…

Sorry to say that it’s going to take me another day or two to get back up to speed. I was in The Gambia and Senegal, which have many interesting things to see, but not art. Internet access was spottier than I’d thought, too, and I have not seen the news for a week (other than an occasional tidbit gleaned from occasional access to Facebook). Plus, I broke my arm yesterday, on the last day there, and I can’t type well. Check back soon.

I’m Away….

Surprisingly, despite the snow storms in the New York area, I managed to get away for a week. I’ll be back on line on Feb. 24.