SPRING / SUMMER 2018
MAGAZINE
FROM THE DIRECTOR
CHARTING UMMA’S FUTURE
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e start the spring season at UMMA with exciting news: Ann Arbor community leaders Philip and Kathy Power have created the Power Family Program for Inuit Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), a program that positions the Museum as a national leader in the curation, exhibition, and understanding of Inuit art. We’re deeply grateful to the Power family for their generosity. You can read more about this remarkable gift of Inuit art and financial support in the pages that follow.
Open office hours took place in February, March and April
Cover: Marcel Dzama, Une danse des bouffons (or A jester’s dance), 2013, video projection. © Marcel Dzama. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong
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We also welcome Irving Stenn, Jr. as new co-chair of the Museum’s National Leadership Council (NLC). Irv will co-chair the NLC with longtime UMMA benefactor Maxine Frankel. The NLC is the Museum’s key advisory group, supporting and advocating for the Museum in critical ways. I’m thrilled to have them as my partners as we chart UMMA’s future. There are dynamic exhibitions opening this Spring as well. In May we’ll showcase Unrecorded, which explores why and how most African objects in museums became “unattributed” and argues that the practice is deeply intertwined with many African countries colonial histories. We also debut Marcel Dzama: A Jester’s Dance,
a surreal fictional film about a romance between artist Marcel Duchamp and Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins. And See Through considers the complex ways photographs of windows and mirrors frame viewing and seeing. Finally, over the past several months I’ve prioritized meeting lots of people with an interest in UMMA – alumni, university leaders, new partners, art collectors, and of course, dedicated supporters like you. We’ve hosted events in New York, Ann Arbor, and right here at UMMA, with plans for others in Chicago and Miami in the fall. I wrapped up my Office Hours sessions earlier this month, where local stakeholders shared with me their desire for more contemporary art in the galleries, more works of art by African American and Latin American artists on display, and more collaborations across visual, dance, and music arts: all important directions for UMMA’s future. There is a palpable, shared commitment to seeing UMMA reach a new level of potential. It’s exciting, and I look forward to partnering with all of you on reaching those new heights. Go Blue!
Christina Olsen
MUSEUM NEWS
LEFT: Kathy and Philip Power, with objects from their Inuit art collection. BELOW: Akeeaktashuk (1898-1954 Inukjuak), Standing Hunter, ca. 1953, stone, inlay, ivory
GIFT FROM PHILIP AND KATHY POWER TRANSFORMS UMMA INTO A NATIONAL LEADER IN INUIT ART
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nn Arbor community leaders Philip (AB ’60) and Kathy Power recently created the Power Family Program for Inuit Art at UMMA, through a transformative gift that includes both their significant collection of Inuit art—numbering more than 200 stone sculptures and prints and valued at more than $2.5 million—as well as $2 million to endow the program. Their contribution represents the largest gift to UMMA in the Victors for Michigan campaign. The Power Family Program will position UMMA as a national leader in the curation, exhibition, and understanding of Inuit art. UMMA Director
Christina Olsen said, “This gift enables the museum to share the art of the Inuit people with audiences throughout the United States, as well as to serve as a platform to develop a broad program of engaged learning around the artwork of the Canadian Arctic and related issues.”
The Power Family Program endowment will initially be used to support guest curators, outreach programs, educational staff, and docent training. Over time, UMMA will establish relationships with Canadian and Inuit institutions, launch student internships or fellowships, and support ongoing research.
The works in the Power collection, primarily from the mid-20th century, are among the best of their kind worldwide—representing an important phase in the development of the carvings and prints from the people living on Baffin Island in northeastern Canada. Philip Power said, “Kathy and I decided to gift it to UMMA so as many people as possible could experience it, and understand how Inuit people understand and cope with their harsh Arctic environment—now under dire threat from climate change.”
“We hope the Power Family Program for Inuit Art can make this prodigious contribution to the world’s culture more accessible and better understood by as many people as possible—in Ann Arbor, in Michigan, and around the country,” Philip Power said. “We’re delighted to be working with UMMA as a partner in that effort.” UMMA will inaugurate the Power Family Program for Inuit Art in spring 2019 with an exhibition of selected works from the Power family collection.
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EXHIBITION
MARCH 10–JULY 22, 2018
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A. ALFRED TAUBMAN GALLERY
THIS PAGE: Gertrude Kasle in her gallery, c. 1970, photographer unknown OPPOSITE PAGE: Kasle Family, c. 1950s, photographer unknown. Left to Right: Roger, Gertrude, Barbara, Stephen, and Leonard Kasle
EXERCISING THE EYE
THE GERTRUDE KASLE COLLECTION Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection celebrates the recent bequest of modern art by Gertrude Kasle, a pioneering gallerist in Detroit during the 1960s and ’70s. Between September and December 2017, the exhibition’s curators, Jennifer M. Friess and Lehti Mairike Keelmann, had several conversations with Stephen Kasle, son of Gertrude and Leonard Kasle, and his wife, Mercy Kasle, about the heyday of the Gertrude Kasle Gallery and Gertrude Kasle’s key role as a gallerist who helped shaped Detroit’s contemporary art community. The following are excerpts from those conversations. Why did your mother decide to open her gallery? What were her aspirations? STEPHEN KASLE: My mother opened the Gertrude Kasle Gallery in 1965 in order to introduce Detroit to the current scene in contemporary art, which was predominantly located in New York. She brought New York artists to Detroit, but she also looked for local artists who were creative and broke away from traditional methods of creating art. Not that she objected to the use of figuration in art, but she was interested in works that moved beyond it. Can you describe the Gertrude Kasle Gallery in the Fisher Building in Detroit and how the space was used? SK: The gallery was on the third floor. After leaving the elevator, you turned left onto the walkway that overlooked the great first floor hallways—almost avenues—of the Fisher Building, to the glass door of suite 310, which was lettered “Gertrude Kasle Gallery.” Art greeted you immediately upon entering the 15’ x 15’ space that served as the gallery’s foyer. It hung from the three walls, and sometimes there was a sculpture on a pedestal in the middle of the space. Turning to the right, you entered the main gallery area, which was always hung with paintings, prints, or collages, even when there wasn’t a specific opening or show. My mother was always there to answer questions. She also scheduled talks, forums, and sometimes films with local artists, artists that she was showing, or artists who were visiting Detroit.
Were there collectors of contemporary art in the area when the gallery opened? SK: Yes, there were. However, there was a much larger community for collecting Post-Impressionists and early twentieth-century art. The collectors of contemporary art, according to Ruth Rattner who worked for my mother for several years, were centered around the Friends of Modern Art, the Detroit Institute of Art’s oldest auxiliary, now called the Friends of Modern & Contemporary Art. I believe W. Hawkins Ferry was the chair when my mother first joined the group in the 1950s, but other prominent collectors, such as Florence Baron, Dr. James Losstrom, Lydia Winston Malbin, and Mary Dennison, were also members. Ruth Rattner became a member and a collector even before she started to work for the Gertrude Kasle Gallery.
Were there periods of real struggle for the gallery, or really successful shows? SK: Although the gallery was an overall success, it could never be called an investment-grade success as a business. My mother hosted gallery talks and presentations, as well as speaking engagements that attracted attention. There were no wildly successful shows, especially of the artists that
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have grown in prominence since that time, such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Philip Guston. There were even a few openings when nothing sold. I do remember Lowell Nesbitt’s second opening sold more paintings off the wall than any other artist selling from a specific show. How did your mother encourage an interest in contemporary art in Detroit in the 1960s and ’70s? MERCY KASLE: She certainly allowed people to be who they were without judgment, and often with praise. At that time, that was very important. So many different kinds of people came into the gallery, some who knew nothing about contemporary art, some who knew a lot, or at least thought they did. SK: She used to say “the eye is like any other organ; it needs to be exercised.” I think she saw herself as being at least as much an educator as a businesswoman. How did the gallery impact collecting in the region? SK: After the first four years or so, my mother and her gallery began to have a significant impact on the Detroit art scene. She had a cooperative attitude with other galleries, and encouraged young artists to join together and put on their own shows. I would say that the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection of abstract and post-1950s American art probably tripled in size in the years 1967–76. Not to imply that the expansion in popularity of contemporary art in Detroit was all due to my mother’s influence; only to say she was in the vanguard. There are at least three times the number of galleries focusing on American contemporary art in Detroit now than there were before she closed her gallery 1976. How were the New York-based artists she exhibited received by viewers in Detroit? SK: In the early- to mid-sixties, reception was mixed. Many people said: “My ten-year-old could do that,” or words to that effect. Others commented “Stunning!” and everything in between. Detroit artists applauded, scoffed, many felt liberated, many were disappointed that she wouldn’t give them a show. She balanced her interest in artists working in her native New York City with a commitment to artists working in her adopted home, Detroit. What did she look for in the artists she exhibited and collected? SK: She looked for a quality of experience, education, or maybe magic, in a composition. She often told me to look for evidence of skill, which she believed distinguished a true artist from an amateur. My mother scorned imitation, but recognized the value of borrowing ideas and
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techniques. She was always looking for something new. She was disappointed when artists that she saw as gifted would repeat a style or theme over and over because it had brought them success. MK: She helped and promoted Michigan artists. She showed local artists, like Brenda Goodman, Al Loving, Ted Ramsey, Julius Schmidt, Michele Oka Doner, and Detroit artist Charles McGee, who had his own gallery. Many of them achieved national renown. How did your mother view her responsibility to the artists she represented? SK: For my mother, the artist came first. For example, she let artists set their own prices, and would not discount. She was dismayed by the number of hours that went into creating a work and what the artist earned after all the expenses involved in making it. She felt that at least with her, artists would determine their own compensation. She was perfectly aware of how galleries operated in New York, and was friends with and respected by prominent gallerists such as Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli, and others. But she felt that the relationship between artist and gallery should generally be more of a partnership. It seems that developing relationships with artists was a hallmark of her career as a gallerist and contributed to the personal quality of the collection she bequeathed to UMMA. SK: Yes, she directly developed her own relationships with all the artists she represented in Detroit—Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, Larry Rivers, Grace Hartigan, Jack Tworkov, Robert Goodnough, and Adolph Gottlieb. She did not go through their New York dealers. At the time, she was the most prominent gallery west of New York City and east of San Francisco showing these artists. I think most of them liked her, but they loved her for helping them obtain a broader national prominence. MK: She also loved how different the artists were from each other, not only in style and media, but in their personalities. SK: I remember her telling me how fond she was of Robert Goodnough, who many people said was hard to work with. To her he was just a very sensitive soul. She was also very proud of all of the artists she exhibited; as someone who understood what it meant to paint, but who did not feel greatness within herself, she was fulfilled by promoting the works of artists she considered great. I don’t remember any time when she was anxious about an opening. She was always excited and enthusiastic.
Kasle family at the March opening of Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Sam Miller, Olivia Kasle, Jay Hitch, Naya Loftus, Leah Loftus, Mercy Kasle, Stephen Kasle, Carol Goldstein, Hank Goldstein, Lisa Kasle, Roger Kasle, Jill Kasle, Matthew Kasle FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Emory Kasle, Ethan Kasle Photograph by Leisa Thompson Photography
Your mother had a close relationship with Grace Hartigan, whose work is featured in the exhibition. Can you share your perspective on their camaraderie and friendship? SK: Larry Rivers was instrumental in encouraging my mother to open her gallery. He introduced her to Grace Hartigan. I first met Grace when I was about fourteen, when she came to the opening of her exhibition that my mother had arranged at the Franklin Siden Gallery, located in the David Whitney Building in Detroit. They were friends for over 45 years. Grace was very articulate and intelligent and only wanted to be in the presence of people she respected. She felt my mother had a lot of courage to open a gallery in Detroit. MK: Grace also thought very highly of Leonard Kasle, Gertrude’s husband. I think she idealized them as a couple. SK: My mother saw in Grace the artist she wished she had the talent to have been—when people asked her if she painted, she would say her eye developed beyond her hand. They both saw qualities that they admired in each other. When your mother embarked on opening her own gallery in Detroit, did your father, Leonard Kasle, and your family support her new venture? SK: My father completely supported her for a number of reasons. He loved the strength of her focus. My mother had been involved with art for many years, whether as a painter herself, promoting artists, lecturing on art, or serving on museum boards. Dad saw the gallery as her opportunity to promote what she loved as a business. He believed that she had a gift for selecting great art. He participated in several ways—investing the start-up funds, keeping her books (she always complained that she was “no good with figures”), often going to New York with her, and even building many
of the shipping crates and several of the pedestals for sculptures. That was a shock—I had no idea that my father enjoyed carpentry before the gallery. Did her perspective on art help shape your own vision as art collectors? MK: I learned from her by being around her and listening to her describe what she saw in a work of art, her perceptions of how the artist achieved one effect or another. I remember when for her eighty-first birthday my brother-in-law Roger Kasle took us to New York, and we went to the Museum of Modern Art to see an exhibition of Jackson Pollock’s paintings and drawings. There were two floors of work covering the artist’s career. We spent three hours together looking. Mostly, it was a feeling I experienced when I watched her engage with art—when she stopped and stood dead still in front of a work. I’m sure that Gertrude’s eye heavily influenced me in choosing Grace Hartigan’s Central Park (on view in the exhibition) out of all the paintings Stephen and I saw at her studio in 1990. What lasting influence do you think she had on the artists and audiences of Detroit? On the art world in general? MK: I believe that Gertrude Kasle is remembered in Detroit’s art scene for awakening an interest in contemporary art. I think that her energy blossomed here in Michigan and it is still growing. SK: I think what she really wanted to be remembered for is embracing the idea that we should always be interested in what’s happening now, while treasuring what has gone before. Lead support for Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, and the University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.
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MUSEUM NEWS
UMMA Navigator Asia Siev chats with a U-M student in UMMA’s Forum
A NEW
FORUM
We’re rethinking the spaces and displays at UMMA, and that includes our Forum—essentially, the entrance to the Museum, located in the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing. As a part of the new Forum, we’re adding UMMA Navigators: students who are welcoming and assisting our visitors. What’s on view? How does one get around? Where is the African Art gallery? Navigators are helping people explore the Museum and learn more about our art and programs. Be on the lookout for UMMA’s new look and feel this summer. Have a suggestion? Let us know at umma.umich.edu/feedback
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JAPANESE ART GALLERY
COLLECTIONS
NOW ON VIEW
MINIATURE
PAGODA
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fter Buddha Shakyamuni died around the 5th century BCE, his ashes were contained inside a stupa, where his followers came to worship. As Buddhism spread from India to the rest of Asia, the stupa and the sacred content were reproduced as pagodas. This miniature pagoda (about 9 inches tall) is one of one million wooden pagodas commissioned by the empress Ko-ken of Japan (718 – 770) on her return to. the throne in 764. The monumental project was an act of gaining greater merit for the stability of the country. They were distributed to the 10 most powerful temples in Nara, the capital of Japan during her reign. Ho-ryo-ji, the oldest wooden building in the world and only surviving temple of the ten, holds about 40,000 of these pagodas.
Although the size is small, the pagoda and the dharani are the living proof of the most advanced technology of 1,300 years ago.
Inside the pagoda, there is a roll of paper printed with a condensed version of Buddha’s teaching, called dharani. Buddha’s words are considered the Buddha himself, therefore, dharani is believed to have tremendous power. This dharani is the world’s earliest printed material extant today, produced with woodblocks or bronze plates, and thin handmade paper. Although the size is small, the pagoda and the dharani are the living proof of the most advanced technology of 1,300 years ago. The pagoda is on view in the Japanese ‑Art Gallery until the end of August. HYAKUMAN TO- (ONE OF ONE MILLION PAGODAS) Dharani from Dharani of the Pure Immaculate Light Sutra, 764–770, Carved wood with traces of gesso. Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund, 1969/2.21
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EXHIBITIONS
JUNE 2–SEPTEMBER 23, 2018
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PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY
SEE THROUGH: WINDOWS AND
MIRRORS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY
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his exhibition brings together a group of photographs in which the world is doubly framed—once by the camera lens and again by the border of a mirror or window. By refracting and distorting, revealing and concealing, these transparent and reflective surfaces both draw attention to the act of making images and expose the contingent nature of reality itself. Highlights include works by prominent twentieth-century photographers such as Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, and Wynn Bullock.
In his 1925 photograph Men’s Fashions, Eugène Atget provides an opportunity for viewers to see in front of and behind the camera simultaneously. In this oblique view of a Parisian shop window, reflections of the trees and buildings along the Avenue des Gobelins blend with a staged storefront tableaux of dapperly dressed mannequins, their bodies fragmented by opaque reflections of the city street beyond. This creates a eerie scene in which the mannequins appear animate within the shadowy interior of the shop. Atget was one of the first photographers to seek out and record such clever juxtapositions on the streets; he often wandered the city, taking in and capturing its strange visual delights. The chance encounters apprehended through such invested looking later became a staple of both Surrealist and documentary photography. Walker Evans frequently uses reflective surfaces as both formal and conceptual devices that challenge the notion that photography can provide an impartial record. Penny Picture Display, Savannah (1936) was made while Evans was working for the Farm Security Administration, a government program created to document life in the United States during the Great Depression. The word “STUDIO” emblazoned across the upper register is one of the few clues alerting viewers to the presence of a window in front of the
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grid-like arrangement of studio portraits of men, women, and children. Evans crops the image so that its border merges with the frame of the window, compressing the visual and public space of the storefront. Through the act of photographing other photographs, Evans points to the central and complex role played by photography in representing ourselves and our communities. By capturing his own reflection in Self Portrait (1971), Wynn Bullock foregrounds the photographer’s subjective role in the creation of a picture. From Bullock’s position,the viewer looks into a dimly lit interior space through a window that reflects his dark, silhouetted shape. His body frames another sunlit window visible on the opposite side of the room, which obscures the details of his form. These pictorial choices upend the traditional role of the self-portrait as a means of conveying the artist’s identity, while calling out the notion of the analogous relationship between the window and the photograph. By extending the limits of perception, these witty and provocative works invite us to see [through to] new visual possibilities. Jennifer M. Friess Assistant Curator of Photography Lead support for See Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment.
ABOVE: Eugène Atget, Men’s Fashions, 1925, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 1974/1.107 LEFT: Wynn Bullock, Self-Portrait, 1971, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of The 831 Photographic Gallery, 1972/1.153, © 1971/2018 Bullock Family Photography LLC. All rights reserved FAR LEFT: Walker Evans, Penny Picture Display, Savannah, 1936, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift from the Collection of David S. Rosen MD, 2013/2.130
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Paul and Carolyn Lichter
LICHTER FUND SUPPORTS DOCENT PROGRAM “We are deeply committed to the Museum’s success and are thrilled to support a program that will enrich docent education while connecting the Museum with artists and scholars.” –Carolyn Lichter
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hen UMMA’s volunteer docent program was founded more than 40 years ago, Carolyn Lichter (AB ’60, TeachCert ’60) was among the small group of dedicated volunteers who hoped to transform UMMA into a world-class museum. Today, the Museum welcomes nearly 250,000 visitors every year, including thousands that are guided through the collections and exhibitions by the highly trained corps of docents. Carolyn and her husband Dr. Paul R. Lichter (AB ’60, MD ’64, MS ’68, MedRes ’68) recently designated an estate gift to benefit the docent program in perpetuity. The Carolyn R. and Paul R. Lichter Fund at UMMA will support workshops and residencies that enrich and enhance docent learning—helping to spark new ideas, approaches, and practices for the Museum. The Lichters envision that the workshops and residencies will be created in partnership with artists, scholars, and community organizations and will develop new connections across the arts, humanities, sciences, and other fields.
APRIL 17–AUGUST 19, 2018
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THE CONNECTOR
NEW AT UMMA
NEW AT UMMA:
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT L
ong before virtual-reality technology, people yearned for ways to immerse themselves into alternate or imagined environments. This is especially true in the case of the medieval Christian devotional experience in Europe. Believers longed to feel closer to God, seeking out objects to help them transcend into the spiritual realm, including religious books that guided private prayer. Portable and spiritually powerful, books of hours were medieval bestsellers among thirteenth-century men and women who did not belong to the clergy or a monastic order. Utilized for daily worship, books of hours fused together sacred and secular themes, including prayers for different hours of the day, biblical stories, and monthly calendars with saint feast days, all of which might be accompanied by images known as miniatures. These manuscripts were handwritten and illustrated in a collaboration between scribes who wrote the text, and illuminators who painted the images. Many were richly adorned with bright pigments and embellished with gold leaf. Books of hours were beloved heirlooms passed on to subsequent generations, prized for their devotional efficacy and serving as symbols of pride. Mrs. Carrol Robertson recently donated a double-sided calendar leaf for January. It once belonged to a book of hours dating to the mid-fifteenth century, when demand for these manuscripts surged with the expansion of the middle class and increased literacy. Made on parchment— animal skin that has been stretched and smoothed—the calendar leaf features miniatures of the labors of the month, feasting, and Aquarius, the
zodiac sign for January, which is represented as a man collecting water from a stream with a copper jug. Testifying to the rich material culture and artistry of the medieval period in Europe, this folio joins the Museum’s growing collection of illuminated manuscript pages.
Artist Unknown, Calendar leaf (January), from a book of Hours, 1462, ink, tempura, and gold leaf on parchment. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Carrol Robertson, 2015/2.6A (verso)
Lehti Mairike Keelmann Assistant Curator of Western Art
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EXHIBITIONS MAY 19–SEPTEMBER 23, 2018
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MEDIA GALLERY
Marcel Dzama, Une danse des bouffons (or A jester’s dance), 2013, video projection. © Marcel Dzama. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong
MARCEL DZAMA: A JESTER’S DANCE Marcel Dzama is known for fanciful drawings, sculptures, dioramas, and films rooted in the tradition of Surrealism, Dada and outsider art. His 2013 film Une danse des bouffons (or A jester’s dance) tells the tale of a romance between two principal figures of these traditions: Dada icon Marcel Duchamp and Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, who was the model for Duchamp’s final, enigmatic artwork Étant donnés, an installation featuring a nude splayed out on a bed of twigs and fallen leaves, visible through two peepholes. In Une danse des bouffons we find Martins awakened from Duchamp’s sculpture by a mischievous charlatan. Maria discovers Duchamp is being held captive while forced to recite chess moves against his will, and she joins the game, determined to save her lover. Rife with art historical references—not only to the work of Duchamp but Francisco Goya, Francis Picabia and Joseph Beuys, among others— the film combines the carnivalesque with a nightmarish exploration of the surreal, and navigates a sexually charged and mesmerizing world in which fantasy and torture run amok. Duchamp’s fascination with chess was legendary, and Dzama admits to a period in his life when he nurtured an obsession with chess and with Duchamp at the same time. “I was living near Washington Square Park, and there were two chess stores where you can go to play people. I was finding my attention span was very . . . well, I wanted to start thinking further ahead, and I thought it would be good to slow
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down and learn how to think ahead of the game.” Chess enthusiasts, interested in Duchamp’s work and life, have been drawn to Dzama’s biography-based film as well. In 2015, Une danse des bouffons was presented in a solo exhibition of Dzama’s work at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis. Also included in UMMA’s exhibition is one of the storyboards for the film, featuring Dzama’s characteristic ink and watercolor renderings of small hybrid figures that resemble children’s book illustrations. Drawing is the core of most of the artist’s work, and often his storyboards— drawings representing the sequence of shots planned for a film—are created not only before a script is written but after the film is completed, as a prequel or sequel to it. Dzama’s fantastical drawings have made their way onto album covers and into music videos, and have even come alive on stage. In 2016 he designed both the costumes and the sets for the New York City Ballet’s The Most Incredible Thing. Dzama created the choreography for this project with his longtime collaborator Vanessa Walters, who performs the original dance in the film. Conceived as a silent film without dialogue, Une danse des bouffons features a musical score written and recorded by Will Butler, Jeremy Gara and Tim Kingsbury, all members of the band Arcade Fire. Kathleen Forde Adjunct Curator of Media Arts Lead support for Marcel Dzama: A Jester’s Dance is provided by Candy and Michael Barasch. Additional generous support is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment and the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
BORDER CROSSINGS UMMA hosted “Border Crossings,” an interdisciplinary robotics project by Chico MacMurtrie (above right) in February.
students to plan, build, and launch a 40-foot robotic sculpture that “poetically explores the notion of borders and boundary conditions.”
MacMurtrie, artistic director of Amorphic Robot Works, worked with a team of 16 University of Michigan
The project involved MacMurtie working with U-M students from art and design, engineering, information,
and LSA as part of an artist residency sponsored by the U-M Institute for the Humanities. MacMurtrie demonstrated the robotic project in front of UMMA on Friday, Feb. 16, and followed the demonstration with a special Penny W. Stamps Lecture in UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium. The “Border Crossings” robot is the second of what the artist hopes will be a total of six robots that will perform at international borders, including the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Yinka Shonibare MBE, Untitled (Dollhouse), 2002, wood, fabric, paper, plastic, metal, resin, offset lithograph. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Peter Norton Family Foundation, 2002/1.236 Š Yinka Shonibare MBE. All Rights Reserved, Peter Norton Family Foundation, 2018. Photography: Charlie Edwards
MAY 12–SEPTEMBER 9, 2018
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THE JAN AND DAVID BRANDON FAMILY BRIDGE
EXHIBITIONS
UNRECORDED:
REIMAGINING ARTIST IDENTITIES IN AFRICA
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istorical collecting practices have had a lasting impact on representations of Africa, its history, culture, and life today. Labeled as “unknown” or “anonymous,” African artists became associated with broad cultural styles and collective identities rather than personal creativity and individual agency. The exhibition Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa includes artworks by both named and unrecorded, contemporary and historic artists to tell an alternative story. It explores how the changing attributes of an “African” artist’s identity—and, more broadly, constructions of African identity—have shaped perceptions of Africa outside of the continent. For most African objects in UMMA’s collection, the artist’s name is unrecorded. In the nineteenth century, foreigners traveling or living in Africa, primarily Europeans, began collecting significant quantities of objects to bring home. Prevailing ideas about Africa in the European imagination strongly informed the types of objects they acquired, as well as the information they recorded or excluded. Absent were artists’ names, as collectors perceived objects in Africa to be artifacts, rather than artworks. In the mid- to late twentieth century, scholars began asking new questions that resulted in the identification of some artists, and over time, led to a more common practice of recording artists’ names in Africa. The Ghanaian carver Osei Bonsu updated traditional Asante wood carving in the mid-twentieth century for local and global audiences. A spectacular mask made by the Adugbologe family’s workshop in Nigeria illustrates how carvers have negotiated personal, family, and cultural identities for over one hundred years. Today, the landscape of visual arts in Africa remains dynamic as artists create works for local cultural use, for sale, and for exhibit. Artists from Africa also participate in a more global art exchange, producing artworks specifically for galleries and museums. Many of these artists have gained widespread international recognition and visibility around the world, prompting debates on how to represent named artists from Africa today. British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare —one of the most recognized contemporary artists born in Africa—has
challenged historical constructions of a supposed “African” identity. Shonibare has transformed factory-printed textiles popularly known as African wax-prints in part by highlighting their complex ties to Africa, Europe, and Indonesia. His revolutionary vision has pushed the boundaries of contemporary African art and redefined what it means to be a contemporary artist from the continent. As Shonibare has stated, “I feel very strongly that identities have to be constructed because of the nature of them. Identity always requires a relationship to others and cannot exist in isolation; that relationship, in turn, is always constructed by your own Artists’ names relationship to others and that is always were absent some kind of a fiction.” (Downey, Anthony. because collectors “Yinka Shonibare in Conversation.” Wasafiri 19, no. 41 (2004): 31-36) perceived objects
in Africa to be
Shonibare’s remarks raise questions about artifacts rather what has and continues to inform African than artworks. identities, particularly as we experience Africa from afar in North America. As he suggests, constructions of identities often reveal more about the people who shape them than those they actually represent. Shonibare’s work in the exhibition is displayed separately in UMMA’s Joan and Bob Tisch Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art inviting visitors to reconsider the attributes of an artist’s identity by showing his work alongside his international contemporaries. By tracing how artists from Africa became “anonymous,” to current debates on representing named African artists, Unrecorded reveals the complexities of attribution, the dynamics of personal creativity, and the exciting diversity found within and beyond Africa. Allison Martino 2016-17 Mellon Curatorial Fellow Laura De Becker Helmut & Candis Stern Associate Curator of African Art Lead support for Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost and the African Studies Center. Additional generous support is provided by the University of Michigan Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Susan Ullrich.
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PROGRAMS
OUT OF THE SILENCE UMMA PROVIDES A STAGE FOR UNHEARD VOICES
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his past January, UMMA hosted a unique performance, “Out of the Silence: A Narrated Concert to Honor Black Classical Musicians of the Past.” Presented on the occasion of the University of Michigan’s 2018 Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium, the evening featured a mix of spoken narrative and live music curated by two University of Michigan graduate students who study, perform, and program works by black classical musicians: Leah Claiborne, DMA candidate in piano performance and pedagogy, and Austin Stewart, PhD candidate in historical musicology. “‘Out of the Silence’ captured the life and culture of African American composers, while giving a platform to the unique and often unheard voices of many
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magnificent composers,” Claiborne said. “My own dissertation work specifically focuses on piano works by black American composers. I believe that this music has a right to be included on the classical performance stage, and productions like this shine a light on the life and musical works of these composers in our country.” The concert, part of the ongoing SMTD@UMMA Performance Series, was conceived as an extension of the U-M Gershwin Initiative’s exploration of the renowned opera Porgy and Bess, spearheaded by SMTD Professor Mark Clague. Created in 1935 by George and Ira Gershwin, along with DuBose and Dorothy Heyward— an all-white creative team—Porgy and Bess was performed on Broadway, rather than at the Metropolitan, so that
Gershwin could use an all-black cast. The opera, widely beloved, has been the subject of debates about race, representation, and cultural appropriation—topics taken up by the Gershwin Initiative this past year. “The concert developed by Austin and Leah served to celebrate and recover an artistic expression that is all too often suppressed by a lack of awareness, poor publication prospects, and limited performance opportunities. Their scholarship brought this music back to life in concert,” said Clague. For the concert, Claiborne and Stewart chose seldom-heard works by the black American
composers William Grant Still, Florence Price, Harry Freeman, Harry T. Burleigh, and Margaret Bonds, among others, and included narrated texts from the writings of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Maud Cuney Hare.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Ivalas Quartet, Yazid Gray, and ‘Out of the Silence’ co-creators Leah Claiborne and Austin Stewart.
“‘Out of the Silence’ reminded us of the vital role music plays in building and sustaining communities,” said Stewart. “There is a universal language spoken through this music; whether we find beauty in unaccompanied spirituals or the dense counterpoint they inspire, we hear how connected each of these works is to an African American identity that resonates even today.”
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THE UMMA STORE
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? 1. Field Notes Reporter Notebooks. Set of two lined reporter’s notebooks with receipt pockets. 70 pages in each. Double O wiring. 2. Chatty Feet artist socks - “Frida Callus.” Funky socks for everyone, inspired by iconic artists. 3. Mindo Chocolate - Michigan Blueberry. Bean-to-bar artisanal Ecuadorian chocolate made in Dexter, MI. 4. Photography block print by Ypsilanti artist Michelle Massey. Mounted on wood, featuring a sculpture by Mark di Suvero. 5. You Are My Favorite - greeting card by Worthwhile Paper. Screenprinted by hand in Ypsilanti, MI. 6. Circus Alphabet - 26 unique notecards, featuring artwork by Corita Kent of turnof-the-century antique posters and shop art. 7. Legends of University of Michigan Football - Original ink illustration on birch bark, mounted in a glass block. Designed and handmade by Ann Arbor artist John Pappas. 8. Pop Art Baby - A board book. Baby’s first words in four languages, featuring art by Keith Haring. 9. CoSmIC PLaNS - Set of two planning notebooks, one lined, one dot matrixed. Made by the Science Museum in London. 10. Teacup with lid - Striped. Imported from Japan by Fuji Merchandise Corp. 11. Field Notes - Set of three notebooks, lined, unlined, and gridded. 12. Tassel Earrings - Brass geometric earrings with tassels, made in Detroit by Fate & Coincidence. 13. Moon Phases - Notebook by Worthwhile Paper, 100 unlined pages. Screenprinted by hand in Ypsilanti, MI. 14. Sling-Slang Yoyo - Maple yoyo with removable steel axle, designed and handmade by Detroit artist Matt Tait. 15. The Beauty and the Bounty - Tile from Michigan, handmade in Detroit by Pewabic Pottery. 16. Chatty Feet artist socks - “Sole-Adore Dali.” Funky socks for everyone, inspired by iconic artists. 17. Turbo Flyer Classic - Balsa wood model airplane kit, designed and handmade by Detroit artist Matt Tait.
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Hannah Marcus and Benjamin Marshall perform in the UMMA Apse at ArtsX: Undefined.
ARTSX: UNDEFINED
UMMA’s Student Engagement Council (SEC) hosted ArtsX: Undefined, an evening of dance, music, spoken word, and mixed media on Friday, Feb. 9 in Alumni Memorial Hall. The event was an effort to bring people together in a celebration of differences, identity, and shared connections.
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“Often, we are divided by labels and categorization,” says Allison Fedler, ’19, neuroscience major and member of UMMA’s SEC. “This event strove to tear down these boundaries while still celebrating each individual’s concept of identity as a beautiful component of the human experience.” One hundred fifty people braved the February snow storm to participate in the second-annual event. “Making the arts interesting and accessible to young people, particularly to students here on campus, is one of the things that UMMA and the SEC prioritize,” Fedler says. “ArtsX is exactly the kind of engagement that brings us closer to this goal.”
APRIL 17 – AUGUST 19, 2018
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH
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THE CONNECTOR
NEW AT UMMA
SARAH JACOB Member of the Student Engagement Council
UMMA’s Communications Assistant, Sola Muno, spoke with Sarah Jacob, an LSA sophomore with a double major in International Studies and Neuroscience and a minor in Islamic Studies, about her experience on the Student Engagement Council (SEC) here at UMMA. SOLA MUNO: Why did you join the SEC? SARAH JACOB: I was looking to get involved in the arts community on campus, and the SEC seemed like the best way to do it. It was open to students like me who don’t have an art background in terms of a major or minor. SM: What has been your favorite part about the SEC? SJ: I love how much of the Museum we get to see, our visibility in staff meetings, our ability to create our own little exhibition in the study cases, and the processes and projects that we’re allowed to be a part of. My favorite projects are the ones where we feel like we, and therefore the student body, are being represented at UMMA, especially the study case exhibition, ArtsX, and Student Late Night. SM: In your view, what purpose does UMMA serve at the University of Michigan? SJ: I definitely see more sides of UMMA than most people, but I think it’s working to be more integrated into student life. There are a lot of events that bring more students to the art museum, making it a much more inclusive place, especially with our Fridays After 5 and Late Nights. It allows students to feel like it’s more accessible to them. It’s a really cool educational space, I have class in the Auditorium, so it’s a super versatile space where you will learn a lot when you walk through the doors. SM: Favorite artist / artwork at UMMA? Why? SJ: The piece in the Modern Art gallery of the lightbulbs hanging, that are intertwined and connected and plugged in [Untitled (March 5th) #2, Felix Gonzalez-Torres] is probably my favorite piece. It only became my favorite piece after we went on a World AIDS Day tour, and Bree [English, Education Programs Coordinator] told me about it. It’s a recent favorite, but that’s definitely the one that I show whenever I bring people to UMMA. SM: Do you think the SEC has given you a larger appreciation for art in general? SJ: I’m definitely an art museum person, and I think I was before SEC, too. I went to Vienna last summer with the CGIS Arts and Music program, and while there, I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, which was a life–changing experience. Coming to SEC after that was the best transition to reflect and really get to re-experience that. It feels nice to not have lost that excitement just because it was a fun trip, now I get to continue to experience that here. I am much more appreciative for all the work that goes into an art museum.
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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.‑ CONNECT ONLINE
facebook.com/ummamuseum twitter.com/ummamuseum instagram.com/ummamuseum
EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW MAY 12–SEP 9, 2018
Unrecorded: Reimagining Artist Identities in Africa MAY 19–SUN SEP 23, 2018
Marcel Dzama: A Jester’s Dance JUN 2–SUN SEP 23, 2018
MAKE A GIFT
umma.umich.edu or umma-giving@umich.edu
See Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography APRIL 17– AUGUST 19, 2018
GALLERY HOURS
May–August Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday 12–5 p.m. Closed Mondays STORE HOURS
New at UMMA: Illuminated Manuscript THROUGH MAY 6, 2018
Red Circle: Designing Japan in Contemporary Posters THROUGH MAY 13, 2018
Monday through Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday 12–5 p.m.
Tim Noble and Sue Webster: The Masterpiece
BUILDING HOURS
THROUGH MAY 27, 2018
May–August The Forum, Commons, and selected public spaces in the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing are open daily 8 a.m.– 6 p.m.
Aftermath: Landscapes of Devastation THROUGH JULY 22, 2018
The Museum is always free.
THROUGH JUNE 3, 2019
$10 suggested donation appreciated.
Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection Jim Cogswell: Cosmogonic Tattoos
university of michigan board of regents: Michael J. Behm, Grand Blanc; Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor; Shauna Ryder Diggs, Grosse Pointe; Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park; Ron Weiser, Ann Arbor; Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Mark S. Schlissel, ex officio contributors: Lisa Bessette, Lisa Borgsdorf, Laura De Becker, Kathleen Forde, Jennifer Friess, Mark Gjukich, Katie Derosier, Lehti Mairike Keelmann, Ruth Keffer, Stephanie Rieke Miller, Sola Muno, Christina Olsen, Natsu Oyobe, Anna Sampson, Jakob Skogheim, Ruth Slavin, Leisa Thompson, Nettie Tiso, Carrie Throm editor: David Lawrence designer: Mike McGowan