IPSWICH, UK – John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831, will go on display in Ipswich from February 7, 2015 to January 31, 2016. This major ‘six-footer’ oil painting, one of the greatest masterpieces of British art, has never been exhibited in Suffolk before, where Constable was born in 1776. It will make its debut in the county at Christchurch Mansion’s Wolsey Art Gallery along with its preparatory sketch from the Tate collection and will complement Ipswich’s outstanding collection of Constables and Gainsboroughs, the most significant body of work by these masters outside London.
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows was secured by Tate for the British public through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), The Manton Foundation, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation) and Tate Members. Its Ipswich display is part of Aspire, a five-year partnership project between five partner institutions supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund to enable the work to go on almost constant view across the UK.
Many of Constable’s landscapes feature the Suffolk countryside, now often referred to as ‘Constable country,’ where he grew up and where he sketched from nature for some of his best-known exhibition paintings. It is fitting that this great piece should join these in a place of such importance to the artist.
Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England said: “Our grant of £15.8m came with the condition that Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows was shared in perpetuity by Tate and four partner museums, including Colchester and Ipswich Museums. Constable was truly a man of the people who believed that art was for everyone – not just the select few – and so it’s fitting that the innovative approach of the ‘Aspire’ project is helping many more people around the country see and enjoy this precious Constable painting.”
Councillor Bryony Rudkin, Culture portfolio-holder at Ipswich Borough Council, which owns Christchurch Mansion, said, “We are delighted to be hosting this true masterpiece of British art here at the Mansion. We are proud to be part of the Aspire program, which makes the work widely accessible to audiences across the UK — something which Constable himself sought. There will be a special education program to support the display and we hope this will encourage audiences to learn more about this painting and this artist, who had such close links with Ipswich and the surrounding area.”
On May 23, Constable’s Gardens: 200th Anniversary Exhibition will showcase star works from the Ipswich collection. Painted 200 years ago, Golding Constable’s Kitchen Garden, 1815; and Golding Constable’s Flower Garden, 1815, of Constable’s father’s gardens; will be the centerpieces of an exhibition of Constable works drawn from Ipswich, the Fitzwilliam, the V&A and Tate.
Constable was an inspiration to generations of artists, and Lucian Freud frequently cited him as one of his early influences. Two Freud works from Tate’s collection, Man with a Thistle (self-portrait), 1946; and Standing by the Rags, 1988-9; will travel to Ipswich to be shown with the six-footer in September.
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows depicts Salisbury Cathedral under both a heavy cloud and a striking arched rainbow viewed from across the River Nadder. The scene has been interpreted as a metaphor for political pressure felt by the Church of England as well as the emotional turmoil Constable was feeling after the death of his wife.
CLEVELAND – Gray’s Auctioneers in Cleveland achieved impressive results at their Modern and Contemporary auction on Wednesday, January 28th. LiveAuctioneers provided live online bidding, with bidders participating from all over the globe.
The main attraction was a diverse collection of paintings and prints from Cleveland collector and gallerist Stanley Yulish. The star of the collection was Palestinian-born Samia Halaby’s magnificent 1973 oil-on-canvas titled #270 (Rainbow Spirals), which sold for $102,000, inclusive of buyer’s premium.
The success of this auction follows Gray’s first highly successful Post-war and Contemporary Art auction held in November 2014 where they broke the global auction record for Andy Warhol’s Moonwalk at $120,000.
Gray’s is currently accepting consignments for its next Modern and Contemporary auction, which will be held May 6th.
About Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers:
A boutique company with a global reach, Gray’s Auctioneers and Appraisers is northern Ohio’s premier auction house. They accept consignments and offer complimentary vaulations every day. For more information, please contact Serena Harragin at 216-458-7695 or email info@graysauctioneers.com.
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MILANO, Italia – Ha aperto nella sede di Milano della casa d’asta e galleria Farsetti una mostra dedicata alla produzione degli anni 20 di Giacomo Balla (fino al 28 febbraio). Lo scopo è puntare l’attenzione sulla seconda fase del Futurismo, quella che copre i due decenni tra la prima e la seconda guerra mondiale e che non è ancora stata adeguatamente studiata e valorizzata come i primi anni del Futurismo, dalla fondazione del movimento nel 1909 alla fine della prima guerra mondiale, che invece sono stati oggetto di importanti mostre e monografie sia in Italia che all’estero.
La mostra, curata da Elena Gigli, studiosa dell’opera di Balla da 20 anni, include una ventina di opere distribuite sui tre piani della galleria di Via Manzoni. Di queste, una decina sono bozzetti realizzati a tempera su carta tra il 1925 e il 1929, già appartenuti a Casa Balla a Roma e successivamente acquistati da un collezionista privato lombardo. È da questi bozzetti che si è partiti per concepire la mostra. In essi, infatti, si coglie il metodo di lavoro e i procedimenti tecnici e compositivi che hanno portato alla realizzazione delle opere su tela. Alcune di queste opere su tela sono esposte accanto ai bozzetti per un confronto diretto. I prezzi vanno da 45.000 a 60.000 euro per le tempere su carta, e da 330.000 a 450.000 per le opere su tela. La mostra ha già riscosso interesse e diverse opere sono già stata vendute.
Le opere costituiscono un ottimo esempio dell’astrattismo di Balla degli anni 20, caratterizzato da linee dinamiche, energia e, soprattutto, un uso felice del colore. Punto di partenza per questo tipo di produzione è, infatti, il Manifesto del Colore, pubblicato da Balla nel 1918 in occasione di una mostra alla Galleria Bragaglia di Roma, in cui l’artista analizzava il ruolo del colore nella pittura d’avanguardia, articolando il suo pensiero in sette punti. Balla parte dal presupposto che, data l’esistenza della fotografia e della cinematografia, la riproduzione pittorica del vero non interessa né può interessare più nessuno e che in tutte le tendenze avanguardiste deve dominare il colore, che è “privilegio tipico del genio italiano”, ed è dinamismo, energia, futuro, simultaneità delle forze.
Se, infatti, la pittura futurista mirava a rappresentare il soggetto in movimento, la velocità e il dinamismo universale, Balla approda, attraverso i suoi studio sul movimento, alla rappresentazione della linea della velocità, da lui stesso definita base fondamentale del suo pensiero. La linea della velocità viene applicata allo studio del paesaggio, alle sperimentazioni sui vetri smerigliati, ma anche alle scenografie per i Balletti Russi di Diaghilev al Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (allora Teatro Costanzi) nella rappresentazione dei “Feu d’artifice” nel 1917. I suoi quadri realizzati tra il 1916 e il 1918, intitolati “Linee forza di paesaggio”, rappresentano un ambiente in cui le sensazioni del pittore si riflettono come le luci sulla scena.
Andando oltre la rappresentazione del soggetto, poi, Balla giunge al “decorativismo cromatico astratto”. Così l’artista: “Superando anche la forma cinematica mi lanciai nella pittura idealista e astratta. Furono lunghi anni di ricerche cromatiche. (…) A me non importa che lo spettatore trovi nel mio quadro il soggetto che lo ha ispirato. A me importa solamente che il suo occhio sia appagato e ricreato dalle mie combinazioni di colori e di forme astratte. L’uomo moderno è portato verso il colore.”
È lo stesso spirito che si ritrova nella casa di Balla, un luogo dove inventare e sperimentare, con i corridoi e le stanze interamente dipinte, invase di colori e motivi geometrici, ma anche nei suoi vestiti e nelle sue stoffe, che lui amava dipingere con linee velocità e colori futuristi.
Giacomo Balla, ‘Balfiori,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5×34.5 cm. Courtesy Farsetti
Giacomo Balla, ‘Futur Fiori Arancio,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5 x 34.5cm. Courtesy Farsetti
Giacomo Balla, ‘Velocità + Forme Rumore,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5 x 34.5cm, Courtesy Farsetti
MILAN, Italy – An exhibition dedicated to Giacomo Balla’s production of the 1920s has opened in the Milan branch of auction house and gallery Farsetti and runs through Feb. 28. The aim is to focus the attention on the second phase of Futurism, covering the two decades between the World Wars. This periord has not yet been adequately studied and appreciated as has the first phase of Futurism. From the foundation of the movement in 1909 to the end of World War I, the first phase of Futurism has been the subject of major exhibitions and monographs both in Italy and abroad.
The exhibition, curated by Elena Gigli, a scholar who has been studying Balla’s work for the last 20 years, includes 20 works distributed over the three floors of the gallery on Via Manzoni. Of these, 10 are sketches made in tempera on paper between 1925 and 1929, which already belonged to the Balla House in Rome and were later purchased by a Lombard private collector. It is from these sketches that the exhibition was conceived. In them, in fact, one can capture the working method and the technical and compositional processes that led to the execution of the works on canvas. Some of these works on canvas are exhibited alongside the sketches for a direct comparison. Prices range from €45,000 to €60,000 ($51,062-$68,082) for the temperas on paper, and from €330,000 to €450,000 ($374,454-$510,620) for the oils on canvas. The exhibition has already awakened many interests, so much so that several works have already been sold.
The works are an excellent example of Balla’s abstract art of the 1920s, which is characterized by dynamic lines, energy and, above all, a bold use of color. The starting point for this type of production is, in fact, the Manifesto del Colore (Color Manifesto), published by Balla in 1918 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Gallery Bragaglia of Rome. In his manifesto, the artist analyzed the role of color in the avant-garde painting, articulating his thought in seven points. Balla assumed that, given the existence of photography and cinematography, the pictorial reproduction of the real does not interest anybody, and that in all avant-garde tendencies color must dominate; color is a “privilege typical of Italian genius,” is dynamism, energy, future, simultaneity of forces.
Futurist painting was, in fact, intended to represent the moving subject, the speed and the universal dynamism. Balla lands, through his study of movement, to the representation of “the speed line,” which he defines as the fundamental basis of his thinking. The speed line is applied to the study of the landscape, to the experiments on frosted glasses, but also to the design for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome (then Teatro Costanzi) on the occasion of the representation of Feu d’artifice in 1917. The paintings Balla produced between 1916 and 1918, titled Force Lines of Landscape, represent an environment in which the feelings of the painter are reflected like the lights on the stage.
Going beyond the representation of the subject, Balla reaches then the “abstract chromatic decorativism.” So the artist explains it: “Overcoming also the cinematic form, I threw myself into abstract and idealistic painting. These were long years of color research. … I do not care that the viewer can find in my picture the subject that inspired it. I only care that his eye is satisfied and recreated through my combinations of colors and abstract forms. The modern man has a genius for color.”
It is the same spirit that one can find in the house of Balla, a place to invent and experiment, with all corridors and rooms entirely painted and invaded by colors and geometric patterns, but also in his clothes and fabrics, which he loved to paint with speed lines and Futurist colors.
Giacomo Balla, ‘Balfiori,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5×34.5 cm. Courtesy Farsetti
Giacomo Balla, ‘Futur Fiori Arancio,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5 x 34.5cm. Courtesy Farsetti
Giacomo Balla, ‘Velocità + Forme Rumore,’ tempera on paper applied on canvas, 24.5 x 34.5cm, Courtesy Farsetti
LONDON – I’m told the best treatment for the morning after is toast and honey. I have no personal experience, you understand, but a few minutes spent perusing the extensive list of ailments that quack Victorian “chemists” claimed they could cure is the next best things.
If that doesn’t do the trick then a guide listing some of the prices the ceramic cure-all pots now command among today’s collectors probably will. It’s sobering reading, to say the least. After the previous column about collecting antique bottles, I thought the subject was the obvious follow-up, since they too can be unearthed in long-forgotten rubbish dumps.
When medical science was at a comparatively early stage in its development, many people still believed it was only the old cures, handed down through generations, that could provide remedies for their illnesses.
Drugs manufacturers offered what they believed at the time to be genuine cures. Others exploited the naive and poorly educated, offering instant, miraculous remedies containing nothing of purpose other than alcohol or narcotics.
As a result, ointment pots that date broadly to the Victorian and Edwardian period are highly collectable, not just because of their amusingly wild claims, but also their relatively small size and the significant variety make then ideal where space is limited.
The Victorian era saw the rapid development of an urban industrial economy with high concentrations of population in major cities and a subsequent rise in the transmission of diseases. The time was right for many to exploit working class ignorance.
The proliferation of cheaper mass-production methods, as well as increasingly sophisticated advertising, helped to support the growth of many new industries to serve and target this lucrative market.
Thomas Holloway, who started making ointments and pills in his mother’s kitchen using her pots and pans, was among the first to recognize the power and potential of advertising and spent large sums on worldwide campaigns.
He ended up a millionaire, funded gifts to the nation including a sanatorium and the Royal Holloway College in London and eventually sold his business to Beecham’s Pills. His medicines, however, were largely bogus.
In 1851, UK patent medicine firms had a combined turnover of some £250,000 that grew spectacularly throughout the remainder of the century.
In 1884, according to the Chemist and Druggist magazine, there were between 800 and 1,000 makers of patent remedies in Great Britain, producing up to 5,000 different medicines, with some 19,000 people were employed by the industry in manufacture and distribution.
Many ointments were based on old remedies or at least attempted to engender the feeling that a successful recipe had been passed down through the generations. Brand names such as Mother Ashton, Mrs Croft, Mrs Hulse and Mrs Gares were used to personalise and reinforce the belief that each generation had a secret herbal recipe that could cure all ills.
With no restrictions on the medical properties of ointments and cures, together with the ease of manufacture of transfer printed pots on which the claims could be stated, the growth of the quack cure exploded.
This is reflected in the vast range of occupations among people selling the medicines, and nor was it limited to chemists or druggists. Bicycle manufacturers, drapers, newsagents and even a schoolmaster are now known to have sold ointments and salves over this relatively short period.
Trade directories are full of examples from proprietors such as William Spencer, who ran the Butchers Arms in Lydiard Millicent, in Swindon, in 1889 and also advertised “Spencer’s ointment for burns, scalds & every description of sores & skin disease.” Another, Mrs Sarah Ann Andrew, is listed in 1879 as a salve and ointment maker, but also a coal merchant at 64 Broad Lane, Sheffield.
A growing number of potteries helped to support this potentially lucrative industry and ensured that high quality mass-produced containers were available to all. Potteries were located throughout the UK and many produced ointment pots.
The demolition of the Maling Pottery buildings at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne uncovered examples of many of the items produced by this significant supplier, including, not surprisingly, ointment pots for the local business of George Handyside.
Entrepreneurial George sold a “medicinal cure” for nerves, digestion, rheumatism, toothache and a blood purifier. An elixir which he claimed cured alcoholism soon became a renowned product sold nationally, while his book Every Man Should Be His Own Doctor sold over a million copies.
Similarly, when Buchan’s Portobello Pottery buildings in Edinburgh were demolished in the early 1970s, hundreds of Singleton’s Golden Eye Ointment pots were discovered.
Port Dundas, based in Glasgow, was another leading Scottish pottery that advertised its production of ointment pots as well as virtually every type of stoneware container imaginable.
Although there was initially no legislation to control the claims made by manufacturers about the powers of healing, all medicines in the UK were subject to tax. A government duty of 1d was levied on all ointments retailing at 1/- (five pence) hence the vast majority of them sold for 1/1½d.
As medicine advanced, so the medical profession began to understand how damaging many of the false claims were affecting the profession as a whole. Most ointments contained little in the way of healing ingredients and many could also have done more harm than good.
The main constituent for most ointments was hog lard or beef fat as well as beeswax and petroleum jelly, which were used as a carrier for herbs or a range of active chemical-based ingredients.
The analysis of one of the most popular Victorian ointments, Dr. Robert’s original Poor Man’s Friend ointment, showed that it consisted chiefly of paraffin molle – soft, white paraffin – while Brown’s Herbal Ointment was essentially just petroleum jelly.
Significant advances were made in medicine toward the end of the 19th century. These were both scientific and also, importantly, in the regulation of medicines, principally by the British Medical Association (BMA) which began to take a leading role in influencing legislation on public health matters.
The exposure of quack medicine with the BMA campaign in 1909 resulted in many proprietors moderating the often-exaggerated claims once attributed to their cures, while increased scrutiny ultimately caused the demise of many patent medicines and several proprietors were actually prosecuted for fraudulent statements.
World War I was a watershed for many manufactured products, with cheaper forms of packaging, such as tins, quickly replacing pottery containers. A few companies continued to use traditional style ointment pots into the 1920s, but further efficiency improvements in glass, labels and collapsible metal tubes ended their use by the 1930s.
Incredibly, it was not until the 1941 Pharmacy and Medicines Act that manufacturers were required to disclose the active ingredients on a product’s label.
The images for this column were supplied by Bob Houghton, co-author with Mark Priestley of the definitive Historical Guide to Delftware and Victorian Ointment Pots.
By sifting through library archives, old Kelly’s and Post Office trade directories, and with help from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Welcome Institute and the Science Museum, the two were able date pots and when their makers were active. No one has ever done this before.
This early tin-glaze Delftware pot dates to circa 1770 and was possibly used by Jacob Hemet, Dentist to Queen Anne and George II. The pot is rare and valued at £1,500 ($2,268). Photo Bob Houghton
The Lees Paisley ointment pot is one of the most desirable owing to its sepia, pictorial transfer. The value of this small pot, which claims to cure a plethora of illnesses, is valued at £500+ ($756+). Photo Bob Houghton
The Johnson pot is appealing because of the vast range of medical conditions it claims to cure. There are two sizes known, the smaller pot selling originally for 1s/3d and larger for 2s/9d. Value: £350+ ($529+). Photo Bob Houghton
This attractive blue print transferred pot was sold by William Jones & Co., who had a number of shops in Liverpool and Bootle. Photo Bob Houghton
The Jones pot dates to about 1870-80 and is very desirable. It’s worth £250 ($378). Photo Bob Houghton
It claims to cure ‘Inveterate Ulcers, Sore Breasts, Bad Legs, Sore Heads, Foul Shaves and All Skin Diseases,’ but this herbal ointment was essentially just petrol jelly. Photo Bob Houghton
NEW YORK (AP) – Long ago, humans left their evolutionary cradle in Africa and passed through the Middle East on their way to Europe. Now scientists have found the first fossil remains that appear to document that journey, a partial skull from an Israeli cave.
The skull dates from around 55,000 years ago, fitting into the period when scientists had thought the migrants inhabited the area. And details of its anatomy resemble ancient skulls from Europe, Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University in Israel wrote in an email.
He and others present the finding in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature. The skull, which lacks facial features and its base, was found in Manot Cave in the Galilee region of northern Israel.
The migrants are called modern humans because of their anatomy. The earliest remains of modern humans in Europe date to about 45,000 years ago.
Experts not connected with the work were impressed. “This is the first evidence we have of the humans who made this journey,” apart from some ancient tools, said Eric Delson of Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Although finding a fossil that fits so well with what was believed about the ancient migration might be expected, “we didn’t have it before,” he said.
“We could predict theoretically what we would find. They’ve found it. … Up until now, that was a ghost.”
Katerina Harvati of the University of Tuebingin in Germany said the skull gives clues about the anatomy of the migrants. Since Neanderthals were already known to inhabit the area, the skull also documents that they and modern humans co-existed there, as suspected, Harvati said.
That supports the idea that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred there, experts said. Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London wrote in an email that the skull is the first fossil of a modern human from western Asia that is well-dated to the estimated time of the interbreeding, some 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.
LONDON (AFP) – Plans to move “Dippy” the dinosaur from his home in London’s Natural History Museum made national news on Thursday, triggering an outcry from fans, an online petition and even a fake Twitter account.
Longer than two London buses, the cast of fossilized diplodocus bones will be moved from the entrance hall in 2017 after more than 30 years and replaced by a blue whale suspended from the roof.
As the Sky News channel asked pundits whether “whales are more relevant than dinosaurs,” #savedippy began to trend on Twitter and many Britons spoke of their fond childhood memories of visiting the skeleton.
“The blue whale is just a one-hit wonder. He’s no icon that leaves tens of thousands of children staring upward in awe. He’s no glimpse at the past, no celebration of the future, no palaeontologist’s wet dream,” the Metro newspaper said in an online petition.
Hosted on campaigning websitechange.org, the petition had garnered 2,000 signatures within hours of going live.
The museum says the skeleton of the blue whale, the largest animal to have lived on Earth and which has been hunted to near extinction, would better raise awareness of mankind’s impact on nature.
“As guardians of one of the world’s greatest scientific resources, our purpose is to challenge the way people think about the natural world,” said museum director Michael Dixon.
“That goal has never been more urgent … The blue whale serves as a poignant reminder that while abundance is no guarantee of survival, through our choices we can make a real difference. There is hope.”
The 25.2-meter-long (83-feet) female whale skeleton came to the museum 10 years after it opened in 1881.
It beached itself in 1891 at the mouth of Wexford Harbour in Ireland and its skeleton was bought by the museum for £250.
The 1905 diplodocus cast has been on display for 35 years and was donated to the museum by the wealthy businessman Andrew Carnegie, based on the original specimen in the Carnegie Museum in the United States.
The animal was a herbivore, weighed up to 25,000 kilograms and lived 155 million to 145 million years ago during the late Jurassic period.
The museum is considering Dippy’s next move, including the possibility of it going on tour or being exhibited outside the museum.
The profile on the fake account @SaveDippy read simply: “Natural History Museum dinosaur looking for work. Forced into retirement at the young age of 150 million.”
Its tweets are an anti-whale tirade, including: “Dear Blue Whale, yes, your bum DOES look big in that. Regards, Dippy.”
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – The Palace of the Governors is already billed as one of the oldest continuously occupied public buildings in the United States
Now, the adobe structure bordering Santa Fe’s historic plaza is being named as a national treasure.
The official announcement by the National Trust for Historic Preservation was made Wednesday afternoon. Gov. Susana Martinez, Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales, cultural affairs officials and history buffs attended.
Built in 1610, the palace is now part of the state history museum.
The preservation group says the building is deteriorating and there’s a lack of funding for much-needed repairs.
The group says designating the palace as a national treasure should serve as a call to action for the state Legislature and supporters to raise money for restoration efforts.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NEW YORK—Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today the 15 participants in the second annual Global Museum Leaders Colloquium, to be held at the Museum April 13–23, 2015. The Metropolitan Museum hosts the colloquium to broaden international dialogue about museum management among directors from collecting institutions.
“Last year’s inaugural GMLC established a significant new venue for deeper dialogue among museum leaders and a growing network of institutions and directors worldwide,” said Mr. Campbell. “I am encouraged by the many new collaborations, contacts, and initiatives that have evolved out of the GMLC already. For all of us here at the Met, it is an invaluable opportunity to get to know our international colleagues and benefit from their perspective and expertise.”
The 2015 GMLC participants include directors of national, municipal, private, and academic museums. They oversee museums with a total annual attendance of more than five million visitors and collections of nearly six million objects. Several of the participants in this invitational program are directors of the largest or second-largest museums in their respective countries. Some of the institutions are undergoing major renovation and expansion projects or are in the process of rethinking their strategic priorities. With the exception of China, India, and Peru, all of the represented countries are new to the GMLC.
CAMEROON, Doual’art, Douala – Director Marilyn Douala Bell
CHINA, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an – Director Wang Weilin
COLOMBIA, Museo del Oro, Bogotá – Director Maria Alicia Uribe Villegas
EGYPT, Museums of Upper Egypt, Cairo – Director Sanaa Aly
INDIA, The National Museum, New Delhi – Director Venu Vasudevan
IRAN, The National Museum of Iran, Tehran – Director General Mahnaz Gorji
NEW ZEALAND, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland – Director Rhana Devenport
NIGERIA, The National Commission for Museums and Monuments – Director General Mallam Yusuf Abdallah UsmanPERU, Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Lima – Director Natalia Majluf
PHILIPPINES, The National Museum of the Philippines, Manila – Director Jeremy Barns
SPAIN, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona – Director Pepe Serra
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, Sharjah Museums Department, Sharjah – Director General Manal Ataya
UNITED KINGDOM, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford – Director Alexander Sturgis
VIETNAM, Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, Da Nang – Director Vo Van Thang
“One of the assumptions behind the GMLC is that, despite their varied circumstances, museums share many common challenges,” said András Szántó, a museum analyst and writer on arts institutions who oversees the Colloquium and serves as its moderator. “As we add another group of museum leaders from more than a dozen new countries, the global reach and impact of the GMLC network are certain to increase exponentially.”
Over the course of 11 days, the GMLC provides a 360-degree view of current museum practices worldwide, placing a strong emphasis on institutional leadership and strategic problem solving. A significant portion of the program is reserved for open dialogue among the invited directors, who present case studies on their institutions and meet in group workshops to address timely issues confronting museums and propose new models for collaboration. The GMLC participants will work with Metropolitan Museum experts across all departments and make group site visits to cultural institutions in New York and Washington, D.C.
The Global Museum Leaders Colloquium is made possible by Gilbert and Ildiko Butler.
Additional support has been provided by Jan and Marica Vilcek.
The Colloquium is also made possible in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art and Sotheby’s.
ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) – Down a long, antiseptic-looking corridor that leads to Diagnostic Testing at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, patients in hospital gowns on gurneys are wheeled by a dazzling array of original artwork equaling that of some galleries.
It’s a strange juxtaposition. But as recent world events have proven, art’s power cannot be underestimated.
While it has mocked all that some hold sacred and inflamed the wrath of terrorists in Paris, here at home art is being used for another powerful purpose – to heal. The hope is that this eye-catching exhibit of floral designs, landscapes and abstract images at Englewood – and hospitals like it across the country – might just make patients’ anxiety and pain a little easier to bear. The exhibit is also designed to make the doctors’ and nurses’ burden a little lighter too, be it consciously or subliminally.
The Record reports that the works by nine local artists, all featured in public areas of the hospital for anyone to see, represent the third and latest installation in the Art of Healing program, which started a year ago this month.
“One of the buzz phrases these days is ‘evidence-based design.’ This refers to creating the physical environment where the design and environment of the hospital can have real and immeasurable benefits for patient outcome,” says Dr. Bryan Ho, head and neck surgeon at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.
“Art is the focal point, and the whole idea is to create an environment where patients and their families feel comfortable,” Ho says. “Studies in Europe and America have shown that people’s blood pressures have been lowered. Their anxieties have been lessened. And the belief is that this might translate into a reduction in hospital stays, and a reduction in the need for pain medication.”
Close to half of all hospitals have arts program of some sort, such as art therapy classes and musical performances, according to a report from the Society for Arts in Healthcare, now known as the Arts & Health Alliance.
Locally, Valley Home Care offers the Journeys program, an art therapy program to help children deal with grief. Others, like Hackensack University Medical Center, offer child life specialists and creative arts therapists whose work addresses psycho-social issues related to illness through creating art.
Eskenazi Health, a health system affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, spent $1.5 million to commission 19 artists to create works designed to promote optimism, vitality and energy at the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, which opened last December.
The Cleveland Clinic reported earlier this year that patients surveyed about its extensive and prominent collection reported a significant positive effect on their experience and on mood, stress, comfort and expectations. This despite a 2012 study that said abstract images should be avoided in hospitals because they can create anxiety. The Cleveland Clinic’s findings were that patients may respond positively to the diversity of the collection and to other types of art in addition to nature art.
Englewood’s current exhibit of about 50 works is curated with the help of the Art School at Old Church in Demarest, whose artists submit works for consideration. Hospital administration and Art of Healing founder Linda Senter, a volunteer, also assist in the selection process.
“I was looking for a way to give back to our community hospital,” Senter says. “It’s where our kids were born. They both volunteered at the hospital, at some point, over the years. My husband has volunteered. And as I have worked with designers and architects in the past, I am a lover of art. I believe it is a positive influence. My husband and I were visiting our son at college and we stopped at Cleveland Clinic, just to walk around their public spaces. There was so much art you didn’t even feel like you were in a hospital. We thought: This would be a great thing to do at Englewood.”
The idea is a win-win situation, she said, because local artists get to be seen by an audience that might not otherwise have been exposed to their work. She noted that the three exhibitions have been different. The first was photography-only, by a handful of participants. The second was one or more works each by 42 artists and featured mixed media. This latest round features nine of the previous exhibit’s artists but with more of their work, about six to eight pieces each. The next exhibit will be in April.
Painter and printmaker Dail Fried, one of the artists whose works are featured in the current show, says her work is sort of a natural for the hospital. “My imagery tends to be abstract,” says Fried, of Cresskill. “It is inspired by nature and actually, it’s kind of an internal landscape that I’m after. It’s a landscape that resonates within me, put onto canvas. I have a lot of intuition and spontaneity in creating my work.”
Fried, whose work has been shown at Piermont Fine Arts Gallery and the Yorktown Heights Green Hill Invitational, both in New York, said she loves the concept of Art of Healing. “Going to the hospital in the first place is traumatic and stressful from the get-go. At least if you can walk into a space where there is art and it is soothing, it makes the process of being in the hospital, either as a patient, a relative or a visitor, a little bit easier.”
Ted Weiselberg of Englewood was walking down one of the hospital’s long corridors Thursday on his way to a follow-up doctor’s appointment, after being hospitalized for a heart valve replacement. “Wow!” he said, stopping and slowly walking up to one of the paintings, an abstract piece. “Pretty good,” he said, continuing to stare at the two circular images. “It almost has the intensity of two eye balls staring out at you.”
It just so happens that Weiselberg spent some time recently at Cleveland Clinic for his heart condition. He said that, like Englewood’s collection, the work was compelling. Not to mention a much-needed distraction from the anxiety of heart trouble.
“It really grabs your attention,” he said. “It takes your mind off your troubles, and puts it on something else.”
