Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
Winter 2014
DIRECTOR’S LETTER
Susan M. Taylor
Another year is marked off the calendars, and the New Orleans Museum of Art is embarking on an ambitious 2014. This year promises to be full of new exhibitions and initiatives, and more diverse programming than ever before. NOMA begins 2014 by hosting the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) for the Mid-Winter Meeting, January 12-14. This is AAMD’s first return to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, and what a different, revitalized city they will find! Our colleagues at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Contemporary Arts Center will join us in welcoming these professionals representing the leading art museums across North America. The year also starts with a major exterior change—the redesign of the reflecting pool and the installation of a sculpture by the late Roy Lichtenstein. Five Brushstrokes, 1984 (fabricated in 2010), given to the museum by Sydney and Walda Besthoff and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, is a momentous acquisition, and a remarkable example of Lichtenstein’s sculptural work. Five Brushstrokes is art about art, or in the words of Walda Besthoff, “It says art, art, art, here we are!” Its striking presence is a fitting welcome to the museum. The pool and sitting area around the sculpture, which will be completed in the spring, will be a place for visitors to relax and experience the work and the picturesque setting of City Park. Moving indoors, NOMA has redesigned the African art galleries on the third floor. Bill Fagaly, the Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art, has conceived a new installation of NOMA’s African masterpieces. This permanent collection presentation reintroduces visitors to the museum’s significant holdings. Be on the lookout for more new permanent collection installations later in 2014, as our two newest curatorial staff members, Mel Buchanan and Lucia Abramovich, work to reinterpret NOMA’s important decorative arts and Spanish colonial paintings and sculpture. Buchanan, the RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, is focusing on new installations in the second floor decorative arts wing of the museum, and a recent generous endowment gift by NOMA Trustee Tim Favrot will allow her to fully explore new design and curatorial opportunities for this area of the collection. Lucia Abramovich, NOMA’s first Spanish Colonial Fellow, has also begun an in-depth analysis of the museum’s extensive Spanish colonial paintings. We welcome both scholars’ expertise and insight on these areas of strength in the museum’s permanent collection. A recent gift from the Ella West Freeman Foundation will provide lead funding for the reinstallation of the collection. We’re pleased to host one of the most significant photography exhibitions in recent years, organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photography and the American Civil War is a historic display of familiar and rare photographs taken of the Civil War. Opening in January, this exhibition not only documents this harrowing time in American history, but marks the evolving role of the camera. Finally, curator Miranda Lash has dedicated the last several years to an important curatorial undertaking that will premier in New Orleans in February, before its national tour. Mel Chin: Rematch is a major retrospective of the conceptual artist’s work, covering his forty-year career. Chin’s oeuvre, sometimes described as environmental, activist, public or performance, is always compelling, and challenges the boundaries of what defines art. We look forward to welcoming him and presenting his work to our community, and eagerly anticipate the vibrant conversation that it will surely spark. Please join us at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Susan M. Taylor The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director
CONTENTS
Winter 2014
FEATURE
MUSEUM
8 Mel Chin: Rematch
EXHIBITIONS
Retrospective documents forty years of challenging the status quo
4 Photography and the American Civil War
5 More Upcoming Curatorial Programs
COLLECTIONS
6 Roy Lichtenstein Sculpture Debuts in its New Home
5 Chinese Tomb Figures at NOMA
7 The 11th Annual Maya Symposium Holds its Keynote at NOMA 7 Spanish Colonial Art Fellow Joins NOMA Staff
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ROY LICHTENSTEIN
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MEL CHIN: REMATCH
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
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ODYSSEY BLACK AND WHITE BALL
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MAKE A FUNDRED AT NOMA
COMMUNITY VISIT
SUPPORT
12 The 2014 Donna Perret Rosen Lecture
16 NOMA Donors 17 Family Membership Special
LEARN
13 Programs for Children 14 Putting Education First: NOMA’s Educator Advisory Board Leads the Way 15 Get Involved: Make a Fundred at NOMA
18 Love and Odyssey End 2013 on a High Note 20 Tim Favrot Establishes Architecture and Design Endowment 20 NOMA Thanks Trustees for Years of Service 21 Perfect Palette: Art in Bloom Celebrates the Flavor of New Orleans 21 Save the Date for NOMA’s Egg Hunt 22 In Memoriam: George Rodrigue 23 In Memoriam: Allen Eskew 23 Friends and Family Gather for Gallery Dedication 24 Trustees and Acknowledgments
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EXHIBITIONS
PHOTOGR A PH Y A N D THE A MER ICA N CI V IL WA R The American Civil War—the “War between the States”—was not only the great test of the young Republic’s commitment to its founding precepts; it was also a watershed moment in photographic history. The camera recorded from beginning to end the heartbreaking narrative of the epic fouryear war (1861–1865) in which 750,000 lives were lost. More than 200 of the finest and most poignant photographs of the Civil War have been brought together for the landmark exhibition Photography and the American Civil War. Through examples drawn from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s holdings, complemented by exceptional loans from public and private collections, the exhibition will examine the evolving role of the camera during the nation’s bloodiest war. This exhibition will explore, through photography, the full pathos of the brutal conflict that, after 150 years, still looms large in the American public’s imagination. Intimate studio portraits of armed Union and Confederate
soldiers preparing to meet their destiny; battlefield landscapes strewn with human remains; rare multipanel panoramas of the killing fields of Gettysburg and destruction of Richmond; diagnostic medical studies of wounded soldiers who survived the war’s last bloody battles; and portraits of Abraham Lincoln as well as his assassin John Wilkes Booth will all be represented in this exhibition. Featuring groundbreaking works by Mathew B. Brady, George N. Barnard, Alexander Gardner, and Timothy O’Sullivan, among many others, Photography and the American Civil War also examines in-depth the important, if generally misunderstood, role played by Brady, perhaps the most famous of all wartime photographers, in conceiving the first extended photographic coverage of any war. The exhibition addresses the widely held, but inaccurate, belief that Brady produced most of the surviving Civil War images, although he actually made very few field photographs during the conflict. Instead, he commissioned
and published, over his own name and imprint, negatives made by an everexpanding team of field operators, including Gardner, O’Sullivan, and Barnard. Approximately 1,000 photographers worked separately and in teams to produce hundreds of thousands of photographs—portraits and views—that were actively collected during the period (and over the past century and a half ) by Americans of all ages and social classes. In a direct expression of the nation’s changing vision of itself, the camera documented the war and also mediated it by memorializing the events of the battlefield as well as the consequent toll on the home front. Photography and the American Civil War is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Major support for the New Orleans presentation is provided by Kitty and Stephen Sherrill and J.P. Morgan. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by Melanee and Steven Usdin.
[Captain Charles A. and Sergeant John M. Hawkins, Company E, “Tom Cobb Infantry,” Thirty-eighth Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry], 1861–62; Unknown; Ambrotype; David Wynn Vaughan Collection, SL.4.2013.18.1; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
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JOIN US! PHOTOGRAPHY AT NOMA January 17 | 6 p.m. | PANEL DISCUSSION Photography at NOMA: A Curators’ Discussion with Russell Lord, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints and Drawings, in discussion with past NOMA curators Ronald Todd, Tina Freeman, Steven Maklansky, Diego Cortez and NOMA Director Emeritus E. John Bullard
PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR January 31 | 6 p.m. | GALLERY TALK with Russell Lord, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs and Jeff Rosenheim, Curator in Charge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art February 7 | 6 p.m. | LECTURE with Mary Niall Mitchell, the Joseph Tregle Professor of Early American History at the University of New Orleans: “Orphans, Fugitives, and White Slaves: Photographic Propaganda & the Civil War”
CHIN E SE TOMB FIGU R E S AT NOM A Standing upon extremely thin legs, the Camel, pictured above, bears a highly mounded load of blankets and goods. Created in the late sixth century during a period of political disunion after the fall of the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220), this funerary object signified the continued importance of trade along the Silk Road, the overland route between China and the outer reaches of the Roman Empire. This camel is one of over a dozen tomb figures, dating from Han through the Tang dynasties (618-906) on view in Great Hall from February 7-May 9, 2014. These mingqi, or “spirit objects,” were made of low-fire earthenware specifically for burial use, placed in tombs to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. These served as surrogates for the actual humans, animals or other objects needed to ensure that a tomb’s inhabitants preserved their social and economic status in the afterlife. Whether
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“cold painted,” wherein pigments are applied to a previously fired vessel (as in the present example), or decorated with low-fired lead glazes, Chinese potters achieved a wide range of decorative effects. These relatively inexpensive ceramic models allowed survivors to provide a full complement of furnishings and provisions for the deceased; dozens and at times hundreds of mingqi were interred within a single tomb. NOMA celebrates the impact of both ancient and modern aspects of Chinese culture with this display and works in Mel Chin: Rematch, a retrospective of contemporary artist Mel Chin’s work. Chin, a Chinese-American artist born in Houston, has often cited elements of traditional Chinese alchemy as an artistic influence. Camel, China, Northern Qi period, 550-577 Earthenware with cold-painted pigments Gift of Robin and R. Randolph Richmond, Jr., 2005.181.45
March 7 | 6 p.m. | LECTURE with Michael Marshall, author of Gallant Creoles: A History of the Donaldsonville Canonniers
MEL CHIN: REMATCH February 20 | 7:30 p.m. PANEL DISCUSSION with Miranda Lash, NOMA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art; Eleanor Heartney, Independent Cultural Critic; Herb Tam, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Museum of Chinese in America; and Jim Harithas, Director of the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston February 22 | 1 p.m. “Surrealist Toast” for Mel Chin by Andrei Codrescu Poet, essayist, and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu is “going to salute Mel Chin for being one of the 13 righteous Imagination Workers... for a Useful and Interesting World. The Salute will include revealing the recent induction of Chin into the Pataphysical Academy and the Center for Paleocybernetic Research.” You don’t want to miss this!
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COLLECTIONS
Sydney and Walda Besthoff
ROY LICHTENSTEIN SCU LP T U R E DEBU TS IN ITS N EW HOME In October 2012, NOMA announced the acquisition of a major work by artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997). The work, Five Brushstrokes, 1984 (fabricated 2010), was finally installed in front of the museum on the cool, foggy morning of December 9, 2013. Five Brushstrokes is a large-scale, 20-foot tall painted aluminum sculpture, composed of five brushstrokes created in Lichtenstein’s characteristic Pop art style. The fluid, two-dimensional form of paint is transformed into a three-dimensional work. Each colored brushstroke is stacked atop one another, creating a strong vertical image. The work is a gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. On the day of its installation, onlookers gathered on the edge of Collins Diboll Circle to witness the unveiling of the monumental work.
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“Walda and I are delighted to make a home for this piece at NOMA,” said Sydney Besthoff. Roy Lichtenstein, a Manhattanborn artist, was pivotal in shaping the landscape of Pop art in the 1950s and 1960s. Working amidst New York contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein was inspired by comic book illustrations and the Ben-Day dot printing pattern found in these inexpensive publications. He used this aesthetic in his paintings and sculptures, playing upon the exaggerated emotions of his source material. Lichtenstein drew upon the artistic climate of his time and the works of old masters to reflect the cultural perspective of the United States after World War II. The brushstroke for Lichtenstein became a cultural symbol representing the singularity and freedom
of the individual, as well as a reference to the importance of the artist’s hand in the creative process. “We are absolutely delighted to have this major work by one of the most important artists of the 20th century,” said Susan M. Taylor, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “Our gratitude to Sydney and Walda Besthoff is immeasurable, and we also thank the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation for their partnership in making this acquisition possible. Its placement in front of the museum will ensure that it will be celebrated, appreciated and enjoyed by generations of visitors. We are honored to be able to showcase Roy Lichtenstein’s work here at NOMA.” Construction on the sculpture’s surrounding pool, which will feature a stone seating area for visitors, will not be completed until spring 2014.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
THE 11TH
SPA NISH
A N N UA L M AYA
COLONI A L A RT
SY MPOSIU M
FELLOW JOINS
HOLDS ITS
NOM A STA FF
A DDR E S S AT NOM A On Friday, March 21 at 6 p.m. in the Stern Auditorium, NOMA will host the Keynote Address of Tulane University’s Middle American Research Institute (MARI) Maya Symposium. NOMA and MARI are currently collaborating on an exhibition entitled The Trade of Kings: The Business of Being Maya, scheduled for 2017. The address will be given by Dr. Karl Taube of the University of California, Riverside who will guide attendees through the rich world of Mesoamerican art. After the lecture, NOMA will host a reception and a tour of its Pre-Columbian art collection. This year’s symposium, “On the Maya Trail: Ancient Travelers, Epic Voyages,” will explore the many ways the ancient Maya moved across their landscape, whether for the sake of diplomacy, conquest, commerce, migration, or pilgrimage. The entire symposium will be on March 20-23, 2014 at Tulane University and the New Orleans Museum of Art, and will incorporate a wide variety of topics such as archaeology, art history, cultural anthropology, epigraphy, history, and linguistics to explore the research being conducted on the ancient Maya civilization. Entrance to the Keynote Address is open to the public and included with museum admission, but registration is required for other symposium events. To learn more about the symposium, please visit mari.tulane.edu/tms.
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NOMA is pleased to announce the appointment of Lucia Abramovich as the new curatorial fellow for Spanish Colonial Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. “The New Orleans Museum of Art has a unique Art of the Americas collection, with works surveying the cultural heritage of North, Central, and South America,” said Susan M. Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “Our Spanish Colonial collection is widely regarded as having great strength in Peruvian painting as well as major works of furniture and decorative art. We look forward to working with Ms. Abramovich on developing a permanent installation that showcases NOMA’s superb Spanish Colonial collection.” Abramovich is working on a major re-examination of NOMA’s extensive Spanish Colonial holdings, parts of which have recently returned to the museum after a series of longterm loans at national institutions. Ultimately, NOMA will unveil the collection in a new installation. She will also serve as the institutional curator for Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492-1898, an exhibition organized by the Brooklyn Museum of Art that will open at NOMA on June 20, 2013. Abramovich received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology with a minor in Latin American Studies from the college of William & Mary. She received her master’s degree from the Sainsbury Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Norwich,
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K EY NOTE
United Kingdom, where she focused on arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Currently, Ms. Abramovich is working on her doctorate from Tulane University in the Art History & Latin American Studies dual Ph.D. program. Previously, she has worked as a Curatorial Research Assistant at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.
Archangel Michael Triumphant, 17th century, Cuzco School, Peru, Unidentified Artist; polychrome on wood; Museum Purchase and giftg of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Q. Davis and the Stern Fund, 74.279
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Mel Chin: Rematch RETROSPECTIVE OF ARTIST DOCUMENTS FORTY YEARS OF CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
Extraction of Plenty from What Remains 1823–, 1989; Mel Chin, plaster, wood, pulverized sandstone, whitewash, steel, banana tree fibers, mud, coffee, blood, mahogany; Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Conceptual art. Identity politics. Activist art. Environmental art. Political art. These are all terms frequently used to classify the forty-year career of Mel Chin, although no single term quite hits the mark. This February, NOMA will present the first retrospective of Mel Chin’s work. Organized by NOMA’s modern and contemporary art curator Miranda Lash, Mel Chin: Rematch is designed to reflect Chin’s artistic methodology and conceptual approach, stressing the collaborative and viral nature of many of his endeavors. The exhibition will include approximately seventy works, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, major installations, video, and documentation of collective interventions and public works. Challenging the traditional concept of a retrospective as a chronological presentation of a single individual’s work over time, this exhibition will celebrate Chin’s practice of constant mutation, evolution, and re-examination. In his artwork, themes such as violence, soil, alchemy, memory, and empathy resurface over the course of many years. In each iteration, however, they are reconfigured into a new context, making Chin’s trajectory have more in common with the interconnectivity of a spider web than a straightforward path. Although Chin has had solo exhibitions at museums including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1989), the Walker Art Center (1990), The Menil Collection (1991) and the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston (2006), this will be the first exhibition to incorporate and contextualize the major projects and installations from all decades of his career. A fully-illustrated catalogue of the same name will accompany the retrospective exhibition. This catalogue includes essays by Miranda Lash, Eleanor Heartney, critic for Art in America, Patricia C. Phillips, Associate Provost, at the Rhode Island School of Design, Patricia Covo Johnson, former critic for the Houston Chronicle, Herb Tam, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, the Museum of Chinese in America, and poet Andrei Codrescu, among others. The catalogue will also include an extensive illustrated chronology of Chin’s career (the first to-date) by Lisa Crossman, PhD. On the following pages is a recent exchange with Mel Chin. AQ What inspired you to become an artist? MC In my youth I was extremely introverted. Making “art” was a means to connect with others. I was also nearsighted, along with other vision problems, and I think it inwardly pushed me to describe the world visually. 9
What does having a retrospective mean for you? It means time to be introspective. To consider what you owe in the world as you survey what you’ve done in it. Your poster for the “Rematch” exhibition includes photographs of you, positioned as if you are a kind of boxer or fighter. Could you explain the significance of this metaphor? This is based on a classic 1960s Madison Square Garden boxing poster.
Above Composite of screenshots from KNOWMAD, 1999; Mel Chin; media interactive video installation, vintage rugs, fabric tent, projector, windows computer; courtesy of the artist Opposite page, top Safehouse, a facet of Operation Paydirt, 2008; Media Painted wood, metal hardware; courtesy of the artist Opposite page, bottom Operation of the Sun through the Cult of the Hand [Mercury: Principle of Polarity: The Orbital Rebus], 1987; media Eastern white pine, magnet made from every metal (antimony silver, brass, steel, lead, tin and rare earth magnets); courtesy of the artist
There is always a battle if you want to be a contender for something worth championing. When you’re in the ring of art it’s a fight for the survival of ideas. Sometimes it’s about pounding down delusions, sometimes it’s retraining oneself to be more critical. It is an internal battle. You can’t win them all. What is at stake for an artist that is constantly redefining his practice? There is always a chance that it won’t be marketable, or it won’t matter, or it won’t be understood in the time you’re living. Then there’s timing and luck. To practice art is to consider all the variations that might be at stake. Operation Paydirt and the Fundred Dollar Bill Project were both inspired by a trip to post-Katrina New Orleans. Can you talk a little bit about what this project means to you, and what the status of the project is now?
“When you’re in the ring of art it’s a fight for the survival of ideas.”
I always tell people I was not inspired, but compelled, by the situation of post-Katrina New Orleans. My research revealed that a large percentage of inner-city children had elevated lead (Pb) levels before the storm. This was being caused by an invisible environmental toxin. My response was to create something visually compelling, a project that included massive amounts of money hand-drawn by kids. This, along with a plan of action, could be gathered and made valuable through the eventual exchange for support to transform the situation. This is the Fundred Dollar Bill Project. As an engagement and educational project, we have gathered almost 450,000 individual drawings, the Fundred Dollar Bills. So building the “Safehouse,” [in 2008] in the 8th ward of New Orleans, was a first step, a place to introduce the project, meet for information and to gather and display the Fundreds drawn in Louisiana. Now, we are nationally focused on childhood lead poisoning prevention and looking forward to a convening with informed specialists and partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to shape the delivery, exchange and impact of every Fundred made in America. You have often defined art as a “catalytic force” that inspires freedom, options, and imagination. Is this the ultimate goal of your artworks?
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Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
I think I have described making art as something like that. As an “ultimate goal” it’s not a bad one—maybe I should go for it. You have been associated with many labels (though none completely encapsulates the scope of your practice): “Eco artist,” “conceptual artist,” “activist artist,” “performance artist,” etc. If you had to give yourself a category what would it be? In the Taoist tradition there is a striving to simply become a true, or genuine, person — a zhenren. But I can assure you the literature about this is more funky and complicated than that. It seems somewhat impossible to define and impossible to attain. It will suffice to say, I’m an artist in the state of becoming. Mel Chin: Rematch is organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art. Major support for the exhibition is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Creating A Living Legacy Program of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, Stephen Reily, Jeffrey Beauchamp in honor of Toni Beauchamp, Ann and James Harithas, and Molly Kemp. Additional support is provided by Sabrina Franzheim, an anonymous donor, JoAnn Bass and Dr. David Russin, and Myrna and John Daniels.
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VISIT
THE 2014 DON NA PER R ET ROSEN LECT U R E : A CON V ER S ATION W ITH CA LV IN TOMK INS , DODIE K A Z A NJ I A N, A N D A DA M D. W EIN BERG On March 14 at 6 p.m. in the Stern Auditorium, NOMA will present a discussion with esteemed art and culture thought leaders Calvin Tomkins, Dodie Kazanjian, and Adam D. Weinberg. Calvin Tomkins has been a staff arts writer for The New Yorker since 1960. His many profile subjects include Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Buckminster Fuller, Philip Johnson, Julia Child, Georgia O’Keeffe, Leo Castelli, Frank Stella, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Frank Gehry, Damien Hirst, Richard Serra, Matthew Barney, and Jasper Johns. Tomkins was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1978. Dodie Kazanjian is currently the Director of the Arnold & Marie Schwartz Gallery Met at the Metropolitan Opera, and has been a contributing editor for Vogue magazine since 1989. Previously, she was a feature writer for The Washington Post and The Washington Star, and also served as deputy press secretary to then First Lady Nancy Reagan. Following her time in the White House, she was appointed communications director for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as well as editor-in-chief of the NEA’s magazine, ArtsReview. Kazanjian is married to Tomkins, with whom she co-wrote a biography of photographer and longtime Condé Nast Publications editorial director Alexander Liberman.
Adam D. Weinberg has been the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art since 2003. Previously, he was the Director of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover, and also worked at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, where he served as Director of Education and Assistant Curator. In 1989 he joined the Whitney for the first time as Director of the Whitney branch at the Equitable Center. Weinberg then assumed the post of artistic and program director of the American Center in Paris in 1991. He returned to the Whitney as Curator of the Permanent Collection in 1993 and was made Senior Curator in 1998. Weinberg has curated dozens of exhibitions on artists ranging from Edward Hopper, Isamu Noguchi, and Richard Pousette-Dart to Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Alex Katz, and Terry Winters. This annual Donna Perret Rosen Lecture is made possible by Benjamin Rosen, in honor of his wife, Donna, a NOMA trustee. This program is meant to invite art and culture enthusiasts to NOMA to engage in lively discussion on a variety of timely art topics.
The Donna Perret Rosen Lecture March 14, 6 p.m. in the Stern Auditorium Included with regular museum admission ($10), free for members.
Bather, 1916-1917; Jacques Lipchitz; bronze with gold patina; Anonymous gift through The American Federation of Arts, 60.38
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Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
LEARN
GET CREATIVE WITH STUDIO KIDS! Art classes for students ages 5 – 10 This season Studio KIDS! will explore animals in art. Each Saturday students will go on a “safari” in NOMA’s galleries to see how cultures all over the world represent animals. Students will learn two- and three-dimensional techniques. Teaching artist Belinda Tanno provides skill-building lessons and projects inspired by NOMA’s permanent collection. 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Cost per class | $25 members $30 nonmembers
January 4 Dragon Shapes Visit the Asian galleries then learn to draw a dragon! Explore the shapes used to create scales, talons, horns, tails and teeth.
January 18 Drawing in Clay Sketch an animal in the Pre-Columbian gallery then carve your creature in clay in low-relief.
February 1 Furry Friends Learn to draw fur, hair, claws, feathers and other animal parts after spying a variety of animals in the Dutch and Flemish galleries.
NEW: STUDIO KIDS! TEEN ART CLASSES NOMA is now offering skill-building art classes for teens! Each three-hour class will focus on specific materials and techniques. Teaching artist Belinda Tanno will provide engaging projects inspired by NOMA’s works of art. Classes are limited to twelve students. 1 – 4 p.m. Cost per class | $30 members $40 nonmembers
Saturday, February 15 Selfies in Pencil Students will learn pencil technique and principles of shading as they discover the proportions of the face while drawing a self-portrait.
Saturday, March 15
Create animal masks using 3D paper folding and cutting after viewing NOMA’s African masks.
March 15 Printmaking Jungle Explore printing and stamping techniques to create a jungle animal print.
March 29 Clay Creatures Take a safari in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden then build your own animal sculpture in clay.
NOMA invites all members to register their children early for Summer Camp beginning February 17, 2014. NOMA’s camps feature professional teaching artists in a variety of disciplines, who emphasize imagination and creativity as they encourage the development of technical skills. All camps explore NOMA’s permanent collection or special exhibitions. Students may sign up for morning only, afternoon only or full day.
Monday – Friday from June 2 – August 1 (except for the week of July 4)
“In the Studio” visual art camps June: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. July: 1 – 4 p.m.
Mixed Media Landscapes Students will learn texture techniques for drawing and painting trees as they create a mixed media landscape inspired by the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden.
February 15 African Paper Masks
MEMBERS: REGISTER EARLY FOR SUMMER CAMP
“On the Stage” performing art camps June: 1 – 4 p.m. July: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (may include a final performance on Friday afternoon)
SATURDAY STORYQUEST
For information or registration, call 504-658-4128 or email education@noma.org.
Spark creatvity and a love of reading at StoryQuest, where actors, artists, and authors read children’s literature. Major support for StoryQuest is provided by the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation.
11:30 a.m. in the Museum Shop Monet January 4 Winter January 18 Shoes February 1 Zoo February 15 Eyes March 15 Pop Art March 29
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LEARN
PU TTING EDUCATION FIR ST: NOM A’S EDUCATOR A DV ISORY BOA R D LE A DS THE WAY A single painting conveys a wealth of information: we can learn about artistic materials and methods, and the historical period in which it was created, but the painting may also serve as a point of entry into a discussion of scientific principles or math concepts. NOMA’s expansive art collection is a treasure trove of educational resources, and is used to teach a wide variety of subjects outside of visual art: math, science, literature, social studies, and even music. The Department of Interpretation and Audience Engagement (IAE) collaborates with local educators to create vibrant teaching materials inspired by NOMA’s works of art that will enhance students’ learning experiences. NOMA designed an Educator Advisory Board, developed partnerships with other arts education advocates, and engaged field specialists to ensure that our offerings for educators are the most compelling and fascinating in the field. NOMA’s Educator Advisory Board, formed in 2012, consists of nine working teachers who represent many grades and subjects from public, private and parochial schools. The board guides the museum’s efforts to create classroom materials and online tools that incorporate NOMA’s collection with required curriculum. These dedicated educators help identify the best ways to connect with administrators and get NOMA’s materials in the hands of teachers. Andrew Rodgers, a member of the Advisory Board who teaches Upper School painting and drawing programs at Isidore Newman School, says, “The success of arts education in New Orleans is tied inextricably with the interest and
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ability of art teachers to access the world class collection at NOMA.” The Advisory Board also guides the museum on a new, interactive feature of noma.org that will increase that access. In 2014 NOMA will launch an Educator’s Portal through the website that will allow teachers to interact with NOMA and with each other. This area of noma.org, searchable by artist, material, grade level and subject matter, will have lesson plans and classroom activities based on NOMA’s works of art. “This interactive tool will allow educators from all over the world to access the collection and make fresh connections in the classroom,” says Tracy Kennan, NOMA’s Curator of Education. NOMA reaches even more educators through partnerships with arts organizations like KID smART. NOMA serves as a KID smART community partner and host site for their Arts Experiences in Schools (AXIS) program. Like NOMA, KID smART is dedicated to providing training and resources to integrate art in New Orleans classrooms. Their AXIS program for teachers and administrators offers training of integrated lessons modeled by KID smART’s Arts Coaches and professionals from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero and the Kennedy Center. Educators participate in this training at NOMA on four different occasions throughout the school year, and then return to their schools to put what they learn in practice. For other exhibitions, NOMA seeks professional advice from leading educators. For the upcoming Photography and the American Civil
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
War, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NOMA is working with Dr. Mary Niall Mitchell, the Joseph Tregel Professor of Early American History at the University of New Orleans to create materials for middle and high school teachers to teach visual culture of the Civil War. NOMA educators are also working with middle and high school teachers such as Suzanne Perlis, a sixth grade teacher at Metairie Park Country Day School, and JoAnn Baldwin-Glenn, Social Studies Department Chair at International High School of New Orleans, to develop materials that will be presented in an Educator Workshop on Tuesday, February 4, 2014. “NOMA’s rich permanent collection and traveling exhibitions are a goldmine of resources for the classroom,” says Allison Reid, Deputy Director for Interpretation and Audience Engagement. “Each exhibition is a unique opportunity to engage students and make connections with teachers.” “Integrating NOMA’s art into the life of a student requires a coordination of minds, hearts and wills,” adds Theresa Herrera, an Advisory Board member who teaches talented art at J. B. Martin Middle and Luling Elementary in St. Charles Parish. “The Educator Advisory Board’s mission is achieved every time a student experiences a museum tour or an art workshop.”
Sous Terre armored truck (driver Arthur Simons III) receives Fundreds, Arise Academy, New Orleans, 2009, Courtesy of Mel Chin Studio.
GET IN VOLV ED — M A K E A FU N DR ED AT NOM A Students, community members, and NOMA visitors can join artist Mel Chin in raising awareness about the real dangers of lead poisoning in New Orleans and cities across America. Visit NOMA during the exhibition Mel Chin: Rematch and make your own Fundred to get the message across to Congress. What’s a Fundred Dollar Bill? Fundreds are original, hand-drawn interpretations of $100 bills, created by individuals of all ages, sent to Washington D.C. by armored vehicle, and presented to the U.S. Congress. Stacks of Fundreds serve as visual representations of the funding required to remediate and prevent lead poisoning. What’s at NOMA? Stacks of 450,000 Fundreds on a bronze pallet (Chin’s Presentation Pallet for the Fundreds of America, 2014) will be on view at NOMA as part of the retrospective exhibition Mel Chin:
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12.18.13 AQ Winter Jan Feb Mar 2014 interior TM.indd 15
Rematch. NOMA visitors can create and display their own Fundred to add to this national project, originally inspired by New Orleans. How did the Fundred Dollar Bill Project start? On visits to the Crescent City between 2006 and 2008, Mel Chin encountered 86,000 lead contaminated residential properties, inspiring him to begin Operation Paydirt, and its related Fundred Dollar Bill Project to combat the problem. Since then, the project has grown from a few thousand participants to over 400,000, and continues to expand. The goal is to send millions of Fundreds to the United States Congress and ask them to match the Fundreds with funding for awareness, education, and the remediation of lead contamination. More information about the Fundred Dollar Bill Project is available on www.fundred.org.
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SUPPORT The New Orleans Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges our donors, who make our exhibitions, programming, and daily operations possible. We appreciate your continued support of NOMA and its mission. Thank you!
Foundation and Government Support
THE ISA AC DELGADO SOCIETY The Isaac Delgado Society celebrates those who have made a bequest or planned gift to NOMA. H. Russell Albright
Thomas B. Lemann
$50,000 - $99,999
Barbara and Wayne Amedee
John and Tania Messina
The Gulf Tourism and Seafood Promotional Fund
City of New Orleans
Joseph and Sue Ellen Canizaro
Anne and King Milling
The Selley Foundation
Mrs. Carmel (Babette) Cohen
James A. Mounger
Patrick F. Taylor Foundation
Windgate Charitable Foundation
Mickey Easterling
Pixie and James Reiss
Lin Emery
Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Renwick
William A. Fagaly
Arthur Roger
Lyn and John Fischbach
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Rosen
Tim and Ashley Francis
Brian Sands
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Freeman
Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford
The Lupin Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Hansel
Nancy Stern
$150,000 - $199,999
The RosaMary Foundation
Abba J. Kastin, MD
Mrs. John N. Weinstock
The Institute of Museum and Library Services
New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau
Lee Ledbetter and Douglas Meffert
Mercedes Whitecloud
Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation
State of Louisiana Office of the Lieutenant Governor
$500,000 and above
Zemurray Foundation
$20,000 - $49,999
$200,000 - $499,999
The Bertuzzi Family Foundation
The Azby Fund
The Harry T Howard III Foundation
The Helis Foundation
Goldring Family Foundation
Louis Feil Charitable Lead Annuity Trust
Louisiana Division of the Arts
$100,000-$149,000 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Byrnes Family Trust Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation Ella West Freeman Foundation
$10,000-$19,999
NOMA BUSINESS COUNCIL
The Booth-Bricker Fund
Centurion
Bronze
Étant Donnés, The French American Fund for Contemporary Art
International-Matex Tank
Corporate Realty
Terminals
Ernst & Young
Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation The Garden Study Club of New Orleans
Platinum Superior Energy Services, Inc.
NOLA Media Group
Gold
Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust
Chevron
Boh Bros. Construction Company, LLC
Sapphire
$100,000 and above
$20,000-$49,999
Sydney and Walda Besthoff
Chevron
Paul M. Fleming
Peoples Health
Joshua Mann Pailet
Stephen Reily
Jolie and Robert Shelton and International Well Testers, Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. James J. Reiss Jr.
Green Basin St. Station
Herman, Herman & Katz, LLC
Corporate and Individual Support
First NBC Bank
Bayou Lacombe Construction Company
Silver
Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company Hotel Monteleone Neal Auction Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune World Trade Center of New Orleans
Whitney Bank
Wells Fargo
$50,000 - $99,999
$10,000-$19,999 Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth
SAVE THE DATE
Frischhertz Electric Company
Greater Lakeside Corp.
IBERIABANK
Adrea D. Heebe
NOMA BUSINESS COUNCIL
Molly O’Connor Kemp
The Business Council gathered for its inaugural breakfast meeting on October 2, 2013. The 2014 gatherings will be held on Tuesday, April 8 and Tuesday, October 7, both at 8 a.m. Mark your calendars!
Nicholas Metivier Gallery Mrs. Robert Nims Josephine Sacabo Brian Sands
For additional information on exhibition sponsorship and program support, please contact Brooke Minto at (504) 658-4107 or bminto@noma.org. 16
For more information on the Isaac Delgado Society and NOMA Business Council, please contact Gia Rabito at (504) 658-4129 or grabito@noma.org. Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
FA MILY
NOMA CIRCLES President’s Circle
Patron’s Circle
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Bertuzzi Mr. and Mrs. Sydney J. Besthoff III
Dr. Ronald G. Amedee and Dr. Elisabeth H. Rareshide
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph O. Brennan
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Baumer Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. David F. Edwards
Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Boh
Dr. and Mrs. Ludovico Feoli
Dr. L. Jay Bourgeois III
Ms. Adrea D. Heebe and Mr. Dominick A. Russo Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. Isidore Cohn Jr.
Mrs. Paula L. Maher
Mrs. John J. Colomb Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Mayer
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy B. Francis
Mrs. Robert Nims
Mr. and Mrs. James J. Frischhertz
Jolie and Robert Shelton
Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. George
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Sherrill
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Goodyear
Mrs. Patrick F. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. H. Merritt Lane III Mr. Paul J. Leaman Jr.
Director’s Circle Mr. and Mrs. Herschel L. Abbott Jr. Mrs. Jack R. Aron Mr. Justin T. Augustine III Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Coleman Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Favrot Jr. Dr. and Mrs. John F. Fraiche Ms. Tina Freeman and Mr. Philip Woollam Mrs. Lawrence D. Garvey Mrs. JoAnn Flom Greenberg Mr. Jerry Heymann Dr. Howard and Dr. Joy D. Osofsky Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Patrick Mrs. Charles S. Reily Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Rosen
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Lemann Dr. Edward D. Levy Jr. Mr. and Mrs. J. Thomas Lewis Dr. and Mrs. E. Ralph Lupin Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Masinter Ms. Kay McArdle Mr. and Mrs. R. King Milling Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Moffitt Dr. and Mrs. James F. Pierce
MEMBER SHIP SPECI A L Opening January 31, 2104, Photography and the American Civil War provides an opportunity for families across the community to come together and learn more about this poignant time in American history. To celebrate this monumental exhibition, NOMA is offering a special discount on Family Memberships. For a limited time, use the code CIVILWAR18 when purchasing a Family Membership, and receive 18 months of membership benefits for the price of 12. Use the code online at noma.org, or over the phone by calling (504) 658-4130. This offer ends when Photography and the American Civil War closes on May 4, 2014.
Mr. and Mrs. James J. Reiss Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Edward F. Renwick Mr. and Mrs. George G. Rodrigue Mr. and Mrs. Edward Shearer Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Siegel Mr. and Mrs. Lynes R. Sloss
Mr. and Mrs. Brian A. Schneider
Ms. E. Alexandra Stafford and Mr. Raymond M. Rathle Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Soltis
Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford
Mr. Joel J. Soniat
Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Strub
Mrs. Harold H. Stream Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen F. Stumpf Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Taylor
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Thomas
Ms. Catherine Burns Tremaine Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Usdin Mrs. Henry H. Weldon
SAVE THE DATE NOMA FELLOWS The Fellows Dinner is an annual event that honors NOMA’s Circles and Fellows members. Each Fellows Dinner also celebrates a philanthropic leader of the community with the Isaac Delgado Memorial Award. This year’s dinner is February 8, 2014 at 6:30 p.m.
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[James A. Holeman, Company A, “Roxboro Grays,” Twenty-fourth North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia], 1861–62; Unknown; Ambrotype; David Wynn Vaughan Collection, SL.4.2013.18.12; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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SUPPORT
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LOV E A N D ODYS SEY CLOSE 201 3 ON A HIGH NOTE
1. Guests of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 2. Pam and Ralph Lupin 3. Jennifer and John Rareshide 4. Christine and Price LeBlanc 5. Pam and Jay Bryan 6. Julie and Ted George 7. Susan M. Taylor, Grover Mouton, Lin Emery, Sydney and Walda Besthoff, Richard Johnson, Amanda Talley, Courtney Egan
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NOMA’s two fall fundraising events, LOVE in the Garden and Odyssey bring together NOMA supporters from all over the region and country, to celebrate the museum and all its efforts to educate and engage the New Orleans community. On Friday, September 27, 2013, NOMA’s LOVE in the Garden honored five artists who are staples of the New Orleans cultural community: Lin Emery, Courtney Egan, Richard Johnson, Grover Mouton, and Amanda Stone Talley. The annual celebration in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, co-chaired by Elizabeth LeBlanc and Jennifer Rareshide, featured an
open bar, cuisine from nearly forty restaurants, and live music provided by some of the city’s greatest talent, including the Brass-A-Holics. The 2013 LOVE in the Garden also celebrated a recent milestone for the museum: the tenth anniversary of the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Sydney and Walda Besthoff served as Honorary Chairs of the event. Special thanks to Michael Glassberg from the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone, Daniel Victory from Victory, Hendricks Gin Ambassador Hayley Waldner, and Sara Balishinas, who all served festive specialty cocktails.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY J U DY C O O P ER
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Deep thanks also to Lexus of New Orleans, Silver Sponsor; NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, Media Sponsor; and Sydney and Walda Besthoff, the Lupin Foundation, Octavia Art Gallery, Regions Bank, and Jane and Rodney Steiner, all Bronze Sponsors, for underwriting the event. Odyssey, presented by IBERIABANK, was yet another memorable occasion. On November 9, 2013, hundreds attended the “Black and White Ball,” co-chaired by Marilee and Andrew Hovet. The Black and White Ball, inspired by Truman Capote’s famous affair at The Plaza Hotel in 1966, also served as
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the premier viewing of Photography at NOMA: Selections from the Permanent Collection. This exhibition, curated by Russell Lord, contains over 150 works from NOMA’s expansive permanent photography collection, from the 1840s to the present. The night of dining and dancing also featured an outstanding selection of items at the silent auction, sponsored by Chevron, John Burton Harter Foundation, Goldring Foundation, Greater Lakeside Corporation and Jolie and Robert Shelton. One lucky guest also won a $15,000 shopping spree courtesy of the Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry Artful Chances raffle.
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Ball guests enjoyed the LSUAlabama game in the Young Fellows Tent, sponsored by Jones Walker, New Orleans Audi, and Kitty and Stephen Sherrill. This year’s Sponsor Lounge was presented by Lupin Foundation and Peoples Health. Thanks also to Media Sponsor The New Orleans Advocate, for their publicity of the event.
8. Tommy Westervelt and Margaret Beer 9. Brent Wood, Jolie and Robert Shelton 10. Guests of the New Orleans Advocate 11. E. John Bullard and Lin Emery 12. Meg and Will Baldwin 13. Andrew and Marilee Hovet
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SUPPORT
NOM A TH A N K S TRUSTEE S FOR Y E A R S OF SERV ICE
TIM FAV ROT E STA BLISHE S N EW A RCHITECT U R E A N D DE SIGN EN DOW MEN T AT NOM A The New Orleans Museum of Art is pleased to announce the creation of the Favrot Architecture and Design Endowment. Established by Mr. and Mrs. H. Mortimer Favrot Jr., this endowment enables the museum to explore innovative architecture and design focused curatorial strategies and programs. “Tim Favrot’s generous gift will pave the way for exciting new curatorial opportunities at NOMA,” Director Susan M. Taylor said. “This endowment will allow NOMA to explore the role of architecture and design in the arts through exhibitions and programming.” The Favrot Architecture and Design Endowment will support the programs designed to engage visitors on the unique architecture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region, through collaborations with guest
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experts and professionals in the field. The endowment will also offer expanded curatorial opportunities to Mel Buchanan, NOMA’s new RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, who will have the ability to make objects in NOMA’s decorative arts collection meaningful to the community through the telling of their stories: their designs, cultural contexts, and journeys to New Orleans. Favrot, who received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Tulane University School of Architecture in 1953, and a Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1957, is an active member of the New Orleans architecture community, and has previously supported major architecture initiatives and programs at Tulane University. He is currently Chairman Emeritus of Favrot & Shane Companies.
NOMA is grateful to have the support of a dedicated board of trustees, who offer their counsel and guidance on every aspect of the museum’s operations. Special thanks to these seven civic leaders whose board terms reached their end in 2013: Stephanie Feoli, Tim Francis, Lee Hampton, Adee Heebe, Kay McArdle, Pixie Reiss, and Liz Sloss. Kay McArdle, who most recently served as Treasurer, looks back fondly on her time spent serving: “I have been on the NOMA board for the past seven years and it has been a rewarding and exciting experience. I was part of a great team comprised of staff and the board. The teamwork has been incredible and has resulted in many positive changes and progress.” Pixie Reiss reflects on her past few years at NOMA: “It has been a hugely interesting experience to be part of such a great institution during a time of enormous changes and landmark celebrations. Being on the board with so many accomplished and interesting people has been an invaluable experience. “As a departing NOMA board member,” says Lee Hampton, “I have enjoyed the opportunity to be part of a dynamic, supportive, and dedicated team of volunteers. During my tenure, the board achieved lofty goals set forth in strategic and tactical plans, and relied on an extremely knowledgeable and conscientious staff to manage programs and operations.” The new year also brings new faces to this team. NOMA welcomes to the Board of Trustees: Gail Bertuzzi, Penny Francis, Bob Hinckley, Jolie Shelton, Susu Stall, Rob Steeg, and Frank Stewart. The museum staff welcomes their expertise and looks forward to a productive year.
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
S AV E THE DATE FOR NOM A’S EG G H U N T
NOMAEggHunt
RO M A N A LO K H IN
Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 5, 2014 for the NOMA Egg Hunt in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. This wonderful springtime festivity is lead by co-chairs, Elizabeth Woods, Margaret Villere and Heather Reznik. They invite you and hundreds of children and their families for a fun-filled day featuring egg hunts, a petting zoo, spacewalks, face painting, crafts activities and more!
PER FECT PA LETTE: A RT IN BLOOM CELEBR ATE S THE FL AVOR OF N EW OR LE A NS The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Garden Study Club of New Orleans are gearing up for Art in Bloom, sponsored by Whitney Bank from March 19-23, 2014. Co-chaired by Erica Reiss and Allison Tiller, the annual five-day celebration will showcase exhibitors who create spectacular floral designs throughout the museum, based off works of art in NOMA’s galleries. This year’s theme is “Perfect Palette: Celebrating the Flavor of New Orleans.” Art in Bloom showcases over seventy-five floral designers, garden clubs, and artists who transform the museum into a botanical paradise. Proceeds from Art isn Bloom events benefit the exhibitions and educational projects at NOMA and the community projects of the Garden Study Club. To purchase tickets to any of the events, check noma.org or call (504) 658-4121. www.noma.org
Patron and Preview Party Wednesday March 19, 2014 Enjoy culinary masterpieces by the finest area restaurants and caterers Bid at a silent auction of unique works of art by some of the regions’ most gifted artists Be among the first to view the amazing and colorful creations
Lectures and Luncheon Thursday, March 20, 2014 Marguerite Green: Manager, Root Studio at NOCCA and licensed horticulturist, florist and arborist Danielle Rollins: author of Soiree: Entertaining with Style Saks Fifth Avenue fashion show and catered lunch at the beautiful Pavilion of the Two Sisters
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IN MEMORY
Left Portrait of George E. Burch, Jr., contemporary; George Rodrigue; oil on canvas; Gift of Burch Heart Research and Education Fund, 87.128 Right We Stand Together, 2005; George Rodrigue; Steel, aluminum, chrome and polychrome, acrylic paint; Gift in memory of Mignon McClanahan Wolfe, 2007.23
IN MEMOR I A M: GEORGE RODR IGU E
J U DY C O O P ER
Louisiana artist, humanitarian, and creator of the iconic Blue Dog, George Rodrigue passed away on December 14, 2013 at the age of 69. Although internationally known for his brightly hued Blue Dog paintings, Rodrigue began his career painting evocative portraits and southern landscapes with moss-covered oak trees, reflecting on his Cajun upbringing in New Iberia, Louisiana. The Blue Dog, inspired by a pet named “Tiffany,” was created as an illustration of the loupgarou, a werewolf popular in Cajun folklore. Rodrigue’s work is in many private collections, including those of politicians and celebrities, and he was honored by the Salon des Artistes in Paris and given the Gold Medal for the Arts in Italy. In 2008, over 52,000 visitors—a record for an exhibition by a living artist—came to the New Orleans Museum of Art to view Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs, and Beyond Katrina, a major retrospective of his work. Following the exhibition, NOMA continued to tour selections of
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Rodrigue’s work to museums and art centers around the state for several years. NOMA holds numerous works by Rodrigue in its permanent collection, including We Stand Together, 2005, a large-scale Blue Dog sculpture located in the Oak Grove of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Rodrigue also used his artwork to advocate for his home state and NOMA, and raised thousands of dollars to support the museum’s reopening after Hurricane Katrina. In 2009, he founded the George Rodrigue Foundation for the Arts, and extended his assistance to art education programs for youth. NOMA Director Susan M. Taylor said, “George was a not only a talented artist, but a generous, altruistic person. He is personally responsible for much of NOMA’s revitalization immediately after Hurricane Katrina, when art institutions in the Gulf South were struggling to stay afloat. We are proud to preserve his artistic legacy in our permanent collection for future generations. He will be missed.”
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
J U DY C O O P ER
FR IEN DS A N D FA MILY GATHER FOR GA LLERY DEDICATION
Noted architect, designer, and beloved friend of NOMA Allen Eskew passed away on December 10, 2013. He was 65 years old. Eskew was one of the lead architects who worked on the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition in New Orleans, and was responsible for the revitalization of the Mississippi Riverfront and Warehouse District through a significant number of projects, including the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Aquarium of the Americas, and Woldenberg Park. His relationship with NOMA can be traced to the late 1980s, when he was appointed the principal architect in the museum’s 55,000-square-foot expansion, which was completed in 1993. He also collaborated with NOMA and the Tulane School of Architecture to present the Eskew+Dumez+Ripple lecture featuring architect Rafael Moneo in January of 2012. “Allen was a good friend; we worked closely many times,” remembers Bill Fagaly, the Francoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art. “When working
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on the museum’s expansion, he was always sensitive to the needs of the institution, and cultivated a positive work environment. He was a true lover of the arts.” One of his most recent local projects was the Reinventing the Crescent Development Plan, which re-envisioned the six-mile stretch along the East Bank of the Mississippi River from Jackson Avenue to the former Holy Cross school site, granting residents and visitors access to the river. Eskew’s architectural savvy aside, friends describe him as amiable and enthusiastic, and always upbeat no matter what challenges were presented. All who knew him cherished his warm, sympathetic personality and sharp intellect. “Allen’s insight transformed the New Orleans Museum of Art, and gave it new opportunities for growth,” says Director Susan M. Taylor. “He was a creative, engaged collaborator who loved art and all that it represented. It was always a pleasure to be with him in the galleries as he helped us re-imagine our spaces.”
J U DY C O O P ER
IN MEMOR I A M: A LLEN E SK EW
On November 12, 2013, friends and family of Joshua Mann Pailet gathered to celebrate the dedication of the A. Charlotte Mann and Joshua Mann Pailet Gallery at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Located on NOMA’s second floor, this space is named in honor of Joshua Mann Pailet and his mother Charlotte for their continued support of the arts and the New Orleans Museum of Art. The gallery will be dedicated to showing primarily photographs that relate to the Modern paintings and sculpture in the adjacent galleries on the second floor.
Top Joshua Mann Pailet Bottom Joshua Mann Pailet and Russell Lord
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2014 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Rob Steeg
SUPPORT ACKNOWLEDGMENT
David F. Edwards President
Frank Stewart
Julie George Vice-President
Robert Taylor
The programs of the New Orleans Museum of Art are supported in part by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Arts Council of New Orleans, the Helis Foundation, Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation, Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust, and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.
Mrs. Richard L. Strub
Melanee Gaudin Usdin
Mike Siegel Vice-President
Brent Wood
Donna Perret Rosen Vice-President
NATIONAL TRUSTEES
Tommy Coleman Secretary
Joseph Baillio Mrs. Carmel Cohen
Suzanne Thomas Treasurer
Mrs. Mason Granger
Herschel L. Abbott Jr. Executive Committee
Herbert Kaufman, MD
Jerry Heymann
Sydney J. Besthoff III Executive Committee
Mrs. James Pierce
E. Ralph Lupin, MD Executive Committee
Mrs. Henry H. Weldon
Justin T. Augustine III Gail Catharine Bertuzzi Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali Susan Brennan Kia Silverman Brown Robin Burgess Daryl Byrd Edgar L. Chase III Maurice Cox H.M. “Tim” Favrot Jr. Penny Francis Tina Freeman Susan G. Guidry Dana Hansel Bob Hinckley Ms. Allison Kendrick Mayor Mitch Landrieu Paul Masinter Mrs. Charles B. Mayer Mrs. Michael Moffitt Howard J. Osofsky, MD J. Stephen Perry Brian Schneider Jolie Shelton Kitty Duncan Sherrill Ms. Alexandra Stafford Susu Stall
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Debra B. Shriver
Mrs. Billie Milam Weisman
HONOR ARY LIFE MEMBERS Russell Albright, MD Mrs. Jack R. Aron Mrs. Edgar L. Chase Jr. Isidore Cohn Jr., MD Prescott N. Dunbar S. Stewart Farnet
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art EDITOR
Taylor Murrow
Sandra Draughn Freeman
ART DIRECTOR
Kurt A. Gitter, MD
Aisha Champagne
Mrs. Erik Johnsen
PRINTING
Richard W. Levy, MD Mr. J. Thomas Lewis Mrs. Paula L. Maher Mrs. J. Frederick Muller Mrs. Robert Nims Mrs. Charles S. Reily Jr. R. Randolph Richmond Jr. Mrs. Frederick M. Stafford Harry C. Stahel Mrs. Moise S. Steeg Jr. Mrs. Harold H. Stream Mrs. James L. Taylor Mrs. John N. Weinstock
DocuMart Arts Quarterly (ISSN 0740-9214) is published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA 70124 © 2014, New Orleans Museum of Art. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or reprinted without permission of the publisher.
RIGHT Love Pool, 2005 (detail); John Alexander; Oil on canvas; Promised Gift of Pixie and James J. Reiss, Jr. INSIDE COVER Virgin of Guadalupe, Spain, mid 18th century; Unidentified Artist, Cuzco School; oil on fabric; Museum purchase, 74.270 FRONT COVER Cluster: Sulfobromophthalein [AK-47], 2005 - 2006 (detail); Mel Chin; media Precious metal, gemstones, four jewelry designs derived from forensic and medical histories of warrelated wounds and trauma: courtesy of the artist BACK COVER [Game Board with Portraits of President Abraham Lincoln and Union Generals], 1862 (detail), Unknown, albumen silver prints from glass negatives Brian D. Caplan Collection, SL.4.2013.2.5 Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art
Arts Quarterly New Orleans Museum of Art P.O. Box 19123 New Orleans, LA 70179-0123 Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! @ NOMA1910