WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM of ART Annual Report 2019 ANNUAL REPORT 2019 WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM of ART
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WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART Annual Report 2019 ANNUAL REPORT 2019 WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART Contents 3 From the President 5 Report: the Year in Review 8 175 Years of Serving the Community 12 Making Museums Matter 18 Understanding Artemisia 24 Exhibitions & Acquisitions 40 Program Highlights 54 People, Donors & Gifts 80 Financials Cover: Nicolaes van Verendael, A Still Life, 1682. Oil on copper. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 2019.8.1 From the President This annual report, capturing the activities of the museum between July 2018 and June 2019, is filled with the variety and quality of experiences and impacts generated by the committed staff, dedicated volunteers of our support organizations, and devoted board of trustees of our institution, on the 175th anniversary of the beginning of the museum’s service to the public. Though the Wadsworth was founded in 1842, it was not until the late summer of 1844 that we opened our doors and truly took hold as a beacon for the visual arts, located at the heart of Hartford, instigating conversations about art which resonate with people—then as now—from all over. We are informed by our history but we are keeping our sights on the future. Our program horizon is robust. None of it would be possible without the steadfast commitment and support from so many of you. My thanks for all you do to ensure the healthy future of this great museum. William R. Peelle, Jr. President, Board of Trustees Left: Sol LeWitt, Black and White Horizontal Lines on Color, 2005. Gouache on paper. Gift of Ellen Carey in memory of Sol LeWitt, 2019.12.1 3 Report: the Year in Review Over the past year at the Wadsworth Atheneum we saw our exhibitions and programs blossom in the imagination of our visitors, while at the same time the museum found new admirers from near and far. The dual nature of the institution—as both one of the gem- like arts institutions in New England and a museum of global consequence—has never felt stronger. We are a place where the visual arts come alive for our closest neighbors and we are also an organization plugged into a larger cultural context, relevant to many who may never come to Connecticut. We may never know the total number of people who took note of the dramatic news of the authentication of Vase with Poppies by Vincent van Gogh (1886); estimates tell us that the national and international coverage of that story by television and radio outlets including NPR and the Voice of America, together with the Hartford Courant and The Art Newspaper (London) stories that were syndicated by the Associated Press, reached into the tens of millions. And yet, was that news anywhere near as important as the up-close engagement with art enjoyed by those visiting and interacting with Sean Scully at the opening of his show, contemplating Giorgione’s La Vecchia, reconnecting with surrealist masterpieces in Monsters & Myths, or the school kids who discovered something about themselves in the collection on a docent-led visit or perhaps drawing in the galleries? Indeed, there is no single opportunity Left: Maro Gorky, Winter Bamboo, 2005. Oil on canvas. among the range we foster here at the Wadsworth that Gift of Linda Cheverton Wick and Walter Wick, 2018.20.2 defines the museum entirely. 5 In last year's annual report we highlighted the advances It was a major year in collecting for the Wadsworth too, Enough emphasis can never be paid to the role of Our attention is trained on developing the best we made on several programmatic initiatives—sculpture remarkable for two groups of important acquisitions collaborations in the realization of our work. So experiences possible. In the coming two years a mix on Main Street and in the galleries, a physical refreshing in particular which have already found audiences much of our education program impact, be it in the of large exhibition projects are planned on subjects of the gallery used for most MATRIX projects, notable in our special exhibitions. We were able to acquire nearly 13,000 K–12 school children served or the as wide-ranging as the revolution in European food performances emerging from our collection and history, ten early American samplers—threadwork made by ambassadorial efforts to bring art curricula to fruition culture in the 18th century to exploring the ways in and the systematic approach we are bringing to building eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century New England with college students and lifelong learning centers which African American artists over the past 150 upon our important American art legacy. That work schoolgirls as graduation pieces as they passed alike, relies on an atmosphere of working together. Our years have expressed a shifting worldview to a continued this past year and is ongoing as we secure a milestones in their primary education—from the estate 88 strong docent corps used its fiftieth year of service nuanced examination of women artists from Baroque promising future. The Wadsworth continues to improve of Greenwich collector/scholar Glee Krueger. More last year as one of expanding our impact around the Italy. Each emanates from our collection strengths and innovate with special emphasis on the experiences than visual recitations of the alphabet, these textiles state with 69 special presentations. Simultaneously and commitment to germinate thoughtful discourse. we are creating on site. feature architectural scenes and a highly-sophisticated our most-diverse class of docent candidates (over 20 None of these projects would be possible without approach to design. Textiles like these were the classic of them) more gender and age balanced, with language the commitment of our partner institutions and the To mention one new way of exhibition-making, the pictorial works of art in period homes, not paintings. facility matching that of our audiences was recruited support of our expanding philanthropic base. My recently recaptured space on the second floor of the Despite our long history and recognized commitment and began training this autumn. Working with the deepest thanks to both. The trust and confidence Avery Memorial enabled the presentation of Giorgione’s to textiles and design, there were no samplers like FRAME network of North American and French peer they instill elevate the Wadsworth and this incredible La Vecchia and will continue to be programmed for these in our collections. Two are included in Design in institutions, we developed a workshop for staff of local+global community we serve. the coming two years in a similar way, with dossier the American Home, one of the increasing number of community organizations to use art to teach empathy projects bringing exceptional works of art—each an refreshed presentations of the outstanding collections of and foster social mindfulness and compassion. Thomas J. Loughman, Ph.D. icon of its kind—together with a special commitment early New England material culture in our care. Another With the help of guidelines from the International Director and CEO to storytelling calibrated especially to forge that ten objects came into the collection as we prepared Council of Museums we tried trilingual exhibition essential connection to today’s visitors. In coming for Be Seen: Portrait Photography Since Stonewall, this texts to meet the language needs of our expanding months, you will come closer to an exceptional House past summer’s major exhibition. The Wadsworth began audience; surveys of our visitors have revealed 53 of Worth gown made for ambassadorial receptions collecting large-format photography in the 1970s, and a languages spoken at home, with English, French, at the English court, a newly-restored sculpture by review of our holdings revealed not only the strengths and Spanish being the most popular. The Wadsworth Isamu Noguchi that draws on Japanese folded- and of that collection, but also the absence of some major Welcome community now counts over 4,328 Hartford cut-paper traditions while embracing Space-Age photographers, both emerging and established. households, and cardholders were a big part of our materials (aluminum!), and a reconsideration of the Through the winter and into the spring, several gifts opening celebration for Sean Scully: Landline as well as relationship between mathematical sequences and and purchases were organized that complemented the partners in several surveys. Our formal collaboration elegant design in the work of Connecticut’s beloved existing collection and brought to us the first works by with UConn came into focus as enabling work for the eighteenth-century cabinet maker Eliphalet Chapin. Catherine Opie, Zanele Muholi, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and arts management suite commences, and hosting over Meanwhile, in our exhibition development process we Mickalene Thomas and added to the existing holdings 18,000 visitors during the three-production residency have made great strides in establishing the disciplines of Boston School photographer Mark Morrisroe. While of TheaterWorks through spring and summer in the of listening to our core stakeholders as we planned and 87 works of art—ranging from Old Master paintings theater was a win for both institutions. implemented our shows over the past year, convening to modern sculpture, fashion design, an important a range of community feedback roundtables in advance work of New England furniture and the family archive of Be Seen: Portrait Photography Since Stonewall as well of its silversmith maker, as well as new 21st century as forthcoming projects including Afrocosmologies: paintings—entered the collection last year in sum, these American Reflections. We strive to cultivate lively two major groups can rightly be called transformative. discussion and the consideration of all kinds of visual For a complete list, see page 32. art, and these enhanced practices have borne fruit—we are finding new partners and collaborators as we enrich the dialogue happening in the galleries and beyond.