New Acquisitions

Learn about a few of the artworks acquired by Crystal Bridges in 2020.

Pop Chalee (Merina Lujan) Enchanted Forest, ca. 1950

Mindy Besaw Curator, American Art and Director of Fellowships and Research

With the acquisition of 30 paintings and one sculpture by modern and contemporary Native American artists from the Bruce Hartman collection earlier this year, Crystal Bridges broadened its holdings of Native American art. These works expand our understanding of modern American art. In the early twentieth century, many of these artists built upon Native American artmaking traditions such as Plains hide painting and Pueblo pottery forms, creating works on paper and canvas to appeal to broad, non-Native audiences.

American art instructor Dorothy Dunn established the Studio Art School at the federal government-run Santa Fe Indian School in 1932. Dunn encouraged her students to create works that depicted their communities and home life. Pop Chalee trained at the Studio Art School where she embraced Dunn’s so-called “flat painting” style while creating a radical new aesthetic. Her unconventional approach to space and imaginative color choices in Enchanted Forest yields a fantastical atmosphere.

Tse Tsan (Pablita Verlarde) Awataba Kiva Mural, 1981

Tse Tsan (Tewa for Golden Dawn) was the first full-time student to attend the Studio Art School and went on to have a long and accomplished career. In 1939, she was commissioned by the National Park Service under a grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to depict scenes of traditional Pueblo life for the Bandelier National Monument. In her later paintings, like Awataba Kiva Mural, Tse Tsan used paints prepared from natural pigment to depict colorful figures with detailed patterned regalia likely associated with a Pueblo dance or ceremony.

Sam Gilliam Mazda, 1970 Martine Gutierrez Queer Rage, Imagine Life-Size, and I’m Tyra, p66-67, 2018

Alejo Benedetti Associate Curator, Contemporary Art

For more than 60 years, Sam Gilliam has pushed the limits of traditional painting. In the 1960s, he received international acclaim for his drape paintings as he continued to explore abstraction through works that jumped off the wall, an exploration that continues throughout his career. Gilliam was also part of an artists’ group called the Washington Color School alongside artists such as Alma Thomas, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Gene Davis.

Mazda reveals the power of Gilliam’s experimentation in this massive abstract work that cuts a striking profile on the gallery wall. At more than 11 feet tall and 7.5 feet wide, it envelops viewers standing in front of it. Gilliam moved away from the traditional painting conventions of tightly stretching canvas over stretcher bars to create his drape paintings. For Mazda, he removed the stretchers completely so that the canvas hangs from a single screw and cascades downward in a collection of drapes.

Overlaid with brighter yellow acrylic paint on top of muted purples, pinks, and blues, Mazda presents a variety of surface textures in addition to the light and shadow play resulting from the work’s many folds. This arresting spectacle of color and texture creates a gravitating and soaring presence in the gallery. Taking the form of a fashion shoot, artist Martine Gutierrez photographed herself seated against a lush, green backdrop. At first glance, her wardrobe may appear to be comprised of clothing worn by Indigenous women. When the image first appeared in a fashion magazine of her own design, Gutierrez listed the designers of all of the clothing she was wearing, including brands like Versace, Vivienne Westwood, and Prada alongside items attributed to Goodwill.

This is a work that addresses mainstream brands appropriating Indigenous cultures. In fashion, companies often appropriate Indigenous patterns or designs without regard for heritage. Fittingly, in composing the rest of her image, Gutierrez incorporates crudely photoshopped exotic animals alongside dolls to underscore the artificial nature of the scene.

But this relationship with the fashion industry is a balancing act. Beauty is a constant point of interest in Gutierrez’s practice. Societal standards of perfection as shown in fashion magazines, advertising, and children’s dolls, have all made their way into her work. Gutierrez identifies as Latinx, Indigenous, and transgender. All three of these identifiers significantly impact the relationship she has with pop culture’s notions of beauty and directly factor into her artwork.

Firelei Báez Untitled (A Correct Chart of Hispaniola Way with the Windward Passage), 2020 Anne Lemanski Tigris T-I, 2018

Allison Glenn Associate Curator, Contemporary Art

This work is part of a new series by New York-based artist Firelei Báez. The artist painted a vibrantly colored figure onto the center of a reproduction of a map from 1794 entitled “A Correct Chart of Hispaniola with the Windward Passage.” The Windward Passage is a waterway channel between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (known today as the Dominican Republic and Haiti) that was used for trade routes through the Caribbean. This map was taken from a major sea atlas published in England and suggests the circulation and trade of bodies and goods.

This painting on paper fluctuates between figuration and abstraction. Richly hued magentas, yellows, and blues pool into colorful, curvilinear forms that resemble the look of oil on the surface of water when the sun hits at just the right angle. The crouching figure’s feet are poised on the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-colonized country where Báez was born, that shares Hispaniola with the French-colonized Haiti, where the artist’s father comes from. The partial, abstracted body of the figure abruptly disrupts our reading of the map—a technique that bridges the historic with the contemporary and reimagines a relationship with legacies of imperialism. Báez underscores the nuanced relationship of migration to places that are both familiar, yet physically distant.

Jen Padgett Associate Curator

Our upcoming exhibition Crafting America (February 6 – May 31, 2021) will highlight a new acquisition to the Crystal Bridges collection: Anne Lemanski’s Tigris T-I (2018). The work was generously gifted to the museum by Fleur S. Bresler, a leading collector of American craft.

Just over five feet tall, the sculpture features a tiger balancing skillfully on a colorful ball. To create the tiger, Lemanski first fashioned a metal framework, then stitched specially printed paper to cover the form. The result is mesmerizing in its kaleidoscopic pattern and bright colors.

While playful, the sculpture addresses deeper themes around power. As the artist has explained, she’s fascinated by “the complex, symbiotic relationship between humans and animals, highlighting our admiration for animals as symbols and our exploitation of them to suit our needs.” With Tigris T-I, Lemanski draws attention to the spectacle of a circus tiger performing tricks: the powerful, threatening predator made obedient to the desires of human handlers.

Through its unexpected materials and conceptual depth, Lemanski’s work underlines the richness and complexity of craft. We look forward to seeing Tigris T-I and exploring this subject fully in our exhibition soon.

State of the Art 2020

Inspires New Ways to Engage with Contemporary Art

State of the Art 2020, the museum’s second iteration of an exploration into today’s contemporary American art, brought the work of 61 contemporary artists to Northwest Arkansas. The works, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, mixed media, and more, spanned the galleries across Crystal Bridges and the Momentary.

The exhibition was led by Lauren Haynes, director of artist initiatives and curator, contemporary art at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary, whose dual role underscores the institutions’ commitment to invest in living artists, helping to bring artists and the public together.

The VR experience can be found online at VR.CrystalBridges.org/SOTA2020.

State of the Art 2020 VR

State of the Art 2020 VR is a virtual version of the exhibition that allows users to explore the galleries just as they would if they were visiting Crystal Bridges or the Momentary. Users are able to zoom in and out of artworks to explore details, read wall text, listen to audio recorded by the exhibition curators, and see artworks in conversation with one another.

This VR experience allows guests from all over the world to enjoy the exhibition long after its departure at the physical locations. The project was led by Shane Richey, creative director of production at Crystal Bridges, and produced by the Bentonville-based firm Prisma.

State of the Art 2020 Summit: Insights from a Changing America

On September 23, Emmy award-winning actor and activist speaker Kerry Washington (Little Fires Everywhere, Scandal) hosted the State of the Art 2020 Summit, an interactive, virtual event of day-long talks and panels, sponsored by Bank of America. Led by artists and thought leaders, each session explored three major topics: sense of place, confronting history, and art education. The summit was viewed by 4,605 people from all 50 United States and across 27 countries throughout the day.

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP RIGHT: Kris Pierce, Free Food, 2018. BOTTOM RIGHT: Paul Stephen Benjamin, Summer Breeze, 2018.

Crystal Bridges Acquires Works from the Exhibition

In addition to the works we highlighted in the New Acquisitions article (see pgs. 10-12), Crystal Bridges acquired 31 artworks by 28 artists featured in State of the Art 2020, adding to the unfolding story of American art that the museum strives to tell.

The acquisitions include works by Houston-based artist and puppet maker JooYoung Choi, Atlanta-based artist Paul Stephen Benjamin, and Fayetteville, Arkansas-based sculptor Anthony Sonnenberg, to name a few.

Here are the acquisitions:

Special thanks to the exhibition’s sponsors: Bank of America (lead sponsor), Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, Inc., Christie’s, The Coca-Cola Company, Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Trott Family Foundation, Alturas Foundation, Bracken Darrell, and Fred and Shelby Gans. National tour sponsored by Bank of America.

Mae Aur, The Gaurdeners, 2019 Paul Stephen Benjamin, Summer Breeze, 2018 Frank A. Blazquez, Carlos, Albuquerque, NM, 2018 JooYoung Choi, Time for You and Joy to Get Acquainted, 2017 Alex Bradley Cohen, Chanel Thomas, 2018 Carla Edwards, Bonfire, 2017 Peter Everett, Lych, 2018 Elisa Harkins, Wampum, 2019 L. Kasimu Harris, Come Tuesday (Sportsman’s Corner), 2018, “Where Ya People From?” (Verret’s Lounge), 2018, The Regulars (Verret’s Lounge), 2018 Mari Hernandez, Colonizer, 2017 Letitia Huckaby, Sugarland, 2017, All Things Are Possible, 2017, Washington Old Homestead, 2017 Ronald Jackson, In a Day, She Became The Master of Her House, 2019 Suchitra Mattai, Exodus, 2019 Hannah McBroom, The Dinner Party, 2019 Art Miller, AT&T Cellular Tower, First Church of the Nazarene, Springdale, Arkansas, 2019 Jiha Moon, Mujigaeyolo, 2018 Kris Pierce, Free Food, 2018 Tim Portlock, Escape, 2017 Diego Rodriguez-Warner, The Fountain, 2019 George Sanchez-Calderon, Americana, 2014/2020 Jordan Seaberry, Blueberry (The Right to Self), 2019 Karen Seapker, Tent Mama, 2019 Anthony Sonnenberg, Campagna Vase (Drama Kween), 2018 Damian Stamer, Horry County 6, 2018 Su Su, Darwin, 2018 Stacy Lynn Waddell, Untitled (Dot and Leon 1972), 2019 Larry Walker, Tweet, Tweet… Look Who’s Here…or Aliens, Wall Spirits and Other Manifestations, 2017 Didier William, Ou ap tonbe, men m ap kenbe ou, 2018