The Walters Art Museum Members Magazine September–Dec 2011

WHAT WILL YOU DISCOVER?

MEMBERS MAGAZINE

AUTUMN 2011

LOST & FOUND: THE SECRETS OF ARCHIMEDES PAGE 4

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FIRE, FORGERIES & FUNGUS RESEARCH AT THE WALTERS PUZZLES OF THE BRAIN THAI STORY: THE VESSANTARA JATAKA PROGRAMS & EVENTS COMMUNITY OUTREACH MUSEUM STORE BEHIND THE SCENES NEW TRUSTEES MUSEUM NEWS

our mission The Walters Art Museum brings art and people together for enjoyment, discovery and learning. We strive to create a place where people of every background can be touched by art. We are committed to exhibitions and programs that will strengthen and sustain our community.

The Walters Art Museum is open Wednesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

board of trustees 2011–2012 Chair andrea b. laporte President douglas w. hamilton, jr.

Vice-President ellen n. bernard Vice-President thomas s. bozzuto Vice-President nancy r. sasser Vice-President dr. hervey (peter) s. stockman, jr.

Treasurer frank k. turner, jr.

Secretary dr. gary k. vikan, director — julianne e. alderman peter l. bain calvin h. baker neal d. borden h. ward classen rosalee c. davison michael de havenon cynthia l. egan christine m. espenshade jonathan m. fishman bruce w. fleming guy e. flynn michael b. glick sanford m. gross the honorable c. yvonne holt-stone stanley mazaroff neil a. meyerhoff bailey morris-eck jennifer murphy charles j. nabit marilyn a. pedersen william h. perkins lynn homeier rauch george k. reynolds, iii john r. rockwell edward l. rosenberg bernard selz gail l. shawe mary baily wieler — ex-officio members the honorable stephanie rawlings-blake the honorable bernard c. young the honorable martin j. o’malley the honorable kevin kamenetz the honorable ken ulman anne n. apgar rosemary eck margaret z. ferguson laura l. freedlander barbara guarnieri adele kass elizabeth koontz marco k. merrick tom noonan diana ulman — trustees emeriti dr. robert s. feinberg samuel k. himmelrich, sr. cynthia r. mead william l. paternotte adena w. testa jay m. wilson — international advisory board dr. james michael bradburne wendyce h. brody eddie c. brown dr. myrna bustani constance r. caplan philip d. english sam fogg laura l. freedlander leah gansler joel goldfrank bruce livie dr. james marrow angela moore dwight platt george roche paul ruddock the honorable paul sarbanes donald j. shepard george m. sherman john waters, jr. dr. daniel h. weiss benjamin b. zucker

The Walters Magazine, Vol. 64, No. 3 Published by the Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore Editor, charles dibble Designer, tony venne Art Photography, susan tobin

above: The Archimedes Palimpsest in 1998 before disbinding. Photo by John Dean cover: Abigail Quandt rejoins two forgeries. Photo by Vincent Carney

Please send membership questions to membership@thewalters.org Please send editorial comments to magazine@thewalters.org

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Dear Members, In May 1959, physicist and novelist C.P. Snow delivered his famous Rede Lecture entitled “The Two Cultures,” in which he characterized the scientific and humanistic modes of discourse as mutually incomprehensible. This fall, through three exhibitions devoted to the intersection of science and art, the Walters will do its part to prove C.P. Snow wrong.

The Archimedes Palimpsest, the oldest surviving copy of works by the greatest mathematical genius of antiquity, was sold at auction in October 1998 to an anonymous buyer for 2 million dollars. The following January that precious but much-damaged 10th-century manuscript was placed on deposit at the Walters by its owner, with the aim that it be conserved and imaged (the Archimedes text had been erased and overwritten with a prayer book), and then read and made available on the internet. Thus began a 12-year journey that included stops at the Monastery of St. Sabas in the Judean Desert, where the manuscript had been used in religious services for four centuries, and at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (one of the most advanced multipurpose physics laboratories in the world), where the text of four pages of the book over-painted with modern forgeries was revealed. The project drew on an international team of more than 80 scientists and humanists, all expertly orchestrated by the Walters’ Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, William Noel, working in collaboration with Head of Books and Paper Conservation Abigail Quandt.

The goals set out in 1999 have now all been met, but before the book goes back to its owner, its fascinating journey—including the story of Archimedes and his discoveries— will be recounted in our major fall exhibition Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes. The exhibition will be accompanied by The Archimedes Codex, in which co-authors Will Noel and Stanford professor Reviel Netz present the story of the once-lost manuscript as part archaeological detective story, part science and part history; two scholarly volumes published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Walters incorporate the work of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project team.

Lost and Found will be complemented by two smaller shows focusing on art and science. The first, occupying the last section of the Archimedes installation, will offer a look at what we hope to discover in the future as we bring science and conservation to bear on our understanding and appreciation of works of art. The interactive learning stations in these galleries will focus on five works from the Walters’ permanent collection and will demonstrate how the museum’s staff collaborates to learn about and conserve art. Authenticity will be explored, as will a cutting-edge scientific technique for the preservation of silver now being investigated at the Walters.

Finally, in our Level 4 focus show gallery, we will partner with the Cognitive Science Department of the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University to present an innovative exhibition that explores the impact of severe brain damage on an artist. In Puzzles of the Brain: An Artist’s Journey through Amnesia, visitors will be introduced to Lonni Sue Johnson’s work through covers the artist drew for The New Yorker magazine and follow her journey through amnesia resulting from an attack of encephalitis in late 2007.

The artist’s post-illness creations document her struggle to “capture the moment” through words and images on paper. Seen from the perspective of cognitive science, this body of work offers provocative insights into memory, creativity and the power of the human spirit.

Gary Vikan, Director

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LOST & FOUND: THE SECRETS OF ARCHIMEDES OCTOBER 16–JANUARY 1

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he Walters Art Museum is celebrated worldwide for its outstanding collection of manuscripts: elegantly handwritten documents from the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, individually selected for the quality of their glorious illuminations, and nearly all of them in the superb condition that typifies Henry and William Walters’ extraordinary collection of works of art spanning the globe. So it was with surprise, and some trepidation, that twelve years ago I followed Gary Vikan’s instruction to track down a book called The Archimedes Palimpsest. The Archimedes Palimpsest is not the type of book that Henry Walters would have bought. It was in appalling condition, you couldn’t read it since most of the 10th-century text is invisible to the naked eye, and it was the ugliest manuscript I knew of. Why did the director ask me to pursue it? Because it was the most important scientific manuscript ever sold at auction—the only manuscript in the world where you could find hitherto lost treatises of Archimedes, the greatest mathematician of antiquity.

This manuscript looked like shredded wheat, but it was actually Archimedes’ brain—in a box.

I succeeded in tracking down the book, and its owner left it on my desk in January 1999. He wanted the manuscript conserved, he wanted it imaged with the best technology available, and he wanted it fully read. He then wanted all the results published on the internet, so that anyone could access all the information in the book for free. His idea was to take the most difficult data in the world to access—fragile, invisible, unique and expensive—and make it available to everyone, from their desktops, free of charge, to do with as they liked. He generously agreed to fund the entire project.

What followed was, for Abigail Quandt and me, a 12-year journey that has taken us around the world as we sought to accomplish this task. We found conservation scientists in Canada and Rome; we found high-tech scientific imagers from Hawaii and Oklahoma; we found scholars of classical texts from Israel, Latvia, and Budapest, as well as from Oxford and Cambridge; and we pinched a program manager from the cia. We searched long and hard.

We both think we succeeded, and this fall we are

presenting the results of our labors in Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes, running from October 16, 2011 through January 1, 2012.

We investigated every aspect of this book that we could. We analyzed the chemistry not just of the parchment and the bacteria and fungus that peppered its pages. We studied not just the ink, but the pigments of its paintings as well. We imaged it in sixteen different wavebands of light in order to try to decipher every single page of the book. No manuscript has ever been under the camera as often as The Archimedes Palimpsest. We also investigated the history of the book and have been able to completely rewrite the story of what happened to the manuscript in the twentieth century, when it was stuck together with wood glue, painted over, yet again, with gold-ground forgeries, and left to rot in a basement.

The manuscript was made up of the parchment of seven other books, which had had their texts erased. One of these books did indeed contain treatises by Archimedes. But the other books in the manuscript were a total surprise and of the utmost importance to our understanding of ancient political history and philosophy. Another of these books, for example, contained a speech by a 4th-century bc Athenian politician called Hyperides. This speech discusses the recent defeat suffered by Athens and Thebes at the hands of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, and provides unique insight into the world of Athenian politics at the very end of the city’s glory days. Hyperides’ fate was not enviable—he had his tongue cut out in mockery of his oratory, and he was put to death. But now we have read two of his speeches, and you can see and hear them, in this exhibition.

We also fundamentally reinterpreted key treatises

by Archimedes, important passages of which we were able to decipher for the first time. We found that he was calculating with infinity 1,900 years before Newton and Leibniz, and we found that he devised a nearly impossible puzzle that would become the first treatise in an important branch of mathematics.

LOST & FOUND: THE SECRETs OF ARCHIMEDES

The Archimedes Palimpsest is unlike other objects in the Walters Art Museum, and this exhibition is going to be unlike other shows.

It may not be pretty, but if you like a good story and the romance of history rewritten; if you like what modern technology can do for our understanding of priceless artifacts from the past; and if you have any interest in the survival of knowledge, of science, of history and of philosophy, then this exhibition could be for you. We hope to see you there.

This exhibition has been generously supported by an anonymous donor and the Stockman Family Foundation.

—william noel, curator of manuscripts and rare books

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Lost & Found: The Secrets of Archimedes October 16th–January 1st ADMISSION Adults: $10 Seniors: $8 Students/Young Adults (18–25): $6 17 and under: Free Members: Free Tickets are available online at thewalters.org or at the Box Office.

MEMBER TICKETING Walters members are entitled to unlimited tickets based upon membership level.

Student: 1 per day Individual: 2 per day Dual: 4 per day Supporter & above: 4 per day Members may upgrade their membership level to receive additional tickets. Members who exceed their amount of free tickets can purchase additional $5 guest tickets.

There will be no timed entry.

QUESTIONS? Call (410) 547-9000, ext. 283, email us at membership@thewalters.org

Member’s Opening Party Saturday, October 22 7:30–9:30 p.m.

Join us for a night of artful fun, view the new exhibition, enjoy music and talk with Walters’ conservators in the special exhibition galleries. Cash bar—Cocktail attire. rsvp required by October 17, call (410) 547-9000, ext. 283 or email membership@thewalters.org

opposite: LED visible-wavelength illuminator used in imaging leaves of The Archimedes Palimpsest. above: Processed image of a forged leaf of The Archimedes Palimpsest, showing the Archimedes text in red. below: Abigail Quandt determines the alignment of two forgeries to be rejoined. Photo by Vincent Carney

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LOST & FOUND: THE SECRETs OF ARCHIMEDES

FIRE, FORGERIES & FUNGUS 8 × THEWALTERS.ORG

Pulling the Archimedes Palimpsest from the Ruins

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hen Abigail Quandt first saw pictures of The Archimedes Palimpsest—battered, moldy and charred—she thought, “I pity the conservator who has to work on that.”

Two months later, the manuscript arrived at the Walters Art Museum in a gym bag, and its condition was even worse than she had imagined. The parchment was purple with mold and fragile as tissue paper, particularly in inked areas. The palimpsest had also suffered from drastic physical alterations: the book had been split into two halves, and several leaves had been cut out to create forged Byzantine illuminations.

To address these condition issues and stabilize the parchment, Abigail has worked tirelessly for the last 11 years. She began disbinding the palimpsest in early 2000, only to discover that half of the spine was covered with a modern polyvinylacetate glue. This tenacious adhesive—whose strength far surpassed that of the deteriorated parchment—made disbinding a challenge, since the Archimedes text went across the spine fold and was particularly vulnerable to damage.

Efforts to remove the adhesive and disbind the book were further complicated by the water-sensitivity of the parchment, which had been attacked by bacteria and mold and weakened by two layers of corrosive iron-gall ink. If the parchment absorbed further moisture during treatment, its deteriorated fibers might shrink and distort. The purple pigment produced by the bacteria also darkened in water.

As disbinding progressed, Abigail recorded the condition of each folio in detail. She carefully removed adhesive residues and debris from the gutter of the book and stored them in plastic bags. Mold perforations, tears and knife cuts in the parchment were traced on Mylar overlays. Where thick, dirty wax accretions obscured the writing, she reduced them with a scalpel to allow the erased text to be digitally imaged.

The inherently unstable iron-gall ink also had to be addressed.

The ink, which is acidic and catalyzes oxidation, had eroded the parchment, resulting in extensive ink loss and flaking.

To secure the ink against further loss, Abigail consolidated it with a dilute gelatin solution.

With multispectral and x-ray fluorescence imaging, even the faintest ink from the lower text became legible. This provided an important clue for reuniting the forged miniatures with the stubs of the leaves from which they had been cut. Traces of ink, in combination with remaining structural evidence, also allowed Abigail to reintegrate other fragments with their parent folios. Now pieced together, stabilized and digitally imaged, the leaves of The Archimedes Palimpsest are ready for the world to discover.

—renée wolcott, conservation intern

left: Abigail Quandt carefully separates the quires. Photo by John Dean. above: The Archimedes Palimpsest in 1998 before disbinding. Photo by Abigail Quandt.

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RESEARCH AT THE WALTERS: WHAT WILL WE DISCOVER NEXT?

What are the black spots around the eyes? How were the two different colors of ceramic made? Why are there tan-colored lines on the surface of the darker ceramic?

Detail of Dog Effigy Vessel, Comala style, Colima, Mexico. Earthenware, red slip with black paint, 100 bc–ad 300, Gift of John Bourne, 2009 (2009.20.51)

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s the twelve years of research and study devoted to The Archimedes Palimpsest demonstrate, scientific analysis can lead to important discoveries about our shared cultural heritage.

To expand upon some of the concepts that are integral to the process of art research, the exhibition Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes will conclude with two galleries that explore the theme “What will we discover next?”

of. Answers to the questions that we present in this exhibition will have to be the subject of future exhibitions and publications, since these research studies are in their infancy.

In the two galleries at the end of the exhibition Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes, you will be invited to don your scientist’s cap and consider why a Kentucky long rifle is associated with a 19th-century pastoral drawing by Rosa Bonheur, to explore what Ethiopian painting and manuscript illustration have to do with colorful minerals on display, and to ponder how the preservation of silver objects could be improved by recent advances in nanotechnology.

Scientific research has a long history at the Walters: in 1934, the Walters’ first board of trustees hired a chemist, which made the Walters only the third art museum in the United States to do so. Scientific investigation contributes significantly to the museum’s mission “to bring art and people together for —glenn gates, enjoyment, discovery and learning,” conservation scientist and this is an opportunity to highlight these endeavors as they begin.

Artworks from the Walters’ collection will illustrate the questions that start the process of learning and discovery through research. Finding answers to these questions is a highly collaborative and integrated process between curators, conservators and scientists; this exhibition will showcase the contributions of many different specialists.

What did a work of art look like when it was created? When was the appearance of a work of art changed? How can we distinguish between forged and authentic art? How do we best preser ve the works in the collection? Perhaps exhibition visitors will have questions we haven’t thought

Amy Marquardt of the University of Maryland NanoCenter is pictured conducting an experiment that involves the deposition of atomically thin layers of alumina (Al2O3 ) onto silver metal. The project is a collaboration with the Walters Art Museum to study a novel treatment strategy to reduce tarnish on silver, with funding provided by the National Science Foundation.

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Puzzles of the Brain: An Artist’s Journey through Amnesia SEPTEMBER 17–DECEMBER 11

left: Christmas Tree Line / Cover art, The New Yorker / December 16, 1985 right: Enthusiastic (Puzzle) / March 27, 2009

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his fall, the Walters Art Museum will partner with the Cognitive Science Department of the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University to present an innovative focus show exploring the impact of severe brain damage on the life and creativity of an artist.

The exhibition tells the story of Lonni Sue Johnson, a highly successful illustrator who suffered severe amnesia after an attack of encephalitis in late 2007. The illness caused substantial damage to her brain, resulting in the complete loss of artistic productivity. Through intensive art therapy led by her mother, Margaret Kennard Johnson (also an accomplished artist), Johnson began to produce a portfolio of “recovery art.” Johnson’s art provides unique insight into the devastating effects of amnesia, as well as the complementary roles played by language and memory in her artistic expression. Her case gives researchers a rare opportunity to contribute to the scientific understanding of brain function and art, and to apply that understanding to an appreciation of the synergies between art and science.

Prior to her illness, Lonni Sue Johnson was a well-known artist and illustrator, whose works were featured in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times. Johnson’s art was characterized by the clever use of visual elements presented in intricate combinations to convey meaning. With this multilevel approach, Johnson 12 × THEWALTERS.ORG

invited viewers to inspect her work closely to discover new elements within a hierarchically structured theme. After her illness, Johnson slowly recovered the ability to create art using some of her earlier, iconic elements. A breakthrough came a few months after her illness, when a friend gave her a book of puzzles that invited her to find a set of target words embedded within a large matrix of letters. Within a week she began to make word lists of her own, which she then inserted into grids that she created. Sometimes, the word lists were alphabetical (words starting with a, with b, etc.) and sometimes thematic (things you hang in a closet).

Soon, the word grids became artworks: “Things you hang in a closet” yielded a drawing of a hanger with an embedded grid, which housed the words from an associated list of clothing; a drawing of a pair of pants housed a grid that included words for the individual parts of the garment.

After three years, the portfolio of Johnson’s recovery art is vast. Some drawings are remarkably simple; others are fantastically complex, with rich detail extending well beyond the word grid. When viewed chronologically, the collection tells an inspiring story of how an artist has come to cope with a devastating illness.

—nancy e. zinn, associate director for collections and exhibitions

Thai Story: The Vessantara Jataka october 29–january 22

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he gift of a rare white elephant in the story of Prince Vessantara is an example of charity beyond anyone’s expectation. But it was just the first gift in what would become the prince’s lifelong effort to be limitlessly charitable, a quality that would eventually lead to his rebirth as Siddhartha Gautama, the one who would become the Buddha. The nature of giving in Southeast Asian Buddhist cultures has two sides. The principal reason for charity is to focus less on oneself and more on the benefit, health and well-being of others. At the same time, acts of charity result in spiritual merit and the resulting improvement of an individual’s circumstances in the next life.

One important way that the Buddhist laity learns about the importance of generosity is through stories that date back almost 2,500 years. Many of these stories, called jatakas, are tales of the previous lives of the man who would become the Buddha. The Vessantara Jataka is one of the most popular of these stories. During festivals in communities across mainland Southeast Asia, paintings like the ones in this exhibition are hung in gathering halls at the monasteries for everyone to see.

This show includes 12 paintings depicting various scenes from the Vessantara Jataka, providing the opportunity for all to learn the story of the generous prince and to enjoy the unique charm of Thai paintings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to imaginative depictions of the story and its main characters, these colorful paintings incorporate playful details throughout, including frolicking animals and people. The Thai painters who made these works did so on commission, and their patrons, in the spirit of charity reflected in the story, gave these works to their local monasteries. The monasteries were then able to share the works and the story of Vessantara with the local people. Giving the paintings also might help guarantee a better existence in the next life for the donor. Visitors to this show will find both entertainment and a lesson about the meaning of perfect generosity.

—rebecca hall, andrew w. mellon fellow Vessantara Jataka / Chapter 2 [Himavanta Forest] / Thai / 1850-1870 WWW.THEWALTERS.ORG × 13

PROGRAMS & EVENTS MEMBERS CURATOURS & CONSERVATOURS Members have the unique opportunity to join a Walters’ expert for an intimate tour on a Wednesday afternoon. Please meet us in the first-floor lobby at 2 p.m. Registration is not required. For questions, please call (410) 547-9000, ext. 283.

Lunchtime at the Walters Invite your friends and start each month enjoying special lunchtime events at the Walters. Bring a light lunch (or use our café) on First Thursdays to enjoy free talks by curators, scholars and others (12:15–1:15 p.m.) in the Graham Auditorium. On First Fridays join us for free Peabody Concerts on the Court (12–1 p.m.) with talented Peabody Conservatory musicians. the 10th annual renée may lecture

Our Lives in Common Saturday, September 10 2–3 p.m.

Poet Stuart Kestenbaum shares thoughts about loss, community and redemption.

He describes how his poetry is inspired by experiences that are directly and indirectly tied to his brother Howard’s death on September 11. For the past decade, the annual Renée May Lecture has honored the beloved Walters Art Museum docent killed during the attacks on the United States in 2001.

Return from Amnesia Sunday, October 2 2–3:30 p.m.

Cognitive Scientist Mike McCloskey and artist Margaret Kennard Johnson, mother of artist Lonni Sue Johnson, will speak about the dramatic transformations in the art of Lonni Sue after she suffered severe brain trauma. By sharing her courageous story they reveal how art and science inform our understanding of memory and creativity. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Puzzles of the Brain: An Artist’s Journey through Amnesia (9/17–12/11).

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the 31st annual theodore l. low lecture

Art History and Neuroscience: The Challenge for the Humanities Sunday, October 30 2–3 p.m.

Renowned for his work on psychological responses to art, David Freedberg examines how advances in cognitive neurosciences can illuminate fundamental aspects of our responses to art.

He draws on new discoveries about phantom limbs, mirror neurons and embodied simulation to explain our understanding of both high art and everyday imagery. Don’t miss the pretalk concert at 1 p.m.

EUREKA! 2011 Jewelry Fair Friday–Sunday, November 4–6 10 a.m.–5 p.m. $15 The Jewelry Fair is one of the Walters’ best-loved traditions. The 2011 Jewelry Fair will feature several gatherings for the public throughout the weekend.

Tickets go on sale online in September.

Kal / Christmas on the Court Sunday, December 11 2–3:30 p.m.

Kevin Kallaugher, a.k.a. kal, is best known for his internationally syndicated political cartoons in more than 100 publications worldwide. Today he’ll chat about his work, look back at his best cartoons from 2011 and sign copies of his award winning 2012 Kal-endar, published by The Economist.

He’ll finish his talk with a fun and lively drawing lesson.

The Art of the Writing Instrument from Paris to Persia Wednesday, September 21 Amy Landau, Associate Curator of Manuscripts and Islamic Art Asian Award Winners: Henry Walters’ Art from the International Fairs Wednesday, October 26 Rob Mintz, Curator of Asian Art Vessantara: A Thai Story Wednesday, November 16 Rebecca Hall, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow Research at the Walters 2011 Wednesday, December 7 Glenn Gates, Conservation Scientist

MEMBERS’ ART OF READING BOOK CLUB Members free / Non-members $5 Join us for intimate discussions of new and exciting books. Members receive a 10% discount on books purchased in the museum store. For more information or to register, call (410) 547-9000, ext. 335.

Sunday, September 25 Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel

by Susan Vreeland Set in tumultuous late 19th-century New York, Clara and Mr. Tiffany tells the story of Clara Driscoll, who ran the women’s workshop at the famous glass studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Sunday, November 13 The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen Sofonisba Anguissola, who served as court painter to King Philip II of Spain, was the first woman artist of the Renaissance, known throughout Europe for her portraits.

FAMILY FUN DROP-IN ART ACTIVITIES

DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

Saturdays & Sundays 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Free Drop-in, make and take a fantastic piece of art home with you! Create innovative and artistic projects as a family. Check out our monthly themes!

September: Me, Myself & I October: Creative Kid Geniuses November: Text Messages December: Island Getaway

Sunday, November 6 12–3 p.m.

Free Come celebrate! ¡Vengan a celebrar!

This jovial Mexican holiday commemorates the lives of family and friends who have passed away. Enjoy traditional Mexican dance performances, a live mariachi band and art activities for the whole family. Starting November 2, the museum will host a community altar in the Graham Auditorium; members of the public are encouraged to bring items in honor of loved ones who have

FAMILY FESTIVAL OF DISCOVERY Saturday, October 22 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Free What happens when you combine curiosity with creativity? Find out at the Walters! Join us for a festival that celebrates the connections between art, science, math and play! Learn about inventions created by artists, and discover how scientists and artists have used art to answer questions and solve puzzles. Try your hand at creating your own inventions and making experimental art projects. Meet scientists and artists, play with light and much more! All ages will be astounded by amazing performances that demonstrate the power, beauty and fun of science and art. Plus, enjoy free admission to see the special exhibition Lost & Found: The Secrets of Archimedes.

NEW! MINI CAMP: KID CONSERVATORS Friday, November 4 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Member’s Child $80 / Non-member’s Child $100 Ages 5–12 No school today? Mini Camps at the Walters offer creative kids a unique and fun-filled way to spend the day! Join our team of ace art detectives and explore the museum as never before. We’ll investigate mysteries and solve puzzles, construct innovative and artistic inventions, and create in-depth art projects all day long. All camps are taught by professional artists and museum educators. Healthy snacks will be provided; campers should bring a lunch with them.

passed away.

MONUMENT LIGHTING FAMILY FESTIVAL Tuesday, December 1 5–8:30 p.m.

Free Celebrate the holiday season and the annual lighting of the Washington Monument at the Walters during this free, family-friendly event! Enjoy seasonal performances, music, refreshments, holiday films and special winter-inspired kids’ art activities! At 7 p.m., the Washington Monument will be set aglow, followed by fireworks.

THE ART OF DISCOVERY GALA Saturday, October 15 6 p.m.–midnight A Gala with a purpose. This year, a portion of the proceeds from the Walters Annual Gala will help match our National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, support Education Endowment, and ensure the place of the Walters Art Museum as a dynamic educational resource.

Individual tickets and tables are available for purchase. Please contact 410-547-9000, ext 212 to reserve.

WINTER BREAK ACTIVITIES December 26–January 1 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Shed some light upon your wintry break and bring the whole family to the Walters for a special week of art activities!

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community outreach

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THE ART & SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING IN THE MUSEUM

or many of us, looking at art in museums reinforces our own identities and makes us feel like we belong to something larger. We look at a work of art and relate our own life experiences and culture to that of the artist or maker. For those of us who are accustomed to museums, this intuitive process can also be a powerful instructional tool for English Language Learners. We know that it can support healthy cultural adaptation in refugees and immigrants.

For five years education staff at the Walters has been using works of art from the collection as language-teaching tools for refugee youth through our partnership with Baltimore City Community College’s Refugee Youth Project (ryp).

During monthly ryp museum visits, educators frequently use a combination of museum-teaching techniques and methods for teaching language acquisition.

Recently, educators in Community Outreach have applied these successful approaches with young learners to adult language learners, through programs off site and at the museum. In 2010–11, educators taught a series of English classes to adult English Language Learners at Casa de Maryland, an immigrant workers’ center in east Baltimore.

Educators used works of art from the collection in practicing English vocabulary useful to adult English learners, such as words and phrases used when visiting the doctor. Adult learners, just like young learners, enjoyed using their growing English vocabulary to talk about their own life experiences in

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relation to the works of art they were viewing. In providing a platform for English Language Learners to discuss their experiences with others, works of art can be powerful tools for refugee and immigrant learners who are in a new environment and constantly reevaluating their past and present identities.

Many social scientists posit language and communication as essential to healthy cross-cultural adaptation.

These experimental lessons were met with such enthusiasm by adult English learners that they prompted the launch of a new program at the museum called Intercambio: Artful Language Exchange. The goal of the Intercambio program is to bring English and Spanish language learners together at the museum to engage in discussions about art and culture while practicing a new language. Intercambio means “exchange” in Spanish: another important goal of the program is that the learners become teachers of their own native language.

Piloted in spring 2011, the Intercambio program series was well attended by diverse groups of people from different parts of the community. The program is now a regular part of our calendar, with sessions once a month from October to May. Like all Community Outreach programs, our goal is to use the museum as a space for diverse groups of people to come together and learn about each other.

—lindsey anderson, community outreach coordinator

IN THE MUSEUM STORE

Artifact Game $34.95 / Members $31.46 Are there other undiscovered works of art hidden away like in The Archimedes Palimpsest?

Artifact is an exciting strategy game that sends players around the world to search and recover missing treasures. How good are your negotiation skills? Can you trust your informants to give you reliable information? Your goal is to advance around the board by successfully recovering artifacts. You will face time-sensitive challenges that test your memory and your luck.

Requires two or more players.

Archimedes Stomachion Puzzle $18.95 / Members $17.05 The Archimedes’ Square is the world’s oldest documented brain-teaser. Developed by the famous Greek mathematician, this tangram-like set consists of 14 solid wood polygons, of varying sizes and shapes, that combine to form a square.

There are hundreds of known solutions for recombining the tiles into the original square.

The puzzle comes complete with a wooden storage tray; well-crafted wood pieces with nontoxic inks.

The Archimedes Codex Museum Price $13.50 / Members $12.15 Part archaeological detective story, part science and part history, The Archimedes Codex tells the remarkable story of a lost manuscript from its creation in medieval Constantinople to its sale at Christie’s in 1998. Co-authored by the Walters’ Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, William Noel, this book uncovers the secrets of this palimpsest and explains the innovative imaging techniques that were used to decipher it.

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behind the scenes

A NEW WINDOW ON THE COLLECTION If you’ve visited our website recently, you’ve probably noticed our extensive online collection of artwork. If you haven’t, now is a great time to see our collection in an interesting new way. We’ve recently redesigned our works of art website. There’s plenty to see and do.

What’s new online?

Our new and improved works of art website has a new look and feel.

It’s very similar to the magazine you’re reading right now. This is part of our effort to make all of our materials even friendlier.

We’ve also made it easier for you to sort the collection in a variety of ways—by date, medium, place of origin and even the objects’ location within the museum. Our search engine has been overhauled. Now, it will be easier to find the treasures you’re looking for, from our collection of thousands. If you want to casually browse the collection, we’ve improved some features to help. Now, you can more easily add tags, or keywords, to the artworks. These tags help you and others find and describe similar objects.

We’ve added more information about the artworks, such as conservation treatments and exhibition histories. This information will give you a better sense of the surprisingly active life of a museum object.

One feature we’re excited about is Community Collections. Now, you can be your own online curator. When you find a piece that you like, click a button and can add it to one of your own collections. These collections will be useful to anyone who would like to share a group of artworks with others.

Speaking of sharing, we’ve made it easier for you to share artwork via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. You can also download any of our images to your computer or mobile device, so that you can use our images in other ways for free.

Why did we redesign it?

In 2009, we posted digital images and associated information about more than 5,000 art objects to our website. Since then, the online collection has more than doubled, and its audience has more than doubled along with it. We wanted to make a few changes to accommodate the growth, to respond to our visitors’ feedback, to make the website easier to use and to make it more inviting to a growing number of users, and we were fortunate to receive support of this endeavor from the National Endowment for the Arts.

As always, we want to bring art and people together for enjoyment, discovery and learning. On the internet, we want to project the Walters’ artworks out into the world so that they are better known and can be shared with national and international audiences. We also want to facilitate study of the Walters’ artworks and encourage their use in educational activities.

Please take a look at our new website, art.thewalters.org and try the new features. We hope it will help you make some new discoveries.

The new works of art website includes additional information with a new, approachable look.

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annual giving circles

T

he Walters Art Museum extends its sincerest thanks to those individuals and foundations who joined the Annual Giving Circles in fiscal year 2011 (July 1, 2010–June 30, 2011).

Through the generosity of all of our donors, we are able to maintain the highest standards and enable everyone to be touched by art. Thank you very much!

Anonymous Ms. Katherine E. Abruzzino The Alsop Family Foundation Ms. Linda C. Barclay Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Bergbauer Mr. and Mrs. Alfred R. Berkeley III Ms. Mary-Ann Beverly Mr. and Mrs. David W. Blois Mrs. Natalie L. Blum Mr. and Mrs. John M. Boardman Mr. Gerry L. Brewster Mr. Derek Brown and Ms. Deborah Hellman Mrs. Marjorie Bishop Brown Mrs. Mary Jo Campbell Mr. and Mrs. John T. Chay Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin R. Civiletti Dr. and Mrs. Neri M. Cohen Mr. and Mrs. Stanton J. Collins, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Constable John Dean and Ellen Burchenal Mr. Curtis L. Decker Dr. Mary W. Delbanco Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert DiPietro Dr. and Mrs. Verdi J. DiSesa Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Doggett III Mr. and Mrs. Kirk J. Emge Mr. and Mrs. Angus R. Everton Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Fenton Mr. Michael Ferris Leon Fleisher and Katherine L. Jacobson Nadine Fontan and Oliver Schein Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Footlick Dr. Deborah A. Ford Dr. Jean L. Fourcroy-Behr and Mr. Amin Behr Mr. and Mrs. Francis G. French Mr. Nicholas E. Glyphis Mr. and Mrs. Philip Goelet Mr. and Mrs. Warren A. Green Mr. and Mrs. Howard S. Greenberg

Mr. Jerry R. Guchemand Mr. and Mrs. Andrew S. Gudgel Mr. and Mrs. Timothy L. Gunn Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Haberman Ms. Claire T. Hartman Mrs. Alexander Harvey II Mrs. Joan McHenry Hoblitzell Mr. and Mrs. William F. Holzgang Ms. Mary E. Huddleston Mr. William C. Jacob, Jr. and Ms. Jennifer S. Williams The Jacobson Family Foundation Ms. Patricia A. Jonas Mr. and Mrs. David H. Jones Mr. Fred F. Joubin Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kane Ms. Joyce S. Keating Mrs. Rena C. Kelly Dr. and Mrs. Sheldon I. Keyser Dr. and Mrs. Earl D. Kidwell, Jr. The Kim Family Fund Ms. Georgette Kiser and Ms. Annie B. Thompson Mr. David A. Lamdin Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Lans The Honorable Julian L. Lapides and Mrs. Lapides Mr. and Mrs. John I. Leahy, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Sheldon H. Lerman Mr. Mark A. Likness and Ms. Jodi B. Sokol Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Lorentzen Mr. and Mrs. Steven M. Lurz Mr. and Mrs. Paul N. Manson Mr. and Mrs. John T. McBeth Mr. and Mrs. Eric M. McKie Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. McNeal Mr. and Mrs. Cleaveland D. Miller Dr. and Mrs. Myron Miller Drs. Charlotte E. Modly and Paul A. Tarantino Ms. Anna P. Moore and Mr. Hunter A. Fowler Bryan and Jennifer Murphy Ms. Elizabeth T. Neubauer Ms. Kathleen D. Nolan and Mr. Barry Eigen Mr. and Mrs. James P. O’Meara Dr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Packer Mr. and Mrs. Norman D. Paget Dr. Susan R. Panny and Mr. Eaton E. Panny Mr. and Mrs. Alexander T. Perry

New Annual Giving Circles members Barbara and Michael Young enjoy being one of the first to see Treasures of Heaven at the Annual Patron Event this past February.

The Mary-Ann and Wally Pinkard Fund Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O. Pittenger Kate and David Powell Ms. Denise P. Pumphrey Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Reynolds Mr. and Mrs. Peter St. John Reid Mrs. Marlyn G. Robinson Mr. and Mrs. Lee B. Rosenberg The Cynthia and Peter Rosenwald Fund Mr. Michael Rusk Mr. and Mrs. Stephen H. Sachs Dr. George H. Sack, Jr. Mrs. Jacqueline C. Sanders Mr. and Mrs. James Scully Dr. and Mrs. Carlton C. Sexton Dr. and Mrs. Kevin Sheth Ms. Nancy E. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Wayne F. Smith Mr. and Mrs. William Smolin Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Spencer Mr. and Mrs. William C. Starke Dr. and Mrs. Harry S. Stevens Mr. and Mrs. Ronald B. Stokes Mrs. Margaret Parsons Stout Mr. and Mrs. Stephen W. Sutton Mr. George A. Taler and Ms. Cynthia H. Renoff Mr. and Mrs. Ralph S. Tyler Mrs. Mary F. P. Wagley Mr. Charles Emerson Walker Mr. and Mrs. Jerry M. Ward Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Woodridge, Jr. Drs. Anne and Bertram Wyatt-Brown Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Young Mr. Robert A. Zimmerman II Mr. and Mrs. Paul C. Zugates

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Welcome New Trustees!

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❶ Anne N. Apgar is Chair of the Women’s Committee of the Walters Art Museum. She received her ba from Wellesley College and her M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Having been a member of the William T. Walters Association in the 1990s, Anne joined the Women’s Committee in 1999. She has been actively involved in Long-Range Planning, the Jewelry Fair and Art Blooms, and she co-chaired Art Blooms in 2011. An urban economist and antiques and interior design consultant, she was most recently Director of Capital Giving at Roland Park Country School. ❷ Adele Kass represents Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz on the Walters board. Adele graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a B.Sc. in Elementary Education. She is currently Executive Secretary to the Baltimore County Executive, having served as his senior legislative aide on the Baltimore County Council since 1994. She is on the Executive Board of the Pikesville Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Reisterstown-Owings MillsGlyndon Chamber.

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❸ Neil A. Meyerhoff is a magna cum laude graduate of New York University and received his jd from Georgetown University Law Center. He is senior vice president and ceo of the real estate firm of Hendersen-Webb. Neil serves on the boards of the Maryland Institute College of Art and wypr. He is a practicing artist—a photographer whose work can be found in numerous public and private collections. ❹ Bailey Morris-Eck is a trustee of the American Funds family of mutual funds and a co-chair and founder of the International Women’s Media Foundation. In a long career in public policy and journalism, she has served on two White House policy staffs and as a fellow and senior associate of the Reuters Foundation, the Brookings Institution, the German Marshall Fund, the European Institute and Claremont Graduate School. She is currently a trustee of the Salzburg Global Seminar. She received her ba from Newton College of the Sacred Heart, with graduate work at Wharton and the Kennedy School of Government. Her professional experience also includes The Times of London, the Economist and the Associated Press.

❺ Bernard Selz is chairman of Selz Capital llc, New York. Interested in ancient and medieval works of art, he is a member of the board of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, the World Monuments Fund, the National Museum of the American Indian, American Friends of the Victoria and Albert Museum, an overseer at the Center for Jewish History and a member of the International Committee of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.

Bernard graduated with a ba from Columbia University. ❻ Gail Shawe graduated from Vassar College and holds an ma in Education from Goucher College. Her past work includes assistant coordinator for the twigs program at the Baltimore School for the Arts, serving as head of the Middle School at St. Paul’s School for Girls, assistant head of the Middle School at Friends School of Baltimore; she also taught at Bryn Mawr School and was a volunteer at Barclay Elementary. Gail is a member of the Board of the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Health System and the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women.

Board President Douglas W. Hamilton, Jr.

D

ouglas W. Hamilton, Jr. is the newly elected President of the Walters’ Board of Trustees. He was recently interviewed by Joy Heyrman, Director of Development, in the Southeast Asian Art Galleries.

What drew you to the Walters and how long have you been involved?

My earliest recollection of the Walters was visiting a special exhibition of artifacts from Tutankhamen’s tomb in the early 1960s. To this day I can remember my mother’s excitement as we toured what was then a much smaller museum. Later, in my midteens, I had spent a fabulous summer with my artist aunt, Elaine Hamilton, touring many of the cultural sites and museums that ring the Mediterranean. We traveled from Egypt and the Middle East through Turkey, Greece and Italy and points further north.

This trip showed me how objects can help us understand cultures and civilizations that existed in many different places and at many points in the continuum of human history. My wife Tsognie and I joined the Friends of the Asian Collection in 1987. Through that

group, and other social events at the museum, we have joined a wonderful community of people interested in history, culture and art.

What have been some of the highlights for you in that time?

A number of great special exhibitions come to mind. Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, with its fantastic paintings, and Land of the Winged Horsemen: Art in Poland, 1572–1764 are still with me to this day.

When you describe the Walters to someone who has never visited, what do you say?

It is exciting to walk through the Walters and realize that it contains objects that adorned the bodies of pharaohs, the temples of ancient Greece and Rome, and the monasteries of Tibet, India and Southeast Asia. It is a never-ending thrill to look at works from hundreds of diverse cultures made by the hands of individuals who lived and died throughout 5,000 years of human history. I imagine the lives of those who made them, used them or

owned them, and I am reminded of the fragility and impermanence of even great civilizations.

What are some of the challenges facing the museum these days? What inspires you in this new role?

Just as objects in our collections were witnesses to change, our task as trustees is to continue to build on the important work our staff does to bring art and people together for enjoyment, discovery and learning. How gratifying it is to observe a first-time visitor walk throughout the museum with a look of wonder on her face. And how fulfilling to know that all members of our community can visit free of charge thanks in part to the generosity of the board and others in our community!

Our immediate challenge and opportunity as a board is to increase our endowment to allow us to continue to develop world-class exhibitions, to expand and refine the myriad awardwinning educational programs we offer and continue to provide free access to all.

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MUSEUM NEWS � THE Miller family

The Walters and the Miller family go back a long way! Former trustee Deke Miller and his grandson Ramsay Kissack stand in front of a portrait of Decatur Miller, Deke’s great grandfather, given to the Walters by Deke and his wife, Sally. The Walters has more than a hundred works by Deke’s great great uncle Alfred Jacob Miller, a 19th-century painter (and native Baltimorean) celebrated for his paintings and sketches of the American West.

� Members Magazine Wins Award

For the second year in a row, the Walters design studio has been recognized in the American Association of Museums (aam) Annual Museum Design Competition. Marketing materials for the Treasures of Heaven exhibition were awarded second prize in the “Marketing / Public Relations Materials” category. The newly redesigned Walters Members Magazine was also awarded second prize in the “Magazine” category.

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profiles Profiles in giving giving

Ursula & Edward McCracken Bequest

Thank you!

Bequests are the bedrock of the long-term economic strength of an organization. Gifts by will provide critical long-term revenue to sustain an organization through economic ups and downs. Ursula and Edward McCracken both understood this, and because of their foresight, the Walters Art Museum recently received their generous gift.

The Board of Trustees and staff of the Walters Art Museum want to express our thanks and appreciation to our elected officials at the state and local level for the general operating grants the museum receives each year. The Walters benefits greatly from the generosity of Baltimore City, the Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County, Howard County and the Maryland State Department of Education, leveraging those grants with gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations and with earned revenue.

It is unusual to have a husband-andwife team working in a setting the size of the Walters, but Ursula and Edward McCracken did just that, serving on the Walters staff during the 1960s and 1970s.

Ursula McCracken received her B.A. from Wellesley College, and Ed earned his degree from the Johns Hopkins University. In 1965, when she and Ed were married, Ursula began working at the Walters as an editorial assistant. In 1970, she was named Editor of Publications and she remained in that position for the next seven years. Ed McCracken joined the staff four years after Ursula, in 1969, and served as an administrative officer here for ten years until 1979.

Ursula left the Walters to take the job of director of development at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her final career move was to become the executive director of the distinguished Textile Museum in Washington, dc’s Embassy Row neighborhood, where she served from 1986 to 2003.

After his departure from the Walters, Ed McCracken worked in development for a number of institutions, including Goucher College and the University of Maryland. Even after retirement, Ed worked part-time, helping the Roland Park Place retirement community with fundraising.

Ursula and Ed McCracken spent most of their careers working in the world of nonprofits and clearly understood the importance of bequests and endowment. They both knew what a difference they could make to an organization about which they truly cared.

Their legacy will add to that critical bedrock of support for the Walters’ future operations.

—anne king, manager, gift planning and major gifts

In additional to local grants, support on the federal level has given us the opportunity to develop innovative special programming.

We are grateful to our federal officials for supporting the budgets of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

We appreciate the tough decisions our politicians have been forced to make during the past few budget years, and thank them for recognizing the important role of the Walters Art Museum in the life of our region.

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600 n. charles st. baltimore, md 21201-5185 thewalters.org / 410-547-9000

Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection Gift February 12–May 20, 2012

This spring, the Walters will celebrate the recent gift of PreColumbian art from the collection of John Bourne with the special exhibition Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection Gift. Organized thematically by culture, the exhibition highlights more than 2,500 years of creativity in Mexico, Central America and Andean South America from 1200 bc to ad 1520.

Themes include the feminine origins of royal power in Mexico, the shamanic foundation of rulership in Costa Rica and Panama, and the cosmic properties embodied by gold and silver in Colombia and Peru. Elaborate musical instruments and portrayals of dancers highlight the importance of performance in politics and religion throughout the ancient Americas.

Don’t miss this exciting adventure.

nonprofit org u.s. postage paid baltimore, md permit no. 1102