The H Untington Library, Art Collections, and B Otanical G Ardens
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Pasadena, CA 1151 Oxford Road | San Marino, California 91108 Permit No. 949 huntington.org March/April 2014 March/April 2014 • Three new features make their debut in the Chinese Garden on March 8. • “Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes” opens March 15. • Annual Spring Plant Sale will be held April 25–27. CALENDAR CALENDAR The Huntington ArtLibrary, Collections, and Botanical Gardens General Information IN BLOOM TELEPHONE: 626-405-2100 WEBSITE: huntington.org ADMISSION: Members: Free. Non-Members New Exhibition Reveals “The Secrets of Archimedes” adult rates: Weekdays $20. Weekends $23. (See website for discounted senior, group, and children’s rates.) Admission is free to all n 1932, The Huntington’s visitors on the first Thursday of each month curator of manuscripts, with advance tickets. Reginald Haselden, received a HOURS: Mon., Wed., Thurs., and Fri.: noon– Iletter from Harold 4:30 p.m. Sat. and Sun.: 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Willoughby at the Uni versity of Monday holidays: 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Chicago, who had enclosed one SUMMER HOURS: (June–August) of four illuminated manuscript 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. daily, excluding Tues- leaves that an antiqui ties dealer days. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. was offering for sale. Asked for REFRESHMENTS: The Rose Garden Café arly spring has many standouts in the garden: wisteria and flowering his opinion, Haselden examined serves light meals and beverages. Tea is served cherries in the Japanese Garden, the season’s first blooms in the Rose in the Rose Garden Tea Room. For informa- EGarden. But it’s hard to top the Desert Garden’s puyas for their sheer “wow” the manuscript closely and tion and reservations, call 626-683-8131. factor. Rising up from shaggy clumps of foliage, tall inflorescences (flower observed faint text beneath the Enjoy Chinese cuisine in the Garden clusters) in eye-catching hues routinely stop visitors in their tracks and have painted illumination. After of Flowing Fragance. them reaching for their cameras. Notable large varieties of these Chilean further research, he returned the GIFT SHOP: The shop carries a variety of natives include the towering chartreuse Puya chilensis (above), the teal blue leaf to Willoughby and shared books, art and botanical prints, note cards, P. alpestris, and the green P. berteroniana. Other smaller puya species are the what he’d learned. “I am glad I and gift items related to The Huntington’s purple flowering P. venusta and the near-black P. coerulea var. violacea. Look was able to run it down,” collections. Purchases help finance the for them during the month of April in the lower Desert Garden. Haselden wrote. “I had a suspicion institution. For information, call Enhanced pseudocolor image of the Archimedes Palimpsest. it might be Archimedes.” 626-405-2142. The original text can be seen faintly in red under the later Neither The Huntington nor the Univer- Lisa Blackburn, Editor/Photographer text written across it. Copyright the owner of the Archimedes Easter Brunch sity of Chicago opted to acquire the manuscript; Palimpsest, licensed for use under Creative Commons Avelina E. Moeller, Designer its illuminations appeared to be forgeries and its Thea M. Page, Contributing writer oin us Sunday, April 20, for a delicious Easter brunch, Attribution 3.0 Unported Access Rights. Jcomplete with an egg hunt and a visit from the Easter ownership was dubious. The manuscript dropped Senior Staff Bunny. $55 per person ($27.50 for children ages 4–12). out of sight until the 1990s, when it was offered Members booking before April 1 will receive a 10 percent for sale at Christie’s auction house in New York. and refolded the leaves to create a Greek Ortho- Steven S. Koblik dox prayer book. This process of reuse is called President discount. Reservations: 626-405-2249. The private collector who purchased it then deposited it at the Walters Art Museum in Balti- palimpsesting; the resulting work is a palimpsest. Catherine Allgor Visit our Web site at huntington.org for additional details. In the early 20th century, a scholar named Johan Nadine and Robert A. Skotheim more with the intention of having it conserved, Director of Education digitally imaged, and—most importantly—read. Ludvig Heiberg discovered the manuscript and On the cover: A waterfall cascades over a walk-through grotto in a The incredible story of what happened transcribed as much of the underlying text as he James P. Folsom new section of the Chinese Garden, opening March 8. Back cover: Marge and Sherm Telleen / Marion and Earle next is told in the exhibition “Lost and Found: could. He published his findings in an academic Intricate wood carvings grace the interior of one of the garden’s two Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens journal—one of the sources consulted by new pavilions. See story on page 2. Photos by John Sullivan. The Secrets of Archimedes,” on view March 15 Kathy Hacker through June 22 in the MaryLou and George Haselden in 1932. Executive Assistant to the President Follow us! Boone Gallery. Organized by the Walters, the Fast-forward to 1999 when the Archimedes Steve Hindle Find links to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, exhibition is the result of more than a decade of Palimpsest went to the Walters, where a team of W. M. Keck Foundation Director of Research Vimeo, Flickr, and the Verso blog at huntington.org. extraordinary physical and scholarly work that researchers undertook a lengthy project of Kevin Salatino revealed the oldest surviving manuscript of the attempting to read the complete erased texts. The Hannah and Russel Kully Director process involved four years of painstaking of the Art Collections Greek mathematician’s most important treatises, exhibitions conservation, the use of state-of-the-art imaging Randy Shulman including two hitherto unknown texts. Those Vice President for Advancement “Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes” texts had all but vanished, victims of an act of techniques, and the expertise of more than 80 Laurie Sowd Opening March 15 / Boone Gallery Medieval “recycling.” specialists. Will Noel, the Walters’ curator of Vice President for Operations Archimedes lived in the third century manuscripts at the time, noted that what scholars CALENDAR • MARCH | APRIL 2014 “Topography to Tourism: British Landscape Prints and Alison D. Sowden B.C., but our story begins in 10th-century ultimately found “fundamentally reinterpreted Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections” Vice President for Financial Affairs Constantinople, where an anonymous scribe key treatises by Archimedes, important passages of 1 Through May 5 / Huntington Art Gallery, Works on Paper Room Susan Turner-Lowe copied Archimedes’ treatises onto parchment. which we were able to decipher for the first time.” Vice President for Communications “Seduction in Stone: Three centuries later, a monk in need of parch - David S. Zeidberg Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Bust of Madame de Vermenoux” ment erased the Archimedes text and then cut Avery Director of the Library Through July 14 / Huntington Art Gallery [ CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 ] New Pavilions Open March 8 Steve Koblik to Retire wo new pavilions and a rock grotto fter a tenure that has brought about unprece - ing. And last year, Charles Munger gave more than will open in the Chinese Garden on dented endowment growth, increased finan- $30 million toward the new Education and Visitor March 8, giving visitors a trio of cial stability, and exciting programmatic Center, the most ambitious project Koblik has Tbeautiful new structures to explore on Aexpansion, Huntington President Steven S. undertaken to date. (The project is scheduled to the west and north sides of the lake. Rich Koblik has announced his plans to retire, effective open in spring 2015.) in detailed craftsmanship—the work of June 30, 2015 “This level of fundraising is testimony to the artisans from Suzhou, China—these Koblik came to The Huntington in September degree to which people have placed their trust in exquisite additions to the evolving 2001, tasked with bolstering the financial strength Steve,” said Smith. “They see and agree with his landscape of Liu Fang Yuan are part of of an institution that was in the early stages of a vision—that this institution is remarkable, has great Phase II of the garden’s construction. renaissance—thanks to the work of his predecessor, momentum, and is entirely worth supporting.” Members will have two opportu - Robert Skotheim—following many years of fiscal Programmatic expansion has been substantial nities to preview these new features instability. His resounding success in putting The under Koblik’s leadership, as well: K-12 educational before the public opening. (See page 4 for Huntington on a strong financial footing may be programs continue to grow as the institution dates and times.) his greatest legacy. establishes partnerships with schools and school Several generous donors helped “Steve’s visionary insights and tireless efforts, districts, focused in large part on helping teachers make this stage of the garden’s develop - along with the spectacular team he has assembled, adapt to the new Common Core curriculum. The ment possible. A $3 million gift from Judy Yin Shih and Joel Axelrod helped have significantly strengthened The Huntington research program also has grown, and collabora - fund the Clear and Transcendent pavi - and have propelled it to unprecedented levels of tions with other institutions of higher learning— lion, which will serve as a lakeside national and international stature in all of its the University of Southern California and Caltech performance space, and the adjoining endeavors,” said Stewart Smith, chair of The among them—continue to bear fruit. The exhibi- courtyard, the Court of Assembled Huntington’s five-member Board of Trustees.