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from the director streetscape of his own neighborhood, a stretch along Heidelberg Street on Detroit’s East Side, with fantastical installations of found objects and exuberantly colored paintings. Guyton’s internationally renowned work on the Heidelberg Project reveals his significant and iconic voice—reclaiming and reinvigorating a community through art, and using that art to express an aspiration for the future. The Art of Tyree Guyton: A Thirty-Year Journey will include historical pieces from the project as well as selections of Guyton’s
The fall season
brings the hustle and bustle of new and returning students and the excitement of another school year. Many of the students on campus today were born in the 1990s, into a decade that saw some extraordinary changes—profound cultural shifts that created the world we reside in today. This fall UMMA hosts a large-scale exhibition, Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, that explores these cultural changes through the work of more than 40 artists. Curated by U-M alum Alexandra Schwartz, the show considers three major themes: debates over “identity politics,” the digital revolution, and globalization—forces that transformed the art world as well as everyday society. The Museum is also showcasing the career of artist Tyree Guyton, who has spent 30 years transforming the
more recent studio work. The exhibition goes beyond our walls—the Museum is also supporting a new construction at the Heidelberg site, which visitors will be able to view on a monitor in the gallery or visit in person. UMMA continues to redefine the parameters of the museum experience with a presentation of the work of New York multimedia artist Jem Cohen. Cohen’s exhibition is titled Life Drawing, a reference to the artist’s own characterization of his practice, working across disciplines with diverse tools and multiple formats. Life Drawing will be shown in both the Photography and Media galleries, blurring the boundaries between genres and mediums. Our April UMMA Glow celebration—a biennial event to recognize a U-M alum who is making a significant contribution to the arts—was a resounding success! This year we were delighted to honor the extraordinary Peter Benedek, co-founder of United Talent Agency, and
a dedicated art collector and supporter of the arts in his home community of Los Angeles as well as here at U-M. UMMA surpassed its fundraising goal for the event by more than 70 percent, and the proceeds will support exhibitions and programs in the coming year. UMMA Glow and Peter Benedek were also recently featured in the University publication Leaders & Best People— sent to more than 180,000 U-M alumni, donors, and friends around the world. We are also excited, and gratified, by the ongoing success of UMMA’s efforts in the Victors for Michigan Campaign. At the close of the fiscal year on June 30, UMMA raised $24 million, or 60 percent of our $40 million goal. Our success thus far would not be realized without the support of our Michigan foundation and corporate funders—you can read about a few of them on page 22. They are helping us expand UMMA’s reach, as we strive to fulfill our role as a 21st-century university art museum: serving as the cultural center of our campus, as well as an agent of positive transformation in the wider arts community and the world at large. Looking forward to seeing you at UMMA this fall. Warmest regards,
Joseph Rosa, Director
CONTENTS From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
UMMA Glow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
UMMA News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
UMMA Happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
UMMA Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
UMMA Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Cover: Alex Bag, Untitled Fall '95, 1995, 57 min, color, sound Courtesy of Team Gallery and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York, © Alex Bag
umma news
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE UMMA DOCENT PROGRAM
UMMA Docent and artist Susan Clinthorne at the Family Art Studio.
UMMA’s award-winning docents have been leading school children through the galleries, teaching, talking, and enthusiastically guiding diverse visitors to understand the collection for nearly 40 years. The UMMA Education department and docent leadership are planning celebrations for this important anniversary!
UMMA APPOINTMENTS Carole C. McNamara Curator Emerita In June 2015 the Regents of the University of Michigan saluted Carole as a distinguished faculty member by naming her Curator Emerita. She received a retirement memoir from President Schlissel and the Regents following her retirement from UMMA on March 31, 2015. She curated dozens of exhibitions at UMMA over her 36 years here, and made an indelible impact on the Museum of Art. Natsu Oyobe Curator of Asian Art On May 1, 2015, Natsu Oyobe was promoted to full Curator of Asian Art at UMMA. Since 2001 she has curated important exhibitions and guided the Museum to acquire a number of important works of art. Recently she worked with the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation to catalog and publish UMMA’s significant Korean collection. Laura De Becker Helmut and Candis Stern Curator of African Art In May 2015 the Regents of the University of Michigan appointed Laura De Becker as the Helmut and Candis Stern Curator of African Art at UMMA. De Becker received her PhD in the Arts of Africa from the Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia (UK) and most recently served as the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wits Art Museum, University of Witwatersrand (South Africa). She will be joining UMMA this fall. Qian He Asian Art Conservator In fall of 2015 Qian He will join the UMMA staff as the Asian Art Conservator. He will be the conservator and business manager of the Robert B. Jacobs Asian Art Conservation Laboratory in Alumni Memorial Hall. He was trained in Asian art conservation in both China and the U.S. He was most recently the Conservator of Chinese Painting at the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage in Beijing.
UMMA AFTER HOURS Friday, September 18, 7–10pm Live jazz by the Michael Malis Trio Curators' Conversations / Light Refreshments
Emily Talbot 2015-16 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow The new 2015-16 Andrew W. Mellon Fellow Emily Talbot will begin her fellowship year at UMMA in September, furthering her professional training in museums in both the curatorial and education contexts.
UMMA After Hours is generously sponsored by Fidelity Investments
Emily earned MA degrees from the Courtauld Institute of Art (History of Art) and NYU (Museum Studies). She is currently a PhD candidate in the U-M History of Art department, where her dissertation explores relationships between photography and painting in late-19th century Europe.
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exhibitions
a. alfred taubman gallery i | october 17, 2015–january 31, 2016
An overview of art made in the United States between 1989 and 2001—from the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11—this exhibition showcases 64 works by 46 artists, including installations, paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, video, and digital art. The exhibition features artists who came of age during this decade and whose work reflected the increasingly diverse nature of the art world at the time, when many artists of color, women artists, and LGBT artists attained unprecedented prominence. The exhibition’s title refers to a 1992 song by Nirvana (the quintessential ’90s band, led by the quintessential ’90s icon, Kurt Cobain), and speaks to issues of identity complicated by the effects of digital technology and a new global culture.
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exhibitions
Left: Laylah Ali, Unititled, 2000 Gouache and pencil on paper Collection of A.G. Rosen Image courtesy of the artist © Laylah Ali 2014 Right: Mark Dion, Department of Marine Animal Identification of the City of San Francisco (Chinatown Division), 1998 Mixed Media Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, NY © Mark Dion,
The 1990s was a decade of tremendous social, political, and economic change. Its defining event was arguably the digital revolution, which altered everything from everyday communication to international commerce to global geopolitics. The nascent 24-hour news cycle magnified every chain of events that rocked the United States during these years, including the economic recession from 1987 to the mid-’90s; the collapse of the Soviet Union beginning in 1989; the First Gulf War (1990); the Clarence Thomas–Anita Hill controversy (1991); the Rodney King beating and the subsequent Los Angeles riots in 1991–92; the election of Bill Clinton in 1992; the resurgence of the political right and the NAFTA treaty in 1994; the dot-com bubble of the mid-to-late 1990s; the presidential impeachment and acquittal in 1998–99; and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Artists grappled with these events, addressing them directly and also situating them within the context of changes particular to the art world, including the “culture wars” surrounding artistic freedom, the impact of new technologies on art-making, and the expansion of the global art market. Come as You Are argues that amidst, and indeed because of, these dramatic societal shifts, the 1990s constituted a turning point for the institution of art itself. The exhibition is organized around three principal themes that may be traced chronologically: identities and difference, the digital revolution, and globalization. The early 1990s were
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dominated by debates about multiculturalism and “identity politics”—an imperfect shorthand for issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Although these debates have roots in the mid20th-century civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements, during the ’90s they took on new dimensions. The mid1990s saw the precipitous development of digital technologies. Heralded by the launch of the first commercial Internet browser, in 1993, the digital revolution transformed all aspects of contemporary life, including the production of, discourse around, and market for art. It also led to the development of Internet art, a genre whose life span was essentially limited to the ’90s. The late 1990s were marked by the rise of globalization in the political, social, and economic realms: a shrinking of the world resulting from the growth of global capitalism following the demise of Communism, combined with the birth of the Internet and its transformation of how ideas, people, money, and objects circulate. In the art world, globalization led to a rapid acceleration of the market and a ramping up of the
"star system" for artists. Yet it also prompted a “postcolonial turn,” in which artists from nations previously governed by the major European colonial powers— and generally marginalized within the art world—gained new visibility on an international stage. Come as You Are considers how the multifaceted art of the 1990s reflected this tumultuous era. Alexandra Schwartz Curator of Contemporary Art Montclair Art Museum Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s is organized by the Montclair Art Museum and curated by Alexandra Schwartz, curator of contemporary art, with Kimberly Siino, curatorial assistant. This exhibition is made possible with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost and the University of Michigan Health System. Additional support is provided by Samantha and Ross Partrich, Andrea and Joel Brown, the University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, Department of the History of Art, and Residential College.
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exhibitions
irving stenn, jr. family gallery | august 22, 2015–january 3, 2016
The Heidelberg Project is one of the largest, best-known, and longest-running site-specific art installations in the country; it is also one of the most controversial. Occupying more than two blocks along Heidelberg Street on Detroit’s East Side, the project has transformed its neighborhood, covering abandoned houses, the street, and the surrounding area with found objects and paintings that express vivid personal and social themes.
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exhibitions Left: Heidelberg Street, 2006 Courtesy of Heidelberg Project Archives Opposite: The New White House, a.k.a., the Dotty Wotty House, 2010 Courtesy of Heidelberg Project Archives
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2016, the Heidelberg Project has been the life’s work of artist Tyree Guyton. Guyton grew up on Heidelberg Street, one of nine children. Raised in poverty by a single mother, objects and materials took on a privileged status for Guyton. His grandfather, Sam Mackey, a housepainter with an avocation to be a fine artist, encouraged Tyree to paint as an alternative to drugs and guns. After time spent in the Army and a few unsatisfying jobs, Guyton returned to Heidelberg Street and, finding the neighborhood failing and often dangerous, began to imagine it transformed by art. He and his grandfather encouraged neighborhood children to help them gather discarded objects, from toys and clothes to televisions and furniture, a process that would both clean up the neighborhood and provide a ready medium for their art. Guyton and Mackey painted abandoned houses on the street with bright house paints and attached objects to the exteriors, turning them into gigantic, thematic assemblage sculptures. The project’s imagery is personal, reflective of Guyton’s feelings about the universality of life, the passage of time, and the importance of human connections. Most of the houses have a defined theme. The Baby Doll House (now destroyed) was covered from roof to foundation with discarded toy dolls in various states of repair. Similarly, the Numbers House is covered with painted numerals in all colors and sizes. The project’s strange and often wonderful
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juxtapositions of objects, words, colors, and symbols are repeated, multiplied, subverted, and distorted into an immersive world that looks familiar, but upon closer inspection is not. Guyton’s strategy combines and expands on a variety of art practices in a way that is uniquely his own, though his methods place him squarely in the traditions of modern art. Assemblage, art made with found objects, and the creation of environments through repetitious massing of materials, all have a strong legacy in 20th century art. The Heidelberg Project has become one of Detroit’s art “institutions,” yet its history has been rocky. Not everyone has embraced the project: neighbors have repeatedly called on city officials to sanction Guyton; the City of Detroit bulldozed some of the houses on two occasions; and a recent rash of arson destroyed many of the houses. Reaction to public art is often difficult to map and impossible to control, and it is not surprising that the Heidelberg Project inspires strong opinions. Guyton continues to reevaluate his direction as an artist. A recent fellowship in Switzerland has encouraged him to move back into the studio; the delicate prints and drawings produced during this period are a marked contrast to the broad elements of his typical outdoor work. Guyton has created two new works specifically for this exhibition, one in the studio and one in the project. How Much for the City, a mixed-media sculpture,
makes reference to his long-standing struggles with city government. He is also building a new form of house that will rise on the foundations of a house destroyed by arson. The process of its construction can be viewed on the Heidelberg Television monitor in the exhibition gallery. The 30-year anniversary of the Heidelberg Project is an appropriate moment for the artist and his audience to reflect on what his work has meant to the cultural life of Detroit, to his life as an artist, and to a neighborhood that is now part of a broader conversation about the importance of art in everyday life. MaryAnn Wilkinson Adjunct Curator of Modern Art Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Lisa Applebaum, and the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and School of Social Work.
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
A related exhibition, What Time Is It? Tyree Guyton, New Work is on view at GalleryDAAS, located on the ground floor of Haven Hall, from September 18 through November 6. For programs and visiting information: www.lsa.umich.edu/daas/resources/ gallerydaas
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exhibitions
photography and media gallery | august 15–november 29, 2015
JEM COHEN LIFE DRAWING
The title of the multi-format photography and video installation by New York filmmaker Jem Cohen comes from the artist’s own characterization of his practice. As he explains, “The unifying core of my work stems from encountering the world as it unfolds. Whether the project is long- or short-term, moving image or still photography, single pictures, multiple projections, or an installation, it is through close observation, careful listening, and an embrace of chance that I establish the bedrock. . . . Regardless of the tools and the form, the project is life drawing.” The dual-gallery presentation of Life Drawing at UMMA underscores Cohen’s use of disparate media that, rooted in a shared set of concerns and working methods, organically coalesce into a broader body of work. We Have an Anchor, on view in the Media Gallery, is a single-channel video projection that incorporates composited 16mm, Super 8, and HD imagery. An environmental portrait of Nova Scotia, it takes its departure point from a live performance with multiple projections where Cohen collaborated with an ensemble of musicians to make what has been described as a cinematic love letter to Nova Scotia's Cape Breton. Footage of the island, gathered over 10 years, is interspersed with texts ranging from poems to local folklore, buoyed by both environmental sounds and an original score written and performed by members from a diverse group of bands, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Dirty Three, Fugazi, White Magic, Silver Mt. Zion, and The Quavers.
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Found and the Gravity Hill Newsreels. He has collaborated with Fugazi, Patti Smith, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt, Terry Riley, DJ Rupture, and the Ex, as well as writer Luc Sante. The multimedia live version of We Have an Anchor, presented at UMMA as an installation, was commissioned by EMPAC, and played on the main stages at London’s Barbican and BAM’s Next Wave series. Kathleen Forde Adjunct Curator of Media Arts Lead support for Jem Cohen at UMMA is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment. Additional generous support is provided by the Susan and Richard Gutow Fund and the Robert and Janet Miller Fund.
Left: Jem Cohen, Unititled (Manhattan Building With Lit Window), 2008 C-print from Polaroid original Courtesy of the artist © Jem Cohen Opposite: Jem Cohen, Untitled (Elevated Train/Empire State Building View), 2006 C-print from Polaroid original Courtesy of the artist © Jem Cohen
In the Photography Gallery, more than 25 still photographs, again gathered over a long period in a disappearing analog format (in this case, Polaroid film), are subtly married to digital technology. The images, some urban and some domestic, are from a variety of locations ranging from New York to Tangier. With both the video and the photographs Cohen uses a strategy of free wandering conjoined with careful documentation in order to unearth and celebrate hidden, seemingly haunted geographies and their human (and animal) inhabitants.
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Jem Cohen’s films are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art and have been broadcast by PBS, Arte, and the Sundance Channel. He has had retrospectives at London’s Whitechapel Gallery and the Oberhausen, Gijon, and Punto de Vista film festivals, and has won recognition with support by foundations and prizes such as the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His feature length films include Museum Hours, Chain, Instrument, Benjamin Smoke, and Counting (2015 Berlinale premier) and shorts include Lost Book
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exhibitions
brandon bridge | september 26, 2015–febuary 21, 2016
SOVIET CONSTRUCTIVIST POSTERS
BRANDING THE NEW ORDER 10
During the 1920s, the Soviet Union emerged on the world stage. This was the time of the Soviet experiment in its truest sense. The first decade was full of hope for a new social order that rejected the values and traditions of Tsarist rule. Social, economic, and political reforms were enacted to ensure a more just distribution of resources and a larger role for the proletariat in government. It was also a time of explosive artistic freedom. Centered in Moscow, a group of young artists, led in part by Vladimir (1899–1982) and Georgy Stenberg
(1900–1933), championed an art that promoted the egalitarian ideals of the new social order and contributed to the growth of the Soviet Union. Inspired by the assemblage of iron beams and glass in Vladimir Tatlin’s (1885–1953) Monument to the Third International, exhibited in 1920, these artists, known as the Constructivists, rejected traditional art objects and aesthetics in favor of a utilitarian art that was easily accessible and spoke to the masses. Among their most provocative and visionary works were film posters.
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exhibitions Left: Vladimir Stenberg, Russian, 1899–1982 & Georgy Stenberg, Russian, 1900–1933 Zvenigora, 1927, lithograph, 114.3cm x 80.01cm Gift of James T. Van Loo, 2013/2.228 Right: Anatoly Pavlovich Belsky, Russian, 1896–1971 Eliso, 1928, lithograph with offset photography, 150.5cm x 114.3cm Gift of James T. Van Loo, 2013/2.226 Opposite: Anonymous, Russian, 20th century October, 1928, lithograph, 75.57cm x 159.39cm Gift of James T. Van Loo, 2013/2.225
Films appealed to people from all walks of life in the 1920s, including the Soviet Union’s largely illiterate population. Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) is said to have proclaimed, “Of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important.” Whether or not this is true, the cinema, with its capacity to educate and to promote communism to the masses, was one of the Soviet Union’s most powerful tools. Early innovators, including Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948), Dziga Vertov (1896–1954), and Alexander Dovzhenko (1894–1956), used new techniques such as montage, double exposure, and split screens to produce experimental films with lasting legacies. Distributed and displayed in the public sphere, the posters created by the Constructivists to advertise these films conveyed the revolutionary content of these films to everyday men and women in a manner that caught their attention and stimulated their curiosity. Though they played a significant role in branding and selling the notion of the new Soviet Union to both domestic and international audiences, Constructivist film posters do not represent communism in a direct manner. Instead they employ a new visual language that evoked the ideals of the New Order. Dynamic forms, bold colors, and
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emblematic images of the proletariat (workers, soldiers, and empowered women) and industrial machinery suggested that the Soviet Union was a progressive nation that, with new technologies, could propel society into a utopian future. While mass-produced, Constructivist film posters are unique in their quality and ingenuity of design. Their ephemerality, however, makes them rare. Despite having been printed in the thousands, only a few copies of each poster survive. UMMA is fortunate to have a superb collection of posters from the estate of James T. Van Loo. Soviet Constructivist Posters: Branding the New Order presents a selection from this collection, including posters promoting some of early Soviet cinema’s most provocative and controversial films. Together they illustrate the revolutionary aesthetic that came to be associated with the workers’ movement and helped to shape how it was understood both at home and abroad. By the early 1930s Constructivism began to wane. With Joseph Stalin’s (1878–1953) rise to power and a shift in the Soviet Union’s values and development, Social Realism, with its traditional representational strategies, became
the state’s preferred mode of visual communication. Despite their abrupt demise, however, Constructivist posters had a lasting impact. Ironically, the bold colors and inventive designs that were so effective in communicating the anticapitalist, anti-commercial ideals of the new regime to the masses are still found in modern advertising. Lehti Mairike Keelmann Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow, 2014–2015 with Carole McNamara Curator Emerita and Natsu Oyobe Curator of Asian Art Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
RELATED PROGRAM: IN CONVERSATION with Lehti Keelmann, Co-Curator Sunday, November 15, 3pm In the Gallery Registration required
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in focus
new acquisitions
NIKKI S.LEE
on view october 20, 2015–january 24, 2016
Born in South Korea and educated in New York, photographer Nikki S. Lee is interested in how one’s identity is constructed in relation to others—how our sense of self can be affected and altered by the presence of other people. Paris [206] is one of eight Paris photographs included in her Parts series, which Lee created from 2002 to 2005. Each Paris work (as well as all the other works in Parts) shows the same woman (Lee herself) in different settings, posing and interacting with male partners. But viewers see only the hands or other body parts of the partners— using scissors, Lee literally crops the images of these men out of the photographs. She says, “The purpose of the cut is to make people curious about the missing person and to think how his identity has affected the woman who is left behind.” Because she uses her own disguised body in photographic work, Lee is often compared to other female artists such as Adrian Piper and Cindy Sherman. However, with her petite Asian body as the subject, Lee presents a nuanced inquiry into gender and racial stereotypes. In the Paris photographs, the settings are luxurious locations in that city, and her missing partner is a white male (his race identified through his skin and hair). In these well-appointed environments, normally accessible only to the French upper class, Lee’s “performed” self almost fits in, but not
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Above: Nikki S. Lee, born 1970, South Korea, Paris [206], 2004, Lambda print on aluminum, Gift of the Kammi and Brad Reiss Family, 2014/2.245
quite, though her clothes, makeup, and demeanor are perfect. This discrepancy causes us unease with our own gender and racial identities, whether we are like him (male and white), like her (female and non-white), or in another category altogether. Lee’s shrewd investigation of identity and race is also a focus in her earlier series Projects, which will be featured in the special exhibition Come as You Are:
Art of the 1990s, opening in October in the A. Alfred Taubman Gallery I. The provocative Paris [206] was recently gifted to UMMA by Director's Acquisition Committee members Kammi (BA '89) and Brad Reiss, whose collection focuses on photography and media art. Natsu Oyobe Curator of Asian Art
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education
ART OF OUR TIME Iconoclastic. Radical. Visionary. These are some of the terms that have been used to describe the art and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. This fall UMMA presents the work of artists who have challenged us to redefine the way we think of art and its relationship to the world around us. These exhibitions and related programs are an invitation to become more acquainted with the art of our time. Julian Schnabel has forged a singular pictorial language that embraces unconventional methods and materials. He describes his work as an infinite exploration of the way paint can make a pictorial surface out of anything. “I don't think the battle between figuration and abstraction is even an issue. Anything can be a model for painting—a poplar tree, another painting, a smudge of dirt.”
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Artist Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project has both transformed its Detroit East Side neighborhood, and achieved world renown. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Project, Tyree Guyton and Executive Director Jenenne Whitfield look back over their dramatic journey and contemplate new possibilities for the future. This UMMA Dialogue on Friday, September 25th, will also include exhibition curator MaryAnn Wilkinson; open gallery hours and a reception will follow the Dialogue.
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In Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, curator Alexandra Schwartz provides a fresh look at the art of the pivotal decade between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11.
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Please visit www.umma.umich. edu/insider/guyton for additional programs for adults and families.
Friday, October 23, Schwartz will give the annual Sloan lecture, exploring the themes of the show, namely identity politics, the digital revolution, and globalization.
Thursday, September 17, UMMA and Penny W. Stamps Speaker Series present Julian Schnabel in dialogue with Peter Brant, publisher of Art in America and entrepreneur. Sunday, September 20, In Conversation in the gallery with artist and Professor of Art Jim Cogswell who has characterized painting as a tapestry of endless possibilities.
Left: Julian Schnabel, Divan, 1979, oil, plates, bondo on wood, 96 x 96 x 12 inches Photo by Farzad Owrang, Copyright Julian Schnabel Studio, Courtesy The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT. Above: Tyree Guyton at work at the Heidelberg Project, 2013. Photo by Geronimo Patton, photo courtesy of the Heidelberg Project Archives
U-M students take on the art of the '90s both historically and as inspiration at the annual Student Late Night event on October 22 and through a performance of student compositions in the SMTD@UMMA series in January 2016.
Right: Alexandra Schwartz; photo by Jennifer Weisboard
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education
UNIVERSITY LEARNING TRANSFORMED
THREE YEARS OF UMMA'S MELLON INITIATIVE
Director Joseph Rosa recently stated, “the magnitude of UMMA’s transformation into a dynamo of academic activity at the University is difficult to overstate: the three years of the Mellon initiative have dramatically changed UMMA’s profile as a center for University learning.” The sheer volume and variety of University classes visiting UMMA’ study rooms and galleries has increased from 77 classes in 2011-2012 to over 300 in 2014-2015. Over the past academic year, UMMA hosted over 7,500 University students who visited the Museum with classes from 10 of the University’s schools or colleges, including 28 different departments in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. More than simply increasing the number of classes visiting the Museum, the Mellon initiative has also reshaped how UMMA works with campus partners.
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The addition of the Mellon Academic Coordinator and the Mellon Collections Assistant to UMMA’s staff has meant that the Museum is able to conduct collection searches, arrange custom displays of art, and develop teaching curricula and lesson plans for any faculty interested in exploring the options available at UMMA. Deputy Director for Education Ruth Slavin describes how, in addition, having staff dedicated to University learning has meant that UMMA has been able to build upon and accumulate the resources and knowledge that each collaboration with a University class produces.
of tools for instructors and students to search the collection, research art objects, and share their work with others on campus and with the broader community.” An endowment from the Mellon Foundation will ensure that campus partnerships continue and grow into the future, while a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will enable UMMA to create a digital platform for teaching with the collection, the UMMA Exchange, that will allow knowledge accumulated through academic engagement with art to be available for instructors, teachers, and the broader public.
Says Academic Coordinator Dave Choberka, “As the initial three-year period of the Mellon initiative comes to a close, UMMA’s work in transforming University learning is just beginning. I am looking to the the future when the Museum will have an ever increasing set
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education THREE OF THE MOST POPULAR WORKS FOR U-M CLASSES IN THE
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Visits to UMMA’s study rooms and study cases increased dramatically over the time of the Mellon grant, with the greatest increases coming in the first year of the initiative and the last.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat, A Lie, 1981, colored crayons on paper, UMMA, Gift of Arthur Cohen in honor of Ben and Yetta Cohen, 1985/2.18
Elliot Erwitt, Church at Wounded Knee, from Portfolio of 15 Photographs, 1969 printed 1988, gelatin silver print, UMMA, Gift of Gerald Lotenberg, 1981/2.194.1
Above & Opposite: University students visit the Ernestine and Herbert Ruben Study Center for Works on Paper to view art related to the topic of social realism. George Vargas, Michigan Worker, 1985, goggles, metal, hanging bells mounted on wood, UMMA, Gift of the artist, 2004/1.153
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umma glow
UMMA GLOW On Thursday, April 15, the University of Michigan Museum of Art held its second UMMA GLOW, a biennial signature event that illuminates the
Below: Joseph Rosa and Catherine Forbes
important role that University of Michigan alumni art collectors and patrons have played in the international arts landscape and in UMMA’s evolution. UMMA GLOW celebrates the transformative power of the Michigan experience by honoring an individual whose leadership and generosity, coupled with a passion for art, epitomizes the very best of the University of Michigan. The event also seeks to raise awareness of the Museum’s exceptional collection, exhibition, and programmatic initiatives. The 2015 UMMA GLOW honoree was Peter Benedek (BA ’70), an avid art collector and tireless advocate for UMMA and the University of Michigan. Other noted participants in the program were U-M President Mark S. Schlissel (see quote above); 2013 UMMA Glow honoree Irving Stenn, Jr. (BA ’52, JD ’55); artist and filmmaker Laurie Simmons; Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin; U-M Screenwriting Program Director Jim Burnstein; and screenwriter, director, and producer Lawrence Kasdan. Violinist Danielle Belen and pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng, faculty members of the U-M School of Music, Theatre and Dance, performed excerpts from Porgy and Bess using one of George Gershwin’s pianos, which was recently donated to U-M. Nearly 150 guests took part in the celebration. The lively mix of Peter’s friends and family, University executive leadership and volunteers, UMMA
Above: Peter Benedek and U-M President Mark S. Schlissel
supporters, Michigan alumni, and art patrons helped to make the event a tremendous success. Proceeds from the event will support UMMA’s exhibition and education programming.
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umma glow
"UMMA IS THE FRONT DOOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN" U-M PRESIDENT MARK S. SCHLISSEL
Above: Ann Philbin Left: Peter Benedek and Irving Stenn, Jr.
Left: Stuart and Maxine Frankel, and Christopher Scoates, Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum
fall 2015
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Below: Joseph Rosa & need name Above: Architect Michael Maltzan and Phillipe Vergne, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) Right: Peter and Barbara Benedek
Above: Laurie Simmons
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Above: Jennifer Gilbert Right: Lawrence Kasdan and Joseph Rosa
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umma glow HOST COMMITTEE Nancy and Ziggy Alderman Lisa Applebaum and George Haddad Peter B. Aronson Jim Berkus Matthew C. Blank David Bohnett Foundation Skip Brittenham Nancy Chaikin Jamey Cohen Charlie Collier Marissa Devins and Matt Rice Michele Oka Doner and Frederick Doner
Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff Rich Eisen Lisa and Eric Eisner Dan Erlij Sam Fischer Tom Fontana Catherine and Nathan Forbes Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan Maxine and Stuart Frankel The David Geffen Foundation Cliff Gilbert-Lurie Brad Grey Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard Peter Horton
Tracey Jacobs Jenni Konner and Richard Shepard Ashley and David Kramer Linda and Ben Lambert John Landgraf Michael Lombardo David Madden Blake Masters Leslie Moonves Gary Newman Robert and Daryl Offer Laura Owens and Jack Bender Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald
Susan Wexler Piser and Michael Sandy Bank Elaine and Bertram Pitt Richard Plepler Laurie and Rich Prager Random House Studio Kevin Reilly Peter Rice Prue and Ami Rosenthal Peter Roth Noreen and Jack Rounick Jennifer and Bert Salke Kathy Savitt Bob Shaye
Irving Stenn, Jr. and Judi Male Susu Sosnick Molly and Jay Sures Trish Turner-McConnell and Tom McConnell Ellen and Bill Taubman Judy and Alfred Taubman Dana Walden Julian Zajfen Ken Ziffren Marisa and Jeremy Zimmer
Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff Tom Fontana
HBO Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard Jenni Konner and Richard Shepard Ashley and David Kramer Linda and Ben Lambert NBC Universal Cable Entertainment
Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald Laurie and Rich Prager Random House Studio Kathy Savitt Bob Shaye Showtime Networks
Ellen and Bill Taubman Judy and Alfred Taubman U-M Office of University Development Ziffren Brittenham LLP Marisa and Jeremy Zimmer
MacDonald Laurie and Rich Prager Random House Studio Kathy Savitt Bob Shaye Irving Stenn, Jr. Ellen and Bill Taubman Judy and Alfred Taubman Julie and Robert Taubman U-M Office of University Development Ziffren Brittenham LLP
Marisa and Jeremy Zimmer Marissa Devins and Matt Rice Tom and Ellen Hoberman Navid Mahmoodzadegan Molly and Jay Sures Robert and Daryl Offer Doreen Hermelin Anonymous Mark and Cindy Cendrowski Lisa and Eric Eisner Beth and Mike Goodman-Plante Bobby Heller
Michele Oka Doner and Frederick Doner Susan Wexler Piser and Michael Sandy Bank Kevin Reilly Susu Sosnick Trish Turner-McConnell and Tom McConnell Tim and Laurie Wadhams Warner Bros. Television Lois Wecker and Roirdan Burnett
HOST TABLECOMMITTEE SPONSORS Nancy and Ziggy Alderman Lisa Applebaum and George Haddad Peter B. Aronson David Bohnett Foundation CBS Charlie Collier
Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan Fox Television Group/FX Maxine and Stuart Frankel The David Geffen Foundation
ADVISORY COMMITTEE HOST COMMITTEE Elaine Pitt Laurie Prager Prue Rosenthal
HOST COMMITTEE DONORS OF $1,000 OR MORE Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard Nancy and Ziggy Alderman AMC Network Entertainment Anonymous Lisa Applebaum and George Haddad Peter B. Aronson David Bohnett Foundation CBS Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff Tom Fontana
Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan Fox Television Group/FX Maxine and Stuart Frankel The David Geffen Foundation HBO Jenni Konner and Richard Shepard Bobby Kotick Ashley and David Kramer Linda and Ben Lambert NBC Universal Cable Entertainment Walter Parkes and Laurie
Above: Amy I-Lin Cheng and Danielle Belen
fall 2015
Above: Peter Benedek and U-M Regent Shauna Ryder Diggs 19
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1 & 5: In conjunction with HE: The Hergott Shepard Photography Collection exhibition, Men! Men! Men! performed by students from the School of Music, Theatre, & Dance
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2: Deedie Rose 3: Stanford Scholar Richard Meyer and artist Sharon Lockhart 4: U-M SMTD Faculty Nadine Hubbs and Peter Sparling 6: UMMA Director Joseph Rosa and Curt Shepard 7: Cindy & Howard Rochofsky 7
8: Panelists: Guest Curator Mario Codognato, Richard Meyer, and collectors Curt Shepard and Allen Hergott
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This Page: Students at UMMA Student Late Night and guests at Family Art Studio: Ann Arbor Japan Week
campaign
MICHIGAN FUNDERS HELP MAKE UMMA MICHIGAN’S CULTURAL HEART key among the museum’s priorities in the victors for michigan campaign is to make umma michigan’s cultural heart. We are the catalyst for cultural understanding at the University of Michigan; the cultural town square of our region; and a university art museum for the world.
THESE MICHIGAN FUNDERS CONTINUE TO HELP US ACHIEVE THIS GOAL community foundation for southeast michigan Based in Detroit, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) supports UMMA’s efforts to engage broad audiences from throughout the region. In 2015-16, funding from CFSEM will allow UMMA to expand and promote the Fridays After 5 program, providing regular evening gallery hours on select Fridays throughout the year. Join us at the next Fridays After 5 on October 9!
michigan council for the arts and cultural affairs The mission of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) is to encourage, initiate, and facilitate an enriched artistic, cultural, and creative environment in Michigan. A long-time supporter of UMMA’s exhibitions and programs, MCACA is providing key funding for The Art of Tyree Guyton: A Thirty-Year Journey (see more on page 6)—on view in UMMA’s Stenn Gallery through January 3, 2016.
university of michigan health system UMMA receives support from a wide network of on-campus partners. Among these partners, the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) stands out. A supporter of the arts at Michigan for years, UMHS provides significant funding to multiple Museum exhibitions each year—in 2015-16, UMHS is the Lead Exhibition Sponsor for Julian Schnabel, Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, and Xu Weixin: Monumental Portraits.
university of michigan credit union A community leader and fixture in southeast Michigan and consistent supporter of exhibitions and programs at UMMA, the University of Michigan Credit Union (UMCU) recently became the Lead Sponsor for Student and Family Engagement. UMCU’s exceptional gift will help fuel programming for all ages at UMMA, including Student Late Night, Artscapade!, Storytime at the Museum, and Family Art Making, serving more than 6,500 individuals per year. For more information on how you can become a Victor for Michigan and help to make UMMA Michigan’s cultural heart, please visit umma.umich.edu/giving/funding.html.
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JULIAN SCHNABEL © THE BRANT FOUNDATION ART STUDY CENTER, 166 PAGES Limited Supply Available at the UMMA Store
COME AS YOU ARE ART OF THE 1990S
CHINESE WINDOW PANEL LASER-CUT LAMP
BALSAWOOD TURBO FLYER & YOYO, DIY KITS
Tait Design Co., Detroit,MI taitdesignco.com
MODERN & VOLUMETRIC STEEL STATEMENT JEWELRY In conjunction with upcoming UMMA exhibition, Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s, the UMMA Store will offer a way to take the experience home with you. Alexandra Schwartz © Montclair Art Museum and the University of California Press, 223 pages
In stock for a limited time only.
Nolan Loh, U-M Alum, Ann, Arbor, MI© Inspired by Chinese window panels, this laser-cut plywood lamp is a modern interpretation of a traditionally handcrafted object made by a University of Michigan alumnus.
Jera Lodge Jewelry & Metalsmithing Haystack School of Craft. Maine, USA Sweetwaters Coffee and Tea Available Daily!
SHOP ONLINE! STORE.UMMA.UMICH.EDU STORE HOURS MON–SAT 11AM–5PM, SUN 12–5PM
Non-Profit Organization U. S . P o s t a g e PA I D A n n A r b o r, M I P e r m i t N o . 14 4
525 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1354 734.763.UMMA umma.umich.edu
For up-to-date details on UMMA exhibitions and programs, visit umma.umich.edu or follow UMMA on Facebook or Twitter!
EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW july 5–september 27 2015
Julian Schnabel
connect online facebook.com/ummamuseum twitter.com/ummamuseum instagram.com/ummamuseum
become a member umma.umich.edu or umma-giving@umich.edu
august 15–november 29, 2015
Jem Cohen: Life Drawing august 22, 2015–january 3, 2016
The Art of Tyree Guyton: A Thirty-Year Journey september 26, 2015–febuary 21, 2016
gallery hours September–April Tuesday through Saturday 11am–5pm Sunday 12–5pm Closed Mondays
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 8am–8pm. Admission to the Museum is always free. $10 suggested donation appreciated.
Soviet Constructivist Posters: Branding the New Order october 17, 2015–january 31, 2016
Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s december 5, 2015–april 17, 2016
Early British Photographs december 5, 2015–march 27, 2016
Ferhat Özgür: Metamorphosis Chat
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, Lehti Keelmann, Ruth Keffer, Natsu Oyobe, Anna Sampson, Ruth Slavin, Alexandra Schwartz, Carrie Throm, MaryAnn Wilkinson. editor: Susanne Kocsis; designer: Jason Williams