University Gallery

The yarn of it all…

By wilso952 May 7, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

When a University of Minnesota senior and fellow member of the WAM Collective, eager (and hopefully not beleaguered) to graduate, questioned the group recently about the purchase of his cap and gown, I was reminded of an exhibition that the University Gallery held in 1938 on the topic of Academic Dress.

The University Gallery Press books featured an article clipped from the University’s humor magazine, Ski-U-Mah titled, “For a Cap and Gown,” written by Bill Sims, that light-heartedly reported upon the regalia of academic dress in 1938:

“Those who were on hand to witness the traditional Cap and Gown Day procession as it wound its way through the campus, over the knoll and eventually up the steps to Northrop Auditorium, watched half puzzled and awed by the razzle dazzle and color, pomp, clicking cameras and showy corsages.

After the seniors came the faculty in their flowing gowns and bright hoods. Oh, what my dead grandmother wouldn’t have done for just one small piece out of each of those brilliant hoods that filed past! What a crazy quilt that would have made!”

The exhibit was arranged by Ruth Lawrence, who in addition to her role as curator of the Gallery, also served on the University’s Functions Committee where for several years she assisted in formal preparations for graduation ceremonies, and even designed uniforms for a Grand Marshall and two assistants that became part of the ceremony. “A crazy quilt” of fabric swatches that represented the colors of academic dress were found charted on a piece of paper in a folder titled, “Ruth Lawrence: University Committees Correspondence.”

Sims’ description of the costumes continued with some background:

“The people who wear these fine letters have honorary or high academic degrees. The color of the trimming on the hood signifies the wearer’s degree; the color of the lining tells what university he wrested it from.

It’s a great show, this academic style parade, and well worth an hour of anyone’s idle attention. It’s all done to a code- the International Code of Academic Costume…”

…The history of academic costume is quite a yarn, and if you ever get caught with a case of mumps or something I suggest you catch up on it, if you can’t think of anything else to do.”

In May of 1938, this “yarn” of a history was displayed at the University Gallery, where close to 100 examples of robes in the U of M academic dress as well as examples from Harvard University, University of Toronto, and the University of Leeds, England were displayed. A catalogue of the exhibition (at left) described the history, rules, and regulations of academic dress. Published by Cotrell & Leonard, Albany, N.Y., and printed and distributed for the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume, “The History of Academic Costume in America” supplemented the show.

All yarns aside, in the publication, Gardner Cotrell Leonard wrote an opinion on the reason that such standards for academic dress were established and for what the standards symbolized:

“On its history and picturesque side it serves to remind those who don it of the continuity and dignity of learning. On its democratic side, it subdues the differences in dress arising from the differences in taste, fashion, manners and wealth, and clothes all with the outward grace and equal fellowship which have ever been claimed as an inner fact in the republic of learning.”

While soon to be graduates in the areas of public health and pharmacy may challenge the taste and fashion of salmon pink and olive, they never-the-less will walk across the stage with outward grace as they receive the diplomas that acknowledge the dignity of their learning.

Congratulations 2012 University of Minnesota graduates!

Conferencing

By wilso952 May 3, 2012
University Gallery

This week, museum professionals from across the country descended upon the Twin Cities to attend the annual American Association of Museums (AAM) conference, held this year at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Over 4,000 registered participants, in addition to volunteers and other attendees, shared best practices and formed collaborations throughout the schedule of hundreds of sessions and meetings held from April 29-May 2.

This is not the first time the twin towns have hosted museum professionals for discussion and deliberation. In 1948, the Midwest Museums Conference was held from October 14-16, and various sessions and meetings were conducted at local museums and galleries.

According to the conference schedule that was found in a folder titled “Memberships” in Box 110 (at left), the events kicked off with an “Informal Get-together and Smoker” on Thursday, October 14 at the Walker Art Center, hosted by Director Dan Defenbacher, and concluded on Saturday, October 16 with the final event at 2:00 PM, an Illinois-Minnesota Football Game “for all ardent fans.”

Though the article in the MN Daily that reported upon the conference was titled, “Museum Men Meet,” there were women there too – a tour was given of the University Galleries by Director Ruth Lawrence on Saturday, October 15 with a luncheon at the U of M’s Junior Ballroom to follow.

The men of the conference included Dan Defenbacher Director of the Walker Art Center; Henry D. Brown, Director of the Detroit Historical Museum; Walter J. Breckenridge, Director of the Minnesota Museum of Natural History; Richard S. Davis, Senior Curator at the Minneapolis Art Institute; Milton D. Thompson, Director of the Minneapolis Science Museum; Russell Plimpton, Director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Nils G. Sahlin, Director of the Swedish Art Institute; Col. Clifford C. Gregg, Director of the Chicago Natural History Museum; Vice President Malcolm Willey, University of Minnesota; Dr. Louis Powell, Director of the St. Paul Science Museum; G. Huber Smith, Curator at the Minnesota Historical Society; and Malcolm Lein, Director of the St. Paul Gallery and School of Art.

Fuller Fabrics

By wilso952 April 23, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Fashion is in the air at WAM as the museum’s student group, WAM Collective, is preparing for the upcoming No White fashion show and student design competition.

University students and gallery employees were also in a flurry over fashion in February of 1957 when the University Gallery opened an exhibition entitled, “Fuller Fabrics.” An exhibition poster (at left) promoted the exhibit.

The exhibit featured a project titled, “The Fuller Fabrics Modern Master series of Print Fabrics” which displayed paintings by contemporary artists alongside nearly 60 different prints of fabric that were produced as inspirations from their works.

A feature article and photo spread in the November 14, 1955 edition of LIFE magazine titled, “New Fabrics Put Modern Art in Fashion” described Fuller Fabrics – a fabric manufacturer, and their project to reproduce the contemporary works of Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Raoul Duffy, and Joan Miro on cotton fabrics which were to be sold commercially by the yard.

A promotional photograph found within the exhibition folder in Box #6 of the University Archives archival collection, shows University Gallery curator Betty Maurstad posing next to a didactic from the exhibit. A gallery notice further described the exhibition:

*In a collections connection – the Victoria and Albert Museum have amongst their textiles, a yard (or 3 ft. x 3.75ft) of the fabric designed by Joan Miro and produced by Fuller Fabrics, titled, “Woman and Birds.”

Featuring Feininger

By wilso952 April 18, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Each month, WAM releases a new “art card” – a free, postcard sized print of an object from the museum’s collection. A description of the work is included on the back of the card. For the month of April, the art card (available at the information desk) features Lyonel Feininger’s work, Dröbsdorf I.

Featuring Feininger in the month of April is an appropriate commemoration of the 74th anniversary of the first retrospective exhibition of Feininger’s work to be held in the United States. This exhibition, comprised of 19 oils and 40 watercolors painted by Feininger between the years of 1909 to 1937, opened at the University Gallery in April of 1938.

The Minneapolis Star published a photograph of Feininger on April 12, 1938, as evidenced by a clipping found in the Gallery press books. Another article from March 26, 1938, announced the exhibit and commented upon Feininger’s work,

“His paintings are abstract and suggestive rather than realistic, combining precise structural line and dream-like moods. He is a musician of ability.”

Though American born, Feininger spent nearly 50 years of his life in Germany, where he came to reject the “Nazi dictation on aesthetics” and returned to the United States to continue to produce modern abstractions.

If you live too far away or are otherwise unable to drop in to the museum to pick up the card of the month, WAM’s online resource, Artful Writing, can provide you with additional information about the art and about the artist.

78 Years…

By wilso952 April 5, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

Another year has come and gone in institutional existence for WAM as today marks the 78th anniversary of the “Little Gallery” which opened on April 5, 1934.

How do you celebrate 78 years? Perhaps with a look back to previous commemorations…

Upon the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the museum in 1984, several special exhibitions were held to celebrate the museum’s history and acknowledge the development of the permanent collection.

Special exhibition catalogues were designed as a throw-back to reflect the aesthetic of the catalogues produced during the 1930s.

1984 Exhibition Catalogues:

1930s Exhibition Catalogues:

For a description of the opening day of the Gallery in 1934, see a previous post, that celebrated the museum’s seventy-seventh year.

The Odyssey for Homer

By wilso952 April 2, 2012
University Gallery

The Odyssey, written by Homer, described the epic journey of Odysseus and his journey home after the end of the Trojan War. While I wouldn’t describe my recent research pursuits as epic, I did recently embark upon an odyssey of my own – a quest to find Homer… Homer Mitchell.

At the very beginning of the WAM Files project, my fellow processor Areca encountered a folder full of Gallery posters created to promote exhibits during the 1950s. There are dozens of posters, all neatly contained in a series of folders titled “Posters” that are dated by Academic Year.

Through additional research, we learned that some Gallery publicity posters were designed and created by federal student workers and WPA employees. Yet, there is only one poster that actually credits a designer. If you zoom in closely on the Weaving/General College Poster from 1952, you will see, in the bottom right corner… “Homer Mitch,” the ‘tch’ slightly faded:

I instantly wondered, who was this “Homer Mitch?” Judging by the faded “tch” (and gambling on familiarity with Midwestern names) I guessed that “Mitch” was probably “Mitchell.” And then I started my adventure… with a knee-jerk search on the Digital Conservancy no less.

The search for “Homer Mitchell” offered one result – a University Press Release from May 26, 1952. Titled, “U’ Art Students win prizes in international contest,” the release named Mitchell and four others (all enrolled in an art class taught by University art professor Robert Collins) as recipients of prizes for a poster contest.

Just for curiosity, I proceeded with a general Google search for “Homer Mitchell” AND University of Minnesota. A thumbnail image of a page from the University’s annual yearbook, “The Gopher” surfaced that included an in-text reference to “Homer Mitchell.” For access to the image however, I needed to pay a fee for a subscription to access the site.

Not to be deterred, I turned this minor roadblock into a detour and returned to the resources of the University Libraries. A search of the library collection yielded several collections of The Gopher: annual publication of the student body of the University of Minnesota. Armed with a call number, and the date of the yearbook taken from the digital image, I walked directly to Wilson Library, navigated several flights of stairs to the subbasement, and turned to enter the Annex – where I requested the 1952 Gopher yearbook.

My journey came to an end as I turned page 63 and revealed page 64, which contained a photograph of University student Homer Mitchell, working “at his part-time job doing lettering and silk screen work for art displays.”

Pysanka

By wilso952 March 27, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

As University students unpacked their bonnets – with all the frills upon it -and dusted off their baskets in preparation for the Easter holiday in 1937, they were introduced to a multi-cultural celebration of Easter traditions at the University Gallery, which held a one-day exhibit of Ukranian Easter Eggs.

Clippings from the Minneapolis Tribune and the MN Daily found within the Gallery press books illuminate the exhibit, cultural traditions, and artistry involved in the decoration of eggs in the Ukraine:

The beeswax-decorated eggs are known as pysanka. If you’d like to see more pysanka, travel to the Pysanka Museum.

Curt, Quick… Quirt

By wilso952 March 20, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

After viewing the exhibit poster for “Walter Quirt: Paintings and Drawings, Jan. 6 to 26, 1959,” here is a short and brief glimpse into the 1959 records that document the exhibition of the works of University faculty member Walter Quirt:

A December 15, 1958 University News Release for the January 1959 Quirt exhibit described, “Quirt, who has taught at the University for 11 years, is one of the acknowledged pioneers in American abstract art. Minnesota was deliberately chosen by Quirt after his 17 years of work in New York City. ”This’, Quirt feels, ‘Is the ideal environment for the ‘new art’ – an art which returns to the human figure. New York is the better location for the non-objective painter, but not for the painter of people.’” (Digital Conservancy).

“Seventeen oils and 15 large wash drawings” comprised the exhibition, several of which were being viewed by visitors to the exhibition in these photographs found within the exhibition file in Box 7 of the archival collection:

A clipping, dated 1-7-1959, that is not identified by publication, was included in a series of scrapbooks documenting the gallery from 1957-1959:

Art imitates… history?

By wilso952 March 8, 2012
University Gallery, Weisman Art Museum

The following image, titled, “Still Life” was found on a University Gallery Press book page along with newspaper clippings related to the opening of the Fine Arts Room at the University Gallery in February of 1936:

The Fine Arts Room, established by Ruth Lawrence and Malcolm Willey, was created with the intent of stimulating interest in fine arts amongst the University student population. As Willey indicated in a January 29, 1936 article in the MN Daily, “This new art room, distinctly American and modern in its conception, is being specially decorated in simple but excellent taste. Here will be placed a few well selected books and magazines in fine art, but nothing for formal study, which will be prohibited.“

Art imitates history… as on the last few days of February 2012, WAM staff set up some furnishings in one of their new galleries – the Woodhouse Family Gallery. Incidentally, this gallery is “distinctly American and modern in its conception,” as it prominently features the museum’s collection of the works of artists Alfred Maurer and Marsden Hartley. Next to the furnishings, staff also “placed a few well selected books in fine art,” for visitors to read at their leisure.

While formal study in the Woodhouse Gallery is not prohibited per say – the intent of the new furnishings is to create a simple – but excellent – atmosphere in which to look at… and learn about… art.

“This is art-just in case you don’t know.”

By wilso952 March 5, 2012
Exhibitions, University Gallery

In March of 1938, the Gallery exhibited, “International Show of Abstract Painting and Sculpture,” which included works from Eileen Holding of Chicago and other works loaned from New York galleries. Artists represented in the show included: Alexander Calder, Naum Gabo, Jean Helion, Henry Moore, Ladislaus Moholy-Nagy, and John Piper.

A clipping indicates how the Minneapolis Journal covered the exhibition:

Yet another clipping from the MN Daily from March 5, 1938, titled, “Colored Lights Set Off Art Exhibition,” indicated that Calder’s abstract mobiles were accompanied by special effects:

“Colored lights are in use for the first time in the University Gallery, Northrop auditorium, where the “International Exhibition of Abstract Painting and Sculpture” is showing.

In one corner of the main room, a yellow light sets off a kinetic construction by Alexander Calder. The construction, which consists chiefly of unusually shaped wooden pieces, casts a bizarre shadow on the wall. In the opposite corner a blue light shines upon another ‘mobile’ by the same artist. This work consisted of a curved metal rod from which hang curious wooden objects tied to strings. The slightest touch will set all the objects into motion.”

Here are a few images of visitors in the gallery… some of them unknowingly looking at art:

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