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from the director
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mbarking on the dynamic second half of this heady academic year is a powerful reminder that UMMA wouldn’t be UMMA without the University as part of its DNA. This season we are fortunate to celebrate and leverage numerous collaborations across campus that both enhance our offerings and underline U-M’s deep commitment to the arts. A perfect example of UMMA and our visionary campus partners and funders working together to create an especially rewarding audience experience is the very special exhibition Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art and the manifold synergistic opportunities for programming it offers. Thanks to generous funding from The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, program highlights include a Penny W. Stamps lecture by Shahzia Sikander, one of eight acclaimed contemporary artists included in the exhibition; a scholarly symposium organized with the U-M History of Art department; and the world premiere of an UMMA- and School of Music, Theatre, and Dance-commissioned piece of music by Donia Jarrar. Please see the program pages or refer to our website for the full complement of exhibition-related programs. Designed to complement the glorious Doris Duke exhibition, Fragments from the Past: Islamic Art from the Collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology showcases the incredible Islamic holdings at this treasured U-M museum as part of the U-M Collections Collaborations series, which is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. UMMA inaugurates our year-long partnership with U-M’s distinguished Bentley Historical Library with an exhibition devoted to noted Michigan architect David Osler (born 1921). In this first of three exhibitions that stake a claim for the innovations in modern domestic architecture developed in Michigan, we will examine eight projects that span Osler’s long career in Washtenaw County. Subsequent exhibitions in this series will consider the work of Robert Metcalf and George Brigham.
contents from the director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 umma news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 in focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The second installment of Flip Your Field, an ongoing series in which noted U-M faculty members are asked to guest curate outside of their expertise with objects drawn from UMMA’s renowned collection, features Professor of Art Larry Cressman. Known for teaching printmaking and drawing, Cressman offers his own distinct vision of the Museum’s photography collection through two equally compelling arrangements. I guarantee you will experience UMMA’s photography holdings in an entirely new light. As many of you are aware, in November the University launched its historic fundraising campaign, Victors for Michigan. As part of that momentous undertaking, the Museum has embarked on its own goal of significantly increasing its endowment support in order to reach its full potential as a leader among university art museums and a global center for excellence in the arts. To do that, we will need your help. Please read more about our campaign priorities on pages 14–15. For now, please enjoy UMMA’s beautifully appointed galleries to visit some old favorites or encounter something completely unexpected. Participate in a tour, attend a concert or reading, or experiment with art-making yourself. As the Museum seeks to reach new audiences, broaden campus collaborations, and train tomorrow’s scholars, we never forget that by advancing each individual’s profoundly personal experience with art we enrich society as a whole.
umma happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 umma store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Cover: Shahzia Sikander 1) Unseen 3, HD-Digital Projection, 2011. 2) Unseen 1, HD-Digital Projection, 2011. Photo Credit: David Adams. 3) Unseen 2, HD-Digital Projection, 2011. Photo Credit: David Adams.
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Joseph Rosa Director
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umma news UMMA’S JUDY CHICAGO JOINS EXHIBITION AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM
OVERSEAS KOREAN CULTURAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION RESEARCH TEAM VISITS UMMA
Before making her widely known and iconic feminist work of the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond, Judy Chicago explored painting, sculpture, and environmental performance, often using innovative industrial techniques and materials, including auto body painting and pyrotechnics. Chicago in L.A.: Judy Chicago’s Early Work, 1963–74, on view at the Brooklyn Museum from April 4 to September 28, 2014, is comprised of 60 works that she created during her early career while living in Los Angeles, including the sole Judy Chicago work from UMMA’s collection, titled Cubes and Cylinders.
Judy Chicago, 1967, milled steel and gold plating, UMMA, Gift of the Lannan Foundation in Honor of the Pelham Family, 1997/1.121
UMMA STUDENT PROGRAMING AND ADVISORY COUNCIL These 15 students of diverse backgrounds and interests ranging from English to Microbiology to Business serve as a direct link between U-M students and UMMA, supporting our mission of student engagement with the arts.
A team of five Korean art specialists visited University of Michigan Museum of Art to conduct a comprehensive survey of more than 400 objects from its Korean art collection. This research project was organized by the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF), an affiliate of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, which promotes research and circulation of historic Korean artifacts in collections outside of Korea. The result of their work will be published as a full-color catalogue, and will be distributed to museums, universities, and cultural institutions worldwide. UMMA is honored to join more than 20 museums in North America, Europe, and Japan in participating in the program, including the Guimet Museum in Paris, the Tokyo National Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others. We would like to express our gratitude to the Nam Center for Korean Studies for supporting part of the OKCHF visit and the research project.
SAVE THE DATES UMMA FRIDAYS AFTER 5 Friday, FEBRUARY 21 5-8PM
2013-14 UMMA SPAC Members: Haya Alfarhan (English), Robbie Austin (Communications), Rachel Bissonnette (History of Art / Museum Studies), Cameron Bothner (Linguistics), Caroline Buse (Music / History of Art), Emily Fite (Anthropology & Psychology / African Studies), Savannah Freed (Communications / History of Art), Sarah Kang (Microbiology / History of Art), Minji Lee (Art & Design), Kelsey Messina (History of Art / Business), Aya Mimura (Political Science / Business), Jean Rafaelian (History of Art), Gabby Thoma (History of Art / Psychology), Yurong Wu (Architecture), Eleni Zaras (History of Art)
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UMMA AFTER HOURS THURSDAY, MARCH 13 7-10pm 3
exhibitions
a. alfred taubman gallery i | january 25–may 4, 2014
Above: Doris Duke and James Cromwell pose by the Jali Pavilion at Shangri La during a photo shoot by Martin Munkácsi. Select photos from the shoot appeared in Life Magazine, March 20, 1939. Doris Duke Photograph Collection, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Doris Duke’s Shangri La Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art In 1947 Doris Duke wrote an article “My Honolulu Home” for Town and Country, which was accompanied by a glorious suite of black-and-white photographs by Maynard Parker. Published as one of only four photo shoots of Shangri La that Duke permitted during her lifetime, “My Honolulu Home” granted the curious public a glimpse of the most personal and secluded of retreats. Built between 1936 and 1938 and embellished with new acquisitions and renovations for nearly sixty years, Shangri La seamlessly melds 1930s modernist architecture; architectural traditions from India, Iran, Morocco, and Syria; and a large collection of Islamic art.
Mosaic tile panel in the form of a gateway, Iran, probably nineteenth century. Stonepaste: monochrome-glazed, assembled as mosaic, 153 x 160 in (48.454). On dining room lanai at Shangri La. © Tim Street-Porter 2011. Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
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Duke recognized that Shangri La is a place of many identities: it is elegant, complex, embracing multiple traditions, and difficult to characterize. Calling it “a Spanish-Moorish-Persian-Indian complex,” she shyly acknowledged Shangri La’s fluid identity, paying homage to a Pan-Islamic world representing the cultures, art, and architecture that it comprises. That she managed to build such a house and set it on southeastern O‘ahu’s rocky coastline overlooking the Pacific, resolving such seemingly contradictory elements, is testament to her unerring eye and intuitive sense of the places and traditions she loved.
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exhibitions
Left: Tent panel with Qur’anic inscription, Egypt, Cairo, nineteenth century. Cotton appliqué, 114 x 58 ½ in. (289.6 x 148.6 cm) (83.24). © 2010 David Franzen. Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Right: Afruz Amighi, Heart Axe (detail), woven polyethylene and plexi glass, 96"h x 68"w, 2011. Photo Credit: Afruz Amighi.
In her will, Duke purposefully opened the doors to Shangri La by establishing the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA) to own and manage the site and collections to promote the understanding of Islamic cultures. The process of preparing this private, very intimate home for a broader public purpose is one she set in motion thirty years before her death. Renovating the dining room to a tented interior, installing a dazzling painted room from Damascus in the late 1970s, and continuing the expansion of the collection are all physical evidence of Doris Duke at work: deliberate, thoughtful, and joyfully unconstrained by narrow, essentialist thinking. Today, Shangri La is alive with visitors and programs, artists and scholars in residence; performances of music, dance, and poetry; and international convenings and symposia that consider contemporary issues or advance research on aspects of Islamic art. The indoor and outdoor rooms of the site are filled with conversation about the art and architecture, scenic views, and Duke’s work as a collector. With this traveling exhibition and accompanying book, Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art, we take a similar experience to audiences beyond Hawai‘i and hope that the story of Shangri La and Duke’s transformative engagement with the Islamic world will inspire a new appreciation of Islamic arts and cultures.
first exhibition to present Duke's collections to audiences throughout the continental United States. In addition to historical photographs and drawings, some sixty objects from the collection will be presented alongside new works by eight contemporary artists that participated in Shangri La’s artistsin-residence program. The contemporary artists—all with roots in the Muslim world—include Ayad Alkadhi, Afruz Amighi, Emre Hüner, Mohamed Zakariya, Shahzia Sikander, Shezad Dawood, Walid Raad, and Zakariya Amataya. Deborah Pope Executive Director, Shangri La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art This exhibition was organized by The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, which is also providing generous support for its presentation at UMMA and national tour. Additional lead support for UMMA’s installation is provided by the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Michigan Office of the President. Other generous support is provided by the Monroe-Brown Foundation Discretionary Fund for Outreach to the State of Michigan, the Katherine Tuck Enrichment Fund, and the University of Michigan Center for South Asian Studies, CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, Department of the History of Art, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Institute for the Humanities, Islamic Studies Program, and the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
Doris Duke's Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art, on view at UMMA from January 25 to May 4, 2014, is the
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exhibitions
new media gallery, lobby, and apse | january 11 – april 27, 2014
Affecting the Audience Anthony Discenza, Aurélien Froment, and Dora García The artist’s domain is to make real things, originals. A remake typically doesn’t come close to the original—or so we think. In the realm of media art and its constant mediation of what is left of the thing, these clear-cut distinctions have long lost their use-value. Museums now speak of reconfiguring and re-installing a work. “Dimensions variable“ takes on a new meaning when a slide projection dramatically changes in size, when an online work needs to be translated curatorially into a gallery presentation, and when a participatory work is interpreted anew by local performers. But each presentation in a new context and under variable technical or spatial conditions affects and enhances our understanding of what constitutes the work. Pointedly said, in media art the call is to do it “again and again” but differently each time. As a curator working for an institution undergoing an expansion and a period of closure, it is thus a welcome opportunity to bring works from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s collection to a different context and audience. The three media art exhibitions at UMMA, proposed as a dialogue between the dedicated New Media Gallery and adjacent public spaces and galleries, all address a time-based experience of art with a focus on the relationship to space. From the 19th century ambience of the Apse to the contemporary architecture of the Frankel Family Wing, all three exhibitions explore the process of perception over time, translations from one medium into another, and the performative aspect in art. The format of presentation is clearly shaped here by the specifics of UMMA’s building, but also the visitors‘ experience in a museum is a carefully orchestrated and constructed effect,
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determined by artistic, curatorial, and institutional acts of framing and staging. Artists have addressed these acts openly and critically in the past. Today, they also embrace temporality, theatricality, and affective strategies to directly engage the viewers with all their senses. Anthony Discenza, Aurélien Froment, and Dora García, who contribute three distinct voices to Affecting the Audience, use time-based media and spoken or written texts to foreground this formatting of our experience and the complex and often fraught processes of description, narration, translation, and communication. Aurélien Froment’s film Pulmo Marina consists of a single shot of a jellyfish in an aquarium, with a voiceover that draws attention to the conditions of display. The narrator borrows lines from zoological guides, mythologies, high-definition flat-screen advertising, and interviews conducted with staff
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exhibitions
Upper left: Aurélien Froment, Pulmo Marina, 2010, HD video with sound, 5:10 min, Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Aurélien Froment Lower left: Anthony Discenza, A Viewing (The Effect), 2009-10 (2012 SFMOMA installation view); digital audio installation; courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; photo: Johnna Arnold, courtesy SFMOMA; © Anthony Discenza Above: Dora García, Instant Narrative, 2006–8 (2012 SFMOMA installation view), performance with software and video projection, Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; photo: by Don R. Ross, courtesy SFMOMA; © Dora García
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The setting in UMMA‘s lobby corresponds to Froment‘s interest in probing different display contexts from cinema and museums to commercial or even private settings. His work exists in three formats: as a 35mm film print, a high definition video, and a file for online viewings. Just as the jellyfish constantly changes form, Pulmo Marina eludes any notion of a fixed format. Anthony Discenza immerses the visitor in another seductive environment. His sound installation A Viewing (The Effect) compiles a series of fragments of text found online through a Google search, all of which include the specific phrase “and the effect is,“ into a single narration read aloud by a professional speaker. No sources or referents are revealed, and the seemingly coherent text advances without getting anywhere in its argument—a speech act as sound effect that becomes more disconcerting the longer one listens to this seemingly infinite loop. In Dora García’s Instant Narrative, visitors encounter a complex situation of feedback and surveillance in public space. A
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projected text on a wall manifests an ongoing narrative that attracts their attention as readers. This work is on view during Museum hours and performed live by a series of local writers who each interpret the given situation differently, allowing different narratives to become manifest,“instantly“ including the public as unwitting, complicit, and at times actively engaged actors in the production of this continuous narrative. The construction and perception of images through language is a fundamental experience of exhibiting in the public domain. Affecting the Audience emphasizes, however, the futility, precariousness, and affective ambivalence of this process. Whether we are charmed, lured, or even frustrated, we as viewers can‘t help but be affected by the sensible presence that these works produce over time. This includes our own presence as part of the artistic situation. Rudolf Frieling Guest Curator The third season of UMMA's new media exhibitions is guest curated by Rudolf Frieling, Curator of Media Arts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Affecting the Audience is the second of three exhibitions in this series that will focus on the notion of performativity in contemporary art. Most of the work on view is from SFMOMA’s outstanding collection. Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment and the University of Michigan Office of the Provost.
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exhibitions
jan and david brandon family bridge | december 21, 2013 – march 30, 2014
Three Michigan Architects Part 1 David Osler
David Osler’s domestic, institutional, commercial, and civic buildings represent some of the most distinctive and recognizable modern architecture in Michigan, predominantly in Washtenaw County. Born in 1921, Osler is an Ann Arbor native and graduated from the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design in 1943. Returning to Ann Arbor after World War II, he worked in the architecture office of Douglas D. Loree, Architect, and in 1958 opened his own practice. While his earlier work was mostly residential, each decade saw Osler’s firm receive larger commissions until he retired in 2008. However, throughout his career Osler continually received commissions to design modern houses that reflected his minimalist sensibilities. This exhibition presents eight domestic projects that span Osler’s five-decade-long career from 1958 to 2008, highlighting a minimal design aesthetic that features crisp, clean, impeccably composed geometric lines and forms. Each project exemplifies his modern mid-century architectural vocabulary, as he designed houses that physically and visually embrace their natural settings. Osler’s elegant domestic designs employ highly compositional rectangular floor plans that illustrate a strong sense of how public spaces (kitchen, dining, and living rooms) relate to private spaces (bedrooms and bathrooms). The public spaces are envisioned as one contiguous form, with large spans of glass that visually open the house to its outdoor setting. The more discreet private spaces are contained and collectively located adjacent to one another at either end of the house or on different floors. While most of Osler’s minimalist domestic designs feature flat roofs, depending on the topography of the site, some dwellings have asymmetrically sloped roofs as well as exterior balconies that project outward from the façade. An example of
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Osler’s exploration of sloped roofs and their sectional characteristics can be seen in his 1982 Henri House. The seating area of its vast living room is simply defined by a recess in the floor plan that creates a conversation pit at the base of the fireplace. In contrast to this, a steeply sloped ceiling surface rises up to meet the fireplace wall. Completing the overall composition are two open-truss beams that engage the ceiling plane, flank the fireplace, and visually define the recessed conversation pit. While numerous architects of the twentieth century designed within the tenets of the modern movement, Osler brought a unique compositional aesthetic to all his projects. This is visible in his domestic projects, from the overall exterior proportions of the houses to their interior spaces, as well as window fenestrations on the façades. These homes were built mostly of wood-frame construction and clad in a variety of materials from wood-siding to brick and galvanized sheet metal. Yet in Osler’s hands, this vocabulary of normative building materials was transformed into beautiful details and simple, elegant surfaces that embody his minimalist sensibilities. All of his dwellings showcase crisp, folded forms that heighten a house’s geometry and its sense of materiality. Hence, even a simple
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Opposite, left to right: David Osler, Architect, 1) Henri Residence exterior, Jackson, MI, 1982; 2) Airey Residence, Ann Arbor, MI, 1961, Greg Hursley, Photographer; 3) Henri Residence interior, Jackson, MI, 1982; Courtesy of the U-M Bentley Historical Library
Above: David Osler, Architect, Mundus Residence, Ann Arbor, MI, 1978, Greg Hursley, Photographer, Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library
rectangle designed by Osler becomes a beautiful composition—and a timeless example of modern domestic architecture in the Midwest.
Three Michigan Architects: Part 1–Osler is the first in a series of three consecutive exhibitions, with subsequent presentations of domestic work by Robert Metcalf (April 5–July 13) and George Brigham (July 19–October 13). The series will culminate in Fall 2014 with a symposium, as well as the publication of Three Michigan Architects: Osler, Metcalf, and Brigham—both of which will explore the importance of this circle of Ann Arbor-based architects, situating their regional body of domestic work into the larger context of modern architecture in the U.S. that developed on the East Coast and West Coast from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Co-curators Joseph Rosa UMMA Director Nancy Bartlett U-M Bentley Historical Library Head of the University Archives Program
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This exhibition is part of the U-M Collections Collaborations series, which showcases the renowned and diverse collections of the University of Michigan. This series inaugurates UMMA’s collaboration with the Bentley Historical Library, and is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Lead support for Three Michigan Architects is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research.
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exhibitions
irving stenn jr. family gallery | november 30, 2013 – april 13, 2014
Fragments from the Past Islamic Art from the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
In the millennium after the prophet Mohammed’s death in 632, Islam spread as far west as Spain and through much of Africa. Throughout this period artisans working in the shifting power bases of the Islamic world adopted and adapted the traditions of their predecessors and neighbors, becoming particularly accomplished in metalwork, glass, textiles, decorative woodwork, and high luster ceramics. Fragments from the Past: Islamic Art from the Collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology features skillfully made and beautifully decorated vessels, architectural fragments, and other everyday objects from the seventh through seventeenth centuries. Though manufactured in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, all ultimately found their way to Egypt, an important center of culture and politics in the Islamic world, where they were purchased in the twentieth century and eventually donated to the Kelsey Museum. Even when only fragments of the original objects survive, they are eloquent witnesses to an era of widespread trade and intellectual cross-fertilization in which artists from all over the Islamic world brought together the styles and techniques of many cultures to form a strong and enduring aesthetic of their own. Most of the pieces displayed here were acquired in the 1930s by Alexander Peter Ruthven, the son of Alexander Grant
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umma.umich.edu
exhibitions From opposite, far left: Pen box, Egypt, 14th century, brass, gold, and silver, purchased from R. Sobernheim Horse figurine, Egypt, 5th–7th century, clay, gift of Dr. A.G. Ruthven Footed bowl, Egypt, 7th–15th century, clay, gift of Winifred Comlossy Flask, Egypt, 10th–12th century, glass, gift of Dr. A.G. Ruthven Bowl, Syria, 1345, clay with blue and black underglaze painting, purchased from N. Tano, Cairo, 1933–35 Photography by Steve Kuzma
Ruthven, the seventh President of the University of Michigan (1929–51), and donated to the Kelsey by the Ruthven family. This selection of objects offers a preview of the much larger exhibition, Pearls of Wisdom: The Arts of Islam at the University of Michigan, opening in the fall of 2014 in the William E. Upjohn Exhibit Wing of the Kelsey Museum. That exhibition will show a wider range of the Kelsey’s collection, including fragile masterpieces of textile and wood work that can only be displayed in light controlled conditions, as well as other objects showing a broad range of the brilliant and diverse cultural traditions of Islam.
This exhibition is part of the U-M Collections Collaborations series, co-organized by and presented at UMMA and designed to showcase the renowned and diverse collections at the University of Michigan. The U-M Collections Collaborations series is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Sharon Herbert Guest Curator Curator of Greek and Hellenistic Collections, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, and John G. Pedley Collegiate Professor of Classical Archaeology Dawn Johnson Guest Curator Associate Director, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
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exhibitions
photography gallery | december 7, 2013 – march 16, 2014
Flip Your Field Photography from the Collection When Larry Cressman, visual artist and Professor of Art in the Residential College and Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, first began to explore UMMA’s photography collection as guest curator for the second installment of the Flip Your Field series, he was immediately struck by the large number of photos of trees. Objects of fascination for photographers throughout the history of the medium, trees are a predominate subject in UMMA’s photography collection simply by virtue of its breadth, not as a result of any plan to collect such images. Trees are also an abiding interest for Cressman as an artist. Though he works primarily in the media of drawing and printmaking, his work has moved increasingly away from the two-dimensional, as he explores drawing as a three-dimensional medium. Many of his recent works—three of which are held in UMMA’s collection—are characterized by drawing in space, not with pencil or ink, but with raspberry cane, dogbane sticks, and daylily stalks. Cressman saw in the Museum’s numerous photos of trees an artistic aesthetic similar to that which he uses—organic, linear elements drawn from the landscape. He selected twenty-nine of these images and chose to have them displayed in a tight, salon-style hang, rather than the conventional display of works in a row. This enabled Cressman to arrange the lines of the trees like one of his works of art, piecing them together to constitute a visual whole, while also drawing attention to the history of documentary photography and the varied examples of it concentrated on trees found in UMMA’s collection.
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The consistent interest in documenting trees throughout the history of photography prompted Cressman to think about other types of creative work that photographers do. This led him to the contrasting display that comprises the other half of the exhibition—a single row of photographs that feature manipulation of the photographic medium in order to express the artists’ unique vision. In contrast to the salon-style hang of the photos on the adjacent wall, the single-row arrangement encourages viewers to engage with the intriguing imagery of each artists’ experimentations and to consider the techniques that made them possible. Together, the two unique aspects of the separate installations draw attention to the range of UMMA’s collection, to constancy and change in the history of photography, to the breadth of possible techniques explored by photographers, and to the role that display strategy plays in shaping perception of the exhibited works. Photographers featured in this installation include Ansel Adams, Jean Eugène Atget, Paul Caponigro, Eugene Cuvilier, Deborah Turbeville, Judy Dater, Ernestine Rubin, and Barbara Morgan, among others. The UMMA Flip Your Field series asks noted University of Michigan faculty members to consider artwork outside their field of specialization in order to guest curate an exhibition using works from UMMA’s renowned collection. The UMMA Flip Your Field series is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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exhibitions
Top: Ansel Adams, Aspens Northern New Mexico, 1958, gelatin silver print, UMMA, Gift of Harry H. Lunn, Jr., 1982/2.75 Bottom left: Barbara Morgan, Hearst over the People, 1939, gelatin silver print, UMMA, Gift of Frances U. and Scott K. Simonds, 1992/1.131 Bottom right: Sonia Sheridan, Self-Portrait in Time, 1989, digital print, UMMA, Gift of Professor Diane M. Kirkpatrick, 2000/2.15]
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campaign
UMMA Endowment Campaign Advancing A University Art Museum for the World At the University of Michigan Museum of Art, visitors discover, explore, reflect, grow, and reach beyond their own spheres into the transcendent realities of art. For each visitor, we make visual experience richer and deeper. We encourage inquiry. We connect the visual arts with other forms of creativity from the literary to the scientific. We help students build the skills they need in a fast-changing global society—how to look closely, think creatively, and embrace diversity. In March 2009, with the help of donors like you, UMMA completed a breathtaking renovation and expansion—the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing. The result was a giant leap forward. We now draw twice the number of
visitors that we did before the renovation—more than 200,000 a year, including 30,000 for tours, classes, workshops, concerts, plays, lectures, and symposia. And they still come for free, every one of them. We believe UMMA is now poised to become what we once only dreamed it might be—the catalyst of cultural understanding at the University; the cultural town square of our region; indeed, a university art museum for the world. In short, we want to realize the full potential of our new strength. And that will depend on one key asset—increased endowment support.
Investing in Our Future As we plan UMMA’s part in the University’s Victors for Michigan campaign, we think of the Museum’s impact so far—of people whose careers and lives have been enriched by their years in Ann Arbor, and who are now enriching the lives of others. This expanding web of culture and creativity is precisely what a great museum like ours is supposed to be all about. But it’s our particular charge to think about the future, about the young people who
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will come here in the years ahead—students who, with our help and yours, can learn and grow in the world’s leading university art museum, if that’s what we make it. We want UMMA to forever be a place where heritage meets innovation, where creativity is leveraged and young minds are enriched, where diverse voices are engaged, and where the community comes together in celebration of art, culture, and excellence.
We want UMMA to be the model for all university art museums. We can make that happen, but only if we secure the one thing we’re missing: a steady stream of endowment income to fund our significant activities.
teaching museum in a world sorely in need of the arts. More information about UMMA’s campaign is available on the Museum’s website, or by calling Carrie Throm, Deputy Director, Development and External Relations, at 734-763-6467.
Please join us as we reach for this goal. Imagine what UMMA can be with the help of those who understand the essential role of a great
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To develop global leaders in the arts UMMA seeks to commission and showcase new works by the world’s most promising young artists. This will not only nurture their remarkable gifts, but also put U-M students in contact with the leading artistic voices of their own generation. What better way to give Michigan students a further edge, beyond their outstanding academic and co-curricular experiences, than to offer accessible, exciting opportunities to deepen their understanding of cultural diversity and creativity? British artist Haroon Mirza
To make UMMA Michigan’s cultural heart UMMA seeks to broaden its role as the cultural heart of the campus—a place for creative partnerships that connect the visual arts, performing arts, the spoken word, and art-making experiences. Endowment support will help us enliven the progressive sensibilities of Michigan students through interactions with an eclectic community of creators and thinkers. South African musician Vusi Mahlasela
To endow leadership positions and inspire creative scholarship We seek endowment support, including seed funding for research and project implementation, for the positions of Museum Director, Deputy Director for Education, and Curators of Western, Asian, and Contemporary Art. Additionally, endowments dedicated to our specific collections areas will strengthen scholarship and allow UMMA to continue to attract and retain visionary leaders of the highest caliber far into the future. Natsu Oyobe, Associate Curator of Asian Art
To reach new audiences beyond our walls UMMA seeks to recast the role of art in the community far beyond the Museum’s walls. New, vibrant programming shared via emerging technologies and media can connect greatly expanded audiences to our collections and programs. Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries exhibition
To build stronger bonds with the academic enterprise We seek to broaden our partnerships with preeminent scholars at U-M and around the country in history, philosophy, literature, anthropology, and more. Endowment support will help us foster exciting creative collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons
To enhance the training of tomorrow’s museum professionals and scholars UMMA seeks to enhance its role as a leader in object-based teaching and learning. Endowment support will help us to engage more undergraduate and graduate students in experiential learning; to provide more internships and fellowships; and thus to build a stronger future for museums everywhere. Pamela Reister, Curator of Museum Teaching & Learning
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in focus Michele Oka Doner, Drawing for Ancient Arb, 2009, Pencil and ink on paper, UMMA, Gift of Michele Oka Doner in honor of Penny Stamps, 2012/2.1
Michele Oka Doner New Acquisition
This large work on paper by Michele Oka Doner is a preparatory drawing for a public artwork commissioned by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in 2009. After the completion of the new hospital building, the drawing was donated by the artist to UMMA in honor of Penny W. Stamps, whose generous support has helped to raise the international status of the University’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, the alma mater of both Stamps and Oka Doner. The gift is a wonderful gesture of the artist—who relishes her years at the School of Art & Design—to honor its most avid donor. Ancient Arb consists of two large, separate works, including a twelve-panel glass screen with an etched, sand-blasted surface, and a terrazzo floor installation with bronze fossil motifs, both of which are displayed in two separate locations at the hospital. As seen in the pencil part of this drawing, the screen has plant motifs floating in the semi-transparent vastness. They are fossils from Michigan’s Devonian period, found in the shale layer that formed about 400 million years ago. The two gold coral-like creatures, also prehistoric fossils, are drawings of some of the bronze elements embedded in the terrazzo floor
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installation. The richness of these ancient oceanic plant and animal lives resonate with the sea of green arbors viewed from the hospital windows. The work pays homage to the city of Ann Arbor, where the name was adopted from its abundant foliage. Nature has always been a great source of inspiration for Oka Doner, which she attributes to growing up in Miami Beach, Florida. She once said in an interview, “It was extraordinary, as a child, to see objects, stones, shells, and minerals; it was the beginning of a lifetime romance, certainly a relationship.” For her commissioned, large-scale public artworks, she often uses motifs and shapes drawn from the natural and cultural histories of the location. In these works, she attempts to revive the ancient memories of the native land, restoring and reminding us of our relationship to nature. Natsu Oyobe Associate Curator of Asian Art This recent acquisition will be on view in the first-floor connector between the Museum’s historic wing and the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing from January 12 through April 7, 2014.
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programs
Summer at UMMA A Lab for New Dimensions in K-12 Teaching
Math and English as a Second Language (ESL) may not be the expected topics of exploration at UMMA, however, during the summer of 2013, UMMA’s Education staff welcomed students who were studying just those subjects. The ESL visits were part of a three-week intensive language program that provided hands-on teaching by nine pre-service teacher interns, all supervised by U-M Professors Cathy Reischl and Debi Khasnabis. In conjunction with the U-M School of Education’s Mitchell Scarlett Teaching and Learning Collaborative, seventy-five students, grades 4-8, from Mitchell and Scarlett schools in Ann Arbor, visited UMMA three times over the course of the summer, discovering and writing about art objects that they selected personally as a vehicle for mastery of the English language. At the conclusion of the program, a festive celebration was hosted at UMMA for all participating students and their families. Parents discovered new dimensions to their children as the students presented their work and talked about artworks in UMMA’s galleries—all while speaking in English. Professor Katrin Robertson, whose ELMAC U-M students participated in the project as student teachers, remarked, “It was such a pleasure to see the students’ work in many forms on view at UMMA. The Museum was alive with great energy and joy and there was a palpable happiness in the air.”
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In addition to working with students from the ESL program, UMMA also hosted thirty 5th graders who took part in the Summer Mathematics and Arts Enrichment Program, Elementary Mathematics Laboratory. They took a break from studying fractions to visit UMMA for gallery activities and a spectacular hands-on art project. Making memory boxes under the guidance of artist and docent Sophie Grillet allowed the students to reflect on their interests in order to identify and translate them into a three-dimensional work of art. Lisa Pasek, Teacher in Residence in this program, said that this activity “enriched
the students’ experience with passion and creativity.” At the heart of the laboratory is a class taught by School of Education Dean and mathematics educator Dr. Deborah Ball who, in addition to working on math skills with students, provides model teaching as part of an internationally recognized professional development program. UMMA is proud to be a partner in these U-M K-12 teaching initiatives.
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programs
Encounters with Islamic Art Syrian Room at Shangri La, Honolulu. © Tim Street-Porter 2011. Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
Admired as a free-thinker and known for her prodigious philanthropy supporting causes as diverse as the environment, medical research, the prevention of child abuse, and the arts, Doris Duke amassed one of the nation’s largest private collections of Islamic art over her lifetime. Duke’s fascination with the Islamic world was realized in her estate Shangri La, which has been described as reflecting Duke’s “inventive synthesis.”
SMTD@UMMA: The Andalusian Guitar
Taking our cues from Duke’s abundant and wide ranging interests, UMMA has developed a series of educational programs to offer Encounters with Islamic Art—a diverse set of departure points that includes a scholarly symposium, an artist residency, talks and performances, as well as teaching and learning opportunities for K-12 and university instructors. Generous funding by The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and the collaboration and support of U-M campus partners have made it possible for UMMA to offer these programs, a selection of which is listed below. For a complete list of programs, including classes, tours, and a K-12 teacher workshop, please visit our website at www.umma.umich.edu.
saturday, february 1
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friday, january 31 Celebrated guitarist Matthew Ardizzone will perform a concert of Andalusian compositions that explore the cultural legacy of the Islamic presence in Spain. This program is presented in partnership with U-M's School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Symposium: Encounters with Islamic Art: Reception, Revival, and Response Six leading international scholars will explore the ways in which collectors, scholars, artists, and architects have encountered Islamic artistic traditions during the modern period. Three panels—Museum Encounters, Architectural Encounters, and GrecoBalkan Encounters—investigate how “Islamic” art was defined and received in European and American contexts, as well as revived for nation-building purposes in Islamic lands today. This symposium is organized by U-M’s Christiane Gruber, who has conducted research in America, Europe, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran. Her interests span the pre-modern to the contemporary, including Islamic painting, Islamic book arts, and post-revolutionary visual and material culture.
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programs
Shahzia Sikander, photo by David Adams
Donia Jarrar
UMMA Dialogue with Director Joseph Rosa: Donald Albrecht and Thomas Mellins, Curators of Doris Duke’s Shangri La
influence. Commissioned by UMMA in partnership with SMTD, this new chamber work draws from personal narratives related to notions of paradise and home.
sunday, march 16
Public lecture and residency by Shahzia Sikander
Join us for a conversation exploring the exhibition’s major themes: Doris Duke’s vision as a collector, her legacy in the display and understanding of Islamic art—particularly for contemporary practitioners through the establishment of the artist-in-residence program at Shangri La—and the unique architecture and design of the Shangri La estate.
UMS Presents: Asif Ali Khan friday, march 21 UMS brings to Ann Arbor this renowned Qawwli master singer in conjunction with the Doris Duke exhibition. A superstar in his native Pakistan and a powerful figure on the international stage, Asif Ali Khan is considered the “reigning prince” of devotional Sufi music.
SMTD@UMMA: World Premiere of an original commissioned work by Donia Jarrar wednesday, april 2
thursday, april 3, michigan theater Shahzia Sikander is one of eight contemporary artists whose work is included in the exhibition, thanks to an artist-inresidence program at Shangri La. Sikander’s giant, vivid projections respond to the complexity of a place created by an American woman and filled with items from many Muslim countries. Ms. Sikander will deliver a free public talk at the Michigan Theater as part of the Penny W. Stamps Speaker Series. Doris Duke’s Shangri La was organized by The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, which is also providing generous support for its presentation at UMMA and national tour. Additional lead support for UMMA’s installation is provided by the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Michigan Office of the President. Other generous support is provided by the Monroe-Brown Foundation Discretionary Fund for Outreach to the State of Michigan, the Katherine Tuck Enrichment Fund, and the University of Michigan Center for South Asian Studies, CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, Department of the History of Art, Institute for Research on Women & Gender, Institute for the Humanities, Islamic Studies Program, and the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
Donia Jarrar is a Palestinian-American composer, pianist, and songwriter whose work spans the genres of classical, electronic, experimental and pop music with undertones of Arabic
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umma happenings
The Fall 2013 UMMA After Hours, sponsored by Fidelity Investments, drew more than 1,200 visitors from the Ann Arbor and University of Michigan community.
U-M Composition Professor Erik Santos offered a glimpse into his creative process with a concert of live performance and film, in which he performed his arrangement of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album in its entirety.
Artscapade, an annual event held at UMMA in partnership with Arts at Michigan, welcomed over 3,000 freshmen for an evening of music, dance, and fun hands-on, art-related activities. For many, it was their first introduction to the Museum and other arts organizations at U-M.
On September 27, preceding UMMA's Director's Circle dinner, Sanford Hirsh, curator of Adolph Gottlieb: Sculptor and Director of the Gottlieb Foundation (pictured above with UMMA Director Joseph Rosa), gave a public lecture exploring the contributions of Adolph Gottlieb in shaping twentieth century art. In attendance were Richard and Rosann Noel (right) and Frances McSparran (below).
development
ANNUAL GIFTS The University of Michigan Museum of Art is most grateful to the following individuals, corporations, and institutions for their generous support of acquisitions, exhibitions, and programs, and for gifts to the collection from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.
$5,000,000 + Maxine and Stuart Frankel
$1,000,000 – $4,999,999 Thomas H. and Polly Walker Bredt ^ Stephen and Faith Brown ^
$200,000 – $999,999 Linda Bennett ^ The Estate of Susan L. Johe
$100,000 – $199,999 Richard and Rosann Noel University of Michigan Office of the Provost
$25,000 – $99,999 Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs National Endowment for the Arts Terra Foundation for American Art University of Michigan Health System University of Michigan Office of the President
$10,000 – $24,999 Susan and Robert Brown and the Monroe-Brown Foundation Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art Fidelity Investments Dr. and Mrs. Richard F. Gutow Laura Lynch* and Hugh McPherson University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies University of Michigan Credit Union University of Michigan Nam Center for Korean Studies University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
$5,000 – $9,999 Barbara and Peter Benedek Linda Bennett and Robert Bagramian 22
Blakemore Foundation Ehrenkranz Family Foundation Charles H. Gershenson Trust Ruth and Alfred Glancy Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts J. Ira and Nicki Harris Mr. Jeffrey M. Kaplan Macy’s Briarwood Lauren and Richard Prager Prue and Ami Rosenthal Mr. and Mrs. A. Alfred Taubman University of Michigan College of Engineering University of Michigan Confucius Institute University of Michigan Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs University of Michigan A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Helen and Sam Zell
$2,500 – $4,999 Michael and Suzan Alexander Lisa Applebaum and George Haddad Essel and Menakka Bailey Jan and David Brandon Ms. Edith S. Briskin Christie’s Cooney and Conway Judith and Stephen Dobson Domino’s Pizza Jim and Pat Donahey Catherine and Nathan Forbes Dr. and Mrs. Paul R. Lichter Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein and Ms. Julie Stark Myrna and Newell Miller Kara and Steve Ross David “Buzz” Ruttenberg Amy Rose Silverman Irving Stenn, Jr. and Judith Racht University of Michigan African Studies Center University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund University of Michigan Office of University Development Whole Foods Market
$1,000 – $2,499 Tena and Christopher Achen Mrs. Katherine A. Aldrich Catherine and James Allen Mrs. Carol L. Amster Emily Weirich Bandera, M.D. Georgia and Donald Boerma Margaret and Howard Bond Brindell Roberts Gottlieb Trust Regent Julia Donovan Darlow and Judge John Corbett O’Meara Peter and Jane DeChants Mrs. Marilyn M. Dickson Mary Hunter Dobson Amy and James Dubin Dr. and Mrs. S. M. Farhat Barbara and Oscar Feldman Alice Fishman and Michael DiPietro Ilene H. Forsyth and Karl Hauser Charles and Rita Gelman Steven and Sheila Hamp Jim and Lisa Harris Mrs. Doreen N. Hermelin Peter and Rita Heydon Integrated Design Solutions, LLC Dr. and Mrs. Joachim Janecke Stephen D. and Mercy Kasle Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor Liz and Eric Lefkofsky John and Cheryl MacKrell Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. May Cruse W. and Virginia Patton Moss Dr. Robert and Eva Moyad Naomi and Stuart Paley John and Helen Park Drs. Bertram and Elaine Pitt Prof. and Mrs. Stephen M. Pollock Pot & Box Floral Design, Lisa Waud Jack and Noreen Rounick Keith Rudman Gary and Jacqueline Sasaki Frances U. and Scott K. Simonds Knut and Ann Simonsen Larry and Maxine Snider Gerri and Andrew Sommers Susu Sosnick Dr. and Mrs. James C. Stanley Jeffrey and Susan Kahn Stern John Stiefel
Mary Paul Stubbs and Bruce Stubbs TCF Foundation Trish Turner-McConnell and Tom McConnell University of Michigan Department of Afroamerican & African Studies University of Michigan Department of History of Art University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities John and Maureen Voorhees Karl and Karen Weick Elise Weisbach Mary Lou Welz Jann Wesolek and Joel Greenson Marina and Bob Whitman
Gifts Under $1,000 1,015 Gifts Totaling $134,299
Donors to the Collection Dr. Seymour and Barbara K. Adelson Mr. and Mrs. James Agah American Academy of Arts and Letters Mr. and Mrs. William B. Becker Margaret and Howard Bond Professor Marvin J. Eisenberg Mr. Lyle Gomes J. Ira and Nicki Harris Peter and Rita Heydon Ms. Julia W. Jickling Dr. Stuart B. Katz George C. Kenney Michele Oka Doner Ben Patterson Florencia Pita Larry and Maxine Snider Walter and Nesta Spink Irving Stenn, Jr. ^ Thomas Wilson and Jill Garling
* Deceased ^ Planned Gift
umma.umich.edu
UMMA umma Store store
GET INSPIRED BY WINTER AT THE UMMA STORE Whether you’re looking for a good book to cozy up to, the perfect scarf to accent your winter wardrobe, or a design-inspired mug to keep your beverages warm, we have just the right thing for you this season at the University of Michigan Museum of Art Store. A great gift idea for artists, designers, or color addicts alike, these Pantone Universe logo mugs by Whitbread Wilkinson are made with fine bone china. They’re available in a variety of hues, so stop in and choose yours today! UMMA members enjoy a year-round discount in-store and online at store.umma. umich.edu.
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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
university of michigan museum of art 525 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1354 734.763.UMMA umma.umich.edu
connect online facebook.com/ummamuseum twitter.com/ummamuseum youtube.com/ummamuseum
become a member umma.umich.edu or umma-giving@umich.edu
gallery hours (September – April) Tuesday through Saturday 11 am–5 pm Sunday 12–5 pm 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 8 am–8 pm.
University of Michigan Board of Regents: Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor; Julia Donovan Darlow, 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; Mary Sue Coleman, ex officio Contributors: Lisa Borgsdorf, Cynthia Carson, David Choberka, Sydney Hawkins, Courtney Lacy, Natsu Oyobe, Stephanie Rieke-Miller, Pamela Reister, Ruth Slavin, Leisa Thompson, Benjamin Weatherston Editor: Sydney Hawkins Designer: Kevin Woodland
Admission to the Museum is always free. $5 suggested donation appreciated.
Exhibitions On View
For up-to-date details on UMMA exhibitions and programs, visit umma.umich.edu or follow UMMA on Facebook or Twitter!
through march 16, 2014
Flip Your Field: Photographs from the Collection through march 30
Three Michigan Architects: Part 1—David Osler through april 13, 2014
Fragments from the Past: Islamic Art from the Collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology january 11–april 27, 2014
Affecting the Audience: Anthony Discenza, Aurélien Froment, and Dora García january 25–may 4, 2014
Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art march 22–june 29, 2014
An Eye on The Empire: Photographs of Colonial India and Egypt april 5–july 13, 2014
Three Michigan Architects: Part 2—Robert Metcalf