UMMA Magazine | Fall 2016

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from the director I have accepted the Director and CEO position at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Washington—–a gem of a museum that features local and global artists. The Frye was home to UMMA’s Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930 exhibition. It’s an exciting opportunity at a great museum in a vibrant city. And because we have family in Seattle, we have been visiting the area for 15 years. It’s like our second home.

After showcasing dozens of exhibitions, adding countless new works of art to the collection, and meeting hundreds of alumni and donors, I will be leaving UMMA at the end of September.

Since I arrived in 2010, we have accomplished much at UMMA. Our curatorial voice has grown, with the addition of new curators in photography and African art. The Museum continues to showcase important work by emerging contemporary artists, like Mark Bradford, who challenge us and spark important conversations. Our collection has grown to be an envy of our peer museums. Our attendance reached a record level in the last year, with almost 250,000 visitors. Our programming has engaged more and more audiences from the campus and community (and beyond). And, the Museum is in sound financial shape, committed to a balanced annual budget.

This fall, UMMA is launching two digital initiatives, long in the works.

The first, a revamped website, will bring the Museum into the modern age with fresh stories and user-friendly navigation. The second, a new digital exhibition and learning tool called The Exchange, is highlighted in this magazine (see page 18).

Your advocacy and partnership has been a key driver in these achievements. Thanks to your incredible generosity, UMMA has reached 80% of our $40 million campaign goal as a part of the University’s Victors for Michigan Campaign.

Leaving UMMA was, of course, a difficult decision, but I welcome my new role knowing that the Museum is in great hands. UMMA’s staff members are a passionate group – they work hard to educate our University students and Ann Arbor community members, and to provide encounters with provocative, multi-media exhibitions and programming.

It has been my good fortune to have met numerous University of Michigan graduates that are art appreciators and collectors. That so many alumni value the arts says something about the quality of a Michigan education.

UMMA is a world-class museum that has a highly regarded place as a part of a prominent research university.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve this remarkable institution and for remaining involved in its very bright future.

Warmest regards,

Joseph Rosa director

CONTENTS From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

UMMA News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

UMMA Happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

In Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

UMMA Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

COVER: Toyohara Kunichika. Rough Wooden Statue of Minister Kiyomasa: Nakamura Shikan IV as Warrior Sato¯ Kiyomasa, 1873, color woodblock print on paper.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Stuart Katz, 2009/2.21 2

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umma news

DOCENTS CELEBRATE 40th UMMA docents marked the 40th anniversary of their founding with a gala celebration on Sunday, May 15.

Docents had the opportunity to stroll the galleries, and meet those who trained them and docents from all classes. During the program, UMMA Director Joseph Rosa expressed his appreciation for their work and toasted their accomplishments. They shared stories about the early years as well as more recent developments and reminisced about memorable tours—good and bad. Finally, they received the honor of proclamations from the Mayor of Ann Arbor and the President of the University of Michigan. Staff and current docents recently recruited 24 people for the class of 2016–17, putting them well on the way to the next 40 years of great service to the Museum.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES UMMA’s number one public university art museum ranking announcement by Best College Reviews received a bigger audience in April and May, thanks to the lighted sign on Ann Arbor’s Stadium Boulevard, next to the Big House and Crisler Center.

The billboard, once reserved for University of Michigan athletic messages and schedules, is now being shared with the University community for special announcements. UMMA’s national ranking earned a place in the sign’s schedule, and was the only non-athletic message on the sign in the spring.

Read the full story at UMMA’s News webpage.

RECENT GIFTS UMMA recently received several gifts of art from Nicholas and Elena Delbanco, including two Dogon wood figures and Das Paar in der Dämmerung (The Couple at Dusk) by Paul Klee (see page 14).

The wooden figures were acquired by Nicholas’ father Kurt Delbanco in New York in 1958 and 1974. The two figures were made by two different unrecorded artists working among the Dogon peoples of Mali, in Western Africa, around the end of the 19th or early 20th century.

Dogon. Standing Figure with Adze, late 19th century–early 20th century, carved wood. 26 in x 6 in x 4 in (66.04 cm x 15.24 cm x 10.16 cm). Gift of Nicholas and Elena Delbanco, 2015/2.120 Photos by Charlie Edwards fa l l 2016

Dogon. Standing Figure, late 19th century–early 20th century, carved wood.

26 in x 6 in x 4 in (66.04 cm x 15.24 cm x 10.16 cm). Gift of Nicholas and Elena Delbanco, 2015/2.121

“Dogon sculptures are among the most canonical and well-loved works of African art,” says Laura De Becker, Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art. “Adding them to our collection builds on the historical and geographical strength of UMMA’s holdings.”

Look for the Dogon figures in the Robert and Lillian Montalto Bohlen Gallery of African Art in December 2016.

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exhibitions

JAPANESE PRINTS OF KABUKI THEATER FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF ART

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a. alfred taubman gallery | october 15, 2016–january 29, 2017

exhibitions

CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: Toyohara Kunichika. Iruma Mansion Kabuki Picture Book, 1874, triptych, color woodblock print on paper.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. James Hayes, 2003/1.417.1-3 Utagawa Toyokuni I. Ichikawa Ichizo¯ III as Kinryu¯ Kumokichi, 1857, color woodblock print on paper.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of John Campbell, 2009/2.100 Katsukawa Shunsho¯. Iwai Hanshiro¯ IV as an Onnadate, second half of the 18th century, color woodblock print on paper. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 1960/1.156 Torii Kiyotsune. Perspective Print of the Interior of the Nakamura-za Featuring the Amakawa Scene of The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, ca. 1760, color woodblock print on paper. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Sharlynn and Andrew Circo, in memory of Sotokichi Katsuizumi, 2011/2.200

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n eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japan, long before television and the Internet, kabuki actors were regarded as superstars, admired by passionate fans with an insatiable appetite for information about them. This burgeoning fan culture was created and fed by a publishing industry newly capable of mass-producing colorful woodblock prints. Widely available and much more affordable than a theater ticket, prints of favorite actors were purchased by people of all means and backgrounds, who pasted them onto doors and folding screens, or into albums.

The theater and print publishing businesses reinforced each other: the theater provided the subjects for prints, while the prints promoted the plays and helped to create a fan base for actors, remarkably even among people who had never seen a performance. Prints depicting actors in key scenes or close-up in a dramatic moment (mie) were often issued to coincide with new performances. To satisfy the public’s voyeuristic curiosity about their favorite actors’ lives, portrayals of actors off- or backstage were also created, as were scenes of actors in unlikely groupings engaged in famous pastimes like viewing cherry blossoms. Even death portraits of especially famous actors were collected.

Kabuki theater originated in the Edo period (1615–1867), which was characterized by economic stability as reflected in the growth of leisure activities at all levels of society. Cities such as of Edo (modern Tokyo) thrived, becoming famous throughout Japan for their pleasure quarters—–areas devoted to entertainments such as prostitution and kabuki theater, where the rigid hierarchies of society did not apply. Images of this “floating world” (ukiyo-e) were popular with visitors to the pleasure quarters or anyone who wanted a glimpse of them. By the early nineteenth century, yakusha-e, or prints of kabuki actors, a sub-genre of ukiyo-e, were one of the most popular forms of ukiyo-e. fa l l 2016

Despite their official status as hinin (non-people) and restrictions on their movements and dress imposed by the ruling samurai class, kabuki actors, who were exclusively male, had such enormous public influence that they determined trends in hairstyles, dress, kimono patterns, and personal ornamentation and conduct for both men and women. By the 1820s, the audience for actor prints was so large that advertising entered the images, often in the form of product placement in the background. Several times the government tried to limit this influence by regulating prints—–restricting their subject matter and technique, or even completely banishing them—–but publishers and print artists in turn found ways around the laws.

Mariko Okada Guest curator Natsu Oyobe Curator of Asian Art Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, the National Endowment for the Arts, the William T. and Dora G. Hunter Endowment, AISIN, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. Additional generous support is provided by the Japan Foundation and the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

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exhibitions

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Ernst Kirchner. In the Restaurant, 1903, ink on cream wove paper. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.98 Oskar Kokoschka. Crucifixion, 1958, watercolor on paper.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.90 Emil Nolde. Actress, 1912, watercolor on brown wove medium-weight paper. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.102 6

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a. alfred taubman gallery | october 15, 2016–january 29, 2017

exhibitions

EUROPE ON PAPER:

THE ERNST PULGRAM AND FRANCES McSPARRAN COLLECTION

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orty-seven prints, drawings, and watercolors from the eighteenth to twentieth century shape one of the Museum’s most wideranging collections of European works on paper, a generous gift from late U-M professor emeritus Ernst Pulgram (Romance and Classical Linguistics) and his wife, U-M associate professor emerita and chief editor of the Middle English Compendium, Frances McSparran (English Language and Literature). The gift showcases graphic art by some of the continent’s most celebrated artists, including important twentieth-century Austrian and German Expressionists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Ernst Kirchner, and Oskar Kokoschka, as well as two expert draftsmen and printmakers of the eighteenth century, the Italian virtuoso Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the Austrian landscape specialist, Franz Edmund Weirotter.

Created during a push for greater industrialization and attempts to bolster national identities on the world stage that culminated in two world wars, the works are introspective, critical responses to a promising, yet tumultuous time in European history. Artists deployed the stylus, paintbrush, and pencil to depict the fragility of life, the natural world and the metropolis, the spiritual and the sinister, and the human body and its conditions. From the meticulous, undulating hatching and tonal variation in Weirotter’s engravings, to the bold outlines and free flowing sweeps of graphite in Klimt’s drawings, they speak to the emotional power of line and its ability to articulate the seen and unseen.

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Many of the artists explore psychological and physiological states or record their reactions to the dislocations of modernism, often mining the past to make bold and provocative new works.

Klimt and Schiele, for example, deconstruct the notion of the glorified, decorous nude, communicating inward mental states through twisted, tangled bodies that seem to bleed or gyrate off the page. Other artists seek to capture the tension between the built and natural environments—–Kirchner shows nature colliding, quite literally, with mighty machines—–or the pleasures and alienations of urban life. Some artists grapple with the spiritual realm, examining folklore and myth, and the paranormal and sinister, including haunting topics such as murder and the dark depths of humanity. Artists also experiment with religious imagery, using dynamic compositions and bold coloring that challenge expectations of Christian art.

Exhibited at the Museum in its entirety for the first time, this lyrical and thought-provoking collection represents the rich history and expressive potential of European draftsmanship and printmaking, and provides a glimpse into the compulsions and creativity of artists grappling with the changing physical and spiritual landscape of modern Europe.

Lehti Mairike Keelmann Guest Curator Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Richard and Rosann Noel Endowment Fund. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Department of English Language and Literature and Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

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exhibitions

THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT IN AMERICA:

ARTISTS OF THE PHOTO-SECESSION

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ictorialism was the first truly international photography movement, and its emphasis on soft-focus images and expensive, labor-intensive printing was a response to a debate that had brewed during much of the latter nineteenth century—–whether photography functioned best as a tool of science or whether it had a place in the realm of art.

Pictorialists, with their commitment to beautifully rendered compositions and their preference for a handcrafted aesthetic, sought to position photography as a legitimate art form.

In 1902, Alfred Stieglitz, along with other Pictorialist photographers including Edward Steichen, Gertrude Käsebier, and Clarence White, founded the Photo-Secession in New York, with Camera Work—–A Photographic Quarterly as its flagship periodical showcasing images by the group. Its members’ pictorial and technical choices melded with the

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interests of the Aesthetic Movement and with it the return, beginning in the 1880s, to a more artisanal, anti-industrial aesthetic, seen in the fabrics and wallpapers of William Morris in Britain and the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany in America.

Pictorialists often printed in expensive platinum or gum bichromate, or used the copper-etching process of photogravure, a technique that was time-consuming but produced finely detailed images. Their compositions drew upon conventions found in the painting of the time, including the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and James McNeill Whistler, and upon design principles from Japonisme and Art Nouveau.

The preference for soft edges and imagery that included allegories, interiors, and portraits suggested affinities with print mediums such as mezzotint and lithography, and with the richness and nuance of chalk and charcoal drawings. Through

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photography gallery | october 29, 2016–march 12, 2017

exhibitions

Alfred Stieglitz. The Steerage, 1907, photogravure. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Helmut Stern, 1995/2.23

these choices, the Pictorialists positioned photography within the parameters of fine art and effectively distanced their works from both commercial photography and the output of enthusiast-amateurs inspired by Kodak’s cameras.

Even when turning their attention to topical subjects, as Stieglitz did in his famous photograph The Steerage, the Pictorialists focused on composition and tone, creating enduring works of art.

Several issues of Camera Work are on view in the exhibition; along with work by group members, the magazine featured articles about photography and modern art, and ads for photographic suppliers. As Stieglitz described in the inaugural volume, the periodical placed emphasis on “subtle gradations of tone and value that [photography’s] artistic

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beauty so frequently depends.” The Photo-Secession held regular exhibitions in its gallery space at 291 Fifth Avenue, but by 1917 both the group and Camera Work had been disbanded as new Modernist approaches came into vogue.

Nevertheless, in that short time the Pictorialist approach of Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession had succeeded in shaping a role for photography as a fine art medium.

Carole McNamara Curator Emerita Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment.

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exhibitions

TRACES:

RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF A CHOKWE MASK

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he exhibition Traces: Reconstructing the History of a Chokwe Mask focuses on one African artwork from the Museum’s collection and sketches its life story—from the moment it was created in what we now know as Angola, to its arrival in Ann Arbor. The mask’s biography encompasses three continents, more than 100 years, and dozens of prominent individuals.

In its original context, the wooden mask was one small part of an elaborate costume and performance. Most likely carved near the end of the nineteenth century, it represents a woman ( pwo in the Chokwe language). The artist partially based his portrayal on an especially beautiful woman in his community, whose hairstyle and scarifications are depicted on the mask.

This type of mask was found in many neighboring communities across Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, including those of the Chokwe, Lunda, Luvale/Lwena, Luchazi, and Mbunda peoples.

Because the available written records are fragmentary and biased, it is difficult to state with certainty how this particular pwo mask was used in a performance in the nineteenth century. We do know that the practice of dancing with these masks continues in Central Africa today, at the end of the mukanda, a complex of ceremonies that celebrate young boys’ transition into manhood. The pwo mask is only one of many mask characters (makishi) performed during these celebrations, which were recognized as UNESCO Intangible Heritage in 2005. During

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jan and david brandon family bridge | october 22, 2016–january 22, 2017

exhibitions

mukanda, the mask is worn by men to acknowledge the importance of women and female ancestors in their society.

UMMA’s mask was taken from its original context in 1905 by Leo Frobenius (1873–1938), a German explorer who visited the Chokwe region during a two-year expedition into Central Africa. Frobenius, who infamously claimed to have located the descendants of Atlantis in West Africa, returned to Germany with 8,000 objects, which he sold to museums and dealers in order to fund his subsequent Africa expeditions.

The mask was then acquired by the well-known German dealer J.F.G. Umlauff, whose shop in Hamburg provided many European and American museums with their early collections of African art. At the time, African art was underrated in the field of art history, and Umlauff was a visionary in recognizing the value of these pieces.

From Hamburg, through the hands of the Belgian dealer Marc Leo Felix, the mask was sold to Helmut Stern, the businessman and philanthropist based in Ann Arbor. A passionate art collector, Helmut and his wife Candis Stern compiled an exquisite collection of Central African art, which they donated to the Museum in 2005, alongside an endowed curatorship of African art.

In its current state, the mask reveals only a fragment of its origins and offers us merely a glimpse of its complex history. Its past travels speak to histories of trade and interaction, but also of racism and oppression. Through a selection of related artworks, photographs, and historical documents, the exhibition traces the biography of the mask and by doing so seeks to acknowledge the layers of meaning that potentially accompany every piece in the Museum’s collection, and its African artworks in particular.

Laura De Becker Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the James and Vivian Curtis Endowment.

Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women’s Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund and African Studies Center.

OPPOSITE PAGE Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Pwo (woman) mask, ca. 1890, wood, tukula powder, clay, string, metal, fur, snakeskin, cloth, chicken foot, tax token, button. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Candis and Helmut Stern, 2005/1.201 THIS PAGE Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Pwo (woman) mask, date unrecorded, wood, tukula powder. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen in memory of Nancy Turner, 2015/2.178 Artist unrecorded, Chokwe or related peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Hamba (ancestor) figure, ca. 1920, wood, string. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Helmut and Candis Stern, 2005/1.206 Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Female figure, date unrecorded, wood. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen in memory of Nancy Turner, 2015/2.177 Artist unrecorded, Chokwe peoples, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Caryatid stool, 2nd half of 19th century, wood, glass beads, brass tacks.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Helmut and Candis Stern, 2005/1.204 fa l l 2016

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exhibitions

media gallery | july 30–november 27, 2016

I don’t think it’s about me because I really took out the body completely. It’s almost like the images that the audio piece conjures will implicate everyone. We all have these stereotypes of gender and race and class in our brains. . . . So I just wanted to inhabit that space, that dark space, and I wanted people’s imaginations to take over and understand that imagination itself. – Mark Bradford

MARK BRADFORD: SPIDERMAN

I Courtesy the artist

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n Mark Bradford’s six-minute video, Spiderman, there is no performer to see.

Instead, the viewer is presented with a red spotlight on the floor and an audio track accompanied by running text of Bradford’s script. Assuming the character of a black transgendered comedian who delivers a routine to a laughing audience, Bradford does not intend for his performance to be funny though humor is, in his own words, his way in. His act is reminiscent of and, indeed, provoked by the raw, often homophobic and misogynistic rants of 1980s standup comedy acts—–particularly Eddie Murphy’s controversial 1983 concert film Delirious.

Having seen Murphy’s act in person, Bradford noted the seismic shift in 1980s comedic vernacular in which racist and sexist commentary entered the mainstream. In Bradford’s work, it soon becomes apparent that the jokes reveal a tense commentary on the moment society begins to accept ignorance and misinformation in the public domain, and the audience’s laughter takes on an eerie countenance. Jokes about Michael Jackson’s jheri curls, late rapper Eazy-E’s battle with HIV, and the AIDS epidemic within the black community all reflect this particular moment in time while

also touching on critical issues facing our culture today at the intersection of race, gender identity, and sexuality.

First exhibited at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles as part of the larger Mark Bradford exhibition, Scorched Earth, Spiderman is one of only a few video installations by Bradford. UMMA’s installation presents a rare and important opportunity to view this lesser-known aspect of the artist’s work.

In 2015, Bradford was awarded the National Medal of the Arts. He is also a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2009), the Wexner Center Residency Award (2009), and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Bucksbaum Award (2006). Bradford has shown extensively in international and national exhibitions. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Kathleen Forde Adjunct Curator of Media Arts

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in focus

corridor gallery | august 9–october 30, 2016

RECENT ACQUISITION:

MODERN JAPANESE FOLK CERAMICS

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rtist and poet Ann Holmes first encountered Japanese folk ceramics while living in Tokyo in the late 1960s.

Fascinated by the simple aesthetic, the high level of craftsmanship, and the makers’ unassuming personalities and ways of life, Holmes visited many kiln towns, especially Mashiko, to interview potters and photograph their work.

Along the way, she collected ceramic wares of various shapes and techniques, a significant portion of which she donated to the Museum in 2013.

The town of Mashiko, about two hours from Tokyo by train, was fundamentally transformed when Hamada Sho ¯ji (1894– 1978), a major figure in the Folk Craft (Mingei) Movement in Japan, moved there and set up a studio in 1930. Hamada had studied ceramics in college and was drawn to the beauty of utilitarian folk pottery, though he sought to work within its idioms to express a distinctive style. By combining a folk craft aesthetic with the modern concept of a studio potter responsible for every aspect of the process, Hamada made Mashiko an international mecca of folk ceramic wares. By the 1960s, the town was attracting many young potters from outside of the region, including women. Their work is richly represented in the Holmes collection.

Holmes was inspired to write many poems about the artists she met, including Tokyo native Kubota Naobumi (born 1923), who took up professional ceramic making and moved to Mashiko in his 40s. This poem, based on an interview with Kubota, explores his experiences as a new artist working in the historic pottery village:

TRADITION Isolated in Mashiko we must struggle to keep up with the trends.

When an unknown potter works in a strange new style he’s laughed at --How dare he imagine the modern can compete with the past?

She also created intimate portraits of female artists quietly contemplating their practice in a male-dominated profession. In the work and life of artist Nagakura Suiko (born 1937), Holmes was struck by the artist’s humble embrace of nature:

GREEN I love pale green copper temple roofs, mossy stones, soft blue mold on omochi rice-cakes.

My green glaze just happens in a way I can’t predict.

Not knowing makes the green you see.

Natsu Oyobe Curator of Asian Art

Kubota Naobumi. Long-necked globular vase, Showa period (1926–1989), late 1960s–early 1970s, stoneware with ash glaze. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Ann Holmes, 2013/1.328 Nagakura Suiko. Square plate, Showa period (1926–1989), late 1960s– early 1970s, stoneware with green glaze. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Ann Holmes, 2013/1.329 fa l l 2016

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in focus

corridor gallery | november 1, 2016–january 15, 2017

T RECENT ACQUISITION:

PAUL KLEE

Paul Klee. Das Parr in der Dämmerung (The Couple at Dusk), 1924, oil transfer drawing with watercolor, mounted on cardboard.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Nicholas and Elena Delbanco in memory of Bernard Greenhouse, 2015/2.122

he Museum recently acquired an important work by the Swiss artist and theoretician Paul Klee (1879–1940) dating from the years he was on the faculty at the influential Bauhaus art school in Weimar, Germany, 1920–30. The painting, Das Parr in der Dämmerung (The Couple at Dusk), shows Klee at the height of his skills and introduces to UMMA’s collection one of the artist’s signature creative uses of media: the transfer of an existing drawing to a new sheet of paper, which is then augmented with watercolor.

Klee had gained international stature by 1920 and had his first exhibition in the United States in 1924, the year of this painting.

This decade was an extremely productive period for Klee, and his diaries and treatises reflect how carefully he thought about form (defining objects in a composition) and color theory. Klee was aware of the theories of color dating back to the eighteenth century—–including the writings of Goethe, Runge, and Delacroix—–and recognized that color had an immediate appeal that operated independently of form.

Das Parr shows a seated man reaching towards a woman on the right. The setting is not indicated beyond the placement of the figures’ feet and the enveloping blue-gray of the watercolor. As with many of Klee’s works, the scene combines an imaginative, introspective mood with a humor and whimsy akin to the naïve drawings of children. The close juxtaposition of the stylized heads, drawn with lines that both define and conjoin the figures, conveys—–along with the color—–a feeling of intimacy.

In addition to their distinctive imagery, Klee’s works often challenged the traditional separation of media. To create this painting Klee used three separate sheets: a previous graphite drawing, a piece of paper covered in black oil paint, and a facing clean sheet of paper at the bottom. He used a stylus to trace over the lines of the original drawing, thus transferring the design to the bottom sheet through the oil paint. Once completed, Klee peeled away the sheet with the oil paint, revealing the composition on the bottom sheet. He subsequently painted the new work with watercolor, using color to amplify the mood and the intense focus of the figures.

Music was an important element throughout Klee’s intellectual and artistic life. His father was a music teacher and the young Paul played the violin, a practice he continued as an adult. Klee’s interest in color and its impact in visual art had, in his estimation, an affinity with the immediacy of music. Given Klee’s own love of music, it is interesting to note that two outstanding musicians previously owned this painting: Alexander Schneider, violinist of the Budapest String Quartet, and Bernard Greenhouse, cellist of the superb Beaux Arts Trio.

Carole McNamara Curator Emerita

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in focus

Luba. Bow Rest, carved wood, 25 1/4 in x 10 in x 3 in (64.14 cm x 25.4 cm x 7.62 cm). Gift of Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen in memory of Nancy Turner Bohlen, 2015/2.176

Julian Schnabel. Untitled (Swan Painting), 1998, oil, resin, and enamel on canvas, 79 in x 67 in (200.66 cm x 170.18 cm). Gift of the Allen Foundation, GO2016.19

OTHER ACQUISITIONS TWO UMMA ADVOCATES HAVE GIFTED IMPORTANT WORKS OF ART TO THE MUSEUM. Robert Bohlen, a long-time supporter of UMMA and an instrumental figure in bringing the Robert and Lillian Montalto Bohlen Gallery of African Art to life, has gifted nine pieces of 19th century African art, from Central Africa (including the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and from West Africa. Laura De Becker, Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art, says that the gifted works are all exceptional examples of their kind. One piece, a Yaka sculpture, will be on display starting this August. Two of the Chokwe pieces can be seen in the upcoming Traces exhibition (see page 10–11).

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Joseph Allen (BBA ‘63), through the Allen Foundation, gifted a painting by Julian Schnabel, Untitled (Swan Painting). Allen helped to bring Julian Schnabel’s exhibition to UMMA in 2015. Untitled (Swan Painting) is the first Schnabel painting to enter UMMA’s permanent collection.

Allen also helped UMMA with the purchase of Theaster Gates’s Little Box for Starving Artists and Enoc Perez’s Lipstick Building.

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PREVIEW: UMMA PROGRAMS FALL 2016 Artists, architects, and curators, along with dancers, choreographers, composers, and musicians, bring to life the art and ideas of UMMA’s fall exhibitions in this dynamic line up of public programs. More information and additional programs at umma.umich.edu

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

CATIE NEWELL: OVERNIGHT ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 6, 2016

OVERNIGHT ILLUMINATED: An UMMA Dialogue with architect and artist Catie Newell and Jennifer Friess, UMMA Assistant Curator of Photography SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 3:00 P.M. This UMMA Dialogue will explore the themes of the exhibition, including Newell’s impulse to create new architectural space out of the unseen and her interest in the sensory qualities (light, darkness, texture, density, malleability) of our built environments.

SMTD@UMMA: Through Darkest Night SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 7:00 P.M. Professor Jerry Blackstone and the U-M Chamber Choir present music of and inspired by night, including excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s stunning All-Night Vigil.

The SMTD@UMMA performance series is generously supported by the Katherine Tuck Enrichment Fund and the Greg Hodes and Heidi Hertel Hodes—Partners in the Arts Endowment Fund.

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IN CONJUNCTION WITH

JAPANESE PRINTS OF KABUKI THEATER

FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF ART OCTOBER 15, 2016– JANUARY 29, 2017 Led by exhibition co-curators Natsu Oyobe and Mariko Okada, public programs include workshops for an in-depth and close-up look at these dynamic and colorful prints and an UMMA Dialogue exploring the themes and context of the exhibition.

UMMA DIALOGUE: Celebrity Culture and the Art of Japanese Kabuki Prints FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 6:30 P.M.

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

TRACES: RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF A CHOKWE MASK OCTOBER 22, 2016– JANUARY 22, 2017

CURATOR LECTURE: Traces and fragments: the life of a Chokwe mask WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 5:30 P.M. Laura De Becker, Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art, will bring to life the biography of a Chokwe mask and trace its journey from its point of origin in northern Angola to its current home in Ann Arbor.

PUBLIC WORKSHOPS: An Intimate Look: Images of Kabuki Theaters and Actors in the Edo Period of Japan.

Space is limited and registration is required. Please email umma-programregistration@umich.edu WORKSHOP FOR GENERALISTS: Sunday, October 30, 2–3:30 p.m.

WORKSHOP FOR SPECIALISTS: Friday, November 4, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

This workshop requires a reading fluency of Japanese and a basic knowledge of Kabuki theater and the cultural history of the late Edo period.

ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT: Catie Newell, Jennifer Friess, the U-M Chamber Choir, Laura De Becker umm a .umic h.ed u

programs

REVIEW: 2015–2016 In addition to looking forward to the exciting programs to come, here’s a look back at what we accomplished and the audiences we served through public programs organized by UMMA, including concerts, readings, lectures and dialogues, symposia, film screenings, and family programming, such as art-making workshops and Storytime.

UMMA EDUCATION DELIVERED 130 PUBLIC PROGRAMS WITH A TOTAL ATTENDANCE OVER 20,000.

12,000 PEOPLE ATTENDED 28 STUDENT PROGRAMS, SPECIFICALLY ORGANIZED

BY STUDENTS, FEATURING STUDENTS AS PERFORMERS, AND/OR DESIGNED FOR THE STUDENT AUDIENCE.

OUR WORK WITH 40 DIFFERENT CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS BROADENED THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS ACROSS AUDIENCES.

U-M PARTNERS Arts at Michigan Center for Japanese Studies

Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Program on Intergroup Relations

Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies

School of Music, Theater and Dance

Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Screen Arts & Culture SHEI Magazine

Confucius Institute

Stamps in Color

Department of English Language and Literature

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Department of Near Eastern Studies

University of Michigan Medical School

Helen Zell Writers Program

WCBN 88.3FM

Helicon

Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies

Hip Hop Congress History of Art Institute for Humanities

Women’s Studies

Institute for Research on Women and Gender

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Islamic Studies Program

Ann Arbor Film Festival

Kelsey Museum of Archeology

Ann Arbor Hands On Museum

Lloyd Hall Scholars Program

Alzheimer’s Association

Michigan Community Scholars Program

Heidelberg Project

Michigan in Color

University Musical Society

Middle East and Arab Network

Ann Arbor Art Center

Radio Campfire

Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs Museum Studies Program Nam Center for Korean Studies

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programs

TRANSFORMING LEARNING: CREATING WITH UMMA’S COLLECTIONS SOON AFTER UMMA LAUNCHES ITS NEW WEBSITE, VISITORS WILL SEE A NEW OPTION–“CREATE”–ON THE TOP LEVEL MENU.

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unding from the U-M’s Third Century Fund, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, matched by leadership gifts from individual donors, will soon transform digital access to UMMA’s collections. The UMMA Exchange, to launch in Fall 2016, is a new online teaching and learning platform that will allow any user to create virtual exhibitions, lesson plans, or other products, as well as being designed to support and extend formal, classroom-based learning. Users will be able to add multi-media resources they create or that are available on the web, reflecting the complex matrix of learning today and extending experiences with UMMA’s collections.

Last spring and summer, more than 24 postdoctoral fellows, current graduate and undergraduate students worked at UMMA in

Museum Curator for Teaching and Learning Pamela Reister with IMLS researchers Karen Bates, Tori Cox and Bridget Grier.

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teams guided by UMMA curators, educators, and registrars, to research, document, and photograph over 5,000 collections objects thanks to IMLS funding. For objects rarely on view, this project is an opportunity to examine and study directly from these works of art. The Modern and Contemporary team, led by Museum Curator for Teaching and Learning, Pamela Reister, recently shared some of the team’s discoveries. In one case, what was previously thought to be (and recorded as) one work of art by 20th Century artist Hans Arp turned out to be a boxed portfolio of 28 separate prints. Research on another graphic work by Elizabeth Catlett, was able to identify all of the portraits contained within one print, and to link them to her earlier works, creating new knowledge about this important 20th Century African-American artist. New information about these works of art will improve collections access by improving data, while also

Assistant Curator of Photography, Jennifer Friess, examines a photograph.

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programs LEFT: IMLS researchers Michael K. Wilson and Jaclyn Kline BELOW: Edward (Robbi) Roberson. Tired Marchers Sleep on the Streets - “We were tired, we were tired,” Selma, Alabama, 1963, black and white photograph on paper. Gift of Detroit Focus 2000, and partial purchase with funds from the Jean Paul Slusser Memorial Fund, 2003/2.69.28

fulfilling UMMA’s mission to mentor and train the next generation of scholars and museum professionals.

The UMMA Exchange will facilitate educational use of the collection and create access to all of the creative and wide-ranging ways that the collection has already been used in collaboration with U-M instructors as well as K–12 teachers over many years. For University faculty and instructors in particular, the U-M Third Century grant is supporting the transfer of four years’ worth of new teaching resources to The Exchange. Since 2012, UMMA’s Andrew W. Mellon Manager for Academic Outreach and Teaching, David Choberka, has worked with hundreds of instructors to identify artworks in the collection with particular instructional value to their respective disciplines. Each collaboration with an instructor and their class has the potential

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to create not just a single great experience for one group of students, but also a selection of art and a set of teaching materials that other instructors in the discipline can use. As just one example, Choberka worked with Scott Ellsworth, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies faculty, on a Museum session for his class on the Civil Rights Movement. These resources have already been used by numerous other instructors.

The Exchange promises to transform how teachers and learners can make use of the collection by providing a dynamic platform for working with the collections and a permanent and public repository, while providing a vivid and ever-evolving window into teaching and learning at UMMA.

Helmut and Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art, Laura De Becker, examines objects.

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umma happenings

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: Catie Newell’s installation for Overnight glows at UMMA after dark in the Irving Stenn, Jr. Family Gallery.

Overnight is on display through November 6.

Tiny Buddha Yoga conducts a class during Fridays After 5, outside the Frankel Family Wing, on May 13.

Nettie Tiso, UMMA Store manager, greets visitors at the UMMA booth during Ann Arbor Art Fair’s kickoff Townie Party.

UMMA docents Dottie Farhat (left) and Lois Baru greet each other at the 40th anniversary celebration.

Director Joseph Rosa chats with UMMA curators Lehti Keelmann, Jennifer Friess, Laura De Becker, and Natsu Oyobe during the Director’s Circle Dinner on April 15.

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ABOVE: Student docents Karen Bale and Victoria Cox give June Fridays After 5 visitors a tour of UMMA’s outdoor sculptures, including Beverly Pepper’s Ternary Marker.

LEFT: Families made Japanese lanterns during UMMA’s Japan-themed Family Art Studio in June.

BELOW: Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art, leads a discussion during the Xu Weixin: Monumental Portraits In Conversation on May 15.

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campaign

NEW DOCENT ENDOWMENT FUND CELEBRATES THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UMMA DOCENT PROGRAM

Docent endowment founders – Prue Rosenthal, Linda Bennett, Susan Schreiber, and Marlene Ross

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ver the past year, UMMA and the University of Michigan have joined Museum docents, past and present, in celebrating 40 years of the award-winning UMMA docent program. A year of celebrations culminated in a joyous event at the Museum on Sunday, May 15 that drew docent alumni from across the country and inspired proclamations from University of Michigan President Mark S. Schlissel and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor. The most indelible commemoration of the anniversary came from the docents themselves—the creation of an endowed fund to help support the docent program in perpetuity.

With a goal of supporting and enhancing teaching and learning activities at UMMA, the UMMA Docent Endowment Fund will create a lasting legacy for the UMMA docents—augmenting a vital program that has, in the words of U-M President Schlissel, “connected hundreds of thousands of people with the great cultural expressions of our world, enabling them to discover and create rich experiences.”

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The development of the fund was a grassroots movement, spearheaded by a committed group of touring and retired docents who pledged seed funding of $20,000. With assistance from UMMA’s education and development staff, these docents have hosted gatherings in their homes and information sessions at the Museum, building energy and support for the fund. To date, the fund totals more than $58,000 in cash and pledged gifts and $20,000 in planned estate gifts. Donations are ongoing, with a goal of 100% participation from the touring docents and program alumni.

To contribute to the UMMA Docent Endowment Fund please contact Astrid Giese, Associate Director of Development, Individual and Corporate Giving at 734.647.3132 or agiese@umich.edu.

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UNIQUE GIFTS FOR EVERYONE!

One-of-a-kind jewelry, accessories, games, toys, and home accents

PUBLICATIONS FEATURED REGIONAL ARTISTS CREATIVE GIFTS

mention this page to receive 15% off your next purchase Sweetwaters Coffee, Tea, & Baked Goods Available Daily

SHOP ONLINE! STORE.UMMA.UMICH.EDU STORE HOURS MON–SAT 11 A.M.–5 P.M., SUN 12–5 P.M.

HOST YOUR EVENT AT UMMA AS THE #1 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM IN THE U.S., UMMA OFFERS A TRULY UNIQUE SETTING FOR YOUR NEXT SPECIAL EVENT. From private to public, intimate to grand, personal to corporate, plan your one-of-a-kind event at UMMA and be surrounded by world-class art. We would be happy to help you!

Photo via JLBwedding, JLBwedding.com

Send a request to Justin Reash, Assistant Director of Development, Annual Giving, and Events, at umma-eventrentals@umich.edu, or call 734-647-2064.

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PA I D Ann Arbor, MI Permit No. 144

525 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1354 734.763.UMMA umma.umich.edu

For up-to-date details on UMMA exhibitions and programs, visit umma.umich.edu or follow UMMA on Facebook or Twitter! connect online facebook.com/ummamuseum twitter.com/ummamuseum instagram.com/ummamuseum

become a member

through october 23, 2016

Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Mexico’s Poet of Light through september 11, 2016

Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road through november 6, 2016

Catie Newell: Overnight through september 25, 2016

umma.umich.edu or umma-giving@umich.edu

The Connoisseurs’ Legacy: The Collection of Nesta and Walter Spink

gallery hours

through october 16, 2016

September–April Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sunday 12–5 p.m.

Closed Mondays

through november 27, 2016

Mira Henry: The View Inside Mark Bradford: Spiderman october 15, 2016–january 29, 2017

store hours Monday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sunday 12–5 p.m.

building hours September–April The Forum, Commons, and selected public spaces in the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing are open daily 8 a.m.–8 p.m.

The Museum is always free. $10 suggested donation appreciated.

Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from the Collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art october 15, 2016–january 29, 2017

Europe on Paper: The Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection october 22, 2016–january 22, 2017

Traces: Reconstructing the History of a Chokwe Mask october 29, 2016–march 12, 2017

The Aesthetic Movement in America: Artists of the Photo-Secession

university of michigan board of regents: Michael Behm, Grand Blanc; Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills; Shauna Ryder Diggs, Grosse Pointe; Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park; Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Dr. Mark S. Schlissel, ex officio contributors: Lisa Borgsdorf, David Choberka, Kathleen Forde, Mark Gjukich, Kathryn Huss, Ruth Keffer, Dave Lawrence, Peter Leix, Carole McNamara, Natsu Oyobe, Anna Sampson, Ruth Slavin, Melinda Stang, Levi Stroud, Leisa Thompson, Carrie Throm, Nettie Tiso designer: Paul Koob