The Ringling Magazine | January – April 2024

|

VOL 13 NO 1 JAN – APR

2024

5401 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, FL 34243 941.359.5700 ringling.org

Season has arrived!

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums

annually for this beautiful time in Sarasota. We

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Richard D. McCullough President James J. Clark Provost EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Steven High

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Warren R. Colbert, Sr., Chair Margaret D. Hausberg, Vice Chair H. Michael Bush, Treasurer Mercedes Soler-Martinez, Secretary Jasleen “Ritu” Anand Dennis W. Archer Adele Fleet Bacow David W. Benfer Amy D. Berk Francine B. Birbragher Larry J. Cuervo, Jr. Rebecca Donelson Andrew M. Economos Leon R. Ellin Elma Felix Ronald A. Johnson E. Marie McKee Janice Tibbals Mobley Howard D. Noble, Jr. Cynthia L. Peterson Frederic D. Pfening, III Kelly A. Romanoff Mayra N. Schmidt Debra J. Short James B. Stewart Keebler J. Straz Marla Vickers Kirk Ke Wang EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBER

Joan Uranga, Chair Volunteer Services Advisory Council

ISSN 2165-4085

I want to welcome back our members who return have a wonderful season ahead. Recently opened exhibitions include Guercino’s Friar with a Gold Earring: Fra Bonaventura Bisi, Painter and Art Dealer; Michele Oka Doner: The True Story of Eve; and Shinique Smith: Parade.

EMBODIED: Highlights from The Ringling Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, a reinstallation of the museum's contemporary art collection, will open in the Searing Wing in March. A long-awaited new permanent exhibition, The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery, a collaboration with Feld Entertainment, Inc., will open on the second floor of the Tibbals Learning Center in the spring.

We recently launched a new boat tour called Ca’ d’Zan Cruise. Visitors now have the opportunity to view Ca’ d’Zan the way it was intended to be viewed—from the bay. In cooperation with a locally operated boat company, this 90-minute cruise includes histories of the mansions lining the shore and narratives about the estuaries and wildlife that inhabit this portion of Sarasota Bay. This coming season will feature signature events such as Wine & Roses in March, as well as a full slate of educational offerings, including our Lifelong Arts program, free family programs, tours with special guests, and more. Our interns and Eleanor Merritt Fellow continue to work on special projects at The Ringling while learning valuable skills.

Finally, after months of waiting, our new fleet of courtesy carts are now available to aid visitors who require assistance in visiting our galleries and venues throughout our 66-acre campus.

I hope you enjoy reading more about the activities awaiting you this spring.

See you soon at The Ringling!

Steven High Executive Director

TABLE

CONTENTS JANUARY – APRIL 2024

4

New Aquisitions

6

Artist Spotlight: Howie Tsui

7

World Travelers

8

EXHIBITION On the Road: The Traveling Circus and Carnival in the 1970s

10

EXHIBITION The Feline Muse: Cats in Japanese Art

12

EXHIBITION Michele Oka Doner: The True Story of Eve

14

EXHIBITION Embodied: Highlights from The Ringling’s Collection Of Modern and Contemporary Art

16

Volunteer Spotlight: Lanny and Barbara Weintraub

17

In Conversation with BélO

18

Education

19

Around The Ringling

20

Membership

22

A Closer Look: Thumb-o-Graph book

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS

Amicus Foundation Ellin Family Art of Our Time Endowment Fund Lester Bessemer & Mary Tilley Bessemer Endowment for Ringling Ringling Museum General Development Fund

RIGHT:

Sekino Jun’ichirō (Japanese, 1914–1988), Boy with Cat, 1957.

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 26 3/4 × 14 15/16 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2015, SN11495.10 COVER:

Michele Oka Doner (American, b. 1945), From the Mysterium (detail), 2015, blown and hand-etched glass, 4 – 9 in. Courtesy of the artist.

DONATIONS IN FOCUS

By Christopher Jones Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts

At the end of 2022, The Ringling received a generous donation of three photography portfolios from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection that add considerable depth to the museum’s holdings in photography.

The first is a group of twenty-eight prints from the influential and sumptuously illustrated photography journal Camera Work, founded in 1902, which was published and edited by legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864– 1946). It served as a vehicle for the Photo-Secessionist group, also founded by Stieglitz, named after the Munich and Vienna Secessionist artist movements in Europe. The Photo-Secessionists broke with conservative tendencies and championed photography as a medium for artistic expression.

Among the highlights are glamorous photogravures by Baron Adolf de Meyer (American, born France, 1868–1946), who was a friend of Stieglitz and frequently exhibited with the Photo-Secession group (fig. 1). In 1913, he was published in Vogue magazine and was subsequently hired as its first full-time photographer. De Meyer had success as one of the earliest fashion photographers in Paris during the 1910s and 1920s, helping to define the genre. Also of importance are two collaborative works by Clarence H. White (American, 1871–1925) and Alfred Stieglitz from Camera Work, no 27, July 1909. The images (fig. 2) were the result of a series of experiments in 1907 in which the artists explored different types of plate negatives and exposure settings to demonstrate the camera’s ability to create nuanced figural works. These two luminaries of early art photography had a falling-out in 1912, so the work represents a crucial moment when their creative minds were in harmony. White established the Clarence H. White School of Photography in 1914 and taught notables who went on to influence the course of twentieth-century photography.

NEW ACQUISITIONS

Additionally, the Sandors have donated the Intimate

US and a renowned Black artist who captured important African

Landscapes portfolio of dye transfer prints by American

American subjects. DeCarava’s illustrious career began with

photographer Eliot Porter (1901–1990). Brother of noted

photographing everyday life in 1950s Harlem in New York City,

painter and printmaker Fairfield Porter, Eliot Porter initially

supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship—the first awarded to a

began a career as a scientist researching and teaching at

Black photographer. This led to one of his most notable projects,

Harvard and Radcliffe College. In 1939, however, he abandoned

The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955), a now-classic photobook

biochemistry to pursue photography full time after receiving

created in collaboration with poet and novelist Langston

encouragement from Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz. In the

Hughes. The book combined Hughes’s text with DeCarava’s

1940s, he was a pioneer in color photography, among the

images to create an uplifting account of life in Harlem

first to use it for artistic, rather than commercial, applications.

focusing on the beauty of the quotidian. DeCarava opened A

Intimate Landscapes is a selection of works by Porter from his

Photographer’s Gallery in New York in 1955 to promote fine

exhibition of the same title at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in

art photography in an era when its artistic merit was not yet

1979. The show was billed as the first solo artist exhibition of

universally recognized. He was a mentor to generations of

color photography in the institution’s history.

artists and co-founded the influential collaborative workshop

The generous gift also includes a significant 1991 portfolio

Kamoinge in 1963 to support the work of Black photographers.

of twelve dust-grain photogravures by ground-breaking

We are grateful to the Sandors for the opportunities provided by

photographer Roy DeCarava (American, 1919–2009) (figs. 3

these works to share key moments and artists from the history

and 4). DeCarava is a key figure in post-war photography in the

of photography with our community.

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM:

FIG. 1 Adolph de Meyer (American, born France, 1868-1946), Marchesa Casati, 1912. Photogravure, image: 8 9/16 x 6 3/8 in. Gift of the Richard & Ellen Sandor Family Collection, 2022, 2022.44.3.7.

FIG. 2 Clarence H. White (American, 1871-1925) and Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1946), Experiment 28, 1907; printed 1909. Photogravure, image: 8 1/16 x 6 1/4 in. Gift of the Richard & Ellen Sandor Family Collection, 2022, 2022.44.3.28.

THIS PAGE, LEFT TO RIGHT:

FIG. 3 Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009), Billie at Braddock’s, New York, from the portfolio Twelve Photogravures, 1952; printed 1991. Photogravure, image: 11 1/2 x 7 9/16 in. Gift of the Richard & Ellen Sandor Family Collection, 2022, 2022.44.1.7. © Sherry DeCarava.

FIG. 4 Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009), Four Men, New York, from the portfolio Twelve Photogravures, 1964; printed 1991. Photogravure, image: 8 7/16 x 10 3/4 in. Gift of the Richard & Ellen Sandor Family Collection, 2022, 2022.44.1.11. © Sherry DeCarava.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

HOWIE TSUI’S AVATARS OF ENTOMBMENT

By Rhiannon Paget, PhD Curator of Asian Art

Since China’s Tang dynasty (618–907), marvellously shaped

come under intense surveillance and control by the Chinese

rocks have been coveted by elites. For scholar-officials, elegant

government since 1997, even if they move abroad and become

stones were enjoyed as objects of contemplation and came

citizens of other countries. Tsui likens the authority's methods to

to signify their owner’s discerning taste, lofty mindset, and

the use of the cangue, a wooden structure attached around the

capacious imagination. Rocks were also a favorite subject

neck as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation in

in literati-style ink painting, a mode of expression associated

previous eras. Compounding their sense of discomfort, Chinese

with educated

immigrants from Asia also face racist discrimination, especially

and wealthy

following the outbreak of COVID-19.

amateur artists.

Visual elements of the paintings develop out of a bubbling

For Howie Tsui

soup of ideas and images. Viewers might also recognize the

(Canadian, born in

cartoon-like figures wearing long, braided queues as a stock

Hong Kong, 1978),

character in early modern Japanese and Western propaganda.

the scholars’ rock is

Japanese popular imagery, from the drawings of Katsushika

an inviting subject

Hokusai (1760–1849) to kaijū kaibō zu—anatomical

through which to

diagrams of monsters popular from the 1960s—inform Tsui's

explore, question,

mode of pictorially dissecting his subject matter. Tsui also

and satirize

speaks of seeing Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s (259–210 BCE)

cherished traditions

terracotta warriors in Xi’an, their broken parts embedded in

and prevailing power

the earth, as informing the fragmented and conjoined bodies

structures. It is the

enmeshed within the rocks. The title for the series, Avatars of

central motif of an

Entombment, is derived from what he perceived in Xi’an’s tombs

evolving series of

as “shattered avatars of an ancient emperor’s army.”

work titled Avatars of Entombment (from 2017), which includes mineral pigment and ink painting, silkscreens, and collage. With generous funding from Lucia and Steven Almquist and the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Ringling recently acquired two paintings from the series, both of which are currently on view in the exhibition Mountains of the Mind: Scholars’ Rocks in China and Beyond. (Rotation 1: through February 5, 2024; Rotation 2: February 7–June 23, 2024).

Mountains of the Mind: Scholars’ Rocks in China and Beyond presents forty examples of scholars’ rocks, as well as paintings, books, and a woodblock print that show how these objects were appreciated and the various meanings they communicated in China, Japan, and Korea between the nineteenth century and the present. Tsui’s deployment of the scholars’ rock in Avatars of Entombment, alongside works of art by other living artists including Ruyi (Li Yong) (Chinese, born 1966) and Yao JuiChung (Yao Ruizhong; Taiwanese, born 1969), demonstrate the continued significance and multivalency of this classical motif.

These fantastical paintings, rendered in Tsui’s distinctive graphic style with bright colors, depict human figures and body parts imprisoned within grotesque rocks. The sense of claustrophobia and restraint that they convey manifests Tsui’s concerns for his fellow citizens of Hong Kong, who have

Howie Tsui, Canadian (born in Hong Kong, 1978), Avatars of Entombment #2 (Offering), 2021. Paint pigment and ink on mulberry paper mounted on silk, 43 11/16 × 28 3/8 in. Museum purchase with funds from the E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, 2023. TR2023.16

LOANS

THE RINGLING AROUND THE WORLD Recent travels of The Ringling Collection.

Budapest, Hungary for the exhibition El Greco in Budapest

Baltimore, Maryland Toronto, Canada

Saint Martin and the Beggar

by Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos

for the exhibition Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe Sappho Inspired by Love

by Angelica Kauffmann

Bloomington, Indiana

for the exhibition Saitō Kiyoshi: Master of Design Winter in Paris

by Saitō Kiyoshi

Bordeaux + Paris, France for the exhibition Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899)

Family of Deer by Rosa Bonheur

Naples, Italy

for the exhibition Artemisia Gentileschi in Naples Israelites Celebrating the Return of David

by Workshop of Artemisia Gentileschi

LEFT TO RIGHT: Saitō Kiyoshi (Japanese, 1907–1997), Winter in Paris, 1966. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 22 7/8 × 17 1/8 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2014. SN11412.34; Angelica Kauffmann (Swiss, 1741– 1807), Sappho Inspired by Love, 1775. Oil on canvas, 60 1/2 × 65 15/16 × 2 3/4 in. Bequest of John Ringling, 1936, SN329; Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822–1899), A Family of Deer, 1865. Oil on canvas, 70 3/4 × 141 1/8 × 3 3/4 in. Bequest of John Ringling, 1936, SN434; Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos (Spanish, c. 1578–1631, active in Toledo), Saint Martin and the Beggar, 1620s. Oil on canvas, 64 5/8 × 52 13/16 × 3 1/8 in. Gift of Mrs. Thomas N. Metcalf and Richard C. Paine, 1951, SN656; Workshop of Artemisia Gentileschi (Italian, 1593–1659), Israelites Celebrating the Return of David, 1650s. Oil on canvas, 42 15/16 × 55 7/8 × 2 5/8 in. Bequest of John Ringling, 1936, SN155

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 7

ON THE ROAD The Traveling Circus and Carnival in the 1970s

By Christopher Jones Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts

The phrase “running away and joining the circus” is a familiar American idiom that expresses the desire for freedom and flight from oppressive circumstances or just the mundane realities of life. The phrase is testament to how ingrained the idea of the circus is in our popular imagination as a world of fantasy and magical escape. How tempting it is to cast aside one’s responsibilities and create a new identity on the road as a traveling performer or itinerant carnival barker, seeing the country as a part of a unique, closeknit community. This exhibition features images by two photographers who entered the world of traveling entertainers, sideshows, and carnivals in the 1970s, embedded themselves in these subcultures, and captured what life was like for them on the road and behind the scenes.

For photographer Jill Freedman (American, 1939–2019) the allure of the circus was one of wanderlust and the possibility of “packing up your tent and slipping into the night”1 in a world where the possibilities of true freedom felt increasingly foreclosed. The plucky photographer traveled with the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus, documenting the “backstage everyday life of this ancient, closed society and the people who live in it”2 at a time when the circus under the big top was past its heyday, and the traveling circus as a way of life was dying out. Even Beatty-Cole, which was among the largest tented shows in the early 1970s, was dwindling and smaller circuses were folding.

Freedman’s black-and-white images are gritty and offer up the tattered and hardscrabble aspects of life on the road, but she also homes in on the personalities and sense of communities at the heart of circus life.

Randal Levenson (American, 1946–2022) also went on the road, but he documented the unique world of traveling carnivals and sideshow performers beginning in 1971. In contrast to the grainier documentary approach that Freedman took, Levenson used a larger format camera on a tripod, posing his subjects and creating more formal compositions rich in tonalities, textures, and vivid details of his experiences. Not merely a spectator, Levenson also immersed himself in the life and day-to-day work of the itinerant carnival, working alongside carnies to hammer in stakes and raise tents. Many of his subjects were performers in sideshows; some, such as the “tattooed lady”

EXHIBITION

Artoria Gibbons, presented themselves as “human oddities” for curious spectators. Despite their lives as performers, Levenson observed that “they all desperately wanted to join in with the outside, ‘normal’ society: to have a house, a family, etc. Behind the stage they were simply regular people to one another.”3 This exhibition will feature works by both artists; Jill Freedman’s photographs are part of The Ringling’s permanent collection and those by Levenson are generously lent by his widow, Rustin Levenson. Visitors will be able to appreciate the distinct

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Randal Levenson (American, 1946-2022), Anna “Artoria” Gibbons, Hall and Christ Sideshow, Lincoln, NB, 1976. Gelatin silver print, image 15 3/4 x 12 3/8 in. On loan from Rustin Levenson. © The Estate of Randal Levenson.

Jill Freedman (American, 1939-2019). Clown standing in front of tent wall from Circus Days, c. 1971. Gelatin silver print, image 10 5/8 x 7 5/16 in.

Gift of Michael Sonnenfeldt and Katja Goldman, 2016, SN11575.8 © Jill Freedman Family Estate.

ABOVE:

Randal Levenson (American, 1946-2022), Count Nicholas's Gorilla Show, Godding Amusements, Maumee, Ohio, 1974. Gelatin silver print, image 12 1/16 x 16 15/16 in. On loan from Rustin Levenson. © The Estate of Randal Levenson.

sensibilities each of these photographers brought to their selfdriven projects and catch a glimpse of what life was like on the road with the circus and carnival.

1

Jill Freedman, Circus Days (New York: Harmony Books, 1975), 5.

2

Ibid.

Adam Barbu, “Randal Levenson: ‘In Search of the Monday Girl’”, Vice, July 3, 2014, https://www.vice.com/en/article/ppmqj8/randal-levensonin-search-of-monkey-girl.

3

On the Road: The Traveling Circus and Carnival in the 1970s opens April 6 in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing.

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 9

THE FELINE MUSE Cats in Japanese Art

By Rhiannon Paget, PhD Curator of Asian Art

Cats have lived in close proximity with humans on the Japanese archipelago for millennia. In the eighth century CE, indigenous felines were joined by karaneko, meaning “Chinese cat” or “Tang cat,” which arrived aboard ships from China or Korea upon which they were charged with protecting cargo from rodents.

Urbanization and the rise of sericulture from the seventeenth century supported periodic plagues of rat and mice, thus ensuring ongoing demand for feline services. Not content to be mere livestock, however, cats sidled their way into homes, hearths, and laps.

This cross-species friendship is reflected in over one thousand years of written and visual records. Images of cats began to proliferate from the Edo period (1615–1868), conveying symbolic messages and appearing as decorative subjects and characters from literature and the kabuki stage. Lithe and

This exhibition accompanies the book Divine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Art, published by Tuttle, available in The Ringling Museum Store.

handsome, the feline figure is an ideal subject for an artist to explore the abstract values of line and form. Its mood and manners present an inviting challenge to the patient and sensitive artist.

EXHIBITION

This small exhibition, encompassing woodblock prints, paintings, lacquerware, ceramics, and metalwork, introduces the feline subject in Japanese art from the early nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Highlights include Ban’ura Shōgo’s (1901–1982) lacquer box in the form of a cat, a superb example of Art Deco design, and Ōgaki Shōkun’s (1865–1937) serving tray painted with a kitten napping on a Buddhist sutra, a recent acquisition on view for the first time. Visitors will also see modernist prints by Saitō Kiyoshi (1907–1997), Sekino Jun’ichirō (1914–1988), and Inagaki Tomoo (1902–1980).

The Feline Muse: Cats in Japanese Art is on view through April 14, 2025 in the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Gallery.

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Ban’ura Shōgo (Japanese, 1901– 1982), Box as a Cat, ca. 1930s.

Dry lacquer over cloth, 6 3/4 × 12 × 7 1/4 in., Private Collection.

THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM:

Ōgaki Shōkun (Japanese, 1865–1937), Serving Tray with Cat Sleeping on Lotus Sutra, ca.

1920s. Ink, gold pigments, and colors on wood, 11 × 11 × 1 3/16 in. Museum purchase. 2021.46 Saitō Kiyoshi (Japanese, 1907– 1997), Two Cats, designed 1954, printed 1955. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 16 3/4 × 23 1/16 in. Gift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2015. SN11495.35

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 11

MICHELE OKA DONER

The True Story of Eve

By Ola Wlusek Keith D. Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Last fall, The Ringling unveiled a solo exhibition by Miami-born, New York City-based artist Michele Oka Doner. Oka Doner is an internationally acclaimed artist best known for her large-scale public art commissions inspired by the wonderment and awe of flora and fauna, as well as for her poetic explorations of the human figure. Michele Oka Doner: The True Story of Eve brings together over sixty artworks spanning more than five decades from the artist’s oeuvre, exploring intersections of nature and humanity while posing poignant questions about our collective responsibility for this planet and for one another.

Oka Doner has used a wide variety of natural materials and forms in her decades-long artistic practice—from stones, fossils, and shells to salvaged detritus of botanical and animal specimens that caught the artist’s inquisitive eye—which she transforms into expressive forms using her boundless imagination. The artist explains, “I have always been a huntergatherer. Translating my finds into clay allowed me to expand the impulse. No longer was the peach pit extracted from the ripe stone fruit just detritus. I could take it to the studio, study the interior structure, and a landscape emerged.”

EXHIBITION

The natural environment of Miami Beach, where she spent her early childhood and from which she derives her formal vocabulary, has proven a great source of inspiration for the artist. She transforms the natural materials she collects into uncanny sculptures resembling animal and plant forms in a variety of media, including wood, glass, silver, bronze, and wax. Her large works on paper of looming humanoids are made from organic matter, such as dried leaves, roots, bark, fronds, stems, stalk, mulch, and dirt. The exhibition also includes Cocoon and Germinating Seed, both from 1984, which were gifts by the artist to The Ringling in 1989. The two surreal sculptures resemble motifs found in nature that seem familiar but are often overlooked. Rendered in bronze, the natural forms are enlarged and exaggerated, making them appear simultaneously futuristic, ancient, and altogether otherworldly.

The title of the exhibition conjures Eve, the controversial female figure from the Garden of Eden story in the Book of Genesis. Oka Doner points to the paradox of Eve as both the mother of all living things and the bearer of original sin, who ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and was exiled from Eden. The story of Eve reminds us that we, too, are simultaneously the creators and the destroyers of the fate of this planet ridden with cycles of creation, growth, and decay. Oka Doner states, “The emergent feminist avant-garde coincided with my emergence into adult voice. Closed doors around me were being pierced by the civil rights movement and by the burgeoning gender dialogue. This heightened my awareness of the human body as a physical entity that was at the same time sociological, even abstract.”

The exhibition focuses on Oka Doner’s further integration of human form converging with nature and history and demonstrates her art’s power to challenge distinctions between what is ancient and new, natural and manmade.

The highly intuitive works on view pay homage to the local environment while reminding us of our increasingly precarious ecosystem.

Michele Oka Doner: The True Story of Eve is on view through June 2 in the Keith D. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art.

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Michele Oka Doner (American, b. 1945), Birth of Adam, 2019, relief print from organic material, 101 ½ x 53 ½ in. Courtesy of the artist.

RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM:

Michele Oka Doner (American, b. 1945), Telchine, 2010. Terracotta, 29 × 15 × 11 in.

Courtesy of the artist.

Michele Oka Doner in her studio. Photo: Marc Heldrens.

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 13

EMBODIED

Highlights from The Ringling’s Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art

By Ola Wlusek Keith D Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

The figure is one of the oldest records of our existence as a species capable of storytelling; depictions of the human body constitute some of the oldest subjects in art. Embodied expands on the definition of the figure by bringing together diverse representations in painting, sculpture, fiber, video, and mixed media by some of the most exciting artists working in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This dynamic array allows

THIS PAGE:

William Villalongo, (American, b. 1975), Still Life with Quilt and Drinking Gourds, 2021. Acrylic and velvet flock on wood panel, 72 x 56 x 2 in. Museum purchase with funds from Drs. George and Sarah Pappas Art Acquisition Fund, 2022, 2022.33. Courtesy of @Villalongo Studio LLC and Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC.

for an exploration of a range of stylistic approaches to the depictions and interpretations of the human condition and the significance of identity. The exhibition also demonstrates the breadth of forms and materials employed by artists whose work has been recently added to the collection, now in conversation with earlier acquisitions.

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Tony Tiger (Sac and Fox/Seminole/Muscogee (Creek), b. 1964), Time and Place: Egmont Key-Indian Territory-LA-Oklahoma, 2019. Acrylic on panel, 48 x 36 x 2 in. Museum purchase, 2023, 2023.26.

Jake Troyli (American, b. 1990), Superfan, 2021. Oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. Museum purchase, 2022, 2022.9.

Cauleen Smith (American, b. 1967), Egungun, 2015. Archival pigment print on rag paper, 12 x 9 in. Museum purchase, 2021, 2021.25.1.

Highlights include the mixed media work Still Life with Quilt and Drinking Gourds (2021) by William Villalongo, who merges tropes from the European still life painting tradition with elements from Black histories, pop culture, and mass media to bring awareness to “the body as an abstraction, one of resiliency and flux that rewrites itself as it moves through the world.” This powerful work contains a star map, a nautical telescope, rotting bananas, and a photograph of Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek. Nichols’s character was groundbreaking in many ways, most notably for the first on-screen interracial kiss. For Villalongo, Nichols represents “the furthest reaches of the Black imagination.” The tableau features objects used to navigate during the Underground Railroad and conjures images of Black migration.

EXHIBITION

The concepts of migration and “visibility and invisibility as a

emerged from Smith’s fascination with, and respect for, the

condition of being,” employed in the work by Villalongo, are also

history of this location and its Indigenous peoples. The Calusa,

activated in Tony Tiger’s Time and Place: Egmont Key – Indian

descendants of Paleo-Indians who occupied Southwest

Territory – LA – Oklahoma (2019), the first abstract painting

Florida approximately 12,000 years ago, once inhabited the

by a contemporary Native American artist acquired by The

island paradise; however, during the conflict with European

Ringling. The painting’s leaf and triangle motifs, borrowed

settlers in the eighteenth century they fled to Cuba and

from Seminole patchwork and Woodland designs, trace the

eventually became extinct. In borrowing elements from an

movement of Tiger’s family and ancestors across state lines,

exquisitely layered Egungun (a costumed dancer who appears

while the blues, reds, ochers, and greens point to the natural

at celebrations for the dead in Yoruba societies), the video

elements of Tiger’s ancestral land. The title suggests the

acknowledges Florida’s fraught past.

significance of the named places to the Seminole history, including Egmont Key, located near the mouth of Tampa Bay. As part of The Indian Removal Act of 1830, the US government seized the homelands of many Native Americans.

Egmont Key served as an internment camp to hold imprisoned Seminoles before they were transported west, but today it serves as a symbol of Native American resilience.

Turning deeper into the past is Cauleen Smith’s film Egungun: Ancestor Can’t Find Me (2017), in which she draws from the Afrofuturism movement “to critique not only the present-day dilemmas of people of color, but also to revise, interrogate, and re-examine historical events and investigate trauma

Additional important works address the formal elements of figurative art while exploring the artists’ inner psyche through portraiture and representation, including those by Benny Andrews, Marisol, Jessica Osceola, and Jake Troyli. Other works embody the artist’s personal experiences and broader observations on socio-political issues through abstraction and non-objective art, including those by Natasha Mazurka, Linda Stein, William Pachner, and Yuriko Yamaguchi.

Embodied: Highlights from The Ringling's Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art opens March 9 in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing.

very explicitly.” Filmed while the artist was in residence at the Rauschenberg Foundation on Captiva Island, the work

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 15

VOLUNTEERS

question!” Lanny said. They were always in agreement that retiring to Florida simply wasn’t for them.

Then they visited their son, who had recently moved to the Tampa Bay area for work. Lanny and Barbara didn’t know anything about Florida’s west coast, but once they discovered Sarasota, they immediately had a change of heart and knew that it offered everything they wanted. Without doing any additional research, they impulsively decided to purchase a house and made an appointment with a realtor the next morning before their flight home.

Once they settled in, Lanny and Barbara began exploring their surroundings, and The Ringling was their first stop. They were

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

instantly captivated by the venues and beautiful grounds

Lanny and Barbara Weintraub

initial visit has turned into seventeen years of volunteering

Our volunteers come from all over the country, and we love learning what ultimately brought them to Sarasota and to The Ringling. Lanny and Barbara Weintraub’s story began in New York more than sixty years ago. Barbara was a student at Queens College, and Lanny worked for a professional photography company where one of his colleagues just happened to be Barbara’s mother. After seeing a photo of Barbara, Lanny was intrigued and agreed to a meeting, which took place in Barbara’s living room under the watchful eyes of her family. The meeting was a success, and the couple began dating.

Their courtship accelerated when Lanny was offered a job in Washington, DC. They were engaged and married within a span of three months, then they packed their belongings and relocated to Maryland, where they lived for thirty-eight years. Barbara worked in education and career counseling for Montgomery County public schools. Lanny worked as a home inspector and was heavily involved in the scouts with their two children. Barbara and Lanny share a passion for theater and, in their early years, were among the co-founders of a small local theater company, Triangle Theater, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

When Lanny and Barbara began thinking about retirement and relocation, they considered several places where they could enjoy being outdoors. But the downside to each of these locations was the sparse population and lack of amenities after the peak season waned. What about Florida? “Out of the

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and thought it would be the perfect spot to volunteer. This and a combined total of nearly 4,000 hours given. They’ve performed a number of roles—including ushering at the Historic Asolo Theater, assisting in the Archives, and supporting special events—but they both cite driving trams (now known as courtesy carts) as their favorite activity, particularly during those quiet, tranquil moments before the museum opens to visitors. “It feels like it’s all mine,” Barbara said. Lanny added, “Being near the bay and seeing dolphins… that never gets old.”

Over the years, there have been many married couples within the volunteer corps, and most seem to prefer spending time in different areas than their spouse. But Lanny and Barbara have spent most of their days at the museum serving in the same roles and on the same shifts. “We get to share the same experiences,” Barbara explained. When asked what they enjoy most about being volunteers at The Ringling, they spoke about the great friendships they’ve made and the opportunities to learn. “Volunteering has exposed us to so many ideas and things that we hadn’t experienced anywhere else,” said Barbara. Now permanent Florida residents, Lanny and Barbara mentioned that they occasionally volunteer for other community organizations, but The Ringling is a very special place. Barbara said, “Being at The Ringling is very enriching, and it offers a lot to volunteers. I could never give it up.”

ART OF PERFORMANCE

In Conversation

By Elizabeth Doud, PhD

Currie-Kohlmann Curator of Performance

The singer-songwriter known as BélO is beloved in Haiti and far

challenges and continue to create, inspire, and innovate as a

beyond for his alternately smooth and bellowing anthems that

nation and globally.

uplift the story of his people and his homeland. Even if you don’t speak Kreyòl, his emotionally riveting music is an unmistakable love song and lament to the triumphs and struggles of the first Black independent nation in the Americas and to its resilient people. He has played widely throughout Florida, yet his March concerts at the Historic Asolo Theater will be his Sarasota debut. The artist shared his reflections on his identity, Haitian arts, and what being in Florida means to him.

You have toured a lot in Florida. What is special about Florida for you? Florida has a large and vibrant Haitian community. My music is a fusion of multiple influences and genres, reflecting not only the spirit of Haiti but also the international experiences that have shaped me as an artist. Florida’s diverse cultural environment perfectly complements the styles and themes in my music. Connecting with the Haitian community in Florida has been enriching because I get to share stories and celebrate

How do you define yourself in the world of music? I am

a shared cultural heritage with audiences who appreciate the

a socially conscious artist with a deep connection to my

musical journey I offer, from traditional Haitian rhythms to

homeland. Haiti, with its rich culture and resilient people, is my

contemporary approaches. Even audiences who aren’t Haitian

muse. I consider myself a musical ambassador for Haiti, using

feel transported by the music. It’s a true testament to the

my art to showcase the beauty, strength, and complexity of this

power of music to bridge cultures and connect people.

nation to the world. Through music, I strive to be a messenger for the Haitian people, amplifying their stories, and shedding light on the social and political issues that matter to them. My music is a bridge that connects Haiti to the global stage to bring positive change and inspire unity and understanding.

Who are you working with right now and who do you hope to collaborate with in the future? I’m currently working with the talented young Haitian DJ and producer Manito Nation for my upcoming album. Our collaboration has been incredibly fruitful, and I thrive in environments that bring different generations

What should people understand about Haitian art and artists?

together. Just like my previous album with Haitian producer

Haitian art is a dynamic force that goes beyond traditional

Michael Brun, intergenerational collaborations have proven to

forms of art, like exuberant paintings and intricate sculptures,

be beneficial for everyone involved. I’m excited to continue this

but what people might not realize is the deep connection

tradition and reach out to artists from the generation before

between our art and our history, culture, and resilience. Haitian

me. It would be an absolute honor to team up with a legendary

artists have a unique ability to capture the essence of our

artist like Angélique Kidjo. It’s a way to pay homage to the past,

complex history, our unwavering spirit, and creativity. Our

celebrate the present, and ignite the future.

art often serves as a form of storytelling, preserving the rich narratives of our people, from our revolutionary history to the everyday struggles and triumphs. Haitian artists are incredibly diverse in their expressions. While we have a strong tradition of visual arts, we also have a thriving music scene that spans genres from konpa to rasin. Our dance, literature, and film are equally rich and culturally significant. Haitian art is not just a form of expression. It’s a form of resistance and a testament to the strength of a people who have overcome immense

Photo by Hervay Petion

Don’t miss BelÓ in concert MAR 8 & 9 at the HAT! Scan QR code or visit ringling.org for tickets

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS Our summer interns work in a variety of departments across The Ringling. During their full-time paid internships, they complete projects, learn about day-to-day museum operations, and gain valuable career development experience.

Pictured here are our 2023 interns at work with education, curatorial, conservation, and more.

ELEANOR MERRITT FELLOWSHIP Jevon Brown, The Ringling’s inaugural Eleanor Merritt Fellow, has been hard at work actively contributing to the museum’s programs and initiatives. Brown is seen here facilitating an art making activity in The Ringling's MakerSpace during Homeschool Third Thursday. He is also pictured attending the Florida Association of Museums annual conference in Tampa, just one of the professional development opportunities made available to The Ringling’s fellows and interns.

As part of our mission to educate and inspire, The Ringling offers several valuable internship and fellowship experiences to help emerging professionals launch their careers.

Applications for Summer 2024 internships and the Eleanor Merritt Fellowship will open in February.

If you or someone you know is interested, scan this QR code, or visit ringling.org.

AROUND THE RINGLING

COMING THIS SPRING! The Greatest Show On Earth Gallery Located on the 2nd Floor of Tibbals Learning Center

BAYFRONT GARDENS TOURS The Ringling Bayfront Gardens offer endless opportunities for exploration and discovery. Can’t-miss highlights include: • Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden. With over 1,200 roses, this formal garden is a feast for the eyes and the nose alike.

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bamboo and whimsical statuary.

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• Secret Garden. Tucked away from Ca’ d’Zan’s front lawn, this hidden gem features an eclectic mix of Floridanative plants.

• Millennium Tree Trail. This winding path showcases oak, holly, citrus, and magnolia trees.

• Dwarf Garden. A shaded retreat among

showcases interesting botanical specimens while providing a historical overview of the estate's development.

FRIDAYS – MONDAYS 10:30 AM $15 / $10 FOR MEMBERS

Art Asolo Ca' d'Zan

Circus Mable Member

Ringling Rose Garden Rubens

Sarasota Statue Tibbals

D IS C OV E R M O R E @ r i n g li n g . o r g 19

CIRCLE LEVEL EVENTS Circle Level events are not accessible to all members. If you are interested in learning about these upper levels of membership and their benefits, visit ringling.org or contact Emily Joslin at 941.358.2605.

ALL CIRCLE LEVELS

DIRECTOR + CHAIRMAN CIRCLE LEVELS

APRIL

JANUARY

• Greatest Show on Earth Gallery

• Small Group Visit To The Ringling Archives

Celebration and Circle Dinner

with Heidi Connor, Chief Archivist

MAY

APRIL

• Season Thank You for Circle + Sponsors

• Astor Mansion Period Rooms Conservation Talk

Gallery talk, performance, and reception JUNE • Skyway 2024: A Contemporary Collaboration Circle preview and reception

with Barbara Ramsay, Chief Conservator

CHAIRMAN CIRCLE LEVEL APRIL • Chairman Collectors Evening Circus collecting

An enchanted evening affair in Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden

MAR 25, 2024

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT RICHARD AND ELLEN SANDOR In 2022, Sarasota welcomed new residents­

When they purchased their condo in downtown

Richard and Ellen Sandor. The Sandors

Sarasota, the Sandors were told about The

are major collectors, entrepreneurs, and

Ringling. During their first visit to the museum,

philanthropists. Among their many other

they were pleasantly surprised at the breadth

significant personal and professional

and depth of The Ringling’s collections,

accomplishments, the couple cofounded the

exhibitions, and programs, which went beyond

Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection over

just the circus connection they’d assumed

forty years ago. This private collection contains

would be present given the Ringling name. They

more than 2,500 pieces and includes three

were even more impressed when they learned

centuries of photography, complemented by

that The Ringling actively collects photography.

paintings, drawings, sculptures, and new media

They joined The Ringling Circle at the Director

artwork. The major themes in the collection

level. In addition to photography, the Sandors

include Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Icons

are passionate about Native American art and

(starting as far back as 1840), Paris Between

circus history, and they have engaged with The

the Wars, the American West, Hollywood

Ringling’s curators who specialize in those areas.

Portraits, Surrealism, Feminism, African American History, and Chinese Contemporary Photography. The Sandors were listed by Art & Antiques magazine as one of America’s top 100 private collectors in 1988, 2001, and 2002.

Earlier this year, the Sandors generously donated three portfolios of photography: Roy De Carava, which includes twelve stunning dust-grain photogravures; an Eliot Porter portfolio entitled Intimate Landscapes; and a

The Sandors are involved in numerous civic

portfolio of twenty-eight photogravures from

and charitable activities both here in Sarasota

Camera Work, Alfred Stieglitz’s seminal journal

and in Chicago. In Chicago, they support the

of photography and fine art.

Art Institute of Chicago and its school and the University of Chicago Law School. In Sarasota, they are enjoying engaging with and supporting the thriving art, theater, and music scenes.

“These gifts are a significant contribution to The Ringling’s photography collection,” notes Christopher Jones, Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography

They don’t stop at giving; they work in support

and Media Art. “It’s so important to be able

of these institutions as well. Ellen serves as

to represent such influential moments in the

Chair of the Advisory Board of the Gene Siskel

history of art and photography. Stieglitz was

Film Center of the School of the Art Institute

instrumental in promoting both modern art

of Chicago, member of the Board of Governors

and fine art photography in America early

at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,

in the twentieth century. DeCarava created

Emeritus Life Trustee of the Art Institute of

powerful expressions of African American life

Chicago, Secretary of the Board of Eyebeam in

and culture in his images, and he was a mentor

New York, and Board Member of the American

to generations of photographers. Eliot Porter

Friends Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie

was a pioneer in using color photography in fine

in Paris, France. Richard is a member of the

art, and helped shape how we conceive of the

Committee on Photography, Art Institute of

American landscape and ecology.”

Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a director of the Center for Financial Stability and Digital Dollar Project.

We are grateful to the Sandors for their generous support of The Ringling and are glad they’ve made Sarasota their home!

A CLOSER LOOK

The best part of working with archival collections is that you

Ringling’s Thumb-o-Graph holds five thumbprints. On the first

never know what you’re going to find. Within John Ringling’s

page are the thumbprints and signatures of Mable Ringling and

papers is an object that holds something very special inside:

her sisters Amanda Wortman and Dulcy Burton, dated August

the thumbprints of John and Mable Ringling. The object is a

6, 1906. On the next page is John Ringling’s thumbprint and

Thumb-o-Graph book. The Thumb-o-Graph was first introduced

the thumbprint of a Janet L. Wray. Their fingerprints include

in 1904 by Dow & Lester, a London-based publishing company

their signatures and have the date of November 21, 1906.

that capitalized on the public’s interest in fingerprinting as

The Archives staff has not yet been able to identify Wray’s

the technique became more widely used in forensics. The

connection to the Ringling family.

Ringlings’ Thumb-o-Graph was published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, publishers in New York. Many Thumb-o-Graphs from this era were decorated with colorful stickers, ribbons, and dried flowers, although the Ringlings’ Thumb-o-Graph has not been embellished.

The Thumb-o-Graph was a fun way for people to collect friends’ and families’ thumbprints and autographs. As no two fingerprints are the same, the Thumb-o-Graph captured a unique memento. Other popular ways people collected memories were Hurry-Graphs, which collected sketches of

The Thumb-o-Graph consists of a page with instructions, blank

scenery, celebrities, and society, and Kiss-o-Graphs, which were

pages, and a place where an ink pad would have been attached

a novel way of collecting kisses. These historical keepsakes

to the book cover. The thumbprint pages are divided so that

provide a glimpse into past expressions of sentiment and the

the person would write their name and date on the left side

ways in which friends shared connections and memories.

and leave their thumbprint on the right side. John and Mable

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Flip flops $16.95 Coaster $12.00 Sold separately

Wine stopper $19.95 Wine glass $15.95 Sold separately

MEMBER APPRECIATION DAYS MAR 22–24 MEMBERS SAVE 20%* *excludes clearance

The Ringling

MUSEUM STORE MEMBERS SAVE 10%* *excludes already discounted items

Open Daily 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM Thursdays until 8:00 PM Located in the McKay Visitors Pavilion

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art 5401 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, FL 34243

Tote bag $45.00

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #363 MANASOTA, FL

EVERYTHING IS COMING UP ROSES!