Posts Tagged 'Frederic Edwin Church'

The White North

Published June 14, 2021 Exhibitions , works of art Closed
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Julian Charrière, Towards No Earthly Pole, 2019. Film still. Courtesy of the artist; DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin; Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz; Sean Kelly, New York; and Sies+Höke, Düsseldorf. Copyright the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany 

Julian Charrière’s work Towards No Earthly Pole draws its title from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s epitaph in Westminster Abbey, London, for Sir John Franklin, the British explorer lost in an ill-fated expedition to find the Northwest Passage. The epitaph reads in full: 

NOT HERE: THE WHITE NORTH HAS THY BONES; AND THOU, HEROIC SAILOR-SOUL, ART PASSING ON THINE HAPPIER VOYAGE NOW TOWARD NO EARTHLY POLE. 

Franklin’s doomed expedition was the source of public fascination in the late 19th century and continues to shape our perception of Arctic exploration to this day. Franklin embarked in 1845 with two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, on his third attempt to discover the Northwest Passage, a sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic. The ships became icebound in 1847 in the Victoria Strait and were abandoned in April 1848 after nearly two dozen officers and men, including Franklin, perished in the cold. The rest made for the Canadian mainland but were never heard from again. Of the 129 men who began the expedition, none survived.  

The British Admiralty launched several search parties over the subsequent decades, recovering artifacts and remains from the doomed expedition. Their findings suggested that the crew succumbed to hypothermia, starvation, lead poisoning, exposure, and disease. In some of the most sensational findings, examinations of remains offered potential evidence of cannibalism. The search for Franklin over the course of nearly 30 rescue missions better mapped the Canadian coastline and led to the eventual discovery of a Northwest Passage, but it also left a lasting legacy in the cultural imagination of Victorian Britain. The endeavor and its failure offered a narrative of man’s struggle against nature, the tragic romance and heroism of exploration, and the overwhelming power of a landscape alien to the British public.  

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28

This preoccupation with the Arctic and the looming specter of Franklin is evident in the American painter Frederic Edwin Church’s 1861 work The Icebergs. A jewel of the DMA’s collection, the painting is emblematic of the sweeping views and dramatic uses of light that characterized the Hudson River School, with which Church was associated. Church worked from studies produced during his own month-long expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1859, where he observed the material qualities of the icebergs and their Arctic surroundings. 

Initially exhibited in New York and Boston in 1861 with the title The North, the painting failed to attract buyers due to the ongoing Civil War, despite immense praise from American audiences. In 1863 Church sent the painting to London, where he hoped to attract interest from his British supporters. Before transporting the work across the Atlantic, he made two notable alterations: renaming the work with its present title, The Icebergs, to avoid conflation with the Union; and adding a broken mast to the foreground. Though the artist’s motivations for including the mast remain unknown, it may have served as a reference to the Franklin expedition, synonymous with the devastated promise of Arctic exploration.  

The same interest in the beguiling and terrible power of the icebergs that captivated Church is evident in Towards No Earthly Pole. The sublime glacial landscape appears fantastic and otherworldly, something beyond the comprehension of humanity. Though Indigenous communities have long staked out ways of living symbiotically with the Arctic environment, Franklin’s expedition and Church’s painting point to the hubris of imperial attempts to conquer and claim the polar landscape. Charrière’s film suggests that despite our advances in scientific knowledge and ability to map the world, we still have a fascination with and ignorance of a land that retains its power to resist us.

Hilde Nelson is the Curatorial Assistant for Contemporary Art at the DMA.

DMA Art Will Be Everywhere

Published June 25, 2014 Collections Closed
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The votes are in, the results have been tallied, and the Art Everywhere US works have been chosen! The voting was so close that fifty-eight works of art made the cut (including ten works from the DMA) and will be reproduced on billboards, bus shelters, subway platforms, and more this August. Be on the lookout for The Icebergs or Dorothy on your commute and stop by the DMA to visit the works in person.

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt
Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1846-1847, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Art Museum League Fund
Emil J. Bisttram, Pueblo Woman, 1932, tempera and oil glaze on panel, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Royal C. Miller
Erwin E. Smith, Frank Smith, Watering His Horse, Cross-B Ranch, Crosby County, Texas, c. 1909, gelatin dry plate negative, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase © Erwin E. Smith Foundation
James Rosenquist, Paper Clip, 1973, oil and acrylic on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The 500, Inc., Elizabeth B. Blake, Mr. and Mrs. James H.W. Jacks, Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Meltzer, Mr. Joshua Muss, Mrs. John W. O’Boyle, Dr. Joanne Stroud and two anonymous donors in honor of Robert M. Murdock © 2014 James Rosenquist/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Jasper Johns, Device, 1961-1962, oil on canvas with wood and metal attachments, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Art Museum League, Margaret J. and George V. Charlton, Mr. and Mrs. James B. Francis, Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Greenlee, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. James H. W. Jacks, Mr. and Mrs. Irvin L. Levy, Mrs. John W. O’Boyle, and Dr. Joanne Stroud in honor of Mrs. Eugene McDermott © Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
John Singer Sargent, Dorothy, 1900, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Leland Fikes Foundation, Inc.
Mrs. Fannie B. Shaw, The Fannie B. Shaw Prosperity Quilt, “Prosperity is Just Around the Corner”, 1930-1932, appliquéd cotton, Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift
Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park No. 29, 1970, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated © Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Romare Bearden, Soul Three, 1968, paper and fabric collage on board, Dallas Museum of Art, General Acquisitions Fund and Roberta Coke Camp Fund © Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York

Kimberly Daniell is the Manager of Communications and Public Affairs at the DMA

Icebergs Right Ahead!

Published April 14, 2014 Collections Closed
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Tomorrow is Titanic Remembrance Day, an annual observance of the lives lost when the unsinkable ship sank on April 15, 1912. Frederic Edwin Church’s The Icebergs, in the DMA’s collection and on view on Level 4, provided an opportunity for Museum staff to reenact a film still that captured the ship’s story.
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Kimberly Daniell is the manager of communications and public affairs, Madeleine Fitzgerald is the audience relations coordinator for programming, and Adam Gingrich is the digital media specialist at the DMA.

Art Everywhere US: A Very, Very Big Art Show

Published April 7, 2014 Collections , Dallas , DFW , Special Events Closed
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Be a guest curator for the largest art exhibition in America! Beginning today, you can vote for your favorite American artworks from art museums across the country, including the DMA. Art Everywhere US is a public celebration of great American art.

art everywhere jpeg

The process to create this celebration began this past New Year’s Eve, when I e-mailed the directors of four leading U.S. museums—the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art—asking if they would jump in feet first with the DMA and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America to create a 100-work synopsis of American art history. I was thrilled when everyone agreed right away, and by January 2014 we were off to the races.

I asked each museum to submit 30 works, yielding 150, and I had the unenviable task of winnowing the list down to 20 each to reach 100. We were seeking a balanced result, representing every period of American art from across the nation, with attention to ethnic and gender diversity, and the inclusion of iconic works alongside whimsical ones. We stuck to two-dimensional works given their planned reproduction on out-of-home media.

It is now up to you to help decide which of these 100 works will be part of the first Art Everywhere US project.

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From now through May 7, you can vote for your favorite 10 works daily to help inform the final 50 works. The final works will be reproduced this August on as many as 50,000 outdoor displays from coast to coast. Make sure you get to see your favorite work of art on a billboard during your commute this summer, whether it’s the DMA’s The Icebergs, the Art Institute of Chicago’s American Gothic, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Campbell’s Soup Can, the Whitney’s Little Big Painting, or the National Gallery’s George Washington. We aren’t trying to stack the deck in the DMA’s favor, but instead are enjoying the playful spirit of this massive endeavor. Vote early and vote often! And please share your votes with #ArtEverywhereUS and connect online.

(Images in slide show: Jasper Johns, Three Flags, 1958. Encaustic on canvas. 30 5/8 x 45 1/2 x 4 5/8 in. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Art © Jasper Johns, Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y.; Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, c. 1821. Oil on wood. 26 3/8 x 21 5/8 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of ThomasJefferson Coolidge IV in memory of his great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge II,and his father, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III.; Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861. Oil on canvas. 64 1/2 x 112 1/2 in. (1 m 63.83 cm x 2 m 85.751 cm). Dallas Museum ofArt, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt.; Roy Lichtenstein, Cold Shoulder, 1963. Oil and magna on canvas. 68 1/2 x 48 in. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of RobertH. Halff through the Modern and Contemporary Art Council (M.2005.38.5). Photo courtesy of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, by Kevin Ryan.; Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930. Oil on Beaver Board. 30 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (78 x 65.3 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago, Friends of American Art Collection.)

Maxwell L. Anderson is the Eugene McDermott Director of the DMA.

Pet Parade: Strutting the Catwalk — and the Canvas

Published January 14, 2014 Collections 2 Comments
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Did you know January 14 is national Dress Up Your Pet Day? Yeah, we didn’t either. Here at the DMA, we not only love our art, but we also love our animals. We couldn’t resist combining some of our favorite works from our permanent collection with some of our favorite pet pals.

We promise that no animals were harmed in creating these photos. Well, maybe just a few pet egos.

Drouth Striken_Ruby

DMA Staffer: Danielle Schulz, Teaching Specialist
DMA Pet: Ruby, Lab/Collie mix, age 2
Portrait Inspiration: Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Stricken Area, 1934
I wanted to transport Hogue’s characteristic desert-like scene to my tiny apartment, and lucky for me, I was able to find an eager canine ready to put on a cow costume and thirstily explore a bathtub water tank. This work will soon be on view in the upcoming exhibition Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series.

George_George
DMA Staffer: Amanda Blake, Head of Family, Access, and School Experiences
DMA Pet: George Costanza, West Highland White Terrier, age 7
Portrait Inspiration: Rembrandt Peale, George Washington, c. 1850
Like George Washington, George the Westie is courageous and fearless in the face of danger. He is an alpha dog and has been known to keep much larger dogs in line. Plus, I thought that he would look very handsome in a colonial costume.
(Editor’s note: This is George as himself, no airbrushing or Photoshop for him!)

Breton Women _Shelby and Artie
DMA Staffer: Andrea Severin Goins, Interpretation Specialist
DMA Pets: (from left to right) Shelby, Golden Retriever, age 6, and Artemisia Gentileschi (“Artie”), Malshi/Maltese/Shih Tzu Hybrid, age 4
Portrait Inspiration: Emile Bernard, Breton Women Attending a Pardon, 1892
Artemisia and Shelby love the outdoors; in particular Artie likes to sunbathe and Shelby loves to people watch while enjoying a nice breeze. They like Bernard’s painting because it looks like a place they would like to visit: a lush field, rich with bright hues, and filled with nice ladies who might pet them.

White Relief _Ajax
DMA Staffer: Chad Redmon, Assistant Photographer
DMA Pet: Ajax, White Alsatian, age 3
Portrait Inspiration: Ben Nicholson, 1936 (white relief), 1936
I’ve admired Ben Nicholson’s White Relief long before I was even an employee here at the DMA. I respond to minimal and reductive aesthetic strategies and this one is a stellar example of such. When I found Ajax asleep in my chair, viewed from that overhead perspective, my mind went immediately to the work by Nicholson. Quick iPhone shot and some simple Photoshopping and there it is.

Icebergs_Ella Gurdy Tanaka
DMA Staffer: Doug Landrith, Gallery Attendant
DMA Pets: (from left to right) Ella, Leopard Tortoise, age 5; Gurdy, Sulcata Tortoise, age 6; Tanaka, Red Foot Tortoise, age 7
Portrait Inspiration: Frederic Church, The Icebergs, 1861
Tortoises look like monumental rock formations anyway, so The Icebergs seemed like a perfect fit. It was honestly more entertaining having them roam around the yard with their ice hats on running into things.

Dorothy_Chloe
DMA Staffer: Kimberly Daniell, Manager of Communications and Public Affairs
DMA Pet: Chloe (she is actually my roommate’s dog. I dog-napped her for the photo shoot), West Highland Terrier, age 8
Portrait Inspiration: John Singer Sargent, Dorothy, 1900
Dorothy is one of my favorite works in the collection. Chloe is sassy and has an attitude and I envision Dorothy was the same way. A white ensemble did not show up well on her fur, so she went for a more brooding Dorothy look.

mythical animals _Fidel Nene
DMA Staffer: Jessica Fuentes, Gallery Coordinator for the Center for Creative Connections
DMA Pets: (from left to right) Fidel, Short Haired Chihuahua, age 3, and Nene, Long Haired Chihuahua, age 4.5
Portrait Inspiration: Pair of mythical animals (asos), 19th century
It’s only within the last six months or so that I have become familiar with the pair of mythical animals, as it is a piece that C3 focuses on for our Indonesian Gallery Pop-Up Art Spot. I love how these creatures are clearly dog-like and are a protective symbol. When thinking about which work of art I would pick for my dogs to re-enact, I immediately thought of this one. My pair of Chihuahuas may not be as graceful or intimidating as these mythical animals, but they are a source of comfort to me and my daughter. Clearly they do not realize how small they are, because they jump up, bark and chase after any foreign sound they hear. (In order to get them to sit up and pose like this, I had to enlist the help of my daughter… she is out of the frame, standing on a chair, holding a treat and telling them to “sit” and “stay.”)

Woman in a Blue Turban_Ollie
DMA Staffer: Queta Moore Watson, Senior Editor
DMA Pet: Ollie, Tuxedo Cat (Domestic Medium Hair), age 5
Portrait Inspiration: Eugène Delacroix, Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Turban, c. 1827
I chose this work because my cat Ollie shares with Eugène Delacroix’s subject a pensive expression and soulful eyes. Delacroix had a penchant for representing exotic women from foreign lands. While Ollie is a Domestic Medium Hair rather than an exotic breed, he does mirror the subject’s enigmatic gaze. Is he pondering the future? Remembering the past? Perhaps he is thinking, “I’m a cat. Why am I wearing a turban?”

Sacco_Mosey
DMA Staffer: Reagan Duplisea, Associate Registrar, Exhibitions
DMA Pet: Mosey, Florida Brown Dog, age 9
Portrait Inspiration: Sacco chair, Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, Franco Teodoro, Zanotta, designed 1968-1969
A dear friend of mine once called Mosey “a little dumpling,” and even though she is really all muscle, the nickname stuck. She always sits sideways, directly on her rear end, and her “dumpling” shape reminds me of the red beanbag chair currently on view in the exhibition Form/Unformed: Design from 1960 to the Present.

Cathedral_Jane
DMA Staffer: Catherine Cody, Special Events and Volunteer Relations Manager
DMA Pet: Jane, Mutt, age 1
Portrait Inspiration: Jackson Pollock, Cathedral, 1947
Pollock is one of my favorite painters, particularly in the way he suggests “energy made visible”. My dog Jane is the definition of visible energy, and her life often looks like a Pollock painting. She ate the string I bought to design our interpretation of Cathedral, so we improvised with some of her toys. I think Pollock would approve.

peaceable kingdon_suzl
DMA Staffer: Anne Bromberg, The Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art
DMA Pet: Miss Suzl, Maine Coon cat, age 4
Portrait Inspiration: Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1846-1847
I thought Miss Suzl would be interested in the painting and probably recognize her big relations in it. I envision Miss Suzl’s comments on this painting are either “SOMETIMES I’m peaceable, but don’t count on it” or “wanting to lie down with a lamb instead of eating its nuts.”

boy in short pants_Sabby
DMA Staffer: Mandy Engleman, Director of Creative Services
DMA Pet: Sabrina, Bassador (Basset Hound/Yellow Lab), age 5.5
Portrait Inspiration: Amedeo Modigliani, Boy in Short Pants, 1918
Ever since I adopted Sabby, I’ve seen the similarities in her proportions to that of a Modigliani work. She has a short, long stocky body with an abnormally long neck and a smallish head. When attempting a photo shoot, however, she was not in the mood to show off that long neck. So instead you’ll see her similarity to Boy in Short Pants through her piercing eyes and elongated face. You may also see that she wanted to add a twist of Warhol—which is where her true personality lies.

Visit the DMA’s collection galleries, included in free general admission, to find inspiration for your pet’s high fashion and share your photos #DMApets!

Images: Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Stricken Area, 1934, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase, (c) Olivia Hogue Marino & Amalia Marino; Rembrandt Peale, George Washington, c. 1850, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation; Emile Bernard, Breton Women Attending a Pardon, 1892, oil on cardboard, Dallas Museum of Art, The Art Museum League Fund; Ben Nicholson, 1936 (white relief), 1936, oil on carved board, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London; Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt; John Singer Sargent, Dorothy, 1900, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Leland Fikes Foundation, Inc.; Pair of mythical animals (asos), Malaysia, Sarawak, middle Rajang River region, Greater Sunda Islands, Kayan people, 19th century, wood, Dallas Museum of Art, The Roberta Coke Camp Fund and the Museum League Purchase Fund; Eugène Delacroix, Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Turban, c. 1827, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Patricia McBride; Sacco, Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, and Franco Teodoro, designers; Zanotta, maker, designed 1968-1969, vinyl and polystyrene, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Zanotta; Jackson Pollock, Cathedral, 1947, enamel and aluminum paint on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard J. Reis, © Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1846-1847, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Art Museum League Fund; Amedeo Modigliani, Boy in Short Pants, c. 1918, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Leland Fikes Foundation, Inc.

Catherine Cody is special events and volunteer relations manager and Kimberly Daniell is the communications and public affairs manager at the DMA.

Iceberg, Straight Ahead!

Published September 12, 2013 American Art , Behind-the-Scenes , Collections , Curatorial 1 Comment
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ice

This week we celebrate a homecoming at the DMA. Frederic Church’s The Icebergs is now back on view after almost a year on tour with the exhibition The Civil War and American Art. Watch the painting’s journey from its travel crate back to the DMA’s American Art Galleries in the video below, and join us for our free lunchtime Gallery Talk at 12:15 p.m. on  Wednesday, September 18, with DMA curator Sue Canterbury to welcome home The Icebergs!

Kimberly Daniell is the PR manager at the DMA.

Bon Voyage to The Icebergs

Published September 26, 2012 American Art , Behind-the-Scenes , Curatorial 2 Comments
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Considered by some to be the DMA’s Mona Lisa, Frederic Edwin Church’s The Icebergs has been a destination icon for museum visitors ever since it was placed on display in 1979. Measuring slightly over 7 feet high and 11 feet wide in its frame, and weighing a cumbersome 425 pounds, it is the anchor of the American galleries in both a figurative and literal sense. Consequently, its presence is as keenly felt as its absence. Yet, there are times when a museum must make a sacrifice—albeit reluctantly–in the support of new art historical scholarship.

Frederic Edwin Church, “The Icebergs,” 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt, 1979.28

The Icebergs is to play a pivotal role in the presentation of the upcoming exhibition The Civil War and American Art, which will open at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Longtime members of the DMA will be pleased to know that this important exhibition has been organized by the DMA’s former curator of American Art Dr. Eleanor Jones Harvey, who has been with the Smithsonian American Art Museum since 2003. The exhibition will feature key works by America’s greatest artists of the era. These works channeled the conflicting emotions of a nation coming to grips with a reality that altered the very fabric of its identity and transformed its once unassailable optimism into dread for the unknown outcomes that lay ahead.

Frederic Edwin Church, “Cotopaxi,” 1862, oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Fund, Merrill Fund, Beatrice W. Rogers Fund, and Richard A. Manoogian Fund, Photo courtesy Detroit Institute of Arts

Key to charting the path from America’s loss of faith to its eventual hope of redemption will be four monumental landscapes by Frederic Church: The Icebergs, Cotopaxi, Aurora Borealis, and Rainy Season in the Tropics. The first two works have often been paired in a binary context of arctic and tropics, but, in this presentation, their multiple layers of meaning are to be revealed. In the case of The Icebergs, Church changed its title to The North for its debut just twelve days after the beginning of the war in 1861. He also donated all the ticket proceeds to the Union Red Cross. In his painting of the following year, Cotopaxi, Church depicted paradise rent asunder by the volcanic and explosive forces of nature as a symbolic reflection of the cleaving of a nation. A month before the end of the war, Church exhibited Aurora Borealis, wherein the darkness of the endless arctic winter echoed the weariness that dominated the American psyche. In Rainy Season in the Tropics, presented in 1866 after the close of the war, Church delivered the viewer—and a nation—from its trials and tribulations into a paradise redeemed by a nourishing rain and the promise of a double rainbow.

Frederic Edwin Church, “Aurora Borealis,” 1865, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eleanor Blodgett, Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum

Frederic Edwin Church, “Rainy Season in the Tropics,” 1866, oil on canvas, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection

For those wanting to bid a fond farewell to The Icebergs before its departure, please be sure to do so before mid-October, when it will be removed from view. If you would like to see the DMA’s masterpiece in the context of the exhibition, it will be at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., November 16, 2012–April 27, 2013, and then in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 21–September 2, 2013.

Sue Canterbury is The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Published December 20, 2011 Community Connection , Museum Insight , Uncategorized , works of art 2 Comments
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Wishing for a wintery holiday season filled with snowflakes and snowmen?  Even though a snow-white holiday may be wishful thinking here in Dallas, you can still get in the holiday spirit at the Museum.  Bring the whole family to enjoy the many winterscapes we have displayed in the galleries, and create your own holiday-inspired work in the Center for Creative Connections!

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Wishing you all a very happy holiday,

Loryn Leonard
Coordinator of Museum Visits

Images used:

  • Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, c. 1861, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt
  • Ice Bowl and Spoon, Gorham Manufacturing Company, c.1871, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc
  • Gustave Courbet, Fox in the Snow, c. 1860, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund
  • Georgia O’Keefe, Bare Tree Trunks in Snow, c. 1946, Dallas Art Association Purchase
  • Childe Hassam, Along the Seine, Winter, c. 1887, bequest of Joel T. Howard

Opening Up: A Staff Profile of Our Operations Manager

Published September 19, 2011 Behind-the-Scenes , Staff Closed
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Uncrated tracked down Tara Eaden, the DMA’s Operations Manager, to talk about her job at the Museum.

Describe your job in fifty words or less.
As Operations Manager, my basic duties are to manage the Museum’s daily operations. These duties include, but are not limited to, coordinating with the operations supervisors to organize office moves, set up/break down special events, and to make sure that the museum remains pristine.

What might an average day entail?
There really is no average day for anyone in operations, however the basic portion of my day may consist of various meetings, scheduling for different activities/projects, problem solving and/or fulfilling certain needs of staff, visitors and vendors that fall within my jurisdiction.

How would you describe the best part of your job and its biggest challenges?
The best part of my job is the daily knowledge I gain through departmental and peer interactions, as well as meeting the most influential and unique people—colleagues and visitors. I am very fortunate to work with a team of people who make the most challenging days seem effortless. I am doubly fortunate to work in an environment who embraces and caters to all cultures from all demographics.

One of the biggest challenges I might face would be the overlapping of events on the same day. There have been some days where the operations crew is spread thin because of the need to take care of their daily housekeeping needs, as well as multiple events scheduled for the same day at either the same time, or overlapping times. This puts a strain on the crew, thus placing me in the position to be creative with scheduling and employee placement so that the needs are met for not only the client, but for the best interest of the employee.

Growing up, what type of career did you envision yourself in? Did you think you’d work in an art museum?
 I always thought I would be a teacher growing up. Even though I do have the opportunity to teach now from time to time in other capacities, I always thought I’d be in a classroom filled with a group of tots eager to learn. I never thought I would work in an art museum. But now that I’m here, it has been one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve ever encountered.

What is your favorite work in the Museum’s collections?
While I have several favorite works in the museum, my favorite is by far the Untitled (big/small figure) by Tom Friedman. Works of art may say different things to different people, but this work speaks to me in a manner of symbolism. The big blue man (I’ll call him the blues) for me represents problems that we all face sometimes that seem so much bigger than we are. The small figure represents us. The big blue man is looking down on the small man as if he can defeat him or get the best of him. It is in that moment that we could either decide to allow our problems to give us the blues, or we can overtake them. Or simply stated, sometimes our problems seem bigger to us than they really are. My second favorite is The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church.

Is there a past exhibition that stands out in your mind as a favorite, or is there a particular upcoming show you’re looking forward to seeing?
While we have had a number of beautiful and intriguing exhibits, such as Dale Chihuly (1994), Animals in African Art: From the Familiar to the Marvelous (1997), Splendors of China’s Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong (2004), Gordon Parks- Half Past Autumn (2005), my favorite by far is the Across Continents and Cultures: The Art of Henry Ossawa Tanner exhibition from 1995.

60 Minutes in the Dallas Museum of Art

Published September 9, 2011 Behind-the-Scenes , Collections 1 Comment
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As a child, my first museum visits were orchestrated by my parents. These all-day excursions began the moment the museum opened its doors and ended sometime after five o’clock, when a security guard shuffled us to the nearest exit. Before the day was through, we’d make it a point to see everyone’s favorite area of the museum, eventually charting its every offering.

Today trips like this are harder and harder to come by and actually, now that I work for the Dallas Museum of Art, one of the hardest parts of my job is finding the time to experience the artwork! For me, shorter more frequent trips to the Museum have helped me get to know the DMA one gallery or even one artwork at a time.

Thanks largely to the DMA’s great variety of lunchtime tours, after-hours programs, and lectures, you can broaden your knowledge of the collection nearly every week. These guided experiences are the perfect way to spend a short visit to the DMA, and hopefully they’ll encourage and equip you to do more focused exploring on your own!

With just sixty minutes to work with, you’d be surprised at the great multitude of experiences that await you. Here are some of my favorite works to get you started. They’re just a small sampling of the amazing works that will inspire you to take your time and get a closer look.

Gandharan culture, Hadda region, "Thinking Bodhisattva", 4th to 6th century A.D., Terracotta, Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation, Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, and General Acquisitions Fund

This Buddhist sculpture, located on Level 3, represents a bodhisattva, or someone who has achieved enlightenment but delays Nirvana to help others achieve transcendence. In fact, he’s not just any bodhisattva, but the one destined to become the historic Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

I enjoy this sculpture mostly because of its rich detail and lively gestures. When I stand before him, he seems to be not only reflecting upon his impending destiny but truly at the heels of it. At any moment he seems ready to step off his throne and into his next life as the Buddha.

Toraja, Sulawesi, Galumpang area, Indonesia, Shroud or ceremonial hanging (sekomandi), probably late 19th century, Cotton, Dallas Museum of Art, the Steven G. Alpert Collection of Indonesian Textiles, gift of the McDermott Foundation

Of all media, I am least familiar with and most intrigued by the textiles. You can get fairly close to these objects in the galleries, and attempting to deconstruct their striking complexities by doing so can be nothing short of mesmerizing.

This example, located on Level 3, was woven by the Toraja peoples of Indonesia and exquisitely combines bold arrangements in color, pattern, and texture to reveal in its central quadrant a series of geometric and interlocking human figures believed to represent generations of beloved ancestors.

Mvaï group, Fang peoples, Ntem region, Gabon, Africa, Reliquary guardian figure, 1800-1860, wood, Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc.

Predating Western notions of cubism by nearly half a century, this rare sculpture from the Fang peoples of sub-Saharan Africa is sure to stun you in your tracks. Composed of beautifully carved abstract and voluminous forms, the shining figure was probably modeled in the likeness of an ancestor and positioned protectively atop a reliquary box containing familial remains. Now I like to think of him as standing guard over the African galleries on Level 3 at the DMA, humbling our viewers and summoning their attention.

Roman, Battle sarcophagus, c. 190 A.D., marble, Dallas Museum of Art, Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund and gift of anonymous donor

This sarcophagus, located on Level 2, was probably made to commemorate the military victories of a Roman general whose corpse it was intended to house. Its battle scene is deeply carved in a complex relief that reveals warriors, horses, and captives, each densely intertwined and submerged in the real chaos of war.

Every time I visit this work, I’m fascinated by the great number of unique figures and gestures captured against its surface. Every few inches reveals a new layer of intense drama.

Frederic Edwin Church, The Icebergs, 1861, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Norma and Lamar Hunt

During my first visit to the DMA, The Icebergs, located on Level 4, was the first masterpiece to truly floor me. Based on sketches made during a monthlong boat trip in the North Atlantic, it is an enthralling triumph by Frederic Edwin Church.

Its exquisite palette and sharp glow entice any viewer. I have to visit the painting time and time again, simply because each time I do, I swear, it changes. No matter how hard I try, I can never fully recall its subtle warmth and reflection of light.

Zaha Hadid (British born Iraq, 1950), designer; Sawaya & Moroni (Italian, est. 1984), maker, Tea and coffee service, designed 1996, executed 2002, silver, Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift of in honor of Lela Rose and Catherine Rose

This puzzle-like tea and coffee service, located on Level 4, represents a first foray into silverware for renowned architect Zaha Hadid. When not in use, the lustrous components gather into a single architectural form that defies symmetry and cleverly disguises its function.

How cool is that?! I challenge you to stand in front of this service and try to piece it together in your head. It’s no easy feat, I assure you, but in the meantime you’ll definitely enjoy getting lost in its abundance of reflective surfaces and voids.

Auriel Garza is the Curatorial Administrative Assistant to Non-Western and Decorative Arts at the DMA.

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