FRIENDS OF THE INSTITUTE

AUGUST 2012

Volunteers Needed Target Park Turns into Art Perchance on August 16 The MIA’s community arts staff is looking for several volunteers to assist with activities this summer in Minneapolis parks. Volunteers will help with a balloon twisting activity, share MIA promotional information, and engage with the public. Be a VIP! Must have an interest When you purchase a VIP ticket, you’ll in sharing a love of be invited to come early, from 5 to 6 p.m., the MIA with families for an exclusive pre-party reception with attending these the artists where you can preview the art. festivals. Multiple During that one-hour reception, VIPs will dates and locations have exclusive access to the “Buy it Now!” available through early opportunity, in which works of art can be Art Perchance is almost here! Don’t forget that on September; 1.5–3 hour purchased without taking your chances in Thursday, August 16, Target Park will be trans- commitment per shift. the drawing or silent auction. formed into a carnival complete with whimsical Interested? Please games, live music, and a chance to take home art Tickets are available at $100, $250, and contact Krista Pearson: from well-known local artists. It is sure to be one $500 per person, and include drink tickets, [email protected], of the summer’s most fun events! free valet parking, and increasing amounts (612) 870-3104. of free chances for the drawing! You’ll also Be serenaded by the unique musical stylings of the enjoy access to a private lounge with treats Brian Just Band, who take their inspiration from and sweets throughout the evening. Reserve the 60s and 70s and turn it into something to online at www.artsmia.org/art-perchance, which everyone can groove. or call (612) 870-6323. Play to win! The Art Perchance committee has been hitting the local artist beat to secure wonderful art that you’ll want to take home. Some confirmed items include a signed book from Alec Soth, an APC: The Basics incredible pottery vase by Richard Bresnahan, View more than 60 works of donated art in the works of art from Carolyn Swiszcz, Steven Lang, indoor Atrium. Timothy G. Piotrowski, and many more talented artists in a variety of media, including sculpture Play the games to win fun prizes. Purchase a VIP and jewelry. There’s something for everyone! ticket in advance (or a wristband the night of the event) and you’ll be able to win tokens for the art By attending Art Perchance and supporting the drawing. Friends, you help the MIA provide programs, education and transportation for children to visit Drop your tokens in the bucket next to your the museum as well as MIA exhibitions and art favorite work of art before 8 p.m. acquisitions. Who knew you could have so much Listen for your name to be called onstage at 8:30. fun supporting the Friends? Get your tickets, grab You could be a winner! your friends and let the games begin! As a part of Third Thursday, Art Perchance is open to the public. All are welcome to play the games for prizes, but only guests who contribute to the cause can win art! Friends Book Club returns with Luncheon of the Boating Party Please join us for the Friends Book Club on Friday, September 21, to Renoir, other artists of the time, models, and collectors where we’ll discuss Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan mentioned in this month’s book. The tour is followed by Vreeland. The novel describes the lives of Auguste Renoir’s forty-five minutes of lively discussion and treats in Studio 114. friends, whom he included in his memorable Impressionist painting. RSVP to the Friends office if you plan to attend: friends@ artsmia.org, (612) 870-3045. There’s space available for up Come to Studio 114 a few minutes before 10:30 a.m. for a to twenty-five Friends members! docent-led tour of artwork in the MIA’s collection related

UPCOMING BOOK CLUB READS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16 FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 Luncheon of the Cutting for Stone The Other Wes Moore The Madonnas of Leningrad Boating Party By Abraham Verghese By Wes Moore By Debra Dean By Susan Vreeland

DON’T MISS! International Line-Up of the Fiterman Lecture Series this Fall Thanks to the generosity of Mary Fiterman, the Fiterman and his revolution in galvanizing a long-divided nation. To Lecture Series, presented by the Friends, is on its way to quote Dr. Capon, “And what a story it is!” becoming a highly valued invitation among artists, art historians, critics, and other experts. The fall 2012 lineup This is just a third of the lineup the Friends have prepared for will present celebrated speakers from literally around the 2012–2013. Join us on the second Thursday of each month at world lecturing on a diverse set of topics. 11 a.m. in the Pillsbury Auditorium and share in the excitement as this year’s series unfolds! On Thursday, September 13, the Friends welcome French-born art historian Diana Widmaier . The granddaughter of Picasso and Marie Therese Walter, Ms. Picasso has been studying her grandfather’s oeuvre, particularly his sculpture, Special Invitation for Friends since 2003 and will deliver a lecture titled, “ in Vallarius: The Artist and the Artisans, 1954 to 1964.” Members Only Don’t miss a private reception for Friends honoring Diana Blake Gopnik, contemporary culture critic for Newsweek Widmaier Picasso hosted by another talented artist and MIA and the Daily Beast, will be sure to entertain and inform on Trustee, Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad, at her incredible Georgian October 11, when he presents his take on making sense of the Revival home in Edina. contemporary art world, “Art Without Objects: or, What to do when Donald Judd becomes Damien Hirst.” Wednesday, September 12 On November 8, in conjunction with the blockbuster exhibit, 5 to 7 p.m. “China’s Terracotta Warriors,” which opens in October, we Drinks and Hors d’Oeuvres will meet Edmund Capon, recently retired director of the Art $75 Gallery of New South Wales, who will tell the story of the Attendance is limited to 50 guests; please call the Friends First Emperor’s quest for immortality, his revolution in art office to reserve: (612) 870-3045. COLLECTION CONNECTION Pablo Picasso—Painter, Potter and Sculptor Born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain, Pablo Picasso was undoubtedly the most dominant figure in Western art in the twentieth century. According to his mother, his first word was “piz,” which is short for lápiz (pencil) in Spanish.

As a young boy of seven, he was given a pencil and taught figure drawing and oil painting by his father, a painter and professor of art. By the age of thirteen, his father felt his son had surpassed what he was able to teach him, so he was sent to the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. Since Picasso disliked the formal instruction, he set off on his own at just sixteen years of age.

Picasso was an artist who helped define Western art in the opening decades of the twentieth century with his ever evolving Pablo Picasso, Joie de Vivre, earthenware, c. 1956, Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton painting styles such as his Blue Period © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York of somber paintings in blue or blue-green, and his Rose Period of cheerful, romantic paintings in orange and pink. One of the greatest and most plates, casseroles, pitchers, vases and masks. At first he simply influential artists of his time, he is probably most well-known decorated pieces thrown on the wheel by Madoura potters. for his co-founding of with his friend and fellow He also began designing innovative pieces relating to ancient artist, Georges Braque. jugs and amphoras. These pieces with their fluid shapes (often reiterating his obsession with the female form) and whimsical Picasso left Paris during the late 1940s to settle in the south of painted decoration are a reflection of this more relaxed time in with his young mistress, Francoise Gilot, forty years his career. In later years he would return again to print making his junior, and their two young children, Claude and Paloma. and painting, which he had never completely abandoned. His During what was considered one of the happiest periods of his clay forms remain simple and fresh expressing a “joie de vivre” life, Picasso, now in his sixties, began producing some of his or joy of living, the name given to a large, white plate (pictured favorite subjects in a medium combining sculpture, painting here) which can be seen along with several other pieces in and drawing. Gallery 275.

He began working at Madoura, a pottery factory in Vallauris, Although thousands of Pablo Picasso pieces are now held in near Antibes. The ground yielded excellent clay, and Valleuris private collections and museums across the world, be sure to had been an important ceramic producing center from Roman visit Gallery 275 to view the MIA’s Picasso treasures. And times until the 1920s. Picasso’s participation at this particular don’t miss your chance to learn about Picasso’s sculpture time helped to revive the town’s depressed economy. He rented first-hand this fall, when Diana Widmaier Picasso speaks to an old perfume factory as a studio, and produced more than the Friends. (See article on page 2 for details.) 3,000 ceramic objects in a range of styles including figures,

New Pay-to-Park Program Debuts this Fall In mid-September, the MIA will introduce a new pay-to-park ramp or in the lot at 25th Street & 3rd Avenue you can do so program. The lots located at 24th and 25th streets, along by paying the fee. with the ramp, will begin operating as pay-to-park facilities. This program will allow the MIA to cover current costs to We will keep you updated as more details become available. maintain parking facilities, enhance the safety and security of these facilities, and become more self-sustaining through earned revenue.

Staff, regular volunteers and interns may park at no charge, on a space available basis, in the upper and lower lots located at 24th Street and 3rd Avenue. If you prefer to park in the AUGUST AT THE INSTITUTE Friends President August floral arrangements at the Visitor Information Desk are created by Wisteria. Carolyn Dahl Please call the Friends office for more information on our florists. Newsletter Editors Patty McCullough Tracy Schaefer NEW MEMBERS “Lively Edo” VOLUNTEERING Operations Coordinator Nicole Anderson Ruth Van Vugt Through Sunday, October 28, 2012 We are in the process of updating Friends Office Margie Desnick Rukavina and Louis W. Hill Gallery (239) our volunteer database. If you are (612) 870-3045 Steve B. Rukavina Free Exhibition interested in being contacted by Friends Fax the Friends for MIA volunteer (612) 870-6315 “Two Sides of the Modern: opportunities, please email ON VIEW AT THE MIA Friends E-mail Maverix Remix” [email protected] with your “Layered Abstraction: Quilting [email protected] Through Sunday, March 10, 2013 name and, if you like, any specific and Contemporary Fiber Art” Museum Shop Gallery 361 areas in which you’d like to Through Sunday, August 26, 2012 (612) 870-3100 Free Exhibition volunteer (e.g., special events, Robert and Marlyss White MIA Info fundraising, greeting visitors, Gallery (281) (612) 870-3000 etc.). Or, simply check the box on Free Exhibition Friends Web Site your membership renewal form www.artsmia.org/friends “Rembrandt in America” indicating that you wish to be Through Sunday, September 16 contacted. Questions? Call the Target Gallery Friends office: (612) 870-3045. (admission charged) Ticketed Exhibition (free for members!)

Friends of the Institute

Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Art Perchance: August 16

Fall Lecture Preview

Friends Book Club

R Printed on recycled paper