2019 Annual Report

The Aldrich The Year Contemporary In Review Art Museum 2019 Board of Trustees Contents Eric Diefenbach Chair Diana Bowes Vice-Chair Linda M. Dugan Page 3 Letter from the Chair Treasurer Claude K. Amadeo Page 5 Letter from the Director Secretary Page 6 The Year in Review—2019 Exhibitions Janine Brown Gail Gluckman Page 8 Three Decades at The Aldrich—An Interview with Richard Klein Michael Joo Page 12 The Year Ahead—2020 Exhibitions Patricia Kemp Kristina Larson Page 14 Artist Interview—Lucia Hierro Neil Marcus Page 16 Artist Interview—Hugo McCloud Amy Pal Julie Phillips Page 18 Financial Statements Andrew J. Pitts Page 20 Report of Gifts—Donors Kathleen O’Grady Chair Emerita Page 24 Report of Gifts—Members Georganne Aldrich Heller Page 27 Art Aldrich Contributing Artists Honorary Trustee Martin Sosnoff Page 28 A Look Back Trustee Emeritus Cybele Maylone Executive Director Larry Aldrich (1906-2001) Founder Aldrich Council Sonia Attkiss Cover: Harmony Hammond Rachel Carr Goulding Dogon, 1978/2015 Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Gray Sonia Skindrud Associates, New York © Harmony Hammond / Rachel Sondheimer Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Eric Swanson. Left: Lucia Hierro, Mandao 1, 2019 Private Collection, Miami. Letter from the Chair The Aldrich exists to serve artists, and we all benefit. The Museum enables artists to freely realize their creative visions by offering a respectful, collaborative environment. For many artists, an Aldrich exhibition is their first solo museum show. For some, participating in a group exhibition here is their first time showing in a museum at all. Unexpected and exciting juxtapositions sometimes emerge. In Weather Report, the artist Sara Bouchard, who received her MFA in 2019, has a work in the same gallery as Nick Cave and Andy Goldsworthy. Our curators’ ideas, knowledge, and instincts guide our decision-making. Exhibitions Director Richard Klein and Senior Curator Amy Smith-Stewart are charged with discovering and (top left, clockwise) Sara Bouchard, Weather Box, 2014 presenting exceptional contemporary work at just the right moment, be it before an artist Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Christopher E. Manning. Weather Report (installation view), The Aldrich garners commercial attention, or at a pivotal juncture in an artist’s practice. Unburdened by Contemporary Art Museum, October 6, 2019 to March 29, 2020: Sara Bouchard, Weather Box (left), 2014, Courtesy a permanent collection and operating insistently outside the contemporary art marketplace, of the artist; Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Storm Prototype (center), 2007, Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman The Aldrich enables our artists and visitors to focus on the work. Gallery, Chicago; Nick Cave, Tondo (right), 2018, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, Photo: Jason Mandella. Eric Diefenbach, Chair of the Board, in front of Nick Cave’s Tondo, 2018, Photo: Emily Devoe. Andy A strategic planning process begun in 2019 has brought into focus how important such key Goldsworthy Gutter Water – Night, Times Square, New York, March 6, 2010, 2010, Courtesy of the artist and moments are for artists and how uncannily The Aldrich has captured them throughout its Galerie Lelong & Co., New York fifty-plus year history. As we move forward, we will focus even more purposefully on those moments–so that the work presented will delight, inspire, and provoke our diverse audiences. I have been involved with The Aldrich for more than a decade and our current forward momentum is palpable. In her first full year as Executive Director, Cybele Maylone has led the institution’s remarkable team with energy, professionalism, and vision. We presented seven successful exhibitions this year with strong critical reviews and numerous feature articles in the press. Museum attendance, overall financial support, and membership each increased by 15% or more in 2019. An annual report is an opportunity to reflect and give thanks for the hard work, creativity, and financial support that combine to make The Aldrich such a vibrant institution. To the artists, curators, donors, educators, staff, and volunteers who contribute so much to the institution, thank you. I must add particular thanks to my fellow trustees whose time, treasure, and talent are indispensable to the vitality of the Museum. Sincerely, Eric Diefenbach Chair of the Board 2 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR LETTER FROM THE CHAIR 3 Letter from the Director In 2019, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum began a strategic planning process. It is still underway, but as we focus on the next phase of growth, it has become clear that The Aldrich’s mission, both now and throughout its history, has been to serve artists. Our goal is to create an environment where artists have the freedom to make and present work that fulfills their vision. Our commitment to artists was core to our work in 2019. We presented five important solo exhibitions: Harmony Hammond, N. Dash, Sara Cwynar, Eva LeWitt, and Zoë Sheehan Saldaña. Hammond’s show was noted as one of the best of the year by The New York Times. Our group exhibitions, How Art Changed the Prison, which featured the work of artists from Connecticut’s Prison Art Program, and Weather Report, which explored the earth’s atmosphere and moral crisis of climate, together presented the work of 60 artists. And we have been thrilled to see the audience’s response to these programs: in 2019 we saw a 20% increase in Museum attendance. In 2020, the Museum will present the work of three artists also at the crux of new directions in their careers. Genesis Belanger, Hugo McCloud, and Lucia Hierro have all built substantial bodies of significant work, but none have yet had their work presented in a solo museum show. Frank Stella will exhibit at the Museum for the sixteenth time with his first solo exhibition at The Aldrich, Frank Stella’s Stars, A Survey, examining this important motif that’s been central to his practice from the beginning. With the group exhibition Twenty Twenty, The Aldrich will give artists a platform to respond to the 24-hour election year news cycle through the slow medium of drawing. Like Weather Report, Twenty Twenty exemplifies the sensitivity and nuance with which Richard Klein crafts themed exhibitions. Richard has been associated with The Aldrich for over thirty years, almost as long as Larry Aldrich himself. He began as a contract art handler in 1988 and has served as Exhibitions Director since 1999. His leadership as a curator has been crucial to the integrity of the Museum’s exhibitions program and to its high reputation among artists. He offers his perspective on three decades at The Aldrich in the pages ahead. The Aldrich depends upon the gifts of many individuals, foundations, and corporations to present the work of these artists. In this annual report, we offer our thanks to all those who have made it possible for artists to thrive at The Aldrich. I hope you enjoy this brief summary of 2019 and look ahead to 2020. (top left, clockwise) Sara Cwynar: Gilded Sincerely, Age (installation view), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, June 9, 2019 to November 10, 2019, Courtesy of the artist, Cooper Cole, Toronto and Foxy Production, New York © Sara Cwynar, Photo: Jason Mandella. Eva LeWitt, Untitled (Mesh A–J) (site-specific installation view, detail), 2019, Courtesy of the artist and VI, VII, Oslo, Photo: Jason Mandella. Cybele Maylone, Executive Director, in front of Byron Kim’s Sunday Painting series, Photo: Claire Ritz. Harmony Hammond, Rib, 2013, Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Gray Associates, New York © Harmony Hammond / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Photo: Jason Mandella. Zoë Sheehan Saldaña: There Cybele Maylone Must Be Some Way Out of Here (installation view), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Executive Director November 24, 2019 to May 25, 2020, Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Jason Mandella. 4 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR 5 The New York Times writes that our exhibitions are the kind you expect 2019 at a “big-guns urban institution, but [find] at The Aldrich Contemporary Exhibitions Art Museum in leafy suburban Connecticut.” – September 2019 The Domestic Plane: New Perspectives Radcliffe Bailey: Vessel III on Tabletop Art Objects May 10, 2019, to March 15, 2020 May 20, 2018, to January 19, 2019 Main Street Sculpture Curated by Richard Klein, Amy Smith-Stewart, Dakin Hart, and Sara Cwynar: Gilded Age Elizabeth Essner June 9 to November 10, 2019 Curated by Amy Smith-Stewart Helena Hernmarck: Weaving in Progress Nari Ward: Apollo / Poll October 14, 2018, to January 27, 2019 June 12, 2019, to January 10, 2020 Curated by Richard Klein Sculpture Garden Danh Vō: We the People (detail) Tony Tasset: Deer December 4, 2018, to May 6, 2019 June 12, 2019, to March 15, 2020 Main Street Sculpture Sculpture Garden How Art Changed the Prison: The Work Tom Friedman: Hazmat Love of CPA’s Prison Arts Program May 7, 2019, to March 15, 2020 January 27 to May 27, 2019 Sculpture Garden Curated by Jeffrey Greene Weather Report Harmony Hammond: Material Witness, October 6, 2019, to April 19, 2020 Five Decades of Art Curated by Richard Klein March 3 to September 15, 2019 Curated by Amy Smith-Stewart Eva LeWitt: Untitled (Mesh A–J) (top to bottom) Harmony Hammond (top to bottom) Sara Cwynar, October 6, 2019, to April 26, 2020 Untitled, 1995, Courtesy of Women, 2015, Collection of Jane N. Dash the artist and Alexander Gray Oster, installed on 72 Pictures Curated by Amy Smith-Stewart Associates, New York © Harmony of Modern Paintings (wallpaper), Hammond / Licensed by Artists 2016. Courtesy of the artist, May 3 to September 15, 2019 Rights Society (ARS), New York Cooper Cole, Toronto and Foxy Photo: Jason Mandella. Tom Production, New York © Sara Friedman, Hazmat Love, 2017 Cwynar, Photo: Jason Mandella.

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