Acquisitions (2 MB PDF)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Collections The museum acquired 193 objects in 2002. Each adds unique quality to the collection, but even among them a few stand out as extraordinary. Grant Wood completed fewer than 40 paintings in his mature style, and the oppor- tunities to acquire them have been rare ever since the artist first came to prominence after the exhibition of his instantly iconic American Gothic. The museum has owned major prints by Wood, but not a painting—until this year, when, miraculously, the great 1940 composition January became avail- able. Not only is this a stunning work in its own right, and one of Wood’s last completed works (he died in 1942), it also relates to a Grant Wood litho- graph in the collection. Other major painting acquisitions included Oedipus at Colonus, the masterpiece of Fulchran-Jean Harriet, a leading figure at the time of the French Revolution whose career was stunted by his early death before the age of 30; Éva Meurier in a Green Dress, by the Symbolist Maurice Denis; and the Surrealist parody Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbre by Max Ernst. The decorative arts and sculpture collections were enriched by a late 18th-century marble, Figure of a Young Girl by François-Nicolas Delaistre, and a striking Limoges vase designed by Georges de Feure in about 1903. A small, elegant 18th-century sword from Switzerland joined the arms and armor collection. Louise Bourgeois’s 1984 white marble sculpture Blind Man’s Buff adds a new dimension to the contemporary collection, and Martin Puyear’s red cedar and pine sculpture Alien Huddle, 1993–95, familiar to many because it was on loan to the museum for a number of years, was officially welcomed as an acquisition, thanks to the generosity of Agnes Gund and Daniel 15 2-Collections.p65 15 6/10/2003, 4:28 PM Max Ernst (German, Shapiro. This addition simultaneously enhances the contemporary 1891–1976). Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbre, sculpture collection and strengthens the museum’s holdings of works by 1944; oil on canvas; 68 x 150 cm; Leonard African-American artists. Another sculpture visitors will notice is Tony C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2002.55 Smith’s Source, from 1967, a large-scale sculpture of geometric forms now on view on the southeast lawn. The museum received the sculpture as a gift from the Metropolitan Bank & Trust in 2001 but postponed its installation until the 1916 building renovation was completed. Jacques-Louis David’s 1813 sketch Cupid and Psyche provides an inter- esting foil for the large painting of the same title that has been a visitor fa- vorite for decades. Jan van Goyen’s drawing Landscape with a Wainwright Mending Wheels by a Village Road from 1651 enriches the collection of Dutch works on paper. And Richard Serra’s Khora from 2000 does the same for the contemporary collection. 16 2-Collections.p65 16 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM Louise Bourgeois (American, b. France, 1911). Blind Man’s Buff, 1984; white marble on wood base; 92.7 x 88.9 x 63.5 cm; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2002.29 17 2-Collections.p65 17 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM Anonymous (German). Pietà, 1435–50; woodcut, colored by hand with watercolor; 38.7 x 28.8 cm; Severance Millikin Trust 2002.4 An impressive group of prints included an anonymous German hand- colored woodcut Pietà from 1435–50, now the earliest print in the collection. Also important are a gift from the Print Club of Cleveland, a double por- trait lithograph by Johann Anton Ramboux, and an especially beautiful im- pression of Rembrandt’s etching and drypoint The Blindness of Tobit. A wonderful array of photographs joined the collection, with a notable group coming in a single purchase: The Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro Collection of American Photography is a spectacular group of early Ameri- can photographs whose acquisition provides a stronger cornerstone for the American photography holdings than could ever have been built through individual acquisitions, bringing it onto a par with the museum’s fine hold- 18 2-Collections.p65 18 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM Vessel with Deity Mask. Central Mexico, Olmec style; 1200–900 BC; darkware ceramic, traces of pigment; 17.9 x 16.5 x 15.3 cm; Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2002.67 ings in early French and British photography. Twentieth-century photo- graphs included works by Eugène Atget, Alfred Stieglitz, Gordon Parks, Female Worshiper. Crete, Middle Minoan Carl Chiarenza, Jayne Hinds Bidaut, and Abelardo Morell. III–Late Minoan I, The collection of art of the ancient Americas was particularly enriched c. 1600–1500 BC; bronze; h. 14 cm; by the addition of Vessel with Deity Mask, an Olmec-style ceramic, from be- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund tween 1200 and 900 BC. This haunting ceramic embodies the remarkable 2002.89 inventiveness of Mexico’s first great art style. Several centuries earlier, across the Atlantic, a statue of a female wor- shiper was made in Crete. The small bronze is a fine and exceedingly rare example of the Middle Minoan III–Late Minoan I production between about 1600 and 1500 BC, and makes a wonderful addition to the museum’s notable holdings of small bronzes from antiquity. From Asia, notable additions included two 18th-century Indian minia- tures, a 15th-century storage jar and a contemporary incense burner from Japan, and Mirror with Jade Disk Inset, made in China 2,000 to 2,500 years ago. Finally, the magnificent Feathered Panel, made in Peru between AD 600 and 900, joined the textiles collection. The conservation department, charged with preserving the works of art in the collection so that future generations may enjoy them, undertook a number of major projects in addition to its ongoing activity. The major fo- cus in the paper conservation lab was on the research of past conservation treatment of the Cleveland impression of Pollaiuolo’s Battle of the Nudes in conjunction with the related exhibition. The research helped the curator 19 2-Collections.p65 19 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM Fulchran-Jean Harriet (French, 1778–1805). Oedipus at Colonus, 1798; oil on canvas; 157 x 134 cm; Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 2002.3 20 2-Collections.p65 20 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM better understand the image and enlightened the conservation field with the nature of past treatments. The results of the research were placed on the museum’s Web site—the equivalent of 60 pages of text and 84 images, in- cluding magnifications of each. The department encountered unusual chal- lenges in preparing for Into the Light, with its array of vintage (1960s–70s) film projection and video equipment and various experimental multimedia fabrications. Major paintings treatments included works by Gros, Titian, Girodet, and Rembrandt. During the year, the museum also loaned works from its collection to special exhibitions in about 50 other institutions in all corners of the globe, among them many of the world’s major museums, from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and the Kyoto National Museum in Japan, to the Musée des Beaux Arts in Lyon, France and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Mu- seum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art is a resource that is re- nowned and in demand the world over. But it resides here in Cleveland, so that anyone can walk in, free of charge, and stand face-to-face with some of the greatest creative achievements of all time. Mirror with Jade Disk Inset. Late Warring States (475–221 BC) to Early Western Han (206 BC–AD 8) periods; bronze with nephrite and turquoise; diam. 15.3 cm; Gift of various donors to the department of Chinese Art (by exchange) 2002.5 21 2-Collections.p65 21 6/10/2003, 4:29 PM ACQUISITIONS Art of the Ancient Americas Vessel with Deity Mask. Central Mexico, Olmec style; 1200–900 BC; darkware ceramic, traces of pigment; 17.9 x 16.5 x 15.3 cm; Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2002.67 Double-Spouted Vessel. Peru, Wari style; 500– 900; ceramic, slip; h. 20.3 cm, diam. 16.5 cm; James Parmelee Fund 2002.94 Chinese Art Mirror with Jade Disk Inset. Late Warring States (475–221 BC) to Early Western Han (206 BC– AD 8) periods; bronze with nephrite and turquoise; diam. 15.3 cm; Gift of various donors to the department of Chinese Art (by exchange) 2002.5 Contemporary Art Louise Bourgeois (American, b. France, 1911). Blind Man’s Buff, 1984; white marble on wood base; 92.7 x 88.9 x 63.5 cm; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2002.29 Allan McCollum (American, b. 1944). More Visible Markers in Twelve Exciting Colors, 2000; painted Hydrocal; 12 sculptures, each 4.5 x 10.3 cm; Dorothea Wright Hamilton Fund 2002.95.1–12 François-Nicolas Martin Puryear (American, b. 1941). Alien Huddle, 1993–95; red cedar and pine; 134.6 x Delaistre (French, 162.5 x 134.6 cm; Gift of Agnes Gund and 1746–1832). Figure Daniel Shapiro 2002.65 of a Young Girl, Tony Smith (American, 1912–1980). Source, 1787–93; marble; 1967; painted steel; 335.2 x 899.1 x 1036.3 cm; 170 x 85.4 x 49.5 Gift of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust cm; The Severance Company 2001.256 and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund Decorative Arts and Sculpture 2002.53 Box in the Form of a Book.