Collecting Asian Art, Defining Gender Roles
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Journal of the History of Collections vol. no. ( ) pp. – Collecting Asian art, defi ning gender roles World War II, women curators and the politics of Asian art collections in the United States Chelsea Schlievert and Jason Steuber This paper explores collecting and collections of Asian art during World War II to illustrate how women Downloaded from temporarily assumed leadership roles in American museums. It details abrupt changes experienced by museums following the departure of men in these traditionally male-dominated professions. For example, understood to be the ‘ right man at the right place ’ at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Ruth Lindsay Hughes was appointed Acting Curator of the Oriental collection in 1942 after Curator Laurence Sickman was called to active service. The chronicled museum activities, showing how Hughes fashioned the Asian art http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org/ and acquisitions combined with how she utilized the collection in the home front’s wartime efforts, illustrate changes in the ways collections were curated and interpreted. Within this framework, the lens of gender brings into focus the wider context of how American collections of Asian art were incorporated into the complicated international war effort involving politics, dealers and museums. N ARCH art history after World War II. In addition, and per- I M , the Metropolitan Museum of Art at University of Washington on December 12, 2011 hosted a programme on behalf of the Chinese Art haps more importantly, the biography of Hughes Society of America. Previous guest lecturers in this affords a glimpse into the political intricacies that sur- prestigious series included notable authorities on rounded collections and collecting during the war China and Chinese art, such as Hu Shih, Alfred period. Issues of gender and the roles of women in Salmony, George Rowley, John Pope and Paul Pelliot.1 American art museums and collection development The lecture presented Qing Dynasty ( – shed light on the complex relationships between cura- ) works from the tomb of Guo Qin Wang, par- tors, art dealers, politicians and international diplo- ticularly a textile group dated – ( Fig. ). 2 The macy via the collection and display of Asian visual lecture’s subject was signifi cant since few Chinese arts. From the Hughes micro-history emerge impor- textiles at that time could be dated to a particular tant clues to further our understanding of collections tomb or period. However, what is more provocative to in wider historical and contemporary contexts. consider is that the lecturer, Ruth Lindsay Hughes ( Fig. ), 3 then Acting Curator of the Oriental collec- tion at the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, 4 Asian art: collections, exhibitions and was the fi rst woman invited to address this distin- guished society. World War II The following examines the history of Asian art The years of the United States ’ involvement in World collections during World War II in the United States. War II ( – ) offer a fascinating period for the It highlights for the fi rst time narratives of women in study of Asian art collecting and collection develop- the development of Asian art collecting during the ment in American museums. The European theatre war by focusing on Hughes to provide new insights had been involved in confl ict since , while East into the circumstances that have informed museum Asia had been in constant fl ux since the fall of the fi nal and collection histories and, ultimately, the formation Chinese imperial dynasty in and Japanese impe- and development of Asian collections and their infl u- rialist endeavours in the region – particularly in China. ence on the redefi ning of the Western canon of Asian Gone were the great cooperative triumphs of earlier © The Author . Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1093/jhc/fhn001 Advance Access publication 3 March 2008 CHELSEA SCHLIEVERT AND JASON STEUBER Fig. . One Hundred Cranes Imperial Robe , late- seventeenth century to early-eighteenth century, from the Guo Qin Wang Tomb. Embroidered brocade. Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art ( – ) and Royal Academy of Arts. Downloaded from http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Washington on December 12, 2011 twentieth-century international Asian art exhibitions, sion of American contact with Asia during and imme- such as those held in Amsterdam (), Cologne diately after the war intensifi ed interest in the culture (), Berlin () and London ( – ). 5 In fact, of that continent, not least its art. ’9 China was, after such an ominous and violent future was predicted as all, an ally already pitted against Japan and the Axis. early as – by exhibition organizers at the Royal The art of China, therefore, was of particular signifi - Academy in London. As records indicate, the Acad- cance to the public and was exhibited frequently in emy, having just enjoyed one of its largest and most American museums during the war. Japanese art successful exhibitions with the Chinese show, had a experienced an altogether different reaction, to the genuine interest in hosting a similar Japanese display.6 point that some institutions, such as the Museum of However, with precursors of war on the horizon, the Fine Arts in Boston, closed their Japanese galleries for Imperial Japanese government delivered a calculated the duration of the war. 10 refusal to proceed with any further negotiations with Along with the early enthusiasm enjoyed by Asian the Academy due to irreconcilable differences – art exhibitions from the s to the mid-s, many political, ideological and, eventually, military con- young curatorial professionals had already visited frontations. 7 Instead, the Academy turned its focus countries in the East. Enjoying what Erwin Panofsky towards ‘ Winter Exhibitions of British Art or of termed the ‘ Golden Age ’ of art history in the United Works of Art from British collections ’ .8 States ( – ), 11 the formative years of many cura- In terms of collection histories, the direct involve- tors provided them with opportunities to acquire ment of the United States in the war in East Asia knowledge of Asian art, cultures and languages. brought both interest in and access to Asian cultures, Laurence Sickman ( Fig. ),12 for example, travelled to particularly works of art. As Warren Cohen attests, China as Harvard’s fi rst Harvard-Yenjing fellow in ‘ There is no question but that the enormous expan- on a full scholarship. 13 The intellectual drive, WOMEN CURATORS AND THE POLITICS OF ASIAN ART COLLECTIONS Downloaded from Fig. . Laurence Sickman , c. Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Archives. http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org/ Kirkwood Hall. Despite the changing atmosphere and role of the Gallery, the staff were ‘ determined to maintain consistent operations standards, public pro- gramming and accessibility to art ’ .16 Thus, during the war, museums were renegotiating their roles, becom- Fig. . Lindsay Hughes , . Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins ing patriotic institutions as well as centres of art col- Museum of Art Archives. lection, appreciation and education. Though at University of Washington on December 12, 2011 attendance and staff numbers dipped during the war years, many art museums attempted to pursue a pol- fuelled by new funding and university training pro- icy of business as usual. grammes, resulted in many scholars and specialists in The absence of men from administrative roles in Asian art. In less than a decade, this emerging genera- museums created opportunities for women, if only tion would become sought after by the American mil- temporarily. As men entered the armed forces in large itary in their efforts in the Asian theatre. Asian art numbers, women – at least those who did not go over- authorities and curators, such as Sickman at the seas alongside men as military and Red Cross nurses – Nelson Gallery and Howard Hollis at the Cleveland were informed, through popular images such as that Museum of Art, were called to active service, as were of Rosie the Riveter, that their duty to the country Richard Edwards, Sherman Lee and James Cahill, all was to either enter the workforce (if not already a part of whom would later become major curators and of it) or occupy jobs commonly held by men. 17 In scholars in the fi eld. 14 As a result, the collections of addition, women understood that when the war many American museums – particularly of Chinese ended, men would resume their positions. In muse- and Indian art – benefi ted greatly from the stationing ums, as in institutions, factories and companies of these men abroad. 15 nationwide, women adjusted to wartime needs. Curators were not the only employees taking leave Female replacements in museums were often the from their positions at museums. As with nearly all assistants or wives of curators and administrators. At employment sectors during the war, museums expe- the Museum of Modern Art, when the Curator of rienced losses in personnel at all levels. In addition, Photography, Beaumont Newhall, was called to serv- many, such as the Nelson Gallery, became sites ice, his wife Nancy took his place; similarly, at the where war-related activities as well as Red Cross and Brooklyn Museum of Art, when the Curator of Asian civil defence training classes took place. The Gal- Art and Museum Director Laurance P. Roberts took lery’s north mezzanine operated as a service lounge, leave to join the Army, his wife, Isabel, oversaw his and dances were held for servicemen and women in duties. 18 At the Nelson Gallery, when the Director, CHELSEA SCHLIEVERT AND JASON STEUBER Paul Gardner, took leave to serve and was commis- roles in Asian art collections at American museums. sioned an Army major, he suggested to the Gallery’s Furthermore, Asian art history, like other fi elds, was trustees that his Secretary, Ethlyne Jackson, be established upon heavily masculinized canons and appointed as Acting Director; once Sickman was discourses, a structure that has tended to either over- called to serve, he too recommended that his assistant, look or marginalize women’s roles and contributions Lindsay Hughes, should assume the responsibilities to the fi eld.