Exhibition Calendar 2019–20
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EXHIBITION CALENDAR 2019–20 Rachel Eggers Manager of Public Relations rachele@seattleartmuseum.org 206.654.3151 The following information is subject to change. Prior to publication, please confirm dates, titles, and other information with the Seattle Art Museum public relations office. 2 SEATTLE ART MUSEUM – NOW ON VIEW Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India Seattle Art Museum October 18, 2018–January 21, 2019 Peacock in the Desert showcases five centuries of artistic creation from the kingdom of Marwar-Jodhpur in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in partnership with the Mehrangarh Museum Trust of Jodhpur, the exhibition features 250 objects from the 16th to the mid-20th century including intricate paintings, decorative arts, elaborate tents, canopies, textiles, jewelry, and weapons, presented with photos and videos that evoke the impressive setting of the Mehrangarh Museum. The exhibition presents a vision of a cosmopolitan court culture that relies on art as an essential aspect of its rule. Established in the 15th century, the city of Jodhpur was ruled by the Rathores for over seven centuries. The objects on view, many of which have not been seen beyond palace walls or traveled to the United States, tell the story of this vast desert kingdom. Peacock in the Desert traces the kingdom’s cultural landscape as it was continuously reshaped by cross-cultural encounters, notably by two successive empires who ruled India: the Mughals and the British. These encounters introduced objects, artists, languages, architectural styles, and systems of administration that influenced the complex royal identity of the Rathore dynasty. The exhibition will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (March 4– August 12, 2018) before traveling to the Seattle Art Museum. It then travels to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (March 9–September 2, 2019). 3 John Grade: Middle Fork Seattle Art Museum February 10, 2017–ongoing Middle Fork, a large-scale sculpture by Seattle-based artist John Grade, is presented in its largest iteration yet. More than doubling from its previous length of 50 feet to 105 feet, the tree sculpture dynamically spans the entire length of the Brotman Forum, the main entrance lobby that welcomes guests to the museum. The highly detailed sculpture was created by Grade, his team, and a cadre of volunteers using a full plaster cast of a living old-growth western hemlock tree found in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. The cast was used as a mold to assemble a new tree from now nearly one million reclaimed cedar pieces. Suspended horizontally from the museum’s ceiling and above the viewer, Grade’s sculpture offers a mesmerizing new perspective on a familiar form. With its exhibition at SAM, Middle Fork returns home to Washington State. The work was first conceived and built at MadArt Studio and had its Seattle debut there in January 2015. Following that, it was included in the WONDER exhibition at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC (November 13, 2015–May 13, 2016) and was recently displayed at the 2017 Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland. With each iteration, Middle Fork has “grown” larger and added more branches. The artist plans over time to continue the sculpture’s growth to match the length of the living tree that it is based on, 140 feet. Eventually, he plans to bring the sculpture back to the forest, allowing it to decompose and return to the earth at the base of that original tree. 4 Big Picture: Art After 1945 Seattle Art Museum July 23, 2016–ongoing Big Picture: Art After 1945 features significant works of abstract painting and sculpture from SAM’s collection. Tracing landmark artistic developments in the decades following World War II, the installation reveals how abstraction established itself as a dominant force to be reckoned with. Big Picture will highlight works from the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection given to the museum, such as Mark Rothko’s No. 10 (1952), Jasper Johns’ Thermometer (1959), and Eva Hesse’s No Title (1964). It will also feature key loans from other local collections, reflecting the depth and commitment of private collectors in Seattle. Virginia and her husband, Bagley Wright, who passed away in 2011, are longtime visionary leaders and legendary arts patrons of SAM and Seattle. The Wrights have donated extraordinary works to the museum for decades but within the past two years, Virginia Wright gave a large part of her and her husband’s collection to the museum. These works have transformed SAM’s modern and contemporary collection, elevating it to national status. In addition, Big Picture includes select contemporary works that point to the continuity and resonance of these ideas today, such as X (2015)—a painting recently acquired by the museum—by Gwendolyn Knight Jacob Lawrence Prize-winner Brenna Youngblood. 5 Claire Partington: Taking Tea Seattle Art Museum December 7, 2018–December 6, 2020 Get a new perspective on SAM’s popular Porcelain Room through the site- specific work of contemporary British ceramic artist Claire Partington. Taking Tea features an installation referencing Baroque painting and European porcelain factories, as well as a panel mounted with fragments from 17th- and 18th-century shipwrecks. The Porcelain Room is a favorite for visitors with over 1,000 European and Asian porcelain pieces from SAM's collection grouped to evoke porcelain as a treasured commodity between the East and the West. Claire Partington reappraises the narrative histories of the porcelain objects. Her figures engaged in the act of “taking tea” give a human face to the European craze for Chinese porcelain on display in the Porcelain Room. Partington’s installation suggests the often unintentional consequences of the porcelain trade during the expansion of international shipping routes. The figures in the installation are steeped in the rarified luxury and high-end fashion these items once conveyed, but they also expose the degrading aspects of trade—the reality of precarious ocean voyages and human exploitation. Each character in the group is made in a particular style: The Man of the House is in the style of English Bow porcelain and other early European attempts to imitate Chinese and Japanese porcelain. He’s not really a high-end luxury item but a poor imitation. He is dressed in 17th-century costume and appears slightly passé in comparison to his wife. The Woman of the House is in the style of Sèvres, the pinnacle of European porcelain production in the 18th century. Like a modern trophy wife, she wears a wide panniered dress, designed to show off how much silk she can afford, which is decorated with luxury logos. The Boy is the prized possession, the genuine “luxury” exotic item on display, made in the style of Chinese Wan Li porcelain. The Maid is in the style of the red stoneware teapots that were the first Chinese ceramic items to arrive in Europe in the 17th century along with the main cargo of tea and spices. Two Sailors are celadon-glazed. One is washed up and presumed dead; the other clings for life. Both are ignored by the tea party group. Incised on the back of one figure is the shipwreck excerpt from Don Juan by Lord Byron (1788–1824). 6 Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art Seattle Art Museum November 10, 2018–ongoing Over vast geographical expanses and several millennia, a mosaic of cultures developed in ancient Mesoamerica and the Andean regions of South America. Some of these diverse cultures evolved from humble agricultural communities into complex cultural centers with spectacular cities and refined arts. Each had sophisticated belief systems about the origins of the universe and the roles of all the human and supernatural beings contained within. Ritual protocols—like shamanic transformations, human alliances with animal spirit companions, and the reenactment of myths—blurred the boundaries between the human and cosmic zones. The arts in this gallery depict ancestors, humans, gods, supernatural animals, and monsters in ceramic, stone, shell, and animal. Visual symbols and narratives seen on ceremonial vessels, tomb sculptures, and personal adornment illuminate how early peoples grappled with the fundamental questions of existence, immortality, and the nature of the universe around them. 7 American Modernism Seattle Art Museum August 22, 2018–August 20, 2019 In the first decade of the 20th century, American photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz offered a rousing alternative to the European artists then dominating the art world. He showcased the homegrown talents of four bold young painters: Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and John Marin. Despite unmistakable individual styles, these artists shared a daring approach to color and created forms that evoked rather than described nature. Important examples of their work can be viewed in SAM’s new permanent collection installation American Modernism. Georgia O’Keeffe’s Music—Pink and Blue No. 1 and Marsden Hartley’s Painting No. 49, Berlin are centerpieces of the installation. These two paintings were milestone gifts to the collection by renowned collector, philanthropist, and former SAM trustee, Barney A. Ebsworth, who passed away in April 2018. 8 Noble Splendor: Art of Japanese Aristocrats Seattle Art Museum July 28, 2018–March 3, 2019 As the primary patrons of the arts in premodern Japan, aristocrats—both the imperial court nobility and the military elite—significantly shaped their country’s art history. A wealth of fine materials that were used in daily life give a sense of the noble class’s lifestyle. Showcased in this gallery are paintings that illustrate the aristocrats’ activities, ceramics commissioned by feudal lords for personal use or as gifts, and masterfully produced metalwork crafted with lavish materials and exquisite decorations.