Winter 2009 Magazine

Conserving the Virgin 100 Acres: Art in the Park Design Behind the Scenes Japanese Performance Art

A Case for Native Plants

NOV/JAN 2009–2010

04 100 ACRES Art in the Park

09 VOICES Interview with biodiversity expert Doug Tallamy

10 100 ACRES Birding in 100 Acres

12 PROVENANCE Valkhof at Nijmegen

14 THE TOBY Interview with dancer Oguri The LGBT Film Festival

16 Before arriving at the IMA, the Virgin of Guadalupe had

NOTES Giving & Gifting, News, On View, Program Highlights, Calendars, Events

never before been treated—rare for a painting several hundred

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on paintings of this type. This provides an excellent opportunity

BEHIND THE SCENES Design Studio

for technical study, just as the IMA begins the process of adding

24 Shop & Celebrate Gift ideas from the Museum Store, Design Center and Greenhouse Shop

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years old—and little conservation research had been conducted

a scientific research and analytical laboratory to its existing paintings, paper, objects and textiles conservation laboratories.

The painting is part of the free exhibition Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World, 0n view now through January 3, 2010.

What’s Next IMA Design Arts On the cover » From Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World. Unknown artist, Mexican, end of 17th century, detail of Virgin of Guadalupe, c. 1700, oil on canvas. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Maisie Eden Power Endowment Fund. Above » Conservator Christina Milton O’Connell works to restore the Virgin of Guadaupe painting.

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The conservation of a work of art is among the most important contributions a museum can make.

Our recently acquired masterwork the Virgin of Guadalupe has undergone some 700 hours of treatment since it arrived from Madrid, and the results, described in these pages, are dramatic.

With the imminent addition of full-time expertise and instrumentation in the field of conservation science, we will be in a position to undertake chemical analysis of the materials and techniques of a New World treasure, and learn more about this radiant work, every bit the equal of its Old World counterparts.

Research on our Old Master paintings collections is by no means limited to scientific inquiry.

A superb landscape by Albert Cuyp in our collection is an internationally acclaimed example of this accomplished painter’s oeuvre. It has recently been the subject of detailed examination with regard to its ownership history—as part of a comprehensive effort since 2006 to establish the provenance of hundreds of works in the IMA’s collection lacking complete details after the rise of Nazi oppression in 1933. In the current issue we share the findings of Research Curator Annette Schlagenhauff, who is methodically making her way through our holdings in European art to insure that potential claimants around the world are apprised of every detail we can identify in the history of relevant works.

We also offer up a behind-the-scenes look at IMA’s Design Studio, where our talented designers conjure up the magic that gives works of art on view the best possible context for appreciation.

Work has accelerated on 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, opening in June 2010, and in these pages we share the progress of our diligent staff in realizing this remarkable project.

The IMA’s new commitment to adventurous cinema continues apace, and we are proud to launch a partnership with the LGBT Festival, presenting films of interest not only to that community but to any cineaste. We also keep you current on our vital exhibition program, both onsite in Indianapolis and traveling nationally, and on lectures and presentations ranging from how to landscape with native plants to bird-watching in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

In closing, I hope you will choose to continue supporting the Indianapolis Museum of Art as we strive to make artworks and artists indispensable to the lives of those in our community and those passing through. Every dollar you give has an impact, and we seek to bolster the quality of life in our great city with pioneering exhibitions and programs, constantly refreshed displays of our internationally renowned permanent collection, and a wide variety of amenities from local, organic, and healthy cuisine to the most beautiful art museum campus in the nation. Please come often, give generously, and keep us free.

Noelle Pulliam Editor Matthew Taylor Designer S.L. Berry Erica Marchetti Laura Pinegar Contributers Tad Fruits Tascha Mae Horowitz Mike Rippy Aaron Steele Photographers Tascha Mae Horowitz Photo Editor Ruth Roberts Rights and Reproductions The IMA Magazine is published by the IMA, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, IN 46208-3326.

Questions or comments may be directed to the staff at 317-923-1331.

All reproduction rights are reserved by the IMA, and permission to sell or use commercially any photographs, slides or videotapes must be obtained in writing from the Rights & Reproductions office, 317-923-1331, ext. 171.

Copyright © 2009-2010 Indianapolis Museum of Art

The IMA Magazine is printed on FSC-certified paper manufactured with electricity in the form of renewable energy (wind, hydro and biogas), and includes a minimum of 20% post-consumer recovered fiber.(The FSC trademark identifies products which contain fiber from well managed forests certified

by SmartWood in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.)

Maxwell L. Anderson, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO

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100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park

Art in the Park Halldor Ulfarsson spent his summer contemplating such issues as how to safely anchor a ship in the lake that is the centerpiece of the IMA’s 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. Of course, since the lake itself is landlocked, you might be asking yourself how Ulfarsson expected to get a ship there in the first place.

That’s easy. With the help of the Museum’s exhibition designers and fabricators, as well as a structural engineer, he had it built in pieces at Herron School of Art and Design’s sculpture studio, then assembled in the Park’s central meadow. It wasn’t as if it had to be seaworthy—it just had to appear to be. As one of eight works of art that will be in place when 100 Acres opens in June 2010, the ship is part of Eden II, an installation designed by Finnish artist Tea Mäkipää, for whom Ulfarsson—a friend and fellow artist—was overseeing the initial fabrication.

Left » Tea Mäkipää’s Eden II under construction. Fabrication photos courtesy of the IMA.

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The entire work consists of both the ship, a 47 foot by 15 foot replica of a huge rusting freighter that Mäkipää saw during a visit to Dubai, on the Persian Gulf, and an on-shore “guard house” that will contain electronic components that give glimpses of what is transpiring aboard the ship. The ship will be in place in the lake this fall, but the installation of the house and electronic components has been planned for next spring.

“The narrative behind the piece is that this is an ark of some sort,” said Ulfarsson. “A last chance. Tea is a doomsayer of sorts.”

Eden II is one of three sculptural installations that are making use of the 35-acre lake. Additionally, Andrea Zittel designed I-land, a large floating fiberglass island that will contain an interior space that Zittel plans to have a selected student from Herron customize and then live in for a few weeks next summer. Like Mäkipää’s ship, I-land will also be placed in the lake this fall, with additional construction being done to it next spring.

The third work related to the lake is Kendall Buster’s Stratum Pier, which will jut out into the lake. Located on the southern shore, Buster’s piece consists of an overlook composed of stacked layers that extend out into the water. Combining references to erosion and layers of plant growth, Stratum Pier is related to Buster’s interest in the merging of the natural and built environments. While work has begun on the project, much will be done in the spring.

According to Sarah Green, the IMA’s Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, while visitors will see a flurry of activity in 100 Acres this fall, much of it will be in preparation for installations to come next spring. Everything is scheduled to be in place by the Park’s June 20, 2010 opening.

Top » Rendering of Andrea Zittel’s I-land, A-Z Prototype for Pocket Property, 1999. © Andrea Zittel.

Courtesy of the artist and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York. Middle » Stratum Pier. Artist Rendering and Scale Models, Kendall Buster 2008. Sponsored by the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of Central Indiana Community Foundation. Bottom » Artist Alfredo Jaar in 100 Acres.

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One of the largest works in the preparatory phase this fall is Park of the Laments by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar. Located in a clearing on the east side of 100 Acres, it will consist of a long, dark, underground tunnel into which visitors will descend, moving toward light at the opposite end. There they will find stairs that will lead them above ground into the center of the Park where wooden benches will offer places to sit quietly, surrounded by trees, bushes and sky. The work grew out of Jaar’s perception of 100 Acres as a refuge from the problems afflicting the planet.

Like the aftermath of a giant human skeleton that shook itself to pieces, Funky Bones by Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout’s multidisciplinary studio group Atelier van Lieshout will consist of 20 fiberglass benches shaped like large bones. Installed in the spring in a meadow set back from the lake, Funky Bones references artifacts and remains from people who occupied the Park land in the past.

The art collaborative Type A is interested in people in the present.

Through team-building exercises, with an interdepartmental group of museum employees, ranging from conversations to physical challenge courses, Type A created a conceptual performance piece, documented in videos available online.

Additionally, the artists designed Team Building (Align), a sculpture consisting of a pair of suspended metal rings, one ring above the other, which will be installed in the spring. On the summer solstice, which corresponds to the opening weekend of 100 Acres, the rings’ shadows will align.

Above » Prototype of Funky Bones, Atelier van Lieshout, 2008.

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Also being planned for next spring is Free Basket, a sculptural interpretation of one of Indiana’s most widely recognized icons—a basketball court—by the Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros. Located at the 38th StreetEast White River Parkway entrance to 100 Acres, the free-form piece will be interactive, serving as a place where visitors can play as well as appreciate a work that combines art, sports and cultural history.

Free Basket will be dedicated to the memory of Melvin Simon.

100 Acres will provide visitors with experiences that merge creativity and aesthetics with environmental stewardship.“We want people to be able to enjoy the Park far into the future,” said Green, “so we are working to make sure that we not only do no damage, but we enhance the Park’s natural beauty and insure its future.”

To date, the IMA has raised $23.6 million of its $25 million goal.

An additional $1.4 million is needed to complete the campaign.

Gifts of any size are significant to helping us meet our goal.

Please contact Katherine Nagler, Director of Development, at 317.923.1331, ext. 217 if you are interested in learning more about 100 Acres funding opportunities.

Above » Los Carpinteros, Free Basket, 2008 (computer rendering) © Los Carpinteros. Courtesy: Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.

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Voices: An Interview with biodiversity expert Doug Tallamy

The Case for Landscaping with Native Plants Dr. Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens and upcoming speaker at Butler University, explains why Bradford pear trees might as well be plastic.

In your book, you talk about the link between native plant species and native wildlife. Why is this relationship important? It all boils down to the fact that plants are the only organisms that can capture energy from the sun, which drives all life on this planet. Plants defend themselves chemically, and animals have to adapt to those chemical defenses. Insects are the animals most important for transferring energy out to the food web. When we landscape with alien plants that evolved outside of our local food webs, our insects can’t eat those plants. How does an endangered insect population affect the rest of the wildlife population and our entire local ecosystem? So many animals include insects in their diet. If you eliminate insects from the ecosystem, you are really impacting the food those animals have. Birds eat not just seeds and berries, but insects and spiders too. People feed birds in winter, but in summer they starve them by the way they landscape their yards.

In this country, 33,000 plant and animal species are imperiled. These species run our ecosystems, producing oxygen, moderating our weather systems, pollinating our crops, and more. What’s wrong with the way Americans are landscaping their yards now? It’s typical protocol to have a vast lawn dotted with plants from China or Europe. We’re creating a planet with less and less food every day. Vast lawns are biological deserts. Bradford pear trees, which come from China, might as well be plastic in terms of their contribution to our food webs. We need to use the right plants in the right ways to create a living ecosystem in our yards, and they will be beautiful at the same time. What can we do differently to preserve wildlife and promote a healthy ecosystem? Just plant native plants. They can be used formally—your yard doesn’t have to be a jungle. Doing this links the natural habitats we have left, like the little wooded lot at end of the street. You create a biological corridor through suburbia. You don’t have to be a biodiversity expert to notice a

red-eyed vireo in your yard that’s never been there before, and more wildlife in general. Will native plants lead to out-ofcontrol insect populations and damage to our yards? No. Native plants will attract native insect herbivores as well as the natural enemies that keep those herbivores in check. A bluebird will take 300 caterpillars a day back to its nest. If you have healthy ecosystem, you don’t have any more damage on your native plants than your inedible, nonnative plants. Can you recommend some plants native to Indiana that people should consider using in their yards? Indiana was once an oak savannah or deciduous forest in most places. White oaks are number one on my list for plants that support biodiversity. A white oak can increase your property value tremendously, and oaks support 534 species of caterpillars. Also, coral honeysuckle is native, and it brings in hummingbirds really well. Sunflowers are great for attracting goldfinches. I have plant lists galore in my book, and you can also search for “native plants” online.

Gardening for Life: Clinching the Case for Landscaping with Native Plants Tuesday, November 3 » 7:30 pm Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University Free » open to the public Join Dr. Tallamy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, as he discusses how healthy wildlife populations are directly dependent on native plants and the steps gardeners can take to increase biodiversity in their own yards. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

Event supported by the IMA Horticultural Society.

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100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park

Birding in 100 Acres

When 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park opens next June, it will be more than an outdoor venue in which to interact with contemporary art. The Park is also a natural habitat for all kinds of wildlife that visitors are fortunate to observe. The Park’s wildlife includes a diverse range of bird species, making it a great destination for beginning and avid bird watchers.

Bird watching, or birding, is a popular inexpensive pastime that appeals to all ages and skills. No previous experience is necessary to have an enjoyable and educational bird watching excursion, and you only need to bring a pair of binoculars, a good birding guide, and some patience.

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The wide variety of mature fruiting and flowering trees as well as the confluence of the White River, the Central Canal, and a 35-acre lake, attract an assortment of bird species. IMA grounds superintendent Chris DeFabis, an avid bird watcher, has spotted wood ducks, blue herons, common loon, cormorant, and many other species.

The recent clearing of invasive honeysuckle in 100 Acres by IMA grounds staff has created a better habitat for owls, said DeFabis. “They like an open forest in which they can easily navigate through trees. Once in awhile, I’ve seen barred owls and great horned owls,” DeFabis said.

A biotic one-year survey involving bird walks in 100 Acres by experts at Butler University Center for Urban Ecology documented 109 species of birds and compared the findings to sightings in Marian University’s EcoLab. The bird sightings in 100 Acres indicated that the Park has a relatively high level of bird diversity, including several species that are considered rare, such as broad-winged hawk, red-headed woodpecker, and pied-billed grebe.

You can go birding any time of the day, but morning is generally best. Calm winds and low light levels make bird-spotting easier. Birds are often actively searching for food in the morning. Choose an area with a diverse field view, such as a site from which you can see a lake bank and look down into a valley. DeFabis’s favorite birding spot in 100 Acres is along the path leading from the Pony Truss bridge across the canal toward the lake. Currently under construction, this wheelchairaccessible pathway will be built above grade, allowing a good view of the tree canopy and views to the lake.

In November, birders may spot migratory species like sandhill crane; several types of hawks such as red-tailed, Cooper’s, and sharp-shinned; and osprey. In the winter, birders may see a variety of songbirds such as cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches, as well as an occasional bald eagle.

Early May is another prime time for bird watching. Look for knapsack-shaped oriole nests and watch for the summertime bird to make its appearance during this month, as well as spring migratory birds such as warblers and scarlet tanager.

Can’t wait until June 2010 to see what winged creatures have been hanging out in 100 Acres?

Visit flickr.com/photos/imaitsmyart/3524775109/ to see a time-lapse video of some of the birds in the Park.

A good birding guide will help you know what to look for.

DeFabis recommends guides that include a combination of photos and illustration, with adjacent descriptions of each species. A bird’s physical characteristics, known in bird watching as field marks, are used to identify a particular species.

Plumage, head and body shape, as well as markings such as bars, bands, spots or rings provide clues leading to a positive identification. A bird’s songs and calls, behavior, and habitat provide other good clues. Acquainting yourself with your birding guide in advance of your expedition will help you to identify a species more quickly, DeFabis said.

Even young children can catch on quickly to the sport. DeFabis gave his son a stuffed red-winged blackbird toy that imitated the bird’s call with hopes of introducing him to birding. Shortly thereafter, his son heard a red-winged blackbird call in the wild and recognized it immediately. “It’s something you get a lot of enjoyment out of with a young child,” DeFabis said. “It’s good way to introduce them to nature.”

Left » The Sandhill Crane, or Grus canadensis, gathers in large numbers during migration. Above » The Cooper’s Hawk, or Accipiter cooperii, can be identified by their flap-flap-glide flight style and large head.

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Provenance

Valkhof at Nijmegen

by Aelbert Cuyp

Upon acquisition in 1943, Valkhof at Nijmegen by Aelbert Cuyp was described as “one of those completely satisfying paintings in which one may experience the work of a great artist at his best.” The painting depicts the medieval castle known as the Valkhof (falcon court) near the Dutch town of Nijmegen. The painting possesses clarity of color and crystalline luminosity, superb even for Cuyp. But despite its quality, for a period of time prior to the IMA’s acquisition, its authorship was questioned. In what may have been conscious deception, its provenance became entangled in a web of confusion.

When the painting was offered to Indianapolis arts patron Caroline Marmon Fesler by a New York art dealer, Valkhof at Nijmegen, was accompanied with a distinguished, but as yet unverified, provenance: from George V, King of Hanover, by descent to the Duke of Brunswick, who placed it on the art market. Shortly after its purchase by Fesler for the John Herron Art Institute, today the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Museum praised the selection of this painting and noted its aristocratic provenance.

Questions only arose in 1960, when an eminent art historian of Dutch paintings saw Valkhof at Nijmegen. Wolfgang Stechow, a professor at Oberlin College, recalled that he had once seen an identical composition by Cuyp in the Ducal Museum in Gotha, Germany, assembled from the formidable art collections of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Based on his memory, he believed the Indianapolis version to be much better in quality, but admitted that he had not seen the picture in Gotha recently nor was he certain it was still there. Gotha was then behind the Iron Curtain, in East Germany, making travel difficult, but he encouraged the Museum to pursue the question.

With the help of European colleagues, an investigation revealed that the museum in Gotha had, in fact, sold Valkof at Nijmegen. The IMA was informed that the painting had been listed in old inventories dating back to at least 1826, and that a hand-written notation in an old catalogue recorded its sale before 1943. Further details were unavailable because many archival records had been destroyed in World War II. Stechow, however, was perplexed as to why the Ducal Museum in Gotha was not mentioned in the provenance, replaced instead with the Hanover-Brunswick line of ownership. He also figured that considerable over-painting along with basic neglect of the picture seemed the only reasons for the Gotha museum to have relinquished such a fine painting.

That was the state of research when the IMA began a systematic examination of provenance for its European paintings collection in 2003. One mystery has been solved: there was only one painting, not two. But another remained: why and under what circumstances had the painting been sold by the Gotha museum? With the knowledge that archives and libraries in former East Germany were now accessible after the 1990 reunification of Germany, it seemed plausible to contact the Gotha museum again. Not only were archives more accessible, but scholars in all fields were combing neglected basements full of files for valuable information. Sometimes new information came to light.

Renewed correspondence with Gotha did, indeed, yield new information. The painting had been sold before 1943 “to Plietzsch.” But this information was far from reassuring to a provenance researcher. According to the American AsRight » Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch, 1620-1691. Detail from The Valkhof at Nijmegen, about 1652-54. Oil on wood; 19 ¼ x 29 in. (48.9 x 73.7 cm). Indianapolis Museum of Art, Gift in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Art Association of Indianapolis in Memory of Daniel W. and Elizabeth C. Marmon. 43.107

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sociation of Museums’ Guide to Provenance Research, Eduard Plietzsch was a “red-flag” name, meaning that he had collaborated with the Nazis in looting European collections during WWII. Before the war, Plietzsch had been an independent art historian and art dealer in Berlin specializing in Dutch painting.

A flurry of correspondence over the next year between the IMA and Gotha finally revealed more information. Dr. Allmuth Schuttwolf, an immensely helpful curator at Gotha, found several letters dating back to April 1937. They revealed that Plietzsch had convinced the director of the Ducal Museum that Valkhof at Nijmegen was not by Cuyp but by a decorative painter Jacob van Strij (1756-1815), a celebrated imitator of Cuyp’s landscape style. In the course of Plietzsch’s negotiations to purchase the painting—for a sum well below what an actual Cuyp would have brought on the market—he wrote, “I do not hold this painting to be an original by Aelbert Cuyp, and naturally will not sell it as such.” But that is probably exactly what happened several months later.

Snippets of information gleaned from the IMA’s research on Valkhof at Nijmegen since its acquisition 60 years earlier began to shake into place, and momentum was growing to trace the painting’s route immediately after Plietzsch acquired it.

Although it had long been known that the painting had passed through the Cassirer gallery’s Amsterdam branch, its final

port in Europe before traveling to the United States, it was not known from whom it was purchased, or to whom the painting was then attributed. When contacted, the Cassirer archives revealed that the gallery had obtained Valkhof at Nijmegen in June 1937 as a painting by Aelbert Cuyp. They had acquired it from Friedrich Mondschein who ran a gallery in Vienna (before relocating to New York sometime in the 1930s and anglicizing his name to Frederick Mont). As with Plietzsch, aspersions have been cast on some of Mondschein’s activities, most recently in 2004 in a restitution case involving a painting in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Could Plietzsch and Mondschein have worked in unison to relieve the museum in Gotha of their Cuyp? Or did Plietzsch really believe that Valkhof at Nijmegen was by Van Strij and not Cuyp?

It is possible that we will never know, although the speed of the series of transactions (from April to June 1937), and the painting’s frantic movement through Europe during these months (from Gotha, via Vienna to Amsterdam) may point in this direction. Considering that it acquired a “new” Hanover-Brunswick provenance during these months points even further in the direction of deliberate deception. As the volume of provenance research increases, additional information may shed more light on figures like Plietzsch and Mondschein. In the meantime, the IMA must once again be grateful to Caroline Marmon Fesler for bringing such a masterpiece into the Museum’s collection.

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The Toby: Interview with Choreographer and dancer Oguri

Japanese Performance Art November 7, choreographer Oguri and the L.A.-based dance company Body Weather Laboratory bring Caddy! Caddy! Caddy! to The Toby. Named for a character in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and The Fury, the performance features slow movements drawn from the modern Japanese art of Butoh. In this interview, Oguri explores the context of this aesthetic.

What’s your mission, or hope, as an artist? Dance. Basically I feel inspired to dance. I began dancing with Body Weather and Tatsumi Hijikata’s work, but it was not to learn a kind of tradition or to be a ‘dancer’. I was attracted by the spirit and community.

Body Weather does not teach one how to move but is an investigation of the body through working with and learning from others and explores the connection of body to space. A lot of people connect Butoh with the atomic bomb and Hiroshima, and I want to make it clear that that is a misunderstanding. Of course that is a very strong human experience and everything is related, but Butoh is not a direct expression for that. Rather the dance is a possibility for human understanding. Butoh is revolutionary, but it just means ‘dance’. Dance doesn’t have a goal. I work between my body and myself. How did Caddy!

Caddy! Caddy! come to be? Because of my interest in William Faulkner. How does Caddy! relate to the Japanese performing arts tradition? I found Faulkner through Japanese literature.

Oe and Nakagami were inspired by him, and if they are like my fathers, I wanted to meet my grandfather. When Faulkner visited Japan in the mid-1950s after World War II, he said I am like you. I come from the south–the losers country. There is physicality in Oe and Nakagami’s work, and for me that is dance. I find the same thing in Faulkner’s work. What influence has Butoh had on you as a performing artist? Butoh is respect for Tatsumi Hijikata’s dance. In Japan, there was folkdance, ballet, and modern dance. There was a society where performers presented seven-minute pieces for a classy, sophisticated audience.

Hijikata comes along half naked and shines the light in the audience’s eyes. He brought the idea of homosexuality and sex and eroticism on stage. He killed a chicken on stage, and the little girls fainted and he was kicked out. After he was expelled, people sought him out because he seemed so cool, and at the time, many people had the same antiestablishment sense. He did a lot of collaborations and events, but it was very avantgarde, very strong cutting-edge work. (continued on page 15) 14

Footnotes » 1 Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986) was a ground-breaking choreographer and, with Kazuo Ohno, one of the founders of a dance performance art form known as Butoh. 2 The term “Body Weather” was coined by choreographer Min Tanaka as a name for a dance form that connects the body with place and space. 3 Novelist Kenzaburo Oe (b. 1935) won the Nobel prize for literature in 1994; Kenji Nakagami (1946-1992) was a novelist and poet.

Above » Choreographer and dancer Oguri (background) performs with his four-member troupe.

Photograph: M.A.Katcher

This year’s Spirit & Place theme is “Inspiring Places.” Does Caddy! take its sense of place from Faulkner’s writing? William Faulkner lived his entire life in one small county town. From there he created hundreds of characters and lives full of memories and imagination. He invented a fictional place, Yoknapawtawpha, that the reader feels and travels through. In the dance we carry the spirit of the stories. Can you describe what it’s like to perform this piece? I have the opportunity to be in Faulkner’s imagination, to dance his stories in space and explore many different characters and the strength and depth of humanity.

What do you ask of the audience who attends this performance?

If you have a chance, please read Faulkner.

Caddy! Caddy! Caddy!

The William Faulkner Dance Project Saturday, November 7 » 7-8:30 pm The Toby » $10 public; $7 IMA members For tickets, visit imamuseum.org, call 317-923-1331, or purchase at the door.

This program is a signature event of the 2009 Spirit & Place Festival. spiritandplace.org

The Toby: Film

Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival November 13–15

The IMA is fast becoming one of the city’s busiest film festival venues. Hard on the heels of successfully hosting the 2009 Indianapolis Independent Film Festival in July, on November 13 to 15 the Museum will be the primary venue for the ninth annual Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival. The weekend-long event, which will also take place at the IUPUI Campus Center, site of the 2008 festival, will screen full-length features, documentaries and short films.

The Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival is a program of the Indiana Youth Group (IYG), a non-profit organization founded in 1987 to serve the needs of Indiana LGBT teens. IYG provides a safe confidential place with services which foster self-esteem, resiliency, and positive decision-making skills for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people through age 21, and advocates on their behalf.

see exciting, great films that appeal to a variety of audiences.

That’s why we sought out this partnership.”

Partnering with the Museum made sense, said festival co-director Mark Harper, because The Toby offers an ideal setting not only for screening films, but also for appearances by filmmakers. At press time, Harper did not have confirmed guests, but he said he expected that, as in years past, the festival would attract some directors and actors from some of the more than 20 films being shown.

“It’s an enormous honor for our festival to be invited to the IMA,” said Harper. “The Toby is a fantastic auditorium, and I expect this to be a great collaboration.”

For more information visit indyLGBTfilmfest.com.

The IMA approached the festival’s organizers with an invitation to hold the event at The Toby, said Anne Laker, the Museum’s assistant director of public programs. “The IMA wants to align with projects that reflect our support of free expression,” said Laker. “We also want to be known as a place where people can 15

Conserving an Orignal Relic The Virgin of Guadalupe

Standing six feet tall, with a dark complexion and straight hair, her presence is obvious and instantly recognizable to most. She was first seen in 1531 in Mexico City by an Indian named Juan Diego.

The woman spoke to Juan Diego in his own language, asking him to convey her wish to the bishop for a temple in her honor. But the European-born ecclesiastic was skeptical that the Mother of God would appear to a poor Indian. She appeared to Juan Diego two more times. On the third visit, she instructed him to collect flowers from the normally barren hill of Tepeyac, and take them to the bishop as proof of the sighting. When he unfolded his cloak, or tilma, to present the flowers, they fell to the ground and revealed the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously imprinted on the cloth.

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This story captivated the people of Mexico, who viewed it as evidence of God’s favor. As the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe of Tepeyac increased in popularity during the 17th and 18th centuries, countless replicas of the relic were painted, many of which crossed the Atlantic to Spain. The Virgin of Guadalupe eventually served as a banner of the rebellion against Spanish rule and remains a symbol of Mexican national identity.

The IMA announced the acquisition of a late-17th-century painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe in December 2008. Painted by an unknown Mexican artist around 1700, it was acquired in Seville. After five months and more than 700 hours of conservation treatment by IMA conservators, the Virgin of Guadalupe is on view for the first time in the Museum’s galleries. The painting is part of the free exhibition Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World, now through January 3, 2010.

In this version, design elements of the representation of the Virgin are quite similar to those of the imprinted cloth such as the pattern of the weave on the Virgin’s robe. “It is a copy of a miraculous image,” curator of the Sacred Spain exhibition Ronda Kasl said, “It was not created by human hands.”

The painting arrived at the IMA in March 2009 and conservation began immediately. The treatment included both structural stabilization and aesthetic work. For example, only fragments of some flowers remained so they were “in-painted,” or reconstructed, based on information and visual clues of existing flowers. Several areas of the painting also contained discolorations requiring in-painting that detracted from the viewing experience.

This particular image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is enlivened by the figures of four small angels who carry symbolic references to her purity and by flower-encircled roundels that narrate the story of the Virgin’s four appearances to Juan Diego.

In-painting was also done on the background and putti, or angels, that flank the Virgin to visually reintegrate the painting. To preserve the painting’s integrity, all conservation work is reversible.

Cleaning the painting was the most challenging aspect of the treatment. Not only was the dirt ingrained in the porous surface, but there was extensive micro-flaking through the paint layer. IMA conservators essentially applied an adhesive to the surface of the painting in one small area at a time, stabilized the flaking paint, and then removed the excess adhesive, which acted as a poultice to remove the ingrained dirt. The painting’s frame, made of gilded wood, is contemporary with it and also required stabilization and cleaning.

Previous » Unknown artist, Mexican, end of 17th century, detail of Virgin of Guadalupe, c. 1700, oil on canvas. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Maisie Eden Power Endowment Fund. Above » Conservator Christina Milton O’Connell in-paints a roundel that narrates the story of the Virgin. Right » Unconserved detail of roundel depicting one of the four appearances of the Virgin to Juan Diego.

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“It is a copy of a miraculous image.

It was not created by human hands.”

Ronda Kasl, Curator of Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World

For conservators, this is an exciting project because it is an early copy of the Virgin of Guadalupe and was in “relatively good condition” when it arrived at the IMA, according to conservator Christina Milton O’Connell. O’Connell was one of two painting conservators to work on the project. The public can watch the conservation and transformation of the Virgin online at imamuseum.org/sacred-spain.

Before arriving at the IMA, the artwork had never before been treated—rare for a painting several hundred years old—and little conservation research had been conducted on paintings of this type. This provides an excellent opportunity for technical study, just as the IMA begins the process of adding a scientific research and analytical laboratory to its existing paintings, paper, objects and textiles conservation laboratories. The science lab and specialty treatment labs will work in tandem to support the understanding and preservation of the Museum’s collections. Once staffed and outfitted, the IMA’s conservation science laboratory will be akin to labs at other leading art institutions in the United States. It will provide opportunities for the public to interact with behind-the-scenes conservation work and analysis, much like the public conservation of a Sebastiano Mainardi altarpiece in the IMA’s galleries in 2007, which drew more than 28,000 visitors.

This ambitious conservation initiative to create a conservation science lab is made possible by a generous $2.6 million grant from Lilly Endowment. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has also awarded a $1.5 million challenge grant to establish an endowment for a senior conservation scientist position, and The Mellon Foundation has provided $250,000 to recruit and hire the scientist. Gregory Dale Smith, previously the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Conservation Science at Buffalo State College, was recently appointed to the esteemed position. Smith will lead the IMA team in establishing a comprehensive plan for outfitting the center. Longer-term goals include hiring a second scientist and implementing a fellowship program.

This winter, the Virgin of Guadalupe may not appear to you on a hill as she did to Juan Diego. But you can come to the IMA’s galleries to get a glimpse of this miraculous image.

For a schedule of Spanish language tours and other exhibition programming visit imamuseum.org/sacred-spain.

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Although in surprisingly untouched condition, the IMA’s conservation department identified areas in which the Virgin of Guadalupe needed repair.

Several areas of the painting had drips and staining, which were distracting to the viewing experience. Dirt was ingrained in the porous surface of the painting and there was extensive micro-flaking through the paint layer. Only fragments of some flowers remained, especially in the bottom left corner, exposed canvas could be seen, and the background and putti, or cherubs, on the sides of Virgin did not read the same.

Before

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After 700 hours of conservation work on the painting alone—500 additional hours were needed to conserve the frame—the Virgin now appears more closely to its original form. Flowers were in-painted based on information and visual clues of existing flowers and the surrounding roundels. Treatment also included structural stabilization by adding strips of linen around the edges of the painting to provide support and additional fabric so that the painting could be more adequately restretched onto the strainer. Paint was carefully cleaned to remove dirt, soot, and discolored varnish. A new stable, nonyellowing, and protective varnish was applied, areas of loss were filled, and missing areas were carefully in-painted to visually reintegrate the painting.

After

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Behind the Scenes

Design Studio When David Russick left his long-standing position as the director of Herron School of Art and Design’s galleries in August 2007 to join the IMA’s staff, he was looking for a new challenge. He found one.

As the Museum’s chief designer, Russick is responsible for the look of everything from signs and brochures to exhibitions and public spaces—in short, what is collectively known as the IMA’s visual identity. One of Russick’s first tasks was to assemble a group of designers and exhibition preparators—many of whom were scattered in various departments throughout the Museum—into a cohesive unit in a large, revamped room designated as the Design Studio. There, with a long white board and walls on which drawings, photos and other planning documents can be tacked, Russick and his team of eight designers and seven preparators, including specialists in lighting, technical matters and exhibit layout, explore ideas in conjunction with curators, conservators and other staff.

“The Design Studio is an ego-free zone,” said Russick. “I expect people to be adults in the Studio. If we don’t use an idea on one project, I tell the person who thought of it to put it away for another time. We’re building a surplus of ideas that is almost beginning to take on a life of its own. The Studio is becoming a receptacle of ideas.”

The Design Studio’s overall mission, said Russick, is two-fold. First, all the visual elements of the IMA’s sprawling campus (which includes not only all of the facets of the 52-acre main campus, but also the adjacent 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park and Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana) need to cohere. While each attraction has to have its own identity, they all clearly have to be part of the larger entity known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art. That means visually coordinating such elements as signage, print and educational materials, online sites and exhibitions.

In fact, exhibitions are the primary focus of the Studio’s mission, said Russick.

“Obviously, each exhibition has to have its own identity, but we want them all to feel like they’re part of the overall IMA experience.”

To achieve the visual cohesiveness he wanted, Russick enlisted the services of Abbott Miller, a partner in the internationally acclaimed design firm Pentagram.

An Indiana native, Miller met with Russick and other staff members to help redesign the IMA logo, a project that began with the simple desire to create something less corporate than the IMA “block” that was created to coincide with the opening of the Museum’s expanded facilities in 2005. “We wanted something that was adaptable as needs arose throughout the campus,” said Russick, “something that had a little panache, something with an artistic touch.”

But the project quickly became more than just the search for a new logo. “With some institutions, you can develop a visual identity that becomes a rubber stamp put on everything,” said Miller. “But the IMA has so many entities that it was different than most identity projects. We realized that we had to provide a multipart range of options that had equal emphasis for the different components and for the IMA as a whole.”

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In the end, what Miller provided the Museum was a toolkit. Rather than giving them a one-size-fits-all logo, Miller suggested a logo that can be modified through the use of an adaptable typeface called Taz, which can be done in 24 versions ranging from hairline to chunky, along with a varying palette of colors rather than a single color scheme. That approach allows for maximum flexibility, said Miller, while still allowing control over visual identity. At the same time, Miller suggested stacking the Museum’s name and dividing “Indianapolis” into two lines, with the split actually halving the second “A.” The result, said Miller, emphasizes the “Indiana” in Indianapolis.

The flexibility that results from this approach will allow Russick and his staff to adapt the logo to the needs of a particular design challenge rather than having to figure out how to make a fixed logo fit every situation. “It was about giving the Museum a stronger voice rather than a single logo,” said Miller. “I think this approach will last a long time.”

For Russick, having flexibility while maintaining visual continuity is the objective of the IMA’s Design Studio. “It’s the indescribable essence that we’re trying to hit,” said Russick. “We’re trying to create an aura that may not consciously register with visitors, but it gives the Museum a unique identity.”

Left » Chief Designer, David Russick. Top » David Russick, Design & Installation Coordinator, Laurie Gilbert and Technical Designer, Greg Smith. Above » Graphic Designers, Matthew Taylor and Dana Bracken

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SHOP & CELEBRATE

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Items available for purchase at:

MUSEUM STORE DESIGN CENTER GREENHOUSE SHOP NOURISH CAFÉ 24

1 Verner Panton, Panton Chair » $260 (DC) 2 Isamu Noguchi, Prizm Table » $590 (DC) 3 Stainless Steel, Double Candleholder » $182 (DC) 4 Ceramic Cardinal » $4.95 (GS) 5 Alexander Girard, Love » $110 (DC) 6 Silver Glitter Tree » $39 (GS) 7 Verner Panton, VPIII Rug » $1,359 (DC)

8 George Nelson, Black & Brass Ball Clock » $335 (DC) 9 Charles and Ray Eames, House Bird » $210 (DC) 10 Alexander Girard, Wooden Doll » $160 (DC) 11 Porcelain Origami Crane Ornament » $15 (MS) 12 Jonathan Adler, Porcelain Bird Ornament » $30 (DC)

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13 Angel Wing Candleholder » $55 (MS) 14 Patricia Locke, Sterling Silver and Crystal Necklace » $90 (MS) 15 Harper’s Christmas, Boxed Holiday Cards » $18.95 (MS) 16 Eva Zeisel, Glass Ornament » $30 (DC) 17 Mercury Glass Christmas Tree » $55 (MS) 18 Karim Rashid, “Kaj” Watch » $85 (DC)

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19 Jasper Morrison, Cork Stool/Ottoman » $347 (DC) 20 Alfredo Haberli, “Essence” Red Wine Glasses, set of two » $40 (DC) 21 Nourish Café presents Chef’s Taste; Themed cocktail receptions on the third Thursday in November & December. Enjoy wine and food pairings followed by a Sacred Spain tour » $35 (NC) 22 Tord Boontje, Midsummer Light » $77 (DC) 23 Ron Arad, Tom Vac Chair » $315 (DC) 25

What’s Next

IMA Design Arts With virtually no examples of contemporary design in its collection, the IMA wasn’t even a blip on the design world’s radar screen before R. Craig Miller joined the staff in 2007. But since his arrival, the Museum’s Senior Curator of Design Arts and Director of Design Initiatives debuted the acclaimed exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century earlier this year; and Indianapolis is now not only on the screen but an important new bright spot for designers and manufacturers around the world.

That’s because, in addition to organizing the most extensive exhibition dedicated to contemporary European design by any American art museum, Miller has begun building a collection at the IMA that features premiere examples of furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, and product design by an array of international designers and manufacturers. From European Design Since 1985 alone, he acquired nearly 200 objects through purchases or donations from sources around the globe.

Among the notable pieces Miller acquired are a leather upholstered aluminum chair by Sylvain Dubuisson—there were only three in the world until Miller convinced Dubuisson to create one more for the IMA’s collection. At the same time, Miller managed to snare one of only four existing curvilinear desks that Dubuisson had designed. He also snagged such rarities as a silver-plated bowl by Nestor Perkal and a monumental blown-glass vase by Borek Sipek, along with other numerous out-of-production and one-of-a-kind pieces by various designers and manufacturers.

Another important aspect of organizing such major shows, said Miller, is developing exhibitions that premiere at the IMA and then travel to museums elsewhere. In the case of European Design Since 1985, it’s going to the High Museum in Atlanta in the summer of 2010 and the Milwaukee Art Museum in the winter of 2011. Organizing landmark travelling exhibitions, the curator noted, is a way to build the IMA’s national reputation and to persuade major design collectors to become actively involved with the Museum.

Miller also has contacted many of the young designers featured in the exhibition, requesting that he have a chance to acquire new pieces they create. “One of the important offshoots of the European Design exhibit was to establish on-going relationships with these designers,” said Miller, “so that we could keep the Museum’s collection up-to-date.”

The ultimate long-term goal for the design collection, which Miller promised will continue to grow, is to build major permanent galleries to display the IMA’s design collection. “We want to put things on view rather than have them remain in a storeroom,” said Miller. “When people think about modern design in the United States, they will automatically think of the Indianapolis Museum of Art!”

Left » Works by Marten Van Severen and Jasper Morrison exhibited in the Geometric-Minimal section of the European Design exhibition. Above » The Neo-Dada/Surreal section of the European Design exhibition featured pieces by Maarten Baas and John Angelo Benson.

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4000 Michigan Road Indianapolis, IN 46208 317-923-1331 imamuseum.org

SACRED SPAIN PROGRAMMING & EVENTS

19 Nov & 17 Dec » 6:30 pm

15 Nov » 2:30 pm » Free

Special Event: Chef’s Taste Series

In Conversation: Popular Imagery and the Religious Imagination

Join us for Spanish-themed cocktail receptions in Nourish Café with food and wine stations and tapas. Followed by a tour of the special exhibition Sacred Spain.

22 Nov » 2:30 pm Scott Chamber Players: The Sounds of Spain

06 Dec » 2:30 pm » Free

Inspired by Sacred Spain, the Scott Chamber Players interpret the sacred and secular music of 17th-century Spain and its reciprocal influences on the Americas.

S. Brent Rodriguez Plate (Hamilton College) discusses the issue of what constitutes acceptable religious imagery by considering the impact of art that is perceived as controversial, idolatrous or obscene.

20 Nov » 7 pm Theological Follies: Two Films by Luis Buñuel

Theological Follies: Two Films by Luis Buñuel. Top » The Milk Way, 1969, photo courtesy Janus Films/The Criterion Collection.

Bottom » Simon of the Desert, 1965, photo courtesy Rialto Pictures.

Join Ivan Gaskell (Harvard University) and David Morgan (Duke University) for a discussion on the role of visual piety in popular religious culture.

This one-evening film series explores identity through spirituality in the films of Spanish director Luis Buñuel, perhaps best-known for his Surrealist explorations with artist Salvador Dalí.

Blasphemy: Art that Offends

Tickets and full schedule at imamuseum.org.