Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Annual Report 2013-2014
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ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014 Genesee Street Utica, NY 13502 315 797-0000 www.mwpai.org Front cover: Samuel Yellin, American, born Russian (1885-1940); Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (active 1909-present) Grille, 1925 Wrought iron. Gift of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation in Honor of Anna Tobin D’Ambrosio, 2013.16 THE MUNSON-WILLIAMS-PROCTOR ARTS INSTITUTE’S MISSION IS • to serve diverse audiences by advancing the appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of the arts • to promote interest and participation in the arts • to engender artistic self-expression and personal creativity • to assume a leadership and advocacy role for the arts Attributed to Otis Kayne, American (1885-1974), in the circle of Nicholas Alden Brooks, American (1840-1904) One Dollar Bill with “Walking Liberty” Half Dollar, and Dr. Philipp R. Manecke, Jr.’s Prescription Form, not dated Oil on wooden board. Gift of Henry B. and Mary D. Holt, 2013.14 Message from the President Contents Museum of Art 3 Performing Arts 6 For nearly 80 years, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts School of Art 9 Institute has remained at the forefront of enhancing Supporters 13 the quality of life for the residents of Central New York Annual Operating Fund 16 and the surrounding regions. Annual Attendance 18 Sponsors 19 The Institute’s three program divisions present an exciting array of visual and performing arts events as well as professional instruction in art. Board of Trustees F.X. Matt III, Chair The Museum of Art presented 10 exhibitions this year, Michael D. Damsky, Vice Chair most notably an exploration of the works of Andy Dr. William L. Boyle Jr., Secretary Warhol and a series of photographs by Mark Shaw. The Performing Arts division presented 15 live performances Vige Barrie including an unprecedented collaboration between Joseph J Corasanti the Utica Symphony Orchestra and the legendary rock Mary McLean Evans band, Chicago. The School of Art Community Art Donna Harkavy Program saw continued growth and we are optimistic Steven R. Kowalsky about the growth of the PrattMWP college program. Mark D. Levitt These accomplishments are explained more fully in the William F. Locke pages of this report. John B. Stetson Linda B. Vincent It is important to note that many of the programs are offered to the public at little or no charge. This is the legacy of our founding families who had the foresight, generosity and commitment to the community to create this organization for the educational and cultur- al enrichment of the public. The financial issues facing MWPAI continue to linger as we strive to further develop the strong base of financial support that has sustained us from the beginning. With the new fiscal year, we once again pledge our commitment to serving you, our public. Anthony J. Spiridigloizzi President 2 2013-14 Annual Report Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute The mission of the Museum of Art is to collect, preserve, and exhibit art, artifacts, and articles of importance; to provide instruction, enrichment, and appreciation of these objects; and to facilitate an understanding of the various peoples and the cultures who produced and used them. Museum of Art The renowned artworks in the Museum’s permanent collection are at the heart of all we undertake. The exhibitions, research, care, and growth of that collection enable us to enrich the lives of our visitors. Artworks enter the permanent collection by a number of paths— gifts, purchases, and bequests. This past year the Museum added 30 works of art to the collection, as noted on the following pages. Two of those works—a corner cabinet and a photograph— represent the noteworthy stories that accompany gifts to the collection. The Museum was contacted by a descendant of Buffalo, New York designer and cabinetmaker Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936). She knew she owned a remarkable object—a two-part corner cabinet that this renowned artist made for his own home. Around 1897, Charles Rohlfs focused his career on furniture design and construction, soon opening a shop in Buffalo. Rohlfs’ idiosyncratic and innovative designs, which are inspired by the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, drew remarkable press when exhibited at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition and his work soon gained national and international acclaim. Today, museums and collectors seek the distinctive and eccentric designs that incorporate sinuous lines and Richard Pousette-Dart, American (1916-92), Theodoros Stamos, 1950 expressive carving. Gelatin silver print on paper. Gift of the Richard Pousette-Dart Estate, 2014.11. Liza and John Ortman, Rohlfs’ great-granddaugh- ter and her husband, wanted to find an appro- priate home for the corner cabinet and associated THE MUSEUM OF ART presented ten special The richness and depth of the Museum’s hanging cabinet, which had been used together exhibitions during the 2013-14 fiscal year, permanent collection allows innovative in Charles Rohlfs’ home. They took an unusual exploring a diverse range of artists and genres. explorations of topics across various mediums. approach by requesting proposals from a number Pop Art dominated the summer and fall seasons, Butterflies, Geishas and Dragons: The Arts and of museums outlining the contribution the cabinet with the Museum’s first exhibition devoted to Influence of Japan included 18th- through would make to the permanent collection. MWPAI the work of Andy Warhol, followed by a Robert 20th-century ceramics, prints, metalwork, has aggressively collected, researched, exhibited, Indiana retrospective. Hosting Indiana’s work Japanese netsuke, watercolors, and silver, all and published American decorative arts since the was especially meaningful as the internationally drawn from the permanent collection. Offered Museum’s opening in 1936, and the Victorian-era recognized artist studied at MWPAI’s School of in conjunction with Glimmerglass Festival’s furniture collection is recognized as one of the Art in the 1940s, a period that heavily influenced production of Madame Butterfly, this exhibition strongest of its type. While the Museum owns a his subsequent career. MWPAI also organized is just one example of the many community- Rohlfs-designed chair, we hoped to better the first museum exhibition of the work of wide collaborative programs undertaken each represent his work and the significant contribution photographer Mark Shaw. Best known as the year. The Museum continued its mission to New York State cabinetmakers made to the Arts private photographer for John and Jacqueline support contemporary artists by inviting Sam and Crafts movement. The Museum’s collections, Kennedy, Shaw also created groundbreaking Van Aken to create a site-specific installation, record of exhibitions and publications, and the fashion photography in the 1950s. A Hole in the Sky. Our Museum education staff’s passionate dedication to decorative arts and programs reached more than 16,000 people. to the community impressed the Rohlfs family. 2013-14 Annual Report 3 The remarkable cabinet was thoughtfully donated feature 38 silver prints of Pousette-Dart’s family, particular significance for the depicted sitter. In to the Museum and will soon be featured in the friends, musicians, writers, curators, and artists. studying Pousette-Dart’s photograph of Stamos, reinstallation of the Museum’s American art His subjects included Betty Parsons, William Duncan puzzled over the light-colored form that galleries. Congdon, Mark Rothko, and others whom Root hovers near Stamos’s face, and speculated over associated with or whose art he collected. Stamos different possibilities (Stamos was a heavy Also in this past year, the Museum was honored (1922-97) was a particular favorite for Root, who smoker; had he just exhaled?). It was some time to accept the generous gift of the photographic was one of Stamos’s most ardent patrons in these before Duncan discovered that Pousette-Dart portrait Theodoros Stamos by artist Richard early years; the artist’s abstract forms and rich superimposed a biomorphic form from Stamos’s Pousette-Dart from his widow Evelyn Pousette- palette were derived from natural phenomena, painting, Road to Sparta (Spartan Way), 1949, onto Dart. This work also resonates perfectly with the for which Root had great feeling. the photograph. The painting, once owned by Museum’s history and its permanent collection. Edward Root, is now in the collection of the All this was well known to Museum staff and In early 2014, Curator of Modern and Contem- Museum of Art. It is indeed appropriate that this Mr. Duncan, but no one understood just how porary Art Mary Murray and guest curator photograph of the young Stamos should find a closely the Stamos photographic portrait is Charles Duncan were assiduously working on home, along with his painting, at MWPAI. connected to the Root collection when Duncan the exhibition and catalogue Absence / Presence: proposed the project. It is through the generosity of donors that the Richard Pousette-Dart as Photographer, to open Museum’s permanent collection continues to in the fall. This was an ideal project for the Pousette-Dart’s approach to photography was grow, resonate, and educate. The Museum’s Museum to organize because of many interest- informed by his painting sensibility (and vice programs, exhibitions and scholarship excite the ing connections: the Museum has depth in versa). As Mr. Duncan noted, “For Pousette- imaginations of our visitors and enhance the 20th-century American art, thanks to its Dart, as visual hagiographer of New York School quality of life in our region. See you in the galleries. longtime association with advisor and bene- artists, the trace of the hand in darkroom factor Edward Wales Root (1884-1956), who processes is essential for a photographic image Anna Tobin D’Ambrosio collected paintings and works on paper by to be elevated to a status beyond mere documen- Director and Chief Curator, Museum of Art contemporary Americans like Pousette-Dart tation.”1 Pousette-Dart’s creative manipulation and his Abstract Expressionist-era associates.