News, Winter 2011
People in the Midwest
Robert Bruegmann (University of Illinois at Chicago), has published The Architecture of Harry Weese (W.W. Norton, 2010).
Catherine Dossin, Assistant Professor at Purdue University, co-founded the European Postwar and Contemporary Art Forum (EPCAF), which aims to establish a network of international scholars committed to the study of visual arts in Europe after 1945. EPCAF has two components: a group discussion that will allow sharing of research projects and other information, and a central website, where the information will be archived and made searchable. Art historians, curators, critics and artists, and anyone interested in the topic are invited to participate, be they undergraduate, graduate, or established scholars.
Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/epcafcentral/home.
To share resources and/or become a member, send an email to epcaf@googlegroups.com.
Nina Dubin (University of Illinois at Chicago), has published Futures & Ruins: Eighteenth-Century Paris and the Art of Hubert Robert, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2010.
James van Dyke has joined the Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Missouri, as Assistant Professor of Modern European Art, Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Art and Theory.
Keith Eggener (University of Missouri), published Cemeteries, part of the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design, and Engineering series, from W.W. Norton and the Library of Congress.
Midwest Art History Society board member Heidi J. Hornik (Baylor University) has published Michele Tosini and the Ghirlandaio Workshop in Cinquecento Florence (Sussex Academic Press, 2009).
Susan Langdon (University of Missouri) was promoted to Professor of Greek Art and Archaeology.
William R. Levin (MA ’73, PhD ’83), who taught the history of art at Centre College through last spring, received two awards at the 2010 meeting of the Southeastern College Art Conference: the Award for Excellence in Teaching, granted each year to a member “who demonstrates an exceptional command of his or her discipline through the ability to teach effectively, impart knowledge, and inspire students;” and the Award for Exemplary Achievement, “the organization's most prestigious award, given in recognition of personal and professional development as well as long-standing service to SECAC.” Encompassing twelve states but with a firmly established national membership, the Southeastern College Art Conference is the largest regionally based visual-arts organization in the United States.
Virginia E. Miller is now Chair of the Department of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Former Midwest Art History Society president Shelley Perlove's book, Rembrandt's Faith: Church and Temple in the Dutch Golden Age, co-authored with Larry Silver, (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), has been awarded the Roland H. Bainton Prize for Art History, presented by the Sixteenth Century Society. The Bainton Prize for Art History is awarded yearly and recognizes the best book in English on art history from 1450–1660 published during the preceding year.
Martha Pollak (University of Illinois at Chicago), has published Cities at War in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2010). The monograph considers the effect of war on the physical appearance of numerous European cities, defining “military urbanism,” the formation of an architectural language of defense, and its adoption for large scale urban sculpture and monuments.
Kathleen Slane (University of Missouri) is working on A Slice through Time: Tombs along the North Terrace at Corinth as 2010-2011 NEH Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Anne Rudloff Stanton (University of Missouri) was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Center of Medieval Art.
Michael Yonan (University of Missouri) has received promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. He has also, in collaboration with Alden Cavanaugh, edited and published The Cultural Aesthetics of Eighteenth-Century Porcelain (Ashgate, 2010). Michael is also editing a new series for Ashgate called “The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700–1950.”
Events
Art, Literature, Music in Symbolism and Decadence (ALMSD), International Conference, April 25–28, 2012, Allerton Park, Monticello, Illinois. The theme of the second International ALMSD conference is Light and Shade or Light and Obscurity in Symbolism, its origins and its consequences. The organization invites proposals that address the theme of the conference in art, literature and music. Proposals should be about 300 words and must be sent to symbolismabstracts@uis.edu before May 10, 2011. Please include a brief CV. For questions, please contact Rosina Neginsky, University of Illinois Springfield at rnegi1@uis.edu.
News About Museums
Tom Hinson, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s highly regarded Curator of Photography, retired from the position in December, 2010 after 38 years of service to the museum. Hinson retired from the position after a career of making outstanding acquisitions for the museum’s collection, adding important scholarship to the history of photography and contemporary art and organizing exhibitions applauded by scholars and the public. “Tom Hinson’s contributions to the museum as both a Curator of Contemporary Art and a Curator of Photography are immeasurable.” states C. Griffith Mann, deputy director and chief curator. Hinson began his full-time career at the museum in 1973 as Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art. During his tenure his acquisitions included works by Arthur Dove, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Jennifer Bartlett, Susan Rothenberg, Anselm Keifer, and Gerhard Richter. Hinson became the first Curator of Photography of the Cleveland Museum in 2000. He has authored a comprehensive study of the museum’s collection, Catalogue of Photography: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland (1997) and the catalog Cleveland Collects Contemporary Art (1998).
Joslyn Art Museum announces the appointment of Toby Jurovics as the Museum’s new chief curator and Richard and Mary Holland Curator of American Western Art, Joslyn’s first ever endowed position established by Richard and the late Mary Holland. Jurovics comes to Joslyn from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Jurovics had been curator of photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum since 2006. He earned his Master’s degree in art history from the University of Delaware. As a curator, Jurovics’ focus has been and remains art of the American West. Over the course of his career, Toby has published articles and catalogues, been active as a lecturer, and coordinated nearly 60 exhibitions.
Julián Zugazagoitia began his post in September, 2010 as the fifth Director & CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. An international scholar, museum director and consultant, he has served for the past seven years as the Director/CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York. “Julián is a man of many talents, a man of broad vision, one whom we believe will honor the accomplishments of others,” said Sarah F. Rowland, chair of the Nelson-Atkins Board of Trustees. Born in Mexico City, Zugazagoitia holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Sorbonne Paris IV. His work as a consultant, lecturer and curator has involved projects around the globe with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Getty Conservation Institute. From 1999–2002, he served as Executive Assistant to the Director for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. During his tenure at El Museo del Barrio, Zugazagoitia led the institution through a $44 million capital campaign and a full renovation, which opened in 2009 to critical acclaim.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has premiered a new mobile guide program for accessing audio information on their collections on October 1. Using their own smartphones or one of the museum’s iPod Touch players, visitors can now easily listen to information about more than 250 works of art at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The Nelson-Atkins Mobile Guide is actually a mobile-optimized Web site - www.naguide.org. The entire Museum and Sculpture Park are now equipped with Wi-Fi, so visitors can access the guide anywhere on the Museum campus from their smartphones or laptops. At the same time, virtual visitors can access favorite works from their homes, offices and schools. The program was made possible by a grant from Ann and Kenneth Baum, long-time supporters of the Nelson-Atkins, and is the result of extensive work by the Museum’s education, design, curatorial and information technology staff.
Ralph T. Coe, the third Director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and one of the nation’s foremost authorities on American Indian art, died September 14, 2010, in Santa Fe, N.M. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Ted Coe,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “He was an excellent leader during his years at the Museum, and his time here was distinguished by his vast knowledge of the art world.” Coe was an exceptional curator and collector whose passion for European, Native American, and contemporary art inspired a host of other collectors. Coe was a graduate of Oberlin College and Yale University. He joined the Nelson-Atkins in 1959 as curator of painting and sculpture, then was appointed director in 1977. Coe curated the landmark exhibitions Sacred Circles: 2,000 Years of North American Indian Art (1976) and Lost and Found Traditions: American Indian Art, 1965–1985 (1986). His personal love of Indian art was revealed when his own extensive collection was featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 2003 exhibition The Responsive Eye. “He was a very gifted curator, and he made modern art respectable in Kansas City,” said Michael Churchman, a former administrator at the Nelson-Atkins. “He enlisted a lot of people in the vanguard of contemporary art.”
A new program of tactile tours at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art offers monthly tours through 2011 for people who are blind or visually impaired. Inspired by the 100th anniversary celebration of Alphapointe Association for the Blind, as many as nine visually impaired people at a time will be able to experience the joy of art. “We’ve been doing tactile tours at the Nelson-Atkins since 2005,” said Susan Spencer, Specialist, School Tours. “But they are usually limited to three people and mostly involve students. Now adults who are visually impaired, and their families, can come for a tactile tour.” Tactile tours became available on Jan 15. Participants begin in the museum’s Ford Learning Center where they touch materials such as bronze or ceramic after donning cotton gloves. They are then guided into the museum to feel sculptures as a docent provides them with verbal histories of the works. Reservations can be made by calling 816-751-1ART. All tours begin at 10:30 am, one Saturday a month.
The Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame announced, in commemoration of the bicentennial of independence from Spain in 1810 and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, a re-installation of the Mesoamerican Gallery, co-sponsored by the Consul General of Mexico in Chicago, Amb. Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga, entitled Body and Soul: Life, Death and Wellness in Ancient Mexico. The exhibition is drawn from the museum's large collection of human figurines sculpted from Olmec to Aztec times, 1600 BCE to 1521 CE. The reinstallation is curated by Douglas E. Bradley, curator, Arts of the Americas, Africa and Oceania.
The Snite Museum of Art has hired Cheryl Snay as curator of European art. Snay was the associate curator of European art at The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, where she worked for six years with Old Master and 19th-century prints, drawings and paintings. She earned her Ph.D. in art history from Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Snay's expertise in 19-century visual culture in France will serve the Snite Museum well in interpreting its Noah L. and Muriel Butkin Collection of 19th-century French art; and her keen eye for drawings will support the museum's continued efforts to develop and interpret its fine Old Master drawing collection.
The Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, has achieved accreditation from the American Association of Museums (AAM). Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, to governments, funders, outside agencies, and to the museum-going public. “AAM accreditation is a wonderful endorsement of the Taft,” said Deborah Emont Scott, the Taft’s director/CEO. “It reflects the quality of the Museum’s operations including exhibitions and programs, and recognizes the tremendous undertaking by the Taft’s staff, board, and volunteers on the accreditation project as well as the high quality of their day-to-day work at the Taft. We are especially thrilled by the AAM’s recognition of the Taft’s community outreach efforts, specifically the Duncanson artist-in-residency program, which the AAM highlighted as a noteworthy program for outreach to diverse audiences.” Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 775 are currently accredited. The Taft is one 26 art museums accredited in Ohio.
The Robert S. Duncanson Society of the Taft Museum of Art selected violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama as the 2010 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence from a talented pool of local and national candidates. A nationally recognized orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Ngwenyama was the Taft’s 24th resident artist. The Duncanson Artist-in-Residence honors achievements of contemporary artists of African descent working in a variety of disciplines and media. The program also honors the relationship between African American painter Robert S. Duncanson and his patron, Nicholas Longworth. Thanks to a Museums for America grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Taft Museum is receiving support for the 2010-11 Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) program. “We are thrilled that this innovative program will flourish with support from IMLS,” says Deborah Emont Scott, director/CEO of the Taft Museum of Art. “This recognition of the program demonstrates the quality and commitment of our docent corps, which is heavily involved in carrying out the program as well as raising critical financial support for it.” Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) is designed for high school students, offering them the chance to visit artists’ studios and explore the museum. Student projects are exhibited in libraries at the culmination of the program. In 2009, ARC was awarded a Scripps-Corbett Special Award for Art Education. The Taft was one 178 museums awarded $19.5 million for programs and projects around the country.
Acquisitions
The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired three works in the fall of 2010. The miniature, Portrait of Anne Law (née Towry), 1st Lady Ellenborough (c. 1815), left, is by British artist John Linnell, known mostly for his landscapes but who also executed portrait miniatures, rare examples of which are found in the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, London. Linnell incorporates rich jewel-like tones and his stipple technique is particularly distinctive. The Pre-Raphaelites looked to him as a model because of his level of detail and lush colors. The Portrait of Anne Law pays homage to the grand tradition of portraiture in which the artist captures the essential nature of the sitter through superb technique—but in miniature.
Blue Bloc by Edwin Mieczkowski (c. 1967), left, has come to be recognized by historians and critics as the artist’s masterpiece and a key work of Op Art in general. Mieczkowski was an important figure in the Cleveland art scene for three decades and achieved international renown for his groundbreaking Op Art creations. While teaching at his alma mater the Cleveland Institute of Art, he co-founded the Anonima Group, a collaborative devoted to the Op Art movement. His achievements contributed to placing Cleveland as a vital center for the Op Art movement in the 1960s, at which time Op artists such as Julian Stanczak, Francis Hewitt, and Richard Anuszkiewicz were residents.
The Lovers (after the Master of the Housebook or Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet) by Wenzel von Olmütz (c. 1490), left, depicts a well-known motif, the garden of love—a popular setting for romance in chivalric literature and frequently represented subject in the late 14th and 15th centuries. Von Olmütz was an engraver whose 91 prints are careful copies of the work of other masters, especially Martin Schongauer and the Housebook Master. The Lovers presents chivalric love as noble and inspiring. The young woman's lapdog is a symbol of faithfulness and she gently covers the man’s hand on her knee with her own. This copy, very faithful to the original, is one of only five impressions of this scene.
Ferment (2009), a 56-foot stainless steel sculpture of a tree by internationally acclaimed artist Roxy Paine will be permanently installed in the Kansas City Sculpture Park at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art beginning in April 2011. The tree was commissioned by Martin Friedman, Hall Family Foundation consultant for the Museum’s Sculpture Park for 20 years, and was funded by the foundation. “[This tree] celebrates Kansas City as an incubator for young artists. Roxy Paine spent an early part of his career as an artist-in-residence here, so this is a tribute to a city that fosters young talent,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO & Director of the Nelson-Atkins. Friedman was also involved in the Sosland family’s commission of Shuttlecocks (1994), the four gigantic badminton birdies distributed on the lawns outside the museum. Jan Schall, Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Nelson-Atkins, states that “Roxy Paine is one of the most important young sculptors today. Ferment... is an outstanding addition to the collection that will enlighten, perplex and delight everyone who sees it.”
News About Graduate Students
John Tristan Barnes (doctoral candidate in Greek archaeology, University of Missouri) holds the John Williams White Fellowship from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, 2010-2011.
Catherine Burdick, University of Illinois Chicago, received her Ph.D. on "Text and Image in Classic Maya Art" (advisor: Virginia E. Miller) in 2010.
Stephanie Chapman (PhD student, University of Missouri) received an award from the Medieval Academy's committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) to attend the 2010 New Mexico Summer Seminar on Palaeography and Codicology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
Margaret Denny, University of Illinois Chicago, received her Ph.D, “From Commerce to Art: American Women Photographers, 1850-1900” (advisor: Peter B. Hales) in 2010.
Lauren DiSalvo (MA student, Roman Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri) presented “Cast in the World’s Fair: Classical Plaster Casts at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis” at Destroy the Copy! A Workshop on the Fates of Plaster Cast Collections, hosted by Cornell University.
Sarah Jones (MA, University of Missouri 2009) is serving as interim executive director of the Frank House Museum at the University of Nebraska Kearney.
MA student Alec Lisec at the University of Illinois Chicago received the Schiff Foundation Fellowship for Critical Architectural Writing for 2010.
PhD candidate Alex Najda at the University of Illinois Chicago received a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship for doctoral research in Ukraine for the academic year 2010-2011.
PhD candidate at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Mirela Tanta received a Dean’s Scholar Award for the academic year 2010-2011.