Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Do Opera And Art Museums Mix? An Experiment

Butterfly_Wood_gallery_1If you are up near Cooperstown, N.Y. this summer, you may want to stop in at the Fenimore Art Museum, not just for its fine collections of American art, or its current special show, Winslow Homer: The Nature and Rhythm of Life, from the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie — both worth a visit.

I’m singling out instead an exhibition of woodblock prints called Madame Butterfly’s World: Woodblock Prints of a Changing Japan. Now, I like Japanese prints but the main reason I think this is an excellent show is its timing — the Fenimore mounted the show because nearby Glimmerglass Opera is presenting Madame Butterfly this season, which runs from July 11 through August 23.
The exhibition offers prints from the time of Madame Butterfly intended to represent “traditional” Japan and some showing the influence of Western culture. There is likely to be crossover. I would hope.
I asked the museum about this, and the written response I received from the PR department credited Paul D’Ambrosio, the museum’s President. “He felt that rural art museums were facing distinct challenges when it came to building audiences for exhibitions. Several years ago, the challenges were worsening for the Fenimore Art Museum and attendance was eroding, so he needed to come up with a new strategy…”
In 2011, when The Glimmerglass Festival hired their new Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, the two cultural institutions decided to collaborate to building excitement/awareness about their seasons. Glimmerglass’ season included an opera inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper entitled “Later the Same Evening,” so Fenimore went to work on a Hopper exhibit that offered opera-goers insight into the artist’s formative years in paintings, drawings and etchings. They partnered on discount coupons distributed at their respective box offices and the response was beyond their expectations – the Hopper exhibit drew a bigger audience than their major show on Sargent by 10%.

Since then, the Fenimore and Glimmerglass have worked closely together. In 2012, the exhibitions staff worked with Glimmerglass and the Metropolitan Opera to present two exhibits highlighting the Met’s collection of costumes and props from the historic productions of Aida and Armide, which were being performed at Glimmerglass. In 2013, they collaborated by showing an exhibit on Hudson River School painters, which coincided with Glimmerglass’ production of “The Flying Dutchman” – that resulted in a big 20% increase in attendance! We hope that the partnership promises even greater results this year.

So it has worked. Appropriately, the Fenimore notes that its exhibit  was “Inspired by Glimmerglass Festival’s 2014 production of Madame Butterfly.” But I don’t see a similar mention on the Glimmerglass website. It should be there.

Btw, you have time to see these exhibits: Homer runs through Aug. 24 and Japanese prints closes on Sept. 21.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Fenimore

Back To Koons: More Food For Thought

hoover-singleSo far, the most thoughtful review I’ve read of the Jeff Koons retrospective at the Whitney is by Thomas Micchelli of Hyperallergic Weekend. It starts well, noting that excepting the vacuum cleaners, “…The rest of the work, however, with few exceptions, reveals itself to be as thin, puerile and derivative as the artist’s harshest critics would expect. But to take Koons’s art to task for the hollowness at its core is shooting fish in a barrel — a truism that leads us nowhere.”

Most of us have been content to dismiss Koons, blame his fame on loose money and people lacking taste, shake our heads and leave it at that. But not Micchelli, who continued:

…The endgame it presents is that of a once-aspiring culture — the dream of a bold and unruly American art, symbolized by the Whitney’s audacious Marcel Breuer building — collapsing into philistinism and sentimentality, a surrender to the leveling forces of consumerism.

At the same time, its exaltation of kitsch is unapologetically legitimized by a corporate art establishment invoking an aesthetic that’s more than 100 years old, rooted in Marcel Duchamp’s readymades (which were invented in the run-up to the First World War) and refined by Andy Warhol a half-century ago. Koons’s contribution to this entrenched tradition is his unmatchable verisimilitude and material finesse, qualities that enshrine a strain of American provincialism — measuring the success of a work of art by its resemblance to its subject — against which proponents of Modernism have been struggling ever since Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney founded her museum in 1914.

It goes on, with good analysis using several choice words, including: “fussy meticulousness,” “clunky obviousness,” “puzzling capriciousness,” and “faux-democratic,” among many others. 

I recommend it to Koons’ fans and detractors alike. Whether the latter like it or not, Koons is “important” enough to know about.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Whitney

First View: A Pre-Opening At The Clark

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has set its Grand Re-opening for July 4, but since last week, director Michael Conforti and his team have been showing it off to the press, officials of other museums, donors and other powers-that-be. I was there last Friday afternoon, with much of the other press (but I did not stay for the evening festivities or for the Saturday events).

The project started with a master plan in 2001, and involved other openings and changes over the years — which I am not going to relate here. At the moment, the Clark is unveiling its new visitors center, special exhibition galleries, renovation of the original museum building and reinstallation of its permanent collection, a lot of landscaping and more. Tadao Ando was architect of the new building, which beautifully attaches to the original museum, where Annabelle Selldorf did the honors renovating the old museum. Some work, on the Manton Research Center, which used to hold the special exhibition galleries, remains to be completed. You can find out details on the architecture initiatives here.

ClarkView

Interestingly, most of the pictures I’ve seen are of this view, which is of the new Visitor Center across the new reflecting pool. The old museum is off to the right.

I’m going to give the Clark an A, but not an A-plus. Both Ando and Selldorf did marvelous jobs. The lower-level and ground floor galleries (now filled with “Cast for Eternity” (a show of Chinese bronzes)  in the new building are wonderful, and flexible, and the public spaces — cafe, museum store, information areas are all beautiful, functional and mostly welcoming. One slight misfire: the “living room” area joining the old and the new has a cold feel to me — very gray in all aspects (see below) — but I am not sure how I’d warm it up.

AcademicSelldorf made the old building better, turning long corridors filled with art into a series of real, nicely-sized and proportioned galleries filled with art. More art is out, including some loans. Someone said the galleries look the same, only better, and that’s about right. I love that the first gallery visitors is is filled with paintings by Winslow Homer — they stare right at West Point, Prout’s Neck, which is hung in the center of the facing wall. In the last iteration, the first painting visitors saw in the permanent collection was John Singer Sargent’s Fumée d’ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris), which is now in the Academic Gallery (at right).

Plus, the groupings, juxtapositions, revealing viewpoints and dialogues among the paintings make for an excellent hanging (e.g., see the photo below, which I have over-exposed to show how the Renoir nude and the Bougereau nude can be seen and compared from across the gallery).

So what’s wrong? While I was talking with Conforti — who is to be congratulated for his vision — he did say one thing that bothered me. That was, the Clark is now a community center, and if people want to come and use the grounds, eat at the cafe, play with the waterfall, shop in the store, etc., that was fine with him. Well, to me, that depends. People have always walked the grounds of the Clark, and that’s fine with me too. But if they are coming to the “museum,” they ought to see some art, no?

I proposed the addition of one outdoor sculpture, and Conforti conceded that they’d considered it — and may yet do it. So as not to distract from the emphasis on nature at the Clark, I suggested a Roxy Paine. Conforti was right to say that too many other museums have placed a Paine on their grounds. Rather, he considered a bronze tree by Giuseppi Penone, which would be fine by me. James Turrell is also going to visit, and may do a skyspace, and Janet Cardiff was there Friday to scout out a possible sound installation.

But there are plenty of other options. I just want visitors who don’t go into the galleries to know that they are at a museum. Always, the art comes first, then the other things.

For those who want more information, here is the Clark Expansion Fact Sheet. And I’ve posted a few more of my photos from Friday below (from my iPhone, so not always the best quality).

JSS

Rodins

DecArts

Nudes

LoungeBronzes

Photo Credits: © Judith H. Dobrzynski  

Act Now, If You Care About The Fate Of The Corcoran

You’ll remember that the Corcoran’s struggles were “resolved” in May, when the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University split responsibilities for its future, subject to the approval of Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

OAG seal _sm_0That court is now seeking opinions of interested parties before making its determination. On Thursday, it issued a “Notice of Cy Pres Petition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design,” which said in part:

…the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art have filed a petition with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia seeking a determination of cy pres, to permit the Trustees to implement agreements reached with the National Gallery of Art and The George Washington University, concerning the assets and operations of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. … The Trustees have filed a motion seeking the entry of a proposed form of order, and the motion has been set for hearing on the afternoon of July 18, before the Honorable Robert Okun, Judge of the Superior Court.  Copies of the motion and supporting documents are available on the website of the Office of the Attorney General at http://oag.dc.gov/….

Any person wishing to provide information or views concerning the petition and the proposed order should send comments in writing to the Office of the Attorney General with a copy to counsel for the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, at the addresses below.  Any comments should be received by noon on July 15.  The Office of the Attorney General and the Trustees will compile and file the comments received with the Court prior to the hearing on July 18.

Hat-tip for noticing this to Carolyn Campbell, President, Campbell Communications and former PR and Events Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, who posted it on Facebook. She also issued a plea: “…The public deserves to have more time to review the questionable facts presented in this case. Ask for a delay in the hearing. There should be no rush to judgment when it comes to the arts!! …”

She’s right.

Boston MFA Gives Up Eight Nigerian Antiquities.

02.-Memorial-screen-duen-fubara_Ijaw-Kalabari-peoples-300x423The Museum of Fine Arts says it is voluntarily sending eight objects from its African department — dating to the 18th century — to the National Commission of Museums and Monuments in Nigeria. The pieces were donated to the museum and purchased in “good faith” in the 1990s from dealers in both the U.S. and Europe. One piece, a bronze altar figure dated about 1914, was actually stolen from the Royal Palace in Benin City in 1976.

The purchaser was the late William E. Teel. Teel donated “more than 300 African and Oceanic works, along with several Ancient American and Native American pieces and a small group of European and American works on pape — many of which are now on view. From that group, these eight were problematic.

MFA explained the situation thusly:

The Museum began the process of researching the provenance (or history of ownership) of the objects after receiving notification of the bequest. Recognizing that these eight objects were probably illegally removed from Nigeria in recent years, and that their export would have been regulated by Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments Act (chapter 242) of 1990, the MFA contacted the NCMM to seek its authorization before proceeding with their acquisition. The NCMM swiftly responded that the export of these objects had not been approved; and, indeed, that several documents which purportedly authorized their sale and export were forged. Upon receipt of this information, the MFA began to arrange for the return of the objects to Nigeria, which were received by Nigerian authorities earlier this month.

Sub-Sahara Africa hasn’t gotten as much publicity for its looted goods in recent years, but it has perhaps an even bigger problem than Italy in that often the thefts are from museums or institutions, not the ground. On the other hand, that makes them easier to trace. The museum listed the eight pieces transferred to Nigeria as:

  1. 08.-Altar-figure_Benin-peoples-300x400Head
    African, Edo peoples, Nigeria, Benin kingdom, about 1750
  2. Memorial screen (duen fubara) [above left]
    African, Ijaw Kalabari peoples, Nigeria, late 19th century
  3. Head
    African, Nok peoples, Nigeria, About 500 B.C.–A.D. 200
  4. Head of an Oba
    Edo peoples, Benin Kingdom, Nigeria, 19th century
  5. Male Figure
    African, Nok peoples. Nigeria, About 500 B.C.–A.D. 200
  6. Portrait head
    African, Yoruba peoples, Ife Kingdom, Nigeria, 12th–14th century
  7. Oron Ancestral Figure (Ekpu)
    Oron peoples, southeastern Nigeria
  8. Altar figure [at right]
    Benin peoples, Nigeria

The Teels endowed a curatorial position for these objects (a gold star to them) and also provided access to their papers, according to the Boston Globe. That obviously speeded the MFA’s provenance investigation. The Globe has many more details and its article is worth a read. 

Photo Credits: Courtesy of the MFA