spring summer 2013
Director’sletter Happy 2013! We are pleased the world didn’t come to an end in December, for it would have put a significant damper on our plans for renovating the galleries this spring. And so with plans in hand, and the generous support of Chris M. Carlos, we are moving forward! You can keep informed of the changes happening in the galleries through the Museum’s Facebook page, email alerts, and on our website. So many works of art will soon be on display for the first time, and wait until you see what happened in the Art of the Americas galleries, exciting indeed! While the world didn’t end, change came to the museum and Emory on two leadership fronts in December. After nine years at the helm of the Carlos Museum’s Advisory Board, co-chairs Charles Ackerman and Eleanor Ridley passed the baton, or in this case, the chocolates, to incoming co-chairs, Ed Snow and Dirk Brown. We are very grateful to Charlie and Eleanor for leading the Board and Museum through exciting times beginning with the return of Ramesses 1 to Egypt in 2003 and ending with the close of the Museum’s campaign in December, which raised almost $35 million for endowment, art acquisitions, educational programs, and technology initiatives. What a run!
After six years as Provost of Emory University, Dr. Earl Lewis said his good-byes last month to become President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York. We thank Provost Lewis for his guidance and support of the Museum, and wish him well in his new position. And, on February 1, we welcome Dr. Claire Sterk as Emory’s new Provost. We look forward to working with Provost Sterk in the coming years, and wish her all the best as she assumes her new position. This is an action-packed edition of our newsletter, and I know you will enjoy reading the various articles, ranging from educational programs and art acquisitions, to the many people who have had an impact on the Museum. And please, it’s not too early to mark your calendar on March 16 for Veneralia. This year, renowned architect Michael Graves will attend as Honorary Chairman as we celebrate Experiencing Art in Architecture. As always, I look forward to seeing you in the galleries!
B on n ie Speed Director
cover: Wall relief from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II. Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 bc). Nimrud, Mespoptamia (Iraq), Northwest Palace. Gypsum. Lent by Penn Museum. Given through the efforts of Dr. Talcott Williams. used with permission of the university of pennsylvania museum archives. all rights reserved.
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OnView
Welcome to the new Art of the Americas galleries
C
arlos Museum faculty curator and Emory professor of art history, Dr. Rebecca Stone worked tirelessly to re-imagine the Art of the Americas galleries. The result is a stunningly rich reinstallation of beloved Carlos Museum objects and new loans. The galleries have been re-organized based on new research conducted by Dr. Stone and her students over the past ten years. And, a new color palette and improved lighting have greatly enhanced the visitor experience. Dr. Stone comments on the reinstallation: “The museum is blessed with a large collection of art from the Americas, which gives me and my students at all levels many opportunities to do research and contribute to the production of new knowledge; the goal of the university as a whole. above: Dr. Rebecca Stone in the Art of the Americas galleries.
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OnView the greenstone and gold pop and sets off the terracottas and buffs in the ceramics. Even blackware (which is usually a charcoal gray) seems to work on it as well. Since the chocolate we eat came originally from the Americas, and the cultures are so in tune with Mother Earth herself, the symbolism of the browns is evocative as well as aesthetically pleasing. Design is key at the Carlos, and we thank our wonderful exhibition design team led for all these years by Nancy Roberts and supported by Bruce Raper and Ron Barnhart, who work so hard on these enormous and complex projects. They have been an absolute joy to work with in this reinstallation of the Americas collection.” s p e a k i n g o f c h o c o l at e
My work on shamanism has certainly branched out into many unexpected avenues, from scientific testing of what has been left inside vessels to zoology and botany as they help us identify animal- and plant-spirits in our pieces. Who knew that an art historian would need to know about the genetics of jaguar coloration or the psychoactive ingredients in the parotid glands of the Bufo alvarius toad? Certainly not I! The new gallery colors are warm cream, and light and chocolate browns, in a tone-on-tone scheme much like the rest of the Museum galleries but more intense in a way. The dark brown is the same color used in the Museum’s Old Kingdom Mummy exhibition and one I saw used very successfully in the Museum of Gold in Bogota many years ago. It makes above: Paccha (Ritual Watering Vessel). South America, Central Andes, Inka. Late Horizon, 1430–1534 ad. Ceramic. 1989.8.161. Gift of William C. and Carol W. Thibadeau. photo by michael mckelvey. 4
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One exciting discovery of the last decade is the presence of cacao (chocolate) and caffeine in a Costa Rican cylinder vessel, similar in shape and decoration to Maya vessels used specifically for cacao consumption. With the results of this residue analysis, the sharing of not only ceramic technology between ancient Costa Ricans and the Maya, but also vessel usage can be confirmed. Both Costa Rican and Maya cylinder vessels from circa 500–800 ad were interred in tombs after use in rituals to communicate with the spirit world. Among the Maya, cacao was often blended with an entheogenic (visionsproducing) substance, and in ancient Central and South America additional caffeine was consumed to help shamans stay alert through their nighttime rituals. As in Central America, the practice of combining a tasty beverage with stimulants for shamanic rituals was and still is prevalent in the Andes. Andi McKenzie, Assistant Curator of Works on Paper and a PhD candidate working with Dr. Stone, has identified imagery in three Andean vessels that depict the plant known to the Inka as vilca and to botanists as Anadenanthera colubrina. The beans from the plant were ground to a powder and added, according to Spanish chroniclers, to asua (maize beer). The mixture of vilca and asua is suggested by our Inka paccha (a rare ritual watering device), which tested positively in the 1990s for maize beer. McKenzie postulates it depicts vilca on its tiny maize beer vessel. Working with Dr. Stone and conservator Renée Stein, McKenzie hopes to confirm her identification of the vilca motif through scientific testing of residue within these three vessels this spring. Also over the past decade, the research Dr. Stone and her students have carried out has not only involved plant
residue analysis, but also an in-depth understanding of humans’ and animals’ bodies, from a jaguar’s spots and a toad’s glands to women’s reproductive systems and the intricacies of multiple diseases that affect the human body, including scoliosis, osteomalacia (rickets), and Klinefelter’s Syndrome. new research by g r a d u at e s t u d e n t s
top: Spondylus Shell Diving Scene Gold Earspools. South America, Central Andes, North Coast, Chimú-Lambayeque. Late Intermediate Period, 1000–1470 ad. Goldcopper alloy and silver alloy. 1992.15.261a, b. Gift of Cora W. and Laurence C. Witten ii.
This spring, Emory senior Sarah Parks is writing her Art History honors thesis on images of disease survivors. Parks notes, “under the direction of Dr. Stone, I am researching ancient Costa Rican ceramic effigies that depict anomalous bodies. My work is directly tied to the Anomalous Bodies in Ancient American Art case in the reinstallation. I have been attaching medical ‘diagnoses’ to several of the effigies that are going to be exhibited, including Klinefelter’s Syndrome and different types of skeletal diseases. I argue, like my professor, that anomalous bodies were celebrated by the ancient Americans and that having a body that was ‘different,’ either from genetics or surviving a disease, would signify that the individual was likely to become a shaman. It is very exciting research that we are planning to present at a conference on disability studies this summer.” Graduate student Shelley Burian has identified a Bolivian woman’s mantle (lliklla) as mixing design elements from the Quechua- and Aymara-speaking peoples of Bolivia. Quechua was the language of the Inka people to the west, while Aymara is believed to have been the language of the people who built the Bolivian site of Tiwanaku. Jennifer Butterfield, is examining the depiction and use of the entheogenic spiny oyster shell (Spondylus spp.) in Andean art (a new color-coded drawing of the Chimú gold earspools in the new galleries will help identify the diving figures better than ever before). Kira Jones, is exploring imagery of the vine called “Angel’s Trumpets” (Datura spp.) in Amerindian art, especially that of Teotihuacan, and she and Dr. Stone plan a future publication and a conference session on sacred plant iconography. Jennifer Siegler is writing her dissertation on the transition between the imagery of the Chimú Empire and that of the Chimú under Inka control, as seen in a small group of Carlos Museum vessels that will also be on display in the new galleries. Meghan Tierney is writing her dissertation on shamanic imagery in Nasca ceramic vessels, particularly head effigies (her line drawings of Nasca pots appeared in the Black Jaguar exhibition and more appear in the reinstallation). In her research on hundreds of objects from various collections she has found a wide range of disembodied head images from completely dead to half-dead, half-alive, to fully alive, suggesting that the category “trophy head” relating only to war is inadequate. Dr. Stone and conservator Renée Stein are jointly advising Emory senior Julia Commander on her anthropology honors thesis on Costa Rican metates (grinding platforms), particularly their wear patterns and possible residues left on their surfaces. And Mellon conservation intern Katie Etre is collaborating with Emory geologist Dr. Bill Size to try to reconstruct how the purple slip paint was accomplished in ancient Panamanian ceramics, a puzzle that has defied scholars until now. Z
photo by michael mckelvey.
bottom: Drawing of the diving scene on the gold earspools. drawing by nina west.
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OnView
For the first time in over a decade, art of Native North America on display native american art from South and Central America and now North America is on display in the re-installation of the Art of the Americas galleries. This expansion of the collection to include Native North American art will honor the First Nations of this continent and complement the Georgia public school curriculum. The first gallery rotation of Native North American art includes a small exhibition of modern Southwestern ceramics, scheduled to run for the calendar year 2013. The installation of this collection titled Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: the Melion-Clum Collection of Modern Southwestern Pottery includes seed pots, red-and-black ware, vessels inspired by basketry, and a large case of objects made by the famous Quezada family of potters from Mata Ortiz, Mexico. An additional case in the gallery features the Museum’s stunning Maria and Julian Martínez signed black-onblack vessel. “Pueblo pottery is made from local materials, the forms, colors, and textures of which subtly inform the pots, making them evocative of the places—Acoma, Santa Clara, San Juan, Santo Domingo, et alia—in which they were shaped, painted, and polished,” comments Dr. Walter Melion, Emory University’s Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History. “The pots are also evocative of the artistic lineages—often matriarchal —whose representatives claim possession over various shapes, patterns, color combinations, and techniques, passing them from generation to generation. And within these cultural parameters, the pottery is also profoundly inventive: potters respond to each other’s pots, one lineage will interact with another— the pottery is shaped by, and in turn shapes market conditions and collecting practices. The Carlos is one of the great repositories of ancient American ceramic arts. It thus seems the perfect future home for our collection, ever growing, of Native American pottery.” Opportunities abound for future rotations of Native North American art, including exciting loans and collaborations with local collectors and with a variety museums in the United States. Z above: Phyllis Hemlock (American, Santa Clara Pueblo). Wedding Jar. Ceramic. Collection of Walter Melion and John Clum. photo: © Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University.
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spring-summer 2013
Looking ahead: new art in the galleries Pardon our dust! Carlos Museum staff are working on gallery reinstallations. Check our website or call in advance for installation updates.
in a bold and exciting move inspired by its strategic plan, the Carlos Museum is putting its temporary exhibition program on hiatus for a period of six months in order to attend to the permanent collections. From February through July of 2013, Carlos Museum staff will focus on installing new works of art, re-working thematic cases, re-vamping educational text, and updating information on the audio guides. In addition to the extensive Art of the Americas reinstallation, the Egyptian galleries will feature a number of spectacular new objects such as a rare Middle Kingdom scribe statue and a New Kingdom ancestor bust. In addition, the recently conserved Old Kingdom mummy will be put on permanent display for the first time in half a century. Notable among the new additions in the African gallery will be a diminutive ivory and metal leopard of the kind worn by kings and nobles within the historical court of Benin, Nigeria, and a number of bead-decorated leather aprons from South Africa, donned by Ndebele maidens during initiation rites. There will be many new objects to see in the Classical galleries, including Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Cypriot, Persian, Lydian, and Phoenician works, ranging in date from the Bronze Age to Byzantine, and even Romanesque. Highlights include a Minoan stone vessel, carved from serpentine and decorated in relief through a technique that was borrowed from contemporary Egyptian practices and in a style that pays tribute to contemporary Cretan metalwork. Two remarkable new works of Asian art will be installed, including a ninth-century stone sculpture of Ganesha and an eighteenth-century painted scene from the Indian epic of the Ramayana, in which Lakshmana tenderly removes a thorn from his brother Rama’s foot as the latter steadies himself with his hand upon Hanuman’s shoulder. Z
above: Isephephetu (Young Woman’s Apron). South Africa, Ndebele. Ca. 1960. Canvas, fill material, fiber, glass beads. Gift of Norma Canelas Roth and William D. Roth.
A monumental palace relief as part of the renovations to the Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern galleries, the Carlos will be fortunate to have on loan a rare masterpiece of ancient Near Eastern art from the world famous collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropolgy. The imposing relief comes from the Northwest imperial palace at Nimrud, the capital of the mighty Assyrian empire, now located in modern Iraq. The walls of the palace, constructed by Ashurnasirpal ii (883–859 bc), were decorated with many of these low relief carved slabs, narrating the king’s hunting and military exploits and depicting protective figures. The surface is covered with an inscription in cuneiform text that extols the victories and greatness of Ashurnasirpal and describes the building of his palace. This carving is a classic example of Assyrian art with its fine detail, muscular physique, and monumental scale. The deity has long, elaborately curled hair, a mustache and beard, and wears an open fringed garment that falls to his ankles over a short skirt with tassels and tied with a belt. On his head he wears the horned helmet, identifying him as a god. He is adorned with jewelry, including pendant earrings, necklace, arm bands, and beaded bracelets with prominent rosettes. He has three daggers tucked into his garment. He carries a bucket or situla by his side with his left hand and holds a “pinecone” in his raised right hand, ready to anoint the sacred palm tree. The bucket (bundudu) was for water; the pinecone was (mullilu, “cleaner”) an aspergillum for sprinkling the water. The Carlos Museum has examples of these objects that will be displayed alongside the relief. Z
Photo: Bruce M. White.
above: Detail of the cover image.
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Carloscollections Carlos Museum acquires the Stibbe Archive
top: Conrad Stibbe, noted scholar of ancient Sparta. middle: Laconian Black-figured Cup Attributed to the Rider Painter. Carlos Collection of Ancient Art. Photo: bruce m. white.
bottom: Appliqué of a Cow from the Neck of a bronze volute-krater. Carlos Collection of Ancient Art. Photo: bruce m. white. 8
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for forty years, Conrad Stibbe has been a leading authority on the archaeology of archaic Sparta, one of ancient Greece’s foremost cities. During the course of a distinguished career as director of the Netherlandish Archaeological Institute in Rome, professor at Leiden and Amsterdam Universities, and chief curator at the Rijksmuseum in Leiden, Stibbe has built a unique archive documenting most works of art known to have been made in Sparta during the archaic period. In an act of great generosity and in keeping with the academic tradition at its best, Stibbe has enabled the Carlos Museum to acquire this priceless archive. “This is a spectacular addition not just for the Carlos Museum, but for archaeologists in America, indeed around the world,” said David Gordon Mitten, James Loeb Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology Emeritus at Harvard. The name Sparta conjures images of a militaristic boot-camp regime, where austerity and tart language were taken for granted. In fact, the adjective “laconic” is derived from Laconia, the name for the part of Greece in which Sparta was located. During the seventh and sixth centuries bc, however, Sparta was among the most sophisticated cultural centers in the Mediterranean with strong literary and artistic traditions. Poets such as Alkman described luxury imports from Lydia and reveal a magnificent world of choral song. For the visual arts, Sparta was a primary center for bronze working (the legendarily wealthy king of Lydia, Kroisos, would order bronze plate from Sparta), and there was also a fine ceramic tradition. These products were traded over vast areas in antiquity, and in modern times their distribution has become even wider as museums worldwide have collected them. Photographic archives such as Stibbe’s are indispensable research tools to reassemble scattered elements. The archive perfectly complements the teaching mission of the Carlos Museum. The Museum’s permanent collection includes a black-figured cup which represents a festival (fig. 1). The Stibbe Archive will make it possible for students to investigate (among other things) the iconography of the image, the shape and decoration of the cup, and how this particular cup fits into the series of other vases by the same painter in other collections. Likewise, the cast appliqué of a cow (fig. 2) once decorated the neck of a bronze volute-krater. Approximately a hundred such vessels or parts thereof are recorded; it is with the help of the Stibbe’s Archive that they will become better understood. In addition to some ten thousand photographs of objects, the Archive includes an unrivalled collection of academic off-prints, correspondence, and a study collection of archaeological material from a survey of Laconia. This wonderful archive can now be shared with the international scholarly community as well as provide the foundation for significant new research on campus for faculty and students alike. Visiting scholars who wish to consult the Archive will have access to this collection. Discussions are underway to make the Archive available online in a fully searchable website. Z
More than 325 cuneiform tablets and objects online this past fall, Nicholas Reid of Oxford University spent several days researching and photographing the Museum’s collection of over 325 cuneiform tablets and objects, to be included in the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli), making available through the internet the form and content of cuneiform tablets dating from the beginning of writing, ca. 3350 bc, until the end of the pre-Christian era. Nearly 273,000 tablets have been catalogued in electronic form by the cdli. The data, available on the web at http://cdli.ucla.edu, consist of text and image, combining document transliterations, text glossaries, and digitized originals and photo archives of cuneiform inscriptions covering 3,500 years of human history. Six surfaces of the clay tablet are digitized and merged to form a “fatcross” depiction of the full artifact. The consultants working on the cdli project include leading experts from the field of Assyriology, curators of European and American museums, and computer specialists in digital text markup. This electronic documentation is of particular value to cuneiform scholars and students the world over, particularly those with no access to original material from museum collections, as well as to specialists archiving and preserving fragile and often decaying cuneiform tablets. The project, co-sponsored by the University of California, Los Angeles, and the German Max Planck Society, has been funded by the joint Digital Library Initiative of
the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Collaborators are actively pursuing the digitization of major American and European collections, including those of the Oriental Institute, the University of Chicago, the Penn Museum, Harvard University, the British Museum, the Hermitage, and the Louvre. Z
Carlos collections online
We are proud to offer high-quality photography for more than 1,000 of the Museum’s art objects, now available to the public via Emory’s Digital Media Gallery at www. digitalgallery.emory.edu. Find the Museum’s works of art by clicking the link to “Emory University: Michael C. Carlos Museum” in the Collection Selection panel at the left of the screen. Images can be browsed geographically or searched using Google-style queries. Click an image to zoom to high levels of detail and view expertresearched catalogue information for each object. “Share this” and “Embed this” to email links to object pages, post them in a variety of social media, or embed them into web pages. Additional images and features will follow soon, so visit often for updates. The Emory Digital Media Gallery combines the Museum’s images with those of other Emory divisions as well as other institutions, creating a one-stop-shop for Emory students and faculty to gather images into portfolios, create presentations, and export images at high resolution for classroom use. Z
see highlights from the Carlos Museum’s unique collection in amazing new detail: • Nigerian Mami Wata’s beautifully textured surface • Lifelike Costa Rican pottery jaguars • A luminous Egyptian amethyst fish amulet • A vibrant Tibetan portrait of the patriarch Ngor Monastery • Dramatic 360 degree views of Rome’s marble Venus • Rembrandt’s tender rendering of the Virgin and Child in the Clouds above: A clay tablet within a partially intact envelope records barley rations transferred to an office of Ur III Drehem, ca. 2020 bc. Collected by William A. Shelton, funded by John A. Manget. Photo: bruce m. white.
above: More than 1,000 images of the Carlos Museum’s objects are available in Emory’s Digital Media Gallery.
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Educationnews Spring break art camp new! For years, Camp Carlos has provided art experiences of exceptional quality for children during the summer months. Now, for the first time, these same opportunities to learn from artists, ancient and contemporary, in the galleries and in the studio, will be available during the Metro-Atlanta public schools spring break week, April 8–12. Ceramic artist Cathy Amos will introduce children to animals of the earth, the sky, and the underworld in the new galleries of the Art of the Americas and teach them ways of creating these same animal forms in a variety of traditional images including flutes, pedestal plates, and black-on-black pots. Camp will meet from 9 am–3 pm and aftercare will be provided until 5 pm. For more information or to register visit the website at carlos.emory.edu or call 404-727-0519. Z
Camp Carlos celebrates twenty years of excellence in art education for twenty years, Camp Carlos has nurtured children and their natural impulse to create! Through the Carlos Museum collections, children have the unique opportunity to discover that artists of the ancient world still communicate in the present. With the guidance
above: Seventh graders from Atlanta Public Schools visit the Carlos Museum. 10
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of practicing artists schooled in techniques with ancient roots and modern applications, children make art in the studio. This summer, teens have the opportunity to learn the harmony and proportion of the human figure through classical art in the Greek and Roman collections and with clothed models in the classroom. Vibrant textiles from the Americas provide inspiration as children learn to use natural dyes like cochineal and indigo, hand spin, embellish with embroidery, and make weavings of their own. Children will create a managerie of ancient monsters found in the Greek and Roman collections and depicted in the wildly popular Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus book series by Rick Riordan. Inspired by African puppets from the secret Ekon society, children will use a variety of media and their limitless imaginations to create and animate puppets. For more information visit the website at carlos.emory.edu or call 404-727-0519. Z
years) towards ensuring access to the Carlos collections, and the Emory Women’s Club voted unanimously to devote their annual fundraising efforts this year towards bus transportation; the Club anticipates raising $8,000 to $10,000. The Carlos Museum tours approximately 18,000 students a year through special exhibitions and the permanent collections of ancient Egypt, Near East, Greek and Roman, South Asian, the Americas, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century sub-Saharan African art. Since the economic crisis of 2008, however, there has been a sharp decline in the number of Title One schools participating. Though the Museum is able to offer admission on a sliding scale, the cost for a bus for one class can be as high as $400. In many systems, Grants for school buses learning experiences that take place outside the classroom are seen as the carlos museum received non-essential, and are often the first two generous gifts to provide bus things to be cut. transportation costs for Title One These two generous gifts will schools in the metropolitan Atlanta make it possible for excellent and region. The gifts will ensure that severe cuts to school system budgets committed teachers who understand will not prohibit underserved K-12 the importance of learning from students from experiencing the type works of art in a museum setting of engaged learning that takes place to continue to make this type of experience available to their in a museum setting—an engagestudents. Information about funding ment that comes from exploring will be emailed to teachers and is works of art with highly trained available on our website. Teachers Carlos Museum docents. may apply for funding on a first Museum Advisory Board come, first served basis. Z member Sara Shlesinger and her husband John have made a gift of $25,000 ($5,000 a year for five above: Seventh graders from Atlanta Public Schools visit the Carlos Museum.
The Annual Latino Youth Leadership Conference
was a tour of the Carlos Museum led by members of the Docent Guild and Emory graduate students who if you could have an animal worked with Dr. Rebecca Stone, spirit-guide, what would it be? Faculty Curator of the Art of the What can an object tell us about the Americas, on the development of people that produced it, the environ- the Black Jaguar exhibition. ment in which they lived, and their In an imposing feat of organizareligious beliefs? These are some tion, over 500 middle school of the questions posed to sixth and students rotated in groups of sixty, seventh graders who visited ‘For attending either an introduction I am the Black Jaguar:’ Shamanic prior to touring the Black Jaguar Visual Experience in Ancient exhibition, or a “talkback” session American Art as part of the afterwards. PhD candidate Meghan thirteenth annual Latino Youth Tierney and graduate student Leadership conference held this Shelley Burian introduced themes fall at Emory. in the exhibition, ranging from the The annual conference, coshamanic worldview, to the impororganized by the Latin American tance of animals in the ancient Association and the Department of Americas as pack animals, sources Spanish and Portuguese, welcomed of fiber and food, and as spiritover 1,300 students, 200 parents, companions. In the talkback session, 100 teachers, 280 volunteers, and each student visualized and drew forty exhibitors to campus for a their spirit-guide. Museum docents day-long series of learning, network- worked with small groups as they ing, and socializing. High school rotated through the exhibition students met with community exploring animal imagery, shamanic leaders and participated in a Career figures in transformation, and and College Fair where they learned methods of achieving trance. about scholarship opportunities, sat Dr. Karen Stolley from the preparation, and how to write an Department of Spanish and Portueffective admissions essay. Middle guese said, “I won’t forget the sixth school students participated in grader who, when I asked him to workshops to develop strategies for describe his favorite part of the day, successful studying and the transimade a ferocious “jaguar” face and tion to high school. Part of the explained that he’d learned about middle school schedule for the day thinking and seeing as a human and as an animal at the same time!” Over 120 k-12 teachers also visited the Museum as part of the conference. Dr. Rebecca Stone introduced the Black Jaguar exhibition and the new Art of the Americas galleries. Teachers received detailed information about professional development opportunities, tour programs, and transportation grants for bringing classes to the Museum. Z above: Students from the Latin American Leadership conference exploring the ‘For I am the Black Jaguar’ exhibition.
New Family Guide to South Asian collections thanks to the generous support of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Carlos Museum announces a new Family Guide to its South Asian collections. Featuring die-cut images of several works in the collections on a ring, the guide introduces the Buddha and Avalokiteshvara from the Buddhist traditions and Vishnu, Durga, Krishna, and the elephant-headed god Ganesha from the Hindu tradition through lively text and detail images. Pick up yours at the Reception Desk on Level One. Z
above: Die-cut Family Guide to the South Asian collections.
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above: Nancy Roberts in the galleries 12
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Nancy Roberts, Director of Exhibition Design, retires
Joseph Gargasz joins the Museum in March
with exhibitions such as the Royal Tombs of Ur, In Stabiano, Excavating Egypt, Mandala, When Gold Blossoms, and the most recent, Black Jaguar, the Carlos Museum has built an international reputation for compelling exhibition design. For the past fifteen years, exhibition designer Nancy Roberts, a genius at orchestrating space and experience, worked diligently with curators to understand the unique narrative of each exhibition, and designed the galleries to maximize the story, highlight the art, and create an engaging environment for learning. She has been an integral member of the Carlos Museum team, and while she will be greatly missed, we know she is looking forward to a welldeserved retirement in February. Z
joseph gargasz will be joining the the Carlos Museum as the new Director of Exhibition Design. Gargasz started his career with the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio after graduating from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Throughout his career he served as the Assistant to the Gallery Director of the Canzani Center, Preparator at Oberlin College’s Allen Memorial Art Museum, and for the past twelve years as Chief Preparator at The University of North Carolina’s Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill. With nearly twenty years of museum experience Gargasz designed and installed more than 150 exhibitions. With a strong commitment to partnering with Museum constituents and departments, he is committed to team project planning and will add to the strength of the Carlos Museum’s exhibitions and visitor engagement. Z
above: New Director of Exhibition Design Joseph Gargasz.
Carlos&theCampus Emory students play with fire the experience of casting bronze and shaping glass has changed little since the seventh century bc — the artists who created the vessels, statues, and jewelry we find in the galleries of the Carlos Museum would feel very comfortable in the foundries and studios of Atlanta’s metal and glass artists. This spring semester, thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon Teaching and Training Program at the Carlos Museum, eighteen Emory students will learn about the materials and techniques of these ancient art forms from artists who still use them today. Students will explore works of bronze and glass in the Carlos collections, looking closely for signs of technique, special skill, and the possibilities of the medium. Artists from the Inferno Foundry in Union City will then guide students through the lost-wax process—making a wax sculpture, forming a mold, pouring the molten metal, and finishing the final product at the foundry. Students will then take up glass making of the kind practiced in antiquity — coreforming, slumping, sand casting, and blowing — working with Matt Janke of Janke Studios in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. Sandra Blakely, Associate Professor in the Classics Department and Director of the Program in Ancient Mediterranean Studies says she couldn’t be more excited about the course for her students. “The bronze smithy and the glass work-
shop were the source of the finest artifacts, the most specialized craftsmen, and the oddest of gods in the Greek and Roman world. Participants in this seminar are closing the gap between themselves and antiquity, and will see the treasures in the Carlos Museum through entirely new eyes.” Z
top: Atlanta glass artist Matt Janke of Janke Studios, Old Fourth Ward.
above: Carl Pelizza of the Inferno Foundry in Union City, GA instructs Emory students on the lost wax method of bronze casting.
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Ruthie Rollins receives the 2012 Woolford B. Baker Service Award
Wedjat Eye Amulet Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period 332–30 bc Electrum Gift of Sally and Joe Gladden in honor of Ruthie Rollins, 2012 Woolford B. Baker Service Award recipient. The wedjat eye amulet was the most potent of all ancient Egyptian magical symbols, representing the left eye of the god Horus. Although poked out during Horus’ epic battle with the god Seth to avenge the murder of Osiris, the eye magically came to life and began to fly. The wedjat eye became an important symbol of healing and protection. As an amulet it was worn by the living as well as the dead, being placed on mummies to ensure resurrection. It was painted on the prows of ships to grant them safe passage, even used as a symbol of fractions in mathematics. And when associated with the goddess Wadjet of Lower Egypt and a number of other female goddesses, the eye was often combined with a cobra.
This fine example is made of electrum, an alloy of silver and gold that occurs naturally in Egypt. It is decorated with tiny electrum balls in a technique known as granulation, which was invented in the Near East during the third millennium bc. While granulation had been used in Egypt, it was particularly favored by the Greeks as seen in this beautiful example from the Ptolemaic Period when Hellenistic styles were fashionable.
top: Wedjat eye amulet. 14
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for over twenty years, Ruthie Rollins has demonstrated her personal commitment to the Carlos Museum by contributing her time, talent, and treasure to virtually every aspect of the Museum. Mrs. Rollins served on the Advisory Board for ten years during which time she served on multiple committees, assisted with expansion fundraising efforts, helped to revitalize patron membership programs, and hosted visiting scholars. One of the most active fundraisers for the Museum, Mrs. Rollins served on numerous benefit committees, advised staff on development efforts, hosted luncheons for potential supporters, traveled with members on Museum trips, and set a personal example by continuously maintaining the highest level of membership available. Mrs. Rollins was also a founder and facilitator of The Carlos Partnership, a group of community patrons supporting the Museum with annual gifts at the highest level.
above: Ruthie Rollins and family.
In addition to giving hours of her time to Museum initiatives, Mrs. Rollins became one of the most important benefactors for the Carlos. Through her own many donations, and by directing multiple major gifts from the family foundation, Mrs. Rollins transformed the Carlos Museum. She established a special exhibition gallery, The Elizabeth Weldon Taylor Gallery, named in honor of her mother. She directed major gifts toward acquisitions in order to build the collections, and orchestrated the creation of an acquisitions endowment to ensure that generations to come would benefit from exposure to great works of art and treasures of cultural history. She directed major gifts to the Museum’s general endowment in order to build an unrestricted fund for operational needs. And she committed annual funds for Museum educational programs through patron membership, Veneralia sponsorship, and consistent gifts to the Board Annual Fund. “Mrs. Rollins’ impact on the growth and success of the Carlos Museum over two decades of
service and passionate advocacy cannot be underestimated. She was never a distant, anonymous donor. Rather, she was an active presence at the table with Museum staff, her sleeves rolled up, working tirelessly for a place she believed in. A true partner and friend, Mrs. Rollins is so deserving of our gratitude,” said Catherine Howett Smith, Associate Director of the Carlos Museum. The Baker Award, endowed for the Carlos Museum by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Gladden, is presented each year to an individual or organization who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Museum through a leadership role, an exceptional contribution of time and expertise, or a significant achievement in the Museum or the Atlanta cultural community. The Baker Award is named in honor of Dr. Woolford B. Baker, the director of the former Emory University Museum from 1953 to 1982. Z
above: Bonnie Speed, Peter Lacovara, Ruthie Rollins, Sally Gladden, and Jim Miller.
Frank Wilson Hulse IV: In memoriam longtime friend and supporter of the Carlos Museum, Frank “Billy” Wilson Hulse iv passed away on September 21 at his Ansley Park home. Billy and his wife Betty, former Board member of the Museum, were great friends and supporters and joined former director Anthony Hirschel and curator Peter Lacovara on the Carlos Museum’s 2001 tour of Egypt. Billy was a native of Birmingham who moved to Atlanta in the early 1970s. He was a worldwide traveler, leader of a global network of chief executives called the Young President’s Organization, and a donor to several scholarships. He was a partner at the Atlanta-based private investment firm River Capital, as well as chairman of several portfolio companies. Billy Hulse was paralyzed by a spinal cord injury in 2009, but he bravely soldiered on and did not let his injury hamper his activities and enjoyment of life or his concern for others. Recently the Shepherd Center dedicated the Betty and Billy Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Lab with funds raised by the Hulses. The Carlos Museum has added a New Kingdom tazza bowl from Egypt to the Museum’s Egyptian art collection in memory of Billy Hulse. Z
above: Tazza. Egyptian. New Kingdom, ca. 1550– 1050 bc. Calcite. Gift in Memory of Billy Hulse iv.
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Welcoming the Carlos Museum’s new Board chairs this past december, Charles Ackerman and Eleanor Ridley completed their fruitful and inspirational terms as Board co-chairs of the Carlos Museum and, along with staff, welcomed the new co-chairs Dirk Brown and Ed Snow. Said Eleanor Ridley, “Serving on the Carlos Museum Board has been both a privilege and a pleasure, especially as a co-chair with Charles Ackerman. I became a Board member because I so strongly believed in the Museum’s mission, the excellence of the exhibitions, and the opportunity for Atlanta to have collections from other cultures. These are compelling reasons to be involved along with the excellence of the growing permanent collections. However, I would have to add that as time passed my regard and affection for the superb staff and its supportive Board have been great pleasures that I will remember and cherish. Charlie and I leave the Board in the capable,
top: New Carlos Museum Board chairs Dirk Brown and Ed Snow. bottom: Outgoing Board chair Charles Ackerman.
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above: Outgoing Board chair Eleanor Ridley.
committed, and enthusiastic hands of Dirk Brown and Ed Snow. I am certain they will carry forward the Carlos Museum’s tradition of excellence and will continue to foster our close relationships and co-operation with the larger Emory community. For Atlanta to have such a resource is a source of pride for the whole region.” Snow, a partner in the Atlanta office of the law firm Burr & Forman llp, is an author and frequent lecturer on business loans, finance transactions, as well as law and religion. Active in the Georgia State Bar Association as a Business Law Section Executive committee member, Snow is also Chair of the Uniform Commercial Code Subcommittee. In addition, Snow is currently a member of the Board of Advisors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Snow’s interest in the intersection of art, law, and religion led to his involvement with the Carlos Museum and its programs. A graduate of Emory’s Goizueta Business School, Brown is Senior Director of Product Management for Premiere Global Services, a telecommunications company headquartered in Buckhead. An art and art history enthusiast and long time advocate for the Carlos Museum, Brown became a docent for the Museum while a student at Emory, serving later on the initial host committee for the Museum’s fund raiser, Bacchanal. Z
SupporttheCarlos
Michael Graves to be honored at Veneralia 2013
Experiencing Art in Architecture h o n o r i n g t h e co n t r i b u t i o n o f m i c h a e l g r av e s to t h e m i c h a e l c . ca r lo s m u s e u m
we are thrilled to announce that Michael Graves will serve as Honorary Chair of the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s signature annual event, Veneralia, which will be held on Saturday, March 16. Veneralia: Experiencing Art in Architecture will highlight the twentieth anniversary of the 1993 Carlos Museum expansion designed by Michael Graves, and will pay tribute to his direct and lasting contribution, which continues to bring distinction to Emory as well as provides a rich teaching resource for students and the Atlanta community studying the history of art and architecture. Co-chaired by Carlos Museum Board member Sara Shlesinger and Dennis Dean, of Dennis Dean Catering, Veneralia: Experiencing Art in Architecture will be held within the Museum’s acclaimed Graves’ building where the entire top floor will be transformed into a multi-sensory experience of global cuisine and uniquely designed interiors inspired by the Museum’s collections. A select group of Atlanta’s premier interior designers and architects will convert the galleries into ancient environments influenced by the styles of Asia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Africa. With your generous support of Veneralia you will help the Museum continue its tradition of artistic excellence. For tickets, call 404-727-2115 or email betsy.ayers@emory.edu. Z
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Bacchanal 2012: A special “Thank You” the carlos museum hosted the nineteenth annual Bacchanal on November 3, 2012. This End of the World party, inspired by the approaching end of the Maya calendar and Museum’s fall exhibition ‘For I Am the Black Jaguar’: Shamanic Visionary Experience in Ancient American Art, raised funds to support the Museum’s exhibitions and educational programming. The Museum celebrated with food from ten of Atlanta’s best caterers, exclusive after-hour access to extraordinary works of art, gloAtlanta dancers, a luxury raffle, and music that kept 250 guests dancing through the night. Special thanks to co-chairs: Avery Kastin and Cassandra Young; Silver Benefactors: Catherine and Christina Carlos, and Joanne and Charles Ackerman; Bronze Benefactors: CocaCola, Bennett Thrasher, FarraTech, National Distributing Company, King & Spalding, Avery V. Kastin, and Bobbo Jetmundsen; Media sponsor: Burnaway.
Save the date Bacchanal’s twentieth anniversary November 2, 2013 Bacchanal revelers included: A John Stupka; B Matt Edwards, Katie Gaspierik, Jennifer and Brandon Jordan; C Renee Owen, Jolie Powell, Kristin Klingshirn, Bart Mattingly, Stacey and Bert Weiss (from Q100’s The Bert Show), Erin Steele; D Ben Corley, Cassandra Young, Brian Teeter.
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Bookshop n e w in t h e b oo k sh o p
To order books by phone call 404-727-2374, or visit our website at carlos.emory.edu/bookshop.
The World Until Yesterday
A Love for the Beautiful
jared diamond, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning revisionist history Guns, Germs and Steel, has a new book, The World Until Yesterday, that provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years — a past that has mostly vanished— and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today. The author draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies, but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. $36 hardcover, discounted for Carlos Museum members.
some of the country’s best art is hidden in plain sight, in museums largely unknown outside their regions. How works by masters like Rembrandt, Rodin, Picasso, and O'Keeffe wound up where they did is a colorful tale of American art collecting. It’s the story of patrician families who acquired masterworks, self-made millionaires who applied their business skills to the art world, and discerning collectors who promoted new artists. Each of the fifty museums profiled in this wellillustrated new book, A Love for the Beautiful, offers a uniquely personal, intimate art-viewing experience, and also serves as a travel guide to great American museums off the beaten track—including the Carlos Museum, which is one of the fifty great “hidden” museums featured. $19.95 softcover, discounted for Carlos Museum members. Z
Save the date Spring Bookshop Sale Look for more information on our giant spring sale on Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27. All books and gifts will be discounted 20%.
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Membership we extend our gratitude to all who have become new members or who have renewed between August and November 2012. Your support is greatly appreciated and we look forward to seeing you at the Museum for many years to come. Not yet a member? Visit carlos.emory.edu/join to join the ranks of these generous supporters. Curator Co u nc i l
Messrs. Dirk L. Brown and Timothy Burns Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Gladden, Jr. Mrs. Marguerite C. Ingram Mr. and Mrs. James C. Kennedy Mr. F. Glenn Verrill Co ri n thi an
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Ferman, Jr. Dr. Sarah H. Hill and Mr. Harvey B. Hill, Jr. Mr. Eric Lee Reynolds Dr. Regine Reynolds-Cornell Dr. and Mrs. William Scaljon Ms. Isabel D. Thomson Mr. and Mrs. Raul F. Trujillo Io ni c
Mr. and Mrs. William James Brehm Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gibson Mrs. Susanne W. Howe Mr. W. David Jones Mr. W. Seaborn Jones Mrs. Lindsay W. Marshall Ms. Marianna McLean Messrs. Gary Youngblood and James Michael Lorton
D or ic
Mr. and Mrs. H. Ross Arnold iii Mr. and Mrs. Wayne S. Bailey Messrs. Eugene Bales, Jr. and Boon C. Boonyapat Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Bancroft Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Boas Mr. Randy Fields and Ms. Elizabeth Anne Bouis Dr. Lucio Chiaraviglio and Ms. Louise Stearns White Judge Brenda S. Cole and Dr. Thomas W. Cole, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. J. Jeffrey Copes Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Cross Dr. and Mrs. F. Thomas Daly, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. William L. Dobes, Jr. Dr. Robin Henry Dretler and Ms. Alice K. Michaelson Mr. James E. Flynn, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Craig Iver Forman Dr. and Mrs. William H. Fox, Jr. Ms. Louise Barlett Franklin Dr. John W. Gamwell Mr. Gene Gane Dr. and Mrs. John C. Garrett Mr. Francis J. Gilmore Mr. Charles R. Hunsucker and Ms. Lyndel M. Gliedman Mr. Kyle Alexander Hanschke and Ms. Katie Ginnane Mr. and Mrs. Alexander S. Hawes Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Hoover Mr. and Ms. Richard S. Kaplan Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Alan Krause
Thank you
Ms. Patricia Krull Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Kruse Dr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Lawley Mr. and Mrs. Murray Lindsay Mr. James Russell Bodell and Ms. Susan Ann Long Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mariolis Ms. Mahota Matthews Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. McDavid Ms. Lynda D. Nelson Bush Ms. V. C. Nelson Prof. Gordon Darnell Newby and Dr. Wendy L. Newby Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. O’Harrow Mr. Scott Owen Mr. Andreas Penninger Mrs. Rosemarie M. Penninger Mr. William P. Tedeschi and Ms. Dawn Prevete Mr. Frank C. Roberts The Honorable and Mrs. Mathew Robins Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Skousen Ms. Mary Lynn Smith Mr. Dominic Popielski and Mrs. Dawn Colleen Smith-Popielski Mr. and Mrs. Leonard W. Thibadeau Mr. and Mrs. Ray G. Thomas Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Thompson Dr. and Mrs. James L. Waits Mr. and Mrs. Fred Watke Mr. William B. White Mrs. Aileen W. Wieland Mrs. Barbara Lord Willis Ms. Jeannie B. Wright Z
The Wise Heart Society beginning in september with our new fiscal year, Carlos Museum donors and members who give $1,000 or more annually to the Museum and/or collectively to other Emory University programs will be eligible for a new University recognition society, The Wise Heart Society. This new leadership annual giving society, appropriately named after Emory’s motto “the wise heart seeks knowledge,” acknowledges that our accomplishments would not be possible without the generous support of our donors. Inclusion in the Wise Heart Society is separate from your Museum membership. You may receive information about the society in the mail in the coming weeks. We are excited that the new Wise Heart Society will better recognize the diverse interests and generous giving of our leadership-level donors. Thank you for your commitment to the Carlos Museum. Learn more about the Society at annualgiving.emory.edu/WiseHeart. Z
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571 south kilgo circle atlanta, ga 30322 carlos.emory.edu
non profit organization u.s. postage paid atlanta, georgia permit
Member
Comingup
Visitorinformation
On view beginning February 9
Hours: Tuesday through Friday: 10 am–4 pm; Saturday: 10 am– 5 pm; Sunday: noon–5 pm; Closed Mondays and University holidays. caffè antico: Monday–Fridays: 11 am–3 pm.
New Art of the Americas Galleries including Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: The Melion-Clum Collection of Modern Southwestern Pottery August 24–November 17
Antichità, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance and Baroque Images of Rome
Stayconnnected Stay connected on our Facebook page with event reminders, specials, notes from curators, and exhibition information. Subscribe to our Carlos Museum calendar and enjoy lectures, the Carlos Reads book club, AntiquiTEA, family events, and more. Visit carlos.emory.edu/connect
Admission: $8 general admission. Carlos Museum members, Emory students, faculty, and staff: Free. Students, seniors, and children ages 6–17: $6 (Children ages 5 and under free). Visit our website to find out about Free Afternoons. Public Transportation: marta bus line 6 Emory from Inman Park/ Reynoldstown & Lindbergh stations or 36 North Decatur from Avondale and Midtown stations. Parking: Paid visitor parking in the visitor sections of the Fishburne and Peavine Parking Decks and in the new Oxford Road Parking Deck, located behind the new Barnes and Noble @ Emory, 1390 Oxford Road.
Handicapped Parking: Drop off for handicap visitors at Plaza Level entrance on South Kilgo Circle. Handicap-accessible parking is available in the Oxford Road and Peavine decks. A handicap-accessible shuttle runs from the Peavine deck, weekdays every 10 minutes. For further assistance contact the Disability Services Office at 404-727-9877 or 404-712-2049 (fax). Tours: Advanced booking required for weekday or weekend groups of 10 or more. For reservations call 404-727-0519 at least two weeks before your group would like to visit. Public Tours: Depart from the rotunda on Sundays at 2 pm. Call in advance, 404-727-4282. Audio Tour: $2. Free for Museum members. Museum Information: 404-727-4282 Web Access: carlos.emory.edu