Collection News: New Acquisitions

COLLECTIONS NEWS

Art of Salesmanship–Art and its Markets

BY LAURA STEWART , COLLECTIONS MANAGER/REGISTRAR

Miami University Art History students have been at it again! Thanks to Professor Michael Hatch and Art 420D, his “Art and its Markets” class, another successful collaboration took place at the Art Museum during the spring 2020 semester. Instrumental to the project was the generous assistance provided by gallerist Adrienne French of Thomas French Fine Art, LLC, along with funds received from Miami University’s Center for Career Exploration and Success.

On February 13, Professor Hatch and his students met at the museum to view around twenty original works of art. The works on paper, graciously made available by the Akron-area French gallery, included woodcuts, intaglios, lithographs and photographs dating from the late 15th to the mid-20th centuries. Professor Hatch charged his students with conducting a detailed visual analysis of their selected images, including noting the condition, edition or proof, state, artists’ signatures and other marks. Students then embarked upon researching the creators, publishers, subjects and other associated contextual information.

The course experience culminated in the preparation and April 30 virtual presentation of proposals to the art museum staff as to which works of art should be acquired. Students based their “pitches” on such aspects as art historical significance, interdisciplinary connections and potential exhibition content, filling gaps or augmenting existing permanent collection holdings, as well as comparable sale prices. The winning proposals included those by Maria Jose DeSantiago Galan, Faith Walker and Abby Solon. DeSantiago Galan supported the acquisition of two 1915 lithographs by Théophile Alexander Steinlen (French, b. Switzerland 1859-1923) titled Entry to the German Jails and Release from the German Jails, both of which complement the museum’s collection of World War I and interwar period prints by European artists. These prints are also ripe for use by faculty and scholars in history and art history circles, among others, along with the images’ thematic compatibility with the 2020-21 John W. Altman Program, “Migrations.” Walker’s presentation involved the strength of John Sloan’s Art of Salesmanship from 1930. This acquisition marks the first print by American Ashcan and urban realist artist Sloan (1871-1952) to enter the collection. The composition directly relates to the artworld and art market subject matter. Furthermore, the image describes the context surrounding the surge in popularity of African motifs in the modern art movement around the turn of the 20th century. Last but not least, Solon pitched the importance of adding a self-portrait by the late-19th century German symbolist artist Max Klinger (1857-1920) to the museum’s holdings to visually and biographically buttress several prints from Klinger’s Intermezzi Opus IV portfolio already in the collection.

Spring 2020 marked the second installment of Professor Hatch’s Art420D course. The Art Museum is greatly appreciative of this interdisciplinary and experiential opportunity for art department faculty and students. The benefits are multifold and include not only support for the museum’s collecting endeavors, but also academic and engagement prospects for the University, the College of Creative Arts and the Oxford community at large.

To learn more and see images of all of the acquired works, visit the news section of our web site www.MiamiOH.edu/

John Sloan (American, 1871-1951); Art of Salesmanship, 1930; signed; edition of 100; etching on laid paper, plate 4 x 5 in.; Miami University Art Museum Purchase with funds from Miami University Center for Career Exploration & Success; 2020.7

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