BARRY
ISSUE 7 | APRIL 2022
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BARRY ART MUSEUM'S QUARTERLY eMAGAZINE PUBLISHED ON THE CAMPUS OF OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
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DIRECTOR'S
FOREWORD We are pleased to share the Spring 2022 edition of Barry Bytes e-magazine. As the external world changed rapidly around us, our team battened down and focused on an intimate investigation of our daily processes and procedures. This issue gives you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into our museum’s operations: learn about exhibition development, travel into laboratories and artist studios, take a deep dive into historical research for one pivotal Japanese doll, see painting conservation up close, take a first look at two new acquisitions and explore how they relate to our permanent collection, hear first-hand from our graduate assistant about her experiences on our team, and enjoy a rapid fire interview with a pithy security officer. These stories reveal just how multi-faceted museum studies can be: research, conservation, collecting and outreach.
A Studio Visit with Elizabeth King Conserving the collection
HIRATA GŌYŌ: The Birth of the Japanese Art Doll
Judith Schaechter Elizabeth King Jules Olitsky (long term loan)
Looking outward, our team has united to organize two pop-up shows relating to Ukraine. The first highlights Ukrainian-born painter Jules Olitski (1922-2007). The museum has deep holdings reflecting many chapters in his career, and we will debut a previously unseen memento mori painting (on loan from his daughter’s private collection). The second exhibit features Virginia Beach native Heather Beardsley and the haunting work she created during a 2019 US Embassy-funded artist residency in Kyiv. Heather was inspired by the complex social and environmental aftermath of Chernobyl, and has embroidered leaves and nature back into the landscapes on desolate soviet-era postcards. Please join us for our ongoing after-hours U-Nites, monthly lectures and Saturday tours. ODU has just removed the Museum’s mask mandate, so they are now optional when you pop in to explore. There is much to experience here at the Barry Art Museum; admission is free and complimentary parking is directly adjacent to the Museum. We look forward to welcoming you.
Maria Lindauer, Graduate Assistant Officer James Outlaw
in this
ISSUE
Onward,
CHARLOTTE POTTER KASIC
Executive Director
POV
P O I N T O F V I E W — you're at the Barry Art Museum!
Photo by @jadathepotatah
U-Nite Fashion & Design, photo by @chai.miller_photos U-Nite Breath & Movement
Photo by @mziz.scott Photo by @wadsworthstyle
Studio visit with artist Elizabeth King, photo by Peter Eudenbach
BEHIND THE SCENES Our current exhibition, Motion/Emotion, addresses an array of topics: from nineteenth-century French automata to brand-new robots developed in the Hampton Roads area. Putting this show together required not only extensive research and planning, but also virtual and in-person conversations with artists, engineers, and other makers. Let’s pull back the curtain on this exhibition and explore some of the places we visited. In June 2021, a group from the Barry Art Museum traveled to Richmond to visit the artist Elizabeth King’s studio. It turned out to be a highlight of the Motion/Emotion research process. King and her husband live in a historic building in Richmond’s Church Hill District, renovated to accommodate both of their studios and a living space. Airy and spacious with high ceilings and ample windows, King’s home is an exquisite place to live, think, and create. Her work, encompassing sculpture, video, photography, and other media, is scattered throughout the space and spans several decades of creative activity.
SARA WOODBURY Guest Curator
Her studio also holds her collection of wooden mannequins, glass eyes, and other historical ephemera, which both inform her work and enhance the studio’s dramatic atmosphere.
Dr. Yiannis Papelis (research professor at ODU and member of the exhibition advisory committee) facilitated our trip to his lab at Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center (VMASC). We were there to view David’s Project, the groundbreaking robot designed for hospital-bound children. Compared to the robot now on view in the gallery, what we saw was a work in progress, with the robotic hardware visible and the 3D-printed shell only partially completed. To help us visualize the finished robot’s appearance, Dr. Papelis showed us hand-drawn student proposals from the Governor’s School for the Arts. SimIs is a veteran-owned company specializing in military technology located in Portsmouth. Many ODU graduates and faculty have worked with SimIs, including Dr. Papelis. Executive Director Charlotte Kasic and Guest Curator Sara Woodbury On our trip there, we viewed both the Human Type Target (HTT) visit Elizabeth King's Studio. Photo and the Autonomous De-escalation Robotic Trainer (ADRT) in person by Peter Eudenbach for the first time. Having previously seen these works only in photographs, it was a striking experience to view them in person and get a sense of their scale.
THE MAKING OF MOTION/EMOTION SimIs is hidden in a nondescript storefront, we discovered ourselves in a decidedly industrial space filled with electronics, robot parts, and other equipment. Members of the SimIs think tank took time from their work to demonstrate their products-in-development and answer our questions. Barry Art Museum team visits Elizabeth King's studio. Photo by Peter Eudenbach
Studio visits are often the highlight of a curatorial project, and Motion/Emotion has been no exception. After spending most of the previous year interacting with people virtually, visiting all these different places was a welcome change to our routine and helped make Motion/Emotion all the more engaging as an exhibition.
HIRATA GŌYŌ: The Birth of the Japanese Art Doll FEBRUARY 10, 2022 - JULY 31, 2022
Hirata Gōyō: The Birth of the Japanese Art Doll is currently on view here at the Museum. This exhibition chronicles the development of the Japanese art doll through the work of Hirata Gōyō, and presents works from a private collection alongside selections from the Barry Art Museum positioning these dolls on par with fine art. Before Gōyō I, and his son and successor Gōyō ll, craft and art were one and the same in Japan, quite different from western definitions. Dollmaking was less an industry than a family endeavor; generations maintained time-honored traditions (with periodic, incremental change). Daidozan (Great Mountain Child), Hirata Gōyō I (Tsunejirô, 1878-1924), Meiji Era, Circa 1900
When Japan opened trade with the west, creative fields began to change to a more European standard to better compete in the game of international commerce. Artists began to be seen as individuals with new ideas, rather than traditional fine craftspeople trained to carry on family lineage. Initially, dollmakers were placed at the bottom of this new art hierarchy, surpassed by disciplines such as furniture, sculpture, and painting. Both Gōyō l and ll would work to change that. Hirata Gōyō I was at the forefront of the individualized artistic movement. Trained as a hyper-realistic iki-ningyō or “living doll” doll maker, he applied this lifelike approach to more traditional forms, such as Boy’s Day dolls (particularly those figures drawn from fairytale and lore). His unique style was dubbed shasei or “stylized realism.” Under his eye, icons of Japanese folklore (such as Momotarō the Peach Boy and Kintarō the Wild Child of the Mountains) were transformed into dynamic dolls possessing a unique vitality. The dolls’ popularity helped to enshrine these figures as fixtures of the May 5th Boy’s Day Doll Festival (now Children’s Day).
Gōyō I presents us with a delightful rendering of Daidozan (Great Mountain Child), an eighteenth century sumo prodigy. At age seven, Daidozan Bungoro (b. circa 1788) stood at a modest 3’10” but weighed an impressive 183 lbs. He became something of a mascot in the Edo (Tokyo) sumo world and would frequently be called upon to open the day’s matches by entering the ring in formal kesho mawashi (apron) and perform a series of ritual postures to the delight of the crowd. Daidozan also became the darling of woodblock printmakers of the day: they capitalized on the popularity of sumo wrestling, making innumerable pictures of the rotund Great Mountain Child available at sumo halls and on street corners. In Gōyō’s rendering, executed decades after Daidozan’s passing, the Great Mountain Child is depicted as a lively and corpulent boy, with fleshy belly folds and a full face. In keeping with Gōyō’s new realistic dynamism, Daidozan’s right arm is thrust out to the side and his left hand is at his left breast, replicating a popular sumo gesture.
ALAN SCOTT PATE Guest Curator, Researcher, Expert
His gofun (a paste made from oyster shell and animal glue) skin is colored with a slightly reddish tone, a conceit frequently applied to the superhuman child heroes Momotarō and Kintarō. His traditional silk apron depicts a carp swimming up a waterfall; in Chinese/Japanese lore, a carp that ascends the waterfall is transformed into a dragon, a popular image representing a call for dedication and perseverance. In woodblock prints, Daidozan is typically depicted wearing a more formal sumo coiffure. Here, though, Gōyō chose a simple shoulder length cut (from real hair), typical for a young boy prior to his coming of age and emphasizing his youth. Gōyō’s eldest son, Tsuneo (1903-1981), took up his father’s mantle in the late 1920’s and brought doll making to even greater heights. He applied a new mastery of skill sets, employed ball joints and movement to the dolls, and continued his father’s dedication to transforming ningyō making, from tradition-bound craft to eye-popping artistry. The transition from traditional craft to fine art in ningyō making was complex, but with an examination of ningyō made at the hands of Hirata Gōyō I and II, the results are compelling and undeniably beautiful. These contributions to the evolution of ningyō are the subject of the Barry Art Museum’s current exhibition: Hirata Gōyō: The Birth of the Japanese Art Doll.
To learn more, be sure to register for our upcoming lecture with Alan Scott Pate, part of our free monthly lecture series.
Archival photograph of a sumo wrestler in a dohyo iri pose.
BEHIND THE SCENES CONSERVING THE COLLECTION Managing a collection of artworks is more than simply moving works between storage and galleries, maintaining strict environmental controls, and frequently checking on the condition of the works. Despite museum professionals' best efforts to ensure that a collection remains vibrant and whole, time wears on all things Occasionally works of art need to be assessed and maintained by a conservator. Recently, the Barry Art Museum worked with Mark Lewis, conservator for the Chrysler Museum of Art, to touch up three of our paintings: Wolf Khan’s Fall Waters, Connecticut River, 1995, Quita Brodhead’s Flowers in a White Vase, 1940, and Jane Piper Baltzell’s Untitled (Composition in Red).
MARK LEWIS Conservator
There are many factors that could cause a work of art to require repairs. We spoke with Mark about both conservation in general and our works in particular:
What types of things could cause a work of art to need conservation? Mark Lewis: There are many factors that affect how long an artwork will last, starting with the materials an artist uses to create a work. Are they inherently durable and time-tested? Many art materials are long-lasting, like cotton, linen, bronze, wood, and glass. How these materials are used and if they are compatible with one another is an important aspect of craftsmanship. Another major factor is the environment. Temperature and humidity will cause materials to expand and contract. Different materials respond at different rates. When humidity levels change, canvas changes more readily than a layer of old oil paint, and that’s why most old paintings have age cracks. Light is energy; the same light that will burn your skin will cause certain materials to fade. Watercolors, textiles, and color photographs are particularly sensitive to fading and must be protected from excessive light if they are to last. Which of these things did you notice in the works you conserved for the Barry Art Museum? ML: Several of the paintings in the collection at the Barry Museum recently required some stabilization to re-adhere lifting paint. This may have been the result of the artist’s technique, and/or the environments they have been exposed to. Centuries ago, artists made their own paint and understood how to formulate long-lasting colors. They learned these formulas through apprenticeships. Nowadays, inexpensive artist paints are formulated to sell for less, and avoid those costly ingredients which would last longer. Paintings are often multi-layered and different materials may be incompatible or dry at different rates. Over time, this can cause delamination or cracking in the paint layers. When this happens, conservators need to test the paint layers to understand which adhesive will be safe to re-adhere the flaking paint. Ideally, the fixative should be strong and long-lasting but easily reversible. Reversibility allows us to revisit the repair in the future if necessary.
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In this Wolf Kahn painting, Fall Waters, Connecticut River. It was clear to Mark Lewis that Kahn reworked sections of the sky. Kahn was known for revisiting portions of his paintings. Paint aging at two different rates leads to common conservation issues.
Wolf Kahn, (American, b. 1927) Fall Waters, Connecticut River, Oil on canvas, 1995 Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
How do people get into conservation? What kind of skill set and mindset does it require?
ML: Conservation is a blend of three disciplines, artistic studio craft, art history and chemistry. After gaining a foundation in all three, students who want to pursue this career would apply to a graduate program in conservation. Once in graduate school, students choose a particular specialty to focus on. Some of these specialties include: paintings, works of art on paper, objects, decorative arts, sculpture, textiles and photography. If you are passionate about art history and art making, and want to understand the underlying science of art materials, this might be the career for you. More information about art conservation and applying to graduate programs in conservation is available here: https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/become-a-conservator
February 10-July 31, 2022
MEET THE TEAM GRADUATE ASSISTANT MARIA LINDAUER
Maria Lindauer, Master of Arts in English Studies (Literature Program), Graduation date May 6, 2022 One of the primary reasons we selected Maria from the pool of applicants for this assistantship was her invaluable experience managing artists during Moscow Fashion week. We knew her skill set would be crucial as we launched a new festival (during a pandemic), and she rose to every challenge. With poise and polish, she proved herself time and again. Her perspective as an international student has brought a new dimension to the way we think about the collection. We will miss her, and we congratulate her as she embarks on her next adventure. What is your favorite artwork in the museum? My favorite piece is Janus I by contemporary Swedish artist Bertil Vallien, who makes wonderful cast glass sculptures. This particular piece attracted my attention because of its unusual three-dimensional nature and connection to mythology. The work is named after the Roman god Janus, the keeper of doors and gates, who represented the state of transition. His two faces look in opposite directions - one watches the future, the other looks to the past. The two of them together represent the duality of the world: life and death, beginning and ending, war and peace, barbarism and civilization. When I saw it for the first time, it reminded me of the battle between reason and instinct inside each human destined to constantly fight. It captured the duality of human nature: the mysterious, uncanny, and even aggressive face depicted on the surface of the sculpture turned to the outside world hides a dramatically different, more vulnerable and kind expression from the inside. I know how hard it is to work with glass, and the complex technical side of this work fascinates me. I also enjoy the location of this piece on the second-floor balcony facing the window; it makes me feel as if the Roman all-knowing god oversees our daily life through this window. Bertil Vallien, (Swedish, b. 1938) Janus I, Cast glass on painted wooden stand. Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III
February 10-July 31, 2022
What was the most surprising part of the assistantship? I think the most surprising part for me was seeing how much team effort and planning the Museum's daily operations require. Before my assistantship, I thought most work had to be done right before the new exhibition opened. Life behind the scenes turned out to be much more complex than I thought. I saw how hard the entire team worked – for months – to design the current exhibition and plan events to accompany the artwork in the galleries. They found ways to make this show a part of the larger discourse in arts and technology, and to make sure it resonated with different groups in the local community. Moreover, once the exhibition is open, each piece requires attention every day, in order to continue to properly communicate its message to visitors. In fact, the whole Barry Art Museum team – including gallery hosts, security officers, art handlers, museum educators, curators, and office staff – work together every day to maintain this beautiful space. One of the greatest examples of this team effort was the Museum of the Moon festival in October 2021. It quickly transitioned from a simple outdoor art installation to a full-blown art festival that brought together ODU students, different groups from the local community, and residents from across Hampton Roads. It was amazing to watch the team work together: from the gallery hosts who welcomed the visitors at the front desk (it wasn't easy, as they personally welcomed each of the 500 visitors entering the museum each night), to Charlotte Potter Kasic, the Museum's Executive Director, leading the outside festival and connecting all of the participating organizations. Even though some things may not have gone exactly as planned, I enjoyed watching the team resolve issues together, and I felt extremely proud to be a part of such a friendly and hard-working team.
Maria Lindauer at the Barry Art Museum
Maria Lindauer at Barry Art Museum with husband
JUDITH
SCHAECHTER New to the Collection This winter, the Barry Art Museum was delighted to add two important new works to our permanent collection: Elizabeth King’s Compass and Judith Schaechter’s Last Belch of the Fish. Judith Schaechter at work, courtesy of artist
Internationally renowned artist Judith Schaechter has lived and worked in Philadelphia since graduating in 1983 with a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design’s glass program. Shaechter has taught workshops at numerous venues, including Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, Penland School of Crafts, Toyama Institute of Glass (Toyama, Japan), and Australia National University in Canberra, Australia. She has also taught courses at Rhode Island School of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy, the New York Academy of Art and at The University of the Arts Philadelphia, where she is Adjunct Professor. Recently, Schaechter has become increasingly alarmed by global warming. With wit and irony, she draws our attention to this plight. Last Belch of the Fish borrows its title from a song of the same name by Schaechter’s friend, Philadelphia cult music legend David E. Williams. The title was chosen for its jarring effect, she is aiming straight at the viewer. The work, in its illuminated jewel box, is beguiling at first, with its rich jewel tone colors, medieval borders and embryonic form. On closer inspection, it portrays a fish gasping for air in a polluted pond. (The pond here is a metaphor for our planet). No oxygen remains in this environment, toxic with trash and chemical run-off. A swarm of flies hover nearby, ready to descend into the fetid water. This work is exemplary of an artist working at the height of her powers; she can attract, shock, repel and call to action in four swift beats. It will be a highlight of the Barry Art Museum’s contemporary glass collection for years to come. Judith Schaechter Last Belch of the Fish, 2020 Stained Glass Lightbox,
ELIZABETH KING
New to the Collection Based in Richmond, acclaimed multimedia artist Elizabeth King explores the nuances of physical movement, interior thought, and the emotions stemming from both. Working at the intersections of puppetry and A still from an upcoming Floating Stones Productions documentary on the artist and VCU professor. Courtesy of Style Weekly human anatomy, she creates intricate, articulated sculptures which she sets in motion. The intimate scale of her work, along with her representational style and use of materials such as boxwood, porcelain, and bronze evoke the appearance and materiality of nineteenth-century artist's mannequins and automata. This sculpture, Compass, has undergone multiple incarnations: initially, the two half-scale arms were made and shown alone as Untitled 1986. Originally installed within a wall opening, it was reworked as a free-standing sculpture in a holly wood cabinet in 2004 and exhibited at both Danese/Corey gallery in 2015 and MASS MoCA in 2017-2018. The two arms are mounted at the viewer’s chest-height in the cabinet, which frames the action but allows the “backstage” mechanism to remain visible. The upper hand is set in motion by a magnetic drive mechanism designed for this piece by artist Christopher Taggart. The motion is at first imperceptible: half purposeful, half tremor. King speaks of the contest between sculpture and mechanism to represent the alive and moving body: "Carving a hand, for example, and then cutting it up and inserting joints: how much machinery before I lose the emotional coherence of the image? At stake for me is our human habit of seeing a self as a thing, one minute (made of stuff and blood), and a being, the next (a 'someone' with memories and plans). It is difficult to hold these two perceptions at the same time. Can I compass both in a single work?" The complexity of this poetic interrogation is amplified by the changes it has undergone during decades of consideration. Compass adds both an invaluable contemporary voice and a bridge between the Barry Art Museum’s collection of both modern art and historical automata. Elizabeth King, Compass, 1999/2004 Installation: carved wood (holly), magnetic mechanical drive, fiber optics, lacquered wood cabinet
JULES OLITSKI
The Barry Art Museum is pleased to present this long-term loan from Natasha Gorby Cebek: the Jules Olitski painting Love of Alexander (September 1989) was made in memory of Alexander Gorby, the son of Olitski’s wife Kristina and brother of Natasha Gorby Cebek. The day following Alexander’s sudden passing, Olitski created this spiritually majestic painting—a de facto modernist mourning painting, or memento mori—to comfort and support his grief-stricken wife. We are grateful to Ann Freedman of FreedmanArt in New York City for shepherding the public debut of this painting.
Love of Alexander is an exceptional example from the famed “mitt pictures,” produced with a large, furry fingerless glove; a padded mitt intended for craft and industry. The sheer excess of paint, volume, and energy displayed in this painting is in line with the artist’s lifelong pursuit of meaning through abstraction.
JULES
OLITSKI Jules Olitski (American, b. Russian [now Snovsk, Ukraine], 1922–2007) Love of Alexander Acrylic on canvas, 1989 On loan from Natasha Gorby Cebek (stepdaughter of Jules Olitski), daughter of Kristina Olitski; Kristina Olitski Foundation
Olitski was born in 1922 in the town of Snovsk, now part of Ukraine, shortly after his father was executed by the Soviet government. His remaining family fled famine, ending up in America. While Olitski wouldn’t have defined his work as political, the experience of loss was woven into his life and the dialectic of absence in many of his paintings evinces a sense of yearning. His ongoing interest in the physicality of paint was inspired by the Old Masters, and Olitski told the critic Barbara Rose (effectively describing his own work) that Rembrandt’s paint “seemed to move in and out, like a seamless flow on the surface.” Olitski’s six decade trajectory through staining, spraying, and impasto—all infused with deep tones and blazing color—show that his life’s work was never about modernist reduction. His interest in the baroque is visible in his pictorial energy, blurring the distinction between representation and abstraction. At the same time, his manipulation of paint plays with the subtle distinction between picture-as-window and painting-as-object that his generation helped to pinpoint. Characteristically, he leaves this distinction unresolved, inviting us to experience his full range of painterly pleasures unhindered. ~Dr. Vittorio Colaizzi, Associate Professor of Art History, Old Dominion University
QUICK QUESTION Meet Officer James Outlaw, stoic security guard at the Barry Art Museum since March 2020. We asked him a few quick questions:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself? From Norfolk, graduated from Maury High School, later graduated BFA Fine Arts, Painting, from VCU (82’) What do you consider your role at the Barry Art Museum? Keep order. You arguably spend the most time with the art, more than anybody who works here. Do you find that you are drawn to a specific type of artwork in the museum? No. If it moves it moves, you know? If it works it works. Which piece in the collection moves you the most? Devin Troy Struther's The Coloureds Series Part 4: "Gurrrl I'm just talking about that composition, Gurrrrl what'chu know about that post abstraction?” Thank you, Officer Outlaw (and all of our Campus Public Safety) for your dedication to the museum. Devin Troy Strother (American, born 1986) The Coloreds Series Part 4: “Gurrrl I’m just talking about that composition, Gurrrrl what’chu know about that post abstraction?” Acrylic and mixed media on panel, 2012 Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III, Art Purchase Fund
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MAY
WEEKLY WEEKLY
SATURDAY at 1pm
FREE MONTHLY LECTURE SERIES: Birth of the Japanese Art Doll
Join us weekly for a FREE, guided tour at the Museum. Explore rotating works and themes weekly.
THURSDAY, MAY 5 | 6-7:30 pm Japan is famed the world over for its doll-making mastery. This applies to centuries-old styles that form the focus of important festivals and rites. Reigning supreme over the creation of Japanese dolls is Hirata Gōyō II (1903-1981) whose pioneering works transformed not only the outward look and scope of Japanese dolls but how the Japanese themselves viewed this ageold craft. Following his success in the remarkable Japanese Friendship Doll exchange of 1927, Gōyō embarked on a mission to revolutionize Japanese dolls, elevating them from admired craft to fine artworks. Gōyō was honored by the Japanese government in 1955 as the first doll artist to be named a Living National Treasure. Please join us for a lively presentation on Gōyō and how his art doll movement transformed Japanese dolls forever. This talk is brought to you by ODU’s Office of Community Engagement.
Ningyō & Ocha (Japanese dolls & tea) FRIDAY, MAY 13 | 5-8 pm
Experience the Museum at night! University and community partners unite around a monthly theme at the Museum on the 2nd Friday of every month.
RSVP Encouraged!
May’s U-Nite is inspired by our newest companion exhibition, Hirata Gōyō: The Birth of the Japanese Art Doll, curated by Alan Scott Pate. The evening’s events will include cultural enrichment activities, Japanese refreshments & guided exhibition tours.
JUNE - AUGUST 2nd Friday of the month | 5:30pm
Friday, June 10 | 5:30pm: Hugo, 2011 Friday, July 8 | 5:30pm: Her, 2013 Friday, August 12 | 5:30pm Artificial Intelligence, AI, 2001
Free & Open to the public. RSVP recommended.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR BARRY BYTES CONTRIBUTORS:
Dale Chihuly, (American, born 1941) Gilded and Amber Chandelier, Blown, tooled, assembled on painted steel structure, 2002 Gift of Carolyn K. and Richard F. Barry III, Photograph by John Wadsworth Photography