Biennial Report 2015–2016 1 2 Biennial Report 2015–2016 3 Dish with Everted Rim and Design of Squirrels amidst Grapevines, late 17th–early 18th century; Qing dynasty, Chinese, Jingdezhen ware: porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration; 3 7/8 × 16 1/4 inches; Museum Purchase, by exchange 60:2016 4 Report of the President It is my great pleasure to acknowledge and thank The independent review of credit-rating agencies 2014-15 Board President Barbara B. Taylor for continued to recognize the Museum for its sound her service and extraordinary commitment to the financial management. In 2016, Moody’s reaffirmed Saint Louis Art Museum. Following the first full year the Museum’s Aa3 bond rating, and Standard & Poor’s of operating its expanded campus, the Museum began reaffirmed the institution’s A+ debt rating and revised 2015 under Barbara’s leadership focused on the its outlook on the Museum from stable to positive. advancement of a new five-year strategic plan adopted by the Board of Commissioners in August 2014. As of December 31, 2016, the market value of the With an emphasis on the institution’s long-term financial Museum’s endowment was $196 million. Several sustainability and underscored by a commitment to significant gifts to the endowment were received enhance significantly the institution’s digital capabilities, during the period, including an extraordinary gift the Plan prioritizes the Museum’s comprehensive to endow and name the directorship of the Museum, collection; the visitor experience; the Museum’s believed to be the largest such endowment gift to an relationship to the community; and the development art museum in the nation. This transformative gift of new audiences for the future. will allow the Museum to attract and maintain the highest level of talent in its chief executive position We made significant initial progress toward fulfilling in perpetuity. the Plan during the two-year term, notably with the establishment of a new institutional digital strategy We continue to be tremendously grateful to the and the implementation of a comprehensive survey taxpayers of St. Louis and St. Louis County, whose of the Museum’s collection. In March 2016, the Board property taxes through the Zoo Museum District of Commissioners adopted a plan authorizing the sustain the Art Museum’s ongoing operations and creation of a Digital Media & Experience department programs, and the significant financial support received and the resources to strengthen the technical from Members and donors who have expressed their infrastructure supporting the Museum’s online commitment to the Museum’s ongoing success. presence. By the end of 2016, some 1680 works Through their ongoing generosity, the Saint Louis Art of art in storage had been examined and inventoried. Museum continues to be acknowledged as one of the This initiative will inform future decisions regarding the leading comprehensive art museums in the country. exhibition, deaccession, and storage of the Collection. In June 2015, the Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Garden opened to the public, fulfilling the plan designed by French landscape architect Michel Desvigne. The garden, and an endowment to fund its upkeep, was John R. Musgrave made possible by a gift from Barbara B. and Andrew President, Board of Commissioners C. Taylor. The garden is named in honor of their granddaughter, Grace Taylor Broughton. 5 Théodore Rousseau, French, 1812–1867; Pheasantry in the Forest of Compiègne, 1833; oil on canvas; 20 7/8 × 25 5/8 inches; Funds given by Mr. and Mrs. John Peters MacCarthy; and gift of Justina G. Catlin in memory of her husband, Daniel Catlin, by exchange 33:2016 6 Report of the Director The Saint Louis Art Museum’s recently completed the superb collection of this New York museum, and expansion project was inspired by the commitment to was the first exhibition in many years to present this improve the visitor experience of original works of art important genre of American art in St. Louis. Conflicts through physical enhancements to its facilities, including of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan vividly the creation of incremental gallery space, enhanced illustrated two wars between Japan and its imperial visitor amenities, and work to address infrastructural neighbors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. issues that had limited the effectiveness and efficiency of This exhibition featured recent gifts of Museum its operations. With this initiative successfully realized, Commissioner Charles and Rosalyn Lowenhaupt, who the Museum’s leadership shifted its focus toward donated the entirety of their comprehensive collection mission-fulfilling, programmatic priorities and a renewed to the Museum in 2010. commitment to the development of diverse new audiences in service to the St. Louis community. The collection was significantly enhanced during the biennial period, expanding the Museum’s ability to During 2015-16, four of the six exhibitions featured illustrate more fully the story of art through time and in the main exhibition galleries were organized by the culture. Among noteworthy acquisitions were Sunday Saint Louis Art Museum. The 2015 exhibition schedule Morning Breakfast, a 1943 painting by African-American featured complementary viewpoints on 19th-century artist Horace Pippin, which is featured on the cover of American landscape painting: Thomas Cole’s Voyage of this report; Soundsuit, by Missouri-born artist Nick Life; Scenic Wonder: An Early American Journey down Cave; a 19th century American Rococo silver tea kettle the Hudson River; and Navigating the West: George and stand by Vincent Laforme; The Disasters of War, a Caleb Bingham and the River, which was co-organized bound set of 80 prints by Francisco de Goya; and the by the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Amon Carter photographic series The Brown Sisters, by photographer Museum of American Art. The Bingham exhibition Nicholas Nixon, given by Yvette and John Dubinsky. traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art following Other highlights include Double Diptych Icon Pendant, its presentation in St. Louis. In collaboration with a personal devotional object from 17th century Washington University, the Museum presented Beyond Ethiopia; Power Figure (nkisi nkondi), a sculpture that Bosch, examining Hieronymus Bosch’s unique imagery significantly enhances our presentation of art from and its influence on printmakers in the 16th century. central Africa; Pheasantry in the Forest of Compiegne, This exhibition subsequently traveled to the Harvard a moonlit landscape by Théodore Rousseau; and Art Museums. Senufo: Art and Identity in West Africa was Detached III, a large-scale sculpture by the English the Museum’s first major exhibition of African art in artist Rachel Whiteread. more than 20 years. St. Louis Modern traced the story of modernism in the St. Louis region through the mid- For more than a century, the Saint Louis Art Museum 20th century, and was planned to coincide with the has been strengthened through the generosity of the 50th anniversary of the Gateway Arch. citizens of St. Louis and countless donors who have cared deeply about its success. With your ongoing The 2016 exhibition schedule emphasized significant enthusiasm and support, the Museum enters its next holdings in the Museum’s collection donated by St. Louis phase with confidence in the present and optimism collectors over the years. The Carpet and the Connoisseur: for the future. The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs featured the Museum’s collection of Oriental carpets given by St. Louis businessman James F. Ballard. The 1929 bequest of his internationally renowned collection was among the first defining collection gifts received by the Museum. Self-Taught Genius: Treasures Brent R. Benjamin from the American Folk Art Museum was drawn from The Barbara B. Taylor Director 7 Collection Both 2015 and 2016 were important years for collection The long-term care of the Collection received new growth and development. Throughout the Museum’s focus with the launch of the Museum’s Strategic Plan. 135-year history, the majority of works that form In 2015, the Collection Survey Implementation Team today’s collection arrived through donation. The support was created to assess the current state of the collection. the Museum receives from donors continues to have a Staff from registration, curatorial, and conservation significant impact on the collection. Of the 525 works began reviewing objects both in storage and on display that were accessioned into the collection between to assess and document physical condition and quality, 2015 and 16, nearly 60 percent were received as and to verify existing records. Data from this project gifts. Nearly all of the remainder were purchased will help the Museum to modernize and update its with funds received through outside donations. storage facilities and shape the collection’s future. In 2015, the Museum received 64 works from The The Museum’s goal of an increased understanding of Donald Danforth, Jr. Collection completing a gift that the collection also was enhanced by the creation of a increased the Museum’s holdings of Native American new Collections Cataloguer. The work undertaken by Art by more than 250 objects. Museum exhibitions this position will make collection information more also generated new acquisitions to the collection. accessible to staff, scholars, and the public. The 2015 fall show, St. Louis Modern, focused on mid-century design in St. Louis and inspired local Conservation of the collection remains a priority for collectors to donate prints, textiles, ceramics, furniture, the Museum. During 2015-16, conservators were and two monumental stained glass windows by local instrumental in preparing more than 200 works for artist Emil Frei. Funds donated by Margaret and the reinstallation of the American collection and other Irvin Dagan for the purchase of Japanese prints allowed permanent collection gallery rotations and exhibitions. the Museum to significantly increase its holdings of The ability to obtain a more complete understanding contemporary works and feature them in the exhibition of the Museum’s collection was broadened by the A Century of Japanese Prints.