Enfilade

Amy Flurry and Nikki Nye, Marie Antoinette (2006), paper, 2012

Amy Flurry and Nikki Nye, Marie Antoinette (1938), paper, 2012

As profiled by Rinne Allen and Lucy Allen Gillis in the recent issue of Selvedge Magazine 50 (Jan/Feb 2013), Amy Flurry and Nikki Nye, co-founders of the Atlanta-based company Paper-Cut Project, contributed sixteen paper wigs for the V&A’s recent exhibition Hollywood Costume. Given that notice of Isabelle de Borchgrave’s paper dresses exhibited in San Francisco in 2011 remains one of the most popular postings here at Enfilade, I would expect readers to be similarly interested in these paper hair pieces.

–CH

Press release (27 February 2013) from the museum:

Following an international search, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City today announced the appointment of Antonia Boström as Director of Curatorial Affairs, a position that will lead the Nelson-Atkins’s dynamic curatorial team. Boström brings a wealth of experience from art museums in London and the United States, including her current leadership position at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. She will begin her new post at the Nelson-Atkins in May.

“Dr. Boström’s wealth of experience across continents and in institutions with world-class collections made her unequivocally the ideal candidate for this position,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “She brings a depth of scholarship and invaluable skills that will advance the curatorial voice of the Nelson-Atkins toward even higher levels of excellence.”

Boström has pursued art throughout her life, and her scholarship and management skills have led her to the Getty Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Royal Academy of Art, London, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among others. She is excited to come to Kansas City and work with the esteemed collection at the Nelson-Atkins.

“The museum is at a great moment of transition, with the exquisite new Bloch Building, a gem of architecture, and with the leadership of Julián Zugazagoitia,” Boström said. “I am interested in working with a collection that is so renowned, but that perhaps is not widely enough known, and in discovering what the museum means to Kansas City. I look forward to working with a talented group of curators as we strive to reach new audiences.”

Born and raised in London, the daughter of a paintings conservator, she received her B.A. (1979) in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London University, and obtained her PhD in 1996 from the same institution. She worked in London as museum assistant at the National Portrait Gallery (1980), in the National Art Library and as an assistant curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1980-1985), as a commissioning editor at the Grove Dictionary of Art for Macmillan Publishers (1985-1988), and as acting curator of the Permanent Collection of Paintings and Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts (1995-96).

Boström, fluent in five languages, spent important years at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1996 to 2004, working with that institution’s rich collection as an assistant, then associate curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. While there she was co-author of Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and she was an adjunct professor at Wayne State University.

Since 2004 she has been the Senior Curator and Department Head, Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Boström led the installation of the Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Garden and Terrace in collaboration with Richard Meier Architects & Olin Patnership, plus the reinstallation of several Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries. Among the many she has been involved with are two recent exhibitions at the Getty Museum – Messerschmidt and Modernity and Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution. (more…)

Press release (February 2013) from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm:

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Madame Lefranc Painting a Portrait of Her Husband Charles Lefranc, watercolour and gouache on ivory, 1779 (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, NMB 2625) Photo: Bodil Karlsson

The Nationalmuseum has acquired a spectacular miniature by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. One of the most important women artists in late 18th-century France, she was not previously represented in the museum’s collections. The work is interesting on account of the motif alone, depicting a woman, albeit an amateur, in the role of artist.

Miniature portraits by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749–1803) are extraordinarily rare. Her depiction of Madame Lefranc Painting a Portrait of Her Husband Charles Lefranc was painted five years after she made her debut (1779). Like many other female artists, she realized early on that miniature portraits offered a steady source of income. She was a pupil of the Swiss enamellist François-Élie Vincent, a neighbour of her father’s fashion shop in Paris. Gradually Labille-Guiard also took up working with pastels. She frequently reproduced these works in a smaller format as miniatures. After her election to the French Royal Academy of Art in 1783, she switched over completely to large-scale oil portraits. By then, Labille-Guiard had acquired pupils such as Marie-Gabrielle Capet and Marie-Thérèse de Noireterre. It became their job to translate her portraits into miniature format to satisfy the ever-changing demands of customers.

The acquisition of this spectacular work by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, made possible by a generous donation from the Hjalmar and Anna Wicander Foundation, has filled a major gap in Nationalmuseum’s world-renowned miniatures collection. Madame Lefranc Painting a Portrait of Her Husband Charles Lefranc also documents a time when women began to emerge as serious artists.

Press release (17 January 2013) from The Getty:

Ping ding Kuoerke zhan tu, or Pictures of the Campaigns against the Gurkhas
(i.e., Nepalese), China, ca. 1793 (LA: The Getty Research Institute)

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The Getty Research Institute (GRI) has acquired an extraordinarily rare suite of battle prints from about 1793 that depict the Chinese Emperor Qianlong’s (reign era, 1736–1795) successful military campaign against invading armies from Nepal. These eight large-format copper engravings represent the complete set of prints commissioned by the Emperor to commemorate his 1792 victory. Printed in China, this set is one of seven so-called ‘Conquest’ suites.

“The rarity of these prints makes them an extraordinary addition to the GRI’s stellar collections depicting ‘China on Paper,’ highlighting cross-cultural relationships between Europeans and Chinese,” said Marcia Reed, Chief Curator at the Getty Research Institute. “Because the GRI holds strong collections of related works, it’s extremely beneficial to bring the collections already in place and these prints together for future research and publication.”

The scenes show dynamic landscapes of undulating mountains which seem to envelope the troops marching and fighting amidst their peaks and valleys. One plate depicts the victorious emperor being carried towards a yurt in front of a grand hall. The defeated soldiers of the enemy are grouped on the left, all on their knees. Each print includes a poem at the top of the engraved print; the poems were based on the Emperor’s own personal commentary on the scenes.

Prints such as these made their way into China from Europe in the 1700s and the emperor would have been given gifts of panoramic battle prints by visiting European dignitaries. In 1765 he ordered drawings to be made from monumental paintings commemorating his recent victories. These drawings, made by Jesuits employed by Qianlong’s court, were sent to Paris for engraving and printing. Created by Europeans for a Chinese audience, the prints were very European in appearance, with Chinese visual tropes incorporated in the drawings. When the prints were received at court, poetry was added to them—a very Chinese touch.

The Pictures of the Campaigns against the Gurkhas break away from this hybrid imagery. Though inspired by a European tradition and using French printing techniques, the drawings are notably Chinese in composition and style.

As part of the GRI’s special collection, these prints will now be available for scholarly research. The GRI’s vaults hold rare and unique collections in art history and visual culture from around the world, including more than 27,000 prints ranging from the Renaissance to the present.

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Additional information and illustrations are available at Amy Hood’s posting on the Getty’s blog, The Iris»

Press release (6 October 2012) from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA:

The Peabody Essex Museum announced the appointment of Austen Barron Bailly as the museum’s first George Putnam Curator of American Art. Bailly joins PEM’s curatorial team following her post as the head of the American Art department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and previous positions held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Wildenstein & Co., Inc. in New York.

Selected for her interdisciplinary and adventuresome curatorial approach, Bailly joins PEM at the cusp of the museum’s landmark $650 million campaign and expansion project. In her curatorial capacity at PEM, Bailly will lead the development of a multi-faceted American art program focusing on exhibitions, new interpretation in the galleries, and expanding the museum’s collection which currently includes paintings, decorative arts, photographs, folk art, and textiles representing over 300 years of New England and American art and culture.

“Austen brings a fresh and exciting perspective to the field that will greatly accelerate and enhance the museum’s presentation of American Art in the years to come,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, PEM’s James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Chief Curator.

A native of New Orleans, Bailly earned her PhD in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her MA from Williams College. She will begin her new position as PEM’s George Putnam Curator of American Art in January, 2013. George and Nancy Putnam are long-time PEM Trustees who have made an indelible contribution to the museum’s future with their endowment of Bailly’s position, and that of a future Curator of Fashion and Textiles, for whom a national search is in progress.

PEM announced a comprehensive $650 million Campaign in October 2011, designed to advance the museum’s mission to celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity in ways that transform people’s lives. To date, the museum has received gifts and pledges totaling $570 million. The Campaign includes a $350 million addition to the current $280 million endowment, $200 million for a 175,000-square-foot expansion designed by Rick Mather Architects, and $100 million to support creative new installations of the collection, several infrastructure improvements to existing facilities and other advancement initiatives. The $350 million endowment increase will cover all increased operating and program costs for an expanded facility; support continued development of the museum’s distinctive exhibitions, publications, curatorial and education programs; and enable continuation of a strong financial base. The expansion, set to open in 2017, will add up to 75,000 square feet of new galleries; a new restaurant and roof garden; new public program and education space; and essential improvements to collections storage, exhibition processing and conservation functions.

Press release from the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (2 October 2012) . . .

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Dr John Ash, 1788 (Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery)

Director Ann Sumner today announces that Birmingham Museums has been successful in raising funds to acquire Sir Joshua Reynolds’ iconic portrait of Dr John Ash. The magnificent work, currently owned by Queen Elizabeth Birmingham Hospitals Charity, has been on loan to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery since 1993. This acquisition secures the painting for the city, ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy the masterpiece.

The portrait of Dr Ash by the celebrated eighteenth-century portrait painter Reynolds is valued at £900,000 but the Queen Elizabeth Birmingham Hospitals Charity has generously agreed to reduce this to £875,000 to enable Birmingham Museums to successfully complete the acquisition. Professor Sumner comments, “”We are delighted to announce that Birmingham Museums will be acquiring this significant work. The portrait is one of Reynolds’ late, great works, and its combined historic and artistic qualities make it one of the most important cultural icons of the city of Birmingham. The acquisition comes at a particularly opportune time for the city, and will be presented as part of a larger celebration of portraiture from Birmingham’s collections in 2013.”

Councillor Ian Ward, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council said: “This painting has real importance for the city’s heritage, and I’m delighted that Birmingham Museums have raised the necessary funds in addition to the lottery fund grant. I would like to thank everyone who played a part in securing this wonderful painting which the people of Birmingham – and visitors to our city – will be able to enjoy and appreciate.”

Birmingham Museums Trust was awarded a grant of £675,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £100,000 from The Art Fund to support the acquisition. The Museums Trust has successfully raised a further £100,000 through grants from organisations including the Museum Development Trust, Public Picture Gallery Fund, the Friends of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, William A Cadbury Trust and John Feeney Trust.

Although Birmingham Museums Trusts has successfully raised the money to acquire the portrait, the public appeal will continue in order to raise the funds to undertake minor conservation works to the painting, not least having it reglazed with non-reflective glass so visitors can better appreciate the Reynolds’ masterpiece.

John Ash (1723–98) was an eminent physician who built up a successful medical practice from his house in Temple Row in Birmingham. Ash was a co-founder of the Birmingham General Hospital, and the portrait commissioned by the governors of the Hospital in honour of his services to the people of Birmingham. The first installment of 100 guineas (half payment) was paid to Reynolds by George Birch on behalf of the governors in April 1788.  The eleven sittings with Ash are recorded in the artist’s pocket book between 28th April and 7th July the same year.

AIC press release (29 October 2012) . . .

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Digital Information and Access and the Department of European Decorative Arts are pleased to unveil a new gallery interactive that revolutionizes the museum experience while improving public access to art. LaunchPad is a specially developed platform for the iPad—containing engaging and interactive multimedia resources—that brings three-dimensional objects to life. With the new LaunchPads in the galleries, visitors have at their fingertips basic introductory facts about works of art enhanced by animations, brief video documentaries on techniques and use, and views of the works not possible in the galleries alone.

Drawers open, music plays, and objects are assembled and re-assembled right in front of visitors—lending great insight to the original contexts, uses, and construction of works of art from the 16th through the 19th centuries. The new technology and visualization tools will debut on October 28, 2012 with more than 50 objects featured on 25 iPads installed in the Eloise W. Martin Galleries of European Decorative Arts. LaunchPad will also be stationed at 16 kiosks throughout the new Jaharis Galleries of Ancient, Roman, and Byzantine Art when those galleries open to the public on November 11. With this effort, the Art Institute of Chicago becomes one of the first museums to offer such extensive scholarly and entertaining content—more than 1000 supporting images, 16 videos, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into context and conditions of production of works of art—on a custom platform rooted in the gallery experience.

“The decorative arts in a museum have always presented something of a challenge,” said Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. “These objects—chairs, cabinets, tableware—were originally designed to be used but must now be protected so they can be preserved. We are thrilled that we can present these intricate objects in a much richer context through the creative use of technology, thanks to the generosity of Melinda Martin Sullivan and the Eloise W. Martin Legacy Fund. And we are confident that the LaunchPad platform and the resources it contains will be a model not only
for other galleries here at the Art Institute but for other
museums as well.”

“LaunchPad has truly been a collaborative effort involving no fewer than 71 professionals across the museum and beyond,” said Sam Quigley, project leader for LaunchPad and vice president for collections management, imaging, and information technology. “Working so intimately with Ghenete Zelleke, Samuel and M. Patricia Grober Curator in the Department of European Decorative Arts, and her colleagues, along with videographers, editors, photographers, and researchers has been a monumental, and monumentally satisfying, effort. And our hope is that similar institutions may take up LaunchPad as a model; with our development partners at IMA Labs of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Sandbox Studios, we have been committed to making this an open source platform so that others may benefit from, and build on, what we have developed.”

More than two and a half years in development, LaunchPad will offer visitors the chance to get up close to some of the centuries-old objects in the Art Institute’s collection and discover their hidden stories through several innovative technologies. Users will be able to virtually “handle” objects, turning them over to examine the exquisite artistry on each and every side, through advanced 360-degree imaging. And animated videos of works such as the magnificent multi-chambered Augsburg Cabinet will allow users to open doors and drawers and see the beautiful carvings in the interiors and the pharmaceutical tools and bottles that are stored inside.

For the LaunchPad platform, teams at the museum have additionally created more than a dozen videos that focus on the skilled craftsmanship that went into making the pieces, providing an intimate view into the actual processes and techniques behind these objects. One such film captures Patrick Edwards, one of very few Americans trained in traditional 18th-century French marquetry, or wood inlay, recreating sections of an intricate coffer by André Charles Boulle in his San Diego studio— without a power tool in sight. Another video records two artists, one from the School of the Art Institute’s ceramics department, fashioning a replica of an earthenware vase step by step, from throwing to painting to glazing.

With its host of unique resources—which even includes an 18th-century recipe for rabbit stew for the museum’s rabbit-shaped porcelain tureen—LaunchPad will enhance visitors’ experience and appreciation of the museum’s rich holdings of European decorative arts and offer a model for creating the most productive intersection possible between the technology of today and the creative expression of the past.

LaunchPad was designed and written by staff from numerous departments at the Art Institute of Chicago. Its open source software was developed by IMA Labs at the Indianapolis Museum of Art with project coordination and management by Sandbox Studios of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The software is based on the TAP project, which is a collection of free and open source tools supporting the creation and delivery of mobile tours.

LaunchPad was originally conceived for the galleries of European Decorative Arts by Melinda Martin Sullivan and was created with a grant from her late mother, Eloise W. Martin.