BUILDING THE LEGACY: A NEW CENTER FOR ASIAN ART

This fall, The Ringling will break ground on a remarkable new building to house a study center that will support teaching and research on Asian art and culture. This landmark structure will be named in honor of collector and philanthropist Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt, whose generous support has made the project possible. It will feature works from the collections of Dr. Wall-Apelt, Ira and Nancy Koger, and others, including John Ringling, who acquired Asian art in anticipation of future growth in this area.

The center is being designed by the renowned, Boston-based architectural firm of Machado and Silvetti Associates, whose other museum projects include the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the Getty Villa in Malibu. It will combine a striking new pavilion with renovated sections of the existing West Wing, dating from the 1960s. It will feature Asian art galleries, small object and paper storage facilities, study and reading rooms, and a lecture theater with spectacular views of the grounds and bay. It will also provide a much-needed entrance to the Museum of Art from the southwest. The exterior of the pavilion will be covered in angular panels of green, glazed terracotta. The choice of color is inspired by the Chinese jades in the Wall-Apelt collection, while the selection of material is influenced by the tiled roof and decorative details of Ca’ d’Zan

Scheduled for completion in early 2015, the new study center will provide educational opportunities for students and scholars from around the world. It will also enable the public to better understand and appreciate Asian history and society through exhibitions, programs, and publications.

DR. FAN ZHANG

WALL-APELT CURATOR OF ASIAN ART

On September 1st, Dr. Fan Zhang joined the staff of The Ringling as the Wall-Apelt Curator of Asian Art. A native of China, Fan comes to The Ringling from Smith College where he was the Freeman/McPherson

Post-doctoral Curatorial Fellow in Asian Art for the past three years. Fan holds a B.A. in Archaeology from Jilin University in Changchun, China, an M.A. in Art History from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and a Ph.D. in Art History from Brown University in Providence. His research interests are art and archaeology from the 7th – 14th centuries in East Asia, the history of Asian art collecting in American museums, and contemporary Chinese art. “We are thrilled to have Fan join our curatorial team at The Ringling,” said director Steven High. “His diverse scholarly interests and his collaborative nature make him the ideal curator to lead the development of the center for Asian art.”

Fast Facts

n The new center for Asian art will occupy approximately 20,000 sq. ft., of which nearly 7,000 sq. ft. will be dedicated to display space n The study center will include an interior extension to the south loggia of the Museum of Art, which will allow access to the original 21 galleries from the southwest n Boston Valley Terra Cotta, the firm producing the exterior panels that will give the study center its distinctive look, was involved in the restoration of Ca’ d’Zan back in the 1990s