A benefit of membership with the New Orleans Museum of Art
ARTSQUARTERLY VOLUME XXIX ISSUE 4
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007
Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art BY PAUL TARVER Registrar/Curator of Native American Art, NOMA
Figure 1 Shoulder Pouch, circa 1780 Chippewa Peoples, United States or Canada Brown-dyed buckskin, natural and dyed porcupine quills, dyed deer hair, metal cones Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art: Gift of Mercedes Whitecloud in memory of Dr. Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud III. 2003.261 Photo by Judy Cooper
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NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
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From the director O
ne of the greatest challenges for nonprofit institutions in New Orleans since Katrina, which also is true for businesses and corporations, is retaining veteran staff and hiring replacements for those who have left. By far the most painful decision I have had to make in my thirty-five years as Director of NOMA, was to lay off 85% of our staff in October 2005. These were friends and colleagues, all of whom were valued employees, many with ten, fifteen, even twenty years of service. NOMA’s staff was reduced from one hundred to a skeletal team of fifteen, who worked heroically to clean up the Museum, care for its collections, and prepare for the reopening. After being closed for six months, we were able to begin rehiring our staff in early 2006 but sadly many chose not to return to New Orleans or NOMA. Now two years after Katrina, our staff numbers fifty-five individuals, who work tirelessly, ably assisted by our loyal volunteers, to maintain all of the Museum’s exhibition and education programs, as well as caring for our permanent collections. In the past year several members of the staff, either ones who remained on the payroll or those who were laid off but returned, have decided to leave the Museum. All were valued members of the NOMA family and will be greatly missed. Among these colleagues are Steven Maklansky, longtime Curator of Photography and Assistant Director of Art; Kathy Alcaine, Curator of Education, who returned in 2006 to revive NOMA’s various education programs; Victoria Cooke, Curator of European Painting, responsible for the recent Femme exhibition; and Kurt Overton, Director of Development. Fortunately Steve stayed in New Orleans and is now Director of Curatorial Services at the Louisiana State Museum and Victoria has moved to Baton Rouge to become the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the LSU Museum of Art. Kathy and Kurt have elected to pursue their careers out-of-state and we wish them the best of luck in their new endeavors. NOMA has been blessed with many employees who have given it a lifetime of service. Two of these dedicated individuals have just retired after more than thirty years at the Museum. Carmen Stargardter, the Secretary and Assistant in the Education Department, was much beloved by the docents, volunteers and staff. She ably served every Assistant Director and Curator of Education for three decades, providing a smooth transition between each change in the department. Milton Vinnett, NOMA’s Chief Engineer and Building Superintendent, professionally maintained all the Museum’s mechanical systems, making sure there was always an ideal environment for the art housed in the building. The trustees and staff salute these two wonderful persons for their many contributions. Since the spring NOMA has been fortunate in recruiting a number of talented professionals to fill vacant positions. The Education Department has been rebuilt with the hiring of Joanna Sternberg as the Assistant Director for Education. A native of Baton Rouge, who has worked at several New York museums, Joanna chose to return to her native state to help in the recovery. She recently hired Marney N. Robinson to be Associate Curator of Education; Katherine Marquette as the Department Assistant; and Holly Wherry, an art therapist for our Katrina Initiative in the Public Schools. NOMA is fortunate to have convinced the nationally recognized contemporary art critic, collector and gallerist Diego Cortez to become our new Curator of Photography. Diego’s international connections with collectors, curators and artists have already resulted in a number of major donations to the photography collection. After a three-year search, NOMA has a new Chief of Security, Anthony Graffeo, who is responsible for hiring new guards and upgrading our security systems. I welcome these new employees to the Museum, who join an incredible team of dedicated women and men who are NOMA’s greatest treasures. E. John Bullard
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ARTSQUARTERLY VOLUME XXIX ISSUE 4
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NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007
Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Paul Tarver
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Rolland Golden: Art in the Ruins John R. Kemp
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Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water Judith H. Bonner
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The St. John Rowing Club Trophy: Reflections of Taste and Sport in New Orleans Alice Webb Dickinson
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Home Is Where the Art Is: Zita Marks Templeman (1918-2005), Artist, Collector, Benefactor George Roland
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Crossroads: NOMA Welcomes an Important Renaissance Engraving George Roland
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A New Gift of a Cubist Painting by Albert Gleizes (French, 1881-1953) John Webster Keefe
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Red Hot: Andy Warhol’s Mao
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Odyssey Ball Virginia Panno
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Contributions
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Join A Circle and Upgrade Your Support of NOMA
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A New Charitable Giving Option: Make a Charitable Donation to NOMA from Your IRA
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Circles and Fellows of the New Orleans Museum of Art
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Corporate Membership
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Education Programs and Activities
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Program Sponsors
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Museum News
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NOMA Calendar of Events
Articles appearing in any issue of Arts Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the staff or the board of trustees of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Editor/Art Director: Wanda O’Shello
SUPPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Advertising Manager: Karron Lane Assistants to the Editor: Aisha Champagne, M. Dreux Van Horn II Printing: Roberson Printing
The programs of the New Orleans Museum of Art are supported by a grant from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Arts Quarterly (ISSN 0740-9214) is published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, P.O. Box 19123, New Orleans, LA 70179-0123. 504-658-4103. Advertising 504-610-1279 or 504-658-4103. © 2007, New Orleans Museum of Art. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or reprinted without permission of the publisher.
Free admission for Louisiana residents is sponsored by The Helis Foundation and the members of the New Orleans Museum of Art. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For information on upcoming exhibitions and events at NOMA, please call 504-658-4100 or visit our website at www.noma.org.
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
ARTS QUARTERLY
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Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art BY PAUL TARVER Registrar/Curator of Native American Art, NOMA
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lue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art originally was scheduled to open in November 2005. Katrina winds changed that. Now, two years later the exhibition will open November 10, 2007, the evening of the Odyssey Ball. I was first introduced to Mercedes and Tom Whitecloud in 1989. I immediately recognized them both. I had seen them many times at the bar in Mandina’s, my favorite New Orleans neighborhood restaurant, and in the local airport. At the time I was flying frequently for Museum business; and, as I would later discover, they were enthusiastic travelers. We often ended up on the same flight, but never spoke. Mercedes and Tom made a striking couple with a presence that persisted in my memory. A few years later, when Mercedes and Tom were first becoming friends with Native American Art authority and collector Ralph T. “Ted” Coe, I was invited to their home for dinner. Ted was staying with them at their house on Onzaga Street near the Fairgrounds. It was an imposing old house with a large key lot in the back that Mercedes had planted with all kinds of vegetation, both edible and not. I remember it being part jungle and part cultivated Garden of Eden. Once I entered the house I became aware that Mercedes and Tom were devoted collectors of Native American Art. I learned that night that Tom had just become the chair of orthopaedic surgery at Tulane Medical Center. They were planning to buy a house in the French Quarter after selling the one on Onzaga Street. On hearing this, I offered to pack up the collection, bring it to the Museum, and inventory each object. NOMA would then store the collection (with the agreement that we could show some pieces) until the new house was ready, and they agreed. Their new house was a threestory French Quarter jewel on Royal Street with a large
courtyard and a carriage house that had been converted to a two-story apartment, soon to become a display gallery for the collection. Over the next six years we became good friends and I spent many wonderful hours with the Whiteclouds, talking about and looking at American Indian Art over drinks and elaborate meals. By 2002 the collection had grown to nearly six hundred pieces, with historic and contemporary art made by Southern Woodlands, Great Lakes, Northern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest and Northwest Coast peoples. In the last few years of Tom’s life, he and Mercedes began to purchase significant Great Lakes material and acquired many Southeastern baskets. Tom also had become interested in acquiring objects made by Midewiwin priests, the traditional healers of the Chippewa. Tom was recognized for his great surgical skills and saved many people who had spinal injuries. His father was also a doctor and his great grandmother a mid-wife and healer. These objects obviously spoke to him in a powerful way. The Midewiwin pieces and a dozen others are the only pieces in the collection made by men, all the others are from the hands of Native American women artists. The works illustrated in this essay provide a glimpse of the diverse approach Mercedes and Tom employed when collecting Native American Art. The Chippewa Shoulder Pouch in figure 1 was made in approximately 1780. Other than pottery, very few post-contact historic objects collected before 1800 have survived. Most are in European collections where this shoulder bag was until 1972. The pouch bears a striking image of a thunderbird in quillwork. The thunderbird and the underwater panther are two of the most important spirit beings, or manitous, of the Great Lakes Midewiwin society. The thunderbird was the ruler of the upperworld and the underwater panther its foe and lord of the underworld. These mythical creatures controlled the elements and
Figure 2 Pipe Bowl with Human Head and Beaver, circa 1820-25 Chippewa Peoples, United States or Canada Catlinite Promised Gift of Mercedes Whitecloud Photo by Judy Cooper
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NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Figure 3 Horse regalia, circa 1995 by Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty and Juanita Growing Thunder (Assiniboine/Sioux) Photo by Judy Cooper
were revered and feared. The inclusion of this image on the shoulder pouch would indicate an important ritual function for the pouch or the invocation of a powerful talisman. The pouch, except for the metal cones, is made entirely of native materials. The buckskin has been tanned by soaking the hide in a solution made from crushed nut shells and mashed animal brains. Afterwards, the hide was exposed to wood smoke. This entirely native tanning process produced a leather product with a delicate, velvety texture. While this pouch is in very good condition, it no longer has its shoulder strap. The striking Chippewa Pipe Bowl in figure 2 is a classic example of Native American portrait sculpture. Dated circa 1820 to 1825, this pipe, like the Shoulder Pouch, spent many years in a private collection in Europe but was well known to scholars and has an impressive provenance. The pipe is carved from reddish brown Catlinite, a stone of great sacred significance to Native Americans, for whom pipe smoking is an important ceremonial act. The head of a stern-faced warrior, gracefully rises from the square shank of the pipe. The tobacco hole is carved into the top of his head, and he faces in the direction of the smoker, as does the image of the beaver, rendered
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on the top middle of the shank. The beaver was an animal revered by Great Lakes Indians for many reasons, and even more so at the time this pipe was made, when the fur trade was central to the economy of Native Americans living around the Great Lakes. The beaver is affectionately rendered, its mouth open to emit some distinctive sound. No effort has been made to indicate incisors, which could imply that this is a kit, still nursing. On the outside of the shank are incised lines that emphasize the course of the tobacco cloud as it would be drawn through the smoke hole. Originally, a long wood stem would have fit into the mortise at the end of the shank. This, however, has been lost, but now the pipe bowl alone is featured as a spectacular piece of Native American sculpture. Since the beginning of their collecting life, the Whiteclouds were supporters of contemporary Native American artists, in particular the Assiniboine/Sioux master beader Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty. All of the horse regalia featured in figure 3, are from the hand of Joyce, and her daughter, Juanita. The horse mask, martingale, shield, gun case, parfleche and tobacco bags are contemporary interpretations of mid-nineteenth century Northern Plains items. Joyce and Juanita prefer to reinterpret traditional plains beaded, quilled, and painted
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Figure 4 Lidded Trunk-shaped Baskets with “Alligator Entails” design, circa 1920 Chitimacha Peoples, Louisiana, United States River cane, natural dye Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art: Gift of Dr. Thomas and Mercedes Whitecloud. 1997.97, 1997.104 Photo by Judy Cooper
objects, but included in the Whitecloud collection are contemporary Native American artists who explore new aesthetic expressions. Basketmaking is one of the oldest Native American art forms that is still widely practiced today. It is a passion for the collector in Mercedes Whitecloud, who is particularly focused on Southeastern baskets with a special fondness for the Chitimacha basket weavers of Louisiana. The Chitimacha have long been famous for their double weave, lidded baskets, as well as single weave baskets of many forms. With the exception of the use of artificial dyes, contemporary Chitimacha basketmakers construct their baskets with the same materials their ancestors used centuries ago, a hollow reed called river cane (Arundinaria tecta) native to the southeastern United States. The design motifs chosen for the baskets have remained unchanged for centuries. While the Whitecloud collection includes many pieces made by contemporary weavers, the two trunk-shaped baskets illustrated in figure 4 are from circa 1920, and the maker is unknown. The design is referred to as “Alligator Entrails” and is one of the most complicated Chitimacha designs to weave. The baskets are in pristine condition, the natural dyes still vibrant. In 1997 Tom and Mercedes purchased these two as well as eleven other Chitimacha baskets for NOMA from a museum in New Mexico, where they had been in storage since the 1920s, protected from the light. On the morning of February 19, 2003, William Fagaly, NOMA’s curator of African art and friend and neighbor of the Whiteclouds, informed me that Tom had died the day before after a very short illness. It was shocking news, and it took days for me to absorb. I knew what a great loss this would be for his family, his friends, the medical field, and to the many people who would not receive his healing gifts in the future. In the summer of 2003 Mercedes let us know that she and Tom had discussed the collection and wanted to donate approximately two hundred objects to the Museum. The gift is a milestone for NOMA and significantly impacts our ongoing goal to build our Art of the Americas collections.
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In June 2004, NOMA Director E. John Bullard invited Mercedes and me to lunch. He asked us if we could possibly put an exhibition together for our major annual fund-raising event, the Odyssey Ball, to open in November 2005. The show would honor Mercedes and Tom and announce the Whitecloud gift. This was a serious challenge; the catalogue alone would have to be researched and written in less than a year. Unseen forces took control of our senses, and the next day we said yes. Two former interns, Megan O’Neil and Jane Irvin, became my co-curators, and we began the task of birthing an exhibition. There was much to learn about the collection and in the process I was able to learn more about Tom. Now, I realize how little I knew about him when he was alive, and I miss his company all the more. We decided we would exhibit the majority of the collection, covering nearly every region of the United States. To unify the exhibition we looked for themes and identified two that would serve as curatorial guides: sacred imagery and enduring traditions. We were playing with these themes for a month, hoping it would lead us to a title. One day I was working on the second floor of the Whitecloud’s carriage house when Mercedes came up and started going through a large bookcase from top to bottom looking for something and thinking out loud. After a while I could tell she was frustrated and asked if I could help her find something. She kept saying, “I’m looking for... I’m looking for...” and then suddenly she said, “Ahh.” She handed me an old, faded blue pamphlet titled “Blue Winds Dancing” and said, “this is an essay that Tom’s father wrote in the 1930s when he was in college.” I sat down and read the essay and was deeply touched by it. I did not know that Tom’s father (Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud II) was a published and gifted writer. Mercedes began to tell me the whole Whitecloud story, and it was then that I realized that in this story of the family was the key to the collection and Blue Winds Dancing would be our exhibition title. Around 1890, Tom’s (Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud III) great-grandmother had to register on the tribal roll with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She spoke
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
very little English and could write none. She had a Chippewa name, and the agent told her she had to choose another name that he could pronounce and spell. The enrollment was taking place at the St. Germain train stop on the Lac du Flambeau reservation in Wisconsin, and since she knew the name of the stop and could recognize the spelling she chose St. Germain as her family name. At the time all Indian children were sent to Indian school. Her son, Thomas St. Germain (Big Tom), was sent to the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania. He was a gifted student and ended up graduating with a law degree from Yale. He married an Irish women and practiced law in New York City where the couple’s only child, Thomas St. Germain II (Lito), was born in 1914. After a while Big Tom began to miss home and longed to return to the reservation. In 1916 he and his wife divorced and he returned to Lac du Flambeau where he continued to practice law. Both he and his former wife remarried and had additional children, and their son Lito’s time was split between the families. Lito had a hard time getting along with either of his new families. When he was fourteen he was living in Louisiana with his mother, and when confronted with the inevitable return to Wisconsin he convinced a friend to run away with him. They took off on bicycles and made it as far as Texas where Lito’s bike broke and his friend decided to return home. Lito began hitchhiking west. In New Mexico he was given a ride by an Apache family who ended up taking him in. The father made a significant impression on young Lito and convinced him to get an education, and the best way to do it was to go to Indian school. Each time Lito tried to enroll he was rejected because of doubts about his Native American heritage due to the name St. Germain. The Apache family adopted him, and he became Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud and was then able to enroll in Indian school. Despite Lito’s continued wanderlust, he eventually finished college and was accepted to Tulane Medical school in New Orleans. As a senior in college, he penned his prize winning essay “Blue Winds Dancing,” which is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue. In it, he explores his place as an Indian living in the white man’s world. Constrained by societal rules and academic rigidity, Lito yearns for a return to his life, and his family, on the Lac du Flambeau reservation. His essay tells the story of a young man’s rediscovery of and appreciation for his Native American heritage. Despite western society’s insistence that theirs is the more advanced way of life, he felt differently:
This project has always been bittersweet for everyone involved, because of Tom’s absence, but it has been a true labor of love, and many times it has seemed that he was with us. There are few private collections of Native American Art built with an Indian eye. Tom and Mercedes’ collection serves a similar purpose as Lito’s poignant essay. Each object, no matter how small, is a reminder of and an avenue to the world Lito describes in his essay. The collection is their “Blue Winds Dancing,” calling them home. And, like the people of the reservation, Tom and Mercedes have proven that they know how to give by sharing their collection with the public. ■ Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art is on view at NOMA November 10, 2007, through February 17, 2008. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated color catalogue, which is available in the NOMA Museum Shop. The exhibition and catalogue were made possible with support from The Thaw Charitable Trust; the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities; The Cudd Foundation; The McIlhenny Family, McIlhenny Company and The Gustaf Westfeldt McIlhenny Family Foundation in memory of Sara Avery McIlhenny and Mary Avery McIlhenny Bradford; Sheraton New Orleans Hotel; and Tunica-Biloxi Tribe and Paragon Casino Resort.
I know my people have many things that civilization has taken from the whites. They know how to give, how to tear one’s piece of meat in two and share it with one’s brother... They know how to make things with their hands, how to shape beads into designs and make a thing of beauty from a piece of birch bark. Before entering medical school, Lito married Edna Barbara Ibañez and soon after Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud III was born. Lito taught his son to be proud of his Indian heritage. On summer trips in the West Lito would occasionally buy a Native American work of art, awakening the collector in his son. Tom followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a medical doctor, trained in the ways of the white world, while retaining a connection to his Indian past.
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The Whitecloud family, Royal Street, New Orleans, 1998 (seated, left to right) Jacques, Simone, Elena, Renée (standing, left to right) Mercedes, Saint, Tom Photo by George Dureau
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Rolland Golden: Art in the Ruins BY JOHN R. KEMP
Rolland Golden (American, born 1931) Home for Thanksgiving, 2006 Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 44 inches Collection of Renaud and Sonya Rodrigue Photo by Judy Cooper
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uring the painful days and weeks after Hurricane Katrina slammed southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, New Orleans drowned as the rest of the world watched the horror and human drama on television. Stunned New Orleanians, trapped by the floodwaters or who had fled to towns and cities all over the nation, wept and wondered if their city would or could survive. While politicians squabbled over who was at fault for the collapse of the canal floodwalls, many writers, painters and photographers felt compelled to document the catastrophe. They refused to be paralyzed by uncontrollable events rushing before them. Not all artists, however, had the same inner need to respond immediately to what they saw or experienced. Rolland Golden’s came slowly as the images of destruction, despair in people’s eyes and anger consumed him. With all his signature abilities, Golden has created a timeless body of work that will be as much a part of the storm’s collective legacy as the gripping television images that angered a nation. Picasso had his Guernica in the Spanish Civil War and Golden has his Katrina in New Orleans—both unforgiving human tragedies, one manmade and evil, the other natural worsened by folly, both capture human drama and desolation. To Rolland Golden, Katrina was a desperate call home, a melancholy homecoming to the city where his career began in the mid-1950s. During his half-century as a professional artist, Golden has painted images of rain-
soaked cotton fields and weathered sharecropper shacks in the Mississippi Delta, brilliant New England autumns, hazy Appalachian mountain sunsets, the frenetic streets of New York, twisting blacktop southern roads, languid fields of red poppies in the French countryside and now the despair of Katrina. Through it all, New Orleans has always been the heartbeat of his inspiration. His paintings evoke memories of shared experiences with those who connect to his imagery. The Katrina paintings in this exhibition are, in a sense, a requiem for his damaged city. They express his despair for the city’s future. They draw you in and demand a personal response. Some, such as The Other Side of Caution, Tremé, Lake Vista Plea, Desperation, Elysian Fields—Land of the Gods, Good Times Past, Escape from Eden, Searching for an Up-ramp and Heading for the Superdome are laments to destroyed neighborhoods, panic and hopelessness. Others, including Hot Halloween, Home for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and July 4th, 2006, mark the slow, frustrating and painful progress, or lack of progress, in restoring people’s homes and lives. Present everywhere are the dull brownish gray waterlines that cut across houses and buildings and the brownish haze that hung above the city for weeks like a pestilent cloud. Golden and family members rode out the storm in their home near Folsom, in the rural countryside about fifty miles north of New Orleans. After neighbors cut a narrow path through hundreds of downed trees, the Goldens slowly drove cross country and north to Jackson, Mississippi. After two weeks in Jackson, they drove back to Folsom only to discover entire forests flattened for miles around. Emotionally overwhelmed by the sight, they returned to Jackson the next day. Facing the inevitable, they moved back to Folsom in late October to face whatever was ahead for them. Rolland, now even more despondent and depressed, told his wife he wanted to retire. After three days, he climbed the stairs to clean out his studio. “I saw the Virgin Mary of Sunflower County that I had blocked in on canvas before the storm. As soon as I saw that I said, ‘My God, if that’s not a Katrina painting.’ I just started working and that was the end of my retirement. I got all fired up.” Golden first returned to New Orleans in late September, less than a month after the storm. In subsequent trips to the city, he wandered through Faubourg Tremé, Bywater, French Quarter and Lower 9th Ward, taking photographs and absorbing the desolation and melancholia. The emotionally dark paintings that resulted from these visits are composites and impressions of actual scenes in these devastated parts of the city. Composites were his way to capture the enormity of the devastation in the limited space of a canvas. They represent everyone lost or living, every destroyed house and neighborhood, every sorrow, every hope. In the margins of his drawings, Golden often scribbled preliminary titles that reflect first impressions. Sorrow is evident in every painting. Sometimes it is obvious but in Arches and Misery, for example, it is implied. Looking out from the arches of the old Circle Grocery on North Claiborne Avenue, one can see a policeman wading through knee-deep brownish floodwater, searching for survivors. Written on the walkway in big, bold, red letters are the words “Please Help.” The large shadowy, pleading figure on its knees above the arches represents all those who perished and the thousands of pitiful figures who haunted the evening news for weeks. “I took photographs,” he says, “and added the misery.”
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Rolland Golden (American, born 1931) Desperation, 2006 Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 inches Collection of the Artist Photo by Judy Cooper
Certain paintings represent those who either drowned in the floodwaters or survived only to find they had lost everything. In Desperation, an old grief-stricken woman stands, crying as she looks upon her destroyed home. Painted on the flood-ravaged house behind her is the ubiquitous “X” with coded numbers and references to the day rescuers in boats found a drowned body in the ruins. The imagery calls to mind Edvard Munch’s iconic painting, The Scream (1893), that symbolized the angst of late nineteenth-century Europe. Goldens’ scream is New Orleans 2005. Escape from Eden is no place in particular but everywhere at the same time. Like Adam and Eve fleeing the Garden of Eden, a man helps a pregnant woman navigate through a narrow flooded path surrounded by absolute destruction. They remind us of how fragile paradise is. The painting that most reflects a longed for resurrection is The Spirit Returns. Here one sees the fabled Olympia Brass Band, escorted by jubilant secondliners, marching home joyfully through an abandoned and flooded-out inner-city neighborhood. The water is gone but the brownish flood line can be seen half way up the front of the row houses. Windows are broken, doors yawn open and weatherboards hang from rusty nails. Even here, images of despair are not far off. A brown mist fills the upper left corner of the canvas. Barely discernable in the haze are the gauzy and ghostly forms of desperate and frantic people on an overpass surrounded by water, waiting and pleading to be rescued. While painting the Katrina series, Golden relived much of the same anger and despair that drove him in the 1970s to paint the demolition of entire city blocks of nineteenth-century buildings in the New Orleans central
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business district. The storm and flood have reawakened Golden’s love for New Orleans. “What a shame it took such a terrible event to rekindle that passion,” he says. “It’s the crowning work of my career.” The angry faces, loss and resigned despair in Golden’s paintings call to mind a scene in James Lee Burke’s 2006 short story, “Jesus Out to Sea.” As two New Orleans ne’er-do-wells sat on a rooftop, waiting to be rescued from Katrina’s floodwaters, they summed up their sorry lives, the music they played, and the musicians they knew. As they talked, a large wooden Crucifix floated by them. One thought to himself: “New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died.” To Rolland Golden, that poem lives in his art. ■
Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden is on view at NOMA November 10, 2007, through February 17, 2008. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, which was made possible, in part, through the generosity of Edward and Betty Lou Furash. The catalogue is available in the NOMA Museum Shop. John R. Kemp is the New Orleans correspondent for Art & Antiques and ARTnews magazines and a frequent contributor to American Artist magazine. His numerous books include Rolland Golden: The Journeys of a Southern Artist; Alan Flatmann’s French Quarter Impressions; Manchac Swamp: Louisiana’s Undiscovered Wilderness (with nature photographer Julia Sims); and New Orleans: An Illustrated History.
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Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water BY JUDITH H. BONNER Senior Curator, The Historic New Orleans Collection
It is a place that seems often unable to make up its mind whether it will be earth or water, and so it compromises. The result is that much of moist lower Louisiana belongs to neither element. The line of demarcation is vague and changing. The distinction between degrees of well-soaked ground is academic except to one who steps upon what looks like soil but finds it is something less. Harnett Kane. The Bayous of Louisiana. New York: William Morrow, 1943.
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he New Orleans Museum of Art and The Historic New Orleans Collection present their second collaborative venture with Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water, an exhibition of over eighty works of art by more than fifty artists. The show, which covers 175 years from 1815 to 1990, features scenes from the coastal areas to the northern regions. Mindful of recent catastrophic effects, this exhibition recalls Harnett Kane’s 1943 words that in this state, land and water are inseparable. In 1969 the Anglo-American Art Museum (now Louisiana State University Museum of Art) called attention to Louisiana landscape painting in its exhibition, The Louisiana Landscape, 1800-1969. Similarly, in 1981 the
R. W. Norton Museum of Art organized Louisiana Landscape and Genre Painting. THNOC and NOMA were contributors to these two exhibitions. In 1974 NOMA presented the exhibition Richard Clague, 18211873 as part of the City’s American Revolution Bicentennial celebration. Catalogues accompanied each exhibition. American landscape painting essentially begins around 1825 with Thomas Cole and other artists of the Hudson River School who celebrated the vastness of this developing nation in canvases describing the drama and grandeur of the land. The earliest Louisiana landscapes, however, were largely intimate documentary works with horizontal formats. French artists Charles Alexander LeSeuer, Toussaint François Bigot, Charles Lesseps, and architect-engineers Marie Hyacinthe Laclotte and Adrien Marie Persac recorded the land and architecture. In his 1815 representation of the Battle of New Orleans, Laclotte documented battle positions placed within the context of the landscape of St. Bernard Parish, in what is now called Chalmette Battlefield. Persac delineated numerous plantations and other architectural structures in their landscape settings, often with collaged paper human figures and animals.
George David Coulon (American, born France 1822-1904) Southern Landscape, 1887 Oil on canvas The Historic New Orleans Collection. 1977.12
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NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Simon Gunning (American, born Australia 1956) Cypress, 1990 Oil on canvas Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Museum Purchase, John V. Moisant Memorial Fund. 1991.150
In his 1847 Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou, Alfred Boisseau produced one of the earliest truly accomplished works placing Native Americans within their natural habitat, simply walking on a pathway beside a lush bayou. Boisseau exhibited the painting, which documents the Indians’ dress, weapons, and familial roles, at the 1848 Paris Salon. His fully developed painting contrasts with François Bernard’s circa 1860 oil sketch of a Mandeville Indian encampment nestled beneath a grove of trees arranged horizontally across the picture plane, with glimpses of sky and a suggestion of water through the trees.
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From 1857 to 1861, pioneer cameraman Jay Dearborn Edwards made the first known paper photographs of New Orleans and the surrounding Louisiana landscape. Others used the camera to assist in their studio work, including Richard Clague, George David Coulon, and Charles Giroux. Clague, who established the Louisiana landscape tradition, was uniquely positioned in Paris after the Revolution of 1848 when the established art academies and the public appreciated pure landscape painting without narrative and historical subjects. Clague became influenced by the plein air painters of the Barbizon School, ideas he introduced into Louisiana. Previous to Clague’s arrival in New Orleans, artists’ survived by painting theater sets or European scenes, which attracted patrons desiring a part of the Old World. In 1841 Antoine Mondelli recorded the port of New Orleans, a view that became available through prints. Mondelli, his son-in-law Léon Pomarède, and Victor Hippolyte Sebron painted panoramas of the Mississippi River, which found audiences from New Orleans to the Midwest. Clague, who studied with Pomarède, documented the Egyptian landscape during an 1856 to 1857 expedition seeking the source of the Nile. Directing his attention to the Louisiana landscape, Clague favored the southern rural areas, especially St. Tammany Parish north of Lake Pontchartrain. His horizontal formats feature mostly clear skies and moss-laden trees executed in deep greens and browns. Cabins, fences and animals are arranged across the composition, often with diagonally placed pathways or waterways, boats, or fallen trees. This compositional layout persists in the works of Clague’s best-known disciples, Marshall Joseph Smith Jr. and William Henry Buck, but Buck’s canvases are more luminous and warmer in tone. Other artists sought to capture the element of light, notably Joseph Rusling Meeker. While serving as a paymaster on a Union gunboat during the Civil War, Meeker sketched the Louisiana bayous. Home again in St. Louis, he worked from his sketches, capturing the thick growth of vegetation of cypress-lined bayous with fallen trees, hanging vines, and weathered cypress knees. A luminous sense of light pervades Meeker’s paintings, often depicted in vertical formats. Joseph Jefferson’s and Alexander John Drysdale’s near-monochromatic paintings are characterized by soft lighting and a minimal use of diluted pigment applied in thin transparencies. A number of artists adhered to Clague’s compositional concepts into the 1920s, including Andres
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Molinary, Charles Lee Frank, and Adrienne Claude. Others explored lighter hues, especially Coulon, Everett B. D Julio, and Thomas Bangs Thorpe. Julio’s artistic production and his attempts to form an art organization were cut short by his untimely death from tuberculosis in 1879. Coulon’s gem-like compositions captured the lighter tints and hues of the land, especially blue skies reflected in water and hazy-gray atmospheric background effects. Artist-newspaperman Thomas Bangs Thorpe, a Massachusetts native who championed the cause of Louisiana artists, portrayed the rolling hills of northern Louisiana in his 1875 landscape with cows fording a stream, which he rendered in lighter tones. Thorpe’s contribution to Louisiana came though his military service under General Benjamin F. Butler, who appointed him to direct the rebuilding of the levee system and dredging of the Mississippi River. Further impact on southern culture came through Thorpe’s publication, The Big Bear of Arkansas, and other books on Southwestern humor (so-called because Louisiana’s borders demarcated the Old Southwest). These books influenced writers like William Faulkner. Coulon’s son, George Joseph Amédé Coulon, was the first to take a hand-held camera into the Atchafalaya Basin. His 1888 publication 300 Miles in a Skiff Through Louisiana Swamps focuses on the terrain and life of the Acadian bayou people fifty-five years before Harnett Kane’s book on the same subject. Young Coulon lamented the focus on the awe-inspiring majesty of the nation’s mountainous terrain in lieu of the poetic Louisiana landscape with its fisherman’s shanties, “mosswreathed cypress, the placid lake and the far away, lazy and creeping sailboat…over all the deep blue southern sky…the best thing in the world would be to dream away existence under the Southern azure to the soft murmur of the ripples of Lake Pontchartrain.” Coulon’s sentiment decrying the lack of public appreciation for the state’s art and literature echoes those of the publishers of the 1887 periodical Art and Letters, a joint effort by writers and painter-teachers Bror Anders Wikström, Andres Molinary, Ellsworth Woodward, and William Woodward. Wikström, a former sea captain known for his seascapes, created a three-dimensional tribute to the sea by carving marine motifs on a mahogany armoire—mermaids, seashells, and dolphins. Ellsworth Woodward’s and William Woodward’s immeasurable contribution to Louisiana art spanned over five decades from the mid-1880s until their deaths in 1939. Their influence reverberated through their teachings at Newcomb College and Tulane University. Their emphasis on indigenous motifs in Newcomb pottery produced the memorable moon-and-moss motif, thus presenting the landscape theme incised in clay. The “Newcomb Style” moved landscape painting in a new direction, toward a lighter, more impressionistic palette, as exemplified in a rarely-seen watercolor of Path Through the Palm Trees by Louise Giesen Woodward, a Newcomb graduate who later married William. Ellsworth Woodward’s iridescent 1930s Backyard in Covington reveals his awareness of Impressionism’s tenets, especially the juxtaposition of complementary colors, while delineating the subject in a more solid Post-Impressionistic manner. William Woodward’s preservationist activities are reflected in his numerous impressionistic portrayals of French Quarter architecture. Late nineteenth-century artists learned to accommodate the preferences of tourists, most notably
William Aiken Walker with his picturesque interpretations of rural cabins, cotton pickers, and dock scenes, which usually feature azure skies. His depiction of a cotton gin, however, hearkens to the painting tradition of Louisiana landscape rendered in deep colors. Many twentiethcentury artists also produced works for the tourist trade, varying their artistic style to accommodate visitors’ expectations. European-born and trained, Knute Heldner painted cubistic artworks in Paris, along with his friend Picasso. Yet in Louisiana Heldner painted numerous bayou scenes with moss-draped cypress trees, fishermen’s shanties, and pirogues tied along docks. With the founding of the Arts and Crafts Club in 1922, greater freedom in artistic style emerged, especially toward abstraction and the use of unexpected color. Will Henry Stevens, the longest practitioner of abstraction, created a work in which ships and docks on the Mississippi River appear to be dismantled by centrifugal force. Marion Souchon’s 1951 Sunnyside exemplifies his use of bold Fauvist colors applied to the land. Several artists focused on moist atmospheric effects, as in Roger Holt’s rain-drenched earth in Louisiana Railroad Crossing. The architecture of Arnold E. Turtle’s circa-1940 Cabildo Alley appears to dissipate into the humid mist of the Louisiana environment. One of the most prolific painters of steamboats, Robert M. Rucker, capably captured colorful foliage in a 1971 watercolor of New River, “Red Bud,” Louisiana. He documented water-related activities, as in his nocturnal scene depicting two boys frogging in the moonlight. Also noted for his watercolor paintings of bayous, rural cabins, and fishing boats, Charles Reinike was equally at home in delineating a shrimper or a wooded nocturnal scene in Bains, Louisiana, with its overall dark tones and vertical format emphasizing tall pine trees. Muralist Edward Millman exploits a landscape setting to make a strong social comment. His Louisiana Life (1940) poignantly captures the effects of the harsh life of two dejected workers, who appear depleted from working the land as they sit in the shadow of a plantation house. Like George A. Coulon’s 1888 publication, Harnett Kane’s 1943 book reflects his travels through the marshes and the lives of the bayou people he encountered at a time when they were underappreciated. Several late twentieth-century artists present individual interpretations of trees within the landscape. Simon Gunning’s 1990 sentinel Cypress is reminiscent of Meeker’s work in the manner in which it underscores the more sinister and treacherous life of the bayou. Northshore artists Gail Hood and Roy Pfister present bucolic views along the Tchefuncte River. Hood focuses on the textural trunks of a grove of pine trees, while Pfister presents a more minimalist view of the distant shore. Jacques Knizdovsky’s 1974 woodblock and woodcut of Suicide Oak, with its inherently somber connotations of death, also reminds viewers of the calamitous recent events of floodwaters surrounding City Park’s trees and the catastrophic consequences for the park and the region. Kane’s words echo here, that the line of demarcation between land and water is vague and changing. ■
Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water is on view at NOMA through March 2, 2008.
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
The St. John Rowing Club Trophy: Reflections of Taste and Sport in New Orleans ALICE WEBB DICKINSON Associate Collections Manager, NOMA
Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden Connecticut, active 1852-1898 Bayou St. John Rowing Club Trophy, New Orleans, 1878 Silverplate on Britannia metal 14-3/4 inches high Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Museum Purchase, 1991 Odyssey Ball–Silver Tea Fund. 90.302
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silverplated trophy awarded by the St. John Rowing Club in 1878 bears witness to the refined taste of post-Civil War consumers and the sports’ role in New Orleans life. The chalice was made by the Meriden Britannia Company in Meriden, Connecticut. A cartouche frames a depiction of a rowing shell on the water with two boat clubs in the background. The reverse contains an inscription regarding the specific race for which it was awarded. The close of the Civil War brought about an increased demand for quality decorative arts, particularly silver products. One of the leading American silverplate manufacturers was the Meriden Britannia Company, organized in 1852. Meriden’s progressive designs are exemplified by the Japanesque ferns, foliate sprays and flowerheads that appear on the trophy. An offshoot of the Aesthetic Movement, the Japanesque style was sparked by the opening of Japan to the West in 1854. Floral and bird motifs were the most frequently appropriated elements of Japanese design. Meriden would have consulted stylebooks utilized by competitors such as Gorham and Company of Providence Rhode
Island. The Japanesque elements of the St. John Trophy and its matte background surrounding the cartouches reflect the avant-garde outlook of the Meriden designers. This trophy is thus not simply a commemorative piece but an example of high-style design. The inscription on the back of the chalice reads, “St. John Rowing Club/ May 2, 1878/ Four Oared Shell/ Distance 2 miles with a turn/ Time 13” 53”/ R.G. Musgrove/ NO. 3.” St. John Rowing Club was the host for this competition. The “four oared shell” refers to the specific race, four rowers with one oar each, and a fifth man called a coxswain who steered. R.G. Musgrove’s seat in the boat is denoted by the “NO. 3,” third from the bow. The Musgrove family were members of St. John Rowing Club and later the Louisiana Boat Club. The St. John Rowing Trophy is a significant indicator of the increased refinement of taste following the Civil War and also of the history of rowing in New Orleans. The first rowing association in New Orleans was the Wave Boat Club, created in 1836. Equipped with sixoared shells as well as ladies barges, the Wave Club hosted primarily social rowing parties. More clubs followed shortly after. The first recorded race was held on April 8, 1839. Rowing received immediate press; the Daily Picayune in particular was thrilled to see the city’s young men taking part in something other than “billiard playing, drinking and dueling.” Despite its popularity, rowing in New Orleans has experienced varying periods of activity. The longest hiatus followed the destruction of all of the active clubs’ facilities in 1844, when Algiers point collapsed into the Mississippi. Rowing came back in 1859 only to be abandoned for the Civil War in 1861. The St. John Rowing Club ushered in a new era for crew. Established in 1872, the boathouse was built on the City Park side of Bayou St. John. As rowing underwent a renaissance, clubs also sprouted along the New Basin Canal and Lake Pontchartrain. Rowing equipment evolved and different types of boats were raced including single, double and four-oared shells as well as gigs and wherries. The large numbers of members offset the clubs’ cost of owning and managing such fleets. The St. John Rowing Club is significantly credited with hosting the first national rowing regatta in the country. In 1875, 1880 and 1885 the club hosted races with athletes traveling from Alabama, Florida, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa. Congressman R. N. Ogden praised the races as, “contests of manly skill, and prowess, embittered by no sectional prejudice, inflamed by no political animosity, contests of brotherly love, where the best man wins.” These regattas encouraged positive relations for a country recently split by war. In 1877 the St. John Rowing Club moved to the West End where the New Basin Canal entered Lake Pontchartrain. They erected floating docks that allowed rowing on both the Canal and the Lake. In September 1915 the St. John boathouse was destroyed by a hurricane. This period of rowing on Bayou St. John ended when the club’s original boathouse was torn down in 1928 as part of a City Park and bayou beautification project. The St. John Rowing Trophy commemorates a tradition that continues today through the New Orleans Rowing Association and the Tulane Rowing Association. ■
The St. John Rowing Club Trophy is currently on view on the Museum’s second floor in the exhibition Louisiana: Where Lands Meets Water.
Photo by Judy Cooper
ARTS QUARTERLY
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HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS: Zita Marks Templeman (1918-2005) Artist, Collector, Benefactor BY GEORGE ROLAND The Doris Zemurray Stone Curator of Prints and Drawings, NOMA
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ince her days as an art student at University of New Orleans, Zita Marks Templeman never stopped painting. Her ambitious canvases were much admired, though never exhibited commercially. Her commitment to art even extended to her surroundings. An artist’s eye was evident in the eclectic décor of her house and her taste in dress as much as in the collection she assembled. When Templeman emerged from her studio, she found herself in the company of Manet, Degas, Whistler, and Renoir, not to mention works of art by her contemporaries like Ida Kohlmeyer, her friend and teacher. Art dominated her rooms: paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture, in many sizes and styles. Next to her desk pictures were hung edge to edge from the floor to the ceiling covering the wall. Works of art, too numerous to be seen all at once, rotated from storage to the delight of regular visitors. Never assembled from a planned agenda, the Templeman collection is as spontaneous as its namesake. Works spanning the previous two centuries— some by great masters, some by contemporary stars and some by the yet-undiscovered—caught her attention. The only common thread is her love of the human figure, the subject of almost every image. Vivacious and engaged, Templeman shared her home and collection with a wide circle of friends. Today, her bequest of 124 pictures to NOMA allows many more art lovers to appreciate her treasures. It is a pleasure to exhibit a selection from her gift in the Museum galleries that bear her name and to honor and remember this erstwhile Fellow of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Zita Marks Templeman. ■
The exhibition is on view in NOMA’s Templeman Galleries through January 6, 2008. Zita Marks Templeman (1918-2005)
Gerald Brockhurst (British, 1890-1978) The Dancer, 1925 Etching Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Bequest of Zita Marks Templeman. 2006.60.19 Photo by Judy Cooper
Oskar Kokoschka (Austrian, 1886-1980) Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité Color lithograph Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Bequest of Zita Marks Templeman. 2006.60.71 Photo by Judy Cooper
FAR RIGHT: James Abbot McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903) Little Arthur Etching Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Bequest of Zita Marks Templeman. 2006.60.119 Photo by Judy Cooper
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NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Ida Kohlmeyer (American, 1924-1997) Cluster Drawing #18, 1976 Mixed media Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Bequest of Zita Marks Templeman. 2006.60.68 Photo by Judy Cooper
Special Members’ Pre-Holiday Shopping Event ONE DAY ONLY! Monday, November 19, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. All members will receive a special 20% discount on everything in the NOMA Shop! Plus a large selection of special bargains. Have your pick of the holiday season’s best gifts at substantial savings! Also featuring booksignings from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Painting Katrina by Phil Sandusky Mixing New Orleans: Cocktails & Legends by Phillip Collier New Orleans Museum of Art • City Park, New Orleans
The NOMA Museum Shop
ARTS QUARTERLY
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Crossroads: NOMA Welcomes an Important Renaissance Engraving BY GEORGE ROLAND The Doris Zemurray Stone Curator of Prints and Drawings, NOMA
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uring the recent temporary exhibition of Albrecht Dürer prints, the Museum had the great good fortune to acquire a major Dürer engraving of its own. Hercules at the Crossroads (Jealousy), circa 1498), a large, relatively early example of the artist’s command of the medium, is a masterpiece among his life-long production of engravings. The subject of the enigmatic print has puzzled scholars for years. Erwin Panofsky’s ingenious solution is the most convincing, “…the youthful Hercules, not yet resolved about his future, encountered two attractive and eloquent though very different ladies. One of these, Pleasure, lasciviously dressed and carefully made up, tried to lure him into a life of luxury and self indulgence; the other, Virtue, simple and honest, described the moral satisfaction to be gained by hardships and gallantry. Hercules, of course, decided for Virtue, and forth he went to kill his first lion.” Like Hercules, Albrecht Dürer is a man at the crossroads; formal Gothic images are turning to the beauties of the Renaissance. He had visited Venice twice and studied with the painters and philosophers who were inventing a new aesthetic, which he introduces to northern Europe in engravings and woodcuts upon his return. Even in images of classical subjects such as Hercules at the Crossroads, Dürer adds the recently invented view of a landscape to the background just as the Italians did. Dürer places the mysterious action of the composition, not in Greece but the German mountains, with a typical walled town in the background. The people in his pictures are now individuals, not stereotypes. Even when the subject is familiar to his well-educated patrons, he invents an imaginative, startling composition. A great success during his lifetime, his reputation has endured and today he is thought of as Germany’s greatest artist ever. This Renaissance engraving is a particularly fine impression bearing the famous monogram AD. A beautiful and valuable addition to the collection at NOMA, which is most grateful to Mrs. Greenberg for her generosity, it may be seen in the Stafford Gallery on the Museum’s second floor. ■
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) Hercules at the Crossroads (Jealousy), circa 1498 Engraving on paper Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Gift of JoAnn Greenberg in memory of her husband, Harry B. Greenberg. 2007.29
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
WAYS OF GIVING
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he future of the New Orleans Museum of Art depends to a large degree on the foresight and generosity of today’s visionaries— our members—who are willing to consider new ways to make gifts. Here are a few suggested methods of making a difference for NOMA:
GIFT OF CASH OR MARKETABLE SECURITIES Gifts may be restricted to a designated program or applied to NOMA’s general operating fund.
GIFT OF LIFE INSURANCE Name NOMA as policy owner and beneficiary and receive immediate tax deductions on your premium.
GIFT OF PROPERTY Gifts of real estate, boats, or artwork provide NOMA with marketable assets and may enable you to avoid capital gains taxes.
NAMED ENDOWMENT FUND The principal of a fund established in your name—or for someone you wish to honor or memorialize—is managed for growth, while the income from the fund supports Museum programs.
CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST/CHARITABLE LEAD TRUST Provide NOMA or yourself with a steady income stream and, with a remainder trust, leave a significant future gift to NOMA. Both arrangements entitle you to considerable tax savings.
BEQUESTS Name NOMA as a beneficiary in your will and make a lasting contribution to the Museum.
For more information about any of these suggested methods of giving to NOMA, call (504) 658-4101.
ARTS QUARTERLY
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A New Gift of a Cubist Painting by Albert Gleizes (French, 1881-1953) BY JOHN WEBSTER KEEFE The RosaMary Foundation Curator of the Decorative Arts, NOMA
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he collection of early twentieth-century French paintings at the Museum was recently bolstered significantly by the gift of George and Frayda Lindemann of a handsome Cubist work by Albert Gleizes. The striking image of a near-bird’s-eye view of a sailboat on the water is by one of the most cerebral and intellectual of early twentieth-century French artists, Albert Gleizes. He was an early formulator of the Cubist movement and published a seminal work, Du Cubisme (Of Cubism), with the painter Jean Metzinger in 1912. It is interesting to note, however, that the first pictures Gleizes exhibited at the Paris Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1902 were of an Impressionist character.
Albert Gleizes (French, 1881-1953) On A Sailboat, also known as Bateau à Voile, 1916 Oil, collage, and sand on board, 40-1/2 x 30 inches Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Gift of George L. and Frayda B. Lindemann. 2007.22 Photo by Judy Cooper
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The successful Gleizes family business was that of interior design and the retailing of fabric, which placed its owners in contact with Parisian artistic circles. Young Albert was therefore associated with the heady artistic climate of Belle Epoque Paris from the time he was twenty. He became a founder of an intellectual community at the Abbaye de Créteil, which lasted from late 1906 to early 1908 and concerned itself with the development of an international generation of youthful artists whose goal was to revolutionize art by placing the painter at the center of society. As Gleizes continued to develop this concept, he came to see the artist-craftsman as beyond the mere ornamenting of life and best functioning as a clever observer and thinker for all humanity. As early as 1910, Gleizes formed friendships with the aforementioned Jean Metzinger (1883-1956) and Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) and exhibited at the prestigious Parisian Salon d’Automne with Henri Le Fauconnier (1881-1946) and Fernand Léger (1881-1955). At that exhibition, Gleizes began to explore volume using the tenets of the emerging Cubist movement. The Salon d’Automne was followed that year by the Salon des Indépendants at which Gleizes showed a yet further developed Cubist work, The Tree. Immersed in the Cubist style, Gleizes and his friends, plus painter Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), wished to be shown together at the Indépendants of the following year. The determined group managed to circumvent the rules and successfully saw their colleague Le Fauconnier installed as head of the hanging committee; their work was displayed together in the now-famous Room 41, which marked the emergence of Cubism as the new dominant revolutionary force in modern painting. The following year, 1912, Gleizes and Metzinger published their influential Du Cubisme, which set forth the new philosophy while simultaneously seeking to reconcile various other methods of painting. Portions of Du Cubisme came to the attention of the Puteaux Group during that summer; this group, centered in the town of Puteaux, was dominated by the Duchamp brothers Gaston (1875-1963), called Jacques Duchamp-Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918) and Marcel (18871968). It also included Gleizes, Metzinger, Francis Picabia (1879-1953), Fernand Léger, Roger La Fresnaye (18851925) and other poets and painters who all had studios in Puteaux and regularly met to discuss the latest developments in art. From that group evolved the Section d’Or, named after an early sixteenth-century treatise by the Bolognese monk Luca Pacioli illustrated by no less a figure than Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The Section d’Or group continued to develop the tenets of Cubism as well as the concept that painters were at least as eloquent as art critics and were therefore the ideal observers and reporters of the human condition. In 1913, Gleizes submitted his Cubist painting Woman with Phlox to the famed Armory Exhibition in New York at which the work caused a strong public reaction as it had at the 1911 Salon des Artistes Français in Paris. Stimulated by the lively New York City art scene, Gleizes moved there in 1915 but took an extended trip to Barcelona from the late spring through the autumn of 1916. There his old friend Picabia had set up a studio and kept a sailboat. It was during this Barcelona sojourn that Gleizes found the inspiration for this arresting painting, which is a view of Picabia’s boat under sail. The composition is characterized by strong and dynamic interactions of horizontal, vertical, diagonal and circular movements all of which explore the underlying structure
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
and volume of the subject. That dynamism is considerably augmented and dramatized through the use of a bolder and broader palette than that commonly utilized by Gleizes. More usual in his oeuvre are shades of brown, green and ochre; here those are notably replaced by vivid blue tones successfully energizing and dramatizing the image. Gleizes sought to further emphasize the marine connotations of the work by mixing beach sand into his paints. Following his stay in Spain, Gleizes traveled to Portugal and returned to New York, where he remained until his return to France in 1919, following the end of World War I. During his stay in New York, Gleizes discovered a renewed interest in religion and began to attempt to put traditional religious art into the language of modern abstraction, an extremely daunting task. In 1920, Gleizes sought to establish a pan-European movement of abstract artists through a large traveling exhibition, the Exposition de la Section d’Or. Most of the exhibitors were in some way associated with Cubism, a movement which younger artists had already judged to be obsolete. Gleizes, however, maintained that only its preliminary phase had been adequately investigated. The Section d’Or exhibition was not the resounding success its planners had envisioned.
Red Hot: Andy Warhol’s Mao
ARTS QUARTERLY
In 1923, Gleizes published La peinture et ses lois (Painting and Its Laws), which sought a synthesis between Cubism and the religious subjectivity of the Middle Ages. By 1927, Gleizes was convinced that Western society was so raddled with decay that it was near collapse. To salvage what he could from this dismal prognosis, he founded the artistic, agricultural and intellectual commune at Moly-Sabata south of Lyons. Increasingly, he espoused the view that only art could save the world through a return to communal, early Christian values. The failure of Albert Gleizes to grasp later developments in abstract art and his stubborn clinging to a Cubism he felt was inadequately explored caused him to be left behind in later twentieth-century art movements. However, with the benefit of hindsight, one can now see how central such paintings as On a Sailboat were to the evolution of Modernist abstraction. The painting remains a dazzling testament to the force of Cubism and advanced artistic thought during the early years of the last century. The painting is now on exhibition in the Marjorie and Walter Davis Gallery on the second floor of the Museum. ■
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ecently Sothebys New York sold Andy Warhol’s Mao (1972), a complete set of ten screenprints in colors for almost half a million dollars. The New Orleans Museum of Art has been fortunate enough to hold such an edition since 1981, the generous and far-sighted gift of Tina Freeman. This is how Sothebys Preview described the lot: “Once again Warhol’s unfailing instinct for the people and things that would become iconic has been proven correct. His series of ten screenprints of the Chinese leader dates from 1972—the very year that President Nixon made his famous visit to China (whereas the opera Nixon in China dates from the mid-eighties)—and yet the Pop artist’s portrait is among the most sought-after images of 2007. Unlike many Warhol prints, which were only made after the painting series had been completed, the Mao series was worked on concurrently with his Mao paintings. Ironically, given the subject-matter, it was the first time the artist had introduced ‘free-hand’ line work in his prints.” Framed and massed on the gallery wall, the richly colored large prints make an unforgettable impact among the contemporary paintings. They may be seen on the second floor of the Museum until the end of the year. ■
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) Mao, 1972 Complete set of ten screenprints in color, from an edition of 250, 36 x 36 inches Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art Gift of Tina Freeman. 81.336.14-24 Photo by Judy Cooper
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The FortySecond Odyssey Ball: Blue Winds Dancing BY VIRGINIA PANNO NVC Reporter
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he 2007 Odyssey Ball Chairs Louis and Sandra Wilson have a magical night in store for you on Saturday, November 10, 2007. The opening of Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art will be the centerpiece of the Forty-Second Odyssey Ball. The donation of three hundred remarkable objects collected over the last forty years by the late Dr. Thomas Whitecloud and his wife, Mercedes, is a milestone for the New Orleans Museum of Art, adding significant breadth and depth to our Native American collection. Enter this fantastic event through a mystical teepee. Step into the Great Hall, transformed for one night only into the Great Forest, surrounded by an Indian village, complete with dancing dreams and spirits. Blaine Kern, Jr.’s Mardi Gras Productions will create this breathtaking spectacle. Opening musical group Cannes Brulees will set the pace. Headliners Rockin Dopsie, Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters will most certainly kick the tempo into high gear. For those with a taste for jazz, the House of Blues will recreate its famous Foundation Room. Windsor Court will delight ball-goers with a sumptuous feast, while dancers preside over a traditional harvest meal in an Indian Longhouse. Odyssey Auction Chairs Christie Mintz, Leslie Stokes and Anne Redd will introduce the excitement of a live auction to this year’s ball. Meantime, sip champagne while viewing the silent auction, all items valued at more than $1,000. They include: a ballet bronze sculpture by Richard MacDonald, donated by David W. Streets; a Royal Doulton Indian brave on horseback, donated by Daniel Bibb; a Bevolo gas lamp, a portrait by Newt Reynolds; a Jean Bragg painting and two archival framed watercolors by Karoline Schleh. Jewelry from Mon Coeur Gallery, a Perlis Clothing Store gift certificate, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra tickets and a week’s stay in a beachfront two-bedroom condo in Stuart, Florida, thirty minutes from Palm Beach, courtesy of Dagney Jochem, are certain to tickle someone’s fancy. Framed and reworked giclees, as well as a limited edition Jazz Fest Congo Square posters, are the generous gifts of artist Terrance Osborne. A New Orleans Silversmiths’ silver plated tray, a Julie Neill Designs handpainted trumeau mirror, landscape design and plans plus a $1,000 discount on plants and labor from the Plant Gallery as well as artwork by Nell Mabry, Edith Moseley and Shirley Rabe Masinter/Lemieux Galleries await your winning bid. Odyssey Patron Chairs Cammie Mayer and Jude Swenson have been busy renewing old acquaintances and introducing new friends to this year’s spectacular event. Ball Chairs Louis and Sandra Wilson have assembled a stellar finance committee. Morris Bart, Buddy Butler, S. Stewart Farnet, Stephen Hansel, E. Ralph Lupin, Anne Milling, Michael Moffitt, William Oliver, Claude Schlesinger and Thomas Westervelt have been hard at work securing ball sponsorships. The Blue Winds will dance on Saturday, November 10, 2007, at NOMA. The Patron Party begins at 7:30 p.m.; the General Party starts at 9 p.m. Invitations will be mailed in late September. Visit the New Orleans Museum of Art’s website www.noma.org for ticket details or call the NVC office at (504) 658-4121. Odyssey Ball is NOMA’s primary fundraising event of the year. Please be a part of this remarkable evening! ■
Rockin Dopsie, Jr.
Cannes Brulees
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he New Orleans Museum of Art has established a number of special funds for gifts in honor of or in memory of friends or family members or to commemorate an event. Recipients or their families will be notified of the gift and will be acknowledged in Arts Quarterly. For information on NOMA special funds, call (504) 658-4100. Donations for all funds should be mailed to the New Orleans Museum of Art, P.O. Box 19123, New Orleans, Louisiana 70179-0123. ■
BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN FUND IN HONOR OF JIMMY SULLIVAN: Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Amedee HOWARD L. HOWARD: Peter Briant
EDUCATION FUND IN MEMORY OF MARGARET G. JACOBS: Carol Ann Roberts Dr. Edward D. Levy, Jr.
GEORGE WHITNEY FUND
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LIBRARY FUND
LOUISE HARRIS: Jean Taylor
IN HONOR OF
TRAVIS FAIN: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fain
MR. AND MRS. JOHN FISCHBACH’S ANNIVERSAY: Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sontheimer
ALBERT DITTMAN: Carol Hall
MR. AND MRS. TIMOTHY SLATER’S ANNIVERSARY: Mr. and Mrs. Theo Heller
NVC GENERAL FUND
HAYDEN DUNBAR: Mr. and Mrs. Donald Miller Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sontheimer
IN HONOR OF
IN MEMORY OF
MARIE (MICKEY) GREVE: ExxonMobil
IRVING GERSON:: Robert Kaufman ALBERT DITTMANN: Richard B. Funk MRS. EVELYN D. COX: Louise R. Rogas JACK HARPER: Shirley R. M. Bradley GORDON H. MAGINNIS: Dr. Fred A. Couts JACK HARPER: Shirley R. M. Bradley JOHN HARVEY: Sarah Wilkinson DR. THOMAS S. WHITECLOUD III: Anna O. and Walter J. Hingle, Jr.
MILLIE HAWKSHEAD: ExxonMobil
PHOTOGRAPHY FUND IN MEMORY OF BERNARD HERMAN: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rosenberg JONATHAN KOBERNA: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rosenberg JOHN “JACK” MARTZELL: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rosenberg MARGARET LEO: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rosenberg CARLA MAUBERRET: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rosenberg JOHN FORREST WALTER HOGUE: Harry Rosenbert
IN MEMORY OF GEORGE WHITNEY: Gladys Jurgens
NVC FLOWER FUND
P. ROUSSEL NORMAN FUND
IN HONOR OF
KATRINA RECOVERY FUND
DANIEL BIBB EXHIBITION: Kay McArdle
IN HONOR OF
IN MEMORY OF
THE MARRIAGE OF MR. AND MRS. LEON FOURNET: Lisa Schlesinger
JIMMY SULLIVAN: Adele Adatto
ARTS QUARTERLY
IN MEMORY OF SUNNY NORMAN: Lillian Rodriguez
ANNA MAE CISNEROS: Jean Taylor
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Come to NOMA for a Unique Holiday Shopping Experience
George Rodrigue “Blue Dog” Print To Stay Alive We Need Levee 5 $500.00
Katrina–Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden Hardcover, 96 Pages ISBN 978-0-89494-104-7 $32.95
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George Rodrigue “Blue Dog” Print Throw Me Something F.E.M.A. $850.00
George Rodrigue “Blue Dog” Print “We Will Rise Again” $500.00
Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Hardcover, 144 Pages ISBN 0-89494-099-6 $34.95
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
“Art Inside and Out” Mugs – $10.00 each NOMA Travel Mug – $10.95
Bee Necktie – $38.00 Gordy Ncktie – $32.00 NOMA Griffin – $100.00
“Art Inside and Out” T-Shirt – $20.00 Available in White, Green, Blue, Yellow Adults S, M, L, XL, XXL
Icon Ornaments - $16.50 • Icon Staking Dolls – $30.00 Icon Wedding Set – $20.00
Voluptuous Female Candleholders – $75.00 each
ARTS QUARTERLY
Matisse Vases – $75.00 each
La Femme Dolls Desiree – $50.00 • Alexandria – $72.00 Fiona – $50.00 • Sophia – $50.00
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Baby Toys Elephant Activity Toy – $19.00 Twisterella Stacking Toy – $31.00
Assorted Puzzles for All Ages – $10.00 – $21.00
Assorted Note Card Folios – $12.75
Children’s Toys Origami Pack – $14.95 • Guess Hue? – $27.50 Art Shark – $25.00 • Go Fish for Art – $11.00
Little Earth Purses Fenders – $160.00 • Cyclones – $65.00
Assorted Art Umbrellas – $16.00
Begin Your Holiday Shopping Today Stop by the NOMA Museum Shop or Call 504-658-4133 We Ship in the Continental U.S. • Shop Open Wednesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. Special Members’ Pre-Holiday Shopping Event – ONE DAY ONLY 20% Special Discount on All Items Monday, November 19 • 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
26
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Join A Circle and Upgrade Your Support of NOMA
T
he Board of Trustees of the New Orleans Museum of Art cordially invites you to upgrade your support and become a member of the Patron’s Circle, Director’s Circle or President’s Circle. These categories, our most prestigious levels of annual giving, are comprised of individuals who contribute $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000 each year in unrestricted funds. NOMA is pleased to extend unique privileges including Fellows and Collector’s Society memberships to those who demonstrate their commitment at these levels. We are most grateful for your generous and continuing support.
President’s Circle
$20,000
Director’s Circle
$10,000
Patron’s Circle •
A New Charitable Giving Option: Make a Charitable Donation to NOMA from Your IRA
ARTS QUARTERLY
Free admission to the Museum and Sculpture Garden plus free admission for additional guests when accompanied by the donor Reciprocal membership in major art museums across the U.S. and Canada
•
Complimentary membership in The Fellows and Collector’s Society
•
All Members Previews of special exhibitions; with prior arrangement, Circle members may bring additional guests.
•
A special evening program with the Museum’s Director An opportunity to have a private tour with the Director or Curator of a collection or special exhibition of your choice, with complimentary beverages in the Woldenberg Board Room, for a party of up to six individuals, at a mutually agreed upon time
D
An invitation to attend a private dinner with the Board President, Museum Director and a private collector in a major city.
•
A special dinner in a private collector’s home
•
For private parties, elegant private galleries are available for rental
•
Invitations to attend behind-the-scenes events with Museum curators
•
A special series of Curators’ Talks
•
Advance tickets for Members’ lectures
•
Advance announcements for special travel programs
•
A special reception in the Sculpture Garden
•
Annual listing on Donor Wall as a member of the Circle group
•
Listing in the Annual Report
•
Special recognition in Arts Quarterly
•
Two complimentary publications selected by the Museum
•
An opportunity to use an elegant private gallery with the rental fee waived
$5,000
•
•
•
id you know that a new provision in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows taxfree direct transfers from IRAs to qualified charities? IRA owners who have attained age seventy at the time of the gift can make tax-free charitable distributions directly from their IRAs to nonprofit organizations such as NOMA. The distribution is tax-free because it goes directly to charity. Since it is not taxable income to you, you don’t ever claim a charitable deduction on your Form 1040. In addition, these gifts are not subject to the percentage limitation rules that affect the other charitable gifts you are making. The only limit is that the total transfers from IRAs to charities cannot exceed $100,000 per year. This is in addition to your usual charitable gifts, so you can actually increase your overall giving by $100,000 per year. Charitable gifts from your IRA also satisfy your minimum annual distribution requirement from your IRA. Therefore, you can redirect taxable income you would otherwise be required to receive to charity. The provision is for tax years 2006 and 2007 only, so you should act soon.
•
Previews of special exhibitions on press preview days __________________________________________________ These circles recognize cumulative giving in a calendar year, restricted to gifts of Annual Appeal and membership dues. Contributions to capital projects and special events do not apply. __________________________________________________ For further information, please call 504-658-4100.
■
You can direct your IRA gifts to NOMA, your alma mater, or to any other public charity, since they are qualified charitable distributions under this new provision. Distributions to charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds or private foundations do not qualify. Contact your IRA plan administrator to make the transfers directly to the charities. There is a form you will need to fill out, listing the charities and the amounts to be transferred. Don’t wait until the end of the year, though, because IRA sponsors may be swamped with requests, so act now! Just as with any charitable contribution, you should receive the regular acknowledgment from the charity, and you may not receive anything of value in return for your contribution. ■
As with all advice on charitable giving, you should review your plans with your own professional advisors. This article is meant for educational purposes only.
27
Circles and Fellows of the New Orleans Museum of Art
T
he two most prestigious levels of annual giving in the support of the New Orleans Museum of Art are the Circles and the Fellows. We invite you to consider upgrading your support of NOMA and join the following Circles and Fellows of the New Orleans Museum of Art. For information, please call 504-658-4100. ■
CIRCLES PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE Mrs. Jack R. Aron Mr. and Mrs. John D. Bertuzzi Mr. and Mrs. Sydney J. Besthoff III The Booth-Bricker Fund Mr. and Mrs. John H. Bryan III Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation Mr. and Mrs. David F. Edwards Mr. and Mrs. S. Stewart Farnet Mr. and Mrs. Ludovico S. Feoli Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Hansel Helis Foundation Mrs. Killian L. Huger, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. David A. Kerstein Mr. Paul J. Leaman, Jr. Mrs. Paula L. Maher Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Mayer Mrs. Robert Nims Mrs. Françoise B. Richardson Mr. and Mrs. George Rodrigue Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Rosen Ms. Adrea D. Heebe and Mr. Dominick D. Russo, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Shelton Mrs. Patrick F. Taylor Mrs. John N. Weinstock Zemurray Foundation
DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE Mr. and Mrs. F. Macnaughton Ball, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Prescott N. Dunbar Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence D. Garvey Mrs. Harry Greenberg Mrs. John D. Guthrie Heymann-Wolf Foundation Mrs. Charles W. Ireland Mr. and Mrs. Erik Johnsen Mr. and Mrs. Peter R. Monrose, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Patrick Dr. and Mrs. James F. Pierce Mrs. Margaret B. Soniat Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Stahel Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Strub Mr. and Mrs. St. Denis J. Villere Mrs. Nan S. Wier
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PATRON’S CIRCLE Mr. and Mrs. Wayne F. Amedee Mr. and Mrs. Clark W. Boyce, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph O. Brennan Mr. E. John Bullard Mr. and Mrs. William K. Christovich Dr. and Mrs. Isidore Cohn, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Freeman, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James J. Frischhertz Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. George Dr. and Mrs. Herbert E. Kaufman Dr. E. Ralph Lupin Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Mathes Mr. and Mrs. R. King Milling Mr. and Mrs. Gray S. Parker Dr. and Mrs. Edward F. Renwick Mr. and Mrs. R. Randolph Richmond, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Brian A. Schneider Mr. and Mrs. Edward Shearer Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Siegel Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Soltis Mrs. and Mr. James L. Taylor Mr. and Mrs. Louis A. Wilson, Jr.
FELLOWS Mrs. Adele L. Adatto Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth N. Adatto Mr. and Mrs. Richard Adkerson Mrs. Jack R. Anderson Mrs. Jimi Anderson Mrs. H. W. Bailey Mrs. Howard T. Barnett Dr. Robert E. Barron III Ms. Roberta P. Bartee Mr. Robert M. Becnel and Ms. Diane K. Zink Mr. and Mrs. W. Mente Benjamin Mr. and Mrs. Dorian M. Bennett Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Berenson Ms. Virginia Besthoff and Ms. Nancy Aronson Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali Mrs. Janet Blocker Mr. Harry J. Blumenthal, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Bodenheimer Mr. and Mrs. Donald T. Bollinger Mr. R. Carey Bond and Mr. Henry Lambert Mrs. Jane Bories and Mr. Sam Corenswet Dr. and Mrs. John C. Bowen III Ms. Jean M. Bragg Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Brenner Mr. and Mrs. Edgar E. Bright, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. B. Temple Brown, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Perry S. Brown Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Bruno Ms. Pamela R. Burck Mr. Harold H. Burns Mr. and Mrs. Carlo Capomazza di Campolattaro Mr. and Mrs. Michael Carbine
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar L. Chase III Dr. Victor P. Chisesi Mr. John A. Chrestia Mr. Stephen W. Clayton and Mr. W. P. Brown III Mr. and Mrs. John Clemmer Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Coleman Mrs. John J. Colomb, Jr. Ms. Shirley Colomb and Don Clausing Mr. Barry J. Cooper and Mr. Stuart H. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Orlin Corey Ms. Jeanette Cornnam Mr. and Mrs. Rufus P. Cressend Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Currence, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Davis III John W. Deming and Bertie Murphy Deming Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Con G. Demmas Mr. and Mrs. George Denegre, Jr. Drs. Raja W. and Nina Dhurandhar Mrs. Albert S. Dittmann, Jr. Mrs. Charles J. Eagan, Jr. Dr. Clayton B. Edisen Dr. Ruth R. Ettinger and Dr. Ron Hardey Mrs. Eleanor T. Farnsworth Dr. and Mrs. K. Barton Farris Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Favrot Mr. and Mrs. Edward Feinman Mr. and Mrs. Darwin C. Fenner Mrs. Irving Ferman Mrs. Julia Fishelson Ms. Anne A. Fitzhugh Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Fox Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Francis Dr. and Mrs. Harold A. Fuselier, Jr. Mrs. Anne Gauthier Dr. and Mrs. Charles F. Genre Mrs. Dennis A. Georges Dr. Kurt A. Gitter and Mrs. Alice Rae Yelen Mrs. Luba B. Glade Mrs. Louis A. Glazer Mrs. Frederick A. Gottesman Dr. and Mrs. Warren L. Gottsegen Ms. Susan Talley and Mr. James C. Gulotta, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James O. Gundlach Mr. and Mrs. John W. Hall Mr. and Mrs. Hamp H. Hanks Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Hardin Mrs. Robert B. Haspel Mrs. H. Lloyd Hawkins, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Heller Mr. and Mrs. Theo M. Heller Mrs. S. Herbert Hirsch Mrs. William H. Hodges Mr. Harry T. Howard III Mr. and Mrs. Harley B. Howcott, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Huguley III
ARTS QUARTERLY
Mr. and Mrs. Merl Huntsinger Mr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Jacobs Dr. Ronald A. Javitch Mr. and Mrs. Harold B. Judell Mrs. Arthur L. Jung, Jr. Mrs. Gloria S. Kabacoff Mrs. Fred Kahn Mrs. Morris Klinger Mr. and Mrs. E. James Kock, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Donald J. Labauve Mr. and Mrs. John P. Laborde Mrs. James M. Lapeyre, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Sidney W. Lassen Mr. and Mrs. John H. Lawrence Mrs. Rita Benson LeBlanc Mr. Victor C. Leglise, Sr. Dr. Edward D. Levy, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Levy Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Logan Mr. Edward B. Ludwig, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. George D. Lyons Dr. Cris Mandry Mr. and Mrs. Adam B. Marcus Mrs. Shirley R. Masinter Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Mason Ms. Kay McArdle Ms. Elizabeth R. McCall Mr. and Mrs. John McCollam Mr. and Mrs. William McCollam, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Alvin S. Merlin Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Mestayer Mr. and Mrs. Albert Mintz Mrs. Bernard D. Mintz Mrs. Elaine Mintz Mr. and Mrs. Saul A. Mintz Mr. and Mrs. Donald P. Mitchell Mrs. Louise Moffett Mr. Michael D. Moffitt Ms. Stephany S. Monteleone Mrs. George R. Montgomery Dr. and Mrs. Lee Roy Morgan, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Morton Mrs. Andree Moss Mr. and Mrs. J. Frederick Muller, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Bert Myers Mrs. Elizabeth S. Nalty Ms. Carolyn Nelson Mrs. Isidore Newman II Mrs. Ulisse Nolan Mr. and Mrs. John B. Noland Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Norman, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. John L. Ochsner Dr. Sanford L. Pailet Karyl Pierce Paxton Mr. and Mrs. Norvin L. Pellerin Dr. Quinn Pepper Mrs. Ben J. Phillips Mr. and Mrs. John Phillips Mr. and Mrs. R. Hunter Pierson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Dick H. Piner, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. O. Miles Pollard, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Pulitzer Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Reily, Jr. Ms. Sally E. Richards Mr. Robert R. Richmond III Mr. and Mrs. Leon H. Rittenberg Mr. and Mrs. John K. Roberts, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James C. Roddy Mr. Andre Rodrigue Mr. Jacques Rodrigue Mr. Arthur Roger Mr. and Mrs. Edward Rosen Mr. and Mrs. Paul S. Rosenblum, Sr. Dr. and Mrs. J. William Rosenthal Mr. and Mrs. Louie J. Roussel III Mr. and Mrs. Hallam L. Ruark Mrs. Basil J. Rusovich, Jr. Ms. Nadine C. Russell Miss Courtney-Anne Sarpy Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schornstein, Jr. Dr. Milton W. Seiler Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Selber, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. William H. Shane, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Shapiro Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Simmons Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Simmons Dr. and Mrs. Julian H. Sims Mrs. Evald L. Skau Mr. and Mrs. Timothy C. Slater Mrs. James Carlos Smith Mr. and Mrs. Joe D. Smith, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Rodney R. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Snyder Mr. and Mrs. Stephen L. Sontheimer Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford Ms. Mary Holmes Stephens Mrs. Mary E. Stern Dr. and Mrs. Harold M. Stokes Mrs. Harold H. Stream, Jr. Dr. Nia K. Terezakis Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Van der Linden Mr. and Mrs. George G. Villere Mr. and Mrs. R. Preston Wailes Mr. and Mrs. Albert J. Ward, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Rudolph F. Weichert III Dr. and Mrs. Robert G. Weilbaecher Ambassador and Mrs. John G. Weinmann Mr. Thomas P. Westervelt Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. White Mr. Charles Lewis Whited, Jr. Mr. George Q. Whitney Mr. Robert J. A. Williams and Mrs. Norris Williams Mrs. Warren Wirth Ms. Betty Wisdom Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Young Ms. Helen H. Wisdom and Dr. Jack S. Zoller
29
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP
W
e are deeply grateful to the following member firms whose investment in the Museum makes it possible for NOMA to pay dividends in service to the public, to the business community, to the City of New Orleans, to the greater metropolitan area and to the State of Louisiana.
GUARANTOR Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre New Orleans Saints Reagan Equipment Co., Inc. Tidewater, Inc. Whitney National Bank Willoughby Associates Limited Windsor Court Hotel
BENEFACTOR Gambit Communications, Inc.
PATRON Associated Office Systems Brian Schneider Company Columbus Properties, LLC Lemle & Kelleher The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Foundation
LEADER J. Aron and Company, Inc. Barriere Construction Company, Inc. Boh Bros. Construction Company, Inc. Christie’s Fine Art Auctioneers Dorian M. Bennett, Inc. Eskew + Dumez + Ripple The Laitram Corporation M. S. Rau Antiques, LLC Magnolia Marketing Company McIlhenny Company Milling Benson Woodward, LLP The Monteleone Hotel Murphy Exploration & Production Co. Neal Auction Company, Inc. New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc. New Orleans Silversmiths Rathborne Companies, LLC Regions Bank The Soniat House Taylor Energy Company The Times-Picayune
MASTER Dooky Chase’s Restaurant Emirau Partners Energy Partners, Ltd. IPC New Orleans 1, LLC McDermott International Inc. MPress Oreck Corporation The Schon Charitable Foundation
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ASSOCIATE Baker CAC, Inc. Bowie Lumber Associates Dauphine Orleans Delta Petroleum Co., Inc. E. N. Bisso and Son, Inc. Fidelity Homestead Association A Gallery For Fine Photography
Hunt Forest Products, Inc. KPMG Mignon Faget, Ltd. Royal Antiques, Ltd. The Steeg Law Firm LLC Waggonner and Ball Architects 901 So. Peters St. LLC
James A. Mounger, A Professional Law Corporation Jon Antiques Le Richelieu Motor Hotel Sisung Securities Corporation Tujague’s Restaurant URS Corporation Waters, Parkerson and Co., Inc.
CONTRIBUTOR A. L. Lowe Picture Framing Company Aquatic Gardens Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz Bolton Ford Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring Company Inc. Dreyfus-Cortney, Inc. Dupuy Storage & Forwarding Corporation Gulf Coast Bank Hirsch Investment Management, L.L.C.
UNIVERSITY MEMBERS Delgado Community College Loyola University Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond Southern University of New Orleans Tulane University University of New Orleans Xavier University
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
THE ART OF BUSINESS
When you take your place among the Corporate Members of the New Orleans Museum of Art, you are supporting the continuing excellence of the Gulf South’s finest institution for arts and arts education. NOMA is a force for economic development, contributing greatly to our city’s prominence as an international cultural center and visitor destination. The business and professional sectors have long recognized that the Museum makes our community a more desirable place for families and companies to locate.
BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP IN THE NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
BENEFITS TO YOUR COMPANY WHEN YOU INVEST IN THE PREEMINENT CULTURAL INSTITUTION OF OUR CITY CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP ❑ Please have NOMA’s Corporate Membership Director call. ❑ Please send me a brochure on Corporate Membersip. ❑ Our check is enclosed in the amount of $_______________. Please make check payable to: New Orleans Museum of Art. ❑ Please send an invoice in the amount of $______________. Firm Name ____________________________ Contact Person ____________________________ Phone ____________________________ Address ____________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________ Mail to: Corporate Membership New Orleans Museum of Art P.O. Box 19123 New Orleans, LA 70179-0123
ARTS QUARTERLY
Your Corporate Membership provides world-class benefits to your employees and a positive image for your company. From unlimited family admission to NOMA, to the loan of fine art from NOMA’s permanent collection, to a Company Day for all your employees and their families, your Corporate Membership is a high profile business asset and a great business decision. The vitality and growth of the New Orleans Museum of Art is dependent, quite literally, on the companies we keep. Our Corporate Membership Program provides the opportunity for your business, whether large or small, to participate at the level most beneficial to you. We have streamlined the rate structure and improved benefits, so select your membership category today, and enjoy all the special privileges of Corporate Membership at the NOMA.
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP PRIVILEGES • Free family admission at all times (immediate family, including children and grandchildren 17 years and younger). • Free subscription to Arts Quarterly • Invitations to Members’ Only Previews throughout the year • Discount of 10% in the Museum Shop • First notices of Special Events at NOMA • Opportunity to participate in Members’ Art Tours in America and abroad • Curatorial Opinion Service • Opportunity to participate in Volunteer Programs • Access to the Dreyfous Art Reference Library
GUARANTOR
$10,000 &
ABOVE
• Use of the Museum for a member’s business special event at a mutually agreeable time. • Your company’s name prominently displayed in the Museum. • The loan of four works of art from NOMA’s Permanent Collection. • A private viewing and guided tour of an exhibition for the executives of your firm. • Family Membership privileges for ten designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • A complimentary invitation for one designated official to NOMA’s Holiday Party. • Specially scheduled Corporate Day with recognition in the Museum and free admission for all employees and their families. • A Speakers Bureau program at your place of business or at the Museum. • 125 Museum passes. • Curatorial consultation. • One framed poster and a catalogue from the Museum’s inventory.
BENEFACTOR
$7,500
• Limited use of a Museum space for a member’s business function at a mutually agreeable time. • Your company’s name prominently displayed in the Museum. • The loan of three works of art from NOMA’s Permanent Collection. • Family Membership privileges for eight designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • A complimentary invitation for one designated official to NOMA’s Holiday Party. • Specially scheduled Corporate Day with recognition in the Museum and free admission for all employees and their families. • A Speakers Bureau program at your place of business or at the Museum. • 100 Museum passes. • Curatorial consultation. • One framed poster and a catalogue from the NOMA’s inventory.
PATRON
$5,000
• The loan of two works of art from NOMA’s Permanent Collection. • Family Membership privileges for six designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • A complimentary invitation for one designated official to NOMA’s Holiday Party. • Specially scheduled Corporate Day with recognition in the Museum and free admission for all employees and their families. • A Speakers Bureau program at your place of business or at the Museum. • 75 Museum passes. • Curatorial consultation. • One framed poster and a catalogue from the NOMA’s inventory.
MASTER
$2,500
• The loan of one work of art from NOMA’s Permanent Collection. • Family Membership privileges for five designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • A Speakers Bureau program for your employees at your place of business or at the Museum. • 50 Museum passes. • Curatorial consultation. • One framed poster and a catalogue from the NOMA’s inventory.
LEADER
$1,000
• Family Membership privileges for four designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • 25 Museum passes. • Two posters from the NOMA’s inventory.
ASSOCIATE
$500
• Family Membership privileges for three designated officials with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • 15 Museum passes. • A poster from NOMA’s inventory.
CONTRIBUTOR
$250
• Family membership privileges for two designated official of your firm with Reciprocal Membership at 39 participating museums. • 10 Museum passes.
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NOMA EDUCATION: Art Workshops for Children
Art Workshop for Adults
Saturday Fall Session October 13 – November 3 ages 5 – 7, 10 a.m. – Noon ages 8 – 12, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Learn new techniques in artmaking from professional art teachers who introduce children to the Museum’s collections and special exhibitions. NOMA’s classes provide young artists with an exciting atmosphere where they can express their creativity and imagination using a variety of art materials. Our instructors
(New!) Adult Weekend Drawing Workshop Saturday, October 6 & Sunday 7 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. A weekend, two-day intensive workshop for adults focusing on the study of the human form, drawing both from sculpture and a clothed model. All materials and lunch on both days will
stress the importance of the creative process over the final product. We believe that in art there are no wrong answers. All classes begin with a brief tour through NOMA’s collections to view a series of artworks related to each art project. The Fall Session will meet on four consecutive Saturdays from October 13 through November 3, 2007. Morning classes for children ages five through seven are from 10 a.m. to noon. Afternoon classes for ages eight through twelve are from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Students will choose objects
and motifs inspired by nature to create personalized works of art using a variety of methods and materials. The cost of each session of four classes is $50 for members of the Museum and $65 for nonmembers. All classes are limited to twenty students, and all materials are included in the fee. Students should bring an old shirt or smock to wear as classes can get messy. Please pay in advance, preregistration is required. For more information, contact the associate curator of education at mrobinson@noma.org or 504-658-4113.
be provided. Cost is $200 for members; $220 for nonmembers Registration and prepayment is required; the Museum reserves the right to meet minimum enrollment requirements for this workshop. Please contact the associate curator of education at mrobinson@noma.org or 504-658-4113 for more information and registration. ■
NOMA’s new adult weekend drawing workshop will focus on the study of the human form.
Collaborative Community Partnerships
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The Jefferson Parish Public Library is offering a series of programs in conjunction with NOMA’s exhibition Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art, including a Harvest Festival on Saturday, November 10, and a lecture by Paul Tarver, NOMA’s curator of Native American art, on Thursday, November 15. An additional installation of Native American art will be on view at JPPL through February as a complement to the NOMA’s exhibition. For additional reading and research, the Library has assembled an impressive collection of books on Native American art for the general public and its patrons. For more information about these and other programs at the Jefferson Parish Public Library, please call 504-838-1100. ■
The Jefferson Parish Public Library is offering a series of programs in conjunction with NOMA’s exhibition Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art.
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
NOMA EDUCATION: Family Workshop Pre-registration is requested for NOMA’s Family Workshops. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
NOMA offers Sunday afternoon art workshops designed as a collaborative venture in which children and their adult companion create an art project together. Children should be between five and twelve years old and must be accompanied by an adult. After a tour of NOMA’s collection to view artworks related to the workshop, participants will create their own project. The cost of the workshop is $10 per family for Museum members and $15 for nonmembers plus Museum admission. All art supplies are provided by NOMA. Pre-registration is requested. For information contact mrobinson@noma.org or (504) 658-4113.
Sunday, October 14 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Making the Modern Portrait Gaston Lachaise and other artists asked relatives and close friends to model for their two- and threedimensional portraits. Use mixed media to create a multi-layered low-relief selfportrait or portrait. Let your imagination run wild and get inspired by works in special collections on view and in the Museum galleries. This family workshop is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Gaston Lachaise 1882-1935, on view at NOMA through October 21, 2007.
Films
Monthly films in NOMA’s Stern Auditorium continue this fall with new classics for all ages. Beginning in December, in conjunction with the exhibition Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art, NOMA will present films featuring Native American themes. Films begin at 2 p.m. (please note new time) and are free with Museum admission. For more information, please contact the associate curator of education at mrobinson@noma.org or call 504-658-4113.
Sunday, November 18 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Pastel: Passed on from the Impressionists Be an Impressionist for the afternoon. Study the techniques of these nineteenth-century artists who were known to use the medium of pastel in order to capture the effect of light and seasonal changes on their subject matter.
Sunday, December 2 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Kachina Workshop Learn about the mysterious Kachina “doll,” which has been an important vehicle to relay the oral traditions and religious practices of the Hopi people. Create contemporary versions of these mythological figures inspired by the vibrant and patternfilled art in the exhibition Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art on view at NOMA November 10, 2007, through February 17, 2008. ■
to evaluate three Russian officials. Although she initially criticizes Western culture, her world view changes when she meets a charming U.S. filmmaker (Fred Astaire) and gradually falls under the spell of jazz, makeup, and silk stockings. The team of Astaire and Charisse sing and dance to classic Cole Porter songs including “Too Bad,” “Paris Loves Lovers,” “Silk Stockings,” and “Fated to be Mated.”
Saturday, November 17, 2 p.m. The Big Sleep (1946, 114 min., Not Rated)
Saturday, October 20, 2 p.m. Silk Stockings (1957, 117 min., Not Rated) Silk Stockings, a musical remake of the 1939 classic Ninotchka, is a story of a female Communist (Cyd Charisse) who is sent to Paris on an assignment
ARTS QUARTERLY
A classic film noir, The Big Sleep is the story of private detective Phillip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart). When Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood to spy on his youngest daughter Carmen, he quickly falls in love with her sister Vivien (Lauren Bacall), and finds that everyone in the
Learn about the mysterious Kachina “doll” in NOMA’s family workshop “Kachina Workshop,” presented Sunday, December 2.
family is keeping a secret. This movie has it all: murder, blackmail, intrigue, and displays the classic love affair of Bogie and Bacall.
Saturday, December 8, 2 p.m. PowWow Highway (1989, 105 min., Not Rated) Remarkably fine performances mark this unusual and thoughtprovoking foray into the plight of Native Americans. Gary Farmer plays the unassuming Cheyenne traveling to New Mexico in a beat-up Chevy with his Indian activist buddy, passionately portrayed by A. Martinez. On the journey the pair is confronted with the tragedy of life on a reservation. A sobering look at government injustice and the lingering spirit of a people lost inside their homeland, the film is directed by Joanelle Nadine Romero and Jonathan Wacks. ■
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PROGRAMS & ACTIVITIES Lectures
NOMA lectures are intended to complement our permanent and traveling exhibitions. These events will take place in the Museum’s Stern Auditorium. All lectures are free with Museum admission. For information, contact mrobinson@noma.org or 504-658-4113.
Sunday, October 14, 2 p.m. Gaston Lachaise and Sculpture in the Early Twentieth Century by James Hargrove, Visiting Professor of Art History, Tulane University Gaston Lachaise and his contemporaries, including Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso, and George Braque, were among the many artists who revolutionized the sculptural traditions in both Europe and the United States. While maintaining his individual interpretation of the human form, including robust and voluptuous sculptures of women, Lachaise also interacted closely with the artists, poets
and writers of his time. Join us for a close examination of this French-born American artist’s work in the context of early twentieth century modernism. This lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Gaston Lachaise 1882-1935.
World War II, examining outsiders’ perceptions as well as insiders’ motivations. How women from these communities made and sold baskets tells us plenty about the role of art in Native American resilience and resistance.
Sunday, November 18, 2 p.m. Weaving American Indian Baskets for Markets, Anthropologists, and Collectors in Louisiana after the Civil War
Sunday, December 2, 2 p.m. A Conversation with Artist Rolland Golden
by Daniel H. Usner Jr., Holland M. McTyeire Professor of History, Vanderbilt University Many of the baskets featured in the Whitecloud Collection were produced by American Indian women in south Louisiana during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This lecture will explore the importance of basketry among Louisiana Indian communities from the Civil War to
with John Kemp, Author of Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden, and Deputy Director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities The exhibition Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden documents this Louisiana artist’s experiences, as well as those of his friends and neighbors, following the 2005 hurricane. Join us for an engaging dialogue in the second-floor galleries with Rolland Golden and John Kemp, who will contextualize these images within the broader spectrum of this talented artist’s career.
Sunday, December 16, 2 p.m. From Collector to Curator: A Discussion on the Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art by Mercedes Whitecloud, Collector; Paul Tarver, Curator of Native American Art, NOMA; Joanna Sternberg, Assistant Director for Education, NOMA (moderator)
On Sunday, December 2, at 2 p.m., NOMA will present “A Conservation with Artist Rolland Golden” with John Kemp, author of Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden
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Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art tells the story of Native American art through the eyes of collectors Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Whitecloud III. Many different cultures are represented in the collection, with strongest focus on the Southern Woodlands and Great Lakes region. The Whiteclouds’ interest in both historical objects as well as contemporary works has resulted in a collection that reflects the ongoing traditions still a part of Native American cultures today. ■
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
PROGRAMS & ACTIVITIES Storytelling in the Garden
Saturdays, October 6, 20, November 3, 17, Noon NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden will comes alive with tales of magic, intrigue and daring as this new children’s program captures the imaginations of local youth. With some of the original stellar talent from TV’s Let’s Tell a Story days, this endearing endeavor began decades ago under the auspices of the National Council of Jewish Women and WDSU-TV. Today’s storyteller roster boasts Helena Shockett, Margie Bissinger, Benay Bernstein, published children’s author Gloria Pushkur, Willa Slater and Sue Meyer. Many will fondly remember the Elf, who appears once more to delight a new generation of tiny New Orleanians. This fall enjoy “Storytelling in the Garden” with your favorite young friends. ■
This fall enjoy “Storytelling in the Garden.”
Save the Date: Lecture
Sunday, January 6, 2 p.m. After the Flood by Robert Polidori, Photographer Canadian-born artist Robert Polidori will discuss the works from his exhibition, New Orleans After the Flood: Photographs by Robert Polidori, which was recently on view at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His stirring yet contemplative photographs of post-Katrina New Orleans reveal a formal beauty in the mud-caked belongings and discarded mementos captured in his powerful images . ■
Robert Polidori will discuss his post-Katrina photographs on Sunday, January 6, at 2 p.m. (above) West End Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 2005
Teacher’s Workshop ARTS QUARTERLY
Tuesday, November 13 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. NOMA will present a workshop for area educators in conjunction with the exhibition Blue Winds Dancing: The
Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art on November 13, 2007, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information and registration, contact the associate curator of education at mrobinson@noma.org or call 504-658-4113. ■
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PROGRAM SPONSORS A
nnual operating support for NOMA’s exhibitions, the “Van Go,” free admission for Louisiana residents, family workshops, films, lectures, art classes and numerous other special programs enjoyed by visitors from throughout the city, the state, the country, and, indeed, the world, are made possible through the generosity of our many sponsors. The New Orleans Museum of Art and its thousands of visitors are deeply grateful to these friends for their continued commitment. If you would like additional information on sponsorship, please contact the Museum’s development department, (504) 658-4100. ■
BECOME A NOMA SPONSOR $100,000 + THE AZBY FUND: General Operating Support Besthoff Sculpture Garden Operating Support Security Equipment FREEPORT-MCMORAN FOUNDATION: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Title Sponsor
CHEVRON: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support Handbook of School Programs Teacher’s Packets LOUISIANA DIVISION OF THE ARTS: General Operating Support THE LUPIN FOUNDATION: General Operating Support Odyssey Ball 2007 Art In Bloom 2007 SHERATON NEW ORLEANS HOTEL: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Exhibition Support THAW CHARITABLE TRUST: Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support
THE HELIS FOUNDATION: Free Admission for Louisiana Residents
THE PATRICK F. TAYLOR FOUNDATION: Taylor NOMA Scholars Program WDSU NEWSCHANNEL 6: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support ZEMURRAY FOUNDATION: General Operating Support
$99,999 – $50,000 BLANCHARD AND COMPANY, INC.: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support THE BOOTH-BRICKER FUND: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support CAPITAL ONE: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France NOMA Members Day Sponsor
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BRINKER INTERNATIONAL, INC.: French Heritage Society’s Katrina Heritage Rescue Fund, West Palm Beach THE CUDD FOUNDATION: Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support DOWNMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION: NOMA Exhibitions GOLDRING FAMILY FOUNDATION: Odyssey Ball 2007 THE GPOA FOUNDATION: Educational Pre-Visit Video of African Art Collection GLORIA S. KABACOFF: Odyssey Ball 2007 THE MCILHENNY COMPANY AND THE GUSTAF WESTFELDT MCILHENNY FAMILY FOUNDATION: Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support MORRIS G. AND PAUL L. MAHER FOUNDATION: Odyssey Ball 2007
LAKESIDE SHOPPING CENTER AND THE FEIL ORGANIZATON: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support LOUIS ARMSTRONG NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support
$19,999 - $10,000
$34,999 - $20,000 ELIZABETH F. CHENEY FOUNDATION: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support
RUBY K. WORNER CHARITABLE TRUST: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support Educational Support SHELL EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION COMPANY: Van Go, NOMA’s Museum-on-Wheels Educational Programming
JOE W. AND DOROTHY DORSETT BROWN FOUNDATION: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support JONES, WALKER, WAECHTER, POINTEVENT, CARRERE & DENEGRE L.L.P.: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support LLOYD A. FRY FOUNDATION: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES: Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support
$9,999 - $5,000 ROBERT AND JOLIE SHELTON: Odyssey Ball 2007 THREE FOLD CONSULTANTS, LLC: LOVE in the Garden 2007 THE TUNICA-BILOXI TRIBE OF LOUISIANA AND PARAGON CASINO RESORT: Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art Catalogue and Exhibition Support
OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR/LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, RECREATION AND TOURISM: Femme, femme, femme: Paintings of Women in French Society from Daumier to Picasso from the Museums of France Exhibition Support THE ROSAMARY FOUNDATION: Family Workshops Handbook of School Programs
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
1001 South Broad Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70125 Tel: 504.821.6326 E-mail: arcons99@yahoo.com
Photo NOMA (formerly Underexposed) A Photographers’ Meeting Place at the New Orleans Museum of Art Wednesday, December 5, 2007 • 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
WHAT DO NEW ORLEANS’ MOST DISCRIMINATING CONSUMERS READ? Published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, one of the premier cultural institutions in the South, ARTQUARTERLY is an award-winning magazine, whose readers share some very specific characteristics and aspirations: an appreciation for fine art and fine life and a concern for improving or maintaining their quality of life and their distinctive lifestyle.
New Orleans has many more photographers than photography galleries, so many wonderful photographs are just not seen by our city’s extensive art-appreciating audiencee.
Until Now! If you would like to show your work at Photo NOMA, call Maja Georgiou at (504) 931-5316 to register. Free attendance for exhibitors and NOMA Members $5 for Nonmembers
ARTS QUARTERLY
In its 30th year of publication, ARTQUARTERLY provides an effective medium to reach this elusive group of consumers. To reach New Orleans most discriminating consumers, call our representative to reserve your space in ARTQUARTERLY, 504-610-1279 or 504-658-4103.
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MUSEUM NEWS MUSEUM NEWS MUSEUM BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING SCHEDULE The board of trustees of the New Orleans Museum of Art will meeting on Wednesday, October 17, November 14, and December 19, at 4 p.m.
MEMBERS NOMA MEMBERS ANNUAL MEETING IN NOVEMBER 13TH All members of the New Orleans Museum of Art are invited to attend the Annual Members Meeting on Tuesday, November 13, at 4 p.m. NOMA Director E. John Bullard will give a state of the Museum report, and proxy cards will be counted. Please vote by proxy using the card enclosed in this issue of Arts Quarterly.
NVC 2008 NVC OFFICERS NAMES The NOMA Volunteer Committee held its final general meeting of the year on September 10, 2007. At the meeting, the NVC nominating committee presented the 2008 slate of officers, which was unanimously approved by the general membership. The following ladies will join 2007 Chair-Elect Brenda Vorhoff, who assumes her duties as 2008 NVC chair on January 1: Diane Walmsley, chair-elect; Carol Hall, vice-chair of activities; Margaret Kessels, vice-chair of fund raising; Cammie Mayer, vice-chair of membership; Pam Rogers, corresponding secretary; Ellen Miclette, treasurer; Elizabeth Ryan, parliamentarian; Jean Taylor, atlarge representative; Janet Frischhertz, at-larger representative. KRISTIN JOCHEM RETURNS The NVC is delighted to have back on staff Kristen Jochem. As development associate, she again will be assisting the NVC with its fund-raising efforts. Welcome back, Kristen.
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RENEWAL REMINDER NVC members are reminded that membership renewals were mailed during the summer. Please remit your dues, if you have not already done so. ARTIST AUSEKLIS OZOLS TO HOST NVC STUDIO SALON On Friday, October 12, acclaimed local artist, Auseklis Ozols, founder and director of the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, will host the NVC Studio Salon at the Academy on 5256 Magazine Street. Our members will hear a fascinating lecture on fine arts and a private showing of his latest works. The afternoon event will include a tour of the Academy’s teaching studios as well as a visit to Ozols’ personal art studio around the corner. For the past thirty years, Auseklis Ozols has taught hundreds of students, curated and installed dozens of exhibitions and is represented in many public and private collections, including the Governor’s Mansion. In 2002, he was the recipient of NOMA’s Delgado Society Artist Recognition Award. Studio Salon Chairs Sally Richards and Cary Alden have scored another triumph with this event. Attendance is limited to fifty. Refreshments will be served. Please watch your mail for reservation forms. You won’t want to miss it. THANK YOU, KAY The challenges any nonprofit faces in post-Katrina New Orleans are great. With smaller memberships and limited resources, the burden of fund raising is overwhelming. In 2007 NVC Chair Kay McArdle faced this task with undying enthusiasm, untiring effort and a gracious southern charm. Her intelligence and savvy have made this year successful in the face of many obstacles. Her dedicated NVC officers, committee chairs and members have served and supported NOMA through this time of recovery with a shared passion. These outstanding efforts are greatly appreciated. ■
SENIOR STAFF E. John Bullard, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director Jacqueline L. Sullivan, Deputy Director Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Assistant Director for Art/Curator of Asian Art Joanna Sternberg, Assistant Director for Education Gail Asprodites, Controller Aisha Champagne, Graphics Coordinator/Webmaster Sheila Cork, Librarian/Grants Officer Diego Cortez, The Tina Freeman Curator of Photography Marilyn Dittmann, Senior Development Associate William A. Fagaly, The Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art Anthony Graffeo, Chief of Security Brandi Hand, Public Relations Officer Jimmy Jeffrey, Sculpture Garden Manager Jennifer Ickes, Assistant Registrar Kristin Jochem, Development Associate for NVC John W. Keefe, The RosaMary Foundation Curator of The Decorative Arts Karl Oelkers, Computer Coordinator Wanda O’Shello, Publications Coordinator/Arts Quarterly Editor Marney N. Robinson, Associate Curator of Education George Roland, The Doris Zemurray Stone Curator of Prints and Drawings Paul Tarver, Registrar/Curator of Native American and Pre-Columbian Art Patricia Trautman, Museum Shop Manager Laura Wallis, Membership Holly M. Wherry, Art Therapist, Katrina Initiative Alice Rae Yelen, Principal Curator for Education NOMA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sydney J. Besthoff III, President Mrs. Edward George, Vice-President E. Ralph Lupin, M.D., Vice-President Charles A. Snyder, Vice-President Edgar B. Chase III, Treasurer Mrs. Françoise Billion Richardson, Assistant Treasurer David F. Edwards, Secretary William Aaron Mrs. John Bertuzzi J. Herbert Boydstun Isidore Cohn, Jr., M.D. Leonard Davis S. Stewart Farnet Tina Freeman Mrs. James Frischhertz Lawrence D. Garvey Mrs. Mason Granger Edward F. Harold Mrs. Erik Johnsen Dr. Stella Jones Herbert Kaufman, M.D. Paul J. Leaman, Jr. Mrs. Paula L. Maher Edward C. Mathes Mrs. Charles B. Mayer Kay McArdle Councilmember Shelly Midura Mrs. R. King Milling Mayor C. Ray Nagin Dan Packer Mrs. Robert J. Patrick R. Hunter Pierson Thomas Reese, Ph.D. Michael J. Siegel Mrs. Richard L. Strub Mrs. James Lyle Taylor Mrs. Patrick F. Taylor Louis A. Wilson, Jr. HONORARY LIFE TRUSTEES H. Russell Albright, M.D. Mrs. Jack R. Aron Mrs. Edgar B. Chase, Jr. Prescott N. Dunbar Mrs. Richard W. Freeman, Jr. Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. Mrs. H. Lloyd Hawkins Mrs. Killian L. Huger Richard W. Levy, M.D. Mrs. J. Frederick Muller, Jr. Mrs. Charles S. Reily Mrs. Françoise Billion Richardson R. Randolph Richmond, Jr. Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford Harry C. Stahel Mr. and Mrs. Moise S. Steeg, Jr. Mrs. Harold H. Stream Mrs. John N. Weinstock
NATIONAL TRUSTEES Mrs. Carmel Cohen Aaron I. Fleischman Mrs. Caroline W. Ireland George L. Lindemann Mrs. James Pierce Mrs. Benjamin Rosen Mrs. Robert Shelton Mrs. Billie Milam Weisman Mrs. Henry H. Weldon
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
NOMA Calendar of Events OCTOBER 6
SATURDAY, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Art Workshop for Adults Noon, Storytelling in the Sculpture Garden
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NOVEMBER 3 10
SUNDAY, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Art Workshop for Adults WEDNESDAY, Collector’s Society Curators’ Walk-through of Home Is Where the Art Is: Zita Marks Templeman (1918-2005) Artist, Collector, Benefactor and Fabergé
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FRIDAY, NVC Studio Salon at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts
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SUNDAY, 2 p.m., Family Workshop, “Making the Modern Portrait”
SATURDAY, Noon, Storytelling in the Sculpture Garden SATURDAY, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Odyssey Ball Patron Party 9 p.m. to midnight, Odyssey Ball General Party
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SUNDAY, Opening Day—Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art and Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., NOMA Members Preview—Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art and Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden
2 p.m., Lecture, “Gaston Lachaise and Sculpture in the Early Twentieth Century” by James Hargrove, Visiting Professor of Art History, Tulane University
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WEDNESDAY, 4 p.m., NOMA Board of Trustees Meeting
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WEDNESDAY, 4 p.m., NOMA Board of Trustees Meeting
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SATURDAY, 2 p.m., Film, Silk Stockings (1957, 117 min.)
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SATURDAY, Noon, Storytelling in the Sculpture Garden
4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Teacher’s Workshop
Noon, Storytelling in the Sculpture Garden
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FRIDAY, Voodoo Festival—Museum Closed
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SATURDAY, Voodoo Festival—Museum Closed
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SUNDAY, Voodoo Festival—Museum Closed
TUESDAY, 4 p.m., NOMA Members Annual Meeting
2 p.m., Film, The Big Sleep (1946, 114 min.)
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SUNDAY, 2 p.m., Lecture, “Weaving American Indian Baskets for Markets, Anthropologists, and Collectors in Louisiana after the Civil War” by Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Holland M. McTyeire Professor of History, Vanderbilt University 2 p.m., Family Workshop, “Pastel: Passed on from the Impressionists”
NOMA EXHIBITION SCHEDULE Blue Winds Dancing: The Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art November 10, 2007 – February 17, 2008
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MONDAY, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Annual Holiday Shop Sale, featuring booksignings from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. by Phil Sandusky (Painting Katrina) and Phillip Collier (Mixing New Orleans: Cocktails & Legends)
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THURSDAY, Happy Thanksgiving—Museum Closed
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FRIDAY, Museum Closed
Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden November 10, 2007 – February 17, 2008
DECEMBER
Gaston Lachaise 1882-1935 Through October 21, 2007 Articles of Beauty: Edo-period Paintings, Prints, Textiles and Decorative Objects Through October 28, 2007
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SUNDAY, 2 p.m., “A Conversation with Artist Rolland Golden” with John Kemp, Author of Katrina—Days of Terror, Months of Anguish: Paintings by Rolland Golden 2 p.m., Family Workshop, “Kachina Workshop”
Home Is Where the Art Is: Zita Marks Templeman (1918-2005)–Artist, Collector, Benefactor Through January 6, 2008
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WEDNESDAY, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Photo NOMA: A Photographer’s Meeting Place (formerly Underexposed)
Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water Through March 2, 2008
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SATURDAY, 2 p.m., Film, PowWow Highway (1989, 105 min.)
From Our Native Clay: Selections of American Art Pottery from the Permanent Collection Ongoing For further information on upcoming exhibitions and events at the New Orleans Museum of Art, call (504) 658-4100, or visit our website at www.noma.org.
ARTS QUARTERLY
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SUNDAY, 2 p.m., Lecture, “From Collector to Curator: A Discussion on the Whitecloud Collection of Native American Art” by Mercedes Whitecloud, Collector, and Paul Tarver, Curator of Native American Art, NOMA, Moderated by Joanna Sternberg, Assistant Director for Education, NOMA
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WEDNESDAY, 4 p.m., NOMA Board of Trustees Meeting
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Post Office Box 19123 New Orleans, Louisiana 70179-0123
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