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LANDSCAPES OF EXTRACTION / OSCAR MUÑOZ / FREEDOM MUST BE LIVED phxart.org
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I T I S BY GOIN G DO W N IN T O T H E A BY S S T H AT W E R E CO V E R T H E T R E A S U R E S OF L IF E . – JOSEPH CAMPBELL
Tucked within the bowels of the Earth lie precious stones and metals, each of which we have deemed worthwhile due to the effort, the danger, and the sacrifice required to find, to mine, to possess. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the treasures of art, the most profound expressions of creativity and discovery, are considered rare for the effort and extraordinary vision it takes for each artist to delve deep within and find their own voice, their own eye, their own story. Throughout the pages of this issue, we offer these types of treasures: works of art from across our collection that provide opportunities to come together and celebrate the steady recovery of our community and that, most of all, represent a place open to everyone, a place where each of us can discover something beautiful, something rare, something real.
image credit:
Erika Osborne, The Chasm of Bingham, 2012. Oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist.
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C O N T E N T S 5 6 7 8 36 40 42 43
Letter from the Director Letter from the Chair of the Board Museum News Diversifying the Contemporary Art Collection Acknowledgment / Museum Donors ACI Holiday Luncheon Arts Education Revamped The Museum Store
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On View American and European Art Reframed The Golden Temple: Center of Sikh Faith This Just In: A Spotlight on Recent Acquisitions Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes of Arizona Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West 24 Freedom Must Be Lived: Marion Palfi’s America, 1940-1978 28 Fashion’s Subversives 30 Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia
image credits: (front cover) Jerry Bywaters, Oil Field Girls, 1940. Oil on board. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Michener Acquisitions Fund, 1984. Courtesy of family of Jerry Bywaters. (above from top, left to right) Oscar Muñoz, La mirada del cíclope (The Cyclop´s Gaze), 2002-2009 [still]. Single-channel HD video without sound (Video monocanal HD, sin sonido), 3 min. 1 sec. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist; Rupy C. Tut, Golden Temple (Darshan, Interior), 2020. Natural pigments on handmade hemp paper. The Khanuja Family. Photo: Mike Lundgren; Elizabeth Layton, “I’m Into Walking”, 1988. Pencil, colored pencil, paper. Gift of the artist. Courtesy of the estate of Elizabeth Layton; Lew Davis, Copper Camp— Spring, 1938. Oil on board. Bequest of Iris L. Darlington.
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FROM THE DIRECTOR
DEARFRIENDS
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ummer greetings! I hope this latest issue of PhxArt Magazine finds you and your loved ones in good health, enjoying a careful and safe return to post-quarantine life. We have many exciting things in store this summer and fall, and I am joined by the entire staff and our Board of Trustees in welcoming you back to your Phoenix Art Museum. With the departure of our former director, Tim Rodgers, PhD, on June 30, I am honored to have been appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as the Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO while our national search for a new director is underway. On behalf of all of us at the Museum, we are very grateful for the time we had with Tim, who helped to lead us through the challenges of COVID-19 and beyond. Tim has accepted a new position with the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan, and we wish him all the best in his new role. All of our staff, with the support of our Board of Trustees, are committed to ensuring a smooth transition to our new director in the year to come. We have formed a search committee, led by Trustee David Lenhardt, that will build upon the good work of the last search. The Museum will work with Koya Leadership Partners, a search firm that specializes in recruiting highly qualified and skilled museum leaders. We look forward to continuing to update you in the months ahead on our progress. During his time with the Museum, Tim and our incredible curatorial staff developed a number of exciting exhibitions and new installations that will be on view this summer and fall, many of which present beloved works in the Museum’s collection in reimagined ways and in new contexts with artworks that span collecting areas. Soon, you will enjoy the fruits of those labors with a full reinstallation of the Museum’s Art of the Americas and Europe galleries, featuring both familiar and seldom seen works installed together from the Museum’s European, American and Western American, Latin American, and modern and contemporary art collections, as well as the Museum’s own fashion-design collection.
M A R K K O E NIG The Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Phoenix Art Museum
There is so much in store for visitors of all ages and interests at Phoenix Art Museum… there is much to celebrate together. I look forward to seeing you in the galleries.”
Later in the fall, we will also celebrate the re-opening of the newly updated and refurbished Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis in its original location on the Museum’s first floor, across from the Art of Asia galleries. One of our original founders, Curtis created works that are among the most familiar and popular in our collection, and guests will be able to enjoy them in their original home, in context with other works from the American art collection. There is so much in store for visitors of all ages and interests at Phoenix Art Museum. While we have much work to do as we continue our national search for a new director, there is much to celebrate together. I look forward to seeing you in the galleries. With gratitude,
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FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
DE A R F RIE ND S A
s we continue to navigate the final days of the pandemic, we can truly see a bright light at the end of the tunnel for our families and community in Arizona. The experience of the pandemic was an eye-opener. Almost overnight, our way of life suffered serious disruption, and we were faced with the fragility of that life as we sought to protect the most vulnerable among us. We also witnessed the vulnerability of institutions and industries, as many organizations struggled mightily to make ends meet in the face of necessary lockdowns and quarantines. Only through a willingness to support each other have we been able to weather this storm and move confidently toward recovery.
P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M 2 0 21– 2 0 2 2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES CH A IR Mark Feldman
CH A IR E L E C T Don Opatrny
V ICE CH A IR S MARK FELDMAN
For arts and cultural institutions such as Phoenix Art Chair of the Board Museum, the pandemic had an immediate impact on our of Trustees financial stability. Forced to close our doors to help stop Phoenix Art Museum the spread of the virus, we found ourselves facing the greatest challenges of our 60-year history. Now nearly a year and half later, I am grateful to report that the Museum has been able to navigate these challenging days, thanks to a combination of support from federal relief programs and through the support of our own community. From our longstanding loyal donors and Circles of Support, to Museum Members and weekly visitors, so many of you have stepped forward to help sustain the Museum. Thank you for your investment in the Museum. It made all the difference. I also wish to extend a special thanks to my colleagues who serve on the Board of Trustees and who came together for a special COVID-19 fundraising effort. Together, The Opatrny Family Foundation, Sue and Bud Selig, Dr. Parvinder Khanuja, and many others gave more than $765,000 in general operating support for the Museum, in addition to funds that directly support upcoming Museum exhibitions. Men’s Arts Council, a Museum support group, also provided vital general operating and exhibition support, and we are grateful for their ongoing commitment to our mission and our community. Additionally, the generosity of UMB Bank, represented on our Board by Robert Faver, enabled us to launch last fall a reduced admission program for kids so young people who would normally visit on school field trips and their families could continue to enjoy the Museum. My fellow Trustee Judy Goldberg, joined by her husband, Bill, stepped in to continue the program from February 2021 through this summer. I would additionally like to acknowledge SRP, represented on our board by Rob Taylor, which provided funding for the Museum’s Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays, and Shamrock Foods Foundation, represented on our board by Ann Ocaña, for its support of the Military Access Program (MAP@PAM). Finally, thank you to APS for their vital support this past year as well. In this issue, you’ll also read more about the transformative generosity of Dawn and David Lenhardt, Rich and Sally Lehmann, Doris and Dr. Hong-Kee Ong, and Nancy Hanley Eriksson. Each of these Trustees stepped up to support innovative and exciting programs in support of the Museum. I am truly grateful for my colleagues on the Board, particularly for their wise and careful leadership and their ongoing support during this time. I am grateful for the Museum’s staff, led over the past year by Tim Rodgers, PhD, who has now concluded his time with the Museum, as he leaves Arizona for New York. Together, with the support and loyalty of our Members and our community, we have a bright future, as we fight the good fight for the legacy of Phoenix Art Museum, together.
David Lenhardt Meredith von Arentschildt
T R E A S U R E R Blair Portigal
S E CR E TA R Y John W. Graham Ruben E. Alvarez Alice Bazlen Drew M. Brown* Gloria P. Cowen Harold C. Dorenbecher Jacquie Dorrance* Carter Emerson Robert Faver Judy Goldberg Sara T. Gordon Michael Greenbaum* Nancy Hanley Ericksson Lila Harnett* Jon Hulburd Jane Jozoff Ellen Katz* Parvinder Khanuja, MD Don Kile Alan W. Kosloff Sally Lehmann Mitch Menchaca** Ann M. Ocaña Sally A. Odegard Doris Ong Kimberly F. Robson Terry Roman Sue Selig Ann Siner Rob Taylor Carl D. Thoma *Honorary Trustee **Ex-Officio
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MUSEUM NEWS
COM M UNI T Y I M P A C T SUMMER/FALL 2021
Mark Koenig The Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Mark Feldman Chair of the Board of Trustees
E DI T O R I A L S TA F F Executive Editor / Nikki DeLeon Martin Managing Editor / Samantha Andreacchi Creative Director / Michael Bartley Photography Editor / Airi Katsuta
C O N T RI BU T I N G E DI TO R S
Linda Alvarez, Museum Educator Janet Baker, PhD, Curator of Asian Art Vanessa Davidson, PhD, Curator of Latin American Art at The Blanton Museum of Art Betsy Fahlman, PhD, Adjunct Curator of American Art Helen Jean, the Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design Tim Rodgers, PhD, the former Sybil Harrington Director and CEO Audrey Sands, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography Gilbert Vicario, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Rachel Sadvary Zebro, Assistant Curator
CO N N E C T W I T H U S @phxart 1625 North Central Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1685 phxart.org 602.257.1222 602.257.2124 602.257.2115 602.257.2173
24-HOUR INFORMATION MEMBERSHIP OFFICE CIRCLES OF SUPPORT VOLUNTEER OFFICE
Through the support of local organizations and dedicated community members, Phoenix Art Museum continues to increase access to the arts through reduced-admission opportunities and free-access times.
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hoenix Art Museum extends a heartfelt thank you to Judy and Bill Goldberg, whose gift in support of the Museum’s PhxArt Field Trip for Kids program has made it possible for more than 7,000 children and youth to visit the Museum since February 2021 at a discounted rate of $5 per youth, which represents a 60% reduction in youth admission. During a time when the Museum’s school-field trip program remains suspended due to COVID-19, the program provides an affordable way for children and working families financially impacted by these unprecedented times to visit the Museum and connect with inspiring art. During the length of the program, which launched in October 2020 and runs through August 2021, PhxArt Field Trip for Kids has provided nearly 9,500 youth with discounted admission. We are also deeply grateful for the ongoing support of SRP and Wells Fargo, along with Museum Members and Circles of Support donors, whose generosity continues to enable us to open free to our community during weekly Pay-What-You-Wish Wednesdays from 3 – 7 pm and monthly First Fridays, also from 3 – 7 pm. Their support has truly sustained the Museum during one of the most serious crises of its 60-year history.
S U P P O R T IN G L OC A L A R T I S T S In April 2021, Phoenix Art Museum announced a newly branded annual artists’ grants program. Made possible through the generosity of local donors Sally and Richard Lehmann, with additional support from Cattryn Somers and Michael Cafiso, the Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards provides up to three jury-selected, Arizona-based artists with a grant of $1,500 each and the opportunity to display new work in an annual exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum. The Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards replace the former Contemporary Forum Artists’ Grants that concluded in 2017, at which time the Museum continued to subsidize an annual artists grants’ program. Now, thanks to the generosity of the Lehmann family, the program will be fully funded annually for a minimum of 10 years. The first submission period for the new Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards is now closed. Award recipients will be announced in September 2021, and the exhibition of works by selected artists will premiere in 2022 at Phoenix Art Museum. FOR QUESTIONS, EM AIL CURATORIAL@PHXART.ORG .
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MUSEUM NEWS
DI V ERSIF Y ING T HE CONTEMPORARY ARTCOLLECTION Through the outstanding generosity of Valley philanthropists Dawn and David Lenhardt, in February 2021 Phoenix Art Museum expanded the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative to support the diversification of the Museum’s contemporary art collection.
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stablished in 2017, the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative sought to deepen the Museum’s commitment to contemporary art through the annual Lenhardt Lectures, the Lenhardt Emerging Artist Acquisition Fund, and the Dawn and David Lenhardt Gallery. With this initial gift, the Museum acquired a number of significant works by artists emerging on the national scene, including Shara Hughes and Arcmanoro Niles, and exposed the Phoenix community to internationally renowned artists such as Jim Hodges, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Teresita Fernández, and Amalia Mesa-Bains through annual Lenhardt Lectures. Going forward, funds from the reimagined program will be allocated to support and prioritize the acquisition of works by artists who contribute to discourses on race, gender, and other locally and nationally relevant social issues, including works by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and women artists, among others.
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E X HIBI T IO N S + I N S TA L L AT IO N S “We saw an opportunity to expand our initiative in a way that could support the Museum’s efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said David Lenhardt, who also serves as the Vice Chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “Not only will this initiative grow the contemporary art collection— it will also enrich the collection and related programming with diverse perspectives and experiences that reflect our current moment. Through these acquisitions as well as annual lectures that bring these artists to the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix Art Museum will contribute to an urgent dialogue that better reflects the multicultural reality of our nation.” In commitment to these efforts, the Museum acquired in early 2021 The Futility of Achievement (2020) by New York-based artist Derek Fordjour with funds provided by the newly broadened Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative. The large-scale painting was recently featured in the exhibition SELF MUST DIE at Petzel Gallery in New York City, which contrasted the inevitability of actual death with the aspirational death of the artist’s ego. Fordjour, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to parents of Ghanaian heritage, earned his BA at Morehouse College, his MA in Art Education at Harvard University, and an MFA in Painting at Hunter College. His work appears in several national collections, including The Studio Museum of Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and now, Phoenix Art Museum.
O N V I E W A NN MOR T ON: T HE VIOL E T PRO T E S T A ND T HE 2019 PHOENIX A R T MUSEUM A R TIS T GR A N T S’ RECIPIEN T S E X HIBITION MARSHALL AND HENDLER GALLERIES THROUGH SEPTEMBER 5, 2021
FE A RL ES S FA SHION: RUDI GERNREICH STEELE GALLERY THROUGH SEPTEMBER 26, 2021
COLORS OF SK Y A ND CLOUDS: CHINE SE BLUE-A ND-W HIT E PORCEL AIN ART OF ASIA GALLERIES THROUGH NOVEMBER 7, 2021
EMILY EDEN: POR T R AIT S OF T HE PRINCE S A ND PEOPL E S OF INDIA KHANUJA FAMILY SIKH HERITAGE GALLERY THROUGH NOVEMBER 7, 2021
SEEK ING IMMOR TA LIT Y: A NCIEN T A R TIFACT S ART OF ASIA GALLERIES THROUGH NOVEMBER 7, 2021
SPL ENDED VISIONS: GIF T S FROM T HE ROBER T A ND A M Y CL AGUE COL L ECTIONS ART OF ASIA GALLERIES THROUGH APRIL 24, 2022
A MERICA N A B S T R ACTION DURING T HE T HIR TIE S A ND FOR TIE S AMERICAN ART GALLERIES THROUGH 2022
A MERICA N SCENES / A MERICA S SEEN AMERICAN ART GALLERIES THROUGH 2022
S TIL L LIFE: ORDIN A RY PL E A SURES AMERICAN ART GALLERIES THROUGH 2022
SUBLIME L A NDSCA PES AMERICAN ART GALLERIES THROUGH 2022
S W EE T L A ND OF FUNK KATZ WING FOR MODERN ART THROUGH MAY 15, 2022
L EG ACY OF CE Y LON: A R T A ND PHO T OGR A PH Y OF SRI L A NK A ART OF ASIA GALLERIES NOVEMBER 27, 2021 – APRIL 24, 2022
CL AY A ND PA PER: JA PA NE SE CER A MICS A ND SCREENS ART OF ASIA GALLERIES THROUGH APRIL 24, 2022
Fordjour will be the featured speaker for the next Lenhardt Lecture on October 27. For more information on the newly expanded Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, visit phxart.org. image credit: Derek Fordjour, The Futility of Achievement, 2020. Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, foil, and glitter on newspaper mounted on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York.
PLEASE NOTE: ALL EXHIBITION DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VISIT PHXART.ORG FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION AND A COMPLETE LIST OF EXHIBITION SPONSORS.
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A M E R I C A N + EUROPEANART R E F R A M E D Beginning August 21, 2021, a new installation in the Art of the Americas and Europe galleries at Phoenix Art Museum will have visitors rethinking some of their favorite works from the collection. 10
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o-curated by assistant curator Rachel Sadvary Zebro and Tim Rodgers, PhD, the Museum’s former Sybil Harrington Director and CEO, the reinstalled galleries on the Museum’s second-floor North Wing will create new conversations between works from the European art, art of the Americas, contemporary art, and fashion-design collections, including those by Claude Monet, Kehinde Wiley, Julius LeBlanc Stewart, and Dame Barbara Hepworth. Made possible through the generosity of Focus on European Art, an independent art appreciation and support group that raises funds for local art-education programs and exhibitions with a special emphasis on European art, the reinstallation is the next installment in the Museum’s Reframed project. The ongoing initiative was launched in 2016 to bring diverse perspectives and knowledge from artists and scholars from across Arizona into the Museum,
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DEEP LOOKING and the first Reframed installation, made possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, showcased interpretative labels by Indigenous writers and curators in the American art galleries, which continue to be on view. Similarly, the newly refreshed Art of the Americas and Europe galleries will feature commissioned wall texts by curators, writers, subject-matter experts, and members from the community of diverse backgrounds, each of whom bring a unique voice and perspective to a specific collection work. Organized in eight distinct sections, the galleries will explore a wide range of topics, including religious iconography and ecstasy in the Christian faith. Viewers will also examine Impressionist works placed in conversation with 18th- and 19th-century views of Parisian life. Additionally, one section will illuminate the tradition of presenting women in repose by exploring issues surrounding the views of female identity in the 19th century through works like Antonio Rizzi’s Study in White, while another will offer a closer look at the legacy of two women artists: Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Elisabeth Louise VigéeLeBrun. Through these new groupings of works, visitors are sure to discover something unexpected as they explore the deeper contexts of works long beloved in the Museum’s galleries. For a sneak peek of what’s in store, delve into an analysis that explores a work by Gustave Courbet featured in the installation and pictured here. The reinstallation of the Art of the Americas and Europe galleries at Phoenix Art Museum is made possible through the generosity of Focus on European Art, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: ( left) Gustave Courbet, The Wave, 1870. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Louis Cates Memorial Fund. ( below) Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Madame Adelaide, c. 1787. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase with funds provided by an anonymous New York foundation.
THE WAVE BY GUSTAVE COURBET Presented in the newly reinstalled Art of the Americas and Europe galleries at Phoenix Art Museum, The Wave (1870) by the Realist artist Gustave Courbet (1819–77) encourages visitors to take a closer look and consider how the artist revolutionized painting in 19th-century France. In the last two decades of his life, Courbet produced over and over images of the sky and sea. He created multiple paintings of the same subject, which allowed him to focus on painterly issues such as color, brushstroke, texture, light, and atmosphere. This approach varied greatly from the preferred techniques of the time. In the 19th century, artists created paintings first by drawing figures and forms in highly constructed illusions of threedimensional space. Drawing established the architecture, or the rationality, for the painting and was considered the most important element of a successful work. Paint color, allegedly, appealed to the senses and emotions, not the mind, and was thereby considered secondary. Although difficult for a modern audience to recognize, Courbet’s depictions of the sea illuminate the artist’s radical and extreme terms for his art. The oil painting lacks the typical, drawn details, like boats, people, and animals, that were characteristic in art of that time. As a matter of fact, no precise drawing is apparent in the work because the subject matter itself—the sky and the sea—are inherently shifting and formless. Instead, Courbet has emphasized bold color, obvious brushstrokes, and rough texture, insisting that these components carry the weight of the painting. Subsequent Impressionist artists admired and emulated Courbet’s art by elevating in their work the importance of color, light, atmosphere, water, brushstroke, and texture, and the next generation of artists advanced Courbet’s idea of repeating the same subject in a series of paintings, as exemplified by Monet’s multiple oils of cathedrals, bridges, haystacks, and waterlilies. Courbet’s radical departure from the norms of painting paralleled his rejection of institutions, governments, and societal restrictions. Ultimately, his anarchist tendencies created a difficult life fraught with conflict and trouble and marked by imprisonment and an early death. His paintings, however, as the embodiment of his beliefs, inspired the creation of modern art, and his independent thinking will resonate with contemporary audiences. — Tim Rodgers, PhD, the former Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum S US UM MM ME ER R/ F/ FA AL LL L 2 2002211 / / PP HH XX AA RR TT . O R G
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TRANSCENDENT S P L E N D O R Spanning the 19th century through the 21th century, The Golden Temple: Center of Sikh Faith features historical and contemporary works depicting the enduring splendor of Sikhism’s central monument and place of worship, the Harmandir Sahib, or the Golden Temple.
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image credit: The Singh Twins, The Golden Temple – Dukh Bhanjani Beri: Rajani and the Leper, 2020. Mixed media digital print with overworking done by hand. Loan from the Khanuja Family Collection. Photo: Mike Lundgren
his latest installation in the Khanuja Family Sikh Heritage Gallery at Phoenix Art Museum, only the second U.S. gallery space dedicated exclusively to the exhibition of Sikh art, introduces Arizona audiences to various artistic and architectural elements from the Hindu and Muslim traditions while exploring how the design of the temple reflects the tenets of Sikhism, including the belief that all creation is equal. Located in what is today the city of Amritsar, in the Punjab state of northwestern India, the Golden Temple is the centralized place of worship for all Sikhs. The idea for the spiritual monument was conceived by Guru Arjan Sahib (1563–1606), the fifth Sikh Guru. In 1577, a town and water tank were built by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, on the site where the temple would be erected, and construction on the building began in 1588, when, according to Sikh history, Mian Mir, a Sufi Muslim saint, laid the cornerstone. The Guru’s design for the Golden Temple placed the monument at the center of the water tank. A causeway connected the sacred structure to a circumambulatory path, and doors on the temple’s four sides symbolized the accessibility of the Sikh faith, which makes no distinction between the four Hindu castes. Builders completed construction in 1601, but through the decades, the Golden Temple was destroyed several times by invaders. The present structure dates to 1764, and renovations over the centuries introduced various design elements. The temple’s upper floors, for example, are now covered in 750 kilos of pure gold, an addition made by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire of India (1799–1849). On view now, a selection of prints, watercolors, and paintings by Indian, American, and European artists, including Italian-English photographer Felice Beato, who was one of the first photographers to capture images of Asia, offers varied views of the renowned CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
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T H E GO L DE N T E M P L E : CE N T E R O F S IK H FA I T H THROUGH APRIL 24, 2022 THE KHANUJA FAMILY SIKH HERITAGE GALLERY
T HI S J U S T IN : A S P O T L IGH T O N N E W A CQ UI S I T IO N S ONGOING ORME LEWIS GALLERY
THISJUSTIN
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ver wonder which artworks are the newest additions to the Phoenix Art Museum collection? Next time you visit, be sure to explore the Orme Lewis Gallery on the second floor of the Museum’s Katz Wing for Modern Art, where the installation This Just In: A Spotlight on New Acquisitions showcases a selection of works recently accepted into the institution’s holdings of more than 20,000 objects. Current featured works include a sketch by Joe Eula of the late fashion designer Geoffrey Beene, purchased with funds provided by Arizona Costume Institute; a painting entitled WPA by Miné Okubo, which represents the first work in the American art collection by a Japanese-American woman; and Shen Shichong’s classical ink painting Misty Landscape, which was a gift from the Papp Family Foundation. These works and others have rarely or never before been exhibited in our galleries until now.
This Just In: A Spotlight on New Acquisitions is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credit: Installation view, This Just In: A Spotlight on New Acquisitions, 2021, Phoenix Art Museum. Courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum.
As the Museum continues to acquire works of American and Western American, Asian, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design over time, current artworks featured in This Just In will rotate out to provide the community with a chance to experience a fresh selection of paintings, prints, sculptures, and more, with a particular focus on those that demonstrate the Museum’s continued efforts to diversify the collection and address gaps where more visibility for underrepresented artists is needed. In this way, This Just In foreshadows the future of the Phoenix Art Museum collection, illuminating new curatorial initiatives that strive to evolve, strengthen, and continue to fulfill the Museum’s efforts to be a place where all people are welcomed and can truly see themselves reflected in our collection.
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REDISCOVERING PHILIPC.CURTIS This fall, Phoenix Art Museum will restore The Ullman Center for the Art of Philip C. Curtis to its original location on the first floor of the Museum’s North Wing. Originally created in 2001, just one year after the artist’s passing, The Ullman Center was designed to feature the works of Curtis while honoring his pivotal role in establishing Phoenix Art Museum. 14
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P HIL IP C. CU R T I S A N D T H E L A N D S C A P E S O F A R IZ O N A REOPENING OCTOBER 23, 2021 THE ULLMAN CENTER
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ade possible through the generosity of The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation and The Philip C. Curtis Charitable Trust, the reinvigorated gallery will feature paintings by the beloved Arizona artist in conversation with other works from the Museum’s American art collection. As a result, visitors will enjoy the opportunity to learn more about paintings by Philip C. Curtis in an art-historical context. “This restoration of The Ullman Center is an exciting way for Phoenix Art Museum to continue honoring the work of Philip C. Curtis,” said Mark Koenig, the Museum’s Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “This gallery space and its featured exhibitions now and into the future will provide a unique opportunity for members of our community to discover more about one of our region’s most celebrated artists who played a crucial role in the Museum’s history.” Born in 1907 in Jackson, Michigan, Curtis began painting as a child after suffering a serious accident when he fell through the icy surface of a frozen lake. During his lengthy recovery period, he took comfort in sitting at his easel. Curtis eventually went on to study art at Albion College and, afterward, studied law at the University of Michigan before returning to art as a graduate student at Yale University. In 1937, the artist was appointed by President Roosevelt to establish the Phoenix Federal Art Center, the early forerunner of Phoenix Art Museum, as part of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. In 1939, however, Curtis left Arizona to establish the Des Moines Art Center in Iowa. Following his service with the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C., part of the war effort in World War II, he returned to Arizona in 1947 and began to work full-time as an artist. Once Phoenix Art Museum opened in 1959, he maintained a close relationship with the Museum he had helped to establish until his death in 2000. Today, the Museum retains more than 100 works by Curtis in its collection, including many donated by the artist himself. His paintings of “gentle surrealism” focus on themes of loneliness, isolation, and magical realism. Beginning October 23, Museum visitors will have the opportunity to experience Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes of Arizona, the first exhibition in the newly restored Ullman Center. The artist’s interpretations of western landscapes will be displayed alongside those by artists such as Lew Davis and Ed Mell. In this context, the fantastical elements of Curtis’s work are amplified, in contrast to the realism of other featured paintings. The exhibition asks viewers to consider and contemplate how differently artists of the same region may interpret and portray similar scenes and vistas. “While it will be wonderful to see Philip Curtis’ beloved works in a familiar space, it will also be exciting to see them in conversation with other works from the collection,” said Betsy Fahlman, PhD, the Museum’s adjunct curator of American art. “Through these exhibitions, our community will gain a deeper understanding and learn about the richer context of the Museum’s Curtis collection.”
Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes of Arizona is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, and The Philip C. Curtis Charitable Trust, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: ( left) Philip C. Curtis, Tin Barn, 1954. Tempera on panel. Gift of Edward Jacobson
Revocable Trust. (above) Philip C. Curtis, Dying Saguaro, 1958. Oil on panel. Bequest of Iris S. Darlington.
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L A N D S C A P E S O F E X T R A C T IO N : T H E A R T O F MININ G IN T H E A M E R IC A N W E S T NOVEMBER 7, 2021 – MARCH 6, 2022 STEELE GALLERY
UNDER A NEW EXHIBITION AT PHOENIX ART MUSEUM EXPLORES THE ART, ARTISTRY, AND IMPACT OF MINING ON THE AMERICAN WEST The modern history of the American West is inextricably linked to the discovery of what lies beneath the region’s rocky cliffs and rugged canyons, with the mining industry forever transforming the West’s hardscrabble landscapes and complex cultures and yielding descriptive monikers like “the Silver State,” “the Golden State,” and more. Here in Arizona, the importance of mining to the state’s identity is memorialized in the 5-Cs mnemonic: citrus, cotton, climate, cattle, and, perhaps most of all, copper. 16
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he long legacy of mining in the American West has impacted the wealth, health, and environment of the region, raising questions about the true costs of humanity’s dependence on mined resources to sustain commonplace and desired technologies. These considerations, too, have influenced the art of modern and contemporary periods, illuminated in a new exhibition opening this fall at Phoenix Art Museum. Spanning more than 100 years, Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West explores artistic expressions of the mining industry’s long impact on workers, landscapes, and our understanding of the delicate balance between safeguarding the Earth and sustaining humanity’s current way of life. The exhibition showcases more than 65 works featuring a range of subjects and perspectives by artists such as Southwest icons Lew Davis and Maynard Dixon, contemporary artists Edward Burtynsky and David Emitt Adams, and women artists like Helen Katharine Forbes, Louise Emerson Ronnebeck, and Cara Romero. Viewers understand the true breadth of Landscapes of Extraction as they experience two works created 101 years apart that depict the same subject— Utah’s Bingham Canyon Mine. Located southwest of Salt Lake City, the mine enriched its owners for a century and remains the largest open-pit excavation in the world, creating incredible wealth through its stores of copper, gold, silver, and molybdenum. The mining process at Bingham, however, has also destroyed; the surrounding areas have been subjected to arsenic and lead contamination, harming the habitats of animals, plants, and people, including the thousands of mine workers and their families who lived in homes carved out of the canyon’s walls. The locale is first depicted in the exhibition’s earliest piece—a 1917 oil painting by the Norwegian-born artist Jonas Lie, best known for his paintings of Eastern coastlines. A contemporary color photograph by Martin Stupich stands in contrast through its capture of the colorfully striated open pit, disfigured by a recent landslide. The image reveals an otherworldly, unnatural beauty—a sculpted, stair-step canyon created not by the steady erosion of water over eons, but by human need and greed. The largest collection of works in Landscapes of Extraction, however, hail from the Depression era and were funded by federal support from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and its predecessor, the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), an aid program developed by the Franklin
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LITTLE BOY LIVES IN A COPPER CAMP DEPARTS FROM THE MORE FAMILIAR NEW DEAL STYLE BY PRESENTING A SMALL, NEARLY EMACIATED CHILD, WHOSE FACE IS TURNED AWAY FROM THE VIEW OF THE DRY AND BARREN HILLS OF HIS HOME, HIS BODY CURVED INWARD WITH ARMS CLUTCHING HIS ABDOMEN, PERHAPS ALLUDING TO THE PANGS OF HUNGER. D. Roosevelt administration to support working artists unable to sustain themselves during the severe economic hardship of the period. Under the influence of these programs, artists were encouraged to capture the landscapes, cityscapes, and life of America. As a result, Philip C. Curtis, Philip Latimer Dike, Lew Davis, Arnold Rönnebeck, and others depicted regional scenes of agriculture and industry, including the workers and their families who labored in the sometimes perilous environments of openpit mines and coal tipples. These images range from the heroic, glorious worker, reminiscent of the symbolism of European socialist propaganda, to scenes of a grimmer reality in mining life. In Paul Sample’s 1936 Miners in the Stope, working men appear like near-mythical, muscular specimens with their ramrod spines unyielding as they excavate the quarry, representing the pinnacle of health and strength while engaged in an act of labor that appears almost holy, sanctified. By contrast, portraits by others like Lew Davis illuminate a harsher existence. Davis’ 1939 oil-on-Masonite painting Little Boy Lives in a Copper Camp departs from the more familiar New Deal style by presenting a small, nearly emaciated child, whose face is turned away from the view of the dry and barren hills of his home, his body curved inward with arms clutching his abdomen, perhaps alluding to the pangs of hunger. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
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LANDSCAPES OF EXTRACTION The Art of Mining in the American West
T HI S B O O K O F MIN E LA N D S CA PES O F EXTRA CTIO N E XHIBITION CATA LOGUE $35.99 (MEMBERS) | $39.99 (NON-MEMBERS)
Take a bit of Landscapes of Extraction home with you, in this colorful catalogue that captures exceptional works of art by Lew Davis, Helen Katharine Forbes, Martin Stupich, and more. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT PHXART.ORG/SHOP. SEE PAGE 43 IN THIS ISSUE FOR MORE GIFT IDEAS INSPIRED BY THE GEMS, MINERALS, AND DESERT BEAUTY OF THE SOUTHWEST.
Viewers also have the opportunity to experience unique views of mining life while exploring Landscapes of Extraction. Jerry Bywaters’ 1940 painting Oil Field Girls, for example, offers a rare glimpse of two young women hitchhiking on the outskirts of a mining town, their lean, long shapes extended to almost surreal proportions, mimicking the stark spires of the oil derricks in the distance, and the curve of their figures echoed in the black smoke of a raging oil-field fire in the background. Whether they’re heading to the center of town or away from it is unclear, but they appear determined to reach their destination, on their own terms. In addition to revealing the role and lifestyle of the region’s miners, works in the exhibition underscore the seismic transformation of the natural landscape at the hands of the mining industry, illuminating the ways in which mines have carved into rock formations and canyons to create alien settings of human design. Arizona-based artist Merrill Mahaffey’s acrylic on canvas titled Morenci Mine features the constructed landscape bathed in the golden light of the setting desert sun. The open-pit copper mine resembles a Greco-Roman theatre carved from stone and appears reminiscent of the theatres of Pergamon and Ephesus, but set here, in the American West. There is a raw, sublime beauty in these humanmade pits and canyons, but there is also something lonely about them, a sense of abandonment. In this way, some exhibition works serve more as memorials to what once was, to the ghostly remains of a previously pristine natural landscape or a thriving town that perished when mining companies depleted the earthly stores of minerals, oil, and metals. This destructive force and the depletion of the environment echoes in the 2003 photograph of Edward Burtynksy. Metal oil pumps, themselves constructed from extracted materials from below the Earth’s surface, dot a flat, desiccated desert plain, filling the field of vision beneath a colorless, dusty sky. This place seems abandoned by all humanity, marred by the tools of the oil trade as the pumps continue pumping. The silence of the work is overwhelming, as viewers are left to contemplate the erasure of elevation, natural forms, and the hands of those who once worked the region. Landscapes of Extraction reminds all who experience its works that the history of mining is a complicated one. The industry has fueled the expansion and innovation of technology through its extraction of oil and metals that make possible humanity’s ability to traverse countries, to circle the globe. It has enhanced CONTINUED ON PAGE 23
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lives while also endangering them. It has enabled astounding discovery and exploration while also irreparably damaging the environment, polluting the air we breathe and the water we drink. In this way, Landscapes of Extraction poetically embodies the push and pull of humanity’s relationship to the planet’s resources, digging beneath the surface of the mining industry and into the lives, the landscapes, and the losses that arise from our determination to extract the precious and rare materials of our shared earth. Landscapes of Extraction: The Art of Mining in the American West is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of Men’s Arts Council, Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, and Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (page 17) John Charles Haley, Mining the Gold Stope [Tucson, AZ], 1936-1937. Tempera on Masonite panel. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Gift of Monica Haley. (page 18, left to right) Martin Stupich, Bingham Pit, Aftermath of landslide, April 2013, 2018. Color photograph. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Museum Purchase with funds by the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation. © Martin Stupich; Helen Katharine Forbes, Mountains and Miner’s Shack, 1940. Oil on canvas. The Schoen Collection: American Scene Painting. Courtesy of the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia. (page 19) Lew Davis, Little Boy Lives in a Copper Camp, 1939. Oil on Masonite. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum, Gift of I.B.M. Corporation. (page 20) Arnold Rönnebeck, Colorado Gold Mine, 1933. Lithograph, edition 17/25. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, Denver, CO. (page 21) Louise Emerson Ronnebeck, Oil Rigger (competition entry for Amarillo, Texas, Post Office), 1941. Tempera on paper, mounted on board. Private Collection, Little Rock, AR. Courtesy of the Estate of Louise Emerson Ronnebeck. Photo: Camera Work, Inc. (left) Merrill Mahaffey, Morenci Mine, 1980. Acrylic on canvas. Collection of Freeport-McMoRan, Phoenix AZ. ( below) Martin Stupich, Morenci Panorama, February 1989, 2010. Monochrome photograph. Museum purchase with funds by the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation. © Martin Stupich.
W H E N DID H U M A N S STARTMINING? A L OO K B A CK AT T H E O R IGIN S O F A N IN DU S T R Y F R O M “O V E R B U R DE N” B Y W IL L I A M L . F O X , F R O M LA N DS CA PES O F EXTRACTIO N : TH E A RT O F M I N I N G I N TH E A M ERICA N WEST , A CO M PA NIO N C ATA L OGU E T O T H E E X HIBI T IO N
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t is commonplace to be taught early on in school that the origins of human civilization are rooted in the adoption of agriculture, but in truth, humans were always mining. Some 3.3 million years ago, hominids—the family of primates that includes humanity’s nearest ancestors—created the earliest known tools made of stone, with large, solid pieces used as anvils and chipped flakes of stone cores used as cutting and scraping tools. The earliest known method of mining dates back to at least 100,000 years ago to the gathering of ochre, the iron-rich mineral used in rock art and body decoration. By that time, however, humans living and working in the Blombas Cave of South Africa had already established ochre workshops, indicating that the practice of surface mining was probably much older. By comparison, hominids started gathering favored grains perhaps as early as 105,000 years ago, but agriculture as a practice didn’t begin until about 12,000 years ago. The earliest known mining operation that required tunneling occurred in Swaziland and is dated to 43,000 years ago. There, they mined hematite, an iron ore that produces ochre. From these beginnings, we jump to the present day, when, at the end of 2020, human production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks, and asphalt exceeded all of Earth’s living biomass for the first time. The materials to produce these resources, whether gravel or lime, iron or oil, are all derived from mining.
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A M E R I C A N E X P O S U R E For centuries, the contributions of women artists and artists of color have been overlooked in the annals of an art history that has long centered men of European heritage, and the story of Marion Palfi is no different. This July, however, an exhibition co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona resurrects Palfi’s legacy, representing the first major display of the photographer’s work since her death more than 40 years ago.
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F R E E DO M M U S T B E L I V E D : M A R IO N PA L F I’ S A M E R IC A , 19 4 0 -19 78 THROUGH JANUARY 2, 2022 NORTON GALLERY
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rawn exclusively from CCP’s vast Marion Palfi Archive and on view July 21, 2021 through January 2, 2022, Freedom Must Be Lived: Marion Palfi ’s America, 1940-1978 introduces Arizona audiences to an extensive visual record depicting 20th-century American injustice and created by a photographer who, according to Nancy Coleman of The New York Times, is just now getting her due. The exhibition features more than 80 prints and extensive archival materials, many of which have never before been exhibited or published, shedding unprecedented light on how Palfi combined deep, sustained research with photographic documentation to achieve humanitarian ends. “Freedom Must Be Lived shows us how photography can be used as a political and social tool to change oppressive systems,” said exhibition curator Audrey Sands, PhD, who serves as the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography, a joint curatorial position shared between Phoenix Art Museum and CCP. “Palfi used the medium to advocate for her belief that basic human equality and freedom must not only be written into law but upheld and protected in all areas of daily life.” A German immigrant who fled during World War II, Palfi arrived in New York in 1940 to a reality far from the myth of the American Dream. Outraged at the economic, racial, and CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
A [M ARION] PA LFI PHOTOGR APH BRINGS US FACE TO FACE WITH HIDDEN RE A LITIES THAT IT S SURFACE ONLY C A U S E S U S T O BEGIN T O E X P L OR E . — LANGSTON HUGHES, AMERICAN POET + WRITER —
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social inequities she encountered, she spent nearly four decades traveling throughout the United States, observing and documenting the systemic disenfranchisement of Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, older adults, and other marginalized communities to portray the effects of discrimination and expose the links between racism and poverty. Drawing upon her own experiences as a woman and an immigrant who was subject to sexism and prejudice and had witnessed the catastrophically devastating racism and nationalism of WWII Europe, Palfi used her camera to increase awareness of inequality and injustice in the hopes of improving conditions for others. As a white photojournalist, she undoubtedly operated from a position of privilege that allowed her, as an outsider, to gain access to communities and individuals subject to systems of oppression. Understanding this complex power dynamic, she deeply considered the responsibility that came with her role and strove to approach her work with “sensitive human relations.” She taught this same approach to her students during her time as an instructor on the social uses of photography. As a self-described “social-research photographer,” Palfi took on projects spanning years, providing her with the time to thoroughly investigate and immerse herself in the communities for whom she sought to advocate. Rather than pursue success in galleries or museums, Palfi created photographs meant to live in the world and achieve the greatest political and social impact. Over her career, she worked with numerous mainstream magazines and progressive American periodicals like Ebony, Survey Graphic, The New York Times, and Common Ground; published books; exhibited her work in libraries; and took on government-sponsored projects. Sponsors for her work included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Children’s Bureau of the Federal Security Administration, and the New York State Committee on Discrimination in Housing. Among her first projects upon arriving in the U.S. was a photographic study sponsored by the Council Against Intolerance in America that documented artists of color, including Black American poet Langston Hughes, who became a longtime friend and admirer of her work; Jamaican-American master conductor Dean Dixon; and Japanese-American ballet dancer Sono Osato. On view this summer in the Museum’s Norton Gallery, Freedom Must Be Lived offers audiences the chance to discover Palfi’s expansive body of work and its sustained focus on themes of inequity, marginalization, racial injustice, and other social concerns, all of which continue to afflict the United States in some capacity. Organized into four sections, the exhibition highlights the four major projects of the photographer’s career. Children in America examines Palfi’s 1945–52 eponymous study of children living in extreme poverty. Over three years, she photographed American youth in reformatories, jails, migrant camps, tenant farms, and urban neighborhoods. Palfi supplemented this visual record with demographic and sociological data on, for example, the lack of adequate housing, nutritious food, and medical and dental care for children. The series was eventually circulated in schools and libraries as a didactic exhibition and distributed to government agencies.
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The section At First I Liked the Whites, which derives its name from an Indigenous song lamenting the exploitive and harmful effects of colonialism, introduces visitors to a project that remained unpublished at the time of her death. In 1967, Palfi received a Guggenheim Foundation grant to document the impact of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956, which decreased government funding for Indigenous peoples living on reservations in an effort to encourage them to leave their traditional lands and assimilate into metropolitan areas. Palfi lived for two years on the Hopi reservation in Northern Arizona and, over the seven-year project, became acutely aware of her role as a white photographer and outsider, observing that “[a] camera is thought of as an intruder to be distrusted, because many before me have misused it.” A third section showcases work from a study of aging in New York City, funded by the New York Mayor’s Advisory Committee for the Aged. The project documented institutions for older adults throughout the city, including men’s shelters, assisted-living communities, and physical and psychiatric rehabilitation centers, uncovering discrimination against older workers and the stigma of disability. Titled You Have Never Been Old: A Social Study in Geriatrics and featuring CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
image credits: (page 24) Marion Palfi, Greenwood, Mississippi, 1963. (page 25) Marion Palfi, Chicago School Boycott, 1963-1964. (page 26, left to right) Marion Palfi, Somewhere in the South, 1946-1949; Marion Palfi, Case History, 1955-1957. (page 27, top to bottom) Marion Palfi, In the Shadow of the Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1946-1948; Marion Palfi, Navajo, Relocation; Leaving Home, 1967-1969. All artworks gelatin silver prints. Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona: Marion Palfi Archive/Gift of the Menninger Foundation and Martin Magner. © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.
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We’ve come a long way from corsets and tailcoats, and now, a new fashion-design exhibition explores just how designers throughout history have dared to break away from traditional standards of dress in pursuit of the authentic.
FA S HIO N ’ S SUBVERSIVES THROUGH NOVEMBER 28, 2021 ELLMAN FASHION DESIGN GALLERY AND HARNETT GALLERY
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PA N T SUIT SHOW DOW N W I T H H E L E N J E A N , T H E J A CQ UIE DO R R A N CE CU R AT O R O F FA S HIO N DE S IGN AT P H O E NI X A R T M U S E U M During the height of the 1960s gender-equality movement, fashion designers began to offer feminized versions of the pantsuit. The coveted symbol of masculine power and professional prowess was tailored to hug the female form, marking an important shift in the rigid rules of gendered clothing that had been the norm since the late Middle Ages.
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n view in the Ellman Fashion Design Gallery and the Harnett Gallery, Fashion’s Subversives celebrates moments in fashion history that have defied long-held notions of propriety, beauty, taste, gender, and identity. Representing three different centuries, the exhibition showcases approximately 40 garments and designers that all broke the rules by challenging conventions and reimagining the way we envision the human form. Curated by Helen Jean, the Museum’s Jacquie Dorrance Curator of Fashion Design, and structured into sections based on the subversive ideals each featured garment embodies, Fashion’s Subversives explores the history of everything from the pantsuit and the 1950s missile bra to the little black dress and the ever-shrinking bikini. Jean created this latest fashion exhibition to complement the Museum’s current special-engagement exhibition, Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich, and with status quo-defying garments by Alexander McQueen, Coco Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Paco Rabanne, Geoffrey Beene, Givenchy, and more, it undoubtedly amplifies the spirit of revolution, resistance, and authenticity that pervades the expansive retrospective on Gernreich’s life, which is organized and circulated by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
In two exhibitions on view now, the Museum presents two iconic early versions of the women’s pantsuit, both of which are pictured here and inspired, in part, by the gender-bending Hollywood actor Marlene Dietrich. Named for the controversial star, Rudi Gernreich’s “Marlene Dietrich” pantsuit is featured in Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich, while a “Le Smoking Tuxedo” by Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), who once commented that a photograph of Dietrich dressed in menswear was the “height of femininity,” is highlighted in Fashion’s Subversives. The stark contrast between the colors and materials of these ensembles is a poignant reminder of the problematic dual portrayals into which women are so often siloed—the sexy, dangerous femme fatale CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
On your next visit to the Museum, be sure to experience both exhibitions and consider the connections between the fashions featured in Steele Gallery by Rudi Gernreich—who was known for innovative, gender-fluid designs like the monokini topless swimsuit, the thong, and unisex clothing—and those on view in the Ellman and Harnett galleries. For inspiration, enjoy this close analysis by Jean, who compares two women’s pantsuit ensembles, one of which is highlighted in Fashion’s Subversives and the other in Fearless Fashion. Fashion’s Subversives is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of Arizona Costume Institute, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (from top, left to right) Alexander McQueen, Dress, 2009. Viscose rayon. Gift of Cheryl Fine. Installation view, Fashion’s Subversives, 2021, Phoenix Art Museum; Installation views, Fashion’s Subversives, 2021, Phoenix Art Museum; Yves Saint Laurent, Black Wool Tuxedo Jacket, 1967. Wool. Gift of Mrs. David E. K. Bruce. Installation view, Fashion’s Subversives, 2021, Phoenix Art Museum; Rudi Gernreich with Peggy Moffitt modeling the “Marlene Dietrich” pantsuit, 1964. Photograph © William Claxton, LLC, courtesy of Demont Photo Management & Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles, with permission of the Rudi Gernreich trademark. Rudi Gernreich papers (Collection 1702). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
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M E M O R Y AN INTERVIEW WITH OSCAR MUÑOZ BY VANESSA DAVIDSON, CURATOR OF L ATIN AMERICAN ART AT THE BL ANTON MUSEUM OF ART O S CA R MUÑOZ : IN V ISIBIL I A SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 – JANUARY 16, 2022 KATZ WING FOR MODERN ART
How do we make memories? What do the photographs we take and keep mean to us, both in the moment when the shutter opens and closes and in the years long after? Do the images we create hold the past or shape our recollections? Are they a way for us to remember or to forget, a way to memorialize the life we lived or to create the one we wish we did? How is the photograph a metaphor for life itself?
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rom September 11, 2021 through January 16, 2022, Arizona audiences will have the opportunity to contemplate haunting questions like these alongside contemporary Colombian artist Oscar Muñoz as they explore the first retrospective of his work in the United States. Co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art, Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia features approximately 50 works created by the Cali-based artist over the past five decades, including hybrid works that combine photographic processes with drawing, printmaking, installation, video, sculpture, and interactive elements. While materially diverse, each featured work, in its own unique way, examines the invisible, intangible phenomena of time, memory, history, and knowledge. Intellectually rigorous and unendingly fascinating, the retrospective is structured into four thematic sections, with works that explore the dichotomies of absence and presence, memory and amnesia, cohesion and fragmentation, appearance and disappearance. Many require interaction to complete the experience. Viewers, for example, activate Aliento CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
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(Breath) (1995), a series of seemingly blank mirrors, by breathing upon them, revealing obituary portraits of those who have disappeared in armed conflict throughout the Colombian civil war and subsequent Cartel Wars. These images, however, disappear again once the breath dissipates, leaving viewers to peer at their own reflections. Over the past three years, Vanessa Davidson, PhD, the former Shawn and Joe Lampe Curator of Latin American Art at Phoenix Art Museum who is now the Curator of Latin American Art at the Blanton, collaborated closely with Muñoz to bring these evocative and deeply human artworks to U.S. audiences in Invisibilia. Davidson recently corresponded with Muñoz to hear more about his life, his inspirations, and his process in his own words, and that exclusive interview is presented here, translated from Muñoz’s native Spanish. Read on for an intimate glimpse into the musings and deep considerations of an artist who, through his experimental and radical approach to refining and redefining the medium of photography, has become one of the most significant contemporary artists working today. To enjoy the interview in the original Spanish, visit phxart.org/es/blog/oscar-munoz.
VA N E S S A D AV ID S O N : T E L L U S A BI T A B O U T Y O U R CHIL D H O O D. W H AT A R E S O M E O F Y O U R M E M O R IE S F R O M T H AT T IM E ? Oscar Muñoz: I was born in Popayán, Colombia, and lived in Venezuela during my early childhood. There are only a few vague memories from that time and two photographs, faded like those memories, of a house built for warm weather, similar to Cali in Colombia, with long hallways and a lot of light and patios with trees— there was a huge almond tree. Later we moved to Cali when I was around eight years old. I read a paper on [Ludwig] Wittgenstein, who said that the LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN mnemonic image, or the image (18 89 -1951) that helps you make memory, is WAS A N AUSTRIA N not a photograph, not static or BRITISH PHILOSOPHER flat; I wonder if the memory of a WHO WORKED IN LOGIC photographic image is necessarily + THE PHILOSOPHIES that of a frozen image. For me, O F M AT H E M AT I C S , more than static memories, it L ANGUAGE + is experiences that come up. T H E M I N D . The things that I recall from my childhood have a lot to do with moments which I relate to materials. For example, I don’t remember the moment lived or the place in either of the two photographs, in which I appear with my sister Norma and with my parents in the first one, and with Norma and my mother in the second one, shaded by a black paper parasol, standing like statues on a pedestal. But I remember having held that wonderful and delicate parasol in my hands, with its innumerable bamboo spokes. I am interested in materials, in surfaces, and a lot of this has to do with the life of play, of childhood, of the child who is crouched like a primitive man, with a curiosity for exploring the world through surfaces, flavors, and smells. I think each human being has a memory like a chest, where they can go to look for the recollected memories of these early experiences.
D AV ID S O N : Y O U U S E A L O T O F DIF F E R E N T M E DI A IN Y O U R A R T I S T IC P R A C T ICE . H O W D O Y O U D E F IN E YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST ? Muñoz: I don’t consider myself a photographer, draftsman, or video artist per se, although I’ve worked with all of these media. I’d like to think that I perform the work of a person who repairs things, an activity that is on its way to disappearing, and that, in some ways, is close to what I’ve been doing. I’m dismantling mechanisms—in this case, the systems of printing, producing, and reproducing images—to understand them and make them work again, whether that is with slight differences or with substantial changes to their operation. These have been mechanical methods, like engraving and screen printing, or more complex ones, with programmed operation systems, like photography and video.
D AV ID S O N : S P E A K IN G O F P H O T OGR A P H Y, H O W D O Y O U V IE W T H E P H O T OGR A P HIC P R A C T ICE ? Muñoz: Photography, from several points of view, has always been a source of attraction for me, a point of infinite richness of meanings and paradoxes that I find fascinating. In terms of its most fundamental practices and rituals, precursors of the photograph can be found in very ancient remnants and myths—in the first shadows cast by our ancestors, in the myth of Plato’s cave, or in the well-known myth of Narcissus. Although a lot of my work is not of a purely photographic nature, I think—and this can be confirmed in the exhibition—that all of my work has been permeated by ideas that come from both the practice and the reflection that photography has prompted, from its beginnings—that relationship with time and the past, the relationship between chemistry and the instant. Its tremendous power as a medium and its relationship with the truth have been raw material for my endeavors, my work.
D AV ID S O N : T E L L U S A B O U T Y O U R P R O CE S S . Muñoz: I’ve learned that a work is a project that can begin, but you don’t know what it will lead into or when it will end. I don’t trust when I feel sure about something, and if I feel insecure, it’s because I have doubts. Perhaps because of that awareness of this, 15 years ago I opened a space in Cali called Lugar a Dudas (Room for Doubt), which promotes research and creative processes based in the artistic practice. Very often, when I talk about my work, I usually give the example of a man who crosses a mud path, leaving footprints as he walks. Once he passes, there can be two possibilities: that it rains again and his trail is erased, or the sun comes out and his mark is solidified.
DAVIDSON: FROM YOUR POIN T OF VIE W, W H AT IS T HE ROL E OF A R T A ND T HE A R TIS T IN T HE SE TIME S ? Muñoz: I don’t know if the artist fills a certain role. I think perhaps the essence of their vision and their critical practice lies in their endeavor to reveal other angles, other ways of giving meaning to a situation, and this includes unstable situations. I don’t know— perhaps the artist seeks to generate a type of encounter/separation with otherness, prompted by these provocative signals, by these visions and meanings, whether they are subjective, poetic, evocative, transgressive, or disruptive.
Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia is co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art. Its Phoenix premiere is made possible through the generosity of The Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, and Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. image credits: (page 30) Oscar Muñoz, Cortinas de baño (Shower Curtains), 1985-86. Acrylic on plastic (Acrílico sobre plástico). Collection of the artist. Installation view, Oscar Muñoz, Protografías, Museo de Arte del Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia, 2011. Image courtesy of the artist. (page 31) Oscar Muñoz, 3-3A, 2002. Magnifying glass and four contact negatives installed on wall (Lupa y 4 contactos negativos instalado sobre pared). Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist. (right) Oscar Muñoz, Línea del destino (Line of destiny), 2006 [stills]. Single-channel video (Video monocanal sin sonido), 2”. Collection of the artist. Images courtesy of the artist.
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TRANSCENDENT SPLENDOR FROM PAGE 12
site. Beginning November 27, 2021, the installation will then expand to include additional works by artists whose works are inspired by or showcase the Golden Temple and its intricate design, providing viewers with the opportunity to discern how the sacred space has continued to transform through the centuries. Of particular note are two contemporary works currently on display: a print by The Singh Twins, British artists who fuse traditional Indian and contemporary Western influences in works they label “past modern,” and a pigmented work on paper by Rupy C. Tut, a Punjabi Sikh artist based in Northern California who blends calligraphy and Indian miniature painting. The Singh Twins’ work depicts the story of Bibi Rajani and her husband, who was a leper. The tale dates back to the time of the founding of the town of Amritsar, where the Golden Temple is located. In the work, viewers see Bibi Rajani and her husband next to the Dukh Bhajani Beri, a jujube tree still extant today. Also featured in the composition is a crow that is transforming into a swan, symbolizing the traditional Sikh belief in the healing power of both the sacred tree and the water surrounding the Golden Temple.
PA N TSUIT
Tut’s 2020 work entitled Darshan, on the other hand, visualizes the phenomena of the same name. Darshan are blessed visions, revelations, or acts of perceiving the Guru, whose depiction is influenced by historical, contemporary, and personal narratives about individual experiences at the Golden Temple. These visions are experienced by devotees of various ages, genders, statuses, and levels of faith. Because they occur across a range of believers, darshan effectively erase or blur superficial or worldly differences, uniting those of disparate backgrounds through a shared experience of the divine. “The Golden Temple has been a favorite subject of both historical and contemporary artists for more than 400 years because of its harmonious blending of Hindu and Muslim architectural traditions,” said Janet Baker, PhD, the Museum’s curator of Asian art. “This installation will provide visitors with a rich portrait of this distinctive monument, marked by a stunning sacred pool, gilded domes, marble balustrades, murals of floral and mythological motifs, and decorative elements made of jewels, mirrors, ivory, and glass, its splendor indelible.” The Golden Temple: Center of Sikh Faith is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Sikh Heritage Fund, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.
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(symbolized through YSL’s choice of black wool crepe) and the angelic virgin (hinted at through Gernreich’s selection of ivory silk satin). Equally scandalous in their time, Gernreich’s suit was forbidden to take the runway at the 1964 Coty American Fashion Critics Awards fashion show, and YSL’s 1966 original release of “Le Smoking Tuxedo” sold only one version. The tuxedo’s sleeker second iteration, which is featured in Fashion’s Subversives, was created in 1967 for Rive Gauche, his ready-to-wear line, and it was an immediate success. The designer went on to include a different version of the tuxedo in each of his collections every season until his final one in 2002, and iterations of the design still appear in the house’s collections even today. Designers such as Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, and many others have also offered their own luxury versions of this ultimate status symbol in their womenswear lines. From Madonna’s Blond Ambition power suits to Hillary Clinton’s boxy pastel armor to Janet Mock’s tangerine red-carpet look, the pantsuit continues to demand respect and exude authority, enduringly impressive and imposing on every body.
AMERICAN EXPOSURE FROM PAGE 27
individual “case studies,” the project was presented in 1959 and circulated as a didactic exhibition. Finally, Freedom Must Be Lived sheds light on the subject Palfi focused her lens on more than any other during her long career: racism and violence toward Black Americans. Spanning the 1940s through the 1970s, featured works are drawn from four distinct projects, including Palfi’s multi-city exposé of racial discrimination in U.S. urban-housing centers, a grouping of photos that document the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and Ask Me If I Got Justice, which documented prison life at Trenton State Prison in New Jersey, now known as New Jersey State Prison. Audiences also have the opportunity to explore works from There Is No More Time: An American Tragedy (1949), one of Palfi’s first projects illuminating the role and effects of systemic racism. The in-depth study documented both white and Black residents of Irwinton, Georgia, after a white mob lynched Caleb Hill Jr. Black community members, however, appear less frequently in the series, and, according to Maurice Berger’s 2015 article about the project for The New York Times, this unequal representation, along with Palfi’s writings and interviews with town residents, challenges viewers to
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consider who is really responsible for talking about race, while also defying the myth that “racism was exceptional, perpetrated only by monstrous or evil people.” “’There Is No More Time’ revealed an enduring secret of American race relations: that ostensibly good people — men and women much like our neighbors, our family and ourselves — could also harbor virulent prejudices,” Berger wrote. “For Ms. Palfi, this revelation was necessary and urgent.” Upon reflection, Sands called the oft-forgotten photographer’s work showcased throughout Freedom Must Be Lived “trenchant, poetic, piercing, and compassionate in its portrayal of an America that promises freedom for all but delivers it only to a privileged few.” “She actively confronted the political, racial, and economic injustices that overshadowed her lifetime,” Sands said, “and given the continued resonance of these topics, now is the perfect moment to rediscover Palfi’s important work.” Freedom Must Be Lived: Marion Palfi’s America, 1940–1978 is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. It is made possible through the generosity of the John R. and Doris Norton Center for Creative Photography Endowment Fund, The Opatrny Family Foundation, and Sue and Bud Selig, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.
WHY WE GIVE
I want to share the joy of giving with everyone.” DORIS ONG
T RUST EE, PHOENIX A RT MUSEUM Suppor ting Phoe nix Ar t Mu se um since 1996
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started as a volunteer at Phoenix Art Museum more than two decades ago. There were many mentors who gave me the courage to serve in leadership roles and on the Museum’s Board of Trustees. As an inductee into the Honorary Commander program at Luke Air Force Base, donating to the Museum’s Military Access Program (MAP@PAM), which provides free admission for veterans, active-duty military service men and women, and their immediate families, is a way of showing gratitude to military families for their service. Whether it is funding an initiative to document the creative process from concept to finished product by a fashion designer like New York-based, zero-waste fashion designer YEOHLEE for the exhibition ultracontemporary, as well as the resulting suite of clothes for the Museum’s fashiondesign collection; or just being inspired by the art on the Museum’s walls, I want to share the joy of giving with everyone.
image credit:
John Hall Photography.
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SUPPORT
T H A N K Y O U Phoenix Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our donors whose annual gifts benefit our exhibitions, educational programs, and services for the community. Please note: This list recognizes Circles of Support donors, institutional donors, 21st Century Society members, Corporate Council members, and Museum Members at the Fellow level who have made a gift between May 1, 2020 - May 1, 2021.
$10 0 , 0 0 0 + The Dorrance Family Foundation *Mrs. Nancy Hanley Eriksson Stephen M. Hoover Dr. Bill Howard *David and Dawn Lenhardt Men’s Arts Council Dr. and *Mrs. Hong-Kee Ong The Opatrny Family Foundation Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Exhibition Endowment Fund *Sue and Bud Selig Small Business Administration The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation
$50,000 - $99,999 Anonymous APS Arizona Commission on the Arts Arizona Community Foundation *Carter and Susan Emerson Dr. Barry and Dr. Coleene Fernando Freeport-McMoRan Inc. *Judy and Bill Goldberg *Jon and Carrie Hulburd JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation Richard and *Sally Lehmann Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture SRP Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
$25,000 - $ 49,999 Anonymous Arizona 5 Arts Circle *Alice and Jim Bazlen Allison and Robert Bertrand Laurie and *Drew Brown Lee and °Mike Cohn *Gloria and Philip Cowen Philip J. Curtis and Lori Ann Stevens Ellman Foundation *Mark and Diana Feldman *John and Kathleen Graham
*Dr. Parvinder Jit Singh Khanuja and Parveen Kaur Khanuja °Margot and Dennis Knight Judy and *Alan Kosloff Margaret T. Morris Foundation Moreno Family Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Philip C. Curtis Charitable Trust SC Johnson Giving, Inc. *Ms. Ann Siner *Carl and Marilynn Thoma UMB Bank Arizona Charles and *Meredith von Arentschildt
$10 , 0 0 0 - $ 24 , 9 9 9 5Rivers Foundation °Roberta Aidem Jett and Julia Anderson The Arizona Republic | azcentral Bank of America E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Richard and Ann Carr *Robert and Micheline Faver The Flinn Foundation FOCUS on European Art Whitney H. Ganz and Susan Ganz Greater Kansas City Community Foundation *Lila Harnett Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Foundation Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix *Jane and Mal Jozoff Jan and Tom Lewis Sam and °Judy Linhart Pat and Keith McKennon *Sally A. Odegard °Rose and Harry Papp PetSmart *Blair and Lisa Portigal *Kim and Steve Robson Shamrock Foods Foundation Iris and °Adam Singer Pam Slomski °Miriam and Yefim Sukhman T.W. Lewis Foundation
Arizona Five Arts Circle * Current Trustee ° Past Trustee.
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Irit and Jonathan Tratt Wells Fargo
$5,000 - $9,999 Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Ahearn AZ Big Media °John and Oonagh Boppart Holly Johnson Carr and Tom Carr Katherine and Charles Case °Amy S. Clague Pam Del Duca Dye Family Foundation Jane and Andrew Evans Chip and Janet Glaser °Dr. and Mrs. Meryl Haber Judith Hardes Mr. and Mrs. James D. Howard Carol and Kenneth Kasses *Ellen and Howard C. Katz William S. and Ina Levine Foundation Janis Lyon Mr. and Mrs. Murray Manaster McKee Charitable Family Foundation Microsoft Matching Gifts Program Mr. and Mrs. Kenny Moffatt The Norton Foundation Ms. Ann Marie Ocaña Robert and Myra Page Matthew and Mary Palenica Earl and Pat Petznick Mr. and Mrs. David N. Porter Jana and Charles Sample Timothy Schwimer Arlene and Morton Scult °Angela and Leonard Singer Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smalley Jr. Nancy Swanson °Gary and Diane Tooker Charles and Vonnie Wanner °Mr. and Mrs. Louis A. Weil III
$2,500 - $ 4,999 Milena and °Tony Astorga Philip and Lydia Bell David and Susan Berman Elaine and Sidney Cohen
SUPPORT Robert M. Dixon Jim and Betsy Donley George and Ann Fisher °David and Caroline Garcia Beverly N. Grossman °Paul and Mary Beth Groves Jeanne Herberger Ms. Mary Beth Herbert and Mr. Cecil Penn John and Susan Horseman Mack Jones Ellen and Bob Kant Dr. and Mrs. Jamie Kapner James and Ina Kort Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Lavinia Thomas S. and Sheri A. Levin The Lorenzen Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Robert F. Lorenzen °Paul and Merle Marcus Katherine May Nathaniel and Yvette Meek Mogen Foundation, Inc. Morris Hall, PLLC Gail Rineberg Lois and John Rogers Daniel Satterfield James and Linda Saunders Jacqueline Schenkein and Michael Schwimmer Paula and Jack Strickstein Mollie C. Trivers and Shelley Cohn Mrs. Betty Van Denburgh
$1, 0 0 0 - $ 2 , 4 9 9 Anonymous (5) Judy Ackerman and Richard Epstein Mr. and Mrs. Nariman Afkhami Makenna and Mike Albrecht Caralee Allsworth Jean Ambler Megan and John Anderson Ellen Andres-Schneider and Ralph Andres The AtLee Family Foundation, Inc. Diana Banahan Mark S. Nemschoff Family Foundation Uta Monique Behrens James T. Bialac Carie Bikson Nancy and Joe Braucher Jeff Brodin and Robert Kerry Eric and Dorothy Bron Sumner Brown and Lyn Bailey Julia and Robert Bruck Kay Butler Anne J. Canzonetti and Matt Canzonetti Sandy Chamberlain and David Kest Mr. Tom Chauncey, II Jennifer and Bill Clark Jean Clarke Andrew and °Amy Cohn Sam Coppersmith
°Joan D. Cremin Jon and Alicia Crumpton Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Damico Cathy Dickey Sydney D. Dye and L. Michael Dye Rebecca Eden Judith and John Ellerman Arthur B. Ellsworth and Marvin J. Wilkinson John Engen and Lisa Spahr Maureen and Tom Eye Fairmount Development, LLC Wendy and Skip Farrell Richard and Suzanne Felker Noel R. Ferlen and Amy L. Kinzer Katalin Festy-Sandor Noel and Anne Fidel Dr. Sybil Francis and Dr. Michael M. Crow Amanda and Dana Garmany °Allison Garrett °Anne S. Garrett Dr. Paul and Amy Gause Elton Gilbert Angela and Jeffrey Glosser Laurie and Charles Goldstein *Sara and Arthur Gordon Heather and *Michael D. Greenbaum Jackie and Larry Gutsch Ashley Harder Karen and Lawrence Harris Josh and Cat Hartmann The Head Family Foundation Matthew Heil Linda Herman Paul and Yinglu Hermanson Lori and Howard Hirsch Liz Hoffert and Fred W. Hoffert, III Joseph L. Holt and Tamara Voas Lynda and Arthur Horlick Garrett Johnson Gigi Jordan and Bob Patterson Barbara and Donald Kammerzell Ann Kaplan Ruth R. Kaspar Elise Kausen Kathy and Fred Kenny Carolyn Refsnes Kniazzeh Susan Kovarik and Brian Schneider °Carolyn R. Laflin Bruce and Jane Lawson Benjamin and Cindy Lenhardt Janice Lewart David and Leslie Lewis Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith and Dr. Harvey Smith Susan and Michael Little Don and Debra Luke Susan Lynch Matt Magee and Randall Seale Maple & Ash
Susan and Philip W. Matos Sandra Matteucci Gregory and Anita Mayer Mary Ellen McKee Tammy McLeod and John Hamilton °Jim and Jean Meenaghan Belle and Bob Merwitzer Arthur Messinger and Eugenie Harris Sherrell Miller Doris and Eliot Minsker Cindy and Mike Moore °Patricia and Richard Nolan Michael and Kathleen Norton Kenneth O’Connor and Deedee Rowe David and Mary Patino Jody Pelusi Pamela Ploetz and John Henderson Mrs. Maritom K. Pyron Teresa K. Quale Ida Rhea Nancy Riegel Karen Riley Carol and Thomas Carlton Rogers, II Stephena C. Romanoff Kathy Rosenzweig and Sara Rosenzweig Merle and Steve Rosskam Betsy Retchin Vincent and Janie Russo Mary and Tom Sadvary Saint By Sarah Jane, LLC Stella and Mark Saperstein Ronald Sassano Colby Schmeckpeper Fred and Arleen Schwartz Sheila Schwartz The Seidler Foundation Mary and Stanley Seidler Shapiro Aesthetic Plastic Surgery & Skin Klinic Carol Shriber Mr. and Mrs. Robert Shull Mr. and Mrs. Richard Snell Spence Family Foundation Sandra Staehle and Diane DeLibero Judy and Bud Stanley James and Jean Stengel °Betsy and Bruce Stodola Fred and Gail Tieken Pat and Phil Turberg Mildred B. Williams Kenneth and Deirdre Vecchione Michelle Wang Mrs. and Mr. Colleen Warner Gerald Weiner Gabriella and Karin Wendell Marie Willis Gretchen and Dick Wilson Mr. Rob Wiltuck Delwyn and Diana Worthington Mr. and Mrs. Michael Zuieback CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
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SUPPORT 21S T CE N T U R Y R E COGNI T IO N ( R E A L IZ E D) Eleanor Ableson Dr. Robert Adami E. Mark Adams and Beth Van Hoesen Adams Joan and Lorenz Anderman Ruth and Hartley Barker Claudia I. Baum George K. Baum II LeRoyce Bennett C. W. Brose Lynne and Warren Brown °Yvette Ward Bryant °Pat Burney Mabel and James Cahill Susie Cakos Spiro Cakos °Amy S. Clague John M. Clements Ruth Clements Jane Pearson Collamer Virginia S. Connor Mary Moore Coughlin Russell Cowles Mary Meeker Cramer °Philip C. Curtis Ralph Dudley Daniel Paul Hyde Davies °Barbara C. Dow Nancy L. Durham Lucille B. Earle Liese Lotte and Albert Eckstein Jeannette Shambaugh Elliott °Darby and Herschel Epstein Josephine “JoJo” Fabrizi Richard Faletti Donald Farnsworth Allen and °Charlesa Feinstein Carol and Harold Felton Arthur Fishman, M.D. Colin R. Floyd Eunice Fort Reginald J. Franklin Margaret P. Gale Georgia Gelabert George F. Getz, Jr. Marie Connor Girardin Ann and Chet Goldberg Bernard Grebanier Ruth Gunston Rose O. Gustafson Bobbie Haas Delbert Harr °Sybil Harrington Margareta Harris Kax and °Bob Herberger Barbara Turner Hitchcock Hugh Hard Horner Dr. Bill Howard Arleen W. Hughes Ernest and Margaret Iglauer °Edward “Bud” Jacobson
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Mrs. Oliver B. James Vivienne B. Jennings Eva Jungermann Robert D. Kaufmann Nan Kempner William and Sharon Lee Ketai Margaret Kirkpatrick Helen M. Kollmeyer-Herzberg Betty M. La Fevers Helen Lawler Kathleen I. Leavitt Frances Leonard °Orme Lewis, Sr. Dr. Patricia Lynch °Dennis Lyon Lyon Family Estate Elizabeth B. MaGuire James and Dhira Mahoney Felicia Meyer Marsh °Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Beatrice McDowell Mrs. Martha McKelvie Miriam A. McKeown Maurine Mueller Gerald H. Myers Mary K. O’Malley °Mr. and Mrs. L. Roy Papp Helen Gunn Powell Herbert L. Pratt Margarite Mary Ramond Mildred E. Reed °Ginger Renner Allan Richard Reznikoff °Stephen Rineberg Genevieve D. Roach Lucy Roca Margeurite Roll Joseph and Gloria Rose Robert R. Rosenbaum °Betty and Newton Rosenzweig °Jay S. Ruffner Evelyn and Ernest Sauer Jeanette and Bernard Schmidt Jonas and Jacqueline Schreider Carolyn Schulte Frederick J. Schweitzer Charles A. Simberg Mary and Lee H. Slater Sylvia Sleigh Carolann Smurthwaite Helen Spacek George E. and Marjorie G. Springer Frances Hover Stanley Mildred N. Starr Ettie Stettheimer Earl Stroh °Betty Lou Summers Ruth Hobday Sussman Helen C. Tarbox Astrid L. Thomas Arlene Tostenrud °Virginia Ullman Florence Van Norden
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Baroness Carl von Wrangell Anna Maude Webster Albertine M. Weed Ruth Bank Weil Lee W. Werhan Fred E. Wood Eleanor and George Woodyard Florence and Leon Woolsey Hamilton W. Wright
21S T CE N T U R Y R E CO GNI T IO N ( U N R E A L IZ E D) Anonymous (3) °Alvan and Sara Adams Annie Allen Milena and °Tony Astorga Dr. Janet Baker Linda and James K. Ballinger Dr. and Mrs. John A. Bamberl Pari and °Peter Banko Jim and *Alice Bazlen Uta Monique Behrens Viola F. Bernstein Ben Bethel Maria Ramos Martinez Bolster Oonagh and °John Boppart Bonnie and °John Bouma LaVerne Beall Burhans Joe Bushong Elaine and Timothy Ryan Iris Cashdan-Fishman Marc and Mary Ann Cavness Mr. Sandy Chamberlain and Dr. David Kest Jae and Diann Christensen Chad Christian Elaine W. and Sidney A. Cohen °George and Mandy Cohen Pat and Gary Cohen Lee and °Mike Cohn Mr. and Mrs. °Jerry Colangelo °Charles and Sheila Coronella Harry R. Courtright °Joan D. Cremin Dorothy and Herold Crume °Joseph and Kathy D’Amico °Denise and Robert Delgado °A. J. Fleet Dickey Marnie Dietrich Mary Heiss and Harold Dorenbecher °Susan and Mark Mulzet Gary J. Egan and Daniel A. Holterman *Carter and Susan Emerson Murray and Cecile Epstein *Mark and Diana Feldman Sharon and Victor Figarelli Kate Forbes Nancy Gale Forrester Sharyn and Stuart Frankel William G.M. Gardner and Gabriella Gardner Dr. Paul and Amy Gause Bill and *Judy Goldberg
SUPPORT °Richard and Susan Goldsmith *Michael and Heather Greenbaum Pamela Grieco °Paul and Mary Beth Groves Stephen and Marcia Guerrant °Meryl H. Haber Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hall, III °Mrs. Diane Cummings Halle *Mrs. Lee T. Hanley Terrence M. Hanson *Lila Harnett Lynette Heller Mary Beth Herbert Cheryl Hintzen-Gaines and Ira Gaines Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Husband Ray and Dee Isham Henry E. (Hank) and MaryAnn L. Johnson Stanford S. Johnson *Jane and Mal Jozoff °Dr. Eric Jungermann Karen Justice Don Karner Ruth R. Kaspar *Ellen Katz Mohammad and Vernita Khosti *Don R. Kile Trust Dottie Kobik Dr. and Mrs. Ravi Koopot Shawn and °Joseph Lampe Thomas and Julianne LaPorte *Sally Lehmann Tochia and Stan Levine °Sharron Lewis Linda Ligon Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith and Dr. Harvey Smith °Judy and Sam Linhart °James and Dr. Michele Lundy
Janis Lyon Jeffrey Manley °Paul and Merle Marcus Mrs. Robert McCreary Glenda and Eugene Miller Roy and Mary Miller Dr. Herbert and Susan Miller °John H. Morrell Mr. and Mrs. Edward Moses °Steve and Dr. Kristen Nelson Robert and Mary Newstead The Nieto Family °Patricia and Richard Nolan Sally Odegard June Olson Donald and Judith Opatrny Harry and °Rose Papp °Jim and Anita Patterson Cecil W. Penn Mr. and Mrs. Manuel A. Perez Linda Peshkin John and Laura Phelps Kelly Puziss Don and Karen Randolph Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan W. Reining °Bruce Covill and Lucia Renshaw Gail Rineberg Mr. and °Mrs. Robert P. Robinson Tim Rodgers and Jeff Harakal Valerie J. Rosenthal *Mrs. Paige D. Rothermel Mary Ell Ruffner C. Angus Schaal Miriam Schaeuble Dawn and °Jay Schlott Steve and Anita Schultz Barbara D. Shear Melanie D. and Richard I. Shear
Betty and Robert Shoenhair Rowena Simberg °Adam and Iris Singer Leonard and °Angela Singer Albert Skorman Pamela and °Raymond Slomski Dr. Jerry N. Smith and Vickie Hamilton-Smith Woodrow Jones and Richard Sourant Becky Curtis Stevens Patricia Stillman Roxie and Jim Stouffer Joan and Roger Strand Paula Strickstein V.T. and Vicky Tarulis Allyson J. Teply George Thiewes French Thompson Diane and °Gary Tooker Betty W. Van Denburgh Abram C. Villegas Irene H. Vasquez and Mildred B. Williams Charles and *Meredith von Arentschildt Joan and James von Germeten Ms. Susan von Hellens Mr. and Mrs. A. Linwood Waldrop, Jr. °William G. and Mary Way °Louis A. and Daryl G. Weil Naomi and Gerald Weiner °Steve and Ann Wheeler Carol D. Whiteman Iris Wigal Ronald Wilson and Bonnie Naegle-Wilson Georgia Ray and R. Stephen Wolfe Robin and Stephen Woodworth °Mares Jan Wright °Judy and Sidney Zuber, M.D.
M AY T HE JOYS OF TODAY BE THOSE OF TOMORROW We’d love the opportunity to tell you more about our planned giving program and how gifts like a charitable IRA rollover can help the Museum remain a place where all people are welcomed to discover, grow, and dream. If you already have included Phoenix Art Museum in your estate plans, please let us know so we may thank you for your generosity and recognize you as a member of our 21st Century Society. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT PLANNEDGIVING@PHXART.ORG. image credit: Julius Rolshoven, Madame Koch and Her Children, 1898. Oil on canvas. Gift of Ellen and Howard C. Katz in honor of the Museum’s 50th Anniversary.
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SUPPORT
SAVE THE DATE ACI HOLIDAY LUNCHEON / DECEMBER 6, 2021
THEFASHION PA R T YOF T HE Y E A R
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oin Arizona Costume Institute in person this December for the return of the ACI Holiday Luncheon after a yearlong hiatus necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded in 1966, Arizona Costume Institute supports the fashion-design department of Phoenix Art Museum through the acquisition, preservation, and appreciation of garments and accessories of historical and aesthetic significance as well as through various fundraising efforts. ACI’s annual Holiday Luncheon is the organization’s major fundraising event of the year, featuring a nationally acclaimed fashion speaker and raising vital support for the Museum’s fashion acquisitions, exhibitions, and education programs. Tickets are now on sale at bit.ly/ACIHolidayLuncheon2021. To inquire about hosting a table or for more information, please contact support-aci@phxart.org.
CO M MI T T E E CH A IR S
H O N O R A R Y CH A IR
Donna Johnson Lisa Shapiro
Diane Halle
CO M MI T T E E T H A N K Y O U T O T H E 2 0 21 A CI H O L ID AY L U N CH E O N CO R P O R AT E S P O N S O R
image credit:
Photo by Peter Lindbergh.
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Perrine Adams Ronna Beeson Lisa Bell Matthew Boland Jennifer Carmer Libby Cohen Oscar De las salas Emily Dietz Shawnee Doherty Katherine Emery Wendy Farrell Kati Festy-Sandor Ann Fuller Amanda Garmany Lisa Geyser Janet Henrich Glaser Jan Herwick Dawna Holtz Jill Krigsten Riley Lynne Love Barbara Lytle
Laura Madden Kathie May Beth McRae Priscilla Nicholas Patti Oleson Donna Pettigrew Hicks Shirley Prest Helene Presutti Sherri Quinn Marc Reid Chrissy Sayare Tracy Serena Carol Shriber Khamsone Sirimanivong Amy Slethaug Joy Sprink Kelley Sucher Lauri Termansen Vicki Vaughn DeeDee Vecchione Kelly Welty
SUPPORT
I believe viewing art brings great visual pleasure, and walking through Phoenix Art Museum’s amazing galleries is such a privilege.” NANCY HANLEY ERIKSSON T RUST EE, PHOENIX A RT MUSEUM
Suppor ting Phoe nix Ar t Mu se um since 1996
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fter Phoenix Art Museum opened in 1959, I often visited to enjoy the exhibitions. As a Phoenix native, I have watched it grow and develop into the extraordinary museum it is today. I believe viewing art brings great visual pleasure, and walking through Phoenix Art Museum’s amazing galleries is such a privilege. As collectors of Impressionist art for many years, my late husband, Lee Hanley, and I thoroughly enjoyed supporting the vision of Phoenix Art Museum. I am proud to continue that support as a Trustee of the Museum. Most recently, along with Dr. Hong and Doris Ong, I chose to underwrite the Military Access Program at Phoenix Art Museum (MAP@PAM), which provides free admission to past and present military service men and women and their families. This program is very meaningful to me, as my late husband served in the Marine Corps and was a Captain stationed in Vietnam in 1966-67. I look forward to many more years of supporting Phoenix Art Museum’s dynamic programs for all ages. Our community is very fortunate to have this jewel among us that will continue to serve future generations. image credit:
Courtesy of Nancy Hanley Eriksson.
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EDUCAT IO N
ART SEDUCATION R E V A M P E D A NEW APPROACH TO DOCENT TRAINING
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ast year, in response to COVID-19, Phoenix Art Museum had to close its doors, and with that, some of the Museum’s most beloved events, tours, and outreach programs paused as well. But not everything went dormant behind the scenes. The Docents, the Museum’s corps of volunteer educators, continued their work on re-imagining their training program, ensuring they would be ready to meet the community’s needs both during the pandemic and beyond. As volunteer arts educators, Phoenix Art Museum Docents connect visitors of all ages with the institution’s collections and exhibitions through on-site tours and off-site outreach experiences. Prior to the COVID-19 closure, community members who wished to become Docents spent two years attending classes in the Museum’s comprehensive training program, attending bi-weekly continuing education seminars, and shadowing tours. From there, those who successfully completed Docent training were prepared to facilitate conversations about art with a wide range of on-site and off-site audiences, from students on school field trips to older adults at community centers. The former program produced what Lisa Roger, the Docent training taskforce co-chair described as a highly versatile Docent or “somebody who can do everything.” However, the rigor of the process made it extremely challenging for anyone who worked during the week or had other family or personal commitments to complete the necessary training. The new Docent training structure, which will launch in Fall 2021, offers a modular approach that provides more flexibility for prospective volunteer educators to make the program more accessible and diverse. Training will begin with an introductory course that lasts approximately 12 weeks and covers
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information about the Museum, art history, and basic research strategies. Afterward, Docents-in-training can choose a specialized area of service to pursue and, over time, can add additional focus areas based on their interests. The Museum piloted this updated approach with current Docents, a number of whom completed the adult-outreach module this past spring. Now, that group is ready to give virtual presentations for adult groups in community-serving institutions.
each other, specifically working to build the skills needed to facilitate conversations about works of art whose subject matters or histories can present challenges when engaging visitors on tours or in gallery talks.
When asked about the process of restructuring Docent training, Roger and her training taskforce co-chair Nancy Levin, who was named Docent of the Year this spring, said it all started by evaluating the training plans from previous years. “We conducted surveys, and assembled focus groups,” Roger said. “Our goal was to distill the fundamental elements that made the Docent experience meaningful and fulfilling and to find the most effective ways to develop the skills they need in the galleries and for community outreach.” Additionally, the Docent training taskforce made sure to make the training schedule more flexible. Now, modules will be offered at times that vary year after year in an attempt to accommodate a range of schedules.
For Leslie Lewis, Docent training co-chair, Docent training is an ongoing process. “We are continuing to learn; this is not something where you check a box and you’re done.”
Flexibility, however, isn’t all that’s new with Docent training. A final element that is vital to the future success and sustainability of the Museum’s Docent corps is the group’s commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Mirroring the efforts of the Museum as a whole, the Docents have re-committed themselves to better serving the institution’s surrounding communities by examining programming, policies, and practices that can be made more equitable and inclusive, and as part of their updated training efforts, Docents have taken numerous steps forward to educate themselves and
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Rather than committing a single training module to these efforts, this important and necessary work is instead woven throughout the Docent training program, as an essential component of every step of the journey.
This approach directly reflects the education practice of meeting people where they are. “Letting your audience lead you is the kind of thing that is very much a DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] concept, but the two ideas hadn’t been explicitly linked in that way until now,” said Betsy Pai, also a Docent training co-chair. People of all ages and backgrounds visit Phoenix Art Museum, each bringing a unique combination of lived experiences, interests, and sets of references. By updating their training processes and prioritizing inclusion work in their culture, Museum Docents are creating a platform for arts education practices that cultivate cultural awareness and sensitivity. Through this work, they are helping to ensure the Museum is an inclusive environment where staff, volunteers, and visitors alike are encouraged to practice empathy, experience new points of view, and challenge and correct stereotypes and assumptions. If you’re interested in learning more about the Docent program or volunteering at Phoenix Art Museum, contact education@phxart.org.
THE MUSEUM STORE
HIDDEN GEMS
In honor of Landscapes of Extraction, our premier exhibition opening in November 2021, we combed the troves of The Museum Store and unearthed a few exciting gift ideas inspired by the gems, minerals, and desert beauty of the Southwest.
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CO P P E R F E E L PRICES VARY
Add an element of earthy glamor to your next look with these minimalist copper designs made in Taxco, Mexico.
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G L A M R OCK $112.50 – $180 (MEMBERS) / $125 – $200 (NON-MEMBERS)
These delicate gem necklaces by designer Margaret Solow draw inspiration from art, travel, philosophy, and nature. 3
R OCK O F PA GE S $35.99 (MEMBERS) / $39.99 (NON-MEMBERS)
Jot down your thoughts and dreams in this vegan-leather journal with designs reminiscent of geological forms. 4
DE S E R T W R I T E R $76.50 – $112.50 (MEMBERS) / $85 – $125 (NON-MEMBERS)
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These beautifully handcrafted pens combine a few of Arizona’s many natural resources: copper, turquoise, and mesquite. 5
A R T O F T H E DE A L $44.96 (MEMBERS) / $49.95 (NON-MEMBERS)
Learn how Arizona’s art history is emblematic of the story of the modern West and the era of the New Deal.
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O N T H E R OCK S $40.50 (MEMBERS) / $45 (NON-MEMBERS)
Keep your cocktails fresh with these icy drink rocks that won’t dilute your spirits.
S US UM MM ME ER R/ F/ FA AL LL L 2 2002211 / / PP HH XX AA RR TT . O R G
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SAVE THE DATES FOR EXCITING EVENTS COMING IN 2022 Celebrate the return of our beloved annual gala and design-inspired luncheon and support your Phoenix Art Museum with a little added fanfare. P L E A S E N O T E : T H E T R A DI T IO N A L D AT E S F O R T H E S E E V E N T S H AV E CH A N GE D. BE SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS.
Nonprofit Organization US Postage Paid Phoenix AZ Permit Number 402
T H E P A R T Y+ INDEPENDENT W O M A N LUNCHEON
Phoenix Art Museum 1625 North Central Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1685 phxart.org
SUPPORT
THE PART Y MARCH 26, 2022 CE L E BR AT I N G T H E A R T + L EG A CY O F P H I L I P C. CU R T I S
INDEPENDENT WOMAN LUNCHEON OCTOBER 24, 2022 E V E N T D E TA I L S + I N V I TAT I O N S FO R T H C O M I N G image credit:
Haute Photography.