March 14, 2018

World Book’s celebration of Women’s History Month continues with a look at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. The museum, which opened in 1987, exhibits the work of women artists of all periods and nationalities. The NMWA collection of more than 4,500 works includes paintings by such celebrated artists as American Mary Cassatt and Mexico’s Frida Kahlo. The museum emphasizes, however, works by lesser-known women artists who have often gone overlooked by larger galleries. The NMWA occupies Washington’s old Masonic Temple, a building that dates from 1903 and appears on the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to celebrating women’s achievements in the literary, performing, and visual arts. Credit: U.S. Department of State

The NMWA is the only major museum in the world “solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.” It was founded by art collectors Wilhelmina Cole Holladay and her husband, Wallace Holladay. Inspired initially by a work by Flemish painter Clara Peeters (see below), the couple sought to collect and promote the works of women artists neglected by art museums as well as art history. After many years, the Holladay Collection became the core of the NMWA, which was incorporated in 1981. After giving private tours in the Holladay home, the NMWA purchased the Masonic Temple in 1983. After significant renovations, the museum opened there in 1987. The museum’s first exhibition was “American Women Artists, 1830-1930.”

Still Life of Fish and Cat by Flemish artist Clara Peeters caught the eye of collectors Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay, and inspired them to create the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Credit: Still life with fish and cat (1620′s), oil on panel by Clara Peeters; National Museum of Women in the Arts

In addition to its permanent collections, the NMWA features temporary exhibitions each year. (Chinese-American artist Hung Liu is currently featured in “Hung Liu In Print,” an exhibition running through early July.) The museum also runs a public program highlighting the power of women in the arts as catalysts for artistic, political, and social change. The NMWA’s 17,500-volume Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center serves as a leading resource on women artists as well as on gender disparity in the arts. The NWMA also publishes art history books and Women in the Arts magazine.

March 7, 2018

Last week, on February 28, an exhibition of artwork of the ancient Americas opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Called “Golden Kingdoms: Luxury & Legacy in the Ancient Americas,” the exhibition features the arts of the Aztec, the Inca, and other pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico and Central and South America. American Indian art created before A.D. 1500 is called pre-Columbian because it was produced before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.

The Golden Kingdoms exhibition includes this burial mask recovered from an ancient site known as Dos Cabezas on the northern Pacific coast of Peru. The gilded copper mask features eyes inlaid with shell and violet stone. The mask covered the face of a young man–no doubt someone of significance–wearing gold nose ornaments (see image below). Credit: Burial mask (A.D. 525–550), gilded copper, shell, and stone; Museo de Sitio de Chan Chan, Perú; Christopher B. Donnan/Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gold working in the ancient Americas began in the Andean cultures of South America and later developed farther north in Mesoamerica (what is now Central America and Mexico). Gold—considered an earthly remnant of the divine sun—and other precious metals were used more for decoration and ritual than for currency, tools, or weapons. Fine arts in the ancient Americas often connected people to ancestors, to the natural world around them, and to the gods and legends of their individual mythologies. Decorative objects were also used used in games and music and to celebrate fine harvests or rites of passage.

The Golden Kingdoms exhibition pays particular tribute to gold working. However, it also shows numerous works of bronze, copper, and silver, as well as precious objects made of cinnabar, jade, malachite, sea shell, turquoise, and feathers—materials often considered more valuable than gold. Noble textiles and fine pottery are also featured in the exhibit, which explores how materials were selected and transformed into art, what gave the objects meaning, and how they were used in sacred rituals.

These nose ornaments on display at the Met were found beneath the burial mask seen above. The deceased young man wore a rectangular gold ornament with a silver border. The hammered gold owl was compressed and placed in his mouth. The other ornaments depict a bat and a monkey. Credit: Clockwise from top left: Nose ornament (A.D. 525–550), gold and silver; Nose ornament (A.D. 525–550), Gold; Nose ornament (A.D. 525–550), Gold and stone; Nose ornament (A.D. 525–550), Gold; (Museo de Sitio de Chan Chan, Perú/Christopher B. Donnan/Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The Met exhibition features more than 300 works of newly discovered archaeological finds as well as established masterpieces from museums in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Objects on display include bells, belts, collars, masks, and various forms of jewelry. “Golden Kingdoms: Luxury & Legacy in the Ancient Americas” runs through May 28.

November 17, 2017

Today, November 17, marks the 100th anniversary of the death of prolific French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Earlier this year, the Grand Palais in Paris, France, celebrated the anniversary with “Rodin: The Centennial Exhibition” from March through July. The Grand Palais (an exhibition hall and museum complex) collaborated with the nearby Rodin Museum to feature numerous masterpieces created by Rodin, largely considered the greatest sculptor of the late 1800’s and early 1900′s. The Rodin exhibit and celebration extended to art museums in Berlin, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and other world cities.

Auguste Rodin poses before a work in progress. Credit: © Bridgeman Art Library/SuperStock

Rodin created an enormous number of sculptures of the human figure. Many of them have a great deal of emotional intensity, and explore a wide range of human passions. The inner feelings of his figures are expressed through a vigorous sense of movement and by gestures that emphasize different parts of the body. Many of his figures are incomplete or fragmentary. These works consist of just a torso, a head, or hands.

Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker is one of the French sculptor’s most famous works. Several versions of this statue exist. Credit: The Thinker (1880), bronze statue by Auguste Rodin; Musee Rodin, Paris, France (© Timothy McCarthy, Art Resource)

Rodin was primarily a modeler, preferring to work with clay and wax rather than to carve in stone. After he created the original model, his assistants would translate it into marble or bronze. Inspired by the Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo, Rodin’s marble figures are often beautifully smooth and finished, emerging from parts of the marble that are often very rough. The surfaces of his bronze works combine a thorough understanding of anatomy with a rough texture that allows light and shadow to enliven the work.

Rodin was born in Paris on Nov. 12, 1840. He did not win public recognition for many years, and he had to earn his living designing popular sculpture and ornament for commercial firms. Indifference and misunderstanding greeted his first exhibits, but appreciation for his work gradually spread. By 1880, his genius began to be more widely appreciated, and by the 1900′s, he was world famous.

In 1880, Rodin was commissioned by the French government to create a large sculptural door for the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris. The subject was the “Inferno” from Dante’s Divine Comedy. The door was never finished, but Rodin created many figures for it. Later, he developed many of them as independent sculptures. The best known include The Thinker and The Kiss. Rodin’s most important later works include the monumental group The Burghers of Calais and the monument to author Honoré de Balzac.

August 8, 2017

Late last month, on July 28, legendary American photographic editor John Morris died at a hospital near his home in Paris, France. A longtime editor for magazines, newspapers, and the famous Magnum Photos cooperative, Morris commissioned and published some of the most iconic photographs of the 1900’s. He was 100 years old.

John Morris attends the 2010 International Center of Photography Infinity Awards in New York City. Credit: © Theo Wargo, Getty Images

John Godfrey Morris was born on Dec. 7, 1916, in Maple Shade, New Jersey. Morris grew up in Chicago, where he attended the University of Chicago. As a student, Morris helped found and edit a university publication modeled on Life magazine—one of the era’s most popular illustrated publications.

After graduating in 1938, Morris began working for Time-Life publications in New York City. After the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), Morris went to London, where he edited the many war photos going into Life’s weekly editions. On June 7, 1944, he edited the stirring images captured by Robert Capa the day before as the famous photographer hit the beaches of Normandy, France, with the U.S. Army on D-day. Before the invention of digital photography, photographers in the field rarely saw their developed images. It was up to a photo editor to process the photographer’s film and select, crop, and otherwise edit the photographs for publication.

After the war, Morris returned to New York City, where he worked as photo editor for the Ladies’ Home Journal, the biggest selling magazine at the time. One of his most ambitious projects there was sending Capa and author John Steinbeck to report on conditions in the Soviet Union. In 1953, Morris became executive editor of Magnum Photos, a cooperative created by Capa and others to help photographers sell their work while keeping copyright control. At the time, Magnum employed such photography stars as Capa, Eve Arnold, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, David Seymour, and W. Eugene Smith. Today, Magnum continues to be one of the world’s preeminent photographic agencies.

Morris served briefly as photo editor for The Washington Post before joining The New York Times in 1967, during the Vietnam War (1957-1975). In 1968, Morris insisted a graphic photograph of the execution of a Viet Cong prisoner run on the front page of the Times—a photograph many credit with help turning public opinion against the war. In 1972, Morris published another now-famous photo showing screaming Vietnamese children fleeing a napalm attack. Those two Vietnam War images both won the Pulitzer Prize. “I have always believed in showing how ugly war is,” Morris said, “and I have encouraged newspapers to take a realistic view of war.”

Morris later moved to Paris, where he worked for National Geographic before retiring in 1989. In his later years, Morris worked with young photographers and often spoke about his long career and of his experiences with some of the world’s greatest photographers. Oddly enough, Morris himself rarely took photos, but his editorial vision helped create and define modern photojournalism.

August 7, 2017

The Muses were nine graceful goddesses of art and inspiration in the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Each goddess ruled over a different art or science. The people they inspired included artists, poets, and musicians—even politicians.

The ancient Roman marble sculpture Sarcophagus of the Muses (at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France) depicts the nine Muses. This photo shows Erato, left, the Muse of love poetry; Urania, center, the Muse of astronomy; and Melpomene, right, the Muse of tragedy. Credit: © G. Dagli Orti, De Agostini Picture Library/Bridgeman Images

In Greek mythology, the Muses were nine beautiful sisters. Their father was Zeus, the king of the gods, and their mother was Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Muses had melodic voices that made people forget their sorrows. The modern word music comes from their name. The sisters often sang as a chorus at Zeus’s royal court. They could see the past, the present, and the future. They could recall the truths of all events throughout all time, and their songs expressed those truths.

Each Muse governed and inspired a particular art or science. Greek and Roman artists often depicted them with symbols reflecting their specialties. They showed Calliope, the Muse of heroic poetry, with a writing tablet. Calliope was also the chief Muse. Clio, the Muse of history, often held a scroll. The Muse of astronomy, Urania, sometimes had a globe. Thalia, who inspired dramatic comedy, held a smiling mask, while Melpomene, who inspired tragedy, held a sad mask. The masks of comedy and tragedy remain symbols of the theater today. Artists often pictured Polyhymnia, the Muse of sacred song, looking thoughtful and meditative. They showed Euterpe (lyric poetry) with a flute, while Terpsichore (dance) and Erato (love poetry) each played a stringed instrument called a lyre. Ancient music and literature were closely interconnected. The Greek and Roman poets usually sang their poetry, and performers also danced and sang poetic verses in plays.

The ancient poets often began a poem or play with an appeal to the Muses for inspiration, hoping for divine help in composing works of timeless truth and beauty. It was said that the Muses, especially Clio, could help kings make eloquent speeches to settle conflicts and persuade people to live in peace. The Muses also helped scientists discover true knowledge. However, prideful people who thought they needed no help risked angering the Muses. Those people might wind up devoid of inspiration, singing untruths, or even mute—unable to speak or sing their songs at all.

Today, artists sometimes call a person who inspires them their “muse.” For a lack of good ideas, one might cry, ”I’ve lost my muse.” Sometimes, people call a new art form or type of writing the “Tenth Muse.”

April 27, 2017

Eighty years ago yesterday, on April 26, 1937, Nazi German and fascist Italian bombers attacked the Basque city of Guernica in northern Spain. The bombing occurred during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), which was fought between right-wing Nationalist rebels and the liberal Republican forces of Spain’s democratically elected government. Spanish Nationalist leader Francisco Franco supported the air attack, which destroyed the Basque town and killed over 1,500 people—mostly women, children, and elderly people. News of the bombing generated a storm of international protests and demonstrations, and the incident became known as a symbol of fascist brutality. Spanish artist Pablo Picasso—outraged by the attack—captured the terror of the bombing in his masterpiece Guernica. The work is considered one of the most powerful antiwar paintings in history.

Guernica is considered one of Picasso’s masterpieces. Picasso painted this symbolic work as a protest against the 1937 bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Credit: Oil on canvas, 25 1/2 by 11 1/2 feet (7.8 by 3.5 meters); the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid (MAS); © Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Picasso painted Guernica as a commission for the Spanish Pavilion in the Paris World’s Fair of 1937. The large picture is 25^½ feet (7.8 meters) long and 11^½ feet (3.5 meters) high. Picasso completed the work in about a month—from May 1 to June 4, 1937—of feverish activity. He used several of the stylistic techniques that appear in his earlier paintings, notably the fragmented figures of Cubism and abstract forms of African sculpture.

The ruins of Guernica, Spain, smolder in the aftermath of an air attack on the town on April 26, 1937. The bombing outraged Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and inspired him to create Guernica, one of his most famous works. Credit: © Everett Historical/Shutterstock

Picasso painted Guernica in somber gray, black, and white colors. He used distortions and exaggerations to convey the fear, suffering, horror, and misery of the scene. Among the central figures are victims of the violence, including a wounded horse, a dead soldier, a screaming woman holding her dead baby, and a bull, which Picasso often used as a symbol of Spain. The work has stimulated many interpretations, though the artist consistently refused to provide any insight into the symbolism of the work.

Pablo Picasso. Credit: © Everett Collection/Alamy Images

To keep Guernica safe during World War II (1939-1945), Picasso—who lived in France—sent the painting to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, where it remained until being returned to Spain in 1981. Guernica now hangs in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain, where a major 80^th anniversary exhibition—called “Pity and Terror in Picasso: The Path to Guernica”—began April 5, 2017, and runs through September 4.

Guernica, a town with little strategic importance, was attacked to test the effects of bombing civilian targets in an effort to demoralize the enemy. Such attacks illustrated the brutality of the fascist Nationalists and their leader, Francisco Franco. The Nationalists—supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy—won the Spanish Civil War, and Franco ruled Spain as a dictator until his death in 1975.

March 28, 2017

Today, March 28, marks 100 years since the death of American artist Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917). Ryder is considered one of the most original of American painters. He is best known for his brooding night scenes of the sea and dreamlike landscapes. Many of his paintings are based on historical, literary, and religious texts. Ryder conceived simple, bold designs, and he often used dark and pale tones in dramatic contrast. He laid paint on thickly, working on each painting for a long time, creating layers of textured color.

Under a Cloud by Albert Pinkham Ryder. Credit: Under a Cloud (1900), oil on canvas by Albert Pinkham Ryder; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ryder was born on March 19, 1847, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a town deeply rooted in the whaling industry of the time. As a youth, Ryder witnessed the constant coming and going of whaling ships, all while hearing harrowing tales of whaling itself. His images of ships on turbulent, nighttime seas serve almost as bleak warnings. At the same time, his landscapes—often with the sea in the background—show a romantic vision of life on land. Regardless of the subject, darkness looms and often dominates Ryder’s creative and strikingly original paintings.

Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1905. Credit: Smithsonian Institution

Ryder had already produced landscapes by the time he moved to New York City in 1870. His maritime fascinations continued in New York, where he studied the play of moonlight on ships sailing the Hudson River. Romantic and independent by nature, Ryder worked in seclusion and was largely self-taught. Ryder did have contact with other artists, however, and he traveled to Europe to study the natural scenes of the French Barbizon and Dutch Hague schools—both strong influences on his later works. Ryder’s imaginative style, which often approaches abstract and modernist design, won critical praise and influenced many other painters.

Landscape by Albert Pinkham Ryder. Credit: Landscape (1897–98), oil on canvas by Albert Pinkham Ryder; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ryder exhibited paintings from the 1870’s into the early 1900’s, including a well-received showing at New York City’s famous Armory Show in 1913. Ryder’s health began to fail soon after the Armory Show, and he died on March 28, 1917. A memorial exhibition of his work was held the next year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where Ryder’s paintings are still seen today.