C Magazine | 2016 - Volume 5 - Issue 1

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBER MAGAZINE

APRIL 2016

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VOL V ISSUE I

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COVER: Faith Ringgold, Maya’s Quilt of Life (details), 1989, acrylic on canvas and painted, dyed, and pieced fabrics. 73 × 73 in. Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries. TABLE OF CONTENTS, FROM RIGHT: Still of Faith Ringgold from ACA 2015. Artist unidentified, Map Quilt, 1886, silk and cotton with silk embroidery, 78 3⁄4 x 82 1⁄4 in. Photo by Schecter Lee.

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CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBER MAGAZINE

APRIL 2016

VOL V ISSUE I

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12 20 BUCKING TRADITION: ARTISTIC INNOVATION

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AN INTERVIEW WITH FAITH RINGGOLD

PARADISE LOST: JIM DINE’S GARDEN OF EDEN

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NEWS ACQUISITIONS MUSEUM STORE A CLOSER LOOK COMING SOON ELEVEN LIBRARY TRAILS & GROUNDS COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT BACK STORY CELEBRATIONS MEMBERS PHILANTHROPY LAST WORD

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MEMBER MAGAZINE

WELCOME TO A NEW YEAR OF C MAGAZINE! We’ve updated the publication’s look, and also made some changes inside: we expanded the Acquisitions feature, and changed the Art 101 feature to A Closer Look, which will focus on looking closely at one specific artwork. We hope you like the changes!

The road to becoming an artist is never easy. There is no sure path, and the route sometimes takes dramatic detours or crosses long stretches of rough terrain. Some artists—those deemed “outsiders” for whatever reason—are obliged, by the roadblocks placed in their way, to forge their own trails through uncharted territory.

This issue features several stories of artists who have “bucked the system” or worked outside the mainstream of art to forge their own artistic paths. I interviewed legendary artist Faith Ringgold, who used uncommon materials and techniques in creating her “story quilts.” We learn about Edmonia Lewis, the first African American female sculptor. And two of our curators offer a perspective on the way artists push back against the accepted norms to blaze new trails and invent new genres.

Finally, we preview an upcoming exhibition that features some of the most “outside” of outside art—folk art—art made by regular, untrained people as a means of beautifying their world and expressing their individual taste. American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum is an exhibition created exclusively for Crystal Bridges.

LINDA DEBERRY EDITOR

Editor@CrystalBridges.org

SOME ARTISTS—THOSE DEEMED “OUTSIDERS” FOR WHATEVER REASON—ARE OBLIGED,

BY THE ROADBLOCKS PLACED IN THEIR WAY,

TO FORGE THEIR OWN TRAILS THROUGH UNCHARTED TERRITORY. 02

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Rod Bigelow DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Sandy Edwards CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

Jill Wagar DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Diane Carroll EDITOR

Linda DeBerry CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER

Anna Vernon LEAD DESIGNER

Laura Hicklin CONTRIBUTORS

Chad Alligood Mindy Besaw Rod Bigelow Case Dighero Valerie Sallis Susanneh Bieber Margi Conrads Alejo Benedetti Dylan Turk EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Alison Nation PHOTOGRAPHY

Marc Henning Stephen Ironside Nancy Nolan Dero Sanford MEMBERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT

Ana Aguayo Robyn Alley Emily Ironside Anne Jackson Kaylin McLoud Megan Martin Hannah Nestor Kelly Hale Zega Meg Skaggs Angela Hodges

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Send your email address to embership@crystalbridges.org Environmentally friendly 100% Recycled (post-consumer waste) Made with renewable energy Acid Free

A Makeover for the Coffee Bar at Eleven IF YOU HAVE VISITED CRYSTAL BRIDGES IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS, YOU WILL HAVE NOTICED THE CHANGES MADE THIS SPRING TO THE COFFEE BAR AT ELEVEN. Located just off the main lobby, the Coffee Bar and its accompanying seating area have become popular places for Museum guests to rest and renew between galleries, grab a quick bite to eat, or enjoy a custom-made coffee beverage while they take in the view of the Museum ponds and architecture.

The bar had become so popular, in fact, that it needed to be upgraded to handle the volume of business and provide guests with the quality experience they have come to expect from Crystal Bridges.

The new Coffee Bar was designed by Marlon Blackwell, the architect who also designed Crystal Bridges’ Museum Store, fixtures for the temporary exhibition store, and the Guest Services desk in the south lobby. As in those areas, the new Coffee Bar features a sleek design and incorporates walnut cabinetry and white countertops. The design also provides extended counter space on the guest side and improved functionality on the baristas’ side.

“This design was built for speed, accuracy, and aesthetics,” explained Front-ofHouse Manager Jay Dee Menchue. “We have more space, increased functionality, and increased capacity.”

The new design allows for some expansion in menu offerings, and a more ap-

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pealing presentation of the bar’s wine and beer offerings, including a rack for Riedel glassware and a cold-case for sandwiches and pastries.

New equipment, such as onsite ice maker, a third sink, and increased capacity for storage, will make the Coffee Bar more self-sufficient, eliminating the need for staff to restock during the business day.

In addition, Museum Designer Laura Hicklin has created new custom cups for the Coffee Bar featuring images that highlight the art, architecture, and nature of Crystal Bridges.

SHARE YOUR COFFEE BAR SNAPSHOTS! #CBCOFFEEBAR

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04 NEWS

State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now Hits the Road At Crystal Bridges,

STATE OF THE ART, which debuted at Crystal Bridges in 2014, has now traveled to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia, in 2016 plus Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, in 2017, with plans for more venues to be added soon. This is the first time a Crystal Bridges-curated exhibition has traveled beyond the walls of the Museum.

The exhibition culminated a year-long process in which the curatorial team logged more than 100,000 miles visiting artists all over the country to select the 102 whose work was featured in the exhibition. This one-of-akind exhibition was viewed by 175,000 visitors, representing the highest-attended Crystal

Bridges’ exhibition ever— even more viewers than the Whitney Biennial, as reported

by ARTnews.

State of the Art has been split into two different versions—for larger and smaller venues—that will travel simultaneously. A majority of the works in the traveling versions were featured in the original exhibition at Crystal Bridges, along with additional artworks by some of the artists.

Crystal Bridges is thrilled to share this exhibition with new audiences as a way to increase awareness about art that’s being created all over the US And it seems only fitting that a show that started on the road will have a second life as it takes its own road trip across the country.

175,000 Visitors

saw artworks by

Artists

some of whose works were packed into

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Artists

OF STATE OF THE ART, ARE MEMBERS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN

who were featured at Crystal Bridges, and will be on the road for

RECIPROCAL MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBERS AT THE ASSOCIATE LEVEL AND UP WILL RECEIVE FREE ADMISSION TO VISIT THEM! NARMASSOCIATION.ORG

100+

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Artists

Community Foundation Grant THE MUSEUM’S Education Department has received a Bridge Fund Grant from the Arkansas Community Foundation to support the continuation of the Arkansas Declaration of Learning project, which brings together teachers from different disciplines

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and across the state to develop lesson plans and resources that incorporate objects from the collections of Crystal Bridges, The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and the US State Department.

who were featured at Crystal Bridges, and will be on the road for

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Months

Picasso Comes to Crystal Bridges!

Applause

LAST JUNE, Alice Walton

THROUGHOUT 2016, Crystal Bridges’ guests have a rare opportunity to view an important work by one of the world’s most significant artists, without traveling overseas to do it. Pablo Picasso’s Seated Woman in a Chemise (Femme en chemise assise) (1923) is on view at Crystal Bridges from late April through the summer of 2017. The work is on loan from the Tate in London, and will be showcased as part of the reinstallation of Modernist works in the Early Twentieth-Century Gallery. This is a wonderful opportunity for Museum guests to view works

by American Modernists sideby-side with a master of the European avant-garde who had a great influence on modern art in the US.

museums around the world work “ When together, everyone benefits. This loan

was honored with the 2015 Arts Education Award from Americans for the Arts. This prestigious award recognizes transformational leadership in arts education through strategic planning, strong programming, and the engagement of partners to achieve community goals.

Crystal Bridges was selected for the 2016 Salute to Greatness Nonprofit of the Year Award from the Northwest Arkansas Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Council. This award is given in recognition of an organization that embodies the qualities of Education, Awareness, and Unity, and has donated time, effort, and financial assistance to upgrading the community.

is a wonderful opportunity for Crystal Bridges’ audiences to explore the rich conversations between European and American modern art.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Pablo Picasso, Seated Woman in a Chemise (Femme en chemise assise), 1923, oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 28 3/4 in. Tate: Bequeathed by C. Frank Stoop 1933, N04719. © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Georgia O’Keeffe, Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932, oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in. © 2016 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Edward C. Robison III. Charles Willson Peale, George Washington, ca. 1780-1782, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in. Photo by Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

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Margi Conrads, Director of Curatorial Affairs

Crystal Bridges Works Stars of the Show CRYSTAL BRIDGES regularly loans works of art from our permanent collection to other museums around the world. Recently, two artworks from our collection that are out on loan are serving as key gallery highlights for other museums.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932), is on loan to the Tate

Modern in London as part of a major retrospective of O’Keeffe’s work, July 6 through October 30, 2016. The exhibition will then travel to additional venues in Austria and Canada through July 2017.

Charles Willson Peale’s George Washington (17801782) is on loan to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, for a period of 12

months while the Gallery’s full-length portrait of Washington, painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796, undergoes conservation.

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06 ACQUISITIONS

Felix Gonzalez-Torres “Untitled” (L.A.), 1991 Green candies individually wrapped in cellophane, endless supply

Felix Gonzalez-Torres “Untitled” (L.A.), 1991 , green candies individually wrapped in cellophane, endless supply, Overall dimensions vary with installation, Ideal weight: 50 lbs (22.7 kg), © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation. Courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York.

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CHAD ALLIGOOD CURATOR

FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES (1957–1996) was born in Cuba and moved to New York City in 1979, where he became associated with the influential collaborative Group Material. An outspoken social activist, he often integrated his political convictions and profound statements about inequality into his artworks. In our recent acquisition “Untitled” (L.A.), small, green candies wrapped in cellophane are spread across the floor, inviting viewers to help themselves to touch and take away pieces of the work in a simple and unexpected gesture of generosity. Using everyday materials such as candy, Gonzalez-Torres merged objects of mass production with the restraint of conceptual art and Minimalism.

The same year he created “Untitled” (L.A.), Gonzalez-Torres’s longtime partner, Ross Laycock, died of complications from AIDS. Gonzalez-Torres’s candy spills have often been interpreted as metaphors for the depleted human body ravaged by illness. In that context, by providing for the endless replenishment of the candy, the artist grants the metaphorical body a kind of perpetual life. The artist himself refused such fixed interpretations, choosing instead to embrace open-endedness in his works, which iterate and evolve depending on their context and audience. ”Untitled” (L.A.) references the Minimalist language developed by artists already represented in our collection, including Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. Similar to Roni Horn’s When Dickinson Shut Her Eyes or Lynda Benglis’s Eat Meat, Gonzalez-Torres borrowed basic principles of minimal art, but redirected this impulse toward open-endedness. This acquisition provides a new gallery experience for visitors by inviting them not only to touch the work, but to become a part of the work. The artist characterized the work as always negotiating a series of “betweens”. In an interview with artist Tim Rollins published in 1993 by A.R.T. Press, Gonzales-Torres said: “…between public and private, between personal and social, between the fear of loss and the joy of loving, of growing, of changing, of always becoming more, of losing oneself slowly and then being replenished all over again from scratch.”

Using everyday materials like candy, GonzalezTorres merged objects of mass production with the restraint of conceptual art and Minimalism.

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08 ACQUISITIONS

Charles Wilbert White Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep, 1956, Graphite, pen and ink on board

THIS WORK BY CHARLES WHITE IS CURRENTLY ON VIEW. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE KITCHEN TABLE SERIES BY CARRIE MAE WEEMS APPEAR IN BLACK UNITY, A FOCUSED EXHIBITION, ON VIEW MAY 4 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2.

CHARLES WHITE (1918-1979) STARTED HIS CAREER as a mural painter but eventually transitioned primarily to drawing, training his remarkable technical skill in representing African Americans. In his drawings, White imbues his subjects with a quiet dignity, elevating even the most downtrodden figures to a state of admirable grace. In works like Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep (1956), White’s ability to capture the human psyche through simple mark making allows an otherwise sparse scene to brim with emotion.

Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep is an exceptional drawing from the height of White’s career in the mid-1950s. The two women in the drawing are monumental and larger-than-life, rendered with powerful strength and dignity. The incredible detail throughout the work— in the clothing, faces, and background—is composed of carefully managed graphite line work, which registers when the viewer is close to the work and then resolves into a complete image at a distance.

The title points to an African American spiritual that originated from before the Civil War: “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep,” which refers to the miracle of Lazarus, described in the book of John in the New Testament of the Bible. In this account, Jesus brings Lazarus back to life after he was entombed for four days; his sisters, Mary and Martha, both confer with Jesus about Lazarus. Several major artists have depicted this dramatic event, including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vincent van Gogh. But White’s depiction differs from these by focusing solely on Mary and Martha—the ones who were left behind, grieving their brother’s death. The song’s lyrics also reference Moses, the Old Testament figure who liberated the Jews from slavery. Because of this connection, Moses holds particular resonance within the African American community.

Throughout the Civil Rights era in America, the Christian church played a key role in the struggle for equality. Because liberation was one of the messages of “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep,” the song became popular again in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

This work holds particular resonance for the artist. The drawing was created in the aftermath of the 1955 Emmett Till case, in which a 14-year-old African American

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boy was beaten and shot by two white men in Mississippi. The newspaper photographs of Till’s open casket helped to galvanize the Civil Rights movement in America. White himself experienced similar racially motivated violence: in New Orleans, he was badly beaten for entering a restaurant, and in Virginia, he was forced to the back of a streetcar by a conductor at gunpoint. On his mother’s side of the family in Mississippi, three of his uncles and two of his cousins were lynched. It makes sense, then, that White’s sensitive, accomplished drawings communicate an intense dignity; he once proclaimed that “Once man is robbed of his dignity he is nothing.” Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep captures the pervasive sense of mourning that gripped the black community in this period. Like the fight for civil rights, it also shows an unshakeable hope for a better future.

Charles Wilbert White, Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep, 1956, graphite and pen and ink on board, 39 1/4 x 41 1/2 in.

Photo by Edward C. Robison III.

CHAD ALLIGOOD CURATOR

09 ACQUISITIONS Untitled (Woman and phone) Untitled (Woman brushing hair) Untitled (Woman standing) Untitled (Woman feeding bird) Untitled (Woman and daughter with children)

Carrie Mae Weems Photographs from The Kitchen Table series, 1990, printed 2015 Gelatin silver prints Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Woman and phone), Untitled (Woman brushing hair), Untitled (Woman standing), Untitled (Woman feeding bird), Untitled (Woman and daughter with children), 1990, printed 2015, from the series The Kitchen Table, gelatin silver print, 28 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. Photo courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

CHAD ALLIGOOD CURATOR

LIKE CHARLES WHITE, contemporary artist Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953) primarily considers African Americans as the central subjects of her pictures. She seeks universal themes in such images, using “people of color to stand for the human multitudes.”

Crystal Bridges’ acquisitions of her work include five photographs from Weems’s series The Kitchen Table (1990). Created early in her career, this thought-provoking series established her as a major force in contemporary photography, resonating with larger cultural discussions about American identity.

In total, The Kitchen Table series comprises 20 photographs interspersed with 14 texts. The series touches on friendship, love gained and lost, motherhood, and loneliness, among other themes. The photographs are unified through the same point of view overlooking a kitchen table. The photographer casts herself as the central figure, asserting the control of a woman over her own representation while daring to be vulnerable through common experiences. The staging changes from photograph to photograph, alluding to the passing of time.

Weems does not view the images as self-portraits, but rather considers herself as a stand-in for “Everywoman,” reaching beyond barriers of race and class.

In addition to her studies in art, Weems also studied dance. Her understanding of the body as an expressive medium is evident in the photographs. Within each image, the subtle nuances of each person’s position in the frame speak volumes about the charged emotions of the scene. Weems not only relishes her role as subject and photographer but also as performer/choreographer in her visual storytelling. The striking image of the hunched woman with the phone conveys pain. Tenderness radiates from the images of the woman brushing her hair and in caring for a bird. The chaos of parenthood emerges in the image of the multifigure scene, while another image shows total determination in its direct address of the viewer.

CARRIE MAE WEEMS RECEIVED THE 2016 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD FROM THE ANDERSON RANCH ART CENTER IN COLORADO.

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10 MUSEUM STORE

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LEON HOFFMAN

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Thomas Hart Benton, The Steel Mill, 1930, oil on canvas mounted on board, 48 x 30 in. Art © T.H. Benton and R.P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY Photo by Dwight Primiano.

11 A CLOSER LOOK

SUSANNEH BIEBER TYSON SCHOLAR

Thomas Hart Benton’s The Steel Mill THOMAS HART BENTON PAINTED THE STEEL MILL in a loose style,

SUSANNEH BIEBER is a 20152016 Tyson Scholar in American Art at Crystal Bridges. She holds a PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin and served as a curator at Tate Modern in London and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum in California. Bieber is currently working on a book about American Regionalism in art, architecture, and urban planning. She teaches at American University.

conveying a spontaneous quality. Albeit relatively large at a height of four feet, the painting has the quality of a sketch.

The silhouette of a tiny figure stands out against the yellow-orange glow of fire.

Billowing smoke rises upward, while a golden stream of ore flows toward us.

The staircase on the right leads us back to the center of the painting where an enormous steel cauldron towers above the scene. In the far distance we see additional structures of the factory.

During the 1920s Benton lived in Manhattan, frequently venturing through the city and its vicinities with sketchpad and pencil in hand. In his drawings he recorded scenes of progress characteristic of an ascending nation like the United States. He captured the construction of large towers, the use of new electronic power tools, and the inner workings of factories. Together with the artist, we witness the production of steel.

Important for the building of large cities, steel had a large presence in the US-American imagination of progress. It is made by purifying metallic ore found in nature, and then enriching it with carbon, which results in a material of high tensile strength crucial for the construction of such modern engineering feats as skyscrapers and bridges. Benton’s painting shows the central role of humans in the transformation of natural material. For much of human history this process was understood as productive, but today it is also recognized as exploitative and indeed as threatening humankind’s own existence.

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BUCKING TRADITION:

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TOP: William Trost Richards, Landscape, ca. 1863-1864, oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 33 1/2 in. Photography by Dwight Primiano. BOTTOM: Willard LeRoy Metcalf, The Pool, 1904, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. Photo by Dwight Primiano.

ARTISTIC INNOVATIO CHAD ALLIGOOD & MINDY BESAW CURATORS

TOP: William Trost Richards, Along the Shore, 1903, oil on canvas, 39 3/16 x 78 1/2 in. Photo by Steven Watson.

BOTTOM: Theodore Robinson, World’s Columbian Exposition, 1894, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. Photo by Dwight Primiano.

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TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, the history of Western art charts a story of artists responding to inherited traditions—and, at times, bucking those traditions entirely. The artists of the Italian Renaissance, for instance, revived the forms of the ancient classical world to evoke its ideals. At the same time, they positioned their art as one of rational clarity against the supposed “primitivism” of the Middle Ages that had preceded them. Later historians were the ones who called it “the Renaissance”—literally, rebirth in French—referring to the reawakening of the forms and ideas of ancient Greece.

This call-and-response between tradition and innovation informs our understanding of American art, too: the accomplished clarity of John Singleton Copley’s portraits, for example, defined realism as the mode of choice in early American portraiture against the more stilted vocabulary of earlier examples, even as Copley was emulating older European traditions. Later, the influence of French Impressionism on American painting succeeded the grandiose, carefully composed landscapes of the Hudson River School. This conversation between tradition and innovation cuts across our collection at Crystal Bridges. Here,

take a closer look at some examples that you can examine in person the next time you visit the galleries.

REALISM VS. IMPRESSIONISM In the Late Nineteenth-Century Gallery, paintings by William Trost Richards hang across from paintings by Willard LeRoy Metcalf and Theodore Robinson. The two paintings by Richards, Landscape and Along the Shore, while different in subject, are united by their intense realism. Minute details such as individual leaves, blades of grass, and the surface of the boulders are clearly rendered in the wooded interior and viewers can nearly feel the spray and hear the water crashing in the frothy sea. By comparison, the feathery brushstrokes of Metcalf’s The Pool convey a soft and blurry impression of the rocks and water. Trees dissolve into dabs of paint in Robinson’s World’s Columbian Exposition. These varied approaches to landscape subjects existed side by side—one evolving from early nineteenthcentury American landscape traditions and the other from the modern style of French Impressionism.

William Trost Richards was born and raised in Philadelphia.

He was largely self-taught in his early career, although he did benefit from informal instruction by the German landscape painter Paul Weber, who had immigrated to Philadelphia.

Richards was a great admirer of Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church, and he emulated the Hudson River School masters, painting wilderness scenes and cultivated pastorals.

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By the 1860s, Richards came under the influence of British critic and theorist John Ruskin, who emphasized a strict fidelity to nature over imagined and symbolic landscapes. In true Ruskin fashion, Richards often painted outdoors in and around the woods of his home in Germantown, Pennsylvania. The resulting paintings were intimate views of the trees, grasses, and ponds in the forest. Later in his life, Richards spent summers in Newport, Rhode Island, and focused on marine paintings, of which Along the Shore is an exceptional example. The waves and rocks in the painting are arresting and nearly photorealistic in their intensity.

In his lifetime, Richards’s paintings were admired for their botanical exactitude, but were also commonly criticized for their photographic, imitative quality.

By the time Richards died in 1905, the Hudson River School had been virtually forgotten. After the Civil War, the aesthetic orientation of America shifted from Great Britain to the European continent, and especially France. Artists flocked to Paris in the late nineteenth century to paint modern subjects in innovative ways. Many artists, like Willard LeRoy Metcalf and Theodore Robinson, adopted the bright palette and natural light of the French Impressionists.

French Impressionist painters had made their debut in a private exhibition in Paris in 1874. They rejected the meticulous technique and invented subjects of the Academies in favor of landscapes and scenes of everyday middle-class life, using natural light, rapid brushwork, and a bright palette.

It is important to remember that the French Impressionists were radical, and initially, even the American painters studying abroad were repelled. For example, after visiting the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, American artist J. Alden Weir wrote to his parents, “I never in my life saw more horrible things . . . . They do not observe drawing nor form but give you an impression of what they call nature.”

By the mid-1880s, however, more American artists began to experiment with the style of Impressionism. Some even visited artists’ colonies that centered on outdoor painting, most notably in Giverny, where French Impressionist Claude Monet had settled in 1883. Willard LeRoy Metcalf and Theodore Robinson were both pupils of Monet. Once back in the United States, they worked to reconcile what they had learned in Paris and Giverny with American subjects and taste. They recorded cities and rural locations with a new interest in natural light, luminous color, and flickering brushwork.

RESISTING ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

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The tradition of bucking artistic precedents continues in modern and contemporary art. Joan Brown, a key member of the second generation of Bay Area figurative painters, is perhaps best known for her intensely personal paintings of the 1970s and 80s.

These images often depicted autobiographical events, real and imagined. Her large-scale painting Self-Portrait with Fish and Cat (1970) currently occupies a wall of its own in the 1940s to Now Gallery. During this period, she completed a number of large-scale

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Joan Brown, Self-Portrait with Fish and Cat, 1970, oil enamel on board, 96 × 48 in. Photo by Edward C. Robison III. Kim Dickey, Mille-fleur, 2011, aluminum, glazed terracotta, silicone, and rubber grommets, 85 in. × 20ft. 2 in. × 15 in. Donald Judd, Untitled, 1989 (Bernstein 89-24), 1989, copper and red Plexiglas, 180 1/4 x 40 x 31 in. Art © Judd Foundation. Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photo by Edward C. Robison III. Wayne Thiebaud, Supine Woman, 1963, oil on canvas, 36 x 72 in. Art © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photo by Robert LaPrelle.

portraits on Masonite, incorporating images of animals and bright areas of flat color. For her, these portraits communicated “this kind of exchange of the animal nature and the human nature, or the connection and psychic response that the animal picks up from the person.” By re-introducing the figure and its symbolic associations into paintings, Brown (along with her West Coast colleagues) flew in the face of the prevailing style of painting at the time: Abstract Expressionism.

As a female artist in the otherwise male-dominated context of Bay Area painters, Brown also challenged the way women were traditionally depicted. Consider, for instance, Wayne Thiebaud’s Supine Woman (1963). Thiebaud was among the most important painters of the Bay Area figurative school, and his depiction of a woman lying flat on a surface provides a compelling counterpoint to Brown’s arresting, commanding figure.

Brown’s willingness to break with tradition stems, in part, from her background. The only child of an alcoholic father and a mother who constantly threatened to throw herself off the Golden Gate Bridge, Brown attended the California School of Fine Arts instead of the Catholic college her parents had in mind. This self-portrait was painted the year after her mother finally took her own life.

At the California School of Fine Arts, Brown studied with Elmer Bischoff, a member of the first generation of Bay Area figurative painters, who at the time dubbed her “either a genius or very simple.” From him, she gleaned

the hallmarks of her own style: expressivity, bright color, and sometimes cartoonish drawing. Her approach to painting, always responsive to the traditions that informed it, nonetheless remained idiosyncratically hers for the remainder of her career.

ORNAMENTING MINIMALISM Finally, look outdoors for a contemporary example of an artist contending with tradition: Kim Dickey’s marvelously textured Mille-fleur, currently installed on the Museum’s South Lawn.

When you encounter the work in the context of the grounds, Millefleur suggests a garden wall overgrown with abundant flowering plants. From a distance, the image resolves from its constituent parts: a broad grid of painted and glazed ceramic forms. The floral design is inspired by a sixteenth-century tapestry. Such weavings were an early forerunner to the pixelated images that emanate from our computers—each individual stitch creating a piece of the whole.

With its simple geometric shape and boxlike infrastructure, Mille-fleur also recalls the minimal sculptures of artists such as Donald Judd, whose 1989 work Untitled, 1989 (Bernstein 89-24) currently graces our 1940s to Now Gallery. Onto this simplified box, however, Dickey attaches more than 15,000 handmade ceramic elements, emphasizing the artist’s labor and craft. Each unit is both the same (in shape) and unique (in its painted surface).

The work revels in such opposites—minimal and decorative, abstract and floral, architectural and organic. Ultimately, the garden wall occupies the precise boundary between nature and culture, outside and in—like the practice of art itself over the ages— pointing backward at tradition while forging new artistic territory.

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16 COMING SOON

American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum

AMERICAN MADE INCLUDES MANY ARTWORKS BY WOMEN, INCLUDING A DOZEN QUILTS, SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF EMBROIDERY, AND PAINTINGS. MEMBER PREVIEWS: FRIDAY, JULY 1, 9 AM TO 9 PM, AND SATURDAY JULY 2, 9 TO 10 AM

July 2 – September 1, 2016 MINDY BESAW CURATOR

ART MAKING WAS ALREADY A VIBRANT PRACTICE in the United States long before the National Academy of Design was founded in 1825 to “promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition.” Self-taught artists painted, carved, stitched, and constructed expressions of personal and national relevance. As Stacy C. Hollander, Chief Curator at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, states: “With an exuberance that was fueled by revolutionary fervor, enlightenment philosophy, and natural genius, the lives of Americans were filled with art and color in objects and artworks of their own manufacture.”

This summer, Crystal Bridges will showcase exceptional examples of folk art in the exhibition American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, on view July 2 through September 12. The exhibition, designed exclusively for Crystal Bridges, features more than 100 artworks including quilts, paintings, furniture, sculpture, weathervanes, and works on paper from the renowned collection of the American Folk Art Museum in New York. The art spans the eighteenth century through the early twentieth century and provides a rare opportunity to see these masterworks outside of New York City.

Societal values, national symbols, and personal narratives weave through the art objects in the exhibition. With a desire for beauty and aesthetics in everyday life, these artists combine creativity with utility to enhance their surroundings.

Each object begs for a closer look to appreciate the technique and time invested in the work and to learn the stories.

American Made is sponsored at Crystal Bridges by Becky and Bob Alexander and George’s.

UNCLE SAM RIDING A BICYCLE This playful whirligig features the recognizable patriotic figure of Uncle Sam pedaling a high-wheeler bicycle (the propeller turns as the wind blows). The United States flag flies behind the figure. Viewed from the other side, the flag is a Union Jack, or British flag. The dual flag may be explained by the location where the whirligig was found in upstate New York, near the Canadian border. Though the Union Jack is not the national flag of Canada, in this work it symbolizes Canada’s status as a British sovereign state.

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STEAMBOAT VETO BOX This small box is a direct reference to historical events of its time. The decorative exterior, featuring stenciled bronze powder motifs of pinecones, strawberries, and flowers, gives no hint of the political sentiment hidden discreetly inside. Underneath the lid, a steamboat with the word “veto” across the side paddle references President Andrew Jackson’s controversial 1832 veto of the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States. His action divided the country over what came to be called the “Bank War”: a war that Jackson ultimately won. In an impassioned speech before the Senate denouncing the veto, Speaker of the House Henry Clay characterized the bank as “a mere vehicle; just as much so as the steamboat” in the movement of money from the West to the Atlantic states.

The artwork in American Made highlights the role folk art has played in the visual landscape and creation of a national identity. As expressions of early America, the art complements Crystal Bridges’ own collection of paintings and sculpture and broadens definitions of American art.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Artist unidentified, Steamboat Veto Box, ca. 1832, paint, gold leaf, and bronze-powder stenciling on wood, 5 1/2 x 13 x 7 5/8 in. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York. Gift of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration, 76.5.2. Photo by John Parnell. Artist unidentified, Map Quilt, 1886, silk and cotton with silk embroidery, 78 3⁄4 x 82 1⁄4 in. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. C. David McLaughlin, 1987.1.1. Photo by Schecter Lee. Artist unidentified, Uncle Sam Riding a Bicycle Whirligig, ca. 1880-1920, paint on wood with metal, 37 x 55 1/2 x 11 in. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York. Gift of Dorothea and Leo Rabkin, 2008.6.1. Photo by John Parnell.

MAP QUILT The map of the United States on this large quilt is a snapshot of the nation in 1886—extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. Although this subject is unusual for a show quilt, there is a long precedence for depictions of maps on fabric. In the early nineteenth century, young women stitched sampler maps and three-dimensional fabric globes as part of their geography lessons. Few examples of pieced quilts in the form of maps exist today.

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18 ELEVEN

Inspired by American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum CASE DIGHERO CULINARY DIRECTOR

JUST AS ART, LITERATURE, AND MUSIC SERVE AS VESSELS TO RECORD HISTORY, SO DOES FOOD—IN PERHAPS THE MOST ACCESSIBLE WAY KNOWN TO OUR MODERN SOCIETY. Not only passion, but also understanding, nostalgia, and sensibility come from the culinary experiences that define a generation and culture. Indeed, our very own High South cuisine encapsulates the rich, edible history of the people who have lived in the Ozarks. And just as the upcoming exhibition, American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, reveals examples of artistic embellishment to forms of everyday life, the culinary staff at Crystal Bridges revel in the creation of edible narratives that capture glimpses and tastes of the art of the everyday.

We’ve hopped aboard the recent cocktail trend of “fat washing”—a technique for infusing rich fat flavors into a spirit— to create a series of cocktails that will be available at the Eleven bar during the run of the exhibition. But how does the process of fat washing work, you ask? Basically, a liquid form of a fat such as butter, bacon fat, duck fat, or oil is added to a spirit, allowed to rest at room temperature for two days, and then chilled for two days. Once the solidified fat has been skimmed and the alcohol filtered, it miraculously retains the flavor profile of the fat.

Our first cocktail of the exhibition is something we call The Weathervane. American Made features several weathervanes, and we love how these “folk sculptures” were once used throughout the United States, especially by farmers who often made their own vanes, adding animals such as chickens, pigs, and ducks to create their own stylized form. Our Weathervane concoction features bacon-infused bourbon, maple syrup, and our homemade apple-spiced bitters to create something quite delicious and undeniably American.

THE WEATHERVANE 2 oz bacon-washed Maker’s Mark 1/4 oz maple syrup, Grade B 2 dashes apple-spiced bitters

FIND MORE RECIPES FROM ELEVEN ON OUR BLOG: CRYSTALBRIDGES.ORG/BLOG

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Dero Sanford

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over ice (preferably a large cube).

Garnish with an orange twist.

19 LIBRARY

Donation of Rare Artist Books Complement Museum Collection VALERIE SALLIS ARCHIVIST & INTERIM LIBRARY DIRECTOR

THE LIBRARY ENDED 2015 BY RECEIVING A LOVELY PRESENT—TWO

MINT-CONDITION

ARTIST

BOOKS

DONATED BY THE HANK HINE FAMILY. THE VOLUMES WERE MADE BY AMERICAN POST-MINIMALIST ARTIST RICHARD TUTTLE (B. 1941) AND PRINTED BY HINE’S

Dero Sanford

LIMESTONE PRESS IN SAN FRANCISCO. The first volume, the altos, was produced in collaboration with Tuttle’s friend and famed New York School poet, Barbara Guest. The artist chose to alternate pages of Guest’s abstract and painterly language with his own spare, dreamlike illustrations.

The resulting book creates a rhythmic dialogue between the silver-printed text and hand-colored soft ground etchings.

Published in 1991, the altos was bound in crisp linen and arrived in its original cardboard slipcover. Thanks to this generous gift, Crystal Bridges now owns one of only 40 artist proofs signed by both Tuttle and Guest.

In Early Auden, also published in 1991, Tuttle again sought inspiration from poetry—this time focusing on the early work of prominent twentieth-century poet W.H. Auden. Compared to his subdued composition for the altos, Tuttle used brighter colors and a more complicated structure for Auden’s active verse. Early Auden combined a base layer of plain, white paper overlaid with a second skin of handmade, translucent aquatints. The overlays were cut to reveal excerpts from Auden’s printed text that seem to float in the sea of color. The pages are folded together accordion style so the entire book can either be read normally or extended to form a screen. The Library’s copy is number 36 of 80 copies signed by the author.

THESE BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING BY APPOINTMENT. CALL OR EMAIL TO SCHEDULE. VALERIE.SALLIS@CRYSTALBRIDGES.ORG, 479.418.5756

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20

Jim Dine’s Garden of Eden ALEJO BENEDETTI CURATORIAL ASSISTANT

TIME HAS A WAY of blunting the sometimes spiny edges of memories. The awkward struggles of youth, so mortifying and complicated while we navigate them, often become the fuzzylined subjects of nostalgia over the course of time. For Jim Dine’s sculpture, The Garden of Eden, on view in Crystal Bridges’ south lobby, these rosy visions of a childhood remembered become a utopia the artist mines for artistic vision. Though this work is complex and filled with various dimensions of meaning, one way to think about it is in relation to how the seemingly arbitrary or circumstantial decisions that went into its creation can be understood as deliberate attempts to strengthen the concepts behind the work.

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To those familiar with Dine’s art, the use of loosely autobiographical symbols will come as no surprise. Dine’s repeated images of hearts, shirts, and Pinocchios (like the one currently on view in the Museum) are identifiable touchstones from everyday life. They are recognizable to all viewers, but in the context of Dine’s larger body of work, can be understood as objects of personal significance as well. In The Garden of Eden, festooned with brilliantly colored elements teeming with biographic references, Dine elevates otherwise banal objects of the everyday to a near-mythic status.

The work consists of three basic parts: the screen-like structure, the hardware, and the miniature Venus de Milo statues. Though modified in his unique way, the basic structure of Dine’s work follows the design of the Japanese folding screen.

Originally intended as room dividers, these functional objects were raised to artistic status in Japan through the addition of painted scenes that ranged from story illustrations to majestic landscapes. Straddling a world between utilitarian piece of furniture and artist’s canvas, the dividing screen remains both a functional object used in homes as well as a platform for more contemporary artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Roy Lichtenstein to create painted scenes.

Dine’s decision to embrace the folding screen format, however, is unique, even among his contemporaries. Dine subverts the traditional screen made of light-weight material by creating a hulking metal sculpture that is both physically cumbersome and visually ineffective in its function as a screen.

This work becomes an object to be admired, almost devoid of a functional purpose entirely.

Dine has made other screens that retain their functionality, but for this particular work the elimination of this component complements and reiterates other choices pertaining to the work, namely the decision to cast the tools in metal.

As everyday objects, the various pieces of hardware that are represented in this work serve functional purposes. The sheers cut, the monkey wrench adjusts to tighten nuts and bolts, and the clamps tighten to secure objects in place. Cast as replicas, these objects of practical purpose are rendered immobile, and therefore useless. Even those that might still be usable after casting, such as screwdrivers or hammers, lose their functionality after Dine incorporates them into the overall whole of the structure. Like the screen that these tools comprise, the hardware itself transitions from practical object to strictly decorative element. By altering and inverting the expected, Dine offers viewers the space necessary to contemplate what they are seeing and consider the possibility of rebranding an object’s identity.

As a child growing up with his grandparents, Dine spent many of his early years at his grandfather’s hardware store. Because of this early experience, Dine has always accorded special significance to tools, making them the subjects of artworks and imbuing them with personal importance. Dine’s choice of material prompts viewers to also assign greater significance to these objects. This use of metal casting also aids in reframing the identity of the work and elevating the everyday to a new status.

By associating these objects with an important artistic tradition dating back to antiquity, the sculpture enters into a dialogue with a pantheon of artwork that preceded it.

The same can be said about the small Venus de Milo sculptures included in the work. The original statue, believed to depict the goddess Aphrodite, is in the collection of the Louvre in Paris, France, and stands at six feet eight inches tall. This iconic Greek sculpture is as identifiable for its incredible technical skill as for its missing arms. After finding a small replica of the statue in a souvenir shop, Dine began incorporating it into his repertoire of imagery. In order to brand it as his own, he further truncated Aphrodite’s body by removing her head. The altered statue remains identifiably the Venus de Milo, a testament to the strength of the original imagery in popular culture. But amazingly, the image also becomes a recognizable symbol of Dine. Through the power of repetition over years of working with the statue, Dine was able to insert himself into the sphere of recognition of a globally identifiable icon.

Clearly intrigued by repetition, Dine embraces duplication in many ways in this work. Most noticeably, the headless cast of Venus de Milo appears five times in the same sculpture. Moreover, by creating The Garden of Eden as a cast sculpture, Dine has reproduced the work itself, creating an edition of six bronze and steel sculptures. Like his ability to replicate a one-of-a-kind Greek sculpture ad infinitum, Dine creates his personal Eden in a manner that can and has been reproduced.

Naturally, any mention of Eden is inherently laced with a sense of loss: Adam and Eve, innocently inhabiting their bountiful paradise, fall from grace and are cast out of the garden. Similarly, Dine’s work, with its emphasis on tools as a symbol of his youth, frames childhood as an idyllic utopia. In this scenario, the inevitable fall from grace was Dine’s own aging. As we grow up and the innocence of youth becomes a memory, the only path of return to Eden is through a mental journey back through one’s own mind. In this way, Dine’s ability to replicate this memory in a physical form calls on our broader desire to access what has been lost.

Like the fleetingness of childhood, the kinetic arrangement of tools and statues in this sculpture seem like a chaotic moment poised to change without warning. This point is emphasized by the erratically painted colors splashed across the surface of the sculpture, which gives the work a playful palette. Frozen in time,

Dine’s sculpture stages a balancing act between what is lost,

remembered,

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& conserved.

PREVIOUS PAGE: Jim Dine, The Garden of Eden, 2003, stainless steel and painted bronze. 82 x 120 x 24 in. Image © Christie’s Images Limited 2010. THIS PAGE: Jim Dine, The Garden of Eden (details). Photography by Dero Sanford.

these elements mingle with Dine’s various symbols to become evidence of the brilliantly remembered utopia of his youth distilled into a tangible object, not to be forgotten, but to be cared for and preserved forever by collectors and museums.

Dine’s sculpture stages a balancing act between what is lost, remembered, and conserved. This is evident in the choice of medium, the selection and arrangement of elements, and in the invocation of a biblical reference in the title. In his invented Eden, the artist uses his personal language of symbols to give visual form to a remembered moment. As with all of his works, however, what begins with autobiography extends outward, enabling The Garden of Eden to resonate as a shared nostalgic vision of childhood created through the steady passage of time.

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24 TRAILS AND GROUNDS

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SPICEBUSH

Blazing Trails and Balancing Access and Stewardship

LINDA DEBERRY EDITOR

ART. ARCHITECTURE. NATURE. THESE ARE THE THREE “LEGS” CRYSTAL BRIDGES STANDS ON. PROVIDING ACCESS FOR ALL TO THESE CORE VALUES IS CENTRAL TO OUR MISSION. But when it comes to nature, how do you provide access without disrupting the very thing you are trying to make available? This is the crucial balance Crystal Bridges maintains in everything we do that involves the natural environment surrounding the Museum.

If you have visited us lately, you may have noticed that the trails that traverse our north forest are closed, and heavy equipment can be heard clanking and growling among the trees. This is a new project that will improve accessibility of the Museum grounds, and is part of a long-term vision for providing better ways for guests to access and experience the environment at Crystal Bridges.

Construction crews are working to widen and improve parts of the Dogwood Trail and construct a new trail to create a large figure-eight loop through the north woods. The new pathways will be ten feet wide, paved in asphalt. These hard-surface trails will be much more guest-friendly than existing trails, providing access for guests with strollers, or those who have difficulty walking on uneven surfaces. Sections of the trail will be accessible to wheelchairs, and the path will also connect to the new elevator tower being built on the Museum’s north lawn.

Of necessity, a small portion of trees will be removed to make room for the new pathway, but designers took care to minimize their impact on the woods. Wherever possible, the trail was routed through areas containing trees that were already dead of natural causes: old trees, or those damaged by weather or wind.

In addition, there are benefits to the forest of thinning the trees. The trail cuts through a section of the property that was clear-cut for farming sometime in the early twentieth century.

When the forest began to reclaim the land, it was the fastgrowing, light-loving species that populated it first, crowding out more slow-growing trees. As a consequence, this part of the forest is low in species diversity, not only of trees, but of other

things ranging from shrubs to butterflies to birds that depend on specific plants for food or shelter.

“Two years ago the Nature Conservancy evaluated the site and did a report for us,” said Clay Bakker, Crystal Bridges Trails and Grounds Manager. “They determined that the young north forest was too dense, and recommended a prescribed burn two to three times a year. Unfortunately, because our site is so open to the public, we are unable to conduct burns that frequently, but opening up areas of the forest by other means also helps to foster diversity.”

Creating species diversity is among the long-term goals for Crystal Bridges’ grounds.

As of December, 2015, there were 455 species of plants on the Museum property. Horticulturalist Cody George has set a goal to increase that number. Each year new species of trees, woody shrubs, perennials, and ephemeral plants will be added to the Museum Grounds, and plant species already present elsewhere on the grounds will be added to the north forest to increase diversity there. Plants are added according to certain criteria including conditions of the proposed location, suitability for the region, and benefits to wildlife; and all new plants are native species or cultivars of natives. This year, native woodland plants such as leatherwood (Dirca palustris), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and wild ginger (Asarum canadense) are being planted along the Dogwood Trail. Rose Shell Rhododendron, completely new to the Museum Grounds, will be added to the north forest.

The trails through the north forest will remain closed to guests during the construction period (the Rock Ledge Trail will remain open through the early construction phase). Completion of the new trail is targeted for early 2017.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANTS ON THE MUSEUM GROUNDS WITH OUR NEW FREE APP, CBOUTDOORS, DOWNLOADABLE ON APPLE AND ANDROID DEVICES. SPONSORED BY COX COMMUNICATIONS.

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Spring Blooms Still Life at Crystal Bridges MARGI CONRADS DIRECTOR OF CURATORIAL AFFAIRS

THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING TURNS OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO NEW GROWTH AND BUDDING BLOSSOMS ALL AROUND US. COINCIDENT WITH THE NEW SEASON, OUR COLONIAL AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY GALLERIES WILL WELCOME A FRESH PRESENTATION OF STILL LIFE PAINTINGS. Recently acquired floral subjects by George Lambdin (18301896) and Paul Lacroix (1827-1869), as well as perennial favorites

by Raphaelle Peale and De Scott Evans, are especially sure to get gardeners’ fingers itching.

George Lambdin’s 1877 White, Pink, Yellow and Red Roses and Paul Lacroix’s 1865 Water Lilies, acquired from the noted still life collection of William H. and Abigail Gerdts, add new dimensions to the Crystal Bridges story of still life painting in the years after the Civil War. Leading British art critic John Ruskin called for “truth to nature” in art in the mid-nineteenth century. Soon thereafter, more natural still life subjects gained popularity alongside traditional images of bouquets in vases.

Lambdin’s composition of a dozen roses of different colors, thick

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on the bush in a landscape, probably were inspired not just by his reading of Ruskin, but also his own rose gardens in Germantown, Pennsylvania, an important center for American horticulture.

Yet the artist’s imagination also had its role here—the multicolored flowers appear to bloom from a single bush. Such artistic license added variety of color and beauty, helping Lambdin’s rose paintings gain considerable acclaim and wide distribution through prints.

Paul Lacroix probably came to the United States from France in the 1850s. His early paintings demonstrate his knowledge of Dutch and French still life traditions. Influenced especially

by German-American Severin Roesen, Lacroix is known for depicting bountiful arrays of fruit or flowers in tightly arranged compositions, often on marble tables, though sometimes in nature. Water Lilies is a unique example of that particular subject in Lacroix’s known body of work. Its careful detail, even botanical accuracy, also partakes of Ruskin’s influence. The work’s tight rendering is especially noticed when compared to John La Farge’s watercolor Wild Roses and Water Lily, Study of Sunlight (c.1883) on view nearby.

De Scott Evans’s Daisies from the mid-1880s offers another vein of carefully detailed still life painting known as trompe l’oeil (French for “fool the eye”). Evans hoped to trick his viewers at every turn, including using a pseudonym, S. S. David, which appears written on a torn piece of paper nailed to a wooden panel.

These life-like elements are all created of paint on canvas. Yet so

LEFT: George Cochran Lambdin, White, Pink, Yellow and Red Roses, 1877, oil on canvas, 20 x 14 in. RIGHT: Paul Lacroix, Water Lilies, 1865, oil on board, 10 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.

26 COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT

“Just living is not enough... one must have “

sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

LEFT: Raphaelle Peale, Corn and Cantaloupe, ca. 1813, oil on panel, 14 1/2 x 19 1/2 in. Photo by Dwight Primiano. RIGHT: De Scott Evans, Daisies, ca. 1885, oil on linen, 12 x 10 1/8 in. Photo by Dwight Primiano.

Hans Christian Andersen skilled was Evans in his realism that even on repeated viewing, it’s easy to flinch at the prospect of the precariously placed nativegrown daisies and water spilling from the glass mug.

Neither Lambdin nor Lacroix and Evans would have enjoyed success as still life painters had it not been for Raphaelle Peale.

Still life, considered from Renaissance times the lowliest theme in the hierarchy of suitable subjects for art, rose to prominence in early America thanks to Peale ignoring his father’s admonitions to paint only portraits in the early 1800s. Peale’s Corn and Cantaloupe is back on view after its international tour in American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life, which Crystal Bridges coorganized. When first shown in Philadelphia in 1814, the painting held personal associations for the artist and national symbols for its viewers. The prominently placed corn was not just a local crop, but also was already identified as an icon of early American history and stories. The painting’s array of vegetables and fruit were cultivated on farms and in hothouses near the artist’s family home.

It includes the cantaloupe, an Anne Arundel melon, named after the Maryland county where his mother was born and the painting’s first owner lived.

Fruit, vegetables, or flowers, these still life paintings celebrate the native plants familiar to American viewers in their time. As spring works its magic on the Museum grounds once again, guests will find native plant species blooming both inside and outside the Museum.

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FAITH R IN G FAITH RINGGOLD IS WARM and personable in a no-nonsense kind of way. In talking with her,

you feel welcomed, even as she conveys without a doubt that this is a woman who makes her own way and takes no guff from anyone. It’s a pleasure to listen to her talk. She laughs easily, engages her listener personally, and punctuates her answers to my questions with sharp, firmly enunciated phrases, a pattern that’s essential to the self-assured rhythm of her speech, but difficult to capture in print. I’ve tried to relay the feeling of it by inserting em dashes between words she has emphasized in this manner.

LINDA DEBERRY EDITOR

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LD Let’s start with the work in Crystal Bridges collection; Maya’s Quilt of Life: Can you tell us how that came to be?

FR It came to be because Maya had a birthday, April 4, 1989, and I was commissioned by Oprah Winfrey to do a painting for her... I think it was her 60th birthday. For the story I quoted some of her poems and called it Maya’s Quilt of Life. She just had a corner on life, just seemed to understand life in a way that was so inspiring.

I was very happy to be a part of her life in this way, being able to use my art to embrace her. It was a real honor.

There’s also a story about the party that was given. She had this big, beautiful party and Oprah got me there and I met Maya.

The painting was a surprise. She did not know that she was getting this painting. At some point everybody sat down and here comes Oprah out to say happy birthday and to say we have a surprise for Maya. And she called me up to present this surprise. So I went up, and at that time [Oprah’s partner] Stedman [Graham] and another man came out with the quilt doubled up... so that you couldn’t see it. Oprah’s talking about Maya. And then she calls me up and I am supposed to introduce the idea of the quilt. And I did it, but I’m looking at Maya all the time and Maya is not satisfied with this. She doesn’t like being surprised. And it’s not going well. I don’t know what to do. I mean, you know—you gotta go forward, right? So then the drum beats and Stedman and this other man, they dropped the bottom of the quilt down and there it is... exposed. And Maya is–not–happy. Nooo! She did not like the surprise aspect. Some people don’t like being surprised.

And I didn’t know what to do.

LD She didn’t like the work? Or she just didn’t like being surprised?

FR She did love it, she absolutely did because I was at her house—I think I’ve been there a couple of times—and as soon as you walk into her living room it’s the first thing you see. So I know that she loved it.

LD Since this was such a personal work... is it strange to now have it in a public museum?

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FR Oh no. No. Art belongs in a museum. More so than in someone’s house. Being in a museum is perfect because then lots of people get a chance to see it. I think most artists would prefer that. That’s why museums represent the people; and the art in it should represent them too. I think it’s in a perfect place, I’m very happy that it’s there.

LD It’s getting a lot of attention at Crystal Bridges. Our guests take their time looking at it and reading it.

FR You know what, when I first started writing on my work I said “I’m going to do this,” because I had written my biography in 1980 and couldn’t get it published. Because people decided that it wasn’t the proper story, it wasn’t a typical African American woman’s story.

They had decided what that was, and what I was writing was–not–it.

Well, I think people have a lot of nerve doing that. So I said, “Now wait a minute, I’m not going to allow anybody to decide what my story is. So what am I going to do? So I said “I’m just going to write, write, and write­—instead of stopping—which is what they want you to do. If they don’t like your work, you know, they try to stop you. Instead of stopping, I shall write more. Instead of turning and running down the street backwards—no. I will stand here and I will write more and more and more. And I will get it published because I will write it on my art, how’s that?! As I get my art published, the writings go with it.

So I started writing stories on my art.

My feeling is that I want to represent the time and the place and the people that I know best. Me. I’m not going to be afraid to do that.

I will tell the truth. As I see it. I can only do it the way I see it. I wanted to tell my story. And this literary agent ... after she read my book, she said “This is not your story.”

LD That’s what she said to you?

FR That’s what she told me.

She didn’t think it was true to who I am as a black woman.

She had decided what the story was and that wasn’t it.

That’s one of the freedoms that you lose is the freedom to speak. Freedom to say who and what you are is a freedom that oppressed people don’t have.

Other people define them, they don’t get to define themselves.

And I just refused to accept that.

I thought: I am going to write until I am published. And I did.

It took me 15 years to get my autobiography published. 1980 I wrote it, 1995 it was published.

But before that, I had begun to publish: my first book was Tar Beach, a children’s book. I had made a quilt and wrote the story of Tar Beach on it. And the editor of Random House called me because she had read the story on a poster of Tar Beach that I did in 1988—this is in 1990—and she called me up and she said “I’m in my doctor’s office and I’ve just read this story that you wrote on this poster and it’s a wonderful children’s story.”

PREVIOUS PAGE: Faith Ringgold with Soul Sister, 1960s. Photo courtesy of the artist. LEFT: Faith Ringgold, Maya’s Quilt of Life, 1989, acrylic on canvas and painted, dyed, and pieced fabrics, 73 × 73 in. Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries. RIGHT: Detail of Faith Ringgold’s Maya’s Quilt of Life.

Ringgold is, at the core, a storyteller; and this reveals itself in her conversation, which travels in associative loops: one subject taking her to another and another. And yet she is always able to bring it home: stitching all her stories and associations together as she returns to pin them neatly to the original topic. Talking with her is a fascinating and engaging ramble through the mind and memory of an unapologetic master artist and consummate weaver of tales.

I was so glad—when Andrea Cascardi from Random House asked me if I wanted to do a children’s book from this quilt—I’m so glad that I didn’t say no. There were some people who said it’s not appropriate for an artist to illustrate children’s books. Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t allow anybody to define me. I shall decide what is appropriate as an artist. And I did it. And then I did another one and another one and another one and I just kept going, in different ways.

“

represent the “ Museums people; and the art in it

should represent them too.

FR Oh, I’m not going to give myself all that credit. If I had really understood—and I didn’t, because in 1948, when I went to City College and they said “Well, what do you want to be?” I said, “Be?” I’m going to be a wife and mommy, I thought to myself, because women didn’t work in the ‘30s, come on! I had been told, since the time I was a little child, that I would go to college. I hadn’t thought about being (laughs) I’d only thought about doing. Because that’s all I did as a child. I was home from school a lot with asthma and I would do art. My mother would always make sure that I had my art supplies. But she wasn’t thinking about me being an artist. She wasn’t thinking about me going to work. She was thinking about me going to college, which was a whole other thing.

LD What was the difference?

LD Tell me about how you started out as an artist.

FR In 1948 I graduated from high school and went to the City College of New York and got my master’s degree in 1959. It’s been a long journey. And it has not been easy. But I’d like to say this: If I had known how hard it would be, I don’t know that I would–have–done–it.

LD Oh really?

FR You’re going to be educated! You will be educated, and that was a tradition in my family. My grandfather went to college—now we’re talking about slavery. And so that tradition was passed down in the family. But nobody said I was going to go to work, I was just going to be educated. And then I found out at the City College, when I was there trying to register, the reason why they asked me “What do you want to be?” is because they were trying to figure out what degree was I going to enroll for. So it was a Liberal Arts

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LD So are you glad now that you got that education degree so you ended up teaching?

FR Absolutely! Because it introduced me to the little children, who were so wonderful. Oh my goodness, yes! I loved teaching.

LD But you said if you’d known how difficult it was you wouldn’t have done it...what kind of obstacles are you thinking about when you say that?

FR Getting shows, getting your work out there, being seen, being able to show your work, to sell your work, to provide for your continuation. Not stopping. Not getting discouraged, not getting turned around, not allowing yourself to be stopped. These are hard things.

LD You work in series: do you just take up an interest in people or subjects and immerse yourself in them?

FR Right now my current interest is aging. And I am thinking about it, thinking about it, looking, looking, thinking.... I’ve already done a game called Quiltuduko. That’s the beginning phase of it. I want to expand and go further but I’m not ... I don’t have it down yet.

I didn’t realize that I was old until my husband went to the nursing home, isn’t that interesting? In 2010 I was 80 years old, and I got birthday parties—oh my God — it was amazing how many different institutions and individual people gave me a birthday party for turning 80! And I thought “What’s all the excitement about 80?” I never thought of myself as being old. But now I got it. (laughs) There’s a point at which you get it, okay? I got it now.

And I’m fascinated with it.

LD I remember reading something you said, about women of a certain age having lost their ability to not see what’s going on and speak up about it. Can you talk about that?

“As an artist: I think art is a lot about truth.

“

TOP: Faith Ringgold, The American People Series #20: Die, 1967, oil on canvas. 72 x 144 in. Photo courtesy of the artist and ACA Galleries. BOTTOM: Faith Ringgold painting Wanted: Douglas, Tubman and Truth, 1997. Photo courtesy of the artist.

degree because it was visual art. And they said, “Well you can’t do that here.” And I said “Really, why?” “Because City College is a ... boy’s school.” And my mother never said anything about that. No, no, no—nothing is going to get in my way, nothing. So one woman in the group said “Let me tell you what you can do. You can major in Fine Art and minor in Education and become an art teacher.”

FR (laughs) Well, I think maybe I was referring to the fact that the older you get, you have the courage to speak up and say what you think. You are no longer looking around to see if it’s okay with somebody. I think when you’re younger you may feel like: “well maybe I’d better go along with the crowd because they look pretty serious.” Well, I’m sorry, I think I want to do it my way. I don’t want to lose out on the truth because I’m afraid to declare it. As an artist: I think art is a lot about truth.

LD Your vision has changed over time. Some of your work in the 60s was pretty graphic. Die was so violent and bloody.

FR That was the time. A riot would erupt in a second. You’d be walking down the street and Boom, all of a sudden there would be people running and flying and blood and this and that. And you’d look in the newspaper and it wouldn’t be there. Anywhere.

No blood shown. No images of the riot. And I was fascinated with that. I was there, I saw this, but I’m not getting any of it in the news. A lot of things were just not revealed to us. And I wanted to speak, to show what the times were like.

LD You have been a supporter of women’s rights all your life, but you said once that African American women had not embraced feminism, and that there wasn’t much support between women.

FR I think that a lot of women feel that they have a hard enough time individually, why should they band together with some more people who are having a hard time? (laughs) But it has to happen, and that’s all there is to it. I think until the women all over the world, not just here, but in every corner of the globe, are given the freedom to provide leadership in at least two fields, we will none of us be free or rid of all this violence. And those two fields are: religion and politics. Women should have the freedom to go to the top of both of those fields. And I think it would get rid of the wars and all these problems, because women are not going to do that war thing. We’re not going to fight and we don’t want to send our kids to do it. Women would sit around the table and they would discuss it and they would get it straight. Because we’re not–going–to do–it. And it’s the religion and the politics that makes the wars. Yes, indeed.

LD One last question: What would you tell your younger self now if you could?

FR I would say “Go for it. I’m sorry, I’m glad you didn’t know... and I’m not going to tell you. (laughs) I’m not going to tell you anything.

I want you to do it. Because I want you to make a difference. I want you to do something that will make it easier for the people coming behind you. Make a difference.” I like that. That’s one of the things that Maya gives to the world: her wonderful expression, her fabulous poems, her wonderful way of seeing the world. That is so fabulous. I want to be somebody like that.

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The Distinguished Speaker Series at Crystal Bridges invites guests to hear from internationally acclaimed thought leaders who inspire new perspectives on art, architecture, and nature. $10 ($8/Members), register online or by calling Guest Services at 479.657.2335.

MAY 12

THOM MAYNE ARCHITECT

Innovative designer, inspiring thought leader, and award-winning architect Thom Mayne will explore his architectural approach. Mayne founded Morphosis Architecture as a collective architectural practice engaged in crossdisciplinary research and design. Architecture programming is sponsored by Chip and Susan Chambers and Ken and Liz Allen.

JUNE 10

RUTH REICHL FOOD AUTHOR

Bestselling author, food critic, and judge on Bravo’s TopChef Masters, Ruth Reichl is a wellrecognized and beloved culinary voice.

The Distinguished Speaker Series is sponsored by

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JULY 14

CHEECH MARIN ARTIST + ART COLLECTOR

Primarily known as an actor, director, and performer, Cheech Marin has developed what is arguably the finest private collection of Chicano art in the nation. Marin will talk about his love of art and the events that sparked his interest in collecting.

SEPTEMBER 16

JUDY CHICAGO ARTIST + EDUCATOR

For more than five decades, Judy Chicago has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power of art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change. As an artist, writer, educator, and humanist, her work and life are models for an enlarged definition of art, an expanded role for the artist, and women’s rights to freedom of expression.

DECEMBER 2

NICK CAVE ARTIST

Nick Cave is a messenger, artist, and educator working between the visual and performing arts. Cave will talk about his lifework, including his Soundsuits in Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection.

“ I thought I knew everything when

I came to Rome, but I soon found that I had everything to learn.

“

LEFT: Edmonia Lewis, The Old Arrow Maker, modeled 1866, carved ca. 1872, marble, 20 x 14 x 14 in.

Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s. RIGHT: Photo of Edmonia Lewis. Photography by Henry Rocher, ca.

1870. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG. 94.95. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

35 BACK STORY

Edmonia Lewis DYLAN TURK CURATORIAL ASSISTANT

DEEPLY MOVED BY THE ART OF STORYTELLING, MARY EDMONIA LEWIS (CA. 1843–AFTER 1909) SCULPTED STORIES OF OPPRESSION, PRIDE, AND COURAGE. CHARACTERIZED BY AN AWARENESS OF

CLASSICAL

MARBLE SCULPTURE, HER WORK EVOLVED THE MEDIUM THROUGH HER PASSIONATE DEPICTION OF LITERARY STORIES. Lewis was a courageous pioneer in her own right. Born to a Chippewa mother and an African American father in approximately 1843, her identity in America was shrouded by her ethnic background, making it exceptionally difficult to pursue her passion. Despite these challenges, she is recognized today as the first female African American sculptor.

Financed and encouraged by her gold-miner brother, Lewis’s education began at Oberlin College in 1859. Although Oberlin was one of the first colleges to accept women and African Americans, her time there was scarred by turmoil. Accused and acquitted of poisoning two of her white roommates, she received a life-threatening beating by a mob of white vigilantes. She was later unable to graduate because of an accusation that she had stolen art supplies from the school. Lewis left Oberlin and moved to Boston to begin her career. After a brief stay, she took a trip to Europe at the suggestion of her brother. London, Paris, and Florence appealed to her, not for the city life, but because of their passionate exploration of art and history.

“I was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color,” said Lewis.

“The land of liberty had not room for a colored sculptor.”

Lewis needed physical distance to create; Rome gave that to her. The inspiration of classical sculpture infiltrated her mind, and her depictions of Native Americans and African Americans morphed with figures of European origin. This juxtaposition created a dialogue about the human rights of all people, rather than conforming to ethnological models that related to ethnic stereotypes.

Lewis’s humanistic approach to art connected with people regardless of their ethnicity and unintentionally turned her into an emblem of the Abolitionist movement in America. Although we know little about the facts of her life, or even when and where she died, her sculptures weave together the complex stories of American identity.

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36 CELEBRATIONS

RIEDEL GLASS SEMINAR DECEMBER 13, 2015 Chris Hillin, of Riedel Glass, led a Comparative Glass Seminar and wine tasting with Riedel’s varietalspecific glassware.

NEW 365 DECEMBER 31, 2015 The Museum’s annual New Year’s Eve party ushered in 2016 with music, performances in the galleries, and a video and laser light countdown over the upper pond. Sponsored

by Premier Dermatology.

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NOON YEAR’S EVE DECEMBER 31, 2015 This all-new program offered families with young children a festive way to celebrate the new year without having to stay up past bedtime. Events included a puppet show, music, dancing, artmaking, and a new year’s countdown to noon in the Great Hall.

Sponsored by Coca-Cola.

BLACK HEARTS BALL FEBRUARY 13, 2016 Artinfusion’s fourth annual anti-Valentine’s Day party was sponsored by Saatchi & Saatchi X, RopeSwing, Wright Lindsey Jennings, and Blue Moon Brewing Company.

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38 MEMBERS

Power Up Your Membership with artinfusion!

IF YOU ARE A CRYSTAL BRIDGES MEMBER AGE 21 TO 40S LOOKING TO: • Meet new people • Get involved in the regional art community • Learn more about art and collecting

THEN artinfusion IS FOR YOU! Artinfusion is an enhancement that can be added to your membership at any level. In addition to universal membership benefits, artinfusion Members also enjoy: • FREE admission to events such as Art Night Out • Special Culture Hour events in Eleven for socializing, DIY activities, and informal talks with guest speakers and visiting artists.

• Studio visits with other artinfusion Members to meet regional artists.

• A taste of the national art scene with annual travel opportunities offered only to artinfusion Members.

JOIN TODAY, REAP THE BENEFITS ALL YEAR! The cost, in addition to your annual membership, is $35 for Individual Members and $55 for Dual/Family Members.

Learn more at /ArtinfusionCrystalBridges

Artinfusion is sponsored by Saatchi & Saatchi X, Rope Swing, The Hershey Company, Wright Lindsey Jennings, and Blue Moon Brewing Company.

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ANTHONY SUMLIN How frequently do you visit Crystal Bridges?

I visit Crystal Bridges at least once a month to tour the galleries or the temporary exhibits. I also try to attend artinfusion Culture Hour each month.

How would you describe Crystal Bridges to a friend/family member?

I would describe it as a gem nestled where you would least expect it. The depth and breadth of the collection from different periods is quite remarkable. There is definitely something to suit everyone’s tastes. The collections continue to expand inside and outside of the Museum, and the grounds and trails are astounding.

I think art is important because it is open to expression and it touches people in different ways.

What benefit of Membership do you appreciate the most and why?

I like that my membership gives me access to the temporary exhibitions. My children and I have enjoyed Norman Rockwell, Van Gogh to Rothko, Warhol’s Nature, and Jamie Wyeth, to name a few. I also use the reciprocal membership privileges to visit other museums when I travel to other cities.

My artifusion membership covers the cost to the annual Halloween in the Hollow and Black Hearts Ball parties.

Are there particular artworks or galleries that are special to you? Which ones and why?

I like the 1940’s to Now Gallery because I have a fondness for abstract art. I like the Black Balloon painting by Gene Davis for its bold use of color. My favorite sculpture is Free by Emma Marie Cadwalader-Guild because the subject looks so peaceful although he is enduring the horror of slavery.

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40 PHILANTHROPY

“ Part of a museum’s job is to help people see a different side of the painting and why it’s important, and think about their personal relationship to it.

“

The Art of Giving Art A Conversation with Museum Donor Constance Caplan LINDA DEBERRY EDITOR

ART COLLECTOR CONSTANCE CAPLAN LIVES in Baltimore, Maryland. She has been collecting art, mostly abstract and Minimalist works, since the late 1980s and has developed an impressive collection including works by Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, Martin Puryear, and Agnes Martin.

In 2014, she donated to Crystal Bridges a work from her collection by Minimalist painter Bryce Marden: For Carl Andre (1966, repainted 1969-1970). In the 1970s, Marden became known around the world for his monochromatic works, made using a mixture of oil paint and beeswax that produced a subtly nuanced surface. The Museum was delighted to accept her generous gift of this important work. The painting is now on view in Crystal Bridges’ 1940s to Now Gallery.

LD

Have you donated artworks to other institutions in the past?

CC I have donated works to other institutions, but nothing as important as this work. I thought it was an exciting opportunity to bring a Minimalist type of work to a new audience.

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How did you learn about Crystal Bridges?

Oh, you got great press! Everyone knows about it! First of all, it’s a wonderful setting, but the story is just very exciting: the idea of building a museum in the middle of the country. And it’s serving a population that really hasn’t been exposed to the arts the way we on the East coast or West coast have been. I think it’s something wonderful for the audience out there.

LD

Why should collectors donate works to museums?

CC Because museums will take care of the work. They’ll conserve the work if it needs that. And they’ll make it available to a much wider audience than individuals can.

Why do you collect art? How did you begin?

CC It’s a personal passion. I decided in the very beginning to focus on abstract art. I felt that was something I understood and liked very much.

LD

LD

LD What do you hope Crystal Bridges’ visitors will take away from having seen this work at the Museum?

CC I think we all take away something different. It’s really a thought-provoking work of art. It’s something that makes you question: Why did enough people think that this was an important artwork to see it in a museum? What is art, and what purpose does it serve? Part of a museum’s job is to help people see a different side of the painting and why it’s important, and think about their personal relationship to it. It’s not something that comes immediately, it’s something you have to think about.

41 LAST WORD

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

NOT CONSTITUTE ART?

Felix Gonzales-Torres “Untitled” (L.A.) (see page 06), it launched a flurry of public discourse about the work: What does it mean?

Can a work of art that gets taken apart daily by viewers still be considered the same artwork when the candies are refreshed the next day? What does and does not constitute art: is art an object or an idea?

Gonzales-Torres left these questions purposefully unanswered, relying on his viewers to react to and interpret the work for themselves. For most artists, the viewer’s experience of their work is a necessary final step in the artistic process: the work isn’t finished until someone views it. This means that whatever you as a viewer bring to that process becomes part of the work itself.

And what you take away from it is partially created by you, as well.

Part of Crystal Bridges’ job is to facilitate that connection between the artwork and the viewer. As a community-focused institution, we love to hear discussions happening around works of art in our collection because it means that the work has struck a chord: love it or hate it, our visitor is engaged with the art.

Presenting works of art may seem simple, but in fact it is a very nuanced task. Everything from the color of the walls to the artworks the curators choose to group together influences how viewers experience the work. Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter is experienced differently in its current placement—coupled with Janet Sobel’s chaotic abstract painting, Hiroshima—than it was when the work was grouped with other patriotic works from the 1940s celebrating the war effort. As Crystal Bridges continues to acquire works of art, our collection not only becomes more broad and diverse, but it also presents new ways works interact with one another, and with you.

When your interaction with the works in our collection sparks conversation—either here in our galleries or at your home over the dinner table—the art is doing its job. We look forward to many conversations to come.

IS ART AN OBJECT OR AN IDEA?

WHEN CRYSTAL BRIDGES ANNOUNCED the acquisition of

ROD BIGELOW

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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WHAT DOES AND DOES

600 Museum Way • Bentonville, AR 72712

CrystalBridges.org

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