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from the director UMMA has a great future ahead, following Joe’s leadership, and we thank him for all his contributions. I will work to provide steady leadership during this time of transition. UMMA had an amazing fall semester. Each year, we welcome students back on campus with a fresh round of exhibitions and programs, and this year’s lineup was no exception.
It is my privilege to serve the Museum and the University as UMMA’s interim director while a search is conducted for Joe Rosa’s replacement.
If you were around campus in early September, you may have noticed something unique on the outside of the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing: a video/audio art installation! UMMA’s Nights at the Museum featured a video art piece playing overnight from dusk to dawn. We also showcased video presentations from our arts and cultural partners on campus as well as a hit Pixar movie. It was a big success (read more on page 17). Nights at the Museum is a part of our broader strategic plan to move beyond the walls of the Museum and connect with our community. Looking forward, UMMA will kick off its commemoration of the University of Michigan’s Bicentennial year with the ambitious exhibition Victors for Art: Michigan’s Alumni Collectors (page 4)—–a two-part exhibition celebrating the collected works of our alumni. Part 1: Figuration opens this February, while Part 2: Abstraction opens in July.
An additional Bicentennial project comes to life at UMMA in Constructing Gender: The Architectural Origins of Michigan’s Union and League. In cooperation with the Bentley Historical Library, we share the rich history and lesser-known stories of these two iconic campus buildings. On the museum director search front, the Office of the Provost has formed a search committee and updates will be shared on UMMA’s website. Meanwhile, as you’ll see evidenced throughout this magazine, we will continue to do meaningful things at UMMA. In addition to all the noteworthy topics here, we will have some exciting news about UMMA’s expanding membership program, launching this January. Please stay tuned to learn more about it! I hope to greet you at UMMA in this New Year. Warmest regards,
Kathryn Huss Interim Director
CONTENTS From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Special Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
UMMA News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
UMMA Happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Annual Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
In Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
UMMA Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
COVER: Andy Warhol, Ferrous, 1975, acrylic and silkscreen on linen. Collection of Joseph (BBA ’63) and Annette Allen © 2016 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2
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umma news
ART ON LOAN UMMA is loaning the work, The Road to Exile (Le Chemin de l’Exil), 1944, by Jacques Lipchitz to The Jewish Museum in New York for their upcoming exhibition, Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design, scheduled to open on November 4, 2016. Pierre Chareau (1883-1950) is a leading figure of the French Decorative Arts movement and the exhibition focuses on his work between the two World Wars, showcasing his work for film and theater and his efforts to survive professionally while in exile in the 1940s. UMMA’s engraving by Jacques Lipchitz was produced in 1944, and a work from the same edition was a displayed in Chareau’s study. The Jewish Museum included the work to provide context for the scope of Chareau’s collecting practice and the artistic world in which he functioned at the time.
Jacques Lipchitz. The Road to Exile (Le Chemin de l’Exil), 1944, engraving and aquating on paper, 35.2 cm x 25.1 cm (13 7/8 in. x 9 7/8 in.) 1949/2.87
Additionally, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, is organizing an exhibition of the work of Claude Monet that focuses on the works that Monet produced between 1880 and the early 20th century. The exhibition, which opens on January 22, 2017, examines the idea that in the years after the death of his wife in 1879, Monet entered into a period of rethinking his practice. He began to travel more widely and, it is argued, the light from the Mediterranean gave his work new impulses that drove his art to become more personal and to begin to move away from the strictly “impressionist” style in which he had been an early pioneer. UMMA’s work, The Break-up of the Ice (La Débâcle or Les Glaçons), dates to the beginning of that period of his life and in this work, Monet shows his mastery of different tonalities of white and grey that are rendered by using an enormously wide range of colors.
Claude Monet. The Break-up of the Ice (La Débâcle or Les Glaçons), 1880, oil on canvas, 60.3 cm x 99.9 cm (23 3/4 in. x 39 5/16 in.) 1976/2.134
NEW ADDITIONS TO UMMA STAFF Lehti Mairike Keelmann has been appointed the institution’s Assistant Curator of Western Art, overseeing UMMA’s collection of European art spanning the medieval period through the 20th century. Keelmann earned her Ph.D. in the History of Art at the University of Michigan, and served as the Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at UMMA during the 2014–2015 academic year. Keelmann helped to research and co-curate Soviet Constructivist Posters: Branding the New Order in 2015. UMMA also selected Allison Martino as the Museum’s History of Art Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow for the 2016–2017 academic year. Martino, a historian of art with a focus on West African textiles is the Museum’s first African specialist to be named a Mellon Fellow. She will work primarily with Laura De Becker, UMMA’s Helmut & Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art. Lehti Mairike Keelmann, Assistant Curator of Western Art w in t er 2017
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exhibitions
George Condo, We are waiting, 1984, oil on canvas. Collection of Martijn (MBA ’69) and Jeannette Sanders © 2016 George Condo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo courtesy the artist and Skarstedt, New York
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a. alfred taubman gallery | february 18–june 11, 2017
exhibitions
VICTORS FOR ART: MICHIGAN’S ALUMNI COLLECTORS–
PART I: FIGURATION C
ommemorating the University of Michigan’s 2017 Bicentennial, Victors for Art: Michigan’s Alumni Collectors celebrates the deep impact of Michigan alumni in the global art world. In presenting over one hundred exceptional works of art spanning two consecutive exhibitions (Part I: Figuration will be on view from February 18 through June 11 and Part II: Abstraction from July 1 through October 29), UMMA recognizes the extraordinary role of the University in the development of many of the world’s most influential art collectors. While figuration and abstraction are broad and fluid categories that defy conclusive characterization, in composing this two-part exhibition UMMA offers visitors the opportunity to explore the essence and limits of these categories across a wide range of media, time periods, and geographies. Opening this winter, Part I: Figuration includes works that are readily recognizable as figurative–—that aim to represent people, objects and surroundings–—while other works, despite such allusions, playfully push against the very notions of representation. Works by a range of artists including Peter Campus, Rineke Dijkstra, Henri Matisse, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Collier Schorr, and Mickalene Thomas, among others, speak to the diversity of motivations for artistic representation across many contexts. By juxtaposing these works, viewers may discern common threads, yet also appreciate the great variety of artistic responses encompassed by the term “figuration.”
classes (see more about our lenders on p. 22). The exhibition offers an unprecedented opportunity to view art that may have never been publicly displayed otherwise–—and most certainly, not all together. For visitors, and especially for future generations of Michigan graduates, the exhibition illuminates the shared passion for art fostered by the Michigan experience. This exhibition was organized by Joseph Rosa, Guest Curator, in collaboration with Laura De Becker, Helmut & Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art, Jennifer Friess, Assistant Curator of Photography, Lehti Mairike Keelman, Assistant Curator of Western Art, and Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art. Victors for Art will be accompanied by a fully illustrated companion publication to be released in the fall. Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, the University of Michigan Health System, the University of Michigan Office of the President, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Michigan Bicentennial Office.
LEAD EXHIBITION SPONSOR
Victors for Art features works collected by a diverse group of alumni who represent the breadth of the University’s academic units and over seventy years of graduating
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exhibitions
CONSTRUCTING GENDER:
THE ARCHITECTURAL ORIGINS OF MICHIGAN’S UNION AND LEAGUE
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jan and david brandon family bridge | january 28–may 7, 2017
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sk U-M students, alumni, or fans what symbolizes the University of Michigan, and you’ll likely hear the Big House, the Diag, along with the Michigan Union and the Michigan League. Since they officially opened in 1919 and 1929, respectively, the Union and League have been destinations for generations of Wolverines for studying, dancing, dining, and relaxing. And although some of their history is well-known—–for instance that women weren’t allowed through the front doors of the Union until the 1950s—–few know about the pair of architects who brought them both to life: brothers Irving K. and Allen Pond. A new exhibition at the University of Michigan Museum of Art seeks to change that with a look at the Pond brothers’ design concepts for the Michigan Union and League, in the context of the hopes and expectations of the campus community at the time. The exhibition, organized in celebration of the University of Michigan’s Bicentennial in 2017, illuminates the architecture and bustling student life of these iconic U-M buildings using original drawings, renderings, photographs, color studies, and even dance cards from the Bentley Historical Library, which serves as the University of Michigan archives. These fascinating documents reveal how the buildings were conceived, constructed, and first occupied by students and alumni. Natives of Ann Arbor and U-M alumni, the Pond brothers were commissioned in an era when the southwest side of campus was oriented towards men, and the northeast towards women. The Ponds
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exhibitions
believed that buildings could embody aspirations and inspire organizational activities according to gender. “Every man’s Union has to be planned to accommodate women; and every women’s League must be planned in reference to the accommodation of men,” Irving Pond later wrote. “In a man’s building the very minimum of accommodations for women may be properly provided; while in a woman’s building the maximum of accommodations must be provided for men.” The exhibition shows how this bore out in practice and explores the ways in which the buildings were central to twentieth-century campus life, from holding coeducational dances and feeding hungry students, to hosting alumni, and most importantly, constructing memories for generations. Nancy Bartlett Guest Curator Associate Director, Bentley Historical Library Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT The Michigan Union, ca. 1935, pen and ink over pencil on paper. Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Pond & Pond, Martin & Lloyd, Architects. UM League “View from the North-West Showing Auditorium Wing in the Forefront,” 1927, ink on paper. Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Color sketch, Billiard Room, Michigan Union, date unknown, colored pencil on paper. Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan James McBurney, Young American Womanhood, 1929, black-and-white photographic reproduction. Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
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exhibitions
Jim Campbell, Seal Rock, 2010, LEDs, custom electronics, Duratrans, treated Plexiglass, edition 2/3. Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul. Courtesy of the artist and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
Rick Silva, Render Garden, 2014, single-channel ‘realtime 3D’, edition of 3 + 2AP. Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul. Photo courtesy of the artist and TRANSFER
Joanie Lemercier, Landform 10, 2015, giclée print, video projection. Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul. Photo courtesy of Studio Joanie Lemercier
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exhibitions
media gallery | december 3, 2016–march 26, 2017
MOVING IMAGE: LANDSCAPE M
oving Image: Landscape explores traditional notions of landscape through four very different time-based works by artists Jim Campbell, Antti Laitinen, Joanie Lemercier, and Rick Silva, on loan from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection in Istanbul. Campbell’s recent body of work, including Seal Rock, presents pixilated images of landscapes created with grids of LEDs. The low-resolution LEDs create a tension between representation and abstraction, forcing viewers to find new ways to identify and interpret what they are seeing. In the three-channel video It’s My Island Laitinen builds his own island in the Baltic Sea by dragging two hundred sand bags into the water over a period of three months. The work explores ideas of nationality, citizenship, and identity as the artist creates his own singlecitizen micronation. Lemercier’s computer-generated print Landform 10 uses patterns of black dots and projected light to create the illusion of three-dimensionality and movement when seen from a distance. The effects are more realistic than a still image, but still unsettlingly artificial. Silva’s Render Garden explores the digitized landscape, including remix and glitch aesthetics, through software that endlessly generates new plant combinations.
Throughout the next year UMMA will present three exhibitions drawn from Borusan’s collection, which includes significant works across a variety of genres, and since 2011 has focused on media arts. The works exhibited will address formal concerns such as abstraction and color, and conceptual topics such as identity or ecological issues; many represent traditional categories such as portraiture, landscape, and performance that find new resonance when explored through the strategies of dynamic technology. Kathleen Forde Adjunct Curator of Media Arts Lead support for this exhibition is provided by Susan and Richard Gutow Fund, the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment, and the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design.
Today we live in a context where the digital world is our physical world. Landscape, as we understand and experience it, can be located, aesthetically and psychologically, in both technology and nature—–technology is also our natural world. As recently as a decade ago, the novelty of these four works would have been their principal feature; today, in a society that now includes a generation of digital natives (those born after the internet became commonplace), digital production is not novel. These works take their natural place in the established genre of landscape art, and are perhaps the purest reflection of the environment we live in.
Antti Laitinen, It’s My Island I, II, III, 2007, multi-channel video, edition 3/6. Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul. Courtesy of the artist w in t er 2017
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exhibitions
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or Tibetan Buddhists, books are a divine presence in which the Buddha lives and reveals himself, and they are venerated and handled with the utmost respect. To honor the Buddha, as well as to accrue good merit towards a future rebirth, elaborate book covers were frequently commissioned, most commonly made from carved, painted, and often gilded wood. The covers were decorated on the outside and inside faces as well as on their thick ends, an area that functions like a spine and is visible when the books are housed.
Works of handheld relief sculpture, Tibetan book covers were lavish productions that reflect the intense devotion with which Tibetans regard books. Protecting Wisdom: Tibetan Book Covers from the MacLean Collection includes thirty-five covers dating from the eleventh to eighteenth century that showcase the array of decoration typical of these sacred items.
PROTECTING WISDOM: TIBETAN BOOK COVERS FROM THE MACLEAN COLLECTION The fragile paper pages these covers once protected have been lost, but their religious subject matter is reflected in the figures and images depicted, most commonly deities, important teachers, mantras, and sacred symbols. The carving on the book covers ranges from light incisions to deep hollows, within which the figures appear virtually detached from the background and their contoured surfaces dance with the play of light and shadow. Painting, while sometimes the main form of decoration, often accompanies the carving, either in large areas such as the borders or in brightly rendered details that highlight the design, such as a deity’s red lips or the green-and-black scaled tail of a snake. Tibetan book cover design has a history of more than a thousand years, during which stylistic influences from Kashmir, India, Nepal, Central Asia, and China were fused into a uniquely Tibetan creation. In turn, Tibetan innovations such as the covers’ large size—–they are often more than two feet long and a foot wide—–and amount of embellishment later influenced the covers of Mongolian and Chinese books. This exhibition includes two such examples, an exceptional pair of covers produced for the Ming Chinese emperor Yongle in 1411. The book covers in Protecting Wisdom are Tibetan Buddhist, with the exception of two—–including an unusual twelfth to thirteenth century example—–from the Bon religion, a practice native to the Himalayas.
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A highlight of the exhibition is a superbly carved and painted book cover from the early 1290s. It is one of only a few examples that can be dated by its inscription, and is a benchmark in a field with a paucity of dated material. Four additional book covers are adorned with these rare inscriptions, and their messages reveal social and religious dimensions of the books’ production, such as female patrons and expressions of gratitude to the cook who prepared the meals for the books’ creators. The decoration on these covers is a testament to the supreme skill and consummate artistic expression of the finest artisans. Yet the art of Tibetan book covers has been hidden in plain sight—–Protecting Wisdom is the first museum exhibition in the United States devoted to this subject. It illuminates a type of art that, though virtually unknown, will charm and intrigue visitors both familiar and unfamiliar with Tibetan art. Kathryn Selig Brown Guest Curator This exhibition is organized by the MacLean Collection. Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, the University of Michigan Health System, and the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women’s Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.
LEAD EXHIBITION SPONSOR
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irving stenn, jr. family gallery | november 26, 2016–april 2, 2017
exhibitions
Dramze Demchog Nyingpo, inner face, upper book cover, Tibet, early 15th century, wood with paint and gilding. MacLean Collection
Prajnaparamita and Deities, outer face, upper cover for a Prajnaparamita Sutra, vol. 25, Tibet, 15th century, wood with paint and gilding. MacLean Collection
“The Four Gods of the Kadam” in Celestial Palaces, outer face, lower book cover, Western Tibet, 12th century, wood with paint and gilding. MacLean Collection
Shakyamuni, outer face, upper book cover, vol. 1, Tibet, 14th–15th century, wood with traces of paint and gilding, MacLean Collection
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in focus
corridor gallery | january 17–april 23, 2017
RECENT ACQUISITION:
Frank Stella, Empress of India II, from Notched-V series, 1968, lithograph on paper. Gift of Marsha L. Vinson and Marvin Rotman, 2014/2.19
FRANK STELLA The collaboration between the artist Frank Stella and master printer Ken Tyler has become “one of the great partnerships in modern American art.” – Robert Hughes
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onumental paintings are like performances of great symphonies, in which the artist or conductor shapes the aesthetic outcome. Great prints are more like a quartet, with each artist contributing key elements to the final performance. In their thirty-year creative collaboration, Frank Stella and Ken Tyler made art as if they were members of the same quartet, inspiring and challenging each other to move in exciting new formal and technical directions. One of the most celebrated and innovative American artists of our time, Frank Stella is renowned for his early minimalist aesthetic and later expressive abstraction. His investigations into form
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and materials have led him to constantly explore the parameters of two- and three-dimensional space. Ken Tyler strove to entice renowned artists to his studio and persuaded Stella—–who initially rejected Tyler’s overtures—–to work with him in 1967 at his Gemini G.E.L. workshop, in Los Angeles. The three prints on view here were made at the beginning of the Stella/Tyler partnership. Based on Stella’s earlier paintings, the Notched-V series, they reflect the artist’s signature geometric style of the 1960s, during which he eschewed illusionistic space, choosing instead large-scale, shaped canvases that tightly frame the forms of his composition.
Initially, these small, intimate prints seem utterly different than the paintings they reference. The artist/printmaker team has, however, incorporated some of the effects of the original paintings. The prints are both optical and tactile. Although the paper is not shaped, the ink creates a three-dimensional effect, and the slightly rough lines reveal the artist’s hand. Like chamber music, each of the partners brings their own artistry to the final product. Pamela Reister Curator for Museum Teaching and Learning These works were recently gifted to UMMA by Marsha Vinson and Marvin Rotman.
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programs
EXPLORING
university learning
AT UMMA P
romoting the discovery, contemplation, and enjoyment of art is UMMA’s mission: engaging young people before and as they make their college and graduate education choices is one way that UMMA supports the U-M commitment to recruiting an outstanding, talented, and diverse group of students. UMMA collaborates with several U-M schools and programs, working to connect an UMMA experience with a wide array of disciplines, such as math, health sciences, and more, with the goal of helping students to get to know U-M and UMMA as they decide on and shape their future paths. Last summer, future health sciences students participated in innovative tours exploring personal and community health concerns. The Michigan Health Sciences Pre-College Exposure Academy and the GENESIS Project’s Exploring Nursing as a Career for Tomorrow
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(ENACT), introduce health careers as viable career options to students underrepresented in these professions. Each program considered themes of health and well-being during their gallery tour and the health sciences students made posters on these themes in preparation for creating a public service video later in their residency.
gallery visit. “Seeing and discussing the art helped us to teach math in a visual, uncontrived way, and the tremendous diversity of the collection meant we could find all different sorts of mathematics in the pieces,” said Olivia Walch, graduate student instructor in both MMSS and MIDAS and PhD in Applied Mathematics.
The Michigan Math and Science Scholars (MMSS) program, taught by Martin Strauss, professor of Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, demonstrates that art provides inspiration for many fields within mathematics and, conversely, that mathematics gives techniques for analyzing, appreciating, and even creating art. The high school students in this program, as well as those in the new Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) summer camp, explored reflection, perspective, proportion, symmetry and other concepts in their
To learn more about UMMA’s Summer Bridge Programs, including for fine and performing arts, please visit umma. umich.edu/learn.
ABOVE AND FIRST THREE BELOW: High School Students from the Michigan Health Sciences Pre-College Exposure Academy program tour the galleries and make posters on the theme of public health. LOWER RIGHT: High School students in the Stamps School of Art and Design, Portfolio Prep program draw in the galleries.
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programs
ARTS ADVENTURES
FOR UNIVERSITY AND FAMILY AUDIENCES
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create explore
t the intersection of the U-M campus, Ann Arbor, and the surrounding region, UMMA serves community and campus alike. Each year UMMA welcomes over 30,000 children, adults, U-M students, seniors, and families to a wide variety of free educational programs that contribute to a dynamic and accessible environment in which people are invited to explore, create, learn, reflect, relax, and have fun. Explore. Create. Learn. Reflect. Relax. Have fun. These are all characteristics of a good adventure. Recognizing the importance of the work of two institutions who are known for engaging both campus and community in innovative and significant ways, the University of Michigan Credit Union (UMCU) has invested $1.5 million to
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create the University of Michigan Credit Union Arts Adventures Program at the University Musical Society (UMS) and UMMA. At UMMA, this funding will support co-curricular youth programs that engage university students and pre-K–8 students and their families. Across age groups, university student and family programs are participatory, hands-on experiences that offer relevance and connection to the broader world. Creating programs that do this in a way that is also social in nature is particularly important for U-M students. Artscapade, UMMA’s annual Welcome Week event organized in partnership with Arts at Michigan, exposes 4,500 new students to the artistic riches of the campus through student performances, games, and art
learn making activities. Student Late Night (SLN) is for all U-M students, undergraduate and graduate, and draws about 1,500 students annually. SLN is developed by UMMA’s Student Engagement Council (SEC), a group of 25 student volunteers who work to increase the involvement of students on campus through programs, online initiatives, public tours, and more. These programs offer a fun, diverse complement to UMMA’s teaching and learning programs serving over 7,000 U-M students in their coursework. “Student Late Night is a blast. It impresses U-M students who are already museum lovers and makes converts out of those who are skeptics. It exposes how UMMA can be a fun and relevant museum on campus,” said umm a .umic h.ed u
reflect former SEC member Rachel Bissonnette (History of Art, Class of 2016). Research shows that quality time spent in art museums builds and strengthens family relationships, which are essential to the well being of children and raising healthy, well-adjusted adults. The Storytime and Family Art Studio programs reflect the best thinking about engaging families in art museums: building bridges between the museum and family life; leveraging the unique qualities of the art museum environment; and supporting a variety of family interaction styles. One Family Art Studio participant said, “This is a top notch experience. The leaders are engaging and knowledgeable. The art project is
relax directed at all ages, the instructions are simple. There is so much room for open-ended creativity. For my kids, the bridge between looking at art in the museum and making their own is priceless.” UMMA’s ability to offer an array of programs to address our visitors’ needs and motivations have been critical to creating a welcoming and dynamic environment. UMCU President and CEO Tiffany Ford affirmed this shared mission in her statement regarding this new endowment. “The University of Michigan Credit Union is proud to establish the first corporate endowment for UMS and UMMA, helping to ensure access to extraordinary arts experiences and
have fun exceptional learning opportunities for students and families for years to come,” Ford said.“ We know that involvement in the arts helps to develop important life skills such as creative thinking and the ability to work collaboratively, and we’re thrilled that we can help to foster these skills in young people by creating the UMCU Arts Adventures Program.” Student and family programming is generously supported by the University of Michigan Credit Union, UMMA’s Lead Sponsor for Student and Family Engagement.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Students perform at Student Late Night Storytime at the Museum for families with children ages 4–7 Parents and children create together at Family Art Studio Artscapade welcomes 4,500 new U-M students
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special events
UMMA LIGHTS UP CAMPUS WITH
‘NIGHTS AT THE MUSEUM’
Photo by Leisa Thompson
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special events
ARTWORK, PERFORMANCES, AND A FAMILY-FRIENDLY MOVIE NIGHT – UMMA’S NIGHTS AT THE MUSEUM HAD IT ALL OVER SEVEN EVENINGS IN EARLY SEPTEMBER.
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MMA’s first-ever exterior media art initiative, Nights At The Museum, attracted almost 2,000 visitors to the Museum during the first week of class at the University. Each night from dusk to dawn, the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing façade was illuminated with arts and culture – part of UMMA’s strategic plan to reach new audiences using new media and emerging technologies. UMMA teamed up with the University Musical Society (UMS), the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance to stream archival video performances or art installations during the week. Nights At The Museum also featured a digital art installation by Quayola called “Pleasant Places,” a series of digital paintings exploring the boundary between representation and abstraction. Nights At The Museum kicked off during Artscapade!, a Welcome Week event for new U-M students during move-in weekend, and concluded at UMMA’s twice-annual After Hours community celebration on September 9. The week’s worth of art and performances helps UMMA achieve our goal of extending arts experiences beyond the galleries of the Museum. We hope to repeat Nights At the Museum next year. Look for updates later this summer!
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umma happenings
Students work on a hands-on creativity project during Artscapade!, UMMA’s Welcome Weekend event for first-year students.
Students view works in The Connoisseurs’ Legacy: The Collection of Nesta and Walter Spink exhibition during UMMA’s After Hours on September 9.
Professor Jerry Blackstone and the U-M Chamber Choir perform excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil during “SMTD@UMMA: Through Darkest Night” on October 23.
Martha Tedeschi and Vishakha N. Desai, here with Manager of Public Programs Lisa Borgsdorf, spoke to the legacy of Walter and Nesta Spink during the 2016 Doris Sloan Memorial Program on September 23.
Visitors sit on the Museum lawn to watch a umm performance by the School a .umic h.ed u of Music, Theatre, and Dance during Nights At The Museum, a week of exterior video projects and art installations. Read the full story on page 18.
Laura De Becker, Helmut & Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art, discusses the Traces: Reconstructing the History of a Chokwe Mask exhibition in the Brandon Bridge gallery.
Architect and artist Catie Newell at the UMMA Dialogue, “Overnight Illuminated,” on October 23 in conversation with Jennifer Friess, UMMA’s Assistant Curator of Photography (not pictured).
Takashi Omitsu, Corporate Executive Advisor at AISIN (right), with Deputy Consul General Ryoji Noda, of the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit (center), presented corporate contribution checks to Natsu Oyobe, UMMA’s Curator of Asian Art, in support of the Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from the Collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art exhibition during a presentation at the Museum.
Ten-year old Noah Forbes won the Ann Arbor District Library’s Lego building competition by constructing a replica of UMMA. Read the full story at umma.umich.edu/news.
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annual report
UMMA METRICS FOR FY16 FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
VISITATION
$5,926,924
Annual Operating Budget
240,000
On-site museum attendance
$354,415
Earned Income Store, event rentals, conservation lab, donation boxes, traveling exhibition fees
6,041
Off-site attendance for programs
711
Members
35,659
Education program participants 20,735 Public and student programming 14,924 Teaching at UMMA
40
Regular employees
20,498
Social Media followers
38
Part-time and temporary employees
145,457
Website visits
78
Docents (53 touring docents)
7,734
Annex visits (student blog)
6365.7
Docent hours
11,737
Annex followers
DEVELOPMENT $30.16 MILLION (75% OF GOAL) Victors for Michigan campaign progress through FY16 (Campaign runs through 12/31/2018) $12,344,036 ENDOWMENT MARKET VALUE (6/30/16) Up 6% from fiscal year 2015 $4,349,835 TOTAL DOLLARS RAISED IN FY16 Includes all gifts, foundation grants, government grants, pledges, and campus partner support
U-M STUDENT ENGAGEMENT 401 CLASS VISITS / 6,982 STUDENTS Teaching in U-M Galleries and Study Rooms 6 SCHOOLS / 38 COURSES U-M Schools (non-L SA) 24 DEPARTMENTS / 258 COURSES LSA Departments 9 U-M PROGRAMS Area Studies or Special Institutes 28 PROGRAMS / 12,016 STUDENTS Programs organized by and for students 56 STUDENTS / 7 MUSEUM AREAS Research associates and fellows, interns, student council, docents
EXHIBITIONS, PROGRAMS & COLLECTIONS 16
Exhibitions
849
Educational programs 127 Public and exhibition programs 533 Class visits (U-M and K–12) 189 Adult and family classes/tours
281
Total Accessions 259 Gifts 4 Purchases 16 Bequests 2 Transfers
3 Works of art loaned to other institutions 3 Venues Toledo, Ohio Los Angeles, California Stuttgart, Germany
SERVICE TO SCHOOLS BEYOND U-M 132 CLASS VISITS / 4,777 PEOPLE K–12 school tours 37 SCHOOLS / 18 DISTRICTS Public schools 24 SCHOOLS Independent schools 2 WORKSHOPS / 21 TEACHERS Professional development for teachers
20
umm a .umic h.ed u
annual report
ANNUAL GIFTS The University of Michigan Museum of Art is most grateful to the following individuals, corporations, and institutions for their generous support of acquisitions, exhibitions, and programs, and for gifts to the collections from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016. $350,000+ The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
$100,000 – $349,999 Joseph and Annette Allen National Endowment for the Humanities
Susan Schreiber^ University of Michigan Credit Union
Elise Weisbach
$5,000 – $9,999 Anonymous
$1,000 – $2,499
Lisa Applebaum
Tena and Christopher Achen
Maxine and Stuart Frankel
Richard and Rosann Noel
Rita* and Peter Heydon
Institute for Museum and Library Services
Barbara R. Levine Susan B. Meyer
Irving Stenn, Jr.
Drs. Bertram and Elaine Pitt
University of Michigan Office of the Provost
$25,000 – $99,999 Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Peter and Barbara Benedek Fidelity Investments Prue and Ami Rosenthal^ University of Michigan Bicentennial Office University of Michigan Health System University of Michigan Office of the President University of Michigan Third Century Initiative
$10,000 – $24,999 AISIN Linda Bennett and Robert Bagramian E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Comerica Bank Dr. and Mrs. Richard F. Gutow Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard Greg Hodes and Heidi Hertel Hodes Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs National Endowment for the Arts Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation Samantha and Ross Partrich and Andrea and Joel Brown w i n t er 2017
University of Michigan Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
Carrie and Peter Throm University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies University of Michigan College of Engineering University of Michigan Nam Center for Korean Studies University of Michigan Ross School of Business
$2,500 – $4,999 Essel and Menakka Bailey Christie’s Regent Emerita Julia Donovan Darlow and Judge John Corbett O’Meara Jim and Pat Donahey Navid Mahmoodzadegan and Joanne Gappy Michigan Radio Mark and Lee Pavach Marlene Ross SAHA Association Amy Rose Silverman Ruth Slavin and Stephen Brown University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund University of Michigan Department of the History of Art University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities
Katherine A. Aldrich Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Dr. Emily W. Bandera Catherine Benkaim and Barbara Timmer Raymond and Janet Bernreuter Joan A. Binkow Margaret and Howard Bond Susan and Robert Brown and the Monroe-Brown Foundation George Collins and Paula Hencken
Gary and Jacqueline Sasaki Alyce K. Sigler
Catherine Benkaim and Barbara Timmer
Frances U. and Scott K. Simonds
Robert Bohlen and Lillian Montalto Bohlen
Larry and Maxine Snider
Margaret and Howard Bond
David and Carol Spahlinger Dr. and Mrs. James C. Stanley
Connie and Denis Bourke Carl Chiarenza
State Street District
Andrew and Sharlyn Circo
Bruce and Mary Paul Stubbs
Michael and Phyllis Courlander
Susan B. Ullrich
Nicholas and Elena Delbanco
University of Michigan A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning University of Michigan Islamic Studies Program University of Michigan Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies University of Michigan School of Information
Angela Dogancay Anika Fischer Mrs. Donna Fisher and Dr. Claire Hopkins Martin Garber Zoe and Yuri Gurevich Dr. Duncan Hartley Rita* and Peter Heydon Scott Hodes and Maria Bechily-Hodes
Mary Hunter Dobson
John and Maureen Voorhees
Stephen and Nicole Eisenberg
Thomas and Mary Wakefield
Atsuko Kubota
Barbara and Oscar Feldman
Dr. and Mrs. William C. Weese
Pearson and Robert Macek
Denise and Shahrokh Firoozi
Mary Lou Welz*
Robert Piepenburg
Jann Wesolek and Joel Greenson
Robert Priseman
Alice Fishman and Michael DiPietro Ilene Forsyth and Karl Hauser Charles and Rita Gelman Dr. and Mrs.* William C. Gilkey James and Wendy House Dr. Joachim Janecke Betty Jo Kolb Dr. and Mrs. Paul R. Lichter Edward L. May Myrna and Newell Miller Cruse W. and Virginia Patton Moss Dr. Robert and Eva Moyad Prof. and Mrs. Stephen M. Pollock Brad and Kammi Reiss Sherry Root and Roger Craig
Marina and Bob Whitman
The Kohler Foundation Kathleen Lauster Peter and Susan MacGill
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
James H. and Constance Wineman Family Philanthropic Fund of the United Jewish Foundation
Carrol Robertsen
GIFTS UNDER $1,000
Nesta and Walter Spink
705 Gifts Totaling $138,659.44
Ken and Gay Strobel
DONORS TO THE COLLECTIONS
The Estate of James van Sweden
Dr. Seymour and Barbara K. Adelson
Carol Wilke
The Allen Foundation The American Academy of Arts and Letters
Leonard Rosenberg Jack and Noreen Rounick Estate of Richard H. Shackson
Bruce and Mary Paul Stubbs
Thomas Wilson and Jill Garling Virginia Young
Barry Andersen
*DECEASED
Susan Appel
^PLANNED GIFT
Leah and John Atwater
Jack and Noreen Rounick 21
campaign V IC T OR S F OR A R T: MICHIG A N’ S A L UMNI COL L EC T OR S
115 WORKS OF ART C E L E B R A T I N G
T H E
LEADERS & BEST Lenders reflect the breadth of the University of Michigan. They hold:
200 DEGREES
and
10
HONORARY DOCTORATES from
15
U-M SCHOOLS & COLLEGES spanning
74
2 Former U.S. AMBASSADORS WORLD’S TOP 4 ofARTtheCOLLECTORS (Artnet)
of the “THE GIVING 3 Signers PLEDGE,” committing more than
half of their wealth to philanthropy
AWARD RECIPIENTS for 6 HERMELIN extraordinary volunteerism at U-M VOLUNTEERS to the 56 DEDICATED Victors for Michigan Campaign
$
in philanthropy 423 MILLION to SUPPORT U-M
LEADERS in a
MULTITUDE OF FIELDS
YEARS OF GRADUATING CLASSES and include
1
U-M REGENT EMERITUS
22
Lenders have made a deep and lasting impact on the University of Michigan and the world:
Medicine
Law Education
Art
Business
Entertainment Government
Technology
Journalism
Real Estate
umm a .umic h.ed u
SEASONAL DÉCOR, GIFTS, CARDS, AND ACCESSORIES HANDMADE JEWELRY INSPIRED BY THE MUSEUM’S COLLECTION Protecting Wisdom: Tibetan Manuscript Covers
EXHIBITION RELATED PUBLICATIONS FEATURED REGIONAL ARTISTS HANDCRAFTED WOOD GIFTS MADE FROM REPURPOSED CAMPUS TREES
The Magical Tree: A Children’s Book Inspired by Gustav Klimt
Always Leading Forever Valiant: Stories of the University of Michigan, 1817–2017
Sweetwaters Coffee, Tea, and Baked Goods Available Daily
SHOP ONLINE! STORE.UMMA.UMICH.EDU STORE HOURS MON–SAT 11 A.M.–5 P.M., SUN 12–5 P.M.
Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PA I D Ann Arbor, MI Permit No. 144
525 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1354 734.764.0395 umma.umich.edu
For up-to-date details on UMMA exhibitions and programs, visit umma.umich.edu or follow UMMA on Facebook or Twitter!
through january 15, 2017 In Focus: Paul Klee
connect online
through january 22, 2017 Traces: Reconstructing the History of a Chokwe Mask
facebook.com/ummamuseum twitter.com/ummamuseum instagram.com/ummamuseum
through january 29, 2017 Europe on Paper: The Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection
make a gift
Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from the Collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art
umma.umich.edu or umma-giving@umich.edu
gallery hours September–April Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday 12–5 p.m. Closed Mondays
store hours Monday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday 12–5 p.m.
building hours September–April The Forum, Commons, and selected public spaces in the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing are open daily 8 a.m.–8 p.m. The Museum is always free. $10 suggested donation appreciated.
through march 5, 2017 The Aesthetic Movement in America: Artists of the Photo-Secession through march 26, 2017 Moving Image: Landscape through april 2, 2017 Protecting Wisdom: Tibetan Book Covers from the MacLean Collection january 17–april 23, 2017 In Focus: Frank Stella january 28–may 7, 2017 Constructing Gender: The Origins of Michigan’s Union and League february 18–june 11, 2017 Victors for Art: Michigan’s Alumni Collectors— Part I: Figuration march 11–august 20, 2017 Ernestine Ruben at Willow Run: Mobilizing Memory
university of michigan board of regents: Michael Behm, Grand Blanc; Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills; Shauna Ryder Diggs, Grosse Pointe; Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park; Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Dr. Mark S. Schlissel, ex officio contributors: Lisa Borgsdorf, David Choberka, Kathleen Forde, Mark Gjukich, Kathryn Huss, Ruth Keffer, Dave Lawrence, Peter Leix, Carole McNamara, Natsu Oyobe, Anna Sampson, Ruth Slavin, Melinda Stang, Levi Stroud, Leisa Thompson, Carrie Throm, Nettie Tiso designers: Paul Koob + Angie Stranyak