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Rare Peruvian Book on View: Antigüedades Peruanas, 1851

Traci Timmons on Oct 18 2013

In addition to the many amazing objects in SAM’s current exhibition, Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon, in SAM’s special exhibition galleries, there is another important Peruvian object on view just one floor up. The two volume set Antigüedades Peruanas, or Peruvian Antiquities, is currently being displayed just outside the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library on the fifth floor in the South Building.

Antigüedades Peruanas was published in 1851 in Vienna and consists of a large folio edition of rich lithographic plates and a smaller quarto size volume of explanatory text. It was authored and illustrated by curator Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustáriz (Peruvian, 1798–1857) and naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi (Swiss, 1818–1889). This work is a rare first edition, with less than sixty complete sets available in libraries throughout the world, notably including: the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

The chromolithography work, created by D. Leopold Müller (Austrian, 19th century), is significant. It includes an impressive title page, depicting portraits of Incas carved on a massive “puerta” with a view of the Peruvian landscape. Other large-scale images throughout the folio volume include those of mummies, ornaments, tapestries, monuments, weapons and objects similar to those on view in the Peru exhibition.*

Lamína V. Photograph by Phil Stoiber. From a private collection.

Lamína XXVI. Photograph by Phil Stoiber. From a private collection.

Come see why this work has been called “One of the most important and comprehensive works on Peruvian archaeology, virtually the earliest by a Peruvian, and the first of its kind.”

This work is on view during library hours, Wednesday through Friday 10am – 4pm. To learn more about the Bullitt Library, and the other libraries at SAM, please visit this link.

*PLEASE NOTE: Each week we will turn to a new page. Please return often to see another illustration from this exceptional work. Reproductions of the complete set of lithographs are also available for viewing.

– Traci Timmons, Librarian, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library

Top image: Frontispiece to Antigüedades Peruanas (1851). Photograph by Phil Stoiber. From a private collection.

SAM Art: An incredible collection, one more time

Seattle Art Museum on Oct 15 2013

One of the great American collections of Minimal and Conceptual art was built by New Yorkers Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. What makes their story so inspiring is that they were able to accomplish this on their modest salaries—Dorothy a librarian and Herbert a postal service employee. The couple had no formal training in art or art history but found themselves drawn to art, frequenting galleries and befriending artists over four decades. They followed Minimal art with particular interest.

In addition to giving more than 1000 works of art to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Vogels distributed fifty works from their collection to one museum in each of the fifty states of the United States. The Seattle Art Museum is honored to be the recipient in the State of Washington.

The Vogel collection remains on view at the Seattle Art Museum until Sunday, 27 October.

SAM Art: Peru is already at SAM

Seattle Art Museum on Oct 8 2013

Drinking vessels incised with monochrome geometric designs, known as keros, were used in pre-Hispanic Peru to consume chicha (maize beer). While keros continued to be made and used during the Colonial period, the decorative form of the vessels changed. Brightly painted and inlaid figural compositions became the favored style. Peru has the longest textile-making tradition in the world, and elegant, elaborately woven textiles were symbols of wealth of the Inca elite, here represented by brightly-patterned tunics being ceremonially presented.

The stunning exhibition Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon opens next week, but Peruvian works from the museum’s collection are already on view at SAM downtown.

Kero (drinking cup) with figures presenting textiles, after 1550, Peruvian, Inca, Colonial period, wood, resin pigments, 6 ½ x 6 in. overall, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 53.52. Currently on view in the Native and Meso-American art galleries, third floor, SAM downtown.

Interning with the buried treasure

Seattle Art Museum on Oct 4 2013

By Kaley Ellis, archive and exhibitions intern

What is an archive? And why would I work in one?

When I first spoke with Sarah Berman, Collections Coordinator and Research Associate at the Seattle Art Museum, she mentioned the possibility of interning in SAM’s archives and my mind immediately conjured images of buried treasure languishing in the basement of the museum awaiting a moment (or in this case a person) to tell its story. Although admittedly somewhat implausible, the thought of digging through the museum’s archive – tucked out of sight and thus inherently mysterious – was intriguing.

I could easily imagine Indiana Jones (relocating to the Pacific Northwest for example) uncovering a treasure map that led to an underground chamber in SAM, overflowing with riches, long lost paintings by Titian, Vermeer, or Degas, ancient Egyptian coffins, or Roman marble sculptures for example. Now, seeing as my mind had already made this leap from archives to Indiana Jones to priceless art work, the next obvious step was to accept Sarah’s proposed internship working with the archives.

During my first few weeks interning, Sarah asked if I’d like to see where the archives were kept – which I clearly needed to see if I was going to discover the previously mentioned hidden treasure. However, I was instead led to a small, rather dreary room, decorated with a table, chair, and numerous filling cabinets. While this was a bit depressing, I was promised I would not be left alone to work in this windowless room that had a door that occasionally locked you inside, so I suppose there was a silver lining. However, this process of imagining an archive filled with treasure – whether those are jewels and piles of gold or artwork – and then coming to terms with the reality of a room bursting with metal cabinets of old documents made me think about what it means to be an archive.

The SAM archives (part of them, at least). Photo: Kaley Ellis

Archives preserve documentation of the past, in this case a visual reminder of the art and exhibitions held at the SAM since the 1930s. While these files do not contain actual treasure, they do offer valuable insight into the museum’s history and collection. They offer the chance to analyze and reflect upon the past while simultaneously acting as a reservoir of memories. (And, thankfully they have been moved from that cell-like room to the much sunnier library!) During the upcoming months, I plan to delve into and share some of the secrets found within these file folders. I hope you’ll join me.Recognize the fedora and whip? Photo: Gary Stewart

Top photo: Recognize the fedora and whip? Photo: Gary Stewart

SAM Art: Deceptive simplicity

Seattle Art Museum on Oct 2 2013

Even in the most seemingly-straightforward designs, things are not always as they seem. This chest is an example of early American rural-style furniture. Beneath a coat of gray paint added in the mid-nineteenth century can be seen the original red coloration, suggestive of fashionable mahogany furniture produced in New England. Despite appearances, only two of the “drawers” actually function as such. The top two drawers are, in fact, false fronts, used to conceal a large compartment which opens from the top—a likely reason these are sometimes called blanket chests.

Chest over drawers, ca. 1750-90, American, New England, possibly Rhode Island, pine and chestnut wood with paint, 43 1/2 x 38 1/4 x 18 3/8 in., Gift of Mimi and Bill Gates in honor of John Kirk and Trevor Fairbrother, 2000.160. Currently on view in the American art galleries, third floor, SAM downtown.

SAM Art: Fantastic Persian Creatures

Seattle Art Museum on Sep 27 2013

Contrary to popular belief, Islamic art is bursting with images of humans and animals. The Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, admonishes against the making and adoration of idols, but does not forbid the creation or viewing of images. This tripod, from the 12^th century, stands on the legs of three fantastic creatures, possibly lions. Between the main figures, a low relief presents dogs cavorting in gardens. While not used in a religious setting, images of animals such as these have been common in secular Islamic arts since the very advent of Islam in the seventh century.

Tripod stand with fantastic creatures, 12th century, Persian (modern Iran), bronze, 7 x 6 ¾ in. overall, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 52.61. Currently on view in the Ancient Mediterranean and Islamic art galleries, fourth floor, SAM downtown.

SAM Art: An ambiguous procession

Seattle Art Museum on Sep 17 2013

“Things that seem whimsical, incidental, inauthentic may be trusted to provide entry into the heart of one’s material.”

– William Kentridge, 2001

William Kentridge’s raw images prompt our imagination in a way that Technicolor realism cannot. Shadow Procession is set in a featureless landscape that still manages to reference the streets of a Johannesburg of the past. People struggle to move quickly, but we’re not sure if they are fleeing a menace or simply hurrying home. A cat stretches, an eyeball swivels, an Everyman dictator gestures, and a pair of scissors begins to march. Kentridge’s art thrives on ambiguity and unresolved endings.

Shadow Procession, 1999, William Kentridge (South African, born 1955), music by Alfred Makgalemele, 35mm film transferred by telecine to Beta SP PAL video cassette, approx.. 7 mins., The 1999 Maryatt Gala, William and Ruth True, Rebecca and Alexander Stewart, General Acquisition Fund, and James and Christina Lockwood, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2002.51, © William Kentridge and Alfred Makgalemele. On view in the African art galleries, fourth floor, SAM downtown, starting 18 September.

SAM Art: A charming drawing and a powerful lady

Seattle Art Museum on Sep 10 2013

This lively, prancing horse with its soldier rider originally caught the eye of museum staff as a potential memorial purchase in honor of Emma Collins Downey (Mrs. Archibald Stewart Downey). Mrs. Downey was an early museum supporter, whose bequest to the museum allowed for several important purchases of art; one proposed option was this drawing. However, when Mrs. Downey’s niece, Emma Baillargeon Stimson (Mrs. Thomas D. Stimson) saw the sensitively rendered drawing, she liked it so much that she decided to purchase it for her own collection. Mrs. Stimson ultimately did donate the drawing to the museum, in honor of her late husband rather than her late aunt.

Emma Baillargeon Stimson exerted even more lasting influence on the museum than did her aunt. During WWII, while Dr. Richard E. Fuller completed his military service, she became the first female director of the institution. A woman with wide-ranging tastes, she is one of the leading collectors celebrated in A Fuller View of China, Japan, and Korea, now on view at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Cuirassier on Horseback, 1814-1815, Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault (French, 1791-1824), sepia and ink on paper, 14 3/4 x 9 5/16 in., Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection, 53.78. Not currently on view.

SAM Art: Age-old Japanese fashion

Seattle Art Museum on Sep 6 2013

Worn by a Buddhist holy person, the kesa is a one-piece Japanese garment said to be modeled on the robe of the historical Buddha. Early kesa were composed of brown or saffron colored scraps of fabric cut from discarded rags and sewn together in a patchwork fashion, though luxurious robes were later used within the pieced designs . This construction method resonates with the contemporary techniques used by the designers celebrated in Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion.

While the avant-garde couture in Future Beauty leaves Seattle next week (this Sunday, 8 September, is the last day to see the show), the more traditional Japanese garments highlighted in Going for Gold will remain on view until December.

Kesa, 18th-19th century, Japanese, silk with metallic threads, 46 x 81 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 33.667. Currently on view in Going for Gold, third floor, SAM downtown.

SAM Art: An uncommon history

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 29 2013

While we often have a general understanding, rarely does a museum know specifically where works of art were originally used or seen. We do not know what home most Egyptian vases or Peruvian textiles graced; we do not know what parlor or library was home to German prints or American drawings; so many works in the SAM collection have an equal air of mystery.

A rare exception to this rule, we know the entire history of one Assyrian relief in the SAM collection. This fragment adorned a wall in the Palace of Assurbanipal II at Nineveh starting in the 7^th century BC, from where it was excavated by a British team in August, 1854. After being given as a gift to a friend of the archaeologist’s, it remained in that man’s family until just before the museum acquired the work in 1946. The fragment, with its unique history, is now featured in the exhibition Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth, at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art (Willamette University, Salem, Oregon), opening this Saturday.

Bas-Relief Fragment, Neo-Assyrian, ca. 670 B.C., stone, 10 x 8 1/2 x 7/8 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection and Hagop Kevorkian, 46.49. On view at Hallie Ford Museum, Salem, Oregon, starting Saturday, 31 August.

Acknowledging the Katherine White Library

Traci Timmons on Aug 23 2013

In 1981, the art collection of Katherine Coryton White (1929-1980) came to the Seattle Art Museum. Along with her important gifts of African, Native American, Oceanic, Meso and South American art, her book collection was given to what is now the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library at SAM Downtown.

Recently, Pam McClusky, Curator of Art of Africa and Oceania, gave a talk about White and her voracious desire to collect and understand all that she could about African art. That desire to understand reminded me that we had books from her personal library in our collection: I remembered seeing her distinctive bookplate, yet couldn’t readily identify those donated works in our online catalogue (OPAC). The library volunteers and I set out to properly acknowledge her gift by identifying those books and noting their provenance in the catalogue with a note stating “From the Library of Katherine White.”

The original idea was to go book by book through the collection and see if we could find a bookplate or handwritten inscription linking it to White. But something wonderful happened: a box of catalogue cards was discovered in an area of the library typically used for storage. It contained a complete list of the books from White’s library.

The incredible find: a box of cards listing White’s donated book collection

Library volunteers identified books in the collection and noted the former owner in the library catalogue (OPAC).

Such cards would have been used in the card catalogue (the hole at the bottom allowed the cards to slide along a track) which preceded our online catalogue. In this case, we were very happy to have such relics retained.

With this valuable list in hand, we identified more than 350 books, all research-level material, much of it rare, including several 19th century books. There are many interesting works, but some highlights include:

The Ancient Art of Veracruz, published by the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles in 1971 is one of only four copies (the other three are in two California libraries and the British Museum).
New Guinea Art in the Collection of the Museum of Primitive Art, published by the museum in 1968 is one of only three copies (the others owned by a Canadian and a German library).
The Journal of a Residence in Ashantee was published in 1824 and is the oldest work from her collection.
The African Sketch-Book, a well-regarded two-volume set, was published in 1873, and is one of only 87 publically available copies in the world, is quite beautiful and is inscribed by the author, William Winwood Reade (1838-1875).

Cover of *The African Sketch-Book*, 1873.

Inscription by the author, William Winwood Reade in 1873.

Title page to the first volume of *The African Sketch-Book*.

Engraved frontispiece to *The African Sketch-Book*: “The more I looked, the more I was surprised. Here was a great wild elephant, who paid no more attention to us than a cow in a field to people looking over the hedge.”

To see a full list of her books given to the Seattle Art Museum, visit our OPAC and under Lists, choose Special Lists, then The Katherine White Library.

To learn more about Katherine White, see:

Pamela McClusky. Katherine White: Her Epic Quest to Collect a Continent (video) Seattle Art Museum, 2013. 60 minutes. VIDEO N 7398 M33 W3 2013. Available for viewing in the Bullitt Library.
“Taming Reality: Katherine White and the Seattle Art Museum” in Kathleen Bickford Berzock and Christa Clarke, eds. Representing Africa in American Art Museums: A Century of Collecting and Display. University of Washington Press, 2011. N 7380.5 R47. Available for consultation in the Bullitt Library.

Come see these and other works from the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt’s collections on the 5th floor, Seattle Art Museum (Venturi Building). Go to our website for hours and information: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Learn/Library/.

– Traci Timmons, Librarian, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library

Top photo: Katherine White’s personal bookplate.

SAM Art: Ruth Asawa, in memoriam

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 21 2013

A key element in Imogen Cunningham’s photography practice was interaction with fellow artists. This began during her years in Edward Curtis’s Seattle portrait studio, and endured through her many decades of work.

After leaving Seattle, Cunningham lived and worked in San Francisco, where she forged a close friendship with American sculptor Ruth Asawa. Asawa’s woven, hanging sculptures figure prominently in Cunningham’s photographs from the 1950s, recurring motifs that are now associated nearly as closely with Cunningham as they are with Asawa.

In Memoriam: Ruth Asawa, 1926-2013

Ruth Asawa Family and Sculpture, 1957, Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883-1976), gelatin silver print, 10 3/8 x 10 3/8 in., Gift of John H. Hauberg, 89.43, © (1957), 2009 Imogen Cunningham Trust. Not currently on view, but accessible at www.seattleartmuseum.org/emuseum.

A Dog’s Blog: Rupert visits the Olympic Sculpture Park

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 15 2013

Meet Rupert: He loves the park and has agreed to guest blog for us. Here’s what he has to say:

Dear humans, or, as I like to call you, hairless dogs with thumbs,

Hello! Nice to meet you. My name is Rupert Putdownthatshoe. I’m five and I recently moved into a new home in downtown Seattle, where I live with my roommate, Kristen. She pays the rent, and I let her scratch my stomach.

Every afternoon, when my human comes home from work, I take her for walks around the city. I like to think of these walks as daily mini-vacations from my otherwise full-time occupation of protecting our home from intruders like helicopters and the mailman. My favorite mini-vacay destination these days is the Olympic Sculpture Park.We went there yesterday, and I had so much fun giving my roommate a tour of all my favorite smells.

Yesterday’s tour’s highlight was the Park’s newest smell box – it’s called The Western Oracle: We Will Tear the Roof off the Mother by Heather Hart. Inside the smell box, we looked out a window at the Puget Sound, which made me think of the fish I like to eat. There’s also a chimney looking up to the sky, which made me think of the ducks I like to chase. I like this smell box.

Until next time!

Woof, Rupert.

-Carter Stratton, intern for Communications

Rupert enters “The Western Oracle”

SAM Art: A Guardian King

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 14 2013

This Buddhist statue represents the Guardian King of the North, the most powerful of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings, charged with protecting the cardinal directions. Originally Hindu deities, the guardian kings were adopted into Indian Buddhism and then transmitted to China and beyond. Characteristically dressed in military armor and holding aloft a stupa, this particular manifestation of Bishamonten is distinguished by the presence of the earth goddess Jiten, who supports the guardian on her shoulders.

Tobatsu Bishamonten (Vaisravana), late 10th century, Japanese (Heian period, 794 – 1185), wood, gesso, and polychrome, 48 1/2 x 21 x 14 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 48.179. Currently on view in A Fuller View of China, Japan and Korea, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park.

SAM Art: A legacy that lives on

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 6 2013

A man who sought to use his skills and resources to serve his community, Dr. Richard E. Fuller (1897–1976) acted as Director of the Seattle Art Museum from its founding in 1933 until 1973. His passion for Asian art, at a time when its importance was not yet fully acknowledged in this country, was ignited in childhood by his mother’s “cabinet of curiosities,” full of the treasures she collected in her own youthful travels in Asia. Together with his mother, Mrs. Eugene (Margaret Elizabeth MacTavish) Fuller, Dr. Fuller built for Seattle one of the premier collections of Asian art in the United States.

In recent decades, public appreciation and understanding of Asian art has increased greatly. On the occasion of the museum’s 80th anniversary this year, the exhibition, A Fuller View of China, Japan, and Korea is both a tribute and a celebration of Dr. Fuller’s legacy and special recognition of SAM’s sustained efforts in collecting and researching Asian art.

Dr. Richard E. Fuller holding Ewer with bridge handle, early 17th century, Japanese, Mino ware, Oribe style; glazed stoneware, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 58.12 (on view in A Fuller View, starting this Saturday, 10 August, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park). Photo: Paul V. Thomas, 1964.

SAM Art: Sitting pretty

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 23 2013

Summer dancing, yoga, and Zumba in the Olympic Sculpture Park will keep you moving throughout the summer. When you are ready to take a break, look for these witty seating designs by local artist, architect and designer Roy McMakin. McMakin brings impeccable craftsmanship and spectacular finish to his work, making materials perform in new and surprising ways. Matte concrete becomes a warm bench, a plastic lawn chair turns out to be made from monumental bronze, and an enamel stool masquerades as a banker’s box. This is seating with a story.

Suspended between art and design, form and function, McMakin’s artistic practice combines the usually separate creative activities of sculpture, architecture, and design. McMakin coyly uses slight changes in context, scale, and material to alter our understanding of ourselves and our relationship to our environment.

Untitled, 2004-07, Roy McMakin (American, born 1956), concrete, bronze, and steel with porcelain enamel, overall dimensions variable, Gift of the artist and Michael Jacobs, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2006.32, © Roy McMakin. Currently on view in the Olympic Sculpture Park.

SAM Art: New, old masks

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 19 2013

Identified as “Giant” by the collector, we can only imagine how the dancer would have revealed the nature of the formidable being—part man, part bird—portrayed in this mask. Naxnox masked dance performances dramatize prestigious names of supernatural beings, including “Giant,” that make up the pantheon of powerful spirits.

Masks exhibit the greatest range of sculptural variation of all Northwest Coast art forms. The diversity of mask types and their uses reflects the unique cultural beliefs and ceremonial traditions of each group. Five new masks, including this Naxnox mask, were recently added to the Native American art galleries.

Naxnox Mask, ca. 1900, Git’ksan, Kitwancool Village, British Columbia, red cedar, paint, 15 3/8 x 12 3/16 x 12 3/16 in., Gift of John H. Hauberg, 91.1.49. Now on view in the Native American art galleries, third floor, SAM Downtown.

SAM Talks With Valerie Steele

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 18 2013

Do you consider yourself fashionable? Creative? Curious? Well, whether you’re the world’s next top fashion designer or, like me, just a compulsive shopper, SAM Talks this Friday, July 19, is sure to intrigue, inform, & inspire you.

This SAM Talks will be given by someone that I am particularly excited about, Valerie Steele. For those of you who don’t know, Valerie Steele is the Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) in New York City… but that’s not all! She is also a fashion historian, and has been described as one of “fashion’s brainiest women” and a “High-Heeled Historian!” She has even been on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

… Ha! You thought I was done, didn’t you? Not quite!

Steele is also the renowned author of several books, including that which coincides perfectly with SAM’s current exhibition, Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese Fashion, Japan Fashion Now. Japan Fashion Now, both the exhibition and accompanying book, were completed in 2010, and explored what has been called Japan’s “fashion revolution,” beginning in the 1980’s. From this “fashion revolution” emerged an innovative and radical notion of what fashion is, one that played with the unusual, both in terms of materials and design, and the imperfect.

In this talk, Steele will discuss and analyze this movement by exploring the ingeniousness and influence of Japanese fashion designers, such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo! — These designers (and many, many others) are featured in Future Beauty – Don’t miss the opportunity to expand your knowledge, improve your style, or just hang-out and listen to one of the most interesting people in the world of fashion!

For More Information Visit: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/eventDetail.asp?eventID=26286&month=6&day=19&year=2013&sxID=&WHEN=

–Caroline Sargent, Communications Intern

Valerie Steele, Director & Chief Curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT).

SAM Art: Happy 4th of July!

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 3 2013

Happy Independence Day!

Have a wonderful holiday, and be careful with your sparklers and fireworks!

SAM’s three sites are open–and free (including Future Beauty)!–on July 4^th.

Fireman’s coat with waterwheel design, 19th century, Japanese (Late Edo period, 1603-1868), cotton cloth with indigo dye (sashiko and tsutsugaki), 38 1/2 x 48 in., Gift of the Christensen Fund, 2001.418. Not currently on view.

Books on Costume from the Bullitt Library: Peasant Dress Illustrations

Traci Timmons on Jul 2 2013

The special exhibition, Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, gives us an opportunity to look at notable books on costume from our own library collected during our eighty-year history. The original SAM Library was founded in 1933, in conjunction with the opening of the Seattle Art Museum. Some examples on view now at the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library were collected early on as typical art historical research material, but with time and a growing appreciation for earlier printing, illustration and binding methods, these works have now achieved rare and “important” status.

One such treasure is National Costumes: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia – a book not available in any other library on the West Coast ¹. It was published in 1939 by the Hyperion Press, Paris, printed in Brussels and is a great example of outstanding illustration with large, full-color lithographic prints designed by E. Lepage-Medvey (French, active early 20th century).

Title page of National Costumes: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia.

Noting the hardships experienced in this region of Europe at the time — it was, of course, the middle of a World War — art historian André Varagnac (French, 1894–1983) fully appreciates the beauty relayed in the Lepage-Medvey’s illustrations and the sublime nature of everyday objects, like traditional peasant dress:

[With the war,] everything appears to be upset from beginning to end. And yet it turns out that in the pictures representing traditional costume nothing be changed. The creator of these drawings has aimed at opening our eyes… Present day fashion has seized on this peasant aestheticism, which is so often unconscious. And so, in turning towards that form of existence, the artist has come upon what is most permanent and stable in humanity.

Plate 24: Dress of a Young Woman, Vyskova, Moravia.

Plate 29: Dress as Worn in Uhersky Brod, Slovakia.

Come see these and other works from the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt’s collections on the 5th floor, Seattle Art Museum (South/Venturi Building), Wednesday through Friday 10am – 4pm. Learn more here.

– Traci Timmons, Librarian, Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library

¹ According to WorldCat, the world’s largest network of library content and services.

Top photo: Cover of National Costumes: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia. Tan cloth on boards, brown stamped lettering, first edition.

SAM Art: A Gift to a City

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 24 2013

Comprising works of art from China, Ghana, France, Egypt, Mexico, Bohemia, the Northwest Coast, the East Coast, and more, the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection represents nearly one third of SAM’s collection. More than 7,500 works were added to the museum collection by Dr. Richard E. Fuller and his mother, Mrs. Eugene (Margaret MacTavish) Fuller—the museum founders who credited the husband and father (Dr. Eugene Fuller) whose wealth provided for the purchases.

While Dr. and Mrs. Fuller were connoisseurs of Asian art, they felt their personal taste was just a starting point—and not a limit—when collecting for a museum. They saw the museum as their gift to the city of Seattle, a gift which encompassed global collecting, and direct support of local artists. Today, works collected and donated by the Fullers are on view in every museum gallery.

This summer marks the 80^th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum’s founding. A Fuller View of China, Japan, and Korea, an exhibition exploring the Fullers’ collecting and gifts, opens in August at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Dr. Richard E. Fuller, co-founder and Director of the Seattle Art Museum, pictured in art storage in 1964, Photo: Paul V. Thomas, © Seattle Art Museum

Where the Park Meets the Sound

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 19 2013

The view from the Olympic Sculpture Park is heavenly. As you sit in one of the vibrant red chairs, you can gaze out on a harbor filled with sailboats, and onto the Olympic Mountains scraping the clouds. The meadow’s colorful flowers bloom and sway with the ocean breezes, and the native foliage is juxtaposed against clean, modernist lines and bold contemporary art to create a visual feast. It’s hard to imagine, with all its runners, dog walkers, and parades of children running through the distinctive Z-path, that this now iconic park was once site to the Union Oil Company of California.

Since it’s birth in 2007, the Olympic Sculpture Park has undergone hefty changes and challenges, but a large portion of the transformation is ongoing. It was World Ocean Day June 8, and there was no better location to celebrate than on the reclaimed rocky shore of the park. As an intern gardener at the park, I work closely with Bobby McCullough, who has been head gardener since the park opened its gravel walkways. He ensures that water is being used efficiently, and that the naturalized beach area is healthy for park visitors of all kinds, from people to dogs and even harbor seals. Keeping this area in good shape is an important part of the crew’s work: the beach is patrolled for litter almost daily, plants have been placed and cared for to act as a natural buffer, and we even climb the trees to search for troublesome insects. It is safe to say that years after the design implementation, the Olympic Sculpture Park is continually taking efforts to create a clean Puget Sound.

I assist Bobby by hand weeding and performing maintenance, keeping plants healthy and the open space clean and friendly. The park uses organic gardening methods—no pesticides, fertilizers, no harmful chemicals. By using these techniques, it prevents contamination in the soil and on the ground surface, which could then wash into Puget Sound. And what’s even more unique and sustainable than our gardening practices are the plants themselves; they are all native to the Pacific Northwest. Visitors experience four distinct archetypal landscapes at the Olympic Sculpture Park: the valley, the meadows, the grove, and the shore. These series of precincts give the park a sense of regional identity, and reduce water use. The plants are already adapted to Seattle’s climate, and therefore do not require any additional water. Sprinklers in the park are energy-efficient and only turned on when necessary. Young plants are watered while they become established, but in the future they will require little-to-no watering.

Without a doubt, the sculpture park’s most carefully maintained area is where the park meets the Sound. The beach features large logs and boulders, perfect for climbing and sitting to admire the harbor. The shore was designed to act as a natural filter, collecting debris that wash up with the tides. Each year after the storm season, usually in February, Bobby organizes a massive clean up to remove trash and treated lumber. Creosote is a substance created through the distillation of tar to preserve wood, and is toxic. It is often used to treat lumber used in structures like boats and docks, and can wash up onto the beach. Each year Bobby removes six to eight tons of this treated wood from the shore to prevent creosote from leaking into the water. This maintenance continues throughout the year, with treated wood removal and daily trash pick-ups.

The shoreline is carefully monitored through a variety of efforts to create safe wildlife habitat. Learn more about the Olympic Sculpture Park and its restoration.

-Stephanie Stroud, Intern Gardener, Olympic Sculpture Park

SAM Art: Summer with a composer in the park

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 12 2013

Art takes many forms, which all intersect at the Olympic Sculpture Park this summer. Join us for weekly art-making activities, “Art Hits” Tours, drawing classes, as well as dance parties, live music, food carts, yoga classes, and more. In addition to the programs and activities, you can also visit 25 works of art sited throughout the park.

The intersection of the arts is also apparent in one of the park’s works: Mark di Suvero’s Schubert Sonata. Franz Schubert, the sculpture’s namesake, completed hundreds of musical compositions before his untimely death in 1828, at 31 years of age. This sculpture, delicate and graceful despite its rough metal surface, is part of a series dedicated to great composers.

Schubert Sonata, 1992, Mark di Suvero (American, born Italian, in China, 1933), painted and unpainted steel, 22 ft. H; diameter of top element: 10 ft.; base: 6 ft. H, Gift of Jon and Mary Shirley, The Virginia Wright Fund, and Bagley Wright, 95.81, © Mark di Suvero. Currently on view in the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Remix: It’s Got What You Need

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 6 2013

As a brand-new intern at SAM, my very first assignment involved getting up close and personal with the details of the upcoming Remix (as in tomorrow, Friday, June 7!), and let me tell you, the night is jam-packed with good stuff. After learning about all the events, activities, and performances planned, it’s no surprise I’m counting the hours until the doors open, and you should be, too!

Every quarter, SAM holds Remix, an after-hours, 18-and-older event, drawing hordes of party-goers to SAM Downtown to get an intimate view of the museum’s latest exhibition, test their own art-making abilities at various activity booths, watch some unbelievable dance performances, and, of course, bust a move (or two, or ten) of their own.

This season’s Remix event is centered on the Modern exhibition The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States and promises to be nothing short of a modern explosion and an event that you don’t want to miss.

Come see SAM after dark, this Friday from 8 pm–midnight, when the lights turn low and the jams turn up.

DJ Riz kicks the night off in the Brotman Forum with an irresistible, groove-inducing variety of soul-meets-pop-meets-hip-hop beats.

As if that weren’t enough reason to linger, the Brotman Forum will also play venue to three performances by Seattle’s Alchemy Tap Project, whose dancers bring a whole new modern flavor to tap dancing.

Want even more dance?

Head up to the third floor galleries for Modern art-inspired dance vignettes by Seattle-based Salt Horse.

While you’re there, take advantage of SAM’s aptly-titled My Favorite Things: Highly Opinionated Tours to get a fresh and highly opinionated (surprise!) look at SAM’s Collection Galleries. With a wide array of knowledgeable and outspoken guides to choose from, the only way you could possibly go wrong with these tours is by not taking one.

After seeing Fifty Works for Fifty States, you’ll no doubt be itching to start an art collection of your own (if you aren’t, you might want to get your pulse checked), and SAM’s got you covered.

Head to the Chase Open Studio area where artist Joey Veltkamp and other local artists will be waiting to create and exchange mini artworks with you in the SAM Mini Fair; grab a FREE Remix tote bag to store your goods!

If all this dancing, art collecting, and opinion-hearing has you feeling wiped, swing by the Rec Room for libations at the bar and some good, old-fashioned (but not) bingo. If you’re envisioning a room in Florida with faded floral prints and a slow-moving ceiling fan, stop right there. This is not your grandmother’s bingo (and if it is, you’ve got one cool grandma).

Hosted by the fabulous members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, this bingo has a modern (art that is) twist with cards featuring pictures of SAM’s favorite modern artworks. One game in, and you’ll be dying to make a habit of it (SAM is not responsible for any pun-related injuries).

With all the excitement and endless stream of options offered, you may just feel like a kid in a candy store. If you want to make that metaphorical candy a reality, TASTE Restaurant is open ‘til midnight to keep your sweet tooth satisfied. Didn’t I say SAM’s got you covered?

Whatever venue you favor, be it the dance floor, the art exhibition and galleries, or any of the numerous SAM creates studios (minimalist jewelry making, anyone?), one thing is for certain: SAM Remix has everything you need to make this Friday a night to remember.

-Carter Stratton, Communications Intern

Photo by Robert Wade.

World Environment Day 2013: Think Globally, Eat Locally

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 5 2013

When you have, as I do, the privilege of living in a setting as beautiful as the Pacific Northwest, nature’s abundance and magnificence are both too easily and too often taken for granted. More difficult, however, is to acknowledge and pursue the changes that need to be made in order to sustain them.

If you’re at all like me (someone with only a modest understanding of environmental issues) and you love nature’s playground here in Washington State, you’re probably thinking: I want to make a difference, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Well, fear no more! I recently learned that today, June 5, 2013, marks the 41^st annual celebration of World Environment Day (WED).

While WED, like Earth Day, promotes worldwide environmental awareness, it advocates for primarily local participation and action. In doing so, WED enables small-scale involvement and activity and large-scale awareness, encouraging people to think globally, but act locally.

As a new intern in the Communications department, and thus a new member of the “SAM fam,” I wanted to learn how SAM’s environmental efforts pertain to this year’s WED theme, Think.Eat.Save. Think.Eat.Save addresses food-waste and food-loss around the globe and its effects on the environment, an issue I’ve come to learn is taken very seriously by the museum’s own TASTE Restaurant. The TASTE team has made it their mission to support the local community, and since May 2007, when the restaurant opened in the newly expanded museum, they have affirmatively implemented a wide variety of strategies to reduce their food print. In speaking with Executive Chef Craig Hetherington, I was informed that these efforts include recycling, composting (did you know that most of TASTE’s take-away-food packaging is compostable?), buying organic foods, and supporting local farmers and farms, many of which are within 60 miles of the restaurant. According to Chef Hetherington, purchasing locally is both environmentally and economically beneficial. Supporting local farms allows farmers to continue to and more actively farm sustainably, in turn helping to foster the growth of local farms.

Among the numerous local farms incorporated into TASTE’s edible repertoire are:

Skagit River Ranch in Sedro Wooley
Stokesberry Chicken in Olympia
Neuawkum Farms in Olympia
Foraged and Found in Seattle
Olsen Potatoes
Nash’s Organics in Sequim
Tonnemakers Fruits
Smith Brothers Dairy

The efforts made by TASTE are among those most widely acknowledged and practiced in the anti-food-waste/loss movement, but such efforts can also be quite costly. If you don’t have the time or, like me, are on a college-student’s budget, you can still make a difference!

Here are a few of the less-costly ways to participate and raise awareness this World Environment Day:

Visit your local farmers market and get to know a farmer!
Create posters about food-waste/loss and other ways to conserve natural resources around the city. Then take a photo and share it: Follow Seattle Art Museum on Instagram (http://instagram.com/seattleartmuseum), then post photos with #seattleartmuseum.
Share an article on Facebook about an issue that you’re passionate about, tell your followers on Twitter about WED and how they can get involved, or post a picture on Instagram to show your friends how you’re making a difference!
Visit the Seattle Parks and Recreation website to discover ways to make a difference here in Seattle, such as planning a park cleanup!
Plant and sustainably cultivate food at home
Compost
Encourage friends and family to get involved
Think before you eat and help save our environment!

With summer in sight there’s no better time to ‘give back’ to this glorious place that we are lucky enough to call home. Now let’s get out there and make a difference!

Facts about Food Waste/Loss

Global food production uses 25% of all habitable land and is responsible for 70% of fresh water consumption, 80% of deforestation, and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions—it is the largest single driver of biodiversity loss and land use change. (Source: http://www.unep.org/wed/wedpack/thinkeatsave)
Roughly 1/3 of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year—approximately 1.3 billion tons—gets lost or wasted. (Source: http://www.unep.org/wed/quickfacts)
In the United States 30% of all food, worth $48.3 billion, is thrown away each year. (Source: http://www.unep.org/wed/quickfacts)
According to the US EPA Washington State wasted more than 34 million tons of food in 2010—only 3% of which was recovered to feed people and animals, used for composting and energy purposes. (Source: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/organics/prevent.html#waste)
Food waste is Washington State’s largest component of municipal solid waste going to landfills and incinerators. (Source: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/organics/prevent.html#waste)

-Caroline Sargent, Communications Intern

TASTE Restaurant’s Executive Chef Craig Hetherington paying a visit to Skagit River Ranch. Photo: Clare Barboza.

SAM Art: A legacy of friendship

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 4 2013

In 1923, Alexander Archipenko arrived in America, already a highly acclaimed sculptor associated with the modern artists of Paris. In great demand as a teacher, he lectured at many institutions, including the University of Washington. He spent the summers of 1935 and 1936 in Seattle as a visiting professor at the University. It is likely that Archipenko created this sculpture while living and working in Seattle.

While in Seattle, Archipenko became friends with Dr. Richard E. Fuller, the founding Director of the Seattle Art Museum. It is because of this personal relationship that The Bride, an important work of cubist sculpture, was made available to the museum. Using his own funds, Dr. Fuller purchased the sculpture from his friend for the museum. It has been part of the museum collection ever since.

The Bride, 1936, Alexander Archipenko (American, born Ukraine, 1887-1964), terracotta on wood base, 34 1/4 x 6 11/16 x 4 3/4 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 36.64, © Alexander Archipenko. Currently on view in the American Modernism art galleries, third floor, SAM Downtown.

Sam at SAM: Through the Back Door

Seattle Art Museum on May 31 2013

On my first day at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), I was a nervous, fidgety high school senior from The Bush School who entered through the back door on Second Avenue. Fumbling with my purse I told the security guard, “Um…My name’s Samantha Simon. I think I should have a badge up there.” A shaky hand pointed to the wall filled with SAM IDs and sure enough, my face was among them. It was official: I belonged at SAM. Taking multiple wrong elevators, not realizing the museum is closed to the public on Mondays, I finally made it up to the correct 5^th floor where I greeted my supervisor. Sarah Berman, Collections Coordinator and Research Associate at SAM, patiently showed me to my desk where four large coffee table books awaited me.

I smoothed my dress. “Pick a piece of art,” she told me. After a year of art history, I still hadn’t been exposed to anything past the Rococo, so when I scanned through a book labeled Contemporary Art, my mind went wild. I found a beastly wooden sculpture entitled Bovine by a local artist named Whiting Tennis. Showing Sarah, she told me that I was to write a biography on who owned that piece before it came to the museum; the technical term for this history of ownership is provenance.

For the next three days, I poured my caffeine-driven energy into finding out every piece of information I could about Greg Kucera, owner of the Greg Kucera Gallery in Pioneer Square, Seattle, and donor of Bovine. I worked in the shadows printing anything relating to Mr. Kucera, from graduation announcements to gallery reviews, and putting them in a growing pile on my desk. Finally, when I sat down to write, the words came naturally. By the end, I presented the man’s life story thus far in two pages. After writing about Greg Kucera, I was so excited about contemporary art. I moved on to Robert and Honey Dootson, Asian and contemporary art collectors who have now passed away. Quickly becoming an obsession, I combed through SAM catalogues from the ‘70s and used the SAM library to my fullest advantage. Seattle Times articles from the 1960s became my best friend as I researched for fifteen hours, and when it came time to write, four detailed pages magically appeared. Another life: captured. Finally, still newly fascinated with contemporary art, I decided to write about Sidney and Anne Gerber, Native American and contemporary art collectors, who had also passed away. Five pages quickly emerged. Soon, my biographies on Greg Kucera, the Dootsons, and the Gerbers will make their way into SAM’s art database, and will be available to the public in the coming years. It’s an amazing experience to know that, because of me, those people’s stories will be heard.

Along with writing these biographies in the curatorial department, I was also given the opportunity to explore and volunteer in other departments. From conservation to registration to education, I explored SAM widely in my three weeks and learned about how a museum operates. Ducking in and out of ventilating systems, industrial elevators, and lighting rooms, I felt like a character in Narnia as I would turn a darkened corner and enter into a serene museum gallery surrounded by tourists. Like the siblings returning from Narnia, I wanted to tell the patrons about what they might be missing. I saw a room of art storage two stories high, a room behind the Porcelain Room with lighting panels to the ceiling where taped to them were practical jokes, and a conservation lab containing every chemical imaginable where a Jackson Pollock was being restored. Of course, as a SAM patron, one may never know about any of this. The calm gallery floors are a stage and we, the staff and volunteers, the puppet-masters on the other side, have the privilege of sneaking around behind the scenes waiting for the curtain to rise, making sure the art receives the undistracted recognition it deserves.

This fall I will be leaving for college and as I will soon be finished at the museum (at least for this summer) I leave my own personal Narnia behind by exiting through the same door, but different from the way I came: More confident, independent, and ready to take my next step.

SAM Art: Quietly powerful

Seattle Art Museum on May 29 2013

A gifted storyteller, Carrie Mae Weems creates arresting photographs that stage a cinematic narrative revealing a woman in a series of everyday scenarios, dramatically played out around a kitchen table. This woman is Weems herself, poignantly interpreting scenes from an invented love story. Weems takes as her subject the kitchen, the heart of a home, fleshing out the daily dramas that typically occur in this well-trafficked domestic space.

The new installation, In a Silent Way, presents images that quietly reflect on African American identities and histories. Alongside works by Roy DeCarava, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon and Rashid Johnson, four images from Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table series are highlighted.

Untitled (Playing harmonica) from the Kitchen Table series, 1990/1999, Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953), gelatin silver print, 28 x 27 ¾ in., Gift of Vascovitz Family, 2012.13.1, © Carrie Mae Weems. Currently on view in In a Silent Way, Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Gallery, third floor, SAM Downtown.

SAM Art: A new look at an ancient tradition

Seattle Art Museum on May 24 2013

A new installation in SAM’s Native American art galleries explores basketry and ceramics in Native communities of the American west, including this double spout vase made by Maria Martinez and Julian Martinez.

Beginning more than 2,000 years ago, pottery was made by early communities in the southwest, including the ancestors of the Pueblo peoples. Using clay from their homelands to fashion bowls, jars, canteens and figures, Pueblo potters developed distinctive styles that continue unchanged today. Double spout vases symbolizing the marital union were gifted at Pueblo weddings and, with the arrival of tourists in the 1880s, became popular collectors’ pieces. Matte-on-glossy designs were added by Julian after Maria constructed the vessel.

Double spout vase, early-mid-20th century, attributed to Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1887–1980) and Julian Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1879–1943), ceramic, 10 3/16 x 8 1/8 x 6 3/4 in., Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company, 81.17.1946. Currently on view in the Native American art galleries, third floor, SAM Downtown.

Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: A final note

Seattle Art Museum on May 21 2013

Until this weekend, the Seattle Art Museum was proud to play host to Rembrandt van Rijn; Mary, Countess Howe; Mrs. Musters; and their “friends,”—the figures in the great paintings from Kenwood House, London. We spend quite a lot of time talking about these pictures, referring to the “characters” within, but don’t usually give deeper thought to the sitters portrayed, whose names give the pictures their titles. These were people who had lives, families, and legacies—of which we were wonderfully reminded last week.

On Friday, two days before Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London closed to the Seattle public, we were paid a visit by Bob Chaworth-Musters, and his wife Barbara. Bob and Barbara had driven down to Seattle from British Columbia, just to see the show. Does their name sound familiar? It ought to—his five-times-great grandmother was the Mrs. Musters painted by both George Romney (a lady in a blue and white hat) and Joshua Reynolds (the larger-than-life Mrs. Musters as ‘Hebe’).

Bob and Barbara were kind enough to stay and speak with me for a few minutes. They talked about their explorations into family genealogy, the locations of other Musters family portraits, and Mrs. Musters’ storied life and loves—including the English King George III! It was a pleasure to hear from them, learn about their family, and see the exhibition with them before it closed.

Sometimes we forget that the characters in our favorite works of art were people, with real stories, and often with real descendants. Bob and Barbara Chaworth-Musters were a great reminder—and gracious guests at SAM!