Chrysler The Members’ Magazine | Winter 2016–2017 For the Greater Good

board of trustees 2016–2017 Thomas L. Stokes, Jr., Chair The Chrysler Museum of Art exists today because of forward- Lelia Graham Webb, Vice-Chair thinking individuals and their generosity. We exist because women Lewis W. Webb III, Esq., Secretary like Irene Leache and Annie Wood and men like Walter Chrysler Yvonne T. Allmond believed in the value of education and art for the greater good of Dudley Anderson, M.D., F.A.C.P. Tony Atwater society. Those beliefs are still central to the mission and activities Shirley C. Baldwin of the Museum. I am thankful that we have many friends in the Kathleen Broderick community who also share those values. Deborah H. Butler Elizabeth Fraim Today, we continue to operate on the principle of the greater good Edith G. Grandy to society as we endeavor to broaden our reach and develop new James A. Hixon programs, exhibitions, and galleries. In the coming months and Claus Ihlemann years, you will see more interactive components and new spaces Marc Jacobson Linda H. Kaufman at the Museum geared toward reaching families and dedicated to Pamela C. Kloeppel art education. We will create new opportunities to experience our Harry T. Lester important collections of prints, drawings, and photographs. We Suzanne Mastracco will expand our programs in glass. We will also develop exhibitions Oriana M. McKinnon that consider a diversity of topics that are relevant to our audiences. Peter M. Meredith, Jr. Charlotte M. Minor The breadth of our collection and the expertise of our curatorial J. Douglas Perry team allow us to present shows that consider art and science, C. Arthur Rutter III the challenges to our environment, the traditions of military Bob Sasser service, the struggle for equality, and the relationships between Lisa B. Smith Richard Waitzer America and the world, among many other themes. Balanced with Joseph T. Waldo exhibitions from other sources, we can bring our audiences art that Cheryl Xystros examines the American West, Cold War Berlin, 19th-century Paris, the African habitats of elephants, and the Golden Age of Dutch chrysler magazine Cheryl Little, Museum Editor/ painting. Fortunately, we have a dedicated group of colleagues who Publications Manager work very hard to make all this happen. Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Jane Cleary, Graphics Manager As we continue to plan and consider opportunities for growth, I am reminded of our founders—and I am most thankful for those who Chrysler Magazine is a quarterly publication produced for and mailed support us today. That begins with our first-time Members and to Chrysler Museum Members as a continues with the Masterpiece Society, the Corporate Leadership benefit of their generous support. Alliance, the City of Norfolk, numerous foundations, and our major Update or verify your membership donors. We are able to serve our community because you have given information at http://reservations. so generously with an eye to the greater good. Thank you! chrysler.org or contact Database Manager Fleater Allen at Chrysler Museum of Art One Memorial Place, Norfolk, VA 23510 757-333-6287 | [email protected]. The Chrysler Museum of Art, all rights reserved © 2016–2017

Erik H. Neil, Director on the cover Brian Bress (American, b. 1975) Installation still from Man with Cigarette (on black) (detail), 2016 High-definition three-channel video (color), four high-definition monitors and players, wall mounts, framed, 40.25 x 91 x 7 inches (total running time: 15 min., 48 sec., loop) © Brian Bress Installation image by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Chrysler The Members’ Magazine | Winter 2016–2017

director’s note Inside Front Cover Alex Soth Alex © in the galleries 2 Exhibitions on View Photo by and 5 Collection Connection— Loans From and On the Road 6 Collection Connection— The Case of the Lost Derain 8 Spotlight Exhibition— Public and Private: East Germany in Photographs by Ulrich Wüst Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) cover story 12 In The Box: Brian Bress

chrysler news 16 The Art of Perception 18 Leading the Way in LGBT Inclusion Training

Photo by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer 19 Education Initiates New Docent Class 20 At The Perry Glass Studio 21 Staff Kudos and Accomplishments 24 Fine Fall Events

The Art of Perception member exclusives with Amy Herman 26 Corporate Leadership Alliance Success 27 Norfolk Society of Arts 28 Don’t-Miss Events and Travel Opportunities

last look

Photo by Charlie Gunter for the Chrysler Museum of Art 29 Yee Haw! Branding the American West Members’ Preview Party Branding the American SAVE THE DATE West: Paintings and Films, The Paris of Toulouse- Exhibitions 1900–1950 Lautrec: Prints and Posters Closing February 5 in the from the Museum of Norfolk Southern Special while also observing how Modern Art, New York Exhibitions Gallery immigration, war, racial unrest, Members’ Exhibition (Gs. 101–102) and the and modernization changed Preview Party: Waitzer Community Gallery this land and its native people. The evening of (G. 103) Branding the American West, an Thursday, March 9 Saddle up for a visual adventure exhibition jointly organized by the Brigham Young University Museum Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s across new frontiers in of Art, Provo, Utah, and the Stark radical, bold, and often the Chrysler’s fall keynote Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, is outrageous posters and exhibition. This show features made possible in part by a generous grant from the Charles Redd Center illustrations share the spotlight more than 100 paintings, for Western Studies and through the in the Chrysler’s spring keynote films, and statues exploring generous support of the Nelda C. and exhibition. One of Paris’s key the majestic landscapes and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. post-Impressionist artists, cultural riches of the American Presentation of the exhibition and Toulouse-Lautrec frequented West. Through works by its related programs at the Chrysler the city’s many entertainment Museum of Art is made possible by the Frederic Remington, Charles Joan and Macon Brock Endowment establishments, including the Russell, N.C. Wyeth, and the for American Art, with educational popular Moulin Rouge. He masters of the Taos School, support from Wells Fargo and the Wells was commissioned to produce Fargo Foundation. experience a chapter of posters promoting new American art rarely seen in Relive the rodeo of fun from our Café-Concerts, groundbreaking East Coast museums. Discover Members’ Preview Party in this issue’s Last Look on page 29. performers like Jane Avril, how artists and moviemakers audacious impresarios like working between 1900 and 1950 Aristide Bruant, and everyday found inspiration in myths of denizens. Like many Parisian Wild West cowboys and indians, artists, Toulouse-Lautrec drew

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901) La Troupe de Mademoiselle Églantine (Mlle. Églantine’s Troupe), 1896 Lithograph, sheet: 24 1/4 x 31 1/4 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1940 Photograph by Thomas Griesel Eanger Irving Couse (American, 1866–1936) The Pima Basket, 1923 Oil on canvas, 24 x 29 in. Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 31.31.5

2 | winter 2017 Wendy Maruyama: In The Box: Brian Bress The wildLIFE project Closing February 19 Closing January 15 in the in The Box Glass Projects Space inspiration from the Japanese (G. 118) and the McKinnon and advocacy command both Los Angeles-based artist Brian Brian Bress’s work in The Box appears prints being exported to Europe, Galleries of Modern and our attention and action to Bress returned last fall to his courtesy of the artist and Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles. which offered new ways of Contemporary Art (G. 223) preserve these wonders of the native Norfolk to unveil his looking at the world. Explore natural world. latest new-media creation. If you missed the artist’s NEON Festival As persistent poaching lecture, learn more about his process belle époque Paris through the Bress incorporates painted sets, endangers Africa’s pachyderms, Wendy Maruyama: The wildLIFE in this issue’s cover story. Curator of eyes of this keen observer and Project is organized by Houston Center handmade sculptural costumes, Exhibitions Seth Feman presents one master craftswoman Wendy his extraordinary works on loan for Contemporary Craft and is curated and improvised performance of our most interesting artist Q&As on Maruyama publicizes their by Elizabeth Kozlowski. The exhibition pages 12–15. from the Museum of Modern into his video work, using plight. She confronts the illegal is made possible by generous support Art in New York. Muppet-like characters to ivory trade—a $10 billion a from the Windgate Charitable Foundation. make complex media theory year industry—through her easily accessible. His works multimedia, multisensory play with the tension between installation. Life-size wooden the flatness of high-definition masks, painted and stitched video monitors and the illusion together with string, honor of depth they provide, and he big-tusker Satao and other investigates the relationship elephants killed for their between the sharp precision valuable ivory. A massive of digital media and the metal video cenotaph and a unpredictability of human clear sarcophagus filled with gestures. The result is a surreal blown-glass tusks complement world in which flattened a Buddhist shrine from which imagery gives way to flights of incense emanates and a bell fantasy. chimes every 15 minutes to mark another elephant’s death. Maruyama’s combination of art

Wendy Maruyama Brian Bress (American, b. 1975) (American, b. 1952) Installation view of Man with Installation view of Cigarette (on black), 2016 Ghost, Orkanyawoi, and Sonje, High-definition three-channel 2014 (background) video (color), four high-definition Wood, burlap, paint, and string monitors and players, wall mounts, Sarcophagus, 2015 (foreground) framed, 40.25 x 91 x 7 inches (total Wood, glass, and blown glass running time: 15 min., 48 sec., loop) from The wildLIFE Project, 2016 © Brian Bress Photo by Ed Pollard, Photo by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Museum Photographer

in the galleries | 3 The Agrarian Ideal: Masterpiece Society Public and Private: East AT THE HISTORIC HOUSES Monet, van Gogh, Homer Art Purchase Dinner Germany in Photographs Closing January 8 in the Selections by Ulrich Wüst Roberts Wing | Hixon On view through Ongoing in the Frank Family Gallery (G. 217) life of the countryside. Explore December 11 in Gallery 223 Photography Galleries the seeds of change and the of the McKinnon Wing (G. 228) and the Focus Farming never looked so fertile artistic ground that this of Modern and Gallery (G. 229) good. The Agrarian Ideal exciting exhibition unearths. Contemporary Art Peer behind the Iron Curtain brings two great Impressionist and in The Box masterpieces to Norfolk: Claude to see how creativity Monet’s Haystacks, Late Summer, Our curators and director have resists conformity. Ulrich from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, made their choices. See which Wüst’s photos capture the and Vincent van Gogh’s Wheat works each of them hopes to depersonalization of urban life Field behind St. Paul’s Hospital, add to the Chrysler Collection as in cities beset by standardized Harry Cowles Mann this year’s gift from the (American, 1866–1926) St. Rémy from the Virginia prefab housing blocks and Untitled, ca. 1915 Museum of Fine Arts. Here Masterpiece Society. looming Soviet monuments. Gelatin silver print (photograph) they join 20 Chrysler Collection At the same time, he reveals Gift of Mrs. J. Hume Taylor treasures by Winslow Homer, the creative interior lives of Willoughby-Baylor House Jean-François Millet, Alfred those living in the German 601 E. Freemason St., Norfolk Boucher, Paul Gauguin, and Democratic Republic. Images others on the theme of of house parties, nightclubs, Harry C. Mann: agricultural labor. Just as and shop windows suggest the Norfolk Photographer industrialized cities were struggle for self-expression Ongoing on the first floor drawing rural people away and individuality amid the Discover the pioneering from their traditional lives in totalitarian state’s regime photographic work of Harry 19th-century France and the of sameness. In Wüst’s first Cowles Mann (1866–1926). United States, artists were U.S. retrospective, the gritty Between 1907 and 1924, Mann’s finding new inspiration in the immediacy of 35mm black-and- camera documented the work, people, and rhythms of white street photography gives bustling commercial life of way to poetic reverie. Granby Street and downtown Norfolk. Featuring more than 50 vintage prints from the Chrysler Collection, this exhibition also presents his experiments in capturing waves, clouds, and shadows on the sand dunes of Virginia Beach, evidence of his powerful but unsung artistic ambitions.

The Norfolk Rooms Ongoing in the Norfolk Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) History Museum on the Winslow Homer Palast der Republik, Berlin, April 1985, second floor (American, 1836–1910) Farmer with a Pitchfork, ca. 1874 from Notizen (Notes) Silver gelatin print (photograph) Moses Myers House Oil on board Promised gift of Image courtesy of 323 E. Freemason St., Norfolk Mr. and Mrs. Frank Batten to the Loock Galerie, Berlin Chrysler Museum of Art Moses Myers: Maritime Merchant Barton Myers: Norfolk Visionary Adeline’s Portal by Beth Lipman These permanent installations are supported by a generous gift from the late T. Parker Host, Jr., and the Friends of Historic Houses

4 | winter 2017 Loans in the Galleries Loans on the Road

Johannes Vermeer’s A Lady Writing Closing December 18 in the The Dalis Foundation Galleries (G. 202) One of the world’s greatest Dutch masterpieces is on view for only six weeks at the Chrysler, thanks to the generosity of the National Gallery of Art and Chrysler Museum supporters. Johannes Vermeer is known for the exquisite perfection of light and composition in his rare paintings, which number only 35. He painted Albert Bierstadt women at home playing music, writing letters, (American, 1830–1902) and carrying out other everyday activities. In The Emerald Pool, 1870 A Lady Writing, a young woman sits a table, Oil on canvas Johannes Vermeer Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (Dutch, 1632–1675) illuminated in soft light which brings out the A Lady Writing, ca. 1665 exquisite color of the blue tablecloth and her Oil on canvas lemon-yellow jacket. It also picks up the brilliant National Gallery of Art, The Emerald Pool is making a splash as part of Mount Washington: Washington, highlights on the large pear earrings and ribbons The Crown of New England. Though our monumental 1870 Albert Gift of Harry Waldron Havemeyer strung through her hair, both the height of Bierstadt oil painting rarely travels, it is a valuable addition to and Horace Havemeyer, Jr., fashion in mid-1660s Holland. Don’t miss your in memory of their father, the first museum exhibition devoted to the scenic landmark and Horace Havemeyer, 1962.10.1 last chance to experience one of Vermeer’s finest landscapes of the popular tourist area. The gargantuan canvas is on works here in Norfolk. display alongside Hudson River School paintings, early photographs, vintage prints, and mid-19th-century illustrated guidebooks at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, N.H. Our collection favorite returns to the Chrysler (and its velvet-curtained Gallery 212 wall) this 400 Years of American Frontiers February. Closing February 5 in the Joan P. Brock Stuart Davis’s striking Matches is one of about 100 abstract works Galleries (G. 212) presented in In Full Swing: The Art of Stuart Davis. The exhibition Visit the Chrysler’s gallery of American featuring our 1927 oil painting is currently at the National Gallery landscapes to explore the changing look of the of Art. Once the exhibition closes March 5 in Washington, it travels West throughout our nation’s history. Enjoy a to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young, then to special loan of Thomas Cole’s majestic painting Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Landscape Scene from “The Last of the Mohicans” The Chrysler’s fashionable Portrait of Léon Maître, 1886, is (1827), an early vision of the beauties and Thomas Cole impressing French audiences in Henri Fantin-Latour: À Fleur de Peau dangers of the frontier. The adjacent curtained (American, 1801–1848) (On Edge). This premier retrospective examines the nuances of his Landscape Scene from “The Last tableau—usually framing a mountainscape by work in the changing world of 19th-century art. The exhibition is of the Mohicans,” 1827 Albert Bierstadt—now amplifies the grandeur now on view at Musée du Luxembourg in Paris and opens March 18 Oil on canvas of a large-scale photograph of Idaho’s Sawtooth On loan from the Fenimore Art at Musée de Grenoble. Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y. Valley. Don’t miss your chance to compare this contemporary photograph by Laura McPhee with There’s no bum publicity for Paul Cézanne’s Bather and Rocks, classic views of America’s natural splendors! ca. 1860-66. Our oil painting is part of the travelling exhibition Frédéric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism, which opened to acclaim at Musée Fabre in Montpellier, France last summer. The show explores the influence of the comparatively unknown Bazille with some of his bigger-name contemporaries. Now drawing crowds at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the exhibition comes stateside to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. on April 9.

collection connection | 5 The Case of the Lost Derain

here it sat in art storage: a discolored, but the 1939 exhibition Seven Centuries of Painting at boldly painted still life. As Conservator Mark the M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco. Lewis and former NEH Conservation Fellow T So was this or wasn’t this a Derain? Intrigued by Morgan Wylder performed some routine dusting, the conflicting conclusions, our conservators they noticed that the canvas was signed by the decided to explore the painting itself more early 20th-century Fauvist painter André Derain. closely. The Chrysler enlisted the help of a But clearly, despite its famous creator, the painting chemist, Professor Erich Uffelman, and his team had not been displayed for many years. Aging from Washington and Lee University to analyze yellow varnish obscured its bright palette, and the the paint and to explore curious traces of several gilding had been worn on the edges of its frame. other paintings below the surface of the Still Curious as to why a ca. 1911 painting by a revered Life. Using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, artist was not displayed alongside collection the scientists confirmed that the chemical works by contemporaries such as Henri Matisse composition of the pigments used in the 1911 and Georges Braque, the conservators took the Still Life were available and widely used during work back to the studio for a the early 20th century. To get more in-depth investigation. a better look at the hidden Their detective work to images, the art detectives explain its longtime place used the university’s infrared in storage found a clue in camera, taking photographs of the object’s registration the work that allowed them to file. Though the painting see below the paint surface. had decades ago been Infrared photography brought prominently exhibited here two earlier compositions at the Museum, it had not into view. One of the been included in Michel hidden paintings, the team Kellerman’s 1992 catalogue Conservators occasionally take discovered, is an earlier raisonné of André Derain’s samples about a millimeter long still life containing many of paintings. Because the from the edges of paintings to the same objects as in the Still Life was not included examine a cross-section of all the finished composition, but in this authoritative and in a vertical orientation. comprehensive listing of all paint layers an artist has applied. The other underpainting known works by the artist, its This sample shows that Derain looks remarkably similar to a authenticity had been called first applied a white ground, and well-known 1907 portrait of into question. then pink and red paint layers. He the artist-in-question’s wife: Its provenance was sound. then started a new composition by Madame Derain in Green, in the Walter Chrysler, Jr. had applying a second, thin white layer collection of the Museum of purchased the painting from of ground paint before working in Modern Art in New York. the respected Knoedler yellow paint, demonstrating that The presence of these hidden Gallery in New York. Well Derain would sometimes change compositions suggests that before that, it had been the Chrysler’s painting is a featured in the 1927 edition of his mind and start over with a new genuine Derain. It would be Art News and was exhibited in composition on the same canvas. unusual, even pointless, for a

6 | winter 2017 above left André Derain The photograph (far left) attuned (French, 1880–1954) to infrared light in the 700–900 Still Life (detail), ca. 1911 Oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 35 1/2 in. nanometer range shows a portrait Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. of a woman. The strong contours, © Artist Rights Society, New York bold eyes and eyebrows, and distinct hairstyle suggest the portrait below our Still Life may be a portrait of Madame Derain, depicted here in MoMA’s authenticated painting of the artist’s wife.

André Derain (French, 1880–1954) Madame Derain in Green, 1907 Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ x 23 5/8 in. The Museum of Modern Art, forger to paint different compositions below the beneath that surface as well, underscoring how New York, anonymous gift final version, especially before the invention of frequently Derain reworked his canvases. © Artists Rights Society, New York / infrared imaging that could reveal them. Derain ADAGP, Paris // Image courtesy of While none of these clues alone proves the MoMA, used by permission was known often to reuse his canvases, technical painting’s authenticity, combined they support examination of paintings in several museums the case that our Still Life deserves to be counted has shown, and this Still Life is but one of several among Derain’s oeuvre. The Chrysler’s curators, paintings with hidden images beneath. convinced that the painting is genuine, decided Perhaps the most compelling evidence is the to put the work on view again for the first time similarity of the hidden portrait to MoMA’s portrait in decades. Thanks to a thorough cleaning of Madame Derain in Green. The striking similarities by our conservators, Derain’s Still Life is once in both features and style dismiss the likelihood of again looking its best and returned to the coincidence. In fact, a close look below Madame Museum’s walls in October. Come see our newly Derain’s green blouse shows another painting rediscovered Modern masterpiece in Gallery 219!

collection connection | 7 8 | winter 2017 Ulrich Wüst Creativity Amidst Conformity

Public and Private: East Germany in Photographs by Ulrich Wüst is on view through March 26.

Ulrich Wüst trained as an urban planner, but took up photography to study the development of East German cities in the 1970s. While his work documents the standardized housing and looming monuments of the German Democratic Republic, it also reveals the interior lives of those living under the state’s regime of sameness. As Wüst has said, “I wanted to create a landscape of the soul, drawing attention to what we had done to ourselves with our city planning.” As the Chrysler presents the first American retrospective of the photographer’s work, we asked Gary Van Zante, curator at the MIT Museum and the show’s organizer, to present a closer look into a few notable images within the exhibition.

Wüst’s photograph of a fog-shrouded street of Weimar hovers somewhere between realism and romanticism. More than his other work, this and other pictures he made in Weimar in the 1980s exemplify a conscious concern with pictorial form. “At the time I was occupied with simply visualizing things,” he recounted. “I was interested in the shadow that fell on a wall. They were Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) beautiful pictures; I have no idea how to explain it. Back Weimar (detail), 1989, then, I was in awe about ‘seeing’ itself and about the from Jahrebuch (Yearbook) transformations photography made possible.” Silver gelatin print (photograph) spotlight exhibition | 9 Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) Trained as an urban planner, Wüst used Schützenstrasse/Jerusalemer photography to analyze the dysfunctional Strasse, 1996, from Berlin Mitte architecture and planning of the German Silver gelatin print (photograph) Democratic Republic. “It was impossible to get away from the idea that, architecturally, the struggle to collectivize humanity had been a failure,” the artist observed. In his visual record of GDR cities, he challenged state censors by revealing the blunt realities of GDR urban policy: disintegrating infrastructure, decaying city centers, and the banality of the new state architecture. Ultimately, as the creator of meditative and meaningful images, Wüst was able to find a kind of tragic beauty in the decline of the public realm around him.

Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) Historically, Berlin has been a city that is “always in Schinkelplatz, 1996, the process of becoming,” as said by the architect from Berlin Mitte Silver gelatin print (photograph) Karl Scheffler (1869–1951). The idea of a city in a permanent state of flux, which remains true of Berlin today, is the subject of Wüst’s series Berlin Mitte. Here he captures the voids, discontinuities, and sometimes jarring juxtapositions of old and new that characterize the city. His pictures are layered with historical memory: a detached column or a desolate statue signify the memory of place and the shared experience of loss that is so much a part of Berlin’s, and now also the GDR’s, history.

Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) Wüst’s Spätsommer, or Late Summer, series evokes Kühlungsborn, September 1989, a feeling that dominated the final years of the from Spätsommer (Late Summer) Silver gelatin print (photograph) GDR: a collective longing of many East Germans for a better life in the West. Most expressive of this feeling were the witty and ironic photographs Wüst made two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall at resorts on the Baltic Sea. For many vacationers on their annual holidays, the Baltic shore was a temporary refuge from the oppressive confines of GDR life. The pull of the West was heightened there, since the borders of three Western countries were close by and visible, as Wüst’s gesturing tourists attest.

Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) When first creating the GDR, many urban Berlin, 1982, planners saw an opportunity for a new, socially from Stadtbilder (City Views) Silver gelatin print (photograph) conscious architecture. Socialist ideals, however, were quickly overcome by postwar realities and the need to rebuild war-torn cities. Inexpensive, prefabricated housing blocks called Plattenbauten arose on rubble-cleared city or suburban sites. As a young urban planner, Wüst worked on Plattenbau developments, but questioned their suitability. When he took up photography professionally in the late 1970s, he made the housing blocks and their impact in the public realm a primary subject of his work.

10 | winter 2017 Ulrich Wüst (German, b. 1949) Mewegen, 1984, from Zwischenräume (Niches) Silver gelatin print (photograph) Country houses offered an escape from state-run surveillance, which was an omnipresent threat in Berlin, one that affected GDR artists in particular. In the early 1980s, Wüst bought a house in a lake district north of Berlin, where he produced some of his most subjective and lyrical work. The photographs he made there are an idyllic record of country life, and the sense of well-being they convey contrasts starkly with the somber disquiet of his urban views. They also demonstrate his skill as a picture maker, in their clear descriptiveness and in his mastery of the special quality of the cool, almost sculptural northern light. —Gary Van Zante, Curator of Architecture, Design, and Photography, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Public and Private: East Germany in Photographs by Ulrich Wüst is organized by MIT Museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in collaboration with the photographer and Loock Galerie, Berlin. Text © 2016 Gary Van Zante, MIT Museum, may not be reproduced without permission. All exhibition images © Ulrich Wüst, courtesy of Loock Galerie, Berlin

spotlight exhibition | 11 Brian Bress | Within and Beyond the Four Walls

In The Box: Brian Bress is on view through February 19.

Over the past 10 years, Norfolk-born seth feman: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us artist Brian Bress has become widely about what it was like growing up in Norfolk and recognized for innovative works that how you first became interested in making art. confront the complexities of perception. brian bress: Growing up here as a kid was great! With eccentric characters handcrafted I could walk from my folks’ house to their pawn from foam and found objects, his shop and from school back to my house. Ghent works use Muppet-like appeal to make and downtown Norfolk were my playground. I heady artistic ideas accessible. Curator would ride bikes around town with my buddies of Exhibitions Seth Feman recently and it felt comfortable. So did art. I don’t know talked with Bress about growing up in when I first became interested in making art, Norfolk, how he plays with patterns of but my earliest memories are of making art. All children do, but I think I had an early aptitude representation, and why you have to see for it and my parents encouraged it—or possibly his work to believe it.

12 | winter 2017 because my parents encouraged it, I developed education and studios for artists, and Norfolk’s an aptitude for it. strong magnet program in the arts has produced artists and, just as importantly, folks who I don’t remember being bored as a child. I appreciate art. Those magnet school kids are was always drawing. I would draw trucks and adults now, and they want to see local art and spaceships, typical boy stuff like that, and I’d have to make art with their kids. And some of us—me, them shooting lasers and make sound effects for Liza Ryan, Frank Benson—have even gone on to them. I loved imagining that my drawings would have careers in the art world. come to life. As I got older my drawings became more ambitious, but essentially drawing was an sf: We are really excited escape for me. to include two works in your exhibition here. sf: Do you have memories of the Museum One was designed with when you were a kid? Did I hear you met The Box in mind, but Walter Chrysler? WOWMOM was made a bb: I went to The Williams School and then to little earlier, but never Norfolk Collegiate, so the Chrysler Museum was before shown. What’s the location for many a class trip. When I was 10, happening in this I was trying to sell tickets for the school raffle piece? What should we and I went door to door around Ghent and the look for? surrounding areas. I was tireless, determined to Artist Brian Bress with bb: WOWMOM is from a body of work I call win the contest to see who could sell the most Curator of Exhibitions Seth Feman “cutters.” I make the image by sawing through tickets. Just down the street from the Museum, I Photo by Eleise Theuer for the plywood that has a painting or a photo glued Chrysler Museum of Art happened to knock on Walter Chrysler, Jr.’s door. to one side of it. The effect is like I’m breaking He was really nice—he must have been in his through the picture plane. The holes I create 70s—and he welcomed me in to hear my sales as I cut reveal a figure in a striped costume (me pitch. I remember the living room was decorated in this case) and a striped background. I would with antiques and countless stained glass lamps. suggest that viewers look for formal relationships He asked me a lot of questions and I told him between the black and white mountains and what I was doing and about my family, etc. We the black and white stripes. They can also think had tea and he told me he had been into my about the connections between the shapes of parents’ store. After hosting me for a while, Mr. the letters I cut out and the mountains on which Chrysler bought 100 tickets for $100 dollars. It was the letters appear. Lastly, I’d ask viewers to think like hitting the jackpot! about how drawings get made, what artists do in sf: Did you have a favorite work at the Chrysler the studio. There’s an old saying I like: the process back then? Or what has recently captured your is the thing. interest? sf: You created Man with Cigarette (on black) to bb: I don't remember being into one piece in debut here at the Chrysler. Can you describe particular. However, during my last visit, I really the piece and tell us how it is a departure from was impressed with both Nam June Paiks in the WOWMOM? Does this represent a new direction collection. The dog is amazing! in your work? sf: We debuted your newest work here at the bb: I’m constantly trying new things in the studio, Chrysler to kick off this year’s NEON Festival in the and I’m interested in the power of the moving city’s arts district. How have the arts grown in the image to tell us something about how we region since your time here? perceive motion, stillness, the human body, the uncanny, etc. This piece is a continuation of that bb: My impression is that the arts district has its heart and focus in street arts, which makes investigation, of that subtle performance, but it’s a new direction in that I explore a full, larger- sense because that’s the canvas available and than-life figure and the breaking of that figure. most visible. And it’s the quickest way to connect Man with Cigarette is just the first of a few of these to folks who might feel intimidated by more traditional art practices. I see murals and graffiti types of figures that I want to make. as a gateway to other aesthetics and movements sf: In WOWMOM you said that cutting lines are of painting, sculpture, video, etc. drawn on the back of the board, a bit like a Paint Today, I think Norfolk is seeing the fruits of by Number diagram, so the W and M cutters can efforts they made in the 1980s and 1990s. During mirror each other and keep in sync. Did you plan that time, places like the d’Art Center had arts Man with Cigarette as carefully? Did you know which poses you’d strike or was it improvised?

cover story | 13 bb: Man with Cigarette was initially based on then to the work you are making now? Are there the exact pose of the preliminary drawing that similarities of form? Or is it perhaps just a sense of became the costume. In fact, in my performance experimentation? I was very specific about trying to replicate the bb: I wouldn’t have thought so had I not looked drawing to the best of my ability. After that, I back at those drawings, but now it’s hard for me improvised my actions and watched it on video not to see those connections. There’s an interest playback. Once I saw what worked and what in pattern and play and obsessiveness in those didn’t, I took out some poses and tried moving drawings, and I’m reminded of other connections, more slowly or holding certain poses for a specific too. I remember painting my jeans and jackets length of time. with abstract shapes when I was 13 years old. sf: During your visit you mentioned that Man I have no idea why I was doing that, and I have no with Cigarette echoes a game the Surrealists liked images of it, but I think early on that I was trying to play: Exquisite Corpse. You also said you drew to make wearable paintings. inspiration from an advertisement you saw on a sf: In your earlier work, characters would often malfunctioning video wall. How did these various address the viewer directly, which makes me think influences show up in your work? of how Pee-wee Herman would turn to viewers bb: So the ad had four video screens that were at home to talk with them. He would break the supposed to show successive models wearing fourth wall. I wonder what other media you new fashions, but they were out of sync, creating draw from. In an interview, you mentioned the a new Frankenstein figure from different people perfectly timed falls of Dick Van Dyke—also one showing on the screens at the wrong times. of my favorites—and the frequent comparisons of Immediately I thought of the Exquisite Corpse your work to the Muppets and Saturday-morning game where two or more people make a drawing cartoons seem right. Could you talk about what of a figure, but each contributes a part of the your works take from them or what they do body like a head or a torso without first seeing differently? what the other will add. Together you create bb: Well, you hit the nail on the head regarding this new figure that neither of you alone could breaking the fourth wall. That’s the big one. have dreamed up. I think this principle is at work, And of course the aesthetics of Jim Henson are but rather than showing a bunch of different present in some of my more cartoon-like figures. figures in one, I show the same figure in different Another trope I take from the Playhouse and the moments in time. So the motion of the figure is Muppets is anthropomorphizing, but instead of a way of moving and existing in time that I could a clock or a chair coming to life, I’m choosing to never have physically enacted or exactly planned. bring abstraction or pattern to life. Conceptually, it helps that the figure in my work is literally a drawing that I’m wearing. There are a lot of places I think the works diverge. They’re almost too many to list, but a big one is That’s what I like doing—taking influences that those shows have crisp narratives to hold from both inside and outside the art world onto when you watch them, whereas I don’t. and melding them together. My piece called Organizing the Physical Evidence has three main sf: For a few years your works have been influences: Oyvind Fahlström’s variable paintings, conspicuously silent. I can see one reason this Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, and Mr. Potato might be important—drawings and paintings Head. They are equally influential to me. I like don’t speak either—but are there are other ways living at a moment in time when it’s not so hard that silence has value in your work? to imagine seeing these things in succession in bb: Silence has allowed me to focus on letting your Instagram feed. It’s crazy, but Instagram is its viewers into the work. There’s no guy yapping at own surrealist relationship generator. the viewer. Instead, the viewer has a chance to sf: You’ve noted how your diverse studies in think about the work. And there’s the still more film, video, and painting help to account for your important idea that sound is a giveaway to the multilayered tableaux that are presented on presence of motion. Without audio cues, viewers video monitors, hung on the wall like paintings, have to question what they are seeing. and often incorporate drawings. You recently sf: I find moments in Man with Cigarette surprising posted some drawings you made as a kid on your and sometimes really funny, but I also recognize social media—a collection of mazes, eyeballs, that the figure can look a little freaky. That multifaceted geometries—and I could see happens in WOWMOM, too. Every time the circle- similarities to your work today. Is there a constant headed character positions his head within the thread that connects what you were making cut-out O, I chuckle, but when it hides between

14 | winter 2017 sf: We previewed both of your pieces for the clockwise from top right Chrysler audience, but once we installed the Brian Bress (American, b. 1975) Organizing the Physical Evidence work, I saw all kinds of things I hadn’t noticed (Purple), 2014 before. Certainly there’s higher resolution and High-definition, synchronized more subtle detail that you see in person, but dual-channel video (color), high- definition monitors and players, what makes it better to experience your art in a wall mount, framed, 2 parts museum or gallery? Why should people come (total running time: 20 min., to the Chrysler to see the works rather than just 38 sec., loop) the Os, I laugh out loud. What can you say about watching online? © Brian Bress humor and surprise in your work? And does fear Photo by Brian Forrest, courtesy of Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles play any role? bb: I put it this way: would you think you’ve seen your mother’s face if someone showed you the Installation view of WOWMOM, bb: One thing I remember is that I never I have to tiny image in a photocopy of her driver’s license? 2015 try to ham it up inside of these costumes. They It’s just not the same thing. You’re right about High-definition, synchronized are already funny. That being said, the more three-channel video (color), high- detail, but it’s not just that. It’s context. It’s scale. mundane or dry the performance is, the funnier definition monitors and players, In the galleries, as these figures cut through the wall mounts, framed framed (total the work can be. Some of my images can be picture plane, it feels as though they’re cutting running time: 18 min., 18 sec., loop) creepy or unsettling, but I don’t intentionally through the Museum’s walls. You can’t get that © Brian Bress go for that effect. It’s a byproduct of searching Installation image by Ed Pollard, physical sensation looking at the works on your for the uncanny: when you’re turning over that Museum Photographer iPhone. For Man with Cigarette, it’s an even greater rock, you’re almost bound to create a little fear effect. His form is broken up by the physical Video still from Man with or some unsettling moments. It’s like those old Cigarette (on black) (detail), 2016 monitors that his body is trying to span. That’s ventriloquist dummies. They’re so creepy, but you High-definition three-channel something you can fully feel only in the work’s video (color), four high-definition have trouble looking away. There’s something presence. I hope people will come see it for monitors and players, wall mounts, wonderful about watching something so framed, 40.25 x 91 x 7 inches (total themselves. apparently not-alive begin to move like we move, running time: 15 min., 48 sec., loop) © Brian Bress sf: Thanks, Brian. We’ve had a great response or almost like we move. “Is it alive?”—that’s an Image courtesy of Cherry age-old question we humans have been asking to the works so far and I’m so glad we’re able to and Martin, Los Angeles forever when we look at something. show your work here at the Chrysler.

cover story | 15 Looking Beyond the Obvious | The Art of Perception

his fall, author, attorney, and art historian students are so focused on identifying one Amy Herman led one of her nationally particular problem or diagnosis, they often don’t Tacclaimed visual observation workshops, see the whole patient. I started teaching this class The Art of Perception, for a group of military for a local medical school to help their students intelligence officers in the Chrysler Museum’s broaden their perceptions and to analyze galleries. Herman developed this in-gallery problems differently. seminar for the New York Police Department, the One day while having a conversation with Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. military, a friend, he told me, “You know who really and others. Director of Education Anne Corso, needs a class like that? Police officers!” After talked with Amy about her unique program and seven transferred phone calls, six months of why it’s been so successful. preparation, and a very open-minded N.Y.P.D. anne corso: Tell me a little about your Art of Deputy Commissioner, a program was born— Perception program. a program that’s been going now for 14 years.

amy herman: Essentially, The Art of Perception ac: I imagine that over all these years, you’ve is a professional training workshop that helps have had some skeptics who didn’t believe that people—specifically, people not trained to look looking at art could help them do their jobs at art—to communicate better. By showing ah: Oh sure, there’s sometimes resistance in the people how to look closely at images, I can help beginning. After all, no one is tougher than New them hone their “visual intelligence” and to use York City cops. I sometimes get the look: “Who is the skills they possess, but don’t always know this lady and what can she teach me?” So when how to use. I start the workshop in any museum, in the first ac: Why work with law enforcement? That seems gallery I say to the officers, “We’ll be together like an unexpected choice. for three hours and for those three hours, I’m in charge. I’ll make you just one promise: that after ah: Well, it actually started as a class for medical three hours, you’ll think about your job differently.” students that I created while I was working at the Frick Collection in New York. Because those ac: And they respond well to that?

16 | winter 2017 Photo by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer Pollard, Ed by Photo

ah: In New York City, I had been working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. One of my JTTF contacts thought that a division of the military based in Norfolk would benefit from the program that I did. So a handful of military personnel traveled up to New York and participated. They thought the program would really benefit their intelligence officers. They, of course, knew about the Chrysler Museum of Art, as did I. I made a call to you, and we’ve had great experiences here in Norfolk.

ac: You’ve completed a few sessions now here at the Chrysler Museum of Art. What works make for ah: Absolutely! They respect the chain of great observations? command and the challenge. It gets their ah: The Chrysler has the perfect collection for attention and gives them freedom to participate. The Art of Perception. It has a great chronology And, looking at art isn’t threatening. They don’t in the history of art from Old Masters through need to compete. contemporary. It’s very broad, yet very accessible. ac: What kind of art works well in these sessions? One of the pieces I love to use is Gustave Doré’s Are there any memorable examples? The Neophyte. It’s so rich in detail and nuance. ah: I always start with very realistic works of art. ac: We’ve focused on how the program can help It allows participants to easily describe what they law enforcement and military personnel do their see, but then I can pull them back when they’re jobs better, but how can others learn from your tempted to tell stories or read [their own views] program? into particular narratives because sometimes bias ah: I think that we’re living in an age of disruptive can be misinterpreted as fact. technology. Everyone today is so focused on I remember in one session at the Frick Collection, technology that’s feeding them information an officer was looking at El Greco’s painting of sometimes faster than they can process it. But Christ driving the money changers from the there’s no substitute for a human brain attached temple. I had to remind him to ignore all of his to human eyes and for human interaction. What I history and religious views, to focus solely on think the program can demonstrate is the ability what he saw, to ask which figure he would talk to to look in and look closely. Visual intelligence is in the situation depicted. He said, “Well, I’d first important to everyone—it gives us the ability to talk to the guy in pink. He’s the one causing all the sort information and make choices. And those trouble.” Of course, the guy in pink was El Greco’s choices can be life-changing. Christ. I’ll never look at that painting without For more information on Amy Herman’s courses, read Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016) remembering that story! or see The Art of Perception website at artfulperception.com. ac: The U.S. military plays such an important role here in Hampton Roads. What brought you and your program to the Chrysler?

chrysler news | 17 Creating a More Inclusive Museum | Photo by Eleise Theuer for the Chrsyler Museum of Art the Chrsyler for Theuer Eleise by Photo Welcoming LGBT Visitors

at the chrysler, we pride ourselves LGBT Tourism Taskforce. During the workshop, on creating a culture of hospitality. Free general the group discussed LGBT terminology, explored admission removes any financial hardships recent changes to legislation, and shared on those who wish to visit the Museum. Staff sobering statistics on LGBT peoples’ negative members open the front doors for every guest. experiences. The most powerful segment was We’ve developed interactive stations for all ages what Lamneck called an empathy exercise, in and accessible content for all visitors. which participants were led through the coming- out process for LGBT individuals and through “The founding impulse of museums was social left potential responses from families, friends, and interaction, connection and engagement Education Director Anne Corso and colleagues. Community Engagement Manager with the public,” says the American Alliance of Michael Berlucchi welcomed Museums. “Today we fulfill our public service Another positive outcome was the bond Clare Donnelly to the Chrysler in roles as community centers and forums for that was created between staff and docent October. A graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, discussing the pressing social and political issues volunteers. As in many museums, the Chrysler’s Donnelly is focusing her research of the day while learning from the past.” At the staff and volunteer corps represent different on the Chrysler’s efforts toward Chrysler, we are purposefully responding to the demographics. This session allowed both groups LGBT inclusion. Photo by Rachel Kuchta, Museum Gallery Host changing landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual, the opportunity to better understand each and transgendered (LGBT) people by expanding other’s personal lives and experiences. right our offerings to that community. Students from the Gay/Straight In October, Anne Corso and Michael Berlucchi Alliance from Frank W. Cox High School visited the Chrysler in In 2015, the Museum presented Tseng Kwong Chi: presented at the Third Annual Hampton Roads October. Our Education Department Performing for the Camera, an exhibition of works Diversity and Inclusion Conference, where they invited them in hopes of forming by an openly gay artist, many of which examine discussed concepts surrounding this emerging stronger Museum partnerships identity politics and stereotypes. Programming workplace and consumer demographic. Using within the Virginia Beach community. for that popular show was designed to enrich the Chrysler Museum of Art as a model, our relationships with the region’s LGBT community. educators described how organizations can In addition, this year our Glass Studio themed become more inclusive to the LGBT community. several of its free daily demos to Pride Week These efforts have not only pushed the Chrysler celebrations in June and dispatched its Mobile to the forefront of regional leadership in inclusive Glass Studio to PrideFest at Norfolk’s Town Point practices—they have created a more hospitable Park, which attracts 25,000 participants annually. environment for Hampton Roads’ diverse The Museum also regularly welcomes Gay/ audiences than ever before. Straight Alliances from local schools. —Michael Berlucchi, One recent initiative to prepare staff and Community Engagement Manager, and volunteers to welcome the LGBT community Anne Corso, was to offer sensitivity training led by Virginia Director of Education and Public Programs Lamneck, Deputy Director of Equality Virginia and a member of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s 18 | winter 2017 New Beginnings | Chrysler Welcomes Websmith Gary by Photo Museum Marshall, New Class of Docents

Volunteer docents are the lifeblood last september, 34 women and men skills. And not even of the Museum’s school tours, using art to teach history, joined the ranks of the newest class of docents docents are exempt culture, language, and more to at the Chrysler Museum of Art. The long-awaited from homework. Every children from across Hampton docent class marks the first training session since session comes with Roads. Here, longtime docent the Museum’s renovation and reopening in 2014. required reading, Charlene Carney explains ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to a group The 2016–2017 docent class is an impressive group, written assignments, of second graders. consisting of doctors, nurses, many educators, and presentations professors, librarians, and even a scientist with a related to specific Ph.D. in microbiology. collection areas, audiences, and age groups. New docents also shadow and observe current New docent Becky Livas, a former middle school docents as they lead group tours and gallery teacher, was thrilled to get started with docent talks, says Docent Coordinator Ruth Sanchez. training. “I have strong feelings about art and “Touring with our veteran docents helps them get history. For me, the art of various peoples and ideas and learn which core artworks are best to nations tells their story better than the written focus on. This new group likes to follow different word—and students remember best what they docents on a lot of different tour topics—they see,” she says. “I’m sincerely grateful for this are enthusiastic and willing to learn,” she says. opportunity to excite young folks about art. I Following their graduation in May, new docents hope my tours will encourage further research on are ready to lead tours on their own. their part and that the students will insist on their parents bringing them back to the Chrysler.” The Chrysler’s Docent Corps is integral to the success of the Museum’s educational mission. Last Though all of the Chrysler Museum’s docents are year, our docents gave scheduled tours to more volunteers, their training is rigorous. Classes meet than 13,000 Museum visitors, children and adults weekly for half a day, focusing on art history in the alike. Collectively, they completed more than morning session and practical applications and 3,000 hours of volunteer service. education theory in the afternoon. Leading the classes are Chief Curator Emeritus Jeff Harrison, “I am so proud to be involved with such a Director of Education and Public Programs Anne dedicated group of individuals,” says Anne Corso, guest speakers, and, of course, some of Corso. “Our docents volunteer thousands of hours the more than 60 current members of the Docent every year to make each and every visit from Corps. During the fall session, docents-in-training our students, teachers, and families meaningful stay busy. They get a behind-the-scenes look and memorable. They truly bring art and people at the conservation lab. They learn about the together.” Museum’s Mesoamerican collection through a chocolate tasting. They create sample tours based on schools’ Standards of Learning. They give public presentations to hone their speaking

chrysler news | 19 Welcoming the Glass World

he City of Norfolk, the Chrysler Museum of will serve as the official conference hotel and Art, and its Perry Glass Studio are honored the site of the popular goblet grab and an Tto announce our role as co-hosts of the 2017 auction featuring work by contemporary artists. Glass Art Society Conference. The theme of the In the NEON District, Glass Wheel Studio will June 1–3 conference is Reflections from the Edge: present an exhibition of GAS members’ work Glass, Art, and Performance. This prestigious and Work|Release will host flameworking annual event attracts artists from around the demonstrations. The Corning Museum of Glass world and shines the spotlight on our state-of- also will bring its traveling hot shop to present the-art glass studio, as well as on our outstanding additional hot-glass demonstrations. museum glass collection. Additional exhibitions featuring artists from the The Glass Art Society is an international nonprofit Washington Glass School, the Chrysler Museum organization founded in 1971 to promote and Glass Studio Assistantship Program, and the advance appreciation and development of Virginia Glass Guild will appear on both sides of the glass arts and to support the worldwide the Elizabeth River. Venues in Norfolk include community of artists who work with glass. The the Slover Library, d’Art Center, and the Baron annual conference for GAS members draws and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion hundreds of artists from around the world University, while Portsmouth offers shows at to participate in lectures, demonstrations, the Visual Arts Center at Tidewater Community exhibitions, and other glass-focused events. College in Olde Towne and at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center. The 46th annual GAS conference in Norfolk will be the first to take place in the Commonwealth The conference also will honor Joyce Scott of Virginia. The three-day event will feature with the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award for demonstrations in glassblowing, flameworking, exceptional accomplishment and contributions and coldworking processes. Lectures and to the studio glass field. A recent lecturer here panel discussions will include conversations at the Perry Glass Studio, the mixed-media artist about glass technology, using glass as a tool constructs glass bead sculptures incorporating for working with at-risk youth, and the state of clay, fabric swatches, and found objects. Scott will glass within a contemporary art world context. A again be on hand to discuss her work and how it special speaker from NASA will also explain the unabashedly addresses hot-button topics such as importance of glass in the world of science. violence, gender inequality, and racism. The Perry Glass Studio has earned a growing An additional bonus is the Chrysler’s partnership reputation for its innovative monthly with the Virginia Arts Festival to present Luke performance series, which is driving the theme Jerram’s Play Me, I’m Yours. This outdoor public of the conference. Evening performances mixing installation of pianos throughout downtown glass with other art forms will enhance the Norfolk and the NEON District will complement conference offerings. the conference. We look forward to welcoming the glass world to our community in June 2017. After the U.S.S. Wisconsin welcomes GAS members with an opening reception, conference —Diane Wright, Barry Curator of Glass, and events will take place across downtown Norfolk, Charlotte Potter, Perry Glass Studio Manager the Chrysler Museum campus, and other NEON and Programming Director District venues. The Norfolk Waterside Marriott

20 | winter 2017 Decades of Dedication staying 20 years at one workplace is a rare accomplishment, yet the Museum has three full-time staff members who have been with the Chrysler for two decades or more. Chrysler asked these colleagues to share a few thoughts on what’s new, what they appreciate, and what they hope the future will bring. Richard Hovorka Ruth Sanchez Lona Hyde Preparator Docent and Tour Coordinator, Accounting Manager Education Office Manager

Start Date July 1990 July 1992 August 1996

Original Job Title Preparator Administrative Assistant - Accounts Payable Clerk Tour Scheduler

What has surprised you I had no idea what to expect I can see how little I knew Since Norfolk isn’t a big city, most about working when I started, but I’m about art when I started here, I thought the Chrysler might here? What’s been amazed at how much fun I and how much I’ve learned. be a puny, unimpressive different from what still have doing my job. I learn something every museum, not true at all. And you expected? day. I didn’t expect so many my perception was that it changes—new things are would only be for snobby always happening—but it’s people, and not be nearly so challenging and exciting! down-to-earth.

What’s changed most The use of computers. Our Education Directors: When I started here, the only in your department I have worked with four, departments with computers or duties during your starting with the first, Ann were administration and time at the Chrysler? Dearsley-Vernon. All of finance. them brought a different perspective, and great learning experiences for me.

What has been your Doing my part to ensure that One thing has remained I’m an archive of institutional greatest personal the Museum reopened on constant, happily: my long memories and knowledge. contribution to schedule after our expansion relationship with our largest Also, it’s surprising that I Museum life? and renovation. group of volunteers—The haven’t put anyone in the Chrysler Museum Docents. sarcophagus…yet.

Do you have a favorite A patron thought my first I met “Moses” (Charlton Once a woman was outraged fun memory about name was Art because Heston) when he came to that a young boy was in working here? my badge had the title visit the Museum back in a Chrysler ad with Gaston “Art Handler” underneath the 1990s. Lachaise’s big nude Man. my name. I enjoyed telling her how proud I was that this very tasteful photo starred my five-year-old son, Trevor.

What is your greatest I hope the Chrysler will I wish that more locals would I’d like to see more hope for the Museum’s continue to be the beacon come and enjoy the Museum endowments set up to future? for the arts that we are in the as much as we do. Our art and support staff salaries. Mid-Atlantic region. friendly welcome makes a That would let us do so visit more inviting. I hope that much more with our Photos by Glenn Bashaw/Images in Light for the Chrysler Museum of Art keeps people coming back. everyday operating budget.

chrysler news | 21 Staff Honors and Notes

Alisa Reynolds, relationships with public and private schools, Associate Registrar create professional development programs Alisa Reynolds has joined for teachers, and produce pre- and post-visit the Chrysler as its new materials for educator and student use. Associate Registrar after Markham earned his B.F.A. at the College of a competitive search of William & Mary and completed master’s degrees more than 150 applicants in both art education and art therapy from for the job. She brings a Florida International University and Florida wealth of experience to State University, respectively. He has taught the position, including undergraduate and graduate-level courses in her most recent job as Director of Art Galleries special populations, the history of American and Curator of Collections at Georgetown art, communications, and English as a second College in Georgetown, Kentucky. Her language for adult learners. He also has worked primary duties at the Chrysler are the day- as a secondary-school educator for magnet art, to-day oversight of the Museum’s collection vocational education graphic arts and technology, management systems. She also will administer and pre-vocational technology for Educable and the Chrysler’s image rights and reproduction Trainable Mentally Handicapped populations. program. Reynolds earned a bachelor’s degree In addition to his American-based experience, in art history from the University of Alabama Markham previously served in the U.S. Peace and a master’s degree in art history and visual Corps and U.S. Crisis Corps as a Rural Water studies from the University of Kentucky. She has Supply Technician and a Resource Officer for Post- a particular interest in modernist photography Tsunami recovery work in Southern Thailand. and presented her thesis, Edward Steichen and Hollywood Glamour, at the 2014 International Film Jenny Furnas, Museum Shop Manager and History Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. A Jenny Furnas, our new Museum Shop Manager, native of Richmond, Virginia, Reynolds is excited comes to the Chrysler to have moved back to her home state. from Maryland, where she was the Pro Shop Jonathan Markham, Manager of Curriculum Manager and Buyer at and Gallery Programs the Chevy Chase Club. Staff photos by Glenn Bashaw/Images Jonathan Markham, a in Light for the Chrysler Museum of Art, Her education and Museum Gallery Host and Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer experience are as eclectic since 2014, has joined our as the merchandise her Education department in new workplace purveys. a newly created position. She earned a B.A. in As the Chrysler’s history, with minors in art history and leadership Manager of Curriculum studies, from Christopher Newport University in and Gallery Programs, Newport News and a master’s degree in library his key duties will be to and information science with a concentration in work with colleagues and educators to develop archival studies from Simmons College in Boston. new tours that align to changing curriculum Her museums background is varied: an archival standards. In keeping with the Chrysler’s charge intern at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife as an educational resource for our community, and Cultural Heritage, a curatorial assistant at he also will work to build new and deepened

22 | winter 2017 Diane Wright peruses the collection the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, MORE STAFF NOTES art studios, and galleries. at The Museum of Art, Ein Harod, in and a host of administrative, catering, volunteer Alex Mann, Brock Curator Wright joined colleagues from northeastern Israel. Courtesy photo coordination, and gift shop management posts of American Art, judged museums in New Orleans, Ted Blachly (American, b. 1951) at The Mariners’ Museum. A lifelong learner, the Suffolk Art League’s Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Curly Maple Chest, 2014 Furnas also is studying fashion business at Sugar maple, Bolivian rosewood, 2016 Exhibit of Excellence, Boca Raton, Fla., on the 10-day white oak, quarter-sawn red Parsons, the New School for Design because featuring work by area cultural enrichment tour maple, and Sitka spruce “you can never have enough school!” high-school students. This last July. Museum Purchase: the Ed and Mary Scheier Acquisition Fund, April, he serves as the juror Julie Ribits, National Endowment for the Godspeed to Stacy Weiland, in honor of Susan Leidy, Deputy for the Portsmouth Art & Humanities Conservation Fellow colleague since 2011 as Director of the Currier Museum of Julie Ribits is the seventh Cultural Center’s 2017 Outdoor Art, 1988–2011, 2014.3 exhibition prep, digital Photography by Jeffrey Nintzel, NEH Fellow to work with Sculpture exhibit. assets archivist, and most image courtesy of the Currier Paintings Conservator Museum of Art Dawn Penny, Assistant to the recently, manager of The Mark Lewis here at the Director, and her spindle-spun Museum Shop. This past Chrysler Museum since yarn are featured in the fall summer, her family relocated Manchester, N.H., museum 2008. She received her edition of Spin-OffMagazine. to Washington, D.C., as her where Leidy served for more undergraduate degree in than two decades before studio art and art history Using Gnomespun Dorset fiber, husband, Will, an attorney coming to the Chrysler. from the University of she began spinning her lobelia officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Minnesota, then earned blue yarn in August 2013 Advocate General’s Corps, was Three of the Chrysler’s a master’s degree in art conservation from the as a distraction to help her promoted to a new position as part-time Gallery Hosts University at Buffalo, State University of New quit smoking, a habit she’d a military judge. have been promoted to had for half her life. “Every York. Ribits has gained professional experience Congratulations to Kerry full-time employment time I would have reached through internships at a wide range of art O’Donnell (née Martinolich), status. Marcy Reyna for a cigarette, I reached for institutions, including the Worcester Art Museum, Donor Relations Manager, (hired 2012), Carolyn Blake a spindle instead,” she said. the Peabody Museum at Harvard, and the De who was married this past (hired 2014), and Caitlin Young Museum. Her most recent conservation Two years later, despite dings summer. She and her husband, Blomstrom (hired 2015) join engagement was at The Mauritshuis in The and a broken shaft on her Will, held their stunning Christine Gamache, Visitor Hague, Netherlands. As a former National drop spindle, she had 4 oz. of wedding reception here at Services Manager, Karen Champion and now-retired member of two-ply, 24-wraps-per-inch the Museum. Dutton, Senior Gallery Host, Team USA Figure Skating, she continues to wool. Penny will use the hank and colleagues Michael stay involved through coaching and enjoys “It looks a little bit like me,” to make “something quirky” Hill, Macy Jordan, Josh competing in obstacle races around the country. says Susan Leidy, Deputy to celebrate her success. Weinstein, and Elizabeth Director, of the piece of Diane Wright, Barry Curator Weir as our full-time frontline furniture that the Currier of Glass, was honored with staff. Museum of Art commissioned selection to the prestigious in her honor. New England Gayle Forman’s promotion AIDA Curator Program 2016. artisan Ted Blachly, one of to Program Assistant and The Association of Israel’s Leidy’s favorites, handcrafted Instructor brings the Perry Decorative Arts annually the “curvaceous chest of Glass Studio Team to four invites leading international drawers” in five different full-time staffers. curators for a work-study woods. The piece is a proud exploration of the country’s part of the collection of the museums, design schools,

chrysler news | 23 Fine Fall Events

At the Major Donor Dinner on September 13, the Chrysler honored our most beneficent contributors. More than 320 guests attended this year’s black-tie event. In the evening’s Kaufman Theater presentation, “The Chrysler at Home, The Chrysler Abroad,” Museum Director Erik Neil gave a detailed overview of the Museum’s recent accolades, initiatives, and loans throughout the international museum community. The evening concluded with a three- course dinner spectacularly set in Huber Court. Images by Glenn Bashaw/Images in Light for the Chrysler Museum of Art

clockwise from top: Rufus Parks, Betsy Hardy, and Chris and Bob Rowland; Ellen Libby and Buzz Heidt; Drs. M. Gary and Karen Karlowitz; Vickie Bilisoly, Kate Wilson, and Harriet Reynolds; Steve and Alva Holland, Staci and John Katsias

24 | winter 2017 Our Museum Kids Camp sold out again this summer, with 15 happy 7- to 10-year- olds taking on the theme of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math). From July 25–29 they explored the Museum’s galleries, then tried a variety of artmaking methods as they created their own portfolios. The week culminated with a special exhibition of their work for family and friends. Photos by Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith

The 2nd Annual NEON Festival offered free admission to all at September’s Third Thursday. The mix of activities throughout Norfolk’s arts district included a special lecture by Norfolk native Brian Bress and the debut of his new show in The Box. At the Perry Glass Studio, our own Robin and Julia Rogers presented a mythic-themed Incarnation of music, spectacle, and creative glassblowing. Photos by Eleise Theuer and Echard Wheeler for the Chrysler Museum of Art, and Gary Marshall, Museum Websmith

chrysler news | 25 The Changing Face of Corporate Support at the Chrysler Museum of Art ®

The Corporate Leadership Alliance of the Chrysler Museum of Art has dramatically increased the corporate support that the Museum enjoys, all while helping its members accomplish their business and philanthropic goals. The coming year will see that momentum continue with great news to tout where we’ve been and where we are going. Last spring, the Chrysler Museum of Art rethought and revitalized the way it engages corporate supporters by launching the Corporate Leadership Alliance (CLA). Replacing the former Business Exhibition Council, this category of corporate membership offers businesses of all scales a chance to support the programs of the Museum—and to help their own bottom lines. The rebranding has been a strong success, with membership going from 13 companies to nearly 40 firms in less than a year. The factors for this success include the recognition that every business has different goals and ways of giving, as well as the passionate engagement of staff and volunteers. Among those volunteers is Bob Carter, former Chrysler Trustee and longtime Museum supporter. Bob helped to lead the effort to create the CLA. His investment of time has paid off with great new relationships that enhance the Museum and bring more firms into support of the Chrysler every day. Now chairing the CLA committee, he sees great potential for the group and works tirelessly to encourage the growth of corporate support. That support will continue to grow as the volunteers and staff look toward the next stages for the CLA. Bob Sasser, CEO of Dollar Tree, Museum Trustee, and Chair of the Museum’s Development Committee, has agreed to be the featured speaker at this spring’s Business and the Arts Luncheon. As one of the area’s largest and most successful companies, Dollar Tree knows the value of investing in people and in the arts. We anticipate another packed house for our second annual CLA luncheon on March 20. To learn more about how your company can support the mission and programs of the Chrysler Museum, and to join us at the upcoming Business and the Arts Luncheon, please contact Kathleen Kaurup, Corporate and Foundation Relations Officer, in the Chrysler’s Development Office at 757-333-3280.

26 | winter 2017 Norfolk Society of Arts events begin with a coffee reception in Huber Court at 10:30 a.m., followed by Virginia the free lecture in the Investors LLP Museum’s Kaufman Theater at 11 a.m. Robert Frank (American, b. Switzerland, 1924) Ferryboat Across the Potomac, 1956 Gelatin silver print (photograph) Museum purchase

The Norfolk Society of Arts, Wednesday, Wednesday, proudly celebrating its January 25 February 22 centennial year, promotes Leo G. Mazow, Ph.D. Sarah Greenough and enhances the cultural life Louise B. and J. Harwood Senior Curator of of the South Hampton Roads Cochrane Curator and Head of Photographs, community through lectures, the Department of American National Gallery of Art, special events, and financial Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Washington, D.C. support to the Chrysler Arts, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Art. Looking In: Thomas Hart Benton Robert Frank and NSA membership is open and Edward Hopper: 1950s American to all Chrysler Museum Versions of the West Photography Members and art lovers Travels across our vast In the mid-1950s, Robert across Hampton Roads. country informed the Frank crisscrossed the For more information work of these two great country, photographing about membership in modernists. Their records subjects from every strata of the Society or to make a and interpretations of mid- American society. Two years donation to the Second century America’s psyches and 28,000 negatives later, Century Fund, please and sense of place convey he published 83 prints in The contact Susan Comer at the rapidly changing pace of Americans. Learn how this 757-484-3910 or life. Discover their different seminal book changed the sdkcomer@cox. focuses from a curator who’s course of the medium for the written award-winning books rest of the century on each artist. and beyond.

norfolk society of arts | 27 Art Travel Don’t-Miss Events for Members’ Bus Trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture Members Monday, February 6 Join fellow Museum Members for a distinctive The Masterpiece Society Art Purchase Dinner day trip to Washington to tour the capital’s The evening of Tuesday, December 6 newest museum. Opened last fall, this new Our annual gala featuring works of art selected by our curators is the Smithsonian national museum is devoted solely Museum’s most anticipated and premier social event of the year. This to the documentation of African American life, evening, Masterpiece Society Members vote on which suggested work of art history, and culture. Cost: $75 per person becomes part of the Chrysler Collection. Society Members will receive their invitations by mail. AIPAD: The Photography Show, New York For more information on joining the Chrysler’s Masterpiece Society, contact March 30–April 2 Assistant Director of Development Homer Babbitt at 757-333-6298 or hbabbitt@ chrysler.org. Members at the Patron level and above: travel with us to one of the year’s most anticipated Evening with the Director photography events. The Association of The evening of January 18 International Photography Art Dealers’ fair is the In thanks for your generosity, the Chrysler invites Members of our foremost exhibition dedicated to the medium. Masterpiece Society, Corporate Leadership Alliance, and Director’s Circle The show features contemporary, modern, and to join us for this highlight of each new year. Enjoy an exclusive cocktail 19th-century photographs, as well as video and reception and an engaging look-ahead presentation by Director Erik Neil. new media from the world’s leading galleries. Invitations for this exclusive upper-level event will arrive by mail. Valentine’s Day Shopping At The Museum Shop If you’re looking for a unique present for your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day, The Museum Shop offers one-of-a-kind gifts to suit all price ranges and tastes. Members always save 10% on all purchases, and your patronage helps support the Museum. The Perry Glass Studio Sale Saturday and Sunday, February 11–12 | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Jökulsárlón, Iceland Members’ Exclusive Access| 9–10 a.m. Saturday only Come buy a work of art created here in Norfolk by our talented Circumnavigation of Iceland Studio Team or Assistants. We’ve got paperweights, vases, tableware, August 1–9 ornaments, jewelry, and more. Support local glass artists and find great Discover the unique beauty of Iceland on gifts and great deals! this seven-night chartered cruise aboard the five-star, ice-class M.S. Le Soléal. See ancient Poetry Out Loud Viking ruins, glittering glaciers atop simmering Saturday, February 17 | 1 p.m. volcanoes, and rugged coastlines. Visit Grimsey This national competition encourages students to learn about great poetry Island on the Arctic Circle, and cruise past through memorization and recitation. Through public performances, they Surtsey, a UNESCO World Heritage site. master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Our free Kaufman Theater program is For pricing or to book your next vacation, presented by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and is sponsored by the contact Donor Stewardship Manager National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Kerry O’Donnell at 757-333-6318 or [email protected]. Conversations with the Curators Photo courtesy of Gohagen and Company, © Kenneth Muir The evening of February 28 Come see the Chrysler up close and behind the scenes. The Museum welcomes Members at our Patron level and above to be our guests for this perennially popular program. After cocktails, our curators and conservators share their unique insights into the Chrysler Collection. Kindly R.S.V.P. when your mailed invitation arrives to select your favorite topics.

28 | winter 2017 Yee Haw! Photos by Charlie Gunter for the Chrysler Museum of Art

Branding the American West presented a rodeo of Western art for the 450 Museum Members who attended our exclusive exhibition preview party on October 28. The evening featured the country sounds of Gina Dalmas and the Cow Tippin’ Playboys, line dancing, and refreshments inspired by the diverse peoples, vistas, and tastes of the region. Though a special lecture by the traveling show’s curator, Dr. Marian Wardle of Brigham Young University Museum of Art, was a highlight, the real stars of the opening evening were the 100-plus early-20th- century paintings, films, and sculptures that formed, and sometimes changed, how the world viewed the West.

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Recently Engaged? Your Special Day Can Be Our Next Masterpiece! The Chrysler offers stunning venues for your wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Let us turn your vision into a work of art. Contact our experienced Special Events professionals at [email protected] or 757-664-6207 for availability, pricing, and other rental information.

The Wedding Party: A Chrysler Museum Bridal Show SAVE THE DATE Friday, March 24 | 7–10 p.m. Fashion Showcase | Vendor Booths | DJed Music | Groom’s Corner | Champagne Cost: $5 per person Tickets are available online at reservations.chrysler.org or at the door.

Photo by Glenn Brashaw/Images in Light

museum and historic houses hours information Rather than recycle, glass studio hours Saturday and Sunday 757-664-6200 | Chrysler.org share this issue of from noon–5 p.m. Chrysler with a friend. Tuesday–Saturday Limited Accessibility follow the chrysler from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. The Chrysler Museum of Sunday from noon–5 p.m. general admission is free Art is partially supported and @chryslermuseum Third Thursday til 10 p.m. and supported by by grants from the City Museum Members! of Norfolk, the Virginia Wisteria, the Museum Subscribe to the Chrysler Join the Chrysler on site, Commission for the Arts, restaurant is open during Museum Weekly at on the phone at the National Endowment Museum hours. chrysler.org/email-signup. 757-333-6298, for the Arts, the Business Free Parking or online at Consortium for Arts Support, Wheelchair Accessible chrysler.org/membership. and the Edwin S. Webster Foundation.