Newsletter
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
ART GALLERIES
William Kentridge: Nose and other Subjects WINTER/SPRING 2014/vol VIII What’s Inside: 2 3 5 6
Supporting SUArt Notes from the Director Al Hirschfeld and Syracuse: A Most Talented Association Winter/Spring 2014 Calendar
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Traveling Exhibitions Gallery as Classroom: SUArt and Education Building the Collection An Institutional Memory: The Cortese Print Collection
Exhibition/Education/Collection Syracuse University Art Galleries/Shaffer Art Building /Syracuse Ne w York 13244
suart.syr.edu
Suzanne Thorin Malcolm Lubiner Matthew Degan Elisabeth Melczer Hilda Wright Broad Estate Thomas and Maureen Walsh Donald and Patricia Cortese Robert Birmelin Gerald D. Cramer Elisabetta Bartoloni David and Cleota Tatham Louise Yamada Katherine Schrag Wangh and Larry Wangh Waitzkin Memorial Library and Kohl Foundation, Inc. Susan Hilferty Rosalind Schneider Stanley and Margaret Planton Carl Schramm Abbe and Lloyd Hascoe Samuel Mandel Michael and Helen Levy Dian Friedman Adam Krueger Hamilton Armstrong Paul and Marcia Greenberg Sylvia Greenberg Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. Nora Lavori Domenic and Maureen Iacono Edward and Cathleen Aiken David Tomlin Neal McCurn Jerome Witkin Richard Pasquarelli Bill Goldston Mardy Widman John & Claudia (Dattoma) McIntyre Charles & Jennifer Heckelman Matthew Conway Cynthia Cable Michael and Tatiana Lefkowitz Janice MacKinnon
They support the Arts at SU. Recent gifts and donations from the past few years have included original artwork from artists Richard Pasquarelli ‘90, Adam Krueger and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.; important contributions to the collection from Bill Goldston, Abbe and Lloyd Hascoe (’78 and ‘81), and collector Hamilton Armstrong. Monetary gifts, like that made by Robert Bradley Fritz ’51, allow us to further build the SUArt Collection through the purchase of artwork.
Art
David Tomlinson Michael and Carole Bleier Susan Wadley
Whether it’s through a financial donation or a gift of artwork, the SUArt Galleries relies on the support of our alumni and friends to continue the high level of unique exhibitions and educational programs that make the SUArt Galleries such a valuable and distinctive part of Syracuse University.
THE
OF GIVING
You can direct your generosity in a variety of ways:
Underwrite Exhibitions and Programs Support Research and Publications Fund Graduate Assistantships Subsidize the Purchase of Artwork Simply go to suart.syr.edu/give-now to support the Galleries today. Once at the secure giving page, you can let us know exactly how you want your gift to be used. The SUArt Galleries also accepts tax deductible donations of artwork and ethnographic objects. Contact us at suart@syr.edu or (315) 443-4097 for more information.
Be a part of the Arts at SU. Support SUArt today.
suart.syr.edu/give-now/
NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR You may remember from our fall 2013 newsletter that our exhibitions for this academic year would have a decidedly international aspect. Nyumba ya Sanaa: Works from the Maryknoll Collection, A World Apart: Art from the Samuel T. Pees Collection, Print Making Revolution: Mexican Prints and the Taller de Gráfica Popular, and Paul Strand: The Mexican Portfolio presented works from Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Mexico. This semester we continue to feature international artists with displays of artwork from Domenic Iacono, Director
India and South Africa.
Leela Devi, 9/11/2001, 2003. Devi has for many years painted the traditional gods, goddesses, and kohbars. But when moved by current events, like many other Mithila painters, she can also produce powerful contemporary images. Her painting of the events of 9/11 combines before, during, and after images of that tragic day.
Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form includes works
Two other exhibitions will also be on display beginning in late
from the early 1970s to 2010 that provide an insight into the
January, Arts on Main: Contemporary Prints from South Africa
extraordinary vitality of a 700-year Indian tradition that has
and William Kentridge: Nose and other Subjects. The first of
been dramatically transformed in the last 50 years. Since the
these shows features artists working in Johannesburg and
fourteenth century women in the Mithila region of Bihar, India
Cape Town who use their art to address contemporary issues
have practiced a traditional form of painting originally intended
that are not only important to South Africans but the global
for the privacy of their homes. Often painted like murals on an
community. Some use traditional media to comment about
interior wall these images have changed in recent years and
social and political conditions within urban centers, while
now look very different. Today the paintings are done on paper
others explore notions of ‘African-ness’ in their post-Apartheid
(making them more accessible to a larger audience), the subject
world. Non-traditional image and mark making are also
matter has been broadened to include socially relevant themes,
explored by some of these artists in the development of their
and the experience of making these paintings has contributed
art. Diane Victor, for instance, uses carbon soot from burning
to women’s empowerment in India. We have a very special
candles to create fragile renderings of faces and figures. Faith
program here at Syracuse University that uses these paintings
47, a street artist who has painted murals in the U.S., Europe,
to help teach about issues important to contemporary Indians,
and Australia, as well South Africa, uses found objects and a
especially women. The South Asia Center in the Maxwell School
graffiti-like approach to creating art in the studio.
has brought many of their classes/students over the years to the SUArt Galleries to view our collection of Mithila paintings.
We have worked closely with associates Miranda Leighfield
Beginning with Professor H. Daniel Smith and continuing with
and Meghan Johnson at David Krut Projects on this exhibition.
Dr. Susan Wadley, these friends of the SUArt Galleries have
They are part of a South African alternative arts organization
made significant gifts to our permanent collection so that we
dedicated to encouraging an awareness of and careers in
now maintain more than 75 Mithila paintings. This particular
the arts and related literature and media. Working with
exhibition comes from the Ethnic Arts Foundation, a non-
young artists, David Krut promotes a dynamic, collaborative
profit organization dedicated to sustaining the Mithila painting
environment in their studios, print shops and through his
tradition and I am happy to report that this exhibition is funded,
publishing endeavors.
in part, by the South Asia Center. cover: detail, William Kentridge, 12 Coffee Pots, 2012. Courtesy of David Krut Projects
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Diane Victor, Ash Man - Johnny, 2011. Courtesy of David Krut Projects
Another important South African artist will be on view during
recent painting, sculpture, film, and print in our galleries and
the early part of our spring semester. In recent years William
if the pattern continues there will be a number of dynamic
Kentridge has achieved great fame for his prints, drawings,
works on view.
and animated films. Several years ago he created a series of images based on the 19th century story by Nicolai Gogol about
At the Palitz Gallery in New York City we are presenting Al
a pompous Russian official who wakes up to find his nose has
Hirschfeld and Syracuse: A Most Talented Association beginning
left his face. Nose is a comical and satirical story that has been
in mid-February. This exhibition of ‘the Line King’ (as he
interpreted in many ways, including society’s predilection for
was described in a 1996 documentary film) will highlight
refusing to acknowledge something that is ‘as plain as the nose
artwork created for various publications that included images
on our face,’ like poverty, corruption, or inequality. Kentridge
of Syracuse alumni. Original drawings and lithographs of
not only used the story as the basis for his series of 30 images
distinguished graduates Aaron Sorkind, Jerry Stiller, Dick Clark,
which we will be presenting in the gallery, but he also created
Morton Janklow, and Frank Langella will be on view with Peter
an opera based on the 1929 Shostakovich version of the story.
Falk, Suzanne Pleshette, and Bob Dishy. Also on view in this
The Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City presented
display will be his drawings for the 1972 Arthur Miller play The
the Kentridge version this past October.
Creation of the World and other Business that lasted only 20 performances on Broadway. We believe that this will be the
Other recent works by Kentridge including images from the
first time these drawings have been displayed since they were
Universal Archive series and one of his new animated films
created more than 40 years ago.
will also be on view. In February we show William Kentridge: Anything is Possible as part of our SUArt Galleries film series.
In April we will exhibit the 2013 winners of the Wynn Newhouse
Check our website for further details about the showtime.
Award. This year’s selection committee included past winner Laura Swanson, whose work Display was on view at the Palitz
As is our custom, the SUArt Galleries will be hosting an
Gallery last April. You may know that the Wynn Newhouse
exhibition of artwork by Master of Fine Arts candidates in
Foundation allocates grants each year to artists of excellence
April and early May. More than 20 students will be displaying
who happen to have disabilities.
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THE PALITZ GALLERY/NYC EXHIBITION
Al Hirschfeld, Self Portrait in a Barber Chair, 1989. Courtesy of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation
Al Hirschfeld and Syracuse: A Most Talented Association February 17 – April 10, 2014 The Palitz Gallery, Syracuse University Lubin House 11 East 61st Street, New York City
2013 Wynn Newhouse Awards Exhibition April 14 – May 22, 2014 For more information about Syracuse University Lubin House visit suinnyc.syr.edu 5
Calendar/Exhibitions january 30 – march 16, 2014 Main Gallery
February 17 – April 10, 2014 The Palitz Gallery
Mithila Painting:
Al Hirschfeld and Syracuse:
The Evolution of an Art Form
A Most Talented Association
The Study Gallery
Arts on Main:
April 14 – May 22, 2014 The Palitz Gallery
Contemporary Prints from South Africa
2013 Wynn Newhouse Awards Exhibition April 3- May 11, 2014 Main Gallery
MFA 2014 Also ON VIEW Through May 11, 2014
Senzo Shabangu, Endless Journey I, 2011. Courtesy of David Krut Projects.
William Kentridge:
The Photography Study Room
Nose and other Subjects
Visions for Sale: Photographs of Nineteenth Century Japan The Gallery of American Art
America’s Calling The Print Study Room
Ukiyo-e to Shin Hanga: Japanese Woodcuts in the SUArt Collection William Kentridge, Nose 29, 2009. Courtesy of David Krut Projects.
OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, February 6, 2014 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Hokusai, Fugaku Hyakkei from 100 Views of Mt. Fuji, c1834. Gift of Alfred T. Collette
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Calendar/EDucation LUNCHTIME LECTURES Wednesdays at 12:15
FILM SERIES Selected Sundays beginning in February 2:00 P.M., Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
February 12 Gallery Tour: Arts on Main: Contemporary Prints from South Africa February 19 Collection Focus: Ruth Reeves Collection February 26 Gallery Tour: William Kentridge: Nose and other Subjects March 5 Gallery Tour: Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form April 9 Gallery Tour: MFA 2014 April 30 Gallery Tour: MFA Artists Talks
February
May 7 Preview of 2014-2015 Exhibitions with SUArt Curatorial Staff
William Kentridge: Anything is Possible 2011, Directed by Charles Atlas and Susan Sollins A special screening of the Peabody award-winning PBS documentary William Kentridge: Anything is Possible, giving viewers an intimate look into the mind and creative process of the South African artist whose acclaimed charcoal drawings, animations, video installations, shadow plays, mechanical puppets, tapestries, sculptures, live performance pieces, and operas have made him one of the most dynamic and exciting contemporary artists working today.
The NOSE
Saturday February 22 Sunday February 23 2:00 P.M. Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form
Metropolitan Opera Live in HD “The Nose,” one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most acclaimed productions of recent seasons, according to the New York Times, displays William Kentridge’s “unflagging energy and unfettered
Saturday March 8 Sunday March 9 2:00 P.M. Arts on Main: Contemporary Prints from South Africa
imagination, [and] powerfully seconds both the irreverent zaniness of the Gogol story on which the opera is based and the teeming exuberance of Shostakovich’s music.” This simulcast encore presentation is being shown by special permission.
Learn more at suart.syr.edu/film-series 7
On the road/TRAVEX Pure Photography: Pictorial and Modern Photographs from the Syracuse University Art Collection
The Syracuse University Art Galleries Traveling Exhibition Program [TRAVEX] has been offering affordable exhibitions to museums and university art galleries for over twenty years, generated from Syracuse University’s encyclopedic art collection and collaborating institutions.
A Tale of Two Cities: Eugene Atget’s Paris and Berenice Abbott’s New York
Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Concordia University Seward, NEBraska January 13- February 14, 2014 Foundry Art Centre,
Suzanne Arnold Art Gallery, Lebanon Valley College
St. Charles, Missouri
Annville, pennsylvania
May 2- August 1, 2014
January 17- March 16, 2014
Pure Photography continues its tour across the country, having
The Arnold Art Gallery previously exhibited Impassioned
just been presented at the Beach Museum of Art in Kansas and
Images: German Expressionist Prints and Modernist Prints
the Arkell Museum, in Canajoharie, NY. It will travel this spring
1900-1955, and we are pleased to work with them again on the
to the Marxhausen Gallery of Art in Nebraska, which previously
presentation of A Tale of Two Cities. In addition, the Arnold Art
hosted A Tale of Two Cities in 2007, and to the Foundry Art
Gallery has invited Curator David Prince to give a gallery talk
Centre in Missouri. We are grateful to Robert B. Menschel ‘51,
on the exhibition this coming February.
H‘91, for his 2007 gift of photographs that were the inspiration for this popular exhibition.
Want to learn more about the exhibitions available? Visit us online at
travex.syr.edu 8
Pulled, Pressed and Screened: Important American Prints Museum of the Southwest Midland, Texas February 21- April 20, 2014
Modernist Prints 19001955: Selections from the Syracuse University Art Collection
In 2011, The Museum of the Southwest hosted our exhibition A Tale of Two Cities. This year, they will be presenting two of our exhibitions to their constituents, Pulled, Pressed and Screened in February, and Winslow Homer and the American Pictorial Press this coming September. We are pleased that the Museum will be the first venue to premiere the Pulled, Pressed and Screened exhibition as a traveling exhibition.
Peeler Art Center, DePauw University Greencastle, Indiana
Winslow Homer and the American Pictorial Press
February 13- May 8, 2014 This is the first time the SUArt Traveling Exhibition Program has worked with the Peeler Art Center, and we are excited to be traveling the Modernist Prints exhibition to the campus of DePauw University in Indiana.
Daura Gallery, Lynchburg College Lynchburg, Virginia March 1- May 7, 2014 Museum of the Southwest Midland, Texas September 5- November 30, 2014 The Daura Gallery will be the second venue to participate in a tour of the exhibition Winslow Homer and the American Pictorial Press, previously on display in Arkansas at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum where it was the subject of a number of regional newspaper articles. After its time in Lynchburg, VA at the Daura Gallery, the exhibition will travel to the Museum of the Southwest in the fall of 2014.
The Artist Revealed: Artist Portraits and Self-Portraits Texas A&M University Art Galleries College Station, Texas March 27- May 25, 2014
Art in the Detail Texas A&M University Art Galleries College Station, Texas September 5- November 30, 2014 The University Art Galleries at Texas A&M have been strong supporters of the exhibitions and programs offered by the Traveling Exhibition Program. In the past twenty years, they have hosted over ten of our exhibitions, including The Etchings and Drypoints of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, The Landscape Revisited: The Shin Hanga Movement, America at Work, 19201940, and American Woodblock Prints. 9
GALLERY AS CLASSROOM/EDUCATION Laugh Lines:
Alan Dunn’s New Yorker Cartoons of the Second World War Working with objects to create an exhibition gives graduate students in art history a unique assignment with which to Students sketching from an Alphonse Mucha drawing in the Study Galleries
sharpen their research and writing skills. Assistant Professor of Art History Sascha Scott and her graduate students did just
This past fall the Art Galleries hosted numerous teaching
that by collaborating with the SUArt Galleries to produce a
days intended for students enrolled in School of Art and
show of Alan Dunn’s political cartoons. Dunn, one of The New
Design classes, art history classes from the College of Arts and
Yorker magazine’s most prolific artists, created more than 2000
Sciences, and art students in the Syracuse City School District.
cartoons spanning forty-seven years. The SUArt Collection houses
Professors Gary Radke, Romita Ray, Laurinda Dixon and Sandra
over 2500 examples of Dunn’s work, while Syracuse University’s
Chai all brought their History of Art classes into the galleries to
Special Collections Research Center owns the artist’s extensive
look at short-term displays intended to broaden their students’
personal papers, giving students a rich body of resources through
experiences with original art. Daina Mattis, an instructor in the
which to hone their art historical research skills.
Painting Program at the School of Art and Design, brought her classes to the galleries to see Flesh and Bone: Articulating the Human Condition. Holly Greenberg and Dusty Herbig continue to bring their printmaking classes to the Galleries for a handson experience in our print room. Luis Castaneda of the History of Art and Music department brought his Latin American art history class and Catherine Nock and Miryam Bar of the Language, Literature and Linguistics Department came by to experience our Print Making Revolution exhibition with their Spanish classes. Lori Lizzio and Mary Lynn Mahan of the Henninger High School and Ed Smith Elementary School, respectively, brought their classes to the galleries to experience the Nyumba ya Sanaa (Tanzanian Art) exhibition.
Alan Dunn, untitled [So Sorry], 1941.
Scott’s students participated in the seminar Graduate Research Methods and Scholarly Writing, which was aimed at professionalizing their research, writing, and presentation skills. To this end, Scott and David Prince, SUArt Associate Director and Curator of Collections, selected fourteen World War II era cartoons by Dunn for the students to study. Scott, in collaboration with Prince and Curator of Special Collections Lucy Mulroney, guided students through the process of researching and writing about these objects. Students examined the visual and contextual nuances of Dunn’s work, and conveyed their findings through wall text and catalog essays. The exhibition explores Dunn’s sometimes humorous and sometimes ironic take on World War II. His cartoons probe American attitudes toward the war, addressing issues of class, ethnicity, gender, and technology, as well as the surprising and sometimes tense exchanges between allies and between enemies. Through their research and visual analyses, Scott’s students learned firsthand the truth of Alan Dunn’s comment, “the work of a social cartoonist, whose pen is no sword but a titillating feather…reminds us constantly that we do not act as we speak or think.” The exhibition Laugh Lines: Alan Dunn’s New Yorker Cartoons and the Second World War opens January 30 and closes March 16.
Alphonse Mucha, untitled [woman bending over], 1913. Gift of Abbe and Lloyd Hascoe (’78 and ‘81)
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The Palitz ART Scholar
Amanda Nicholson
Indian Calendar Art from the H. Daniel Smith Poster Archive
The Syracuse University Art Galleries has given me a unique opportunity to explore my passions as an art educator and provides me with a
Special Collections Research Center
valuable learning experience which will further prepare me for my professional goals. As a second year graduate student in the Museum Studies program, I am thinking seriously about my future and what skills will be necessary to help me stand out. I received my undergraduate degree from SUNY New Paltz in Art Education and have been teaching in both public and charter schools since 2007. As a volunteer at the gallery, I have been creating workshops for the SUArt Kids program that engages youth with the current exhibits and helps students to make creative connections between these exhibits and their own art making practices. Each gallery tour uses Visual Thinking Strategies that facilitate critical thinking in both art aesthetics as well as making connections between art, history, and culture. A hands-on art making workshop is incorporated into every SUArt Kids program which introduces or reinforces art making skills and techniques that gives participants a deeper understanding of art concepts and helps them to not only look at and talk about art, but also how to be inspired by it. I have greatly enjoyed my time collaborating with the staff at the Shrinkhal Murti [Mother India], nd. Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.
Syracuse University Art Galleries and look forward to providing
Professor Romita Ray in the Department of Art and Music
The Louise and Bernard Palitz Art Scholar was established in
Histories has organized a selection of work from the H. Daniel
2011 to support deserving graduate students in Art History
Smith collection from the Special Collections Research Center
or Museum Studies at Syracuse University by longtime SUArt
in Bird Library, complementing the exhibitions of Mithila art
Galleries supporters Louise Beringer Palitz (SU ’44) and her
presented in concert with the Ray Smith Symposium on South
husband Bernard. For over 25 years the Palitz’s have supported
Asian Folk Art. Students and faculty from classes in the religion,
our activities in a variety of ways including donating important
anthropology, and art and music histories departments will
works of art, underwriting exhibitions and publications, and
be participating in the symposium and incorporating the
funding the renovation of the SUArt Galleries’ New York City
exhibitions into their lectures, assignments and projects.
Gallery at Syracuse University Lubin House.
more fun and engaging experiences for the SUArt Kids program.
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BUILDING THE
COLLECTION One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of working in an art museum is finding material that builds and improves our collection. Sometimes we look to add artwork in areas where there is an obvious need, other times we look to enrich our already strong holdings in a particular area. Recently we had the opportunity to strengthen our Boris Artzybasheff collection. We already have more than 400 works by the great Russian-American illustrator but there are several areas that could be improved. When alerted by colleagues at the Syracuse University Libraries about an available assortment of Artzybasheff materials, we carefully investigated if and how they might strengthen our collection.
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helped us acquire artwork by Robert Stackhouse, Winslow Homer, John Taylor Arms and Paul Strand. The Strand purchase formed the basis for our fall exhibition, Paul Strand: The Mexican Portfolio that accompanied our Print Making Revolution: Mexican Prints and the Taller de Gráfica Popular exhibition. Other purchase funds had been developed in the past for the acquisition of specific works of art such as the Jalonack and Wingate Funds, which helped purchase paintings and ceramics, respectively, for the collection. Harold M. Jalonack ’17 was an executive at General Electric and an avid art collector. He helped the University Art Collection acquire more than 180 artworks either through direct donations or with purchase funds. In 1970 he was awarded the Centennial Medal (later known as the Chancellor’s Medal) for his service to higher education. ‘Jolly,’ as his friends knew him, gave us his portrait painted by Norman Rockwell that was commissioned by his colleagues at GE. Three important paintings, Charles Burchfield’s Sun, Moon and Star, George Grosz’s Town Beyond the River and Moses Soyer’s Apprehension II were purchased with funds given by Jalonack. A number of important prints in our collection are from Jalonack’s personal collection and they have been used in recent traveling exhibitions including An American in Venice: James McNeill Whistler and his Legacy and Above and Below: Skyscrapers to Subways in New York City. Francis A. Wingate was an administrator at Syracuse University in the 1950s and 1960s serving first as Comptroller and later as Vice President and Treasurer. In the 1960s he helped the Art Collection acquire numerous pieces of contemporary ceramics including work by Maija Grotell, Ralph Bacerra and Paul Soldner. Many of the 40 pieces added to the collection through his funds can be seen in our Open Storage galleries. While acquisition funds are truly helpful, the outright donation of important works of art can really help us with our
Boris Artzybasheff, Junk Rains Hell on Axis, 1942
exhibition programs and teaching projects. We get excellent help from alumni, faculty, and staff when looking to enhance
Additionally, Sean Quimby, Senior Director of Special Collections,
our collection. Over the last few years distinguished alumni
told us how some of these pieces could further their goals of
such as Robert Menschel ‘51, H’91, Susan Hilferty ‘75 and
building a world-class Honoré de Balzac collection. Another
Paul Greenberg ‘65, have given artwork that can be used for
serendipitous aspect of this potential purchase was the chance
exhibition, classroom teaching and for our active campus loan
to engage a long-time supporter of the University Libraries and
program. Faculty (and former faculty) such as Susan Wadley,
enthusiast of Artzybasheff artwork, alumnus Harry Greenwald,
Dusty Herbig, David Tatham, Don Cortese and Michael Sickler
‘51. In years past, we have done several exhibitions of
have given art in the past few years that will become important
Artzybasheff artwork and Mr. Greenwald has shown great interest
parts of our future exhibition programming.
in our efforts. He also has supported the Library’s development of The Plastics Collection, and Artzybasheff used a plastic
In our last SUArt Galleries newsletter we wrote about our Robert
material called “pyrolin” as the matrix for some of his engravings.
Birmelin collection and how it is being strengthened with a gift by
Among the material being offered was one such hand-carved
the artist and his family. Since that issue we have heard from Mr.
plate with an image called Young Scribe Riding a Snail that was
and Mrs. Richard Weiner who made the original gift in 1979 of the
used to make an illustration for the book Three and the Moon.
Birmelin painting Night Driving. They read with interest how a gift
In addition to the pyrolin plate, we added a number of World
of art they made more than 30 years ago is still having an impact
War II era posters designed by Artzybasheff and other research
on our students today.
materials to our holdings. Mr. Greenwald quickly realized how this purchase would help us meet our goal to strengthen the Artzybasheff collection and helped finance our purchase. Sincere thanks are sent to the Greenwald-Haupt Charitable Foundation for partially underwriting the project. Occasionally alumni have made monetary gifts to the University Art Collection for the purchase of artwork. Such was the case with Robert Bradley Fritz ’51, who established a purchase fund for art that could be used for, among other things, decorating offices on campus. Mr. Fritz was an arts educator in Connecticut for most his career and was interested in 17th century art in New England. In fact, he wrote a monograph about the role of fine arts in education during the early years of New England
Charles Burchfield, Sun, Moon and Star, 1920-55. Collection purchase, Harold Jalonack Fund
schooling. In recent years, the Robert Bradley Fritz Fund has
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RECENT GIFTS/COLLECTION In February 2011, the Community Folk Art Center, a member
In 1977, Tatyana Grosman, owner of Universal Limited Art
of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers here at Syracuse
Editions, introduced the Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky to
University, opened Amos Kennedy Prints!, an exhibition
Robert Rauschenberg. She hoped the two would collaborate
featuring hand printed letterpress works by the artist. The
on a series of prints combining examples of Voznesensky’s
exhibition also featured prints Kennedy made in the CFAC
experimental poetry with Rauschenberg’s singular visual
gallery. Andrew Saluti, the SUArt Galleries Assistant Director
compositions. The two men hit it off immediately and
and a practicing printmaker, collaborated with CFAC in
Voznesensky left Rauschenberg six poems to begin the
developing a space in the gallery where Kennedy could hold his
collaboration. The resulting color lithographs illustrate
print workshop. Andrew found and put in place a Vandercook
Rauschenberg’s interpretive and compositional abilities.
letterpress and other necessary print making materials. The
For Darkness Mother Rauschenberg learned that in Russian,
exhibition’s success was sweetened by Kennedy’s decision to
T’ma (darkness) and Mat’ (mother) can be interlocked and
donate a group of his prints to the University Art Collection.
he composed an image depicting the title repeating around
The gift added a contemporary American component to an
a bicycle tire. The circular design reinforced the poem’s
existing group of social comment prints in the tradition of work
metaphorical reference to the life cycle. Last year the entire print
by European artists William Hogarth and Honoré Daumier, and
series became part of the University Art Collection, a gift of ULAE.
Americans Thomas Nast, William Gropper and Ben Shahn.
At New York City’s annual IFPDA Print Fair in 2010, Domenic Iacono and Andrew Saluti had what turned out to be an eventful conversation with Bill Goldston, Tatyana Grosman’s protégé and ULAE’s current Director. In 2007 Goldston came to Syracuse to speak about the exhibition Impressions: Jasper Johns that was presented at the SUArt Galleries. That show had come from the Belger Art Center in Kansas City and Goldston had worked with the artist on many of the prints in the exhibition. Wanting to continue a relationship with ULAE Saluti and Iacono spoke to Goldston about developing an exhibition from the holdings of ULAE. He was impressed to the point where he offered the printshop’s recent catalog to develop the exhibition that premiered in 2012 as Pressing Print: Universal Limited Art Editions 2000-2010. Andrew Saluti curated the show and included work by emerging artists like Enrique Chagoya, Mark Fox and Amy Cutler, in addition to recent work from Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg’s The Lotus Series, his last group of prints created before his death in 2008. The Pressing Print exhibition then began a national tour, with stops in Florida and New Hampshire, where it has been well received by visitors.
Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., Equal Rights Are Not Special Rights, c2010 Gift of the Artist.
Elisabeth Melczer has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the University Art Collection. As a younger woman, she was a graduate assistant with the department, where her main project was classifying over 1900 cartoon drawings by Alan Dunn. Overseen by the professional staff, Anthonie Waterloo, The Forest Lane from Six Landscapes, c1655 Gift of Louise Yamada.
Melczer examined the collection, determined common subject headings and organized the drawings into these subject groups. Her organizational efforts made the collection
This past fall the Art Galleries presented the exhibition
more accessible and her cataloging gave curators a variety
Rembrandt: the Consummate Etcher and other 17th Century
of possible thematic approaches. Elisabeth completed her
Printmakers at the Palitz Gallery in New York City. A visitor to
studies in the mid-1980s but she remained interested in the
the exhibition, Louise Yamada, had been to the gallery before
Collection and was a regular visitor to department events.
but on this occasion she sought out Domenic Iacono to offer
Beginning in 2007, Elisabeth began to annually donate her
several prints from her collection as gifts to the University
extensive collection of over 1000 reference books on Social
Art Collection. Two of the prints are by Anthonie Waterloo,
Cartooning. The gift inspired the department to reconfigure
a French-born Dutch artist whose work was included in the
part of the Petty-Dunn Center for Social Cartooning into a
Rembrandt show, and a third was by an American artist Samuel
dedicated library open to scholars and the community during
Margolies. This latter artist was represented by the famous
public hours. Melczer’s generosity has created an educational
New York dealer Sylvan Cole who was a personal friend of
resource for students and scholars where they can conduct
Louise Yamada and the subject of Iacono’s 2010 Sylvan Cole
research on original works using quality reference books.
and American Prints exhibition at the Palitz Gallery. 14
AN INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY/COLLECTION The Cortese Collection of Prints
Don Cortese, In Memoriam: The Lockerbie Portfolio, 1989. Gift of the Artist.
Being a unit of a larger institution certainly has its benefits. For
Leonard Baskin and Gabor Peterdi. Drawings done while
the SUArt Galleries, being a part of Syracuse University allows us
studying in Honduras inform his longtime concentration with
to take advantage of a variety of resources not commonly shared
the canine as a central metaphoric figure in his work, hence
among independent major collections. These include the ability
the press name Canidae Press for his many artist books.
to work with skilled craftsmen and laborers employed by the
Early experiments in photo-etching and digital printing
University’s Physical Plant and Carpentry Shop, access to state of
illustrate Don’s commitment to experimentation. Of note is In
the art facilities, and an enthusiastic workforce of graduate and
Memoriam: The Lockerbie Portfolio, a series of images created
undergraduate Museum Studies and Art students.
immediately following the Pan Am 103 disaster that claimed the lives of 270 men, women and children and 35 Syracuse
It also establishes an invaluable connection to the working
University students. Cortese’s use of digital inkjet printing in
artists that make up our faculty and student community. And
its infancy, fused with delicate handmade papers and ghost-
while we don’t share the resource of a distinct alumni base like
like transfers make this piece an important addition to the
the Schools and Colleges of the University do, we think globally
collection notwithstanding its inherent institutional relevance.
within SU’s universe of educators, alumni and friends as our
The Cortese Collection now eclipses 200 works on paper
target base of patrons and supporters.
and includes dynamic and innovative works by established
Central to the SUArt Galleries’ mission is education- we eagerly
artists including Robert Marx, Louisa Chase, and Susan
make available the important and unique works of art, prints
Emshwiller. Many have been inspired to teach- continuing
in particular, that make the Syracuse University Art Collection
a long thread of artist educators- like Nick Palermo (RISD),
distinctive to classes, researchers and visitors alike. This
Richard Pardee (Syracuse University, SUNY OCC) and Matt Kelly
educational mission also guides our collecting plan- we believe
(Central College, Iowa). These collected examples of student
it to be SUArt’s responsibility to build and maintain a collection
work, alongside Cortese’s prints, drawings and books, have
that will continue to serve as an educational resource as much as
become a valuable asset to the Art Collection as well as to the
an aesthetic collection for our students and faculty. Maintaining
University’s institutional memory. The experience of working
the collections of established alumni and professors emeriti
with a colleague and mentor to so many students like Professor
are often exceptional elements of SUArt- a distinctive resource
Cortese, and now being charged with the care, study and
preserved and utilized for future artists to study.
display of his educational legacy, are obligations we value.
Over the course of 40 years, Professor of Printmaking Don Cortese has been an invaluable source of collegial cooperationgenerous with his own work as well as his commitment to giving his students the experience of utilizing our encyclopedic collection of prints and works on paper. This past summer Andrew Saluti had the bittersweet experience of assisting Professor Cortese clean out his studio while he prepared to say goodbye to Syracuse. For the Collection, this was hugely beneficial, as we acquired the final installments of our compendium of student artwork donated over the years. Don generously gifted over 100 volumes of print and art related books, catalogs and journals. In addition, the Collection accepted a selection of drawings and etchings by Cortese that exemplify his success as an influential artist and educatorsecuring his place among contemporaries like Robert Marx, Louisa Chase, The Car, 1972. Gift of Don Cortese.
15
FEATURED/EXHIBITION MITHILA PAINTING: THE EVOLUTION OF AN ART FORM
Dulari Devi, Ganesha, 2009
JANUARY 30 – MARCH 16, 2014 Opening Reception Thursday, February 6, 2014 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. This exhibition has been organized by the Ethnic Arts Foundation to expand public recognition and appreciation of the painting tradition’s beauty, powerful imagery, and capacity to depict classical deities, ancient rituals, and very contemporary national and global issues and events.