Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
Spring 2016
DIRECTOR’S LETTER
Susan M. Taylor
Cover Charles & Ray Eames, Stackable Chairs, DSS, 1954 Herman Miller Furniture Company, Zeeland, MI, 80.5 x 55.8 x 54 cm (each chair), fiberglass; zinc-plated steel; rubber; plastic
Left Anna Atkins, British, 17991871, Ceylon [examples of ferns], 1852-54, Cyanotype print Museum purchase, General Acquisitions Fund, 81.385
At NOMA, we constantly seek different ways to serve our audiences, both from within and outside of our New Orleans community. There are seventy-two discrete neighborhoods in New Orleans, each with distinctive characteristics, interests, and needs that define them. How do we reach them? How do we engage communities in the work of the museum? For NOMA, it’s an opportunity and an obligation. One important way is to create meaningful partnerships that help us maximize our resources and interact with our audiences. This February, NOMA reached out directly to one specific audience: teenagers. NOMA held its first NOLA Teen Summit, an opportunity for area youth and youth leaders to exchange ideas for programming geared towards teens both at the museum and in New Orleans. This spirited meeting of minds allowed NOMA to hear the voices directly from those in the community we want to serve. We have taken this experience and their recommendations to plan—with teens as our partners—new opportunities for them to participate at NOMA. Among the many ideas that emerged was a monthly Teen Day of Service in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Currently, teenagers over the age of sixteen are welcome to volunteer at NOMA, but on this monthly day teenagers of all ages are invited to collect service hours. The deep-seated tradition of community service in New Orleans permeates all aspects of our society, and NOMA is privileged to support that spirit of giving back. Thanks to continued support from The Helis Foundation, we have also expanded free admission for all teenagers, every day, through the end of 2016. Keep on the lookout for more programming announcements for teenagers in the near future. As a center for lifelong learning, how else can NOMA foster connectivity among its constituencies? We are responding to this priority by using the permanent collection, our greatest teaching tool, as inspiration. NOMA launched a new initiative in 2016—the reinstallation of the museum’s early Latin American art collection. This undertaking will result in the creation of a permanent gallery for these works of art. To aid us in the process, we’ve enlisted the help and guidance of a strong, invigorated leadership committee, led by board member Stephanie Feoli and her husband, Dr. Ludovico Feoli. A recent reception at the home of Dr. Salvador and Luz Caputto to launch this committee was an opportunity to share our ambitions for this project and the programming that will result from a sustained focus on this aspect of our work. The enthusiasm with which our plans were received is an encouraging indicator of this initiative’s support. This reinstallation project is a long time in the making. NOMA’s early Latin American art collection, praised by scholars across the nation, only recently made its way back to the museum after being on loan to other institutions for many years. With the assistance of this committee and the scholarship of curatorial fellow Lucia Abramovich, who will develop interpretive materials—in both Spanish and English—for the gallery, I am confident that the presentation of this collection will engage the interests of NOMA’s Spanish-speaking community and beyond. How can NOMA encourage creativity and interaction? How can we diversify our audiences to touch every corner of our neighborhoods? We don’t have all the answers yet, but are working to develop fresh approaches and solutions to create substantial museum experiences for everyone. Whether in the museum or out in the community, we are committed to a lifelong journey of learning and creative thinking.
Susan M. Taylor The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director
CONTENTS
Spring 2016
FEATURE 10 The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction Exhibition from the internationallyrenowned Vitra Design Museum celebrates the enduring role of simplicity in design
MUSEUM INSPIRED BY NOMA
4 Eric Blue EXHIBITIONS
5 Auspicious Imagery in Edo-period Art 5 Bob Dylan: the New Orleans Series 6 Negative Histories COLLECTIONS
8 Curator’s Pick: Juan Hamilton’s Abstract Form No. 43 9 Recent Acquisition: Edward Steichen’s Rodin, Le Penseur
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THE ESSENCE OF THINGS
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GEORGIA O’KEEFE AND JUAN HAMILTON
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
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NEGATIVE HISTORIES
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SPRING FORWARD WITH NOMA FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS
COMMUNITY VISIT
SUPPORT
14 Spring Programs in the Sculpture Garden
16 NOMA Donors 17 Friends of the Sculpture Garden
LEARN
18 Spring Forward with NOMA Friends and Supporters
15 Teen Summit Brings New Perspectives to Youth Programming
20 The Helis Foundation Honored at Annual Fellows Dinner
15 Poetry Slam and Open Mic
22 New Leadership Committee for Early Latin American Art
15 Call for Docents
23 Odyssey Approaches its Golden Anniversary
21 Fellows and Fellows Circle Members
23 2015 Volunteer of the Year
Opposite left Tokujin Yoshioka, “Honey-pop” Chair, 2001, © Vitra Design Museum; Photo: Andreas Sutterlin Opposite right Dan Budnick, Georgia O’Keeffe at the Ghost Ranch with Pots by Juan Hamilton, 1975, Silver print, Photograph © Dan Budnick Above Left Imogen Cunningham, American, 1883-1976, Negative of a snake, 1929, Gelatin silver print, Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 82.281.87
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INSPIR ED BY NOM A : ER IC BLU E
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY RO M A N A LO K H IN
You’re from New Orleans. Did you ever come to NOMA as a child? I did. I grew up in a single parent home—there were four of us—and my mom would drop us off here, go run her errands and do whatever she needed to do that day, and come back and pick us up later. There wasn’t that much trouble you could get into back then, so I spent quite a number of Saturday afternoons here.
New Orleans native Eric Blue is a managing director of RLMcCall, a private equity firm, and is also a founding principal of Cardinal Points Holdings, LLC, an equity sponsor of ClearCompass Digital Group. Previously, Blue served as an M&A and capital markets attorney with two international law firms, as an associate at Drum Capital Management, and prior to attending law school, as an Industrials corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions investment banker with an international investment bank. Additionally, he serves as member of the board of directors of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and is a member of its pension committee. Blue graduated with a BS in Finance from Xavier University of Louisiana, a JD from The University of Texas School of Law and is a Level II Candidate in the CFA Program. Blue, who was recently elected to NOMA’s board of trustees, spoke with Arts Quarterly’s editor on a walk through NOMA’s galleries.
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Do you have any specific memories from visiting? Is there a certain artist you liked? Not anyone specific. NOMA was a place to come and kind of reset, and I do this to this day. When I have really choppy days, I’ll come here in the middle of the day, and my staff will know that if they can’t find me, I’m probably here, or sitting out there [gestures to City Park]. I think as a kid, if your norm is a little bit challenging, often times what you need more than anything are just opportunities to reset. So you can come here, and the world gets as big as the pieces on the wall. And you spend hours and hours and hours in the galleries, and when you do re-enter your personal reality, the walls don’t seem quite as confined. [Visiting NOMA] has served that purpose for me, and honestly, it’s probably where I learned how to dream. I tell my mentee all the time that I’ve got absolutely no walls. I don’t believe in them. If there are things I realize I cannot do, often it leads me to believe that I just haven’t figured out how to do it, not that it can’t be done. And you learn that in places like NOMA. And particularly as kids in urban America— regardless of color—I think if you are lower to middle class or poor in America, you need opportunities where you are reminded that the only limits that exist are the ones you affirm.
For me it was as simple as being able to come here a few times a month and look at a work of art. You can look at a work of art, and think that maybe the artist had no idea where he was going with this when he started it, but he knew he was going somewhere. I think looking at art taught me to approach life that way. What kind of art are you drawn to? For a while, I was a huge contemporary art fan. I lived in New York for a while and took refuge in contemporary art because there were pieces that spoke more to me. Because I could see pieces of myself in the art, and I think that people feel at home when they can see themselves in art. And that doesn’t necessarily mean a black guy seeing a black guy in a work of art. For the better part of my adult life I just felt more comfortable with contemporary art because it allowed me to take refuge and see that there’s order in chaos. Considering what I imagine to be a high-stress field like yours, it must be nice to come here and think about something completely different. In a way, it helps you with your own business, it seems. Yes, it does. It also gives you perspective. I think folks look at finance and think of it as the antithesis of art, but there’s tons of creativity in the field, and as an adult this allows me to kind of be reminded of that. And also it humbles you, right? If I have a really good day, it’s because I’ve convinced someone to sell me something, and that’s great, but... Now I own it, so now what? You could say, “Eric, I’m giving you a billion dollars and I’ll give you a year to produce that [points to Skylar Fein’s Black Flag for Georges Bataille]” or anything like that, and I couldn’t do it. So it keeps you grounded. It humbles you.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
EXHIBITIONS
AUSPICIOUS IM AGERY IN EDO -PER IOD A RT Arts and culture flourished in unprecedented ways during Japan’s Edo period (1615-1868). During this long era of relative peace and stability, innovative painting styles, such as Rinpa, Maruyama-Shijo, nanga and zenga were developed and refined alongside traditional painting schools and practices. Irrespective of their artistic affiliation, Edo-period artists responded to their patrons’ demands for works of art that featured auspicious imagery, particularly that associated with the wish for long life. These works often served as gifts for birthdays and other celebrations. Artists selected their subjects from a long-established body of legend, folklore and popular religion, often with Chinese antecedents. The subjects ranged from legendary figures celebrated for their immortality, animals renowned for their longevity, and plants, such as the pine, whose physical attributes associate them with the theme. One such painting is Shibata Zeshin’s Gods of Good Fortune at Mount Horai. Zeshin (1807-1891), a versatile and technically innovative painter and lacquer artist of the late Edo, here depicts a gathering of the gods in their palatial compound atop Mount Horai, the Daoist mountain of immortality. Jurojin, the god of longevity (easily recognizable by his elongated cranium), is seated facing the viewer; Benzaiten, the goddess of love and music is to his right. Replete with symbols of long life—pine trees, cranes, deer, and turtles—this highly detailed work emphatically proclaims its function as a conveyer of good wishes.
Bob Dylan (American, born 1941), Rescue Team, Oil on canvas, On loan from Black Buffalo Artworks, EL.2016.15.19, © Bob Dylan
BOB DY L A N: THE N EW OR LE A NS SER IE S
Shibata Zeshin (Japanese 1807-1891), The Gods of Good Fortune at Mount Horai, circa 1880s, Ink and color on silk, Museum purchase, Asian Art deaccession funds, 2012.68
This and nearly thirty other paintings and ceramics, all with subjects of good fortune, are currently on view in the Japanese Gallery on NOMA’s third floor. Drawn from NOMA’s permanent collection and generous loans from the Gitter-Yelen Foundation, this exhibition explores a few of the multitude of ways in which artists employed auspicious imagery in their work. Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Asian Art
In a suite of twenty-three paintings, Bob Dylan presents a distinctive vision of New Orleans, a city for which he has well-known affection. As he wrote in Chronicles, the first volume of his autobiography, “There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There’s a thousand different angles at any moment...No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one very long poem.” Dylan explores a number of these angles, painting traditional views of French Quarter courtyards and alleyways, as well as capturing moments in the private and public lives of New Orleans’s inhabitants. These images evoke a timelessness in both their subdued palette and the ambiguous mode of dress of his figures. A sense of theatricality is inherent in both the compositions and in Dylan’s choice of figure subjects—ministers, singers, barbers and performers, with both the viewer and viewed carefully defined. Best known as one of America’s greatest songwriters and composers, Dylan has had a long engagement with art. Between 1989 and 1992 he created over ninety sketches that came to be exhibited as the Drawn Blank series in 2010. Bob Dylan: New Orleans will be on view in NOMA’s Great Hall from April 22 – July 31, 2016.
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N EGATI V E HISTOR IE S
John Moyer Heathcote, English, 1800-1890, Windmill in Anglia, ca. 1853, Paper negative, Museum purchase, Tina Freeman Fund, 2015.125
Above Vera Lutter, Radio Telescope, Effelsberg, XV: September 12, 2013, 2013; Unique gelatin silver print; 96 x 84 in., Collection of the artist, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery © Vera Lutter, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery
Below Imogen Cunningham, American, 1883-1976; Negative of a snake, 1929; Gelatin silver print; Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 82.281.87
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Although the history of photography has typically focused on the importance of positive prints in photography, the photographic negative possesses its own rich history. From the origins of the medium to the present, photographers have learned to see the world as a negative and have explored the abstract properties of the negative image. With the advent of digital photography, the era of the negative is drawing to a close. This spring, NOMA will explore the historical and contemporary role of the photographic negative in three related presentations. Drawing mostly on its own permanent collection, NOMA will exhibit some of the earliest examples of photographic negatives in
Paper Negatives and avant-garde and twentieth-century uses of the negative image in Negative Image. These two exhibitions will provide a historical context for the chief component of this spring program, a monographic exhibition on the monumental work of a contemporary photographer, Vera Lutter: Inverted Worlds. In an increasingly digital world the negative as an object is fast becoming a relic of photography’s past. In the earliest years of photography, however, negatives were all that existed. William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the paper negative (the earliest form of the negative) created only negative images during his first few years of experimentation. These often took the form of cameraless photogram images, made by placing leaves, lace and other specimens in contact with a piece of photo-sensitized paper. Once exposed to the sun, the specimen was removed and an inverted shadow remained imprinted on the paper. Anna Atkins’s image of ferns in Ceylon is an early example of this kind of photograph. Since each of Atkins’s prints is unique, she often used a single specimen multiple times to make a number of slightly different images which she would share with friends and amateurs in the field.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
Anna Atkins, British, 1799-1871, Ceylon [examples of ferns], 1852-54; Cyanotype print; Museum purchase, General Acquisitions Fund, 81.385
John Murray, Scottish, 1809-1898; Landscape with architecture, circa 1860; Paper negative; Lent by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali
When Talbot first started making negatives in a camera, he did not use them to produce positive prints: he greatly valued the negative image itself. This is also true of most nineteenth century photographers. While few of them felt that the negative was the final product, they still took them very seriously. Printmaking was so time consuming and expensive that reading the efficacy and potential in a negative became an important skill. Paper Negatives includes some powerful examples that demonstrate how an early negative can be easily legible or visually confounding. For example, in the negative of a windmill from the 1850s, the wooden structure of the rotor blades is articulated with great clarity, silhouetted against an empty sky. On the other hand, the trees, buildings, and topography in a large landscape negative of India by John Murray from the 1860s all read as a confusing jumble of elements that would be much clearer, although maybe mundane, in a positive. In the early twentieth century, artists exploited the confusion inherent in negative images. Many employed different dark room techniques to partially or wholly reverse the tones of an image in their final prints. The results upended the conception of photography as a medium
that represented the real world and pushed it into the realm of abstraction. For example, in the exhibition Negative Image, Imogen Cunningham’s Negative of a Snake plays aggressively with our sense of perception. The snake is, in real life, light and dark, but in the opposite pattern. Nevertheless unless one is a herpetologist, the snake does not look inverted. The other components of the image, however, all seem like pieces of a visual puzzle that do not quite fit together: what looks like water is in fact wood, and what looks like stone is water. This combination of things that look right and others that look wrong makes for a compelling image. Although the negative as a necessary step in the photographic process is disappearing, the negative image is not. Perhaps to counter the increasingly immaterial nature of photography, many artists are returning to the oldest processes and emphasizing the craft based qualities of photograph making. Vera Lutter does so on a monumental scale, producing large, one of a kind negative images using room-sized cameras. She affixes photographic paper to one of the walls inside the camera and then waits for the very faint traces of light coming in through a lens to imprint on the paper. Her exposure times have ranged from three hours to three months.
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During the time of the exposure, Lutter works inside the camera, moving around to control the amount of light that each part of the paper receives so that it remains even across the field in the end. The resulting negatives, which are often around nine feet high and longer in width, are thus the final expression of photography and performance. In these images, the world is presented as a laterally reversed and tonally inverted version of itself. Light is dark and dark, light; left is right and right, left. What is more, since the exposures are so long, they present a seamless continuum of time, each infinite moment superimposed on the others. In these images, therefore, the world neither was nor is, but is constantly in the process of becoming. Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs These exhibitions will all be on view from April 15 – July 17, 2016. Vera Lutter will be presented in the Templeman Galleries, Negative Image will be in the A. Charlotte Mann and Joshua Mann Pailet Gallery, and Paper Negatives will be in the Frederick R. Weisman Galleries. There will be an opening lecture with Vera Lutter on Tuesday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. Check noma.org for more details. Vera Lutter: Inverted Worlds is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in association with the New Orleans Museum of Art. The exhibition is sponsored in part by Millie and George Denegre and Adrea Heebe and Dominick Russo. Additional support is provided by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali.
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COLLECTIONS
CU R ATOR’S PICK : J UA N H A MILTON’S A B STR ACT FOR M NO. 4 3
Dan Budnick, Georgia O’Keeffe at the Ghost Ranch with Pots by Juan Hamilton, 1975, Silver print, Photograph © Dan Budnick
Sculptor and ceramicist Juan Hamilton lived and worked alongside painter Georgia O’Keeffe for decades, serving as O’Keeffe’s longtime studio assistant and constant companion in her Abiquiú, New Mexico home. O’Keeffe’s tumultuous relationship with the much-younger Hamilton resulted in a shared exploration of the Southwestern landscape that closely connected these two artists. Throughout their lives, both O’Keeffe and Hamilton drew upon the landscapes and cultures of New Mexico to create strikingly modern artworks
Juan Hamilton (born 1945), Abstract Form No. 43, Black patinated bronze, Gift of Mrs. P. Roussel Norman, 91.449, © Juan Hamilton
that marry the visual language of the desert with influences culled from modern art. Like O’Keeffe’s landscape paintings, Hamilton’s sculptures reflect the influence of indigenous Mexican and Native American art as well as modern European sculptors like Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp. Suggesting rocks and pebbles worn smooth, the undulant forms of sculptures like Abstract Form No. 43 pull the shapes O’Keeffe explored in her paintings out from canvas and into three dimensions. Hamilton entered O’Keeffe’s life just as she began losing her eyesight, and his intensely tactile sculptures became increasingly meaningful for O’Keeffe as she slowly lost her vision entirely. As Hamilton once said of his work, “I feel them three-dimensionally, in the center of my chest.” For O’Keeffe, Hamilton’s sculptures were a way of experiencing the landscape she so loved through touch instead of vision. This photograph of O’Keeffe holding one of Hamilton’s sculptures, taken just as her vision began to fail, shows her powerful response to Hamilton’s work. O’Keeffe’s connection to the desert landscape of the Southwest was such that she often described it as a sentient being, writing of one painting from this series that it represented “two hills reaching out to the sky and holding it.” Her paintings, like Hamilton’s sculptures, call forth an intimate connection between body and landscape, and self and nation. As O’Keeffe wrote, “One cannot be an American by going about saying that one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work.” Recently rediscovered in NOMA’s art storage, Hamilton’s Abstract Form No. 43 is now installed next to Georgia O’Keefe’s painting My Backyard in the Davis Gallery on the second floor. Katie Pfohl, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
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Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
R ECENT ACQUISITION: EDWA R D STEICHEN’S RODIN, LE PENSEUR
Edward Steichen, American, 1879-1973, Rodin, Le Penseur, 1902, Gelatin silver print, printed later, Gift of Jim and Cherye Pierce, 2015.76
NOMA recently acquired a masterful photograph by photographer Edward Steichen of the sculptor Auguste Rodin. This print, a very generous gift from Jim and Cherye Pierce, instantly fills one of the most significant gaps in NOMA’s otherwise comprehensive collection. The work is one of the most recognized images from the pictorialist movement, the first cohesive international movement to argue for photography as a fine art around the turn of the twentieth century. Although NOMA has a number of small works made by various pictorial photographers, this is by far the most important image in the collection from that era. When Steichen first traveled to Paris in 1901, he was only twenty-two and Rodin, sixty-one, was one of the most recognized and important living artists in the world. Nevertheless, they shared a mutual respect for each other’s work and formed a strong bond that would last until the elder artist’s death. www.noma.org
Steichen spent a year visiting Rodin’s studio before he attempted a portrait photograph. He finally settled on photographing him with his white marble Monument to Victor Hugo and his bronze The Thinker. According to Steichen, the studio was so cramped that it was impossible to produce a single image with Rodin and his two sculptures, so he produced two separate images, one of Rodin and the marble, and another of The Thinker, and then collapsed the two images in the darkroom to produce this masterful combination print. The result is an ambitious, and artful attempt to echo the grand art tradition of depictions of artists in their studios, with Rodin transformed into the materials of his trade, echoing the solid substance of the bronze that he faces. Dark and brooding, Rodin seems to contemplate his own work, The Thinker which is itself the physical embodiment of contemplation.
Rodin died in 1917. At the time, Steichen was serving in the US Army in the aerial photography reconnaissance division during World War I, but he received a special dispensation to attend Rodin’s funeral as the representative of the US government. Steichen would then go on to work for Condé Nast for many years and become one of the best recognized fashion photographers in the world, and later served as one of the most influential photography curators at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he organized the important photography exhibition The Family of Man in the 1950s, which became an international sensation. This one print, then, brings together two of the most important artists in the fields of sculpture and photography. Russell Lord, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs
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The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction EXHIBITION FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM CELEBRATES THE ENDURING ROLE OF SIMPLICITY IN DESIGN An everyday paperclip, a golf ball, and a cardboard egg carton are highlighted alongside chairs and lamps by design superstars in The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction. In this exhibition, the first dedicated to modern and contemporary design in NOMA’s history, more than 180 objects from 100 years of history explore the role of minimalism in the household objects we use every day, the furnishings we admire in style magazines, and those well-known designs we see in museum galleries. The Essence of Things includes furniture, appliances, lighting, graphic design, and architecture, with work by well-known contemporary and historic designers including Gerrit Rietveld, Eileen Gray, Ray and Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, Jasper Morrison, and Philippe Starck. Humble industrial objects like flip-flops and Post-it notes take their place alongside fine art furniture by architect Frank Gehry and a dramatic lamp by Isamu Noguchi. The thin body of a 2008 MacBook Air computer is shown in relation to a minimalist 1953 stool/step/table (really, a wooden box) by Le Corbusier. The computer and Le Corbusier’s stool are both geometrically simple, exhibiting the designer’s quest for a functional object with the fewest interventions possible. All the works of design in The Essence of Things are incredibly varied, but all share this sense of artistic restraint, or minimalism, in their beauty. The exhibition celebrates the idea of simplicity as an emergent and increasingly critical idea in twentieth-century design, making the point that whether planning a piece of furniture, the latest smartphone, or a basic kitchen utensil, many designers embrace minimalism as a way to achieve both rational functionality and elegant aesthetics. The most successful product in furniture history, Thonet Brother’s bentwood Chair No. 14, 1859-60, is shown as the quintessential success of simplicity in aesthetics, manufacture, and packaging. Chair No. 14 is the result of Thonet’s patented bentwood process, in which the form of the chair is derived from the quality of the raw material (the pliability and stability of beechwood). These café chairs, simply constructed with six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts, could be efficiently produced and shipped. Thonet sold the chairs at an affordable price, so the company has delivered more than 100 million bentwood chairs since 1860. The Essence of Things includes thirty-six examples of Chair No. 14, shown disassembled into parts and packaged into a single one-cubic-meter clear crate. Thonet’s model inspired today’s market leader for simplicity and efficiency, IKEA. Many visitors to the exhibition might recognize IKEA’s “Billy” bookshelf, which has sold more than forty million units since its introduction in 1978. The concept behind the Swedish furniture megastore Tokujin Yoshioka, “Honey-pop” Chair, 2001, © Vitra Design Museum; Photo: Andreas Sutterlin
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ABOVE Case Study House, #8/Eames House, Architecture model, Charles & Ray Eames/ Eero Saarinen 1945-49 © Vitra Design Museum; Photo: Andreas Sütterlin
“Humble industrial objects like flip-flops and Post-it notes take their place alongside fine art furniture”
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draws extreme cost reduction by shifting part of the logistical effort to its consumers, who assemble IKEA’s simple products themselves. In this way the company has been tremendously influential in spreading a minimalist, modern aesthetic worldwide. The Essence of Things explores the role of minimal design in aesthetics with groupings dedicated to geometry, abstraction, dissolution, transparency, and sign. Here, design classics show the profound impact of early twentieth century art/design movements. Gerrit Rietveld’s Red/Blue Chair (designed 1918) is composed of the planes, lines, and primary colors of the Dutch De Stijl artistic movement. The elegantly composed “Wassily” chair (designed 1925) by Marcel Breuer is the first piece of tubular steel furniture designed for the home. Breuer’s experimentation with a new material, based on a beloved steel bicycle frame, became an emblem of the German Bauhaus school’s approach to design. The early twentieth century move toward geometric simplicity in both art and design still inspires today, and perhaps looks as radical today as it did then. While the move to minimal design and reduced ornament was shocking in the early twentieth century, in the post-WWII years this style of modernism found greater acceptance with the American consumer. Ray and Charles Eames put forth a new American vision of approachable, colorful simplicity that is as popular in today’s design magazines as it was in 1950s homes and offices. The Essence of Things includes rare examples that show the Eames’s stages of experimentation in their popular fiberglass stacking shell chairs, and a window into how the couple personally lived with the modern aesthetic through an architectural model of their home in California, the Case Study House, #8, 1945-49. Their Eames House was one of about two dozen homes designed through an Arts and Architecture
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
magazine competition that challenged architects to provide new living solutions for the post WWII family, using technologies developed during the War. Ray and Charles Eames’s geometric, open house design relied on materials ordered from catalogs, providing a model for a pre-fabricated home where work, play, life, and nature co-existed beautifully. In addition to historically significant chairs and everyday objects, The Essence of Things uses slide shows to explore the role of minimalism in a variety of related art fields—graphic design, photography, painting, sculpture, landscape design, product design, fashion, food, theater design and technology. Perhaps the most memorable and thought-provoking contribution of this exhibition is to show how the important advancement of minimalist design ideas in the twentieth century continues to influence today’s designers. Tokujin Yoshioka’s “Honey-pop” Chair, 2001 is made entirely of a single material—paper folded into a honeycomb structure—that only conforms to a chair form when someone sits upon it. Andrea Zittel’s A-Z Escape Vehicle, 1996/7 looks like a simple mini-camper, but the sculptor adapts the interior of each of these vehicles to suit the “inner universe” of the owner. Both works of art, rooted in minimalism, step into conceptual art by boldly defying the notion that furniture is merely functional.
ABOVE From Hand Axe to Multipack Carrier: Selection of objects from the exhibition’s prologue. © Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein; Photo Andreas Sutterlin. BELOW Carrier box (1m³) containing 36 disjointed Thonet chairs, No. 14, © Vitra Design Museum; Photo: Thomas Dix
Mel Buchanan, RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts & Design The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction is organized by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. The exhibition will be on view in the Ella West Freeman Galleries from June 24 – September 11, 2016.
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VISIT
SPR ING PROGR A MS IN THE GA R DEN It’s that time of year again—the weather is beautiful, the flowers are blooming, and there’s no better time to enjoy the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Bring the entire family to NOMA this spring for film screenings, outdoor performances, and a festival. MOVIES IN THE GARDEN
DON QUIXOTE AT NOMA
Pull out your blankets and chairs—for the spring 2016 series of Movies in the Garden, NOMA is screening three films that feature iconic music by the awardwinning composer John Williams. The series kicked off on March 18 with a screening of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and continues with two more adventure classics in April and May. Before the film starts, enjoy live music by Daniele Spadavecchia and free art activities. Food from Crepes a la Cart, La Cocinita, and Frencheeze food trucks will be available for purchase. Tickets can be purchased at the gate on the day of the event.
NOMA and The NOLA Project will present a new adaptation of Don Quixote in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden from May 4 through May 22, 2016. This world premiere is a comedy of old folly mixed with new adventures. By Big Easy Award winning playwright Pete McElligott, this new tale follows the insanely idealistic knight and the utterly practical Sancho Panza as they encounter the world. Together they discover life might be safer when approached realistically, but it’s so much richer when the craziest of dreams are followed. As Quixote instructs the audience on how life should be lived, our fantastical knight takes on everything from bandits and romance to grade school math. He rarely wins, but he never loses hope. A site-specific production, Don Quixote was commissioned with the unique outdoor atmosphere of NOMA’s sculpture garden in mind. Similar to past productions Robin Hood: Thief, Brigand (2015) and Adventures in Wonderland (2014), this new telling of Don Quixote will challenge notions of traditional theater and museum environments and inspire audiences of all ages. Tickets can be purchased online beginning April 1. $24 for adults, $18 for NOMA members, Backstage Pass members (The NOLA Project), and children 7 to 17 (children 6 and under will not be permitted).
April 15 | Indiana Jones &
the Temple of Doom (PG, 1984)
May 6 | Jaws (PG, 1975)
LOUISIANA RAINBOW IRIS FESTIVAL Horticulture lovers and gardening enthusiasts are invited to the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden and the Booth-Bricker Courtyard (adjacent to the Museum Shop) for the annual Louisiana Rainbow Iris Festival, presented by NOMA and the Greater New Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS). Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase Louisiana irises, ask onsite iris experts any gardening-related questions, and even bring their own flowers in for judging. Entry to the festival is free and open to the public. For more information, call 504.658.4100.
This production is supported in part by a grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association (NOTA).
Sunday, April 10 Flower entries accepted | 7:30 – 10 a.m. Judging | 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Open to GNOIS members for voting | 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Show open to the public | 12 – 5 p.m. 14
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
LEARN
TEEN SUMMIT BRINGS NEW PERSPECTIVES TO YOUTH PROGR AMMING
POETRY SLAM AND OPEN MIC
Teens learn more about NOMA on a tour during the NOLA Teen Summit.
On Saturday, February 27, NOMA held its first NOLA Teen Summit. Teens and youth organizations from across the New Orleans area—over eighty students and youth program leaders—met up to discuss teen programming in the city and the museum. The day started with a presentation by NOLA Youthshift on the state of youth programs in New Orleans. The participants then were introduced to NOMA through guided tours by different museum staff. Spoken word performances by talented Big Class students brought the group together after lunch. Once everyone settled into the auditorium, youth program leaders Dr. James Dabney of College Track, Ashana and Brandon Bigard of Educational Justice Project, as well as teens Daytoria Bernard of College Track, Keristen Wilkerson and Brittany Firstley of Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies spoke about their experiences in youth programs. Small groups of participants then spread out through the museum to engage in breakout sessions. In these
www.noma.org
sessions, teens had a chance to talk back and share their ideas for making NOMA a more teen-friendly place. At the Teen Summit, NOMA received valuable feedback about what makes youth programs attractive to teens. The event launches the planning process for a series of new program initiatives for youth at NOMA. Programs will be designed with a teen advisory committee, enabling teen voices to be incorporated from the very beginning stages. At NOMA, teens can: •
receive free admission through the Teen Pass, courtesy of The Helis Foundation
•
apply to be Volunteer Teen Camp Counselors in the summer (ages 16+)
•
get service hours by volunteering during the monthly Teen Day of Service in the Sculpture Garden
Look for more exciting ways for teens to get involved this fall!
Sunday, April 3 | 1 – 4 p.m. Teen Open Mic | 1 p.m. Poetry Slam | 2:30 p.m. Slam New Orleans is coming back to NOMA this year to host another poetry slam and teen open mic, in celebration of National Poetry Month. Slam New Orleans (Team SNO) is a spoken word collective dedicated to promoting spoken word poetry and slam poetry competitions in New Orleans and representing New Orleans on the national poetry scene. Team SNO was founded in 2008 by a group of local poets who noticed a gap in the local poetry scene and believed that this medium of expression could save lives. Team SNO are the 2012 and 2013 National Poetry Slam champions. This event is included with museum admission. Join us!
CALL FOR DOCENTS Do you love learning about other cultures, historical periods, art and artists? Would you like to share your love of art with others? Become a NOMA Docent! NOMA docents are dedicated volunteers who engage visitors with art of all genres and facilitate learning. We’re seeking others to be a part of this growing team. Join us at the Docent Open House during Friday Nights at NOMA on April 8 from 5 – 7 p.m., or contact Tracy Kennan at 504.658.4113 or tkennan@noma.org to learn more. 15
SUPPORT
DONORS
NOMA BUSINESS COUNCIL
The New Orleans Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges our donors, who make our exhibitions, programming, and daily operations possible. We appreciate your continued support of NOMA and its mission. Thank you!
Platinum
Bronze
Superior Energy Services
Crescent Capital Consulting
Foundation and Government Support
Kim Starr Wise Floral Events
Hyatt Regency New Orleans
Le Meridien New Orleans
International-Matex Tank Terminals
Solomon Group
Jones Walker
Green
Frank B. Stewart Jr.
Basin St. Station
The RosaMary Foundation
Sapphire
Boh Bros. Construction Company, LLC
$10,000 - $19,999
Bayou Lacombe Construction Company
Ernst & Young
$500,000 and above
$20,000 - $49,999 The Harry T. Howard III Foundation
$200,000 - $499,999
The Institute of Museum and Library Sciences
The Azby Fund
Louisiana Division of the Arts
The Elise M. Besthoff Charitable Foundation
The Lupin Foundation
$150,000 - $199,999 City of New Orleans
$100,000 - $149,000 Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation
$50,000 - $99,999 American Council of Learned Societies
First NBC Bank
Chevron
Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation
The Helis Foundation
Eskew + Dumez + Ripple
Gold
The Garden Study Club of New Orleans Goldring Family Foundation John Burton Harter Charitable Trust Lee and Jeffrey Feil Family Foundation New Orleans Theater Association Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust Zemurray Foundation
Hammack, Hammack, Jones, LLC
Silver
Hotel Monteleone
Bellwether Technology
Johnson Rice and Company, LLC
Corporate Realty
Laitram, LLC
NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune
Neal Auction Company
Phelps Dunbar, LLP World Trade Center of New Orleans
Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation
Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company
New Orleans Auction Galleries Premium Parking Service Reily Foods Company
The Gulf Seafood and Tourism Promotional Fund The Hearst Foundations
ISA AC DELGADO SOCIETY
Corporate and Individual Support $100,000 and above
$10,000 - $19,000
H. Russell Albright
Lee Ledbetter and Douglas Meffert
Sydney and Walda Besthoff
Anonymous (2)
Barbara and Wayne Amedee
Thomas B. Lemann
IBERIABANK
Chevron
Larry W. Anderson
Dr. Edward D. Levy Jr.
Joshua Mann Pailet
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Davis
Honorable Steven R. Bordner
John and Tania Messina
Estate of Franรงoise Billion Richardson
First NBC Bank
E. John Bullard
Anne and King Milling
Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen
Estate of Albert and Rea Hendler
Joseph and Sue Ellen Canizaro
James A. Mounger
Sandra and Russ Herman
Mrs. Carmel Cohen
Judith Young Oudt
Elizabeth and Willy Monaghan
Mrs. Isidore Cohn Jr.
Mrs. Charles S. Reily Jr.
Sally E. Richards
Prescott N. Dunbar
Pixie and James Reiss
Jacki and Brian Schneider
Lin Emery
Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Renwick
William A. Fagaly
Arthur Roger
Randy Fertel
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Rosen
$20,000 - $49,999
Lyn and John Fischbach
Brian Sands
Joseph and Sue Ellen Canizaro
Tim and Ashley Francis
Jolie and Robert Shelton
Regions Bank
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Freeman
Margaret and Bruce Soltis
Sheila and H. Britton Sanderford
Sandra D. Freeman
Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford
Estate of Warren and Sylvia Stern
Tina Freeman and Philip Woollam
Nancy Stern
Whitney Bank
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Hansel
Mrs. John N. Weinstock
Abba J. Kastin, MD
Mercedes Whitecloud
$50,000 - $99,999 The New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau Janice Parmelee and Bill Hammack WDSU-TV
For more information about supporting NOMA, please contact Brooke Minto at 504.658.4107 or bminto@noma.org. 16
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
NEW MEMBERSHIP
NOMA CIRCLES Patron’s Circle
GROUP: FRIENDS OF
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Benson Mr. and Mrs. John D. Bertuzzi
Dr. Ronald G. Amedee and Dr. Elisabeth H. Rareshide
THE SCULPTURE GARDEN
Mr. and Mrs. Sydney J. Besthoff III
Mr. and Mrs. Luis Baños
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph O. Brennan
Mr. Brent Barriere and Ms. Judy Barrasso
Mr. and Mrs. David F. Edwards Mrs. Lawrence D. Garvey Ms. Adrea D. Heebe and Mr. Dominick A. Russo Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Baumer, Jr. Ms. Dorothy Brennan Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Canizaro
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Mayer
Mrs. Marianne M. Cohn
Mrs. Robert Nims
Mrs. Marjorie J. Colomb
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Rosen
Mr. Leonard A. Davis and Ms. Sharon Jacobs
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Sherrill Mrs. Patrick F. Taylor
Director’s Circle
Mr. and Mrs. James J. Frischhertz Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. George Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Goodyear Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Heebe
Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Boh
Mr. and Mrs. H. Merritt Lane III
Mr. Daryl G. Byrd
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Lemann
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Coleman
Dr. Edward D. Levy Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. Scott S. Cowen
Mr. and Mrs. J. Thomas Lewis
Ms. Deborah Augustine Elam and Mr. Cary Grant
Mrs. Louise H. Moffett
Mrs. H. Mortimer Favrot Jr.
Dr. Howard and Dr. Joy D. Osofsky
Mr. Jerry Heymann
Mr. Joshua Mann Pailet
Mr. Robert Hinckley
Mr. and Mrs. Brian A. Schneider
Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Moffitt
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Shearer
Mr. and Mrs. William Monaghan Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Patrick
Ms. E. Alexandra Stafford and Mr. Raymond M. Rathle Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. James F. Pierce
Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford
Mrs. Charles S. Reily, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen F. Stumpf Jr.
Ms. Debra B. Shriver
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Siegel
Ms. Catherine Burns Tremaine
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Soltis
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Brent Wood
Dr. and Mrs. Pavan Narra
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Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Steeg Mrs. Harold H. Stream Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Taylor Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Thomas
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SAVE THE DATE
There will be a reception for Circles members on May 18, 2016 at 6 pm. www.noma.org
FRIENDS OF THE SYDNEY AND WALDA BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN
President’s Circle
Minoru Niizuma, Japanese, 1930– 1998; Castle of the Eye, II (illustration), 1970, Marble, Gift of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Foundation, 98.143 © Estate of the artist
The New Orleans Museum of Art is delighted to announce our membership group formerly known as the Advocates—Friends of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. We are pleased to share that New Orleans artist Lin Emery will serve as the honorary chair of this exciting initiative. Friends of the Sculpture Garden celebrates the renowned Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden and the New Orleans Museum of Art. For more than a decade, the garden has been a beloved part of NOMA and the city of New Orleans. This group will honor that legacy and will ensure that it continues to thrive for decades to come. Friends will provide critical operating support for the museum and its programs— securing the museum’s role as a cornerstone for arts and culture in our community. For more information, please contact Molly Cobb at mcobb@noma.org or 504.658.4127.
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SUPPORT
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NOMA welcomed guests on February 25, 2016 for a special preview of the exhibitions Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, and Unfiltered Visions: 20th Century American Self-Taught, a presentation drawn from NOMA’s permanent collection. Anne Imelda-Radice, director of the American Folk Art Museum, was present for the opening festivities, along with exhibition curators Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, who led attendees in a walk-through of Self-Taught Genius. NOMA ushers in the spring season every year with two popular events: the
NOMA Egg Hunt & Family Festival, and Art in Bloom. Presented by Whitney Bank, this years Egg Hunt & Family Festival was moved indoors on March 12 due to a threat of rain, but that didn’t stop hundreds of children and their families from having fun inside the museum with egg hunts, art activities, StoryQuest, face painting, and more. Special thanks to lead sponsor Catherine Burns Tremaine, and event chairs Genevieve Douglass and Liz Wood. Spring events culminated in Art in Bloom presented by IBERIABANK, the annual five-day floral celebration.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
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This year’s theme, “Artful Entertaining,” showcased speakers, tastemakers, and exhibitors who celebrate the art of entertaining. Special thanks to event chairs Carol Bienvenu and Mathilde Currence for organizing another successful, spectacular spring event.
Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum is organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York. The exhibition and national tour are made possible by generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation, as part of its 75th anniversary initiative. Presentation of this exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art is sponsored by the City of New Orleans and the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Sandra and Russ Herman.
www.noma.org
1. Susu and Andrew Stall 2. Anne-Imelda Radice, Susan M. Taylor, Stacy C. Hollander, Valérie Rousseau, Anne C.B. Roberts
6. Curator Alice Yelen Gitter gives a tour of the exhibition Unfiltered Visions 7.
Lynda Warshauer, Anne Villere, Elinor Bright
3. Russ and Sandra Herman
8. Hunter Hill and Meghan Donelon
4. Susan M. Taylor and Princess Giorgiana Corsini
9. Liz Wood, Dana Hansel, Genevieve Douglass
5. Guests enjoy a tour of Self-Taught Genius with curator Stacy C. Hollander
10. Richard and Mathilde Currence, Carol and Al Bienvenu
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SUPPORT
THE HELIS FOUNDATION HONOR ED AT ANNUAL FELLOWS DINNER
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1. Stephanie and Ludovico Feoli 2. Susan M. Taylor and David Kerstein 3. Frank and Paulette Stewart 4. Pam Lupin, Louis and Nairne Lupin 5. Penny Francis, Mike Siegel
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In 2015, nearly 200 Circles and Fellows members were responsible for contributing more than $800,000 in unrestricted operating funds, which 1 provided critical support to NOMA’s exhibitions, public programs, and educational activities. The annual Fellows Dinner is a way for NOMA to show gratitude for these members and their extraordinary support. Since 1975, the Isaac Delgado Memorial Award has been given each year at the Fellows Dinner. This honor is given to a distinguished individual or organization whose long-term service, support and dedication to the museum sets precedents for NOMA. This year’s recipient was David Kerstein and The Helis Foundation. Under Kerstein’s leadership, The Helis Foundation’s charitable gifts have resulted in the success of major museum initiatives that have contributed to NOMA’s growth as a leader in the arts and culture community of New Orleans. Through their ongoing support, NOMA is able to offer free admission to Louisiana residents every Wednesday, a program that opens NOMA’s doors to
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larger audiences and raises awareness of the museum’s exhibitions and collections. In 2015, they also expanded that support to offer free admission for all teenagers—local residents and out-of-town visitors—every day of the week. This program has been immensely popular, attracting hundreds of teenagers, and is now in its second year. NOMA has also been able to acquire several significant works of art with contributions from The Helis Foundation. In the last few years alone, key works by Alexis Rockman, Robert Rauschenberg, and most recently, Lynda Benglis have been added to NOMA’s ever expanding permanent collection. These additions have strengthened the collection, attracted new audiences, and enhanced NOMA’s place as a top tourism destination in the region. Generous, sustained donations to NOMA’s endowment have ensured the longevity of the museum’s programs and initiatives and enhanced the museum experience for all visitors. The support of David Kerstein and The Helis Foundation exemplifies a true investment in NOMA’s present and future.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
NOMA FELLOWS AND FELLOWS CIRCLES Fellows Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. Adatto Mr. Alvin R. Albe Jr. Mr. Wayne F. Amedee Mrs. Jimi K. Andersen Mrs. H. W. Bailey Mrs. Howard T. Barnett Ms. Roberta P. Bartee Mrs. Edward B. Benjamin Mr. and Mrs. Dorian M. Bennett Ms. Virginia Besthoff and Ms. Nancy Aronson Ms. Elizabeth A. Boh Mr. and Mrs. Donald T. Bollinger Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Boudreaux Dr. and Mrs. L. Jay Bourgeois III Mrs. B. Temple Brown Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James J. Bryan Jr. Mr. E. John Bullard III Ms. Pamela Richmond Burck Mr. Harold H. Burns Mrs. Vivian B. Cahn Mr. and Mrs. Steven Callan Mr. and Mrs. Carlo Capomazza di Campolattaro Mrs. Sandra Carter-Green Mr. James Carville and Ms. Mary Matalin Mr. and Mrs. Edgar L. Chase III Mr. and Mrs. J. Scott Chotin Jr. Mr. John L. Cleveland Jr. Mr. and Mrs. C. Clay Clifton III Mrs. Marjorie J. Colomb Mr. Barry J. Cooper, Jr. and Mr. Stuart H. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Davis III Mr. and Mrs. Charles I. Denechaud III Mr. and Mrs. George Denegre Jr. Dr. Nina Dhurandhar Mr. and Mrs. Clancy DuBos Mr. George B. Dunbar and Mrs. Louisette Brown Mr. and Mrs. Prescott N. Dunbar Mr. and Mrs. J. Kelly Duncan Dr. V. J. DuRapau Jr. Mr. and Mrs. David F. Edwards Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm P. Ehrhardt Ms. Allison S. Elsee Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Epstein Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Farmer Mr. and Mrs. C. Allen Favrot Mr. and Mrs. Edward Feinman Mr. Tim L. Fields Mrs. Carole A. Follman Dr. and Mrs. Larry D. Forster Mr. David Francis Mrs. Sandra D. Freeman Mr. and Mrs. Frank Friedler III Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Friedman Mrs. Lorraine Caffery Friedrichs Mr. and Mrs. Louis L. Frierson Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Frischhertz Dr. and Mrs. Harold A. Fuselier Jr. Dr. Kurt A. Gitter and Ms. Alice Rae Yelen Ms. Kathy Grainger
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Mr. and Mrs. John D. Gray
Mr. and Mrs. William Ryan
Ms. Susan G. Talley and Mr. James C. Gulotta Jr.
Ms. Courtney-Anne Sarpy
Dr. and Mrs. Stephen W. Hales
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schornstein Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hall
Mr. and Mrs. Chris Schramel
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Hansel
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew A. Schwarz
Mrs. S. Herbert Hirsch
Dr. Milton W. Seiler
Mrs. William H. Hodges
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Shapiro
Mrs. Thomas Huber
Mr. and Mrs. Mark Sheridan
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Huguley III
Ms. Marjorie Shushan
Mrs. Marvin L. Jacobs
Mr. and Mrs. Rodney R. Smith
Dr. Nina M. Kelly
Mrs. Joe D. Smith Jr.
Mrs. E. James Kock Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Stahel
Mr. and Mrs. Herman S. Kohlmeyer Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. Rodney Steiner
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kohn
Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Strub
Mr. and Mrs. John P. Laborde
Ms. Anne Reily Sutherlin
Dr. and Mrs. W. Wayne Lake Jr.
Ms. Judith Swenson
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Lane III
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh C. Uhalt
Mr. and Mrs. Jay M. Lapeyre Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Van der Linden
Mr. and Mrs. John H. Lawrence
Ms. Janis van Meerveld
Mr. Paul J. Leaman Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. George G. Villere
Mr. Lee H. Ledbetter and Mr. Douglas Meffert
Mr. Jason P. Waguespack
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Lewis
Mr. and Mrs. R. Preston Wailes
Mrs. E. Ralph Lupin
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Wainer
Drs. Cris and Sarah Mandry
Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Wedemeyer
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Manshel
Dr. and Mrs. Rudolph F. Weichert III
Mrs. Walter F. Marcus Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. Robert G. Weilbaecher
Mrs. Shirley Rabé Masinter
Ambassador and Mrs. John G. Weinmann
Mr. and Mrs. Greg McCabe
Mr. and Mrs. S. Rodger Wheaton Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael McLoughlin
Mrs. Sara E. White
Ms. Shelley G. Middleberg and Ms. Carole Jacobson
Mr. and Mrs. Casey F. Willems
Mr. and Mrs. R. King Milling
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. A. Williams
Mrs. George R. Montgomery Dr. and Mrs. Lee Roy Morgan Jr. Ms. Mary Wheaton Morse Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Morton Mrs. Andrée K. Moss Mr. and Mrs. Biff Motley Ms. Bernadette Murray Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Norman Jr. Dr. and Mrs. John L. Ochsner Mr. Roger H. Ogden Mrs. Richard E. O’Krepki Ms. Judith Young Oudt Dr. Sanford L. Pailet Mr. and Mrs. Gray S. Parker Ms. Janice Parmelee and Mr. Bill Hammack Mr. and Mrs. Dick H. Piner Jr. Mr. Peter A. Politzer Ms. Gia Rabito Mr. Howard Read and Mr. John Cheim Ms. Sally E. Richards Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Richmond III Ms. Patricia Welder Robinson Mr. Thomas P. W. Robinson Mr. Arthur Roger Mrs. Carol H. Rosen Mr. and Mrs. Paul S. Rosenblum Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Louie J. Roussel III Mr. and Mrs. Hallam L. Ruark
Fellows Circle Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Adkerson Mr. and Mrs. F. Macnaughton Ball Jr. Ms. Valerie Besthoff The Honorable Christopher Bruno and Mrs. Christopher Bruno Mr. Stephen W. Clayton Mr. and Mrs. D. Blair Favrot Dr. Barbara Ferguson Ms. Natalie Fielding Mr. and Mrs. Octave J. Francis Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Freeman Jr. Ms. Monica A. Frois and Ms. Eve Masinter Ms. Anne Gauthier Mr. and Mrs. James O. Gundlach Mr. Henry M. Lambert and Mr. R. Carey Bond Ms. Elizabeth Livingston Ms. Kay McArdle Ms. Marion Andrus McCollam Dr. and Mrs. Edward F. Renwick Mr. and Mrs. William H. Shane Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey P. Snodgrass Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Ellender Stall Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Usdin Mrs. Nan S. Wier Mr. Robert E. Young and Mrs. Nell Nolan
Mrs. Basil J. Rusovich Jr.
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SUPPORT
NEW LEADER SHIP COMMITTEE FOR EAR LY LATIN AMER ICAN ART
Unidentified, Ecuador, Ecce Homo, late 17th-early 18th century, Polychromed wood with cloth and silver, Museum purchase, the Ella West Freeman Foundation Matching Fund, 69.41
A room full of enthusiastic supporters recently gathered at the home of Luz and Dr. Salvador Caputto to celebrate the creation of a new leadership committee for the museum’s early Latin American art collection. Chaired by board member Stephanie Feoli and her husband Dr. Ludovico Feoli, this committee will focus on securing support for the reinstallation of NOMA’s early Latin American art collection—a project that has been several years in the making and is scheduled to open in 2017. NOMA’s extensive early Latin American art collection is widely regarded as unlike any other in the
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Cuzco School, Peru, Coronation of the Virgin with the Trinity, 17th century, Oil on canvas, Museum purchase, the Ella West Freeman Foundation Matching Fund, 67.9
region, with approximately one hundred works of art from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Since her appointment at NOMA in 2014, curatorial fellow Lucia Abramovich has uncovered new scholarship in her examination of these holdings. “As we approach the opening date for this project, we are sharpening our focus on producing innovative content and programming for this collection,” said Abramovich. “The leadership committee will play an essential role in helping NOMA reach a broad array of visitors, while staying true to the historical and cultural context of these works.”
The collection includes paintings, furniture, sculpture, and silver of varying time periods and genres from this canon. Most of the works in this collection are attributed to the Cuzco school (modern-day Peru), with notable examples from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina. This installation will have content in both Spanish and English, providing an ideal opportunity for the Spanishspeaking community of New Orleans to engage with this important, historic genre of art and scholarship. NOMA is also partnering with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Cultural Committee in anticipation of this installation and its related programming. Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
ODYS SEY A PPROACHE S ITS
2015 VOLU N TEER
G OLDEN A N NI V ER S A RY
OF THE Y E A R
Jan Brueghel the Younger, The Five Senses: Sight, c. 1625, Oil on panel, 27 5/8 x 44 5/8 inches, Paul G. Allen Collection
Odyssey, New Orleans Museum of Art’s signature event, raises funds for NOMA to present world-class exhibitions and arts education programming. The 50th Odyssey presented by IBERIABANK will take place on Saturday, November 12, 2016. Lead sponsorship has also been provided by the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation. This year’s chairs, Susu and Andrew Stall, have begun preparations for NOMA’s most ambitious fundraiser, which includes three events this year: an Odyssey Committee kick-off luncheon hosted by Susu Stall this April, an intimate cocktail reception for sponsors at the private Audubon Place home of Drs. Rupa and Tarun Jolly on November 10, and the ball itself on November 12, which celebrates a half-century of Odyssey. The ball will be inspired by NOMA’s fall exhibition, Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection in the Ella West Freeman Galleries. Co-organized by the Portland Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, this exhibition examines the evolution of European and American landscape painting spanning five centuries. All works are drawn from the collection of www.noma.org
Microsoft co-founder, innovator and philanthropist Paul G. Allen. Artists in the exhibition include Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Birch Forest, Gustav Klimt and others. Odyssey guests will also enjoy George Dunbar: A Retrospective that surveys the career of George Dunbar (American, born 1927), a New Orleans native who played a pivotal role in introducing abstract art to the South. Originally from New Orleans, Dunbar studied in Philadelphia and Paris before returning to Louisiana in the 1950s to create paintings, sculptures, assemblages and prints that marry the stark geometry of modern art with lush, organic materials that call forth Louisiana’s swamps and bayous. In celebration of Odyssey’s 50th anniversary, the event will also honor all past Odyssey committee chairs, who donated their time, expertise, and resources to ensure this fundraiser’s success over the years. Check noma. org in the coming months for more updates on this milestone event in NOMA’s history. For more information or to join the Odyssey committee or become a sponsor, please contact Kristen Jochem at 504.658.4121 or kjochem@noma.org.
On March 6, NOMA celebrated its volunteers at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Brunch. NOMA staff had the opportunity to serve the museum’s volunteers as a way to say thank you for their hours of dedicated service. All volunteers who completed over fifty hours of service in 2015 were invited – about 150 total. The 2015 Volunteer of the Year is Joanna Giorlando. Joanna returned to New Orleans in 2010, and joined the NOMA Volunteer Committee shortly thereafter. She has been a valuable member of NVC since then. From 2011 to 2014, Giorlando served as the chair of Art Ambassadors, and also as vice chair of activities in 2013. She was also a member of the committees for NOMA fundraisers LOVE in the Garden, Odyssey, and Art in Bloom for multiple years. In 2012, Giorlando joined the docent program, where she leads the public in informative and engaging tours of works of art in NOMA’s galleries. She was one of the first docents to sign up for Artful Minds, NOMA’s new program for visitors with dementia and their caregivers. Her friendly, kind manner puts visitors of all ages at ease. She is currently an at-large member of the Docent Advisory Board. NOMA is grateful for Giorlando’s service, and the service of all volunteers.
NOMA’s 2015 Volunteer of the Year, Joanna Giorlando (center)
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2016 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Lynes R. (Poco) Sloss
ACCREDITATION
Julie Livaudais George President
Michael Smith
The New Orleans Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Mike Siegel First Vice President
Robert M. Steeg
Sydney J. Besthoff III Vice President
Melanee Gaudin Usdin
Suzanne Thomas Vice President Herschel L. Abbott Jr. Secretary Janice Parmelee Treasurer Donna Perret Rosen At-Large
Susu Stall Frank Stewart The Honorable Mayor Mitch J. Landrieu Susan G. Guidry, New Orleans City Council Member Dana Hansel, NVC Chairman
NATIONAL TRUSTEES Joseph Baillio
Tommy Coleman At-Large
Mrs. Carmel Cohen
David F. Edwards Immediate Past President
Jerry Heymann
MEMBERS Justin T. Augustine III
Mrs. Mason Granger Herbert Kaufman, MD Mrs. James Pierce Mrs. Billie Milam Weisman
Eric Blue
HONOR ARY LIFE MEMBERS
Elizabeth Boone
H. Russell Albright, MD
Robin Burgess
Mrs. Jack R. Aron
Daryl Byrd
Mrs. Edgar L. Chase Jr.
Scott Cowen
Isidore Cohn Jr., MD
Margo DuBos
Prescott N. Dunbar
Stephanie Feoli
S. Stewart Farnet
Penny Francis
Sandra Draughn Freeman
Adrea D. Heebe
Kurt A. Gitter, MD
Russ Herman
Mrs. Erik Johnsen
Robert Hinckley
Richard W. Levy, MD
Dennis Lauscha
Mr. J. Thomas Lewis
Louis J. Lupin
Mrs. Paula L. Maher
Cammie Mayer
Mrs. J. Frederick Muller
Juli Miller Hart
Mrs. Robert Nims
Brenda Moffitt
Mrs. Charles S. Reily Jr.
Elizabeth Monaghan
R. Randolph Richmond Jr.
J. Stephen Perry
Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford
Thomas F. Reese
Harry C. Stahel
Britton Sanderford
Mrs. Harold H. Stream
Jolie Shelton
Mrs. James L. Taylor
Kitty Duncan Sherrill
Mrs. John N. Weinstock
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EDITOR
Taylor Murrow ART DIRECTOR
Mary Degnan
Debra B. Shriver
Gail Bertuzzi Siddharth (Sid) Bhansali
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
Arts Quarterly (ISSN 0740-9214) is published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA 70124 © 2016, New Orleans Museum of Art. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or reprinted without permission of the publisher.
Facing page Shibata Zeshin, Japanese 1807-1891; The Gods of Good Fortune at Mount Horai,(detail) circa 1880s, Ink and color on silk, Museum purchase, Asian Art de-accession funds, 2012.68 Back cover Juan Hamilton, born 1945; Abstract Form No. 43, Black patinated bronze, Gift of Mrs. P. Roussel Norman, 91.449, © Juan Hamilton
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