Phoenix Art Museum Magazine: Winter/Spring 2021

WINTER/SPRING 2021

FE A RL E S S FA SHION: RUDI GERNREICH / A R TIS T S’ GR A N T S / OU T OF PRIN T phxart.org

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A N D S O E A CH V E N T U R E I S A N E W B E GIN NIN G .

–T.S. ELIOT

As we close the door on one of the most challenging years in modern history, we thank you. We thank you for showing up, in ways great and small, virtually and personally. In a world so in need of kindness, compassion, perseverance, and strength, we thank you for giving of yourself to our Museum, at the heart of it all. We thank you for having the imagination, when our doors were closed, to see a world beyond physical distance, to believe in us when we needed you most.

We face together a new year, hoping for better days ahead, hoping for opportunities to gather in spaces real and virtual, to find adventure, to discover new possibilities, and to be, in any way we can, your Phoenix Art Museum. Thank you for your faith in us. Thank you for your trust in us. Thank you for beginning anew with us, this year, and all the years to come.

image credit: Yayoi Kusama, You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies, 2005. Mixed media installation with LED lights. Museum purchase with funds provided by Jan and Howard Hendler..

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C O N T E N T S 5 6 7 8 9

Letter from the Director Letter from the Chair of the Board Museum News Founder’s Favorites: Philip C. Curtis Deep Looking: Willard Nash

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PhxArtist Spotlight: Rotraut Acknowledgment / Circles of Support ACI / Geoffrey Beene: A Duet of Fashion + Movement In Memory / Bill Howard The Museum Store

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On View Splendid Visions: Gifts from the Robert and Amy Clague Collections Ann Morton: The Violet Protest and the 2019 Phoenix Art Museum Artists’ Grants Recipients Exhibition Collective Inspiration Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich Out of Print: Innovations of 19th- and 20th-Century Printmaking from the Collection of Phoenix Art Museum and the Schorr Collection

image credits: (front cover) Peggy Moffitt modeling ensemble designed by Rudi Gernreich, Fall 1968 collection. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark. (above from top, left to right) Rotraut Klein-Moquay, Blue Galaxy, 1989. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist; Unknown, Ogival throne cover with decoration of a dragon coiled about a flaming pearl amidst scrolling clouds, Ming dynasty. Silk kesi tapestry, dyed polychrome silk yarns, gold-wrapped yarns and peacock-feather-filament-embellished yarns. Gift of Amy S. Clague; Ann Morton, A Violet Protest, 2020. Made by Nancy Nakamoto, Torrence, CA. Square of the Week – 8/17 – 8/23, 2020. Courtesy of the artist; Robert Rauschenberg, Features (from Currents) 76, 1970.

Screenprint. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas. © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

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WINTER/SPRING 2021 / PHXART MAGAZINE

FROM THE DIRECTOR

DEARFRIENDS

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appy New Year! I think I am not alone in my gratitude that the last of 2020 is behind us. While we have many challenges ahead as we continue to navigate the effects of COVID-19, I look forward to new beginnings and the opportunity and possibility they present for Phoenix Art Museum.

In 2020, the Museum renewed its commitment to pursuing diversity in all that we do. Along with internal work by our staff, the Board of Trustees, T IM R O DGE R S , P H D which governs The Sybil Harrington our institution, Director and CEO has established Phoenix Art Museum a committee of Trustees focusing on issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion within the Museum. It is our intention through the diversification of our exhibitions and collections to present a body of works that reflects the community we serve. This includes featuring works by artists of color, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian artists, as well as women artists, LGBTQIA+ artists, and those from other underrepresented groups. By sharing the perspectives and experiences of these artists, along with objects from cultures all over the world, we can create an opportunity for understanding and connection, while ensuring that all people who call Arizona home can see a piece of themselves in the art they experience during their visits.

The Museum can accomplish this work not only by focusing on the artworks we acquire today and in the future, but also in the exhibitions we present for our community. This year, I am especially proud that the Museum will feature the nationally acclaimed exhibition Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich. Organized by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, Fearless Fashion weaves the compelling story of the groundbreaking fashion designer, an icon of the revolutionary 1960s who questioned and tested commonly held notions

of self-expression and gender identity through his unique, cutting-edge designs. Today, he is remembered best for the scandalous monokini, but Gernreich was much more than an avant-garde sensationalist. His fearlessness was grounded in a spirit of resistance.

At the age of 16, Gernreich, a Jew, fled with his mother from the violent oppression of the Nazis in his native Austria. Later in life, as a gay man, Gernreich also contended with homophobia and discrimination. It is perhaps these experiences that most inspired his approach to fashion as a form of social justice and commentary. He believed in the universal beauty of the human form, and his work celebrated fluidity of movement and naturalism, making it the perfect fit for the 1960s, a time when society questioned social mores of past generations and pursued greater freedom in all aspects of life.

All of us at Phoenix Art Museum are proud to share the compelling stories and creative visions of diverse artists like Rudi Gernreich. In various galleries over the past few months, you have enjoyed the perspectives of artists such as Teresita Fernández, Hélio Oiticica, and Sergio Vega and learned from Indigenous scholars who examined works in the Museum’s American art collection.

Later this year, you will have the opportunity to experience the art of Sri Lanka, in addition to works from across China and Southeast Asia that span centuries.

In 2020, the Museum renewed its commitment to pursuing diversity in all that we do...It is our intention through the diversification of our exhibitions and collections to present a body of works that reflects the community we serve.”

We have much work left to do to expand our spirit of inclusion and connection. But this year, despite the challenges of COVID-19 and its impact on our financial stability, we remain committed to this work, both within our offices and our galleries.

I thank you, each of you, for your support of Phoenix Art Museum and your investment in our mission to be a vibrant destination that seeks to create opportunities for meaning and to enrich the knowledge and culture of our community amidst such tumult in our world. We look forward to continuing this work, in partnership, in 2021 and for decades to come.

With gratitude,

image credit: Photo by Airi Katsuta.

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FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

DE A R F RIE ND S

P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M 2 0 2 0 – 2 0 21 BOARD OF TRUSTEES CH A IR Mark Feldman

CH A IR E L E C T Don Opatrny

V ICE CH A IR S

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think it goes without saying–2020 was a year like no other. For the first time in the Museum’s 60-year history, we had to close our doors to help keep our Members, visitors, volunteers, and staff safe and to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community. But with your support, as our sustaining Members, we were able to navigate the closure and, in October, re-opened with a number of exciting new exhibitions and installations. We also put various new safety measures in place so our guests can connect with the art they love, while staying as safe as possible during their visits.

David Lenhardt Meredith von Arentschildt

The Museum’s re-opening this fall was a major step forward in our ability to serve our community, but there remains a long road ahead. Our thoughts and concerns are not only focused on the future of the Museum, as we navigate economic downturn and diminished income as the pandemic continues to rage across the globe. They are also focused on our Members and those in the community we serve, each of whom are faced with both the risk of exposure to the virus and the increased stress and anxiety of these uncertain times. It is perhaps this disquiet that will forever mark 2020 as one of the most difficult years we have had to endure in recent history.

John W. Graham

MARK FELDMAN

I do not have a solution for the crises facing our world, Chair of the Board but I do believe in the power of art to provide respite of Trustees from the pain and worry that have come to characterize Phoenix Art Museum these times. It is an honor to be able to say that the Museum is here for you and your families, providing a place where you can connect with each other over old favorites from our collection that feel comforting and familiar, in addition to artworks that challenge what we believe and teach us more about other cultures and experiences near and far.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees at Phoenix Art Museum, joined by our staff and senior leadership, I thank you for your generosity to the Museum. Without you, we would not have been able to weather the storms of 2020 and prepare ourselves for what still lies ahead. Because of you, no matter what 2021 may bring, Phoenix Art Museum will be here, a place for peace, a place for connection, and most of all, a place for art that will keep us amazed.

With gratitude,

image credit: Photo by Airi Katsuta.

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T R E A S U R E R Blair Portigal

S E CR E TA R Y Ruben E. Alvarez Alice Bazlen Jo Brandt Drew M. Brown* Gloria P. Cowen Harold C. Dorenbecher Jacquie Dorrance* Carter Emerson Robert Faver David Garcia Judy Goldberg Michael Greenbaum* Nancy Hanley Eriksson Lila Harnett* Jon Hulburd Jane Jozoff Ellen Katz* Parvinder Khanuja, MD Don Kile Alan W. Kosloff Sally Lehmann Ann M. Ocaña Sally A. Odegard Doris Ong Kimberly F. Robson Paige Rothermel Sue Selig Ann Siner Rob Taylor Carl Thoma *Honorary Trustee

MUSEUM NEWS

COM M UNI T Y I M P A C T Through the support of local organizations and dedicated community members, Phoenix Art Museum continues to increase access to the arts through reduced-admission opportunities and free-access times.

WINTER/SPRING 2021

Tim Rodgers, PhD The Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Mark Feldman Chair of the Board of Trustees

E DI T O R I A L S TA F F Executive Editor / Nikki DeLeon Martin Managing Editor / Samantha Andreacchi Creative Director / Michael Bartley Photography / Airi Katsuta

C O N T RI BU T I N G E DI TO R S

Janet Baker, PhD, Curator of Asian Art Betsy Fahlman, PhD, Adjunct Curator of American Art Helen Jean, the Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design Tim Rodgers, PhD, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Rachel Sadvary Zebro, Assistant Curator Gilbert Vicario, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and the Selig Family Chief Curator

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e extend a special thanks to UMB Bank, whose profound generosity has made it possible for the Museum to reduce admission for all visitors younger than 18 from $14 to the institution’s field-trip rate of $5 per youth. The new program, known as PhxArt Field Trip for Kids, launched in October 2020 and supports this discounted youth-admission rate through January 31, 2021. The program was designed to support families hit hardest by the impacts of COVID-19 by providing them with an affordable way to explore the Museum together with their children. Through the support of corporate donors, the Museum is able to remove economic barriers that might otherwise impede working families from connecting with arts and culture.

Phoenix Art Museum is deeply grateful as well for the generosity of Dr. Hong and Doris Ong and Nancy Hanley Eriksson, who have provided the funds necessary to support the Military Access Program (MAP@PAM) at Phoenix Art Museum for the next two years. The program provides free admission to veterans and active-duty military service members as well as their immediate families, an expression of our gratitude for their service both to our country and within our community. The MAP@PAM program begins on January 1, 2021 and runs through December 31, 2022.

Phoenix Art Museum is also grateful to SRP and the Angela and Leonard Singer Endowment for Performing Arts, in addition to Circles of Support donors and Museum Members, whose annual support helps to fund other community-aid and arts-education programs, including our weekly voluntary-donation periods on Wednesdays from 3 – 7 pm and First Fridays from 3 – 7 pm.

S AV E T H E D AT E CO N N E C T W I T H U S @phxart 1625 North Central Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1685 phxart.org 602.257.1222 602.257.2124 602.257.2173 602.257.2115

24-HOUR INFORMATION MEMBERSHIP OFFICE VOLUNTEER OFFICE CIRCLES OF SUPPORT

VIR T UA L A NNUA L MEE TING: T HE S TAT E OF T HE MUSEUM J A N U A R Y 13 , 2 0 2 1 / 10 A M

Join Tim Rodgers, PhD, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum, along with members of the Board of Trustees and Museum staff, for a socially distanced State of the Museum program that explores the progress the Museum has made in pursuit of its goals to provide all people with increased access to arts and culture.

TO RSV P FOR T HE VIRT UA L E VEN T, VISIT PHXART.ORG .

WINTER/SPRING 2021 / PHXART.ORG

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FOUNDER’S FAVORI T ES

PHILIPC.CURTIS

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n Fall 2021, Phoenix Art Museum will restore The Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis to its original location on the first floor of the Museum’s North Wing. The reinvigorated gallery will feature paintings by the beloved Arizona artist in conversation with other works from the Museum’s American art collection, providing visitors with the opportunity to learn more about paintings by Philip C. Curtis in an art historical context.

The Ullman Center was created in 2001, just one year after the artist’s passing, and was designed to feature the works of Curtis while honoring his pivotal role in establishing Phoenix Art Museum. In 2017, it was moved to a new location following the installation of the Schorr Collection, long-term loans of Old-Master paintings provided to the Museum by the U.K.-based David and Hannah Lewis family. Following the closure of the Schorr Collection in 2021,

and after the completion of a number of gallery improvements, The Ullman Center will return to the first-floor space.

Philip C. Curtis was born in 1907 in Jackson, Michigan. After suffering a serious accident as a child when he fell through a frozen lake, Curtis endured a lengthy recovery period, during which time he began to paint. As he managed the pain, which predominantly affected his legs, he took comfort in sitting at his easel. He would go on to study art at Albion College, law at the University of Michigan, and art once more as a graduate student at Yale University.

In 1937, Curtis was appointed by President Roosevelt to establish the Phoenix Federal Art Center, the early forerunner of Phoenix Art Museum, as part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project. In 1939, however, he would leave Arizona to establish the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa.

image credit:

Philip C. Curtis, My Studio, 1935. Oil on board. Gift of Terese Greene Sterling. Philip C. Curtis Restated Trust U/A/D April 7, 1994.

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Following his service with the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C., part of the war effort during World War II, Curtis returned to Arizona in 1947 and began to work full-time as an artist. Once Phoenix Art Museum opened in 1959, he maintained a close relationship with the Museum he had helped to establish until his death.

Today, the Museum retains more than 100 works by Curtis in its collection. His paintings of “gentle surrealism” focus on themes of loneliness, isolation, and magical realism, with many featuring recurring characters whom Curtis himself once described as his own acting company.

More information on The Ullman Center and the art of Philip C. Curtis will follow in future issues of PhxArt Magazine. Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes of Arizona is on view now through Summer 2021 on the second floor of the Museum’s North Wing.

DEEP LOOKING Take a deeper look into the Museum’s Western American art collection with Tim Rodgers, PhD, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO, as he provides insight into the work of Willard Nash.

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G O WILL W ARD E SNASH T YOUNGMAN

n search of good health and the “real” America, young artists such as Willard Nash (1898-1942) settled in New Mexico to paint the dramatic landscapes and Indigenous peoples of the region. He arrived in 1920 in response to an invitation from Mabel Dodge Luhan—the eccentric, East Coast heiress—to visit her compound in Taos. Luhan issued many such invitations with the hope that New Mexico’s scenic beauty and Indigenous cultures might inspire artists to create new work and establish art colonies in the West. Many now-famous artists, writers, and dancers, including Ansel Adams, Martha Graham, D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Paul Strand, enjoyed Luhan’s generosity and created some of their finest works in response to the land and cultures they considered unfamiliar.

In New Mexico, Nash quickly became part of a painting group called Los Cinco Pintores (The Five Painters) that included Jozef Bakos, Fremont Ellis, Walter Mruk, and Will Shuster. Although the artists exhibited together, their work shared very few stylistic similarities. Nash, more so than the other painters, relied on his familiarity with European artists and their work to inspire his creations. Seen here, in this 1925 painting, Untitled (Santa Fe Landscape), which is now in the collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Nash’s admiration of the art of Cézanne is apparent in the building block-like construction, the rough patches of colors, and the interest in a rural landscape dominated by a mountain.

Both Cézanne and Nash were looking for terrain and an artistic style that declared a specific personal aesthetic and a national identity—whether French or American—and found them in rural, rugged landscapes painted in a rough-hewn manner.

Nash, however, like so many artists who traveled and settled in the West during the teens and ’20s, was motivated to relocate because of more personal needs. His original visit to New Mexico in 1920 was prompted by a bout of Spanish flu, and like numerous fellow travelers, Nash hoped that the fresh, dry, unpolluted air of New Mexico would benefit his recovery.

Later in life, after moving to California to be an art professor, he returned to New Mexico in 1942 to recover from tuberculosis. He settled in Albuquerque with the same belief that the high desert air would relieve his suffering. Unfortunately, Nash never recovered and passed away at the young age of 44.

Illness, creativity, national identity, and a need to escape urban life and its mores—these are the ingredients of the lives of many early Western artists. Some found the utopia they sought; others struggled with poor health and poverty. Although Nash relocated to New Mexico more than 100 years ago, his motivations for doing so still resonate. How many of us moved West in search of good health, renewed creativity, and authenticity? In this time of another pandemic, we can empathize even more deeply with Western artists who gave up their settled lives to search for well-being and clear minds guided by a reset moral compass. image credit: Willard Nash, Untitled (Santa Fe Landscape), c. 1925. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by Betty Van Denburgh and Western Art Associates in honor of its 40th Anniversary.

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E X HIBI T IO N S + I N S TA L L AT IO N S

O N V I E S T ORIES OF A B S T R ACTION: CON T EMPOR A RY L ATIN A MERICA N A R T IN T HE GLOBA L CON T E X T THROUGH MARCH 7, 2021 STEELE GALLERY

S E L E C T IO N S F R O M T H E S CH O R R CO L L E C T IO N THROUGH JUNE 13, 2021 ULLMAN GALLERY

CL AY A ND BA MBOO: JA PA NE SE CER A MICS A ND FLOW ER BA SK E T S CO L O R S O F S K Y A N D CL O U D S : CHIN E S E B L U E- A N D -W HI T E P O R CE L A IN E MILY E D E N : P O R T R A I T S O F T H E P R IN CE S A N D P E O P L E S O F IN DI A GU R U N A N A K : 5 5 0 T H BIR T H A N NI V E R S A R Y O F S IK HI S M ’ S F O U N DE R MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS, FLOWERS AND BIRDS: GIF T S FROM THE PAPP FAMILY COLLECTION THROUGH APRIL 4, 2021 ART OF ASIA GALLERIES

ANSEL ADAMS: P E R F O R MIN G T H E P R IN T THROUGH JUNE 6, 2021 NORTON GALLERY

CL AY A N D PA P E R : J A PA N E S E CE R A MIC S A N D S CR E E N S APRIL 24 – NOVEMBER 7, 2021 ART OF ASIA GALLERIES

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[RE]PURPOSED THROUGH DECEMBER 19, 2021 THE JAMES K. BALLINGER INTERACTIVE GALLERY

A M E R IC A N S CE N E S / A M E R IC A S S E E N THROUGH 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

T H E GO L DE N T E M P L E : CE N T E R O F S IK H FA I T H

A M E R IC A N A B S T R A C T IO N DU R IN G T H E T HIR T IE S A N D F O R T IE S

APRIL 24 – NOVEMBER 7, 2021 KHANUJA FAMILY SIKH HERITAGE GALLERY

THROUGH 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

P HIL IP C. CU R T I S A N D T H E L A N D S C A P E S O F A R IZ O N A

S T IL L L IF E : O R DIN A R Y PLE ASURES

THROUGH SUMMER 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

THROUGH 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

S E E K IN G IM M O R TA L I T Y: A N CIE N T A R T IFA C T S

S U B L IM E L A N D S C A P E S

THROUGH NOVEMBER 7, 2021 ART OF ASIA GALLERIES

FA S HIO N ’ S S U B V E R S I V E S JUNE 5 – NOVEMBER 28, 2021 ELLMAN AND HARNETT GALLERIES

JO S EPH CORNE L L : T HING S UN S EEN THROUGH APRIL 4, 2021 KATZ WING FOR MODERN ART

THROUGH 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

Y O U A R E IN CO W B O Y CO U N T R Y THROUGH 2021 AMERICAN ART GALLERIES

SWEET L AND OF FUNK THROUGH 2022 KATZ WING FOR MODERN ART

PLEASE NOTE: ALL EXHIBITION DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT PHXART.ORG FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF EXHIBITION SPONSORS. image credit:

Installation view, You Are in Cowboy Country, 2020. Courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum. Photo by Airi Katsuta.

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S P L E N DID V I S IO N S : GIF T S F R O M T H E R O B E R T A N D A M Y CL A GU E CO L L E C T IO N S APRIL 24 – NOVEMBER 7, 2021 ART OF ASIA GALLERIES

BRINGING THEWORLD TOPHOENIX Fore more than 60 years, Phoenix Art Museum has developed a distinctive Asian art collection of more than 6,000 objects from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, and beyond.

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his growth of the collection has been made possible thanks to the deep generosity of donors from across the Valley of the Sun, including the late Robert and Amy Clague, who passed away in 1995 and 2020, respectively. From 1982 to 2020, the Clagues donated more than 300 objects to the Asian art collection of Phoenix Art Museum, strenghthing the Museum’s holdings of Chinese cloisonné, Chinese bronzes created during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chinese and Southeast Asian textiles, and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. From April 24 through November 7, 2021, the Museum will present a selection of these extraordinary works in Splendid Visions: Gifts From the Robert and Amy Clague Collections to honor the generosity of the Clague family and their efforts to increase knowledge on various faiths, cultures, and lifestyles from the world’s largest continent.

Splendid Visions spans four centuries and showcases approximately 40 objects from China, India, and Tibet, including intricate manuscript covers made of wood, cast bronze, and other materials and embellished with semiprecious stones, lacquer, and images of Buddhist and Hindu deities. Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience masterfully crafted dishes, vases, and censers, along with vibrant textiles, including a shimmering work with peacock feathers woven into silk brocade.

“Robert and Amy Clague were visionary collectors who amassed strong collections of works that represent various time periods, cultures, styles, and techniques,” said Janet Baker, PhD, the Museum’s curator of Asian art.

“Over the years, they gifted many works to Phoenix Art Museum with the goal of bringing them to wider audiences, and we are grateful to have been an ongoing beneficiary of their generosity for four decades.”

Splendid Visions: Gifts from the Robert and Amy Clague Collections is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible, in part, through the generosity of the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members and features objects donated to the Phoenix Art Museum Collection by Amy S. and Robert H. Clague.

If you are interested in gifting or bequeathing art to Phoenix Art Museum to ensure our shared community has access to world-class art, now and for generations to come, contact plannedgiving@phxart.org. image credit:

Unknown, Buddhist altar fitting, Qing dynasty, mid 18th century.

Cloisonné enamel. Museum purchase and gift of Mr. Robert H. Clague.

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ANN MORTON: T H E V IO L E T P R O T E S T MARCH 10 – SEPTEMBER 5, 2021 MARSHALL AND HENDLER GALLERIES

In January 2020, the 2019 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award recipient Ann Morton announced an open call for textile artists and makers across the United States and Puerto Rico, asking them to participate in her latest collaborative art installation. Her vision? To create a large-scale work that unites makers of varying political ideologies and encourages bipartisan collaboration.

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ABOUT THE ARLENE AND M O R T O N S CU LT A R T I S T AWA R D A N D T H E P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M A R T I S T S ’ GR A N T S

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ntitled The Violet Protest, the installation would consist of 8” x 8” square textile units that use equal parts of red and blue materials, symbolizing the union of opposing U.S. political ideologies. Morton would then configure the crowdsourced materials into the letters “U” and “S,” with the red and blue blending to create the overall impression of the color violet.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting temporary closure of Phoenix Art Museum, the Museum’s presentation of The Violet Protest was put on hold.

This March, however, Arizona audiences will finally have the opportunity to experience this imposing, timely work derived from Morton’s imagination and created with the help of more than 1,000 creatives across North America.

On view in the Museum’s Marshall and Hendler galleries, The Violet Protest will feature textile squares stacked into the letters “U” and “S” as originally planned, but Morton will additionally arrange squares across various gallery walls to ensure every maker who contributes to the project has their work displayed. The open call for submissions is still underway, with a deadline of February 1, 2021 for makers who wish to have their work included in the installation’s initial exhibition. (As of early November, Morton had secured commitments from nearly 1,600 volunteers representing all 50 states as well as British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, who have pledged to make just over 12,000 squares.) However, Morton will continue to accept squares up to August 1, 2021. These final submissions will be added to The Violet Protest over the run of the exhibition, providing viewers with the opportunity to see the work grow.

Once Morton’s installation at Phoenix Art Museum ends on September 5, 2021, The Violet Protest will live on, albeit in a different form. After it’s disassembled, Morton will send squares from the project to each U.S. Senator and Representative, accompanied by a photo of the full work and a letter calling for elected officials to come together, prioritize the representation of their diverse constituencies, and reject political divisiveness.

Organizing and creating this collaborative installation during a pandemic certainly had its challenges, said Morton, who works primarily in fiber art and has organized previous collaborative public-art projects, including ReThanks (2017) and the award-winning Ground Cover (2013). However, through the use of various digital technologies, including monthly e-newsletters and the video-

Each year, Phoenix Art Museum presents two significant recognition opportunities for contemporary artists based in Arizona. The Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award is presented to a midcareer artist whose work demonstrates a sustained degree of excellence and commitment to contemporary art.

Selected by a jury, the recipient receives a $5,000 prize and is invited to present work in a solo exhibition at the Museum the following year.

Conversely, the Phoenix Art Museum Artists’ Grants, formerly the Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grants, are designed to support and encourage emerging contemporary artists practicing in Arizona. A jury selects up to five grant recipients, who receive $2,000 each and also present work in a group exhibition at the Museum the following year.

The jury for both the 2019 Scult Artist Award and the 2019 Artists’ Grants was composed of Kate Green, Executive Director of Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson; Tyler Cann, Head of Exhibitions and Pizzuti Family Curator of Contemporary Art at Columbus Museum of Art; and artist Matt Magee, who was named the 2017 Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award recipient.

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All told, when these squares finally do go to Congress, they will carry with them echoes of this time—physically in how some of the squares have manifested through messages conveyed in imagery and words, but also in spirit, as I believe that all of our collective energy is imbued in these Violet Protest squares.”

ANN MORTON

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conference service Zoom, she was able to stay in touch with and create a sense of connection among her diverse groups of volunteers.

“I’ve met with groups all over the country, from felters and weavers’ guilds, to quilters and knitters/crocheters, in places like Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and many throughout Arizona,” she said.

Through these platforms, Violet Protesters have also made masks together, discussed the country’s racial unrest, and used square-making as an outlet for expression and belonging during this unprecedented moment in history Nonetheless, despite the challenging times in which The Violet Protest has been orchestrated and created, Morton is confident the end result of the collective work will yield something truly meaningful and unique.

“All told, when these squares finally do go to Congress, they will carry with them echoes of this time—physically in how some of the squares have manifested through messages conveyed in imagery and words,” she said, “but also in spirit, as I believe that all of our collective energy is imbued in these Violet Protest squares.”

To participate in The Violet Protest, or to follow the project’s progress through a heat map of participation across all 50 states, visit violetprotest.com.

Ann Morton: The Violet Protest is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of Arlene and Morton Scult, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: page

12: Ann Morton, Violet Protest composite, 2020. Makers (top to bottom, left to right): Heather Kirschner - Mesa, AZ; Cheryl Hopper - Washington, PA; Azra Kearns - Phoenix, AZ; Doerte Weber - San Antonio, TX; Carol Sanger - Phoenix, AZ; Mary Logue - Golden Valley, MN; Katie Leinweber - Scottsdale, AZ; Candace Wilkinson - Phoenix, AZ; Hannah Allen - State College, PA; Tané Clark - Tempe, AZ; Wendy Raisanen - Phoenix, AZ; Bonnie Scott Salem, VA; Maxene Harlow - Clarksdale, MS; Tara Ritacco - Carlsbad, CA. page 13 (top): Audrey Good - Mesa, AZ; (bottom, left to right) Nancy Nakamoto - Torrence, CA; Kitty Spangler - Pittsburgh, PA; Cheryl Goodberg - Marana, AZ; Maureen Craddock - N. Massapequa, NY. right (top to bottom): Made by Lucinda Carroll, Port Charlotte, FL. Square of the Week – 9/28 – 10/4, 2020 (in honor of John Lewis); Made by Savannah Kay Gordon, Beaverton, OR. Square of the Week – 9/14 – 9/20, 2020 (the week we lost RBG); Made by Rachel Bye, St. Paul, MN. Square of the Week – 8/24 – 8/30, 2020. All images courtesy of the artist.

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RECOGNIZING CONTEMPORARY A Z A R T I S T S 2 019 P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M A R T I S T S ’ GR A N T S R E CIP IE N T S E X HIBI T IO N MARCH 10 – SEPTEMBER 5, 2021 MARSHALL AND HENDLER GALLERIES

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his March, Phoenix Art Museum will present works by emerging Arizona-based contemporary artists who were named Phoenix Art Museum Artists’ Grants recipients in 2019. Previously postponed due to the Museum’s temporary closure necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition will feature drawings, sculptures, and mixed-media works by Christina Gednalske, Danielle Hacche, Lena Klett, Nazafarin Lotfi, and Kimberly Lyle, who represent the Museum’s first all-women grants cohort and who have collectively exhibited work across the globe in countries such as the United States, Italy, Mexico, Panama, England, Venezuela, Germany, Ecuador, South Korea, and Spain.

Both Klett and Lyle, who received their MFAs from Arizona State University, have developed practices that rely on sound, sculpture, and new-media and interactive technologies. Klett’s drawings, sculptures, and videos explore how knowledge is formed through intuition, interaction, and observation, while Lyle’s interdisciplinary works probe humanity’s relationship to systems of communication, learning, and technology, effectively challenging the boundaries between languages, human and machine, past and present.

Made of pastel and gouache, Hacche’s geometric, hard-lined abstractions, by contrast, emphasize materiality and a dedication to process versus a specific meaning or message. Born in the United Kingdom but now based in Phoenix, Hacche draws inspiration from 20th-century modernist art and architecture, particularly the German Bauhaus and Brutalist art movements.

Gednalske, who is originally from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, uses video, writing, photography, painting, and performance to examine presence through body, memory, and place, while Lofti, an Iranian-born artist, creates dynamic works that explore the forces of opposition, tension, and harmony and how they allow for possibility and growth.

“These emerging contemporary artists are examining complex subjects tied to human perception and identity,” said Gilbert Vicario, the Museum’s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and the Selig Family Chief Curator, who curated the exhibition. “We are excited to share their poignant and dynamic artworks with our audiences in Arizona to illuminate how abstraction as a visual language provides the opportunity to contemplate and reframe our individual and collective realities.”

The 2019 Phoenix Art Museum Artists’ Grants Recipients exhibition is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (above) Christina Gednalske, Extensions, 2015. Video.

Image courtesy of the artist. ( left) Nazafarin Lotfi, Learning to Hold, 2019.

Papier-mâché, acrylic paint, ink, and graphite. Courtesy of the artist.

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CO L L E C T I V E IN S P IR AT IO N THROUGH MAY 2, 2021 KELLY ELLMAN FASHION DESIGN GALLERY

On principle, renowned modernist and feminist writer Virginia Woolf used her pen as a sword, confronting topics such as sexism, war, and personal growth with cutting analysis. Woolf, however, was also known to comment on the value and function of clothing. A fashion risk-taker in her own right who gravitated toward the masculine and theatrical, she wore oversized coats, fur-trimmed collars, and widebrimmed hats, as evidenced in the few photographs of her that exist. “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm,” she once wrote.

“They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.”

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ne of the most significant social critics of her time, Woolf quite clearly understood the power of fashion to challenge, reframe, and re-envision the way we see each other and ourselves, a power often attributed to art. In this way, then, it makes perfect sense that fashion should be considered—and is—art, an assertion made by many, whether as indirectly as Woolf, or directly argued by the likes of fashion designer Carolina Herrera, modern artist Andy Warhol, and even English philosopher Francis Bacon. Still, the question “Is fashion art, and why?” lingers in the minds of contemporary audiences. For Helen Jean, the Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design at Phoenix Art Museum, it is a question she is often asked.

Phoenix Art Museum has long recognized fashion design as an important form of artistic expression and is one of only seven major museums in the country with a fashion-design collection of significance. Founded in 1966, the Museum’s renowned collection is home to more than 8,000 garments and accessories for women, men, and children that span the 17th century to the present.

It is from these comprehensive holdings that Jean drew dresses, jackets, gloves, and more to curate the newest fashion exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum. Unlike past exhibitions inspired by a geographical theme or a single time period, Jean selected objects with a different purpose in mind: to answer the frequently asked question once and for all and to set the matter straight—that fashion is art, worthy of a place alongside renowned paintings, sculptures, and more from throughout art history.

Collective Inspiration, on view through May 2, 2021, pairs approximately 10 fashion objects and ensembles with artworks from across the Museum’s Asian, American, Latin American, European, and contemporary collections. Each pairing demonstrates how formal principles of art and design may be applied to garments and accessories in the same ways they are applied to paintings, prints, and sculptures. To encourage contemplation on formal aspects of featured artworks, each pairing CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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includes interpretive text written by Jean, whose conversations with the Museum’s other curators, specializing in photography and Asian, American, and contemporary art, helped inform the pairings and exhibition copy.

precision it took to create them, when we really start to analyze each through the lenses of planning, purpose, and process, that we start to think of these works as similar beyond our initial reactions after a fleeting glance.”

“Collective Inspiration is meant to set the stage for dialogue about what makes something art,” Jean said. “I really want our visitors to see how the conversations they’re having in the Asian or American art galleries can carry over as they explore our fashiondesign exhibitions.”

Collective Inspiration also features a dress by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons’ Spring/Summer 2018 line, placed in conversation with a still-life painting by 17th-century Flemish artist Jan van Dalen II. Kawakubo’s creation features a printed portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II by Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who has used fruits and vegetables as his patron’s facial features. The pairing of this work with van Dalen’s vanitas still life, whose subject is the death of human vanity, invites viewers to explore similarities of form and composition, in addition to the ways in which each work tackles themes of egotism and self-preservation.

One object grouping in the exhibition features a cream-colored suit by American designer Ralph Rucci and a ceramic sculpture of a similar hue by contemporary Japanese sculptor Fujikasa Satoko. Beyond their similar color palette, however, both works are characterized by organic, undulating lines and exacting technical precision. Fujikasa is known for her fluid sculptures that are handcrafted from pliable clay. Because of the thinness of her sculptures’ walls, some of which measure in at just three millimeters, the drying process for these works is often the trickiest stage of her process. Rucci, who draws inspiration from diverse genres such as Far Eastern asceticism, modern art, and the Flemish Renaissance, is known for a similarly unerring commitment to favored materials, in addition to his architectural process that yields stunning and chic yet highly wearable garments.

“As soon as I saw that stoneware sculpture by Fujikasa Satoko, I knew it would relate to the surface-design work of Ralph Rucci,” Jean said when reflecting on why she brought these objects together. “Yes, both works exhibit similar illusions of movement, but it’s when we take a step back to look at the technical

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These groupings, along with sections that pair an Op-Art silkscreen print by Victor Vasarely with a suit by Alexander McQueen and the fashion collection’s oldest objects—leather gloves with metallic lace from c. 1640—with a portrait from 18thcentury Mexico, set the stage for thoughtful discussions.

“I want debates in the gallery,” Jean said. “I want to inspire new conversations about fashion and its place in museums.”

So when community members visit the Museum ready to explore Collective Inspiration this winter and spring, they should come armed with their opinions, yes, but they should also be prepared to consider something new and unexpected, something that changes their minds entirely about fashion as art.

Collective Inspiration is meant to set the stage for dialogue about what makes something art. I really want our visitors to see how the conversations they’re having in the Asian or American art galleries can carry over as they explore our fashiondesign exhibitions.”

HELEN JEAN

JACQUIE DORR A NCE CUR ATOR OF FASHION DESIGN

Collective Inspiration is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of The Kelly Ellman Fashion Design Endowment Fund and Arizona Costume Institute, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (page 16) Ralph Rucci, Jacket, spring 2009. Double-faced wool crepe and netting. Gift of Diane Halle. (page 17) Fujikasa Satoko, Movement of Nature, 2013. Stoneware. Gift of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz. (page 18, left to right) Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Dress and shoes, spring/summer 2018 look #13. Inkjet printed polyester velvet, leather. Museum purchase with funds provided by Arizona Costume Institute; Jan van Dalen, Still Life: Vanitas, c. 1665. Oil on oak panel. Museum purchase with funds provided by Friends of European Art. (above) Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, Blue velvet coat with gold stenciled painted design, 1934. Silk velvet stenciled with metals. Gift of Mrs. Anne Robinson. ( left) Tiffany and Company, Favril Vase, 1921. Glass. Gift of Edward Jacobson.

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FA S HIO N OFTHEFREE

BOF TOHE BRRAVNE F E A R L E S S FA S HIO N : R U DI GE R N R E ICH APRIL 7 – SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 STEELE GALLERY

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RUDI WA S S O MUCH

MORETHAN AFASHION DESIGNER. HE WA S A POL I T ICA L COMMENTATOR.

– HUMBERTO LEON, FASHION DESIGNER

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Acclaimed designer Rudolph “Rudi” Gernreich once prophesized, “Fashion will go out of fashion.” This prediction, of a day when we would all wear minimal, utilitarian clothes that not just embrace but celebrate the body’s natural form, has yet to be realized; however, Gernreich foresaw and anticipated through his work other major cultural shifts that continue to manifest today. His inventions like the thong, the “monokini” topless swimsuit, and the unisex caftan, in fact, seem even more at home in the cultural zeitgeist now than in the decade that bore them.

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rom April 7 through September 26, 2021, Arizona audiences are invited to experience the late designer’s socially impactful work in Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich at Phoenix Art Museum. Organized by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, the exhibition presents more than 80 dynamic and forward-thinking fashion designs, including the monokini that once spurred Pope Paul VI to label Gernreich an enemy of the Catholic Church. A collection of original sketches, letters, personal papers, photographs, press clippings, and newly filmed oral histories of Gernreich’s friends and colleagues then help to provide a broader understanding of the designer’s life and enduring influence.

Born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria, Gernreich, who was Jewish, fled Nazi oppression as a teen and immigrated to Los Angeles. After he was arrested in LA in the early 1950s for being gay, Gernreich committed himself to a life of fashion, art, and social justice, joining the interracial Lester Horton Dance Theatre, for whom he danced and designed

costumes, and becoming the second founding member of the Mattachine Society, one of the earliest gay-rights organizations and founded by labor activist Harry Hay. Throughout his career, Gernreich would continue to seek social change and promote a truer expression of self through fashion, creating trailblazing designs that prioritized inclusivity, non-conformity, liberation, and movement. He would die in 1985 of lung cancer, but his creations would live on and lay the groundwork for contemporary conversations about beauty, gender, and identity.

On view in the Museum’s premier Steele Gallery, the colorful Fearless Fashion is flush with garments clearly of the 1960s and 1970s; mod, Pop, and Op art vibes abound and harken back to the time of Twiggy and Nico, the bouncy bob and the birth of the miniskirt. Visitors, however, are also met with many designs that are quite familiar, if not central, to the contemporary fashion scape. These works illuminate how Gernreich was both of and before his time.

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SHOP CHANNEL THOSE RUDI GERNREICH VIBES WITH THESE ITEMS FROM THE MUSEUM STORE.

One such enduring Gerneich original in Fearless Fashion is the thong, a scant undergarment that the designer debuted in the 1970s to protest the city of Los Angeles’ ban on nude sunbathing. For decades now, the relevance and ubiquity of the intimate have ebbed and flowed. After Sisqó’s 1999 chart-topping “Thong Song,” the design became so popular again that Victoria’s Secret saw an 80% increase in thong sales.

Then, the likes of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Christina Aguilera started wearing thongs high and proud to render the garment’s side straps visible above their low-slung denim jeans, and this visi-thong look naturally filtered down into the masses.

Thong popularity eventually declined into the early 2000s and 2010s, with models and trendsetters instead opting for fuller-coverage underwear to sport beneath sheer, formal, red-carpet gowns and ready-to-wear brands touting the comfort and practicality of mid- and high-rise briefs. Now, however, fashion is experiencing a visible-thong revival, which may just have Britney, Paris, and Christina rolling their eyes and thinking, “Been there, done that.”

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Over the past year, Jennifer Lopez and supermodels Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber have posted photos of themselves wearing the high-rise thong look. This summer, rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion dropped the body-positive, sex-forward, lady anthem of the season (if not the decade), with promotional images of them wearing thongs and very little else. On the runway, Versace, Supriya Lele, and Maximilian Davis have featured pants and skirts with faux visible-thong straps in their Spring/Summer 2021 lines. And to think, neither these modern-day hit songs nor internet-breaking looks, including one from Beyoncé’s December 2020 British Vogue spread, would be possible without the vision and daring of Rudi Gernreich.

Another example of a design in the exhibition that contemporary audiences will recognize from its regular appearance on Capitol Hill and television talk shows, at office meetings and formal family occasions is the women’s pantsuit. Gernreich’s “Marlene Dietrich” pantsuit—named for the notoriously gender-bending actress and singer—was controversial in its day. Though created at a time when arresting women for wearing pants was finally going out of style, the champagne-colored satin ensemble faced rejection nonetheless; it was banned from appearing on the runway during the 1964 Coty American Fashion Critics’ Awards Fashion Show, under the premise that American society was not ready for women in pants.

Gernreich’s creation of the thong and the women’s pantsuit demonstrated his commitment to supporting women’s sexual and mental liberation; through his designs, he hoped to spark change in how women viewed and thought about their roles and value in society, desiring them to free themselves from the confines of the patriarchal structure. “[H]e loved women,” said Léon Bing, one of Gerneich’s go-to models in the 1960s, in an interview with Vanity Fair. “He wanted to make them both wonderful looking and at the same time comfortable with it.”

Model Barbara Ford, in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, also recalls this about Gernreich, who once told her, “You can do what you want as long as you are comfortable.”

Ford said that when she worked with the designer, she was always free to choose her own hair and makeup looks for his runway shows and photoshoots, a departure from the experience of most models who are at the mercy of designers and stylists.

Gernreich’s artistic and social vision, however, also made space for the liberation of all. “The future will involve unisex,” he once said. “Men are going to wear skirts, and women are going to wear pants.” Gernreich’s idea of a modern and genderfluid—or, perhaps, gender-neutral—family is on display in the exhibition’s “Unisex Solidarity” section. Two adult-sized mannequins are accompanied by a child-sized figure, and all are wearing colorful, geometric caftans void of any and all markers that would hint at the wearer’s sex or gender, such as cinched waistlines, shorter hems, or darting to accommodate wide shoulders or breasts.

Through these garments and many others, all of which confront societal norms and expectations both of their day and today, Fearless Fashion CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

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[ G E R N R E I C H ] …T W I S T E D T H E A R M OFHIGHFA SHIONUN TILIT Y EL PED OU TA SQUE A LOFSE XUA LIT Y. –

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boldly argues that style should promote freedom and authenticity and welcome everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, and body type, to explore their truest selves.

“This is such a timely exhibition,” said Helen Jean, the Museum’s Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design, who organized the presentation of the Skirball’s exhibition Fearless Fashion at Phoenix Art Museum. “It underscores Gernreich’s rejection of conventional ideas of identity and his commitment to promoting gender fluidity, body positivity, and the equality and inherent beauty of all people. This inclusive approach to humanism and the desire to empower others to help define who they are and who they are not through the clothing they choose to wear is something that will resonate with contemporary audiences, many of whom are still advocating for the same issues and rights Gernreich fought for through his work, blazing a trail decades earlier.”

Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich is organized by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles. Its premiere at Phoenix Art Museum is made possible through the generosity of the Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design Endowment, The Kelly Ellman Fashion Design Endowment Fund, Lee and Mike Cohn, The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, The Arizona Republic | azcentral, and Arizona Costume Institute, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (page 20) Peggy Moffitt modeling ensemble designed by Rudi Gernreich, Resort 1968 collection. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark; Rudi Gernreich fashions at the Wiltern, 1985. Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library. (page 22) Rudi Gernreich at his office in Los Angeles, 1966. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark. (page 23, left to right) Peggy Moffitt modeling trompe l’oeil jumpsuit by Rudi Gernreich, Spring/Summer 1972 collection. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark; Rudi Gernreich holding bolts of fabric, 1966. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark; Dancers Loretta Livingston and Kurt Weinheimer in “duotard” costume designed

by Rudi Gernreich for the Lewitzky Dance Company’s Inscape production, 1976.

Photograph © Daniel Esgro. (page 24) Image courtesy of Andrea Carol-Libman; image courtesty of Corey Moranis. (page 25) Dancer Serena Richardson in costume designed by Rudi Gernreich for the Lewitzky Dance Company’s Inscape production, 1976. Photograph © Daniel Esgro. (page 26) Peggy Moffitt modeling dress designed by Rudi Gernreich, Fall 1971 collection. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark. (page 27, top) Rudi Gernreich for Harmon Knitwear.

Caftan, 1970. Wool knit. (Center) Rudi Gernreich. Caftan, c. 1973. Printed cotton plain weave. (Right) Rudi Gernreich for Harmon Knitwear. Caftan, 1970. Wool knit.

Collection of Peggy Moffitt. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer. (page 27, bottom) Peggy Moffitt modeling the topless swim suit designed by Rudi Gernreich, 1964 . Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark; Rudi Gernreich laying out a pattern, 1966. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark.

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Through April 25, 2021, Out of Print: Innovations of 19 th- and 20 th-Century Printmaking from the Collection of Phoenix Art Museum and the Schorr Collection presents a new assortment of works from the renowned Schorr Collection, on long-term loan from collectors David and Hannah Lewis, including a wide selection of prints on view for the first time in Arizona.

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In Out of Print, 19th- and 20th-century prints from the Schorr Collection

by Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Jean-François Millet, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and others are placed in conversation with works of the same centuries from the Museum’s American and European art collections. Rachel Sadvary Zebro, assistant curator at Phoenix Art Museum who curated the new installation, said the main goal of Out of Print is twofold. First, she hopes to broaden viewers’ understanding of the history of printmaking.

he special installation explores the history of printmaking in Europe and the United States, focusing particularly on the 19th and 20th centuries, through 50 prints drawn from both the Schorr Collection and the Museum’s own European and American art collections, including many by artists such as Paul Klee, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Käthe Kollwitz, and more that have rarely been exhibited.

Amassed over four decades by the Lewis family, the United Kingdom-based Schorr Collection is considered one of the most important collections of Old Master and 19thcentury paintings in the world. The collection features more than 400 works, including tender 15th-century devotional images, 19th-century French Impressionist landscapes, works by 20th-century Modern Masters, and a wide selection of prints. To increase access to these significant artworks, the Lewis family often shares them with public museums on a long-term basis, and in 2017, Phoenix Art Museum welcomed a selection to bring to Arizona audiences.

O U T O F P R IN T: IN N O VAT IO N S O F 19 T H - A N D 2 0 T H - CE N T U R Y P R IN T M A K IN G F R O M T H E CO L L E C T IO N O F P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M A N D T H E S CH O R R CO L L E C T IO N JANUARY 2 – APRIL 25, 2021 LILA AND JOEL HARNETT GALLERY

“The first massed-produced woodcut prints on paper and metal prints originated in the 15th century in Germany, and the process was considered a reproductive art form to bring art to the widest possible audience through early devotional woodcuts, playing cards, books, and engraved plates that were collected and shared among the masses,” Sadvary Zebro said. “Then in the 19th century, avant-garde artists reclaimed the process of printmaking as they openly rejected academic, classical styles of painting. By creating original printed designs and compositions with formal, CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

image credits: (above) Robert Rauschenberg, Features (from Currents) 76, 1970. Screenprint. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas. © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; (right) David Bekker, Between Two Worlds, not dated. Etching. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Louis Rosenthal. © Estate of David Bekker.

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PHX ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

R O T R A U T Renowned abstract artist Rotraut has many names. In 1938, she was born Rotraut Uecker, and when she married internationally acclaimed artist Yves Klein in 1962, she became Rotraut Klein. Then in 1968, six years after Yves Klein’s passing at the age of 34, Rotraut found love again and married curator Daniel Moquay, taking the name Rotraut Klein-Moquay.

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oday, she prefers to be known simply as Rotraut. “I’m proud of all my names,” she said, “but with my art, I think it’s good to just be yourself. All of these names are powerful and have lives of their own, but I like to just do my life and be me, not too much attached to everything else.” And so, Rotraut it is.

Originally from Germany, the Valley-based contemporary artist moved to Phoenix in the early 1980s. At the time, she, Moquay, and their three boys, the oldest of whom is from Rotraut’s first marriage to Klein, had just welcomed a fourth child and daughter to their family, and Rotraut wanted her to “grow up in the sun.” She and Moquay first considered Israel or California for their new home, but after speaking with someone who had lived in Tempe, they eventually settled in Phoenix in 1982, in a house that Rotraut still lives in today and loves dearly. In fact, she’s been known to paint large-scale works on the ground just outside of the garage. image credit: (above)

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Deriving inspiration from the nourishing quality, harmony, and violence of nature, Rotraut’s abstract paintings, sculptures, and other works seek to explore humanity’s physical, spiritual, and emotional connection to the Earth and the infinite universe. Her first highly acclaimed exhibition was presented at the New Vision Centre Gallery in London, and since then, she has participated in several solo and group exhibitions and art fairs in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In 2016, the Jena University of Sciences in Germany organized a large retrospective of her work, which is represented in numerous public collections in the United States and Europe in addition to private collections all over the world.

We recently spoke with Rotraut, whose work Blue Galaxy (1989) is currently on view in Stories of Abstraction: Contemporary Latin American Art in the Global Context through March 7, 2021, to learn about her journey to becoming an artist, her fluid process, and her unending fascination with the cosmos.

Rotraut Klein-Moquay, Blue Galaxy, 1989. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist. (right) © Carole Morgane-Hamel.

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I’m like a kid. I love using wet paint and putting my hands in it, being really close and moving it.

My work is very physical. I try to keep the intellect away and not think too much. I think when I analyze everything beforehand, but when I’m working, I just flow.”

ROTRAUT

H E R E ’ S R O T R A U T, IN H E R O W N W O R D S .

PhxArt: Tell us about where you’re from. Where did you grow up?

Rotraut: I was born in eastern Germany in the north on a peninsula called Wustrow. There were not many houses, and ours was really in nature, surrounded by water with a big sky and lots of stars. I was always dreaming with my father; at night we would watch the sky, and I was always traveling with my mind, searching. Nature there was really powerful. When you woke up, you’d hear the waves, and then you’d go to sleep with the waves. There were strong winters, and the water would freeze; we sometimes had icebergs on the ocean when everything would melt and come together. But there were also beautiful sunsets and sunrises and the moon, and you have this horizon. The horizon always had big meaning for me. I wanted to know what was behind it—I always wanted to go further, into space and around the Earth. I was always very much connected to that space—it was part of my home, and I’m still very connected to the Earth, people, animals, and plants. It’s all such a wonder, and I think with my art, I was always looking for this kind of wonder.

PhxArt: What first inspired you to become an artist?

Rotraut: My brother was an artist, and he was always painting beautiful landscapes where the sun was shining on the water and reflecting it. He did it just with normal crayon, and it came out really beautifully. I was always watching him.

He was still in the academy studying, doing woodprints and drawings, and I really wished I could create an artwork and be able to print it.

I asked him, and he told me how I could dig into the wood to make whatever I wanted. But when I tried, I couldn’t really handle the knife. It was a special knife and very sharp, and I thought, “I don’t like this digging.” I liked digging with my mind, into scientific thoughts and dreams, but I didn’t like digging into the wood. I thought maybe I could put something on top of the wood instead, so I used flour and water to make a mix. I put it on very freely, and then when it was dry, I painted it all black and did my print. I was so excited.

At the end, when I looked at my relief, it was even more interesting because I thought it looked like roots, and roots always fascinated me, like when big trees fell down and all the roots came up, and how they grow over streets. They are so powerful and represent struggle and life, and I thought my drawing really looked a little like that. I would say

that moment was the root of my sculpture because it’s the same sort of technique I used later with plaster. It was also the moment when I knew that I wanted to do this my entire life. I felt it in myself—it felt so good I could almost cry from happiness.

PhxArt: What are the topics and realities you explore in your art?

Rotraut: What is most important to my art is the oneness of everything in my environment, and that’s not just the environment close to me, but also the cosmos. I often think how far I can dream, and I will look at Hubble Telescope photos to see what is out there.

I’ve created galaxy paintings and sun paintings, and I’ve painted black holes and eclipses. But I never look at the photographs to try and paint the same image. I always paint freely. It just comes out and flows, and it’s so magical and surprising.

I have always seen life—us and the cosmos—as a miracle, a happy accident. We sit just close enough to the sun to create all this life on Earth, including plants and animals, which come out in my art later in sculptures.

PhxArt: Did you ever have any interest in realism, or were you always drawn to abstraction?

Rotraut: No, I never wanted to do what my brother was doing. I admired him and respected his work, but that was not for me. I was more interested in drawing inspiration from the outside and seeing how my own self could process that and get it out.

PhxArt: Tell us about your process. How do you approach creating an artwork?

Rotraut: I work a little bit like a river—it just flows, and I go with my feelings. It’s very strange how things evolve when you just let go and follow your desire and do it. You change techniques and tools and materials, whatever helps you to express yourself, and when you do, you love it.

I’m like a kid. I love using wet paint and putting my hands in it, being really close and moving it. My work is very physical. I try to keep CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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OUT OF PRINT FROM PAGE 28

distinctive qualities similar to paintings and sculptures, these artists, building upon earlier generations of printmakers, made printmaking into a legitimate form of art itself.”

In addition to exploring this evolution of purpose, Out of Print also seeks to underscore the importance of women artists in that history. While the installation features works by the likes of Leopoldo Méndez and Paul Klee, the vast majority from the Museum’s American art collection in particular are by women artists, including Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz, Clare Leighton, Lee Bontecou, Isabel Bishop, and Mary Nimmo Moran, the wife of Thomas Moran who began printmaking as a hobby while she traveled across the United States with her husband as he painted vast landscapes.

“It was important for me to provide our audiences with a more accurate and comprehensive narrative of the history of printmaking, which includes women and artists of color,” said Sadvary Zebro. “By doing so, I hope to open the door to conversations about how these artists were integral to the innovation and development of various printmaking techniques

that contemporary artists are still using today.”

Mary Cassatt, for example, who joined the Impressionist group at the invitation of Edgar Degas, made her first prints in the late 1870s.

Cassatt often portrayed women with children, female figures in repose, and other traditional subjects, yet her approach to printmaking was fearless. She experimented with various media, including copper printing plates, and created a body of work that, in addition to her Impressionist paintings, is characterized by stunning color prints of technical mastery.

Works by Käthe Kollwitz, many of which have never before been on view, are also exhibited alongside Cassatt’s. Kollwitz was formerly trained as a painter but later turned to etchings, sculpture, lithography, and woodcuts. Her graphic prints, with their concise, unadorned visual language, present stark images of labor protests, war, mourning, and women in despair and solitude that inspire both deep contemplation and deep compassion.

“Beginning in the 19th century, artists started to use printmaking to create works of social commentary that deeply engaged

with topics of politics and culture, including societal changes driven by the Industrial Revolution,” said Sadvary Zebro, “Kollwitz’s works are strong examples of this.”

In addition to this historical perspective, however, Out of Print also provides the opportunity to consider how contemporary artists like Maria Baca, Raymond Saunders, Fritz Scholder, and even Keith Haring, whose 2006 Jacket for Adicolor Series Track Suit showcases the technique of silk-screening on cotton, have contributed to the tradition of printmaking. Through this juxtaposition of contemporary works alongside historical examples, Out of Print drives home a clear narrative—that the long and complex history of printmaking is one that continues to evolve into the 21st century, thanks to artists who keep pushing technical boundaries to more holistically examine modern-day realities.

Out of Print: Innovations of 19th- and 20th-Century Printmaking from the Collection of Phoenix Art Museum and the Schorr Collection is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of David and Hannah Lewis. The long-term loan of the Schorr Collection was made possible through the generous support of Friends of European Art, a former support group of Phoenix Art Museum; Nancy Hanley Eriksson; and Mary and Bill Way.

ROTRAUT FROM PAGE 31

the intellect away and not think too much. I think when I analyze everything beforehand, but when I’m working, I just flow.

PhxArt: One of your large-scale galaxy paintings, Blue Galaxy (1989), is currently on view in the Museum’s special-engagement exhibition Stories of Abstraction: Contemporary Latin American Art in the Global Context. What was it like creating these galaxy paintings, and what inspired this one in particular?

Rotraut: I loved to make my galaxy paintings. I could do these all of my life, but it’s too tough now with the dropping and my elbows that I’ve had to stop creating the big ones. But I loved making them because they always took me somewhere else again and again.

I like the challenge of working with big surfaces. When I was nine, my family bought a farm in the middle of Wustrow, and my father and brother worked the land with big areas to manage, so I’ve always been interested in getting my body involved to work with big surfaces, too. You have this instinct, this spirit in your body that helps you know the hour, the weather, without having to really think or pay too much attention. But I’m also very attracted to the immaterial, like energy. When scientists discovered the immaterial in the cosmos, it fascinated me. It’s not just nothing out there—it’s active—and I was happy to learn this because by then, I had been repeating these forms and ideas in my work for a long time already. I worked with concentrated energy to create my galaxy paintings, just focusing everything within myself to then push out movement and super strong magic with my hands. It’s almost like creating life and behavior.

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Blue Galaxy (1989) was inspired from a trip to Lake Powell. When we moved to Arizona, my family and I took a trip and stayed on a houseboat. One evening, I went up to see the sky, and we put a mattress on the roof and laid down. It was amazing how close the stars and the Milky Way felt. I had never seen them like that in my life. And then there was a meteorite shower, and that was really powerful.

To create Blue Galaxy, I painted the base first in black and then I rolled ultramarine blue with around 5% of dark violet over it. Later, when it was still wet, I blew black crystals over the whole surface, and then I did my dropping.

PhxArt: Why do you think art, and in particular abstract art, is important for contemporary and future audiences?

Rotraut: Art is like the seasons, like nature. It’s always changing just as the Earth itself is always changing, always evolving, always moving forward.

New winds come through, and different moments give us different art.

But art will always stay, whatever we name it. It’s always with us, like our ancestors and our deities. We can keep it, and it will always give us something in return.

And it’s so much more than just the image—it’s the immaterial, what’s inside, the feelings we get from looking at or experiencing art. Art will always be important. People need it like they need food. Often they don’t know it, but they do need it.

To learn more about Rotraut and her work, visit rotraut.com/en. To see one of the artist’s galaxy paintings, visit Stories of Abstraction: Contemporary Latin American Art in the Global Context, on view at Phoenix Art Museum now through March 7, 2021.

WHY WE GIVE

Virginia Galvin Piper valued the arts and understood their power to be healing and lifechanging. Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust is so proud to continue her legacy of supporting artsand-culture organizations in Maricopa County, such as Phoenix Art Museum.

Through its range of world-class exhibitions, engaging formats, and compassionate art programs, this Museum can transform our thoughts, inspire our actions, and provide connections to the past, present, and future. It is a destination to cherish as it continues to serve generations.

V I R GI N I A G . P I P E R C H A R I T A B L E T R U S T Suppor ting Phoe nix Ar t Mu se um for decades

image credit:

Courtesy of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.

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CIRCLES OF SUPPORT

T H A N K Y O U Phoenix Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our Circles of Support donors, whose annual gifts benefit our exhibitions, educational programs, and services for the community.

Please Note: This list recognizes those Circles donors who have made a gift between September 1 and November 30, 2020. Institutional donors, 21st Century Society members, Corporate Council members, and Museum Members at the Fellow level will be mentioned once a year in the Summer/Fall issue of PhxArt Magazine.

DIR E C T O R ’ S CIR CL E $25,0 0 0 +

CU R AT O R ’ S CIR CL E $5,0 0 0 +

Allison and Robert Bertrand

Anonymous °John and Oonagh Boppart Betsy and Kent Bro Richard and Ann Carr Katherine and Charles Case Pam Del Duca Jane and Andrew Evans °Dr. and Mrs. Meryl Haber Judith Hardes Carol and Kenneth Kasses Diane and Larry McComber Pat and Keith McKennon Robert and Myra Page Matthew and Mary Palenica Timothy Schwimer Iris and °Adam Singer °Angela and Leonard Singer Nancy Swanson °Gary and Diane Tooker °Gilbert Waldman and Christy Vezolles °Mr. and Mrs. William G. Way °Mr. and Mrs. Louis A. Weil III

T R U S T E E ’ S CIR CL E $10,0 0 0 + Anonymous (2) °Roberta Aidem *Ruben and Shelley Alvarez Jett and Julia Anderson *Alice and Jim Bazlen Laurie and *Drew Brown Deborah G. Carstens *Gloria and Philip Cowen *Harold Dorenbecher and Mary Heiss The Dorrance Family Foundation *Carter and Susan Emerson *Robert and Micheline Faver *Mark and Diana Feldman *David and Caroline Garcia *Judy and Bill Goldberg *John and Kathleen Graham *Mrs. Nancy Hanley Eriksson *Jon and Carrie Hulburd *Jane and Mal Jozoff *Ellen and Howard C. Katz *Dr. Parvinder Jit Singh Khanuja and Parveen Kaur Khanuja *Don Kile Judy and *Alan Kosloff °Richard and *Sally Lehmann *David and Dawn Lenhardt Jan and Tom Lewis *Ann Ocana *Sally A. Odegard Dr. and *Mrs. Hong-Kee Ong The Opatrny Family Foundation *Blair and Lisa Portigal *Kim and Steve Robson *Paige Rothermel *Sue and Bud Selig *Ms. Ann Siner *Robert R. Taylor *Carl and Marilynn Thoma Charles and *Meredith von Arentschildt

B E N E FA C T O R ’ S CIR CL E $2,50 0 + Anonymous Philip and Lydia Bell Robert M. Dixon Jim and Betsy Donley Paul Giancola and Carrie Lynn Richardson Chip and Janet Glaser Victoria and Rod Granberry Dean and Taylor Griffin Beverly N. Grossman Jeanne and °Gary Herberger John and Susan Horseman Ellen and Bob Kant Dr. and Mrs. Jamie Kapner °Andrew B. and Wan Kyun Rha Kim °Margot and Dennis Knight James and Ina Kort Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Lavinia Thomas S. and Sheri A. Levin Cheryl Londen Tess Loo Lucy and Robert Lorenzen Steve and Janice Marcus °Paul and Merle Marcus

 Arizona Five Arts Circle * Current Trustee ° Past Trustee.

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Gail Rineberg Lois and John Rogers James and Linda Saunders Michael Schwimmer and Jacqueline Schenkein Mr. George F. Sheer and Linda Porter Paula and Jack Strickstein Mollie C. Trivers and Shelley Cohn Charles and Vonnie Wanner Dr. and Mrs. William Weese Daniel and Joy Wilhelm Paul and Katherine Wolfehagen

PAT R O N ’ S CIR CL E $1,50 0 + Anonymous (3) Judy Ackerman and Richard Epstein Dr. Dan and Miriam Ailloni-Charas Bert and Jill Alanko Makenna and Mike Albrecht Caralee Allsworth Megan and John Anderson Ellen Andres-Schneider and Ralph Andres Milena and °Tony Astorga Linda and Jim Ballinger Uta Monique Behrens David and Susan Berman Neil Berman Karen and Gary Bethune James T. Bialac °Donna and Gus Boss Nancy and Joe Braucher Linda H. Breuer Eric and Dorothy Bron Sumner Brown and Lyn Bailey Ray and Mona Buse Kay Butler Jerry and Stefanie Cargill Sandy Chamberlain and David Kest Mr. Tom Chauncey, II Jennifer and Bill Clark Marilee and David Clarke The Clements Family Elaine and Sidney Cohen Richard and Deborah Cookson °Joyce Cooper Sam Coppersmith Mr. Richard Corton and Ms. Faith Sussman °Joan D. Cremin Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Damico Leslie Dashew and Jack Salisbury

CIRCLES OF SUPPORT Mr. and Mrs. Michael DeBell Luino and Margaret Dell’Osso JoAnne Doll Bill Dougherty and Beth McRae Dougherty Sydney and Michael Dye Gary Egan Judith and John Ellerman Thomas and Maureen Eye Richard and Suzanne Felker Katalin Festy-Sandor Noel and Anne Fidel George and Ann Fisher Amy Flood and Larry West Susie and Don Fowls Dr. and Mrs. Jack A. Friedland Dr. Paul and Amy Gause Elton Gilbert Jeffrey and Angela Glosser *Judy and Bill Goldberg °Richard and Susan Goldsmith Laurie and Charles Goldstein Karen and James Grande Heather and *Michael D. Greenbaum Larry and Jackie Gutsch Ashley Harder *Lila Harnett Karen and Lawrence Harris Josh and Cat Hartmann Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Hauser William Hawking Michael Hawksworth and Anna Sokolova Maxine Henig and Jodi Freeman Ms. Mary Beth Herbert and Mr. Cecil Penn Linda Herman Paul and Yinglu Hermanson Lori and Howard Hirsch Amber Hodge and Johnny Perez Lynda and Arthur Horlick Mimi Horwitz Nancy Husband Jeff and Sarah Joerres Gigi Jordan and Bob Patterson °Dr. Eric Jungermann

Ruth R. Kaspar Elise Kausen Kathy and Fred Kenny Eleanor and Bruce Knappenberger Carolyn Refsnes Kniazzeh Susan Kovarik and Brian Schneider Judy Krolikowski °Carolyn R. Laflin Bruce and Jane Lawson Catherine L. Lemon Benjamin and Cindy Lenhardt Jerry and Shirley Lewis David and Leslie Lewis Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith and Dr. Harvey Smith Don and Debra Luke Mr. and Mrs. Daniel G. Maloney Wally and Martha Martin Henkel Susan and Philip W. Matos Sandra Matteucci Katherine May Tammy McLeod and John Hamilton °Jim and Jean Meenaghan Belle and Bob Merwitzer Arthur Messinger and Eugenie Harris Sherrell Miller Eliot and Doris Minsker Cindy and Mike Moore Gene and Connie Nicholas Richard B. and °Patricia E. Nolan Michael and Kathleen Norton Kenneth O’Connor and Deedee Rowe Kay and Walter Oliver Mr. and Mrs. Donald R. Ottosen °Rose and Harry Papp Camerone Parker McCulloch and Robert McCulloch, M.D. David and Mary Patino Stan Payton Jody Pelusi James and Karrie Pierson Elodee Portigal Mrs. Maritom K. Pyron Ida Rhea

Nancy Riegel Karen Riley Carol and Thomas Carlton Rogers, II Stephena C. Romanoff Merle and Steve Rosskam Betsy Retchin Earl and Sandra Rusnak Vincent and Janie Russo Mary and Tom Sadvary Jana and Charles Sample Stella and Mark Saperstein Laura and Gary Saterbak Carol and Randy Schilling Colby Schmeckpeper Fred and Arleen Schwartz Sheila Schwartz Arlene and Morton Scult Mary and Stanley Seidler Donald and Dorothea Smith Lynne Smith Woody and Nancy Spivey Judy and Bud Stanley Rosemary and George Stelmach Richard and Phyllis Stern °Betsy and Bruce Stodola Fred and Gail Tieken Dr. and Mrs. Richard Towbin Pat and Phil Turberg Jacquie and Merrill Tutton Mrs. Betty Van Denburgh Irene Vasquez Kenneth and Deirdre Vecchione Elaine Warner Gerald Weiner Sherry Wilcop Mildred B. Williams Ronald G. Wilson and Bonnie Naegle-Wilson Richard and Gretchen Wilson Georgia Ray and R. Stephen Wolfe Delwyn and Diana Worthington Pat and Barry Yellen

M AY THE JOYS OF TODAY BE THOSE OF TOMORROW. We’d love the opportunity to tell you more about our planned giving program and how gifts like a charitable IRA rollover can help the Museum remain a place where all people are welcome to discover, grow, and dream.

If you already have included Phoenix Art Museum in your estate plans, please let us know so we may thank you for your generosity and recognize you as a member of our 21st Century Society.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT PLANNEDGIVING@PHXART.ORG. image credit:

Maynard Dixon, Home of the Desert Rat, 1944-1945. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Leon H. Woolsey.

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WHY WE GIVE

Phoenix Art Museum is one of the arts-andculture centerpieces of Arizona.”

R O B E R T FAV E R

PRESIDEN T, A RIZON A REGION, UMB BA N K Suppor ting Phoe nix Ar t Mu se um Since 2005

“The arts, along with business and education, are essential to creating a vibrant community.

UMB Bank has always been a strong advocate of the arts, support that starts at the top of the house with the Kemper family, who believe the arts are integral to a strong and expanding community.

Supporting the arts is also a personal passion for me. I remember visiting Phoenix Art Museum on a field trip in grade school, which speaks to how long the Museum has been a pillar of our art community. That experience is one reason why I want to continue to be involved in the institution’s history and to ensure that, through UMB Bank’s support, we are able to help even more kids visit the Museum and learn about the arts through phenomenal artworks, exhibitions, and arts education programs.

image credit: Phoenix Headshots. Photographer: Yucel Yalim.

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When you think of the greatest cities in the world, you realize they all have vibrant arts-and-cultural centers, and we need that in the Valley not only to attract residents but to attract travelers, businesses, and overall growth. UMB Bank wants to continue watching this Valley thrive, which is why we will continue to support organizations like Phoenix Art Museum, a place that should be preserved for the next generation.”

SUPPORT

SAVE THE DATE

GEOFFREYBEENE ADUE TOFFA SHION + M O V E M E N T J

oin Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona Costume Institute for the premiere viewing of the Geoffrey Beene Archive at Phoenix Art Museum during Geoffrey Beene: A Duet of Fashion and Movement.

A R IZ O N A CO S T U M E IN S T I T U T E

One of New York’s most awarded fashion designers, Geoffrey Beene was recognized for his artistic and technical acuity, creating clever and colorful garments that explored the relationship between fabric, the human body, and movement.

GE O F F R E Y B E E N E : A DU E T O F FA S HIO N + M O V E M E N T

Attendees of the virtual fundraising event, which provides unprecedented access to the Museum’s fashion-design collection, will be among the first to view the Museum’s recently established Beene Archive, which features more than 400 garments and sets the stage for a future exhibition. The evening will feature the world premiere of the official short Geoffrey Beene Archive Film, produced by Phoenix Art Museum in collaboration with Phoenix-based Manley Films; live discussions with founding Beene Archive contributor Patsy Tarr; and a dance homage featuring original choreography by Deanna McBrearty, former dancer for the New York City Ballet and Beene’s longtime model, who will also provide insight into the late designer and his work. Tim Rodgers, PhD, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO; Helen Jean, the Museum’s Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design; and Kathie May, president of Arizona Costume Institute will also speak in celebration of the fashion-design program at Phoenix Art Museum, the longtime dedication and support of Arizona Costume Institute, and the unveiling of the new archive.

A VIRTUAL UNVEILING OF THE O F F I CI A L G EO F F RE Y BE E N E A RCH I V E AT P H O E N I X A R T M U S EU M

To increase access to the Museum’s fashion program, Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona Costume Institute will present Geoffrey Beene: A Duet of Fashion and Movement at no cost to the public. To support the continuation of the fashion-design program amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona Costume Institute and Phoenix Art Museum encourage all attendees who are able to do so to make a donation of $250 or greater.

CO M MI T T E E

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 6 PM

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE FASHION-DESIGN DEPARTMENT OF PHOENIX ART MUSEUM. RESERVE YOUR TICKETS TODAY AT ARIZONACOSTUMEINSTITUTE.ORG. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US AT SUPPORT-ACI@PHXART.ORG OR 602.307.2011.

CO M MI T T E E CH A IR S Perrine Adams Ruby Farias Laura Madden Kelley Sucher

Sandy Becker Amy Gause Kathie May Khamsone Sirimanivong

image credits: Behind the scenes of “Geoffrey Beene: A Duet of Fashion and Movement.” Manley Films production and photograph. Courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum.

WINTER/SPRING 2021 / PHXART.ORG

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IN MEMORY

BIL L HOWA RD DECEMBER 1, 1934 – JUNE 26, 2020

I

n 1876, the transcendentalist thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in one of his essays a pithy reflection on a life well-lived: “It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.” Perhaps no words better describe the well-lived life of William M. Howard, better known as Bill by those privileged to know him, who passed away on June 26, 2020. Bill was a longtime supporter of Phoenix Art Museum, who in life contributed works that enriched the Museum’s collection, such as the bronze sculpture Steel Worker (1909) by Chester Beach.

Now, through a planned gift, Bill’s generosity continues to sustain the Museum for future generations.

Born during the Great Depression in 1934 in Chicago, Bill grew up as an only child in a loving family in the nearby suburb of Oak Park. His mother, who worked in a chocolate cherry factory, and his father, who worked as a security guard in a bank, nurtured his intelligence and interests. He eventually left home to attend the University of Missouri, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He continued on to the university’s School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors and served as the valedictorian of his graduating class.

Later in life, he helped establish the “William M. Howard Award in Legal Research and Writing” at his alma mater.

image credit: Courtesy of the Howard family.

Through his hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, and determination, Bill enjoyed incredible success in a number of professions. Along with practicing law, he served as an expert legal writer and researcher, a college professor, a professional arbitrator for the New York Stock Exchange, and a movie producer. He also established several successful international businesses and opened the first nationwide travel agency.

Along with his professional pursuits, Bill led a rich and meaningful life in many other ways. He was a good father to his children, Stephanie and Bill. He was an explorer and one of the first to earn Pan Am’s million-mile distinction, circling the globe many times over as a lifetime member of the airline’s legendary Clipper Club. Later in life, he traveled to all seven continents with his partner, Iris—including the icy tundra

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of Antarctica, the rainforests of the mighty Amazon, and the untamed wilderness of Australia. Bill was also a lifelong learner with an unquenchable curiosity, returning to school at the age of 60 to earn a PhD from Arizona State University.

And he was a consummate lover of the arts. Bill especially loved contemporary art, filling his home with beloved pieces he acquired not for their potential value but for what they meant to him. He was a longtime member of the Circles of Support at Phoenix Art Museum, a place he loved so much he purchased a co-op located two short blocks away so that he could walk across a single, sleepy neighborhood street and visit the Museum as often as he pleased.

In his estate plans, Bill bequeathed that home to Phoenix Art Museum. Through his planned gift, along with a gift from his charitable trust that further benefited the institution, he made it so that a place which brought him closer to the Museum could now help to bring others closer as well. His generous gift will help ensure that future generations—young people with a similar thirst for knowledge and art—can make his Museum their Museum, for life.

Phoenix Art Museum was so much more than a building to Bill, even more than a collection of works. It was a second home, a place where he made friends, fell in love, and found a piece of himself.

He believed in the Museum, refusing to give up on the possibilities of what it could be and the ways it could bring people together, the ways it could grow, change, and improve. Just as he was for those in his life whom he most loved, Bill was always there for the Museum and could always be counted on when it mattered most, giving freely of himself and his support. His commitment to the institution was marked not only by its length but by its depth.

Bill is survived by his children, Stephanie Howard and Bill Howard; his former wives and dear friends, Sally Howard and Sandra Dumas; and his partner of 21 years, Iris Wigal. On behalf of all of us at Phoenix Art Museum, we are deeply grateful to him and his family for their profound generosity to our institution and the community we serve. Bill will never be forgotten.

THE MUSEUM STORE 1

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F R E S H S T A R T Celebrate new beginnings in 2021 and get yourself on track to achieve your goals, find inner peace, and invite more art into your life.

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ADOPTA FIREFLY

Nonprofit Organization US Postage Paid Phoenix AZ Permit Number 402

MEMBERSHIP

Phoenix Art Museum 1625 North Central Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1685 phxart.org

BE A PART OF THE ART

Thank you to all of our new PhxArt Members who adopted a digital firefly to help light a new, interactive experience on phxart.org inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s beloved installation You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies. Your generosity will ensure the arts continue to burn bright in Phoenix.

All active Museum Members and Circles of Support donors have automatically been gifted a personalized firefly, now searchable in our digital space. Visit phxart.org to locate your light!

IN T E R E S T E D IN A DO P T IN G A DIGI TA L F IR E F LY FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE? Purchase a firefly for a friend or family member now, and your gift recipient will also enjoy a complimentary annual Membership to Phoenix Art Museum, featuring unlimited access to every gallery, every exhibition, and every moment of wonder. Your gift of art also helps sustain Phoenix Art Museum as we weather the difficulties caused by COVID-19 and economic downturn, now and for years to come.

T O GI F T A D I GI T A L F I R E F LY, V I S I T P H X A R T . O R G / A D O P T A F I R E F LY. image credit: Yayoi

Kusama, You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies, 2005. Mixed media installation with LED lights. Museum purchase with funds provided by Jan and Howard Hendler..

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RENE W YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

$15 OFF F OR A L IMI T E D T IM E THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT DURING 2020. AS WE CONTINUE TO WEATHER DIFFICULTIES CAUSED BY COVID-19 AND ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, WE INVITE YOU TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP THIS YEAR AT A SPECIAL RATE.

R E N E W B Y F E B R U A R Y 15 P H X A RT. O R G / M EM B ER S H I P 6 0 2 . 2 5 7. 2 1 2 4 A P P LY C O U P O N C O D E M A G 15 O F F AT CHECKOU T Offer valid through February 15, 2021. Offer valid for renewing Members only. Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts. Discount not valid on monthly Membership subscriptions.