Exhibitions

“Art and Science Can Open the Door”

By heathercarroll November 16, 2017
Exhibitions, Processing, Uncategorized, University Gallery

I find the two best parts of working in the archives are making discoveries while I’m processing materials, and helping people answer questions and make their own discoveries. In the library and archive world, the latter is called Reference Service. Recently, I was able to provide reference services using WAM’s archival collection, UMN’s digital conservancy and the Digital Content Library to help a researcher uncover information about a specific set of artworks by UMN faculty member, Walter Quirt (pronounced KURT), made while he was in the Yucatan region of Mexico.

Quirt was a mostly self taught painter, “a pioneer of American abstract art” and “a man of strong and forthright opinions, a man of ideas” according to H.H. Arneson, Chairman of the Art Department, from a clipping dated November 17, 1958 found in the University Gallery’s press books.

Walter Quirt really was a “man of ideas” who, along with UMN studio art student Jack French, took art to science’s door. They traveled to the Yucatan region of Mexico in the Winter of 1967 to test a social science hypothesis regarding cultural visual preferences. To test the theory, the artists would take photographs of the local landscapes and urban terrains, then translate the linear elements and movement of the photographs into drawings which would then be shown to local residents to gauge their non-verbal reactions.

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During what little leisure time they had during this months-long trip, Walter Quirt made observational drawings of life in the Yucatan. Shortly after their return from the Yucatan, Quirt exhibited seventeen of his Yucatan drawings at the U Gallery. For the exhibition statement, he wrote:

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Most of the drawings in this exhibition are casual impressions of an amateur bull fight I witnessed in Ticul, Yucatan. Those not of this subject bear a relation to the visual test material Mr. Jack French and I worked on during our stay in Ticul, which we carried out on behalf of Dr. Strodtbeck of the University of Chicago and the sponsorship of The International Programs and Graduate School of the University of Minnesota.

One of the Yucatan drawings: Amateur Bull Fight, Ticul, Yucatan by Walter Quirt, 1967. Image Courtesy of Weisman Art Muesum, accessed through UMN’s Digital Content Library.

A year later, French exhibited his MFA thesis, also at the University Gallery.

St Paul Dispatch blurb from May 25, 1967

Jack French MFA Thesis Poster, 1968.

Although I wasn’t able to locate images of either exhibition on display, French wrote an interesting paper of his field observations and findings of the Yucatan project that closed with these thoughts:

Science has proven that energy is the essential force needed for life and motion. If the energy is misused it follows that life and motion will be in jeopardy. Art is also a form of energy and the theoritician [sic] can show that a’ specific art form has been created by the acceptance of a certain kind of energy. We know that science can measure physical energy forces. We have not been able to measure psychological energy forces, because we have never isolated a specific instrument by which to arrive at this
measurement. A test based on linear preferences may well be the necessary instrument needed for this energy measurement.

Psychologists working in the field of perception, now argue that visual stimuli do, in fact, affect mans’ social and psychological
motivations. Logically -then, the visual arts represent a socio-psychological force which can affect the attitudes and temperaments of individual and social behavioral patterns. If these two antecedents are alligned [sic] with a definite procedure for measuring the individual and social preference for a particular linear energy, it seems highly probable that art and science
can open the door to a deeper understanding of the living patterns of man and society.

Its a pretty great day when through references services in the archives we get to open a door to a place where art and science meet.

—Heather Carroll is the processing archivist for the Weisman Art Museum‘s collection at the University of Minnesota Archives. This project was made possible by funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Remembering the Wellstones at WAM

By heathercarroll October 25, 2017
Exhibitions, Uncategorized, Weisman Art Museum

In honor of Wellstone Remembrance Day today, we share the exhibition postcard for Twelve Years and Thirteen Days: Remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone, photographs by Terry Gydeson. The photographic series became a book of the same title:

Senator Paul Wellstone is remembered for his infectious enthusiasm and his ardent devotion to helping all people gain a voice in American politics. In a remarkable collection of more than seventy photographs, Twelve Years and Thirteen Days commemorates the Wellstones’s commitment to social and economic justice and will be an inspiration to those throughout the country who share their values.

To see a selection of the images included in the exhibition, visit Terry Gydesen’s website . The book can be found at the University of Minnesota Press or the UMN Libraries. To learn more about this exhibition and the WAM archives contact the University Archives.

Front of the exhibition postcard for “Twelve Years and Thirteen Days: Remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone”

Reverse side of the exhibition postcard for “Twelve Years and Thirteen Days: Remembering Paul and Sheila Wellstone”

The Unusual Life of Painting No. 85

By heathercarroll October 23, 2017
Exhibitions, Uncategorized, University Art Museum, University Gallery, Weisman Art Museum

University Gallery Publicity Books

In a University Gallery Publicity Book dated 1968, amidst other article clippings about the gallery is an open letter to the University community from William C. Bernstien M.D., Clinical Professor and Director of Proctology. This item stands out from the rest–first, its a letter rather than an article, its written by a doctor rather than an art critic or art historian and the letter is not directly about the gallery but a student’s artwork. This unusual letter is an introduction to the the twisting tale of an ill-fated painting titled No. 85.

The letter begins:

“Have you heard about the “happening” at the University Hospital and do you know what has caused the “stir” in the lobby of Mayo? Here’s what it is all about! Quite by accident a large color painting by Ron Brodigan was selected for exhibit in the hospital lobby and the reaction to its presence there has been an exciting one.”

Polaroid pictures circa 1968 of Brodigan’s painting titled No. 85 upon installation in the University hospital lobby. Courtesy Weisman Art Museum registrar’s accession files.

Intriguing beginning, right? Digging a little deeper into the publicity book, another article surfaces revealing a related and opportune moment in time: a University alum needs to find a new home for his enormous paintings offering them to the gallery; the University Gallery, already with too little storage space, would normally have to decline the student’s donation but a perfectly timed request from the U hospital for artwork saves the day. This painting appears to begin an initiative to display works from the art collection in public spaces around the campus–a practice which continues today. The stars seemed to align for Ron Brodigan’s painting back in 1968… but things aren’t always what they appear.

Article from an unknown publication, written by former gallery director Charles Savage III, found in the gallery Publicity Book 1968.

Back to the open letter from Dr. Bernstein: it goes on to describe public reactions to the Brodigan’s painting No. 85 in the lobby:

“”Ye gads! What is this supposed to be?” to “This is just what this lobby needs!”. One professor in the medical sciences asked if the painting was supposed to be some new type of bulletin board. At least, the painting is being looked at, questioned and, at times, admired. The painting is Rob Brodigan’s expression of color – for color’s sake. What, one is often asked, inspires an artist to create such a painting?”

Dr. Bernstein goes on in the letter to articulately trace the possible inspiration for No. 85 from Jackson Pollock to the Washington School Color Painters to Ron Brodigan via the Walker Art Center, concluding:

“Artist Ron Brodigan has created a very meaningful color painting of stripes in mild, gentle colors. Brodigan is a mild and gentle man… but the stir has created in the lobby of Mayo compares favorably with the action resulting from the works of his peers.
You should visit the Mayo lobby but don’t look for an image or a story in the painting. Just stand back and enjoy the action and interaction of color. If the first viewing doesn’t turn you on, please come back — it may happen.”

The stir it created? The “happening”? What happened?

A partial answer was found in the accession files of WAM’s registrarial department. Just a few months after Brodigan’s No.85 was installed in the hospital lobby, it was removed due to what appears to be vandalism. The condition report in the WAM accession file states: “Entire surface soiled. Finger marks, color pencil mark & ball point pen marks in several places. The above condition was noted upon return of the picture from Special Loan to Dr. John Westerman, Director, University of Minn. Admin on August 27, 1968.”

But this vandalism and return to art storage isn’t the end of No. 85’s tale.

Painting No. 85 leads a quiet existence–whether back on display or in storage–for following twenty-five years. That is until Brodigan’s No. 85 is on display in a lobby again, this time in Northrop Auditorium circa 1993, when a 30″ gash is inflicted upon the painting in unknown circumstances.

Brodigan’s No. 85 circa 1993 with 30″ gash.

Once again, the painting is removed and brought back to art storage where a new discussion ensues. The painting is large and expensive to store, the repair of the gash would cost substantially more than the painting’s estimated value. However, according to a printed email from the registrar in the accession files, the University Museum’s collection policy at the time stated that deaccessioning could only happen if the work was “bug-infested”. “Deaccessioning” is museum-lingo for removing an item from a collection. There are strict rules of conduct and ethical considerations regarding removing works from a museum collection. These strict guidelines protect the integrity of both the collection and the museum. It is normal for museum collection policies to be routinely evaluated and updated.

This incident with the painting seems to instigate a different conversation about collection policy, crossing years to the opening of the Weisman Art Museum, and may have contributed to the regular process of updating deaccessioning policies for the University’s art collection.

In 1995, Ron Brodigan is contacted about the situation with No. 85 and the options for the artwork going forward which may have included return to the artist, request for funds to repair the work or deaccesioning. The decision was made by all involved to deaccession the work. In this case, while a very unusual outcome for deaccessioning and not without much discussion and debate, deaccessioning included destruction of No. 85.

Rest in peace, mild and gentle, No. 85.

Special thanks to WAM’s registrars-Erin, Rosa and Annette-for all their help.

Full letter from Dr. Bernstien the University Community:

“What’s all the fuss about in the lobby?” Open letter from Dr. Bernstein, page 1.

“What’s all the fuss about in the lobby?” page 2.

A Curious Little Package

By heathercarroll September 15, 2017
Exhibitions, Processing, Uncategorized, Weisman Art Museum

What could be in this curious little package, rubber band stuck, found jammed into to the front pocket of a 25 year-old blue binder?

Mystery slides!

Three slides, depicting potter’s marks of renowned local potter Warren MacKenzie, found inside an Exhibit Tech binder.

The images on these slides look like mysterious runes or a secret language and in a way, that’s exactly what they are. These images depict potter’s marks, which are a kind of icon or signature used by studio potters to identify their works. In a museum setting, we rarely get to see these marks because they are usually located inconspicuously on the bottom of works.

These slides were made for a 1991 retrospective exhibition of the work of renowned local studio potter Warren MacKenzie. It wasn’t clear from surrounding files how these slides were used in the exhibition, but perhaps they were projected during a curator’s lecture or an artist’s talk to help exemplify different time periods or themes in the artist’s career. Perhaps they were projected on the walls of the gallery near works containing the marks. Maybe the images were turned into graphics for the exhibit walls or a publication.

To see examples of MacKenzie’s work – but no peeking underneath, please – visit the WAM current exhibition: Ceramics from the Weisman Art Museum Collection | A Personal View

To learn more about potter’s marks and the potters that use them, explore The Marks Project.

Bye-bye curious little package. Hello archival sleeve!

To be 10 Years Old!

By heathercarroll September 13, 2017
Exhibitions, Uncategorized, Weisman Art Museum

Like cloud gazing, the Weisman Art Museum’s facade reflects the world around us and captivates adults and children alike.

Among other festive activities and exhibitions celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the building in 2003, young visitors were invited to collaboratively color this poster-size image of the Weisman.

I might see a reflection of Andersen Library in shadow, an orange sun setting behind it.

What catches your eye?

Understanding Sculpture Today

By wilso952 December 17, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery, Weisman Art Museum

From the beginning, the exhibition philosophy of the University Gallery was guided by a simple purpose – to expose University of Minnesota students to new forms of art in order to further understanding and cultivate appreciation. The exhibit Understanding Sculpture Today, held from November – December 1946, is one example of an application of this philosophy.

The University Gallery press books contain various articles, printed by local newspapers, which promoted and reviewed the exhibit. According to these sources, the exhibit was assembled by William Saltzman (acting director), and included 40 works of sculpture loaned by galleries and individual artists throughout the country. According to Saltzman, who was quoted in a November 1, 1946 MN Daily article, “The purpose of the exhibit, as the title implies, is to present various media and methods of interpretation as found in contemporary sculpture.”

The exhibit included “Two Bodies,” by Alexander Archipenko, “Overture,” by Calvin Albert, “Hanging Mobile,” by Alexander Calder, and “Biography in Bronze,” by Carl Milles. Various local artists were also represented in the exhibit, to include University of Minnesota art professor S. Chatwood Burton, and Evelyn Raymond of the Walker Art Center.

University student Stan Hietala reviewed the exhibit in a November 22, 1946 MN Daily article titled, “From Marble to Plexiglas: Sculpture Shows Versatility.” Hietala reported, “The show is an excellent example of the ability of William Salt[z]man, gallery assistant director, and his staff. It answers a need in a field somewhat unknown to the [non-art] student, helping him to understand today’s sculpture.”

The Minneapolis Daily Times printed a photograph of two University students observing a sculpture titled, “Five That Escaped” (above). The sculpture was popularly mentioned in many of the articles about the exhibit. Hietala’s review also mentioned the work:

“Quite often an artist is found who expresses his emotions primarily, ignoring conventional style or contemporary trends. In Randolph W. Johnson’s bronze… the sculptor almost achieves pure emotionalism, void of dogmatic style.

The five figures are stumbling along, fatigued, yet in haste. Their whole demeanor reflects horror and fright.”

WAM continues to promote the understanding of sculpture in the museum galleries, as well as throughout campus. Archipenko’s, “Two Bodies” is currently on display in the Woodhouse Gallery, and is one of many examples of sculpture that can be found within the museum. For the current Target Studio for Creative Collaboration exhibit, contextual flux, artist Jason Hackenwerth worked with University students (to include several studying “non-art” disciplines) to produce new sculptural forms. Throughout the University, over 30 different forms of sculpture can be found in courtyards, building entrances, lounges, garden spaces, and other campus locations as part of the Public Works of Art program.

For current University of Minnesota students – and visitors – who have harbored a latent curiosity in regards to the shapes and forms that they encounter on campus, opportunities abound at WAM for them to start understanding sculpture today…

Season’s Greetings Cards

By wilso952 December 3, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Don’t let the above-normal temperatures of late fool you — December has officially arrived. Though some of you may have a sliver of pie somewhere in the back of your fridge, Thanksgiving is now far behind, and for many, the focus has sharply turned towards December holiday preparations. It is at this time, every year, that my mother starts to lay the prep work for the 25th: requesting lists of gift ideas, reporting the status of holiday home decorating, and asking that truly pivotal question, “What should we write in the annual Christmas card?”

This question has been on the minds of mothers (and other card preparers) since the Victorian era, as a representative display of card designs exhibited at the University Gallery in 1946 suggested. The exhibit provided a history of printed salutations and displayed an array of designs likely to inspire visitors as they made plans to spread their holiday wishes. A Century of the Greeting Card, held from November 25 to December 28, 1946, included Christmas and other holiday cards produced by English and American card manufacturers. On loan from Brownie’s Blockprints, Inc. of New York City, the cards included then current designs from the 1940s as well as a print of the first Christmas card ever produced. (at left – Betty Maurstad, curator, is shown holding examples of the holiday cards in a photograph printed in the Minneapolis Tribune.)

In the 1840s, Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) commissioned John Callcott Horsley, an artist from the Royal Academy, to design a card to send to friends at Christmas. Horsley’s design portrayed a multi-generational family toasting the holidays (the child toasted too, as she or he is shown sipping from the wine glass). The greeting included a simple message:

“A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.”

It wasn’t until the 1860s that the card business developed commercially. The greeting card economy crossed the pond in the 1870s when Louis Prang, a lithographer and publisher, referred to as “the father of the American Christmas card,” began printing cards in the United States.

Though modern day greeting cards have become quite sophisticated, to include audio cards that allow you to record your own greeting, as well as increasingly complex and impressively staged photo greetings, I think I will take inspiration from Cole’s first holiday card and respond to my mother that the simplest of greetings can often be among the best.

You can carry on the tradition of the greeting card by creating your own at WAM’s annual holiday discount event, BeDazzled, on Wednesday, December 4, 2012 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Letterpress your own card with Studio on Fire and enjoy treats, music, discounts, and more!

Symphony Art Project

By wilso952 November 26, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Are you ever inspired by music? Are you a college student for whom a study session would be incomplete without “ear buds” habitually positioned in said ears and the latest up-and-coming sounds from emerging bands playing from your rotating playlist? (What are the kids listening to these days?) Are you an artist who prepares to paint/sculpt/etc. not only by setting out your materials and tools, but by also pressing play on your chosen audio transmitting device to start a carefully curated soundtrack to which you whistle to while you work? Musical inspiration and artistic creation was in the mind of Antal Dorati, director of the Minneapolis Symphony (known today as the Minnesota Orchestra) when he approached the Young People’s Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA) in 1949 with a proposed program titled, Symphony Art Project.

An official invitation to participate in the 1955-1956 season of the Symphony Art Project by the YPSCA dated November 21, 1955, indicates that “For the benefit of those who may be participating for the first time…” a description of Dorati’s impetus for creating the program is expressed: “to encourage a deeper sympathy and understanding for music in young people.” Dorati “suggested that one way to arouse [student] interest would be through their expression in art media of the ideas and emotions gained in listening first to ‘live music,’ whenever possible, and secondly to recordings and broadcasts.” (Original symphony recordings were provided to schools that could not send students to view a symphony concert in Northrop Auditorium.)

The invitation (at left) also provides additional background about the program, and includes rules and instructions for participation, noting that, “Pupils from kindergarten through high school may participate,” and that “This is not a contest.” The Young People’s Symphony Concert Association sponsored the annual program, and schools from across the metro area participated. Each school displayed the art created by their students within their own buildings, and teachers later selected a representative example of works produced by their students to be included in a spring exhibition at the University Gallery.

Clippings found in the University Gallery press books show the students in the midst of creating their music-inspired works:

Another clipping provides an example of student work. The Minneapolis Symphony program from March 23, 1956, shows a painting inspired by Fritz Kreisler’s musical arrangement, “The Dancing Doll.” The artist, student Marlene Gossel, described her inspiration, “I thought about pretty toe dancers twirling about.”

Though the Minnesota Orchestra is currently quiet, the organization still performs Young People’s Concerts and holds other education and outreach programs and activities to spread the appreciation of symphony music to all ages.

*(All of this symphony-izing has subsequently inspired me to search for and listen to arrangements I remember playing in combined orchestra in high school… Yahoo!)

Twentieth Century Painters: The Sidney Janis Collection

By wilso952 October 6, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

From the outset of the University Gallery program for the 1935-1936 academic year (the second year of its existence), the gallery’s focus on contemporary art was evidenced by the first exhibit that opened that season. The Minneapolis Tribune reported that the exhibit – literally titled – Twentieth Century Painters, consisted of seventeen original paintings valued at $70,000 from the personal collection of Sidney Janis of New York City. Artists represented in the October exhibit included Henri Rosseau, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Arshile Gorky.

Gallery curator Ruth Lawrence created a catalogue to provide explanatory material for the exhibit. Assistant to the President Malcolm Willey sent a copy of the catalogue to President Lotus Coffman, along with an accompanying note that promoted the profile of the exhibit in the infant gallery…

Malcolm Willey to President Coffman, October 25, 1935:

“I am attaching a catalog covering the exhibition now at the University Art Gallery. The catalog was written by Mrs. Lawrence. I do hope that during the showing of the Janis collection you and Mrs. Coffman will be able to visit the gallery. It is an exceedingly remarkable group of pictures and demonstrates better than I have ever seen it demonstrated, just how unbalanced art can sometimes become. It is, however, a very significant show and you will observe from the catalog that the paintings have hitherto been seen at relatively few places, but these important ones.”

A list of the artworks displayed in the exhibit was also published in the Minneapolis Tribune (click on the newspaper clipping from the gallery press books at left to view the article).

Decades after the exhibit, art collector Sidney Janis donated many of the works from his private collection to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. From MOMA’s online collection database, we can view images of a few of the paintings that were once featured in the University Gallery’s October 1935 exhibit:

“Le Reve” (The Dream) – Henri Rosseau

“Nature Morte a la Guitare” (Glass, Guitar, and Bottle)” – Pablo Picasso

“Actor’s Mask,” “In the Grass,” – Paul Klee

Flowers to the Living

By wilso952 July 14, 2012
Exhibitions

For the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the University Gallery, the retired former director, Ruth Lawrence, was asked to compile a history of the University of Minnesota’s Gallery of Art. In 24 typewritten pages, Ruth outlined the origin — and resulting ebbs and flows — of the gallery as she had experienced it. At the end of “Mrs. Lawrence’s 25 Yr. Report,” in a final paragraph titled, “Flowers to the Living,” Ruth expressed her gratitude to those who had contributed to the growth and development of the gallery over the years:

From the beginning, a loyalty and devotion which is touching to observe had been brought to the Gallery by almost everyone who came to work for it or who has been associated in any way with it. Perhaps its difficulties, struggles and working against great odds has engendered a feeling of fondness and of protectiveness. These people have offered to go the extra mile not required. They develop a faithfulness above personal plans and interest and energetically pour themselves fully into the work to be done.

Ruth goes on to name “gallery mechanic,” Carl Hawkinson, and curator/registrar Betty Maurstad to recognize their many years of service to the gallery.

Ruth ends her report with the following statements, “Too numerous to mention were those who were friendly with helpful counseling and suggestions. One cannot begin to list the names of our benefactors. To them we say, humbly and gratefully–Thank you!“

Having now read through hundreds of letters written by Ruth, I have come to appreciate that when things need to be said, Ruth often said it best. The sentiments Ruth used to describe past museum employees can also be used to describe the museum’s current staff of registrars, curators, crew members, and others, who offered to go the extra mile to make the exhibit, The WAM Files: The Art of the Archives, possible.

To them, this humble and grateful graduate student says–Thank you!

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Exhibitions

What could be in this curious little package, rubber band stuck, found jammed into to the front pocket of a 25 year-old blue binder?

Mystery slides!

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