Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
♪ MUSIC ♪
♪ MUSIC ♪
NARRATOR: To visit the Sheldon Museum of Art
is a chance to commune with the famous.
And works with great histories...
up and coming new talents;
... and pieces fresh off the easel.
BRANDON RUUD: This painting by
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith is the most recent painting
acquisition for the museum, so the paint on it
is pretty fresh.
NARRATOR: The acquisition reflects a shifting
priority to increase the number of works by
talented emerging artists as well as those
artists traditionally underrepresented in most
every museum in the world.
BRANDON: Its also part of the museum's mission
to showcase the great diversity of American artists,
women artists, artists of color,
and Native American artists
like Jaune Quick-To-See Smith.
NARRATOR: Curator Brandon Ruud helped select pieces
like this one for a year-long exhibition of
paintings that will rotate in from the museum's
widely-respected permanent collection...a collection
carefully acquired through the last 125 years
by the Sheldon Art Association.
BRANDON: We are very fortunate to have examples
by some of the premiere artists in American art history.
Eastman Johnson, John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins,
Marsden Hartley, Joseph Stella.
In addition to that, it's an active collection.
We're always looking for new ways to expand the collection,
new ways to redefine what it means to
be an American artist or what American art means.
NARRATOR: One of the Sheldon's newest and
proudest acquisitions is a work by another well-known artist,
who had been overlooked by many for years.
BRANDON: It's undoubtedly the most significant um
painting acquisition that the Sheldon has made over
the several last years.
Lee Krasner was a major abstract expressionist and
she was very much influenced by nature
in her paintings and so when you look at the canvas,
you're not looking at a literal representation of nature,
of course, but she was
trying to evoke the energy of nature.
Lee Krasner was one of the most important artists
to emerge in post-war America.
She was really um interested in all of these
influences that were coming to the fore at the time,
in particular, psychoanalysis.
And she was using abstraction
to capture um her unconscious.
And this was um the inspiration of many
artists working at the time, in particular,
her husband Jackson ***.
But I think her relationship with him also
underscores um many of the histories, of women artists
still working in the 20th century.
He's considered the great cowboy of abstract expressionism
And yet, she was the one who was perhaps more educated.
Um better understood modern painting,
but her career still took a backseat to his.
It was only after his death was she really
emerging um on her own terms as an artist.
And in the past few decades as a
recognizable force in her own right as a great painter.
NARRATOR: One of the most iconic and beloved paintings
in the Sheldon collection is
Edward Hopper's ROOM IN NEW YORK....
BRANDON: It is probably one of the top five
most-recognized paintings in the country
it's as if you're walking down a New York City street
and stop for a moment in front of these people's windows.
You're capturing a-a secret clandestine view
into their lives.
And because of that, you can create your own narrative.
And I think that's what many people do and
why they come to this painting over and over again.
Painting has such as great tactile quality to it
and seeing a painting for the first time in person,
you have such a visceral reaction.
People may have seen them in a book,
whether on an I-Phone, an I-Pad, the computer,
but seeing it for the first time, experiencing it,
there's nothing that can quite replace that feeling.
You think you know a painting, you think you know
Edward Hopper's Room in New York, cause you've
seen it reproduced in multiple different media
but seeing it for the first time, noticing that
he had originally put a large bowl in the center
of the table to further separate the couple
that's in the painting but then he removed it.
You achieve these additional layers of
understanding that are just quite brilliant and
they can't quite be captured just looking at
the reproduction on-line, in a book and that's why
we always encourage people, come to the Sheldon,
see it in person.
NARRATOR: Sheldon Museum of Art Director Daniel Veneciano
spends a great deal of time evaluating
potential new acquisitions on his computer but,
even for him,
there is no substitute for seeing a work in person.
DANIEL VENECIANO: This painting is by Patssy Valdez,
who was part of an important Chicano sort of activist
artist collective in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
This painting was done uh much later, but I went to
visit Patsy's studio with the intention of buying a
different painting and when she pulled out this
particular canvas, I was so captivated by it
that I changed my mind.
That's part of the importance of seeing real
works of art live and in person than just simply on line.
And what's remarkable about this is
that it combines um numerous styles.
It's truly surrealist.
You can see kind of Salvador Dali drips.
You get a sense of Vincent Van Gogh's swirl.
The painting comes alive.
It's titled The Crying Tree.
One of the things I love about this painting is
that it makes room for the viewers' emotional space.
And I think that's what good art can do is-
is make room for--for our feelings.
NARRATOR: While the museum may be well known for its
painting collection, it represents just a third of
the Sheldon's 12-thousand works, which also include
a variety of other media, including a highly
regarded sculpture collection.
DANIEL: This work is by Richard Hunt,
a pre-eminent American artist based in Chicago.
The piece is called, From an Open Center.
One of the things I love about this piece is
that it's made from industrial materials.
He often works in steel.
This is bronze.
And uses industrial techniques.
Welding.
But with that, he produces something
that's absolutely lyrical and poetic,
so far from its industrial origins.
What he's able to do to create
these gestures is stunning really.
NARRATOR: And if the artwork is not quite enough for you,
look no further than the building itself,
considered to be a work of art in its own right.
DANIEL: This year we're celebrating the
50th Anniversary of this remarkable building,
designed by Philip Johnson in 1963.
We put together what we called the
Naked Museum exhibition and it's designed to do exactly that,
which is to call attention to the beauty
of the building itself.
NARRATOR: The Sheldon took down the art work
and put the walls on display.
DANIEL: In the Great Hall you'll see Roman and Greek style
columns reminiscent of a Roman Temple, for example.
You'll find those gold leaf disks on the ceiling,
which were inspired by Islamic Mosques.
You'll see corners and vaulted ceilings
that were inspired by Gothic Cathedrals in Europe.
NARRATOR: The Sheldon is no longer naked,
instead...
she's dressed to the nines with some new pieces &
classic favorites to wear on her walls.
♪ MUSIC ♪