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Around the Gallery |
January 2010, vol.2, issue 1 A publication of the R. W. Norton Art Gallery |
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AT A GLANCE:
To visit the R. W. Norton Art Gallery website, go to http://www.rwnaf.org/.
Special Exhibits:
Fantasies and Fairy-Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of the Print
Runs January 26 - April 11
Click here for more info
First Saturday Tour:
The Bronze Tour
January 2, 2p.m.
Click here for more info
Saturday Speaker Series:
Martha Lawler,
The History of the Book
January 23, 2 p.m.
Click here for more info
Holiday Hours
The R. W. Norton Art Gallery will be closed New Year’s Day, Friday January 1st.
Around the Gallery
Editor
Kristi Kohl
Contributors
Everl Adair
Jennifer DeFratis
Gary Ford
Kip Dehart
Emily Meyers |
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Maxfield Parrish Prints of Fantasies and Fairy-Tales Begin Four-Month Exhibition at
R.W. Norton Art Gallery
 For seventy years he painted dreams, creating form and face for the mist of imagination and human emotion—all in bold and luminescent colors. From the 1890s to the 1960s, Maxfield Parrish enjoyed a reputation as the most popular artist in America and excelled in many avenues of art.
Print media was one of these, as visitors will see at R.W. Norton Art Gallery, January 26 to April 11. Fantasies and Fairy Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of The Print features 126 examples of his work in advertisements, books, illustrations, lithographs, magazine covers, and posters.
The exhibition comes from Trust for Museum Exhibitions, based in Washington, D.C. The Norton is its only venue in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
During its four-month run, the display will occupy a prominent space among the twenty-four galleries in the museum, which exhibits, year-round, seven centuries of art from its 3,723-piece permanent collection. There is no admission charge to the museum or to its forty acres of grounds and botanical gardens.
“Parrish arose as an extremely popular painter among the general population in America in the early- to mid-twentieth century,” comments Everl Adair, director of research and rare collections at the Norton. “In his day critics were not always kind to him, which often happens to an artist the public loves. Over the past few decades, however, respect for him from art historians has gone up considerably. So have prices for Parrish works.”
Young museum goers may marvel at images new to their eyes. Older visitors will recognize art that for decades graced pages of children’s storybooks. Parrish’s colors, his subject matter of classic figures, and his composition and precise detail rivet the eye.
Those same qualities drew adults to his creations. From 1904 to 1911, his illustrations appeared on the covers of Collier’s, a highly popular general interest magazine. Other publications, such as Century, Ladies Home Journal, and Scribner’s Magazine also adorned their covers with his work. Parrish created fairy-tale pictures for calendars of two large companies--Detroit-based D.M. Ferry & Co., a seed enterprise, as well as for General Electric-Edison Mazda Lamps.
By the 1920s, the Pennsylvania-born Parrish (1870-1966) was the highest-paid artist in America. It’s estimated that one in four American households displayed one of his creations, such as Spirit of the Night (1919), Daybreak (1922), The Lamp Seller of Bagdad (1923), and Ecstasy (1930)—the cover art on the exhibition brochure.
As his reputation soared, so did the reproduction values of his works on the printed page. Parrish challenged lithographers to step beyond the traditional four-color separation process and reproduce his art with as many as six to sixteen separations. By doing so, they rendered even more precisely the brilliant color, layering, and glazing of his paintings.
By the 1930s, weary of what he called his “girls-on-the-rocks” images, Parrish turned to his first love, landscapes, with the beauty of rural New England serving as his subject. For three decades the publishing firm, Brown & Bigelow Inc., based in St. Paul, Minnesota, reproduced Parrish landscapes on its products. It distributed seventeen million calendars, three million greeting cards, and one million prints. For each, the artist received royalties.
“Businessman with a brush,” critics sneered of Parrish’s output throughout his career.
In the decades after his death, however, art historians have reassessed earlier, harsh critiques of the popular painter. Many realized an artist should be judged by the quality of work rather than its intended uses.
“His work has found resonance in the American national psyche and allowed Americans to discover a commonality of thread in each other: the love of dreams, the love of splendor and the love of place within the beautiful country that he depicted,” comments Alma Garrett Smith, a Parrish authority.
For four months at the Norton, that resonance pulses in light and color of imagination come to life at the tip of Parrish’s brush.
--Gary Ford, Staff Writer
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New Camera Policy, effective immediately
 Are you one of those folks who has longed to take a picture of their precious little princess posing with the frog prince, or yearned to capture a memory of Great-Aunt Gertie standing alongside An Oriental Beauty? Good news is at hand. As new technology has developed, the Norton has re-evaluated its policy on visitors taking photographs inside the museum. Digital camera and cell phones that can take personal photographs without the benefit of flash will be permitted; however, because of potential for damage to the artworks, flash photography continues to be banned. Also, due to copyright and intellectual property restrictions, and because it can be detrimental to the viewing experience of other visitors, professional photography or any photography intended for commercial purposes will not be allowed. With that in mind, we hope you take the opportunity to make photographic memories of your visit and your own personal experience of the many wonderful works at the Norton. Happy snapping!
--Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections
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First Saturday Tour:
The Bronze Tour - January 2 @ 2 p.m.
On Saturday, January 2, 2010, this guided tour will provide a guide to an art form that has existed for over 5,000 years, explore works that will "rattle down through the ages," and thoroughly explain the ancient casting process with a very modern Power Point presentation. Artists featured on this tour include Antoine Louis Barye, August Rodin, and Frederic Remington, among others in our European and American sculpture collections.
The First Saturday Tour Series of the Norton occurs on the first Saturday of every month at 2 p.m. All tours meet in the lobby. No reservation is required, though groups of 10 or more are asked to call ahead. This tour, like all tours and admission to the Norton, is free of charge.
--Jennifer DeFratis, Tour and Special Events Coordinator
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Saturday Speaker Series
January 23 @ 2 p.m.
Martha Lawler, A History of Books
Martha Lawler has been the Associate Librarian and Cataloguer of the James Smith Noel Collection since 1996. The Noel Collection was the largest private collection of antiquarian books in the United States prior to its arrival at LSU–Shreveport in 1994. The collection encompasses approximately 125 different subject areas in such diverse fields as religion, travel literature, philosophy, science, cartography, natural history, moral instruction, curiosities, costumery, and the history of humor. Join us as Ms. Lawler relates to us the history of books, presenting archived materials from the Noel collection as well as from the Norton's own antiquarian selections.
--Jennifer DeFratis, Tour and Special Events Coordinator
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TIPS FROM KIP: Overwintering Tender Plants
 Although protecting your shrubs and flowers during the winter months may present challenges, you don't need a greenhouse. Overwintering (or caring for plants that might not survive the season) your plants will not only keep them alive and ready for a grander spring display, but also will save you money.
These tips will help you care for your favorite perennials and tropicals through winter into spring:
1) Locate plants you decide to leave outside in sheltered areas that block cold, north winds and trap the heat of the sun, such as under overhangs or tree canopies.
2) If you decide to bring some plants inside, first move them to a shady spot outside. A week or two out of direct sun helps them to acclimate to the indoors more easily.
3) Prior to bringing the plants indoors, check for pests and diseases.
4) Once inside, provide tender perennials and tropicals with a warm, bright, sunny location, like a windowsill.
5) Place plants that typically require a dormant period in a cool, dark location.
6) Because indoor air tends to be drier than outdoors, provide additional humidity. Grouping plants in masses, mist frequently, or place them in trays atop gravel and water.
Your plants will applaud your extra care this winter with a magnificent show in the spring.
--Kip Dehart, Landscape Director
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OUT IN THE GARDENS: Scarlet Firethorn
 Scarlet firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea) is a large, gangly, perennial shrub native to southern Europe and western Asia, requires full sun and a fertile, well - drained soil. This evergreen's stout branches display clusters of small, creamy-white flowers in late spring and summer. Simple, oblong, coarse leaves cover the shrub year-round. Long unclipped branches arch nicely to expose its red-orange berries so prominent in fall and winter.
Scarlet firethorn grows rapidly to a maximum height of eight feet. Once established, it's very difficult to transplant. Severe pruning is not recommended. You may propagate scarlet firethorn by seed or from cuttings snipped in autumn.
Despite the bitter taste of this pyracantha's raw, apple-like berries, birds love them! Often, bushes rustle and shake with robins, waxwings, thrushes, and sparrows feasting on berries.
You can see specimens of the Scarlet firethorn in the Norton gardens.
--Kristi Kohl, Staff Researcher
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VOICES FROM THE ARCHIVES: Ira D. Ferguson, Infantryman, Korea
 Although trained in communications, Ira Ferguson was transferred into the infantry, and served along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Korea in 1968 and 1969. An African-American, he saw that while race problems still existed, black and white soldiers needed and respected each other.
Interviewer: How did everyone else treat you?
Aw, man, we were just like brothers, you know. We were on the same team. We slept together, drank out of the same bottles and everything. They were proud to be with me, you know, and I was glad to be with them. You couldn’t separate us; most of my friends basically were white guys. So we looked out for each other. We trained together, you know. Some of us went all the way to Georgia together and some of us went all the way overseas together. I would put my life in any of their hands and they’d do the same for me.
Mr. Ferguson returned home, married, and spent a career as a draftsman. He is among nearly 500 men and women from the Shreveport area who graciously gave their time to tell us their life stories of service and sacrifice. We’re presenting these stories as part of our Oral History Project, an ongoing effort to interview veterans of conflicts from World War II to the present. We also continue to collect interviews from eyewitnesses to the civil rights struggle, pioneers of the energy industries, and those who created “the Shreveport sound” in music.
Click here to view additional photographs and to listen to the audio of the interview with Mr. Ferguson.
If you or someone you know would like to share stories with us, please call (318) 865-4201, or contact ohp@rwnaf.org.
--Gary Ford, Staff writer
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FEATURED ARTIST IN THE COLLECTION:
Paul Paulin (1852-1937)
Born in Chamaliers, France on July 13, 1852, Paul Paulin took the sensible route into adulthood and became a prominent dentist in Paris. However, his passion for art led him first to pursue the acquaintance of prominent artists and collectors, and eventually to pursue a secondary career as a sculptor, dedicating himself primarily to modeling and casting bronze portrait busts of his many artistic friends, including the great Rodin. Though he was friendly with Rodin, Paulin was far closer to the group of artists known as the Impressionists, with whom he regularly socialized. He created portrait busts of Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and, most notably, two busts of his closest friend among them, Edgar Degas. While retaining his profession as a dentist, he nonetheless found success with these portrait busts as well, exhibiting at the Salon des artistes Francais from 1882 to 1889 and starting at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1901. Ironically, despite the portraits modeled from life of the great French artists of his time, Paulin’s single most famous sculpture during his own lifetime was one of Queen Victoria, cast in 1901.
Art has never owed a greater debt to dentistry. Thanks to his ability to support himself independent of patronage, when Paulin died in 1937, he left behind a wealth of indelible portraits of the great artists he had personally known and loved. In 1983, a special exhibition of his work was held in Clermont-Ferrand, France, the largest showing of his sculpture ever held at a single location. Bronzes were gathered from museums and private and corporate collections around the world to celebrate Paulin’s contribution to the history of art. His friends would have been pleased.
--Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections
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FEATURED ARTIST IN THE COLLECTION:
Paul Paulin (1852-1937)
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FEATURED ARTWORK IN THE COLLECTION:
Destiny of the Red Man – A.A. Weinman (1870 – 1952)
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FEATURED ARTWORK IN THE COLLECTION: Destiny of the Red Man – A.A. Weinman (1870 – 1952)
In 1902, A. A. Weinman received a commission for a plaster sculpture to be shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, also known as the St. Louis Fair. He was told that the subject was to be the American Indian, but otherwise he could do whatever he liked. After a certain amount of study, including a trip to Coney Island to visit Colonel Cummings’ Wild West Show and sketch the Indians involved, Weinman began drawing a plan on paper. Originally, it consisted of only 3 figures, but Weinman soon found that it grew from a simple, symbolic sculpture of the American Indian into a major monument of a vanishing race which contained 10 Indians, a dog, a vulture, and a buffalo. Each figure had a particular role in the dramatic composition he had created and all were surmounted by the figure of the Great Spirit, who was in Weinman’s words, “shrouded in dark and inscrutable mystery, guiding his wards along the road of Destiny – foreordained and inexorable.” The piece was exhibited in heroic size at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in staff, a composition of plaster and straw, facing the Sunken Garden. It received high praise from visitors; nevertheless, after the Fair closed, the large sculpture was destroyed. All that remained was his original plaster working model which was smaller than the version exhibited. Weinman had it dismantled into sections and stored in the basement of his studio. And there it remained until the winter of 1943 when Richard W. Norton, Jr., a friend of Weinman’s, was visiting and re-discovered the plaster models. After a number of discussions, Mr. Norton decided to have the piece cast in bronze in its original size. The bronze group was cast and assembled in early spring of 1947. In 2005, it was installed at its present vantage point on a hillside in our gardens. Please visit and enjoy this magnificent sculpture in its beautiful setting.
--Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections
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BEHIND THE SCENES:
Kenny Monroe, Museum Maintenanace
 Kenny Monroe has worked at the Norton for nearly 15 years, first on the landscaping crew for three years, before coming inside to help maintain the museum. Kenny says he enjoys the immediate gratification of seeing the clean, shiny floors after he strips and waxes them. He especially enjoys making sure "the building looks good" for our visitors.
Kenny knows the contours of the sculptures as well as any connoisseur. He cleans and dusts each. He also polishes glass display cases and helps stock museum supplies. In another crucial area, Kenny also helps unpack and repack crates of artwork for special exhibits, and assists with organizing the displays.
One of his favorite, and most important, tasks is adjusting the lighting in the galleries to maximize the visitor experience while minimizing artificial light damage to the art. The next time you meander through the museum, be sure to look up to the lighting. Kenny's light touch helps all to appreciate the art even more.
--Kristi Kohl, Staff Researcher
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WORTH QUOTING
Bronze is the mirror of the form, wine of the mind. – Aeschylus (525 B.C. – 456 B.C.)
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FROM THE VAULTS
Bacchante and Infant Faun
Frederic MacMonnies (1863 – 1937)
(Currently not on display in the museum)
 A charmingly nude bacchante (a female priestess or votary of Bacchus, Roman god of wine) dances exuberantly, supported only by her right toes as she holds a bunch of grapes high over her head and cradles a nude infant faun (a small woodland deity in Roman mythology having the body of a man but the horns, ears, tail, and sometimes legs of a goat) in the crook of her left elbow. This is a smaller edition of an over-life-size statue created by Frederick W. MacMonnies in Paris in 1893-94. Bacchante and Infant Faun is an example of the French Beaux-Arts style, characterized by the “classical” academic style taught in the Academy de Beaux-Arts, which was popular in America in the late 19th century. MacMonnies presented the first of these bronze statues to architect Charles Follen McKim to thank him for a fifty-dollar loan that helped MacMonnies make his first trip abroad in 1884. McKim intended it to be used in the courtyard of the Boston Public Library designed by his renowned firm, McKim, Mead and White. Unfortunately, a public protest was organized against the statue’s “drunken indecency”. As a result, McKim offered the statue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May of 1897 and it was rapidly accepted. For years, it was on display in the museum’s Great Hall and because of the enormous popularity it engendered there, other editions of it were cast in various sizes, including smaller bronze versions like this, two large marble replicas, and three other over-life-size bronzes.
--Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections
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DID YOU KNOW?
During the Renaissance, one of the ways in which a man, whether a member of the aristocracy, the Church, or the newly-risen merchant class, displayed his learning was through the possession of bronze statuettes. Owning these works of art indicated that he possessed interests that were similar to those of the major figures of the classical world. When Carpaccio depicted Saint Jerome, for instance, he included the elegant bronze figure of a horse in the emblems of humanist scholarship around him. Men determined to establish their stature as scholars also made sure to have a bronze inkwell, frequently in the shape of a shell, snail, lion, or toad. One famous inkstand by Paduan metal master Riccio consists of a group of lizards attacking a frog. The open mouth of the frog held the ink, while the lizards’ throats supported various quill pens. As the spirit of scientific inquiry became one of the hallmarks of the period, artists increasingly investigated the natural world, creating small bronzes often cast directly from nature in a process described by Florentine artist Cennino d’Andrea, who took care to remind his readers that the animals needed to be dead first, or otherwise would not remain as still and steady as necessary for casting. One famous example of this method is Riccio’s bronze crab, which has the back of its shell hinged to form a box protected by the extended pincers.
--Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections
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| EDUCATIONAL TOURS, PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS |
FIRST SATURDAY TOURS
Regularly scheduled tours are offered on the first Saturday of every month at 2 p.m. No reservation is required for these First Saturday Tours. Groups of 10 or more are asked to call ahead so preparations may be made to accommodate the group on these particular tours. All tours, like admission to the Gallery, are free to the public. The next First Saturday Tour Christmas - Gifts of the Heart will be on December 5th at 2 p.m.
GROUP TOURS
Eighteen group tours are offered at the Norton ranging from the 19th Century French Art History Tour to the Cowboy Artists Tour. Group tours are available by appointment year-round for groups of 10-30 and last approximately 45 minutes.
OUTREACH PROGRAM
The purpose of the community Outreach Program is to take art and art education to people through interactive presentations. Community Presentations consist of PowerPoint presentations to civic groups and assisted living facilities.
For more information on the programs offered or to schedule a tour or presentation, click here.
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SATURDAY SPEAKER SERIES
One Saturday each month, the Norton will host a local, regional, or national expert speaking on a variety of subjects in formats ranging from formal presentations to informal seminars to walking tours. Upcoming speakers will cover a broad range of subjects including gardening, popular literature and film, influential historical and cultural figures, musical history and interpretation, and food in art. All events are free to the public.
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
The R.W. Norton Art Foundation is pursuing interviews with those who were involved in America's effort to win World War II, whether in the military or on the home front. Each interview will be digitally recorded by the Gallery to be stored and used for historical purposes, and each interview subject will also be given a copy of this recording to share and preserve his or her memories for family and friends.
If you are interested in participating in or would like more information about the Oral History Project, please click here.
SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS?
To offer us feedback or to suggest what you’d like to see in upcoming issues, please click here.
GALLERY LOCATION AND HOURS:
4747 Creswell Avenue
Shreveport, LA 71106
318-865-4201
www.rwnaf.org
Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and National Holidays
Copyright © 2009 by R. W. Norton Art Gallery |
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