Medium The Magazine of the Birmingham Museum of Art Fall · 2018 Embodying Faith Imagining Jesus through the Ages Contents Medium · Fall · 2018 Hours Telephones Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm Main Office, 205.254.2565 The Birmingham Museum of Art Sunday, Noon–5pm publishes the membership magazine, Closed Mondays and select holidays Public Programs, 205.254.2571 Medium, quarterly. Oscar’s at the Museum Museum Tours, 205.254.2964 The mission of the Birmingham Tuesday–Friday, 11am–2pm Museum of Art is to spark the Members receive a 10% discount Membership, 205.254.2389 creativity, imagination, and liveliness 205.328.7850; [email protected] of Birmingham by connecting all its Development, 205.297.8214 citizens to the experience, meaning, and joy of art. Clarence B. Hanson, Jr. Library Facilities Rental By appointment: [email protected] Jestina Howard, Special Events James Outland 205.254.2681; [email protected] Chairman of the Board The Museum Store Graham C. Boettcher Open Museum hours The R. Hugh Daniel Director Members receive a 10% discount; 205.254.2777; Laura Monroe [email protected] Editor www.birminghammuseumstore.org James Williams 7 | Acquisitions + Exhibitions 21 | News + Giving Designer Beaux Arts Krewe Acquisitions NAACP Award Sean Pathasema Embodying Faith Volunteer Spotlight Photographer For Freedoms MS Society Commission Board of Trustees Waterline 19 | Programs + Events Q&A with John Lytle Wilson Membership inquiries to: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics Support Groups Mr. James K. Outland, Museum Board Chairman; Ms. Myla E. Calhoun, Secretary; [email protected] An Exploration of Line Ongoing Programs Corporate Partners Mr. Braxton Goodrich, Endowment Chair; Mr. Joel B. Piassick, Treasurer & Finance Third Space For Freedoms Townhall Tribute + Memorial Gifts Chair; Mrs. Maye Head Frei, Governance Chair; The Honorable Houston Brown; Editorial inquiries to: The Original Makers Quilting Program Visitors’ View Mr. Mark L. Drew; Dr. George T. French; Mrs. Joyce Crawford Mitchell; Mr. G. Ruffner [email protected] Chapter 06 Page, Jr.; Mr. Sanjay Singh; Mrs. Nan Skier; Mrs. Kelly Styslinger; Mr. Larry Thornton; Chenoweth Lecture Mrs. Patricia Wallwork Chairmen Emeriti: Mr. Thomas N. Carruthers, Jr.; Mrs. Margaret Livingston Cover: Unknown Spanish artist, Crucified Jesus (detail), Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. A about 1600, fruitwood and painted glass; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Beaux Arts Krewe, portion of the general operating budget is supported by 2017.43 the City of Birmingham and a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. 2 3 Director’s Letter from an incident during the invasion of Belgium in August 1914, the venerable Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands, when German soldiers used townspeople as a human shield. for a major exhibition entitled “Frans Hals and the Moderns,” Bellows presented the victims as nudes, simultaneously under- which explores the impact of the 17th-century Dutch portraitist scoring their vulnerability and recalling depictions of martyred on late 19th- and early 20th-century American and European saints from the history of art. “modern” artists. As the BMA’s outstanding collection receives One of the questions raised by our students was, “Who owns more exposure, especially due to the diligent work of our staff pain?” In other words—as an artist—what are the ethics of to make our online database increasingly comprehensive, we depicting pain that you may not have experienced personally. are receiving an unprecedented number of loan requests from Bellows encountered this criticism from fellow artist Joseph near and far—a reason to be proud and proof positive of the Pennell, who charged that he had no right to paint the events, quality and importance of our diverse holdings. because he had not witnessed them firsthand. Bellows countered that he was not aware that Leonardo da Vinci had “had a ticket to paint the Last Supper.” Bellows’ clever retort is Dialogue cannot exist far from the final word on the matter. without humility. Nearly one hundred years later, the question re-emerged at the 2017 Whitney Biennial, when white painter —Paulo Freire (1921–1997) Dana Schutz exhibited Open Casket Brazilian educator and critical theorist, Dear Member, (2016), depicting the battered visage from Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) I hope that you’ve had a wonderful summer and are settling back into fall in Alabama. of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black As I write this letter, it’s early August, and I find myself in Ftan, a remote village in child lynched in Mississippi in 1955. the Alps of eastern Switzerland. Here, I’ve spent the past two weeks co-teaching Our German students were well a course at a summer academy for German undergraduates on the subject of the aware of controversy surrounding this painting, and a mean- Finally, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome aboard Hallie Ringle visual arts and the neuroscience of pain, with Dr. Ursula Wesselmann, a professor of ingful conversation ensued considering experience, empathy, as the Museum’s next Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art. anesthesiology at UAB. Half of our 22 students study medicine, while the other half personal responsibility, and artistic freedom. I was reminded Hallie, who comes to us from the Studio Museum in Harlem, comprises a broad range of disciplines including law, physics, art, and English. The of some of the profound dialogues that we’ve had this past New York, brings with her an impressive record of groundbreak- express purpose of the course—indeed the entire summer academy—is to promote year at the BMA, including our community panel discussion on ing exhibitions—working with both emerging and established interdisciplinary discourse. gun violence centered around Hank Willis Thomas’ Priceless artists—and a deep commitment to community engagement. As an art historian, it has been fascinating for me to witness students using art as (2005), which—referencing the popular Mastercard campaign— With Hallie’s expertise and vision, I am confident that the BMA’s a means of exploring the neurophysiology of pain, and similarly compelling to learn contemplates the cost of a human life, specifically the artist’s contemporary art program will continue to flourish, and I look about the physical mechanisms behind the expressions of pain and suffering we own cousin, who was murdered outside a Philadelphia night forward to watching her make her mark on our institution and see in so many works of art, including works in our own collection, such as George club in 2000. As director, I want the BMA to serve as a com- its collection, as she creates innovative and meaningful art ex- Bellows’ The Barricade (1918), which I showed while discussing artists who’ve at- munity forum, a place where important conversations can occur. periences for our community. tempted to capture the pain and suffering of war and conflict. In 1918, moved by Sometime these dialogues will be difficult, sometimes they will reports of atrocities committed against civilians during the First World War, Bellows be uplifting, but my hope is that they will always be thought- Yours in art, departed from his typical subjects—scenes of urban life in New York City—and paint- provoking and meaningful to the participants. ed five large-scale canvases to call attention to their plight. The Barricade derives Continuing with the international spirit of this letter, I’m pleased to announce that two paintings from the BMA’s col- lection—John Singer Sargent’s copy of a detail from Frans Above: George Wesley Bellows, American, 1882–1925, The Barricade, 1918, oil on canvas; Museum purchase with funds Hals’ Regentesses of the Old Men’s Almshouse (1880) and Graham C. Boettcher, Ph.D. provided by the Harold and Regina Simon Fund, the Friends of American Art, Margaret Gresham Livingston, and Crawford L. Taylor, Jr., 1990.124 Robert Henri’s The Laughing Boy (1910)—will be on loan to The R. Hugh Daniel Director Opposite page: Photo of Graham C. Boettcher by Beau Gustafson 4 Director’s Letter | 5 Acquisitions Recent Beaux Arts Krewe Acquisitions By The Fariss Gambrill Lynn and Henry Sharpe Lynn Curator of European Art Robert Schindler, Ph.D. Two recent acquisitions are bolstering the collection of European art at the BMA. Both were made possible through funds provided by the Beaux Arts Krewe, which has supported important acquisitions for the Museum for more than 50 years. We are grateful for their continued dedication to the growth of the collection of European art. A small figure of the crucified Jesus was carved out of wood, perhaps in Spain, about 1600. Its style and manufacture relate it to sculpture from Spain of this period, but it may have been made in a Spanish colony or another Spanish-influenced center of production. It appears the sculpture originally had a painted surface, which together with the delicate carving of the body, made it appear highly realistic; a notion that was only height- ened by the use of painted glass for his eyes. While small in scale, the figure has impressive emotional power and aesthetic appeal. Particularly expressive is the face, where the upward gaze and open mouth convey a sense of his suffering on the cross. The original cross is now lost. Details such as the contort- ed skin, his cramped hands, the carefully observed musculature of his body, and the accentuated veins, have been carved with also among the hunting trophies. In the lower right, a basket great skill. holds an arrangement of fruit and some seem to have tumbled As a characteristic, albeit in many ways still enigmatic work out of the basket. A vista into the distance on the left reveals an of the Baroque period, it is a welcome addition to our collection impressive garden with fountains, tall hedges, classical build- and will, for instance, complement beautifully our sculpture of St.