MAJOR ACQUISITIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND EXHIBITIONS IN 1999 BUILD UPON HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS’ COMMITMENT TO SCHOLARSHIP
Initiatives in 2000 Underscore Museums’ Mission to Provide Opportunities for Teaching and Research
Cambridge, MA – January 31, 2000 – Throughout the past year, the Harvard University Art Museums has continued to build its collections and to foster scholarship through major acquisitions and exhibitions that provide unique teaching and research opportunities. Major additions to the collections have included gifts that enhance the Museums’ important holdings of Dutch drawings and Islamic and Later Indian art. These gifts are examples of the long tradition of Harvard alumni and scholars furthering the collections of the Art Museums and supporting the scholarly mission of the institution. In 1999, the Art Museums presented a wide array of important scholarly exhibitions, with accompanying programs and publications. Programs showcased the work of artists including Ellsworth Kelly and John Singer Sargent and explored such scholarly themes as the material aspects of three early Netherlandish paintings using digital imaging techniques; portrait and landscape in Netherlandish prints; and nature as metaphor in paintings from China, Korea and Japan. Key staff appointments have reflected the Museums’ preparation for future initiatives and have strengthened professional training programs, continuing the Harvard University Art Museums’ legacy of seeding the field of art history by training scholars and institutional leaders.
Initiatives in 2000 will build upon achievements in 1999. A landmark project encompassing a nationally touring exhibition and a major scholarly publication, Ben Shahn’s New York: The Photography of Modern Times will explore Shahn’s photographic contributions to the emerging field of social documentary practice. Other exhibitions in 2000 include: The Enlightened Eye: Gifts from John Goelet; Before and After the End of Time: Architecture and the Year 1000; and a series of six exhibitions that will highlight recent gifts and acquisitions that have furthered the institution’s mandate for collections building and collection-based teaching.
Collections Building – 1999 Gifts and Acquisitions
Gift of Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings from the Maida and George
Abrams Collection
Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum received an important gift of 110 works
from the Maida and George Abrams Collection of seventeenth century Dutch
drawings, the finest and most comprehensive private collection of this
material in the world. The collection is distinguished by its quality,
range and depth. Included are masterpieces by Pieter Bruegel the Elder,
Rembrandt van Rijn, Hendrick Goltzius and Jacques de Gheyn II. Since the
1930s, Harvard has been a leading center for the study of Old Master drawings,
and with this gift, the Fogg Art Museum’s collection of Dutch drawings
stands as the foremost in the United States.
Gift of Indian and Islamic Works from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection
Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum was given more than 300 works
from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection of Indian and Islamic works dating
from the 15th to the 19th centuries. With this gift, the Sackler Museum’s
collection of Islamic and Later Indian art stands as one of the most comprehensive
in the United States. The gift included over 300 works of art from India,
Iran, and Turkey; over 250 of them are from India, including 190 drawings
and paintings from Rajasthan. Combined with the 1995 donation of more
than 100 Indian paintings from the Welch collection, the Harvard University
Art Museums now has the most important collection of Rajasthani works
of art on paper (drawings and paintings) in the country, and, together
with earlier gifts from John Kenneth Galbraith, John Goelet, and Eric
Schroeder, one of the top collections of Indian paintings in the country.
The emphasis on drawings in the acquisition is unique and complements
the Fogg Art Museum’s renowned collection of Western drawings.
1999 Exhibition Highlights
Ellsworth Kelly: The Early Drawings, 1948-1955
This pioneering exhibition, organized by the Art Museums and the Kunstmuseum
Winterthur, Switzerland, featured approximately 220 drawings and collages
from the formative years that Kelly spent as a young artist in France.
Many of these works had never before been exhibited. The drawings and
collages showcased in the exhibition captured the moment when Kelly worked
out his highly personal abstract aesthetic, presenting a private, almost
diaristic voyage into the thought-process of a developing artist. These
works revealed that the simplicity in Kelly’s art is achieved through
a patient and arduous labor of elimination and refinement. The exhibition
was curated by Yve-Alain Bois, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. Professor of Modern
Art, Harvard University.
Sargent in the Studio: Drawings, Sketchbooks, and Oil Sketches
This exhibition was drawn from the Fogg’s extensive holdings of works
by John Singer Sargent, including a collection of the artist’s works
donated to the Fogg by his sisters, Emily Sargent and Violet Ormond. Showcasing
Sargent’s work as a draftsman and muralist, the exhibition provided
insight into Sargent’s creative process and the development of his
work. With over 400 drawings and 33 paintings by Sargent in its permanent
collection, the Fogg offered an ideal venue for this landmark exhibition.
Curated by Miriam Stewart, assistant curator of drawings, and Kerry Schauber,
research assistant, Department of Drawings, Fogg Art Museum, the exhibition
was held in conjunction with other Sargent programming at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, the Boston Public Library, and the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum. An integral component of this project was the important
collaboration with the Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation, which
conducted an extensive study of Sargent's technique in the Boston Public
Library's murals and documented their condition and preservation needs.
The Harvard University Art Museums own Sargent holdings were also studied
and restored.
Lifeworld: Portrait and Landscape in Netherlandish Prints, 1550-1650
Lifeworld explored a variety of representations of the physical world
through the medium of prints. Focusing on the highly active period between
1550 and 1650 when printmaking in the northern and southern areas of the
Netherlands was undergoing a rapid evolution in technique, style, and
focus, the exhibition examined aspects of personality, of people and places,
and their public and private presence. The dynamic nature of this period
can be recognized in prints by anonymous artists, professional printmakers,
and the very greatest masters, including Rembrandt and Van Dyck. This
exhibition was curated by Michael Zell, assistant professor of art history,
Boston University, and Joseph Koerner, professor of the history of art
and architecture, Harvard University.
Nature as Metaphor: Paintings from China, Korea and Japan
Nature as Metaphor introduced a selection of later Chinese, Korean and
Japanese paintings that feature the details of nature, rather than its
vast panorama, as their principal subject matter. The exhibition revealed
that similar themes and styles inform East Asian paintings and Japanese
lacquer designs alike. The paintings encompassed a wide range of themes
and styles but focused on the genre known as bird-and-flower painting.
Nature as Metaphor was organized by Robert D. Mowry, curator of Chinese
art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum.
Modern Art at Harvard
In 1997, the Harvard University Art Museums created the Department of
Modern and Contemporary Art, which was inaugurated with the exhibition
Modern Art at Harvard. This traveling exhibition grew out of the Art Museums
work with Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Inc. (NIKKEI) which encouraged the Museums
to develop an exhibition that would illustrate the way American university
art museums work with contemporary art. This exhibition is curated by
Harry Cooper, associate curator of modern art, Fogg Art Museum, and is
currently traveling in Japan. Modern Art at Harvard includes over 100
works in all media from 1869 to 1973 and is accompanied by catalogue featuring
an essay by Cooper and entries on individual objects by Harvard scholars
and students.
Investigating the Renaissance
The works that comprise this reinstallation of the Renaissance galleries
form one of the foremost collections of early Italian Renaissance paintings
in North America. The core of Sienese and Florentine fourteenth and fifteenth
century paintings is complemented with strong examples of other Italian,
Netherlandish, and German paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Artists
showcased in the exhibition include Fra Angelico, Taddeo Gaddi, Fra Filippo
Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, and Giovanni di Paolo. The exhibition features
a companion website that examines material aspects of three early Netherlandish
paintings using digital imaging techniques. This interactive program demonstrates
the ways in which computer technology can be harnessed to add to our knowledge
about Renaissance paintings and how they were made. Investigating the
Renaissance was organized by Ivan Gaskell, Margaret S. Winthrop Curator
of Paintings, Fogg Art Museum; Stephan Wolohojian, former National Endowment
for the Arts Intern and current associate curator of paintings, sculpture,
and decorative arts at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums;
and other members of the Fogg's Department of Paintings, Sculpture, and
Decorative Arts in conjunction with the staff of the Straus Center for
Conservation.
1999 Appointments
Adjunct Curator of Architecture and Design
Noted architect and contemporary art collector Graham Gund provided a
$1 million gift to support architecture exhibitions at Harvard, enabling
the creation of the Department of Architecture and Design, a new curatorial
department established in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School
of Design. Brooke Hodge was named to lead the new department as adjunct
curator of architecture and design. In this newly created position at
the Art Museums, Hodge will oversee programming and exhibition collaborations
between the Art Museums and the School of Design.
Associate Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts at the
Fogg Art Museum
Stephan Wolohojian was appointed associate curator of paintings, sculpture,
and decorative arts at the Fogg Art Museum this past September. He is
primarily responsible for fostering the appreciation and understanding
of Italian Renaissance art. Early Renaissance paintings were among the
first and most important acquisitions made by the early directors of the
Fogg Art Museum and are an expression of the directors’ belief that
familiarity with the history of Italian painting is central to understanding
the entire history of art. Wolohojian received his Ph.D. from Harvard
University and worked as an intern in the department he has now been appointed
to, after serving as an assistant professor at the University of Delaware.
Assistant Director for Finance and Administration
Richard Benefield was appointed assistant director for finance and administration
at the Art Museums in April. Benefield currently oversees all aspects
of the Art Museums relating to finance, information technology, public
education, visitors services, building operations, security, and public
relations. Benefield came to Harvard from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island
School of Design (RISD), where he held the post of assistant director.
Professional Training Programs
In association with its role as a teaching and research institution, the
Harvard University Art Museums has developed a number of professional
training programs that have furthered its long-standing history of seeding
the field of art history with noted academics and professionals. The Harvard
Program for Art Museum Directors, established in 1996, aims to introduce
museum directors to the most current thinking and research on issues facing
their profession today; to build strong personal and working relations
between the participating directors; and to equip new directors with a
better understanding of the tasks they face.
Curatorial and conservation internships provide opportunities for scholarly and professional development through access to the Museums’ extensive holdings. The internship programs also provide a forum for the development of exhibitions at the Museums, including the 1999 Death by Hogarth, an exhibition exploring the prints of William Hogarth, considered one of England’s greatest printmakers. Death by Hogarth was organized by Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, 1997-1999 Lynn and Philip A. Straus Intern, Print Department, Fogg Art Museum.
Public Programming
Harvard University Art Museums has joined with members of the local community
to offer the public an array of educational programming. Two new programs
are Poetry Readings, co sponsored with the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, and
Author Readings, cosponsored with the Harvard Book Store. Readings are
led by award-winning poets and authors who have recently been published
or are longtime favorites.
Looking toward 2000
Ben Shahn’s New York: The Photography of Modern Times
This exhibition is drawn from the Art Museums’ extensive collection
of Ben Shahn’s (1898-1969) photographs that showcase the artist’s
experimentation with and contributions to the social documentary tradition.
The exhibition premieres on February 5, 2000 at the Arthur M. Sackler
Museum and will remain on view until April 30, before touring nationally.
A complimentary exhibition, The Shape of Content: The Stephen Lee Taller
Ben Shahn Archive at Harvard, features examples of Ben Shahn’s prints,
drawings, and related ephemera. Compiled from the extensive collection
of the late Stephen Lee Taller, this exhibition is now on view at the
Fogg Art Museum and Fine Arts Library, Harvard University.
The Enlightened Eye: Gifts from John Goelet
For over forty years, the Harvard University Art Museums has been the
grateful beneficiary of John Goelet’s discerning taste and generosity.
In celebration, this exhibition will feature a selection of Mr. Goelet’s
gifts of Islamic, Asian, and European works of art. Forty-three works
from Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India, and Iran during the Timurid, Turkman
and Safavid periods will be highlighted in the exhibition. Additional
works on view will include examples of Ottoman ceramic tiles from the
town of Iznik, Turkey, dating to the sixteenth century; an enormous military
banner from late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century Ottoman Turkey;
the famous manuscript of the Divan (Collected Works) of Anvari from 1588,
made for the Mughal emperor Akbar; a selection of calligraphies from Iran
and Turkey, and some of the best known and finest paintings from Iran
during the Timurid, Turkman, and Safavid periods.
Recent Acquisitions
A series of six exhibitions in the spring of 2000 will showcase recent
acquisitions of the Fogg Art Museum, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, and
the Busch-Reisinger Museum. These exhibitions will provide insight into
the Museums’ collections-building initiatives and into the integration
of new acquisitions into the Museums’ holdings. This series underscores
the Museums’ commitment to acquiring works that are tools for teaching
and scholarly research.
Additional exhibition highlights for 2000 include Before and After the End of Time: Architecture and the Year 1000 (August 26 - December 31, 2000), exploring the themes and developments in architecture during this period; and Dürer's Passions (September 9 - December 3, 2000), focusing on several series, drawn and printed, from the Passion of Christ by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).
Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions
in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and
depth of its collections and its groundbreaking exhibitions and original
research. For more than a century it has been the nation's premier training
ground for museum professionals and scholars, and is renowned for its
seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history
in this country.
The three Harvard University Art Museums – the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum – are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art. The 150,000 objects in the Art Museums' collections range in date from ancient times to the present, and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each Museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its respective areas of focus.
As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the Art Museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension both to their specific areas of study and to their lives at and after Harvard. The Art Museums welcome members of the public to experience its collections and special exhibitions, as well as to enjoy its lectures, symposia, and other programs.
The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas (Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs) and are comprehensive and encyclopedic within their areas. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are unique in their breadth and quality, and are enhanced continually through gifts and acquisitions. Together, they comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.