University Gallery

Looking back

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Exhibitions come and go quickly, so sometimes it’s nice to look back and remember past accomplishments. These are a few of the catalogues we’ve found from exhibitions developed by the University Gallery in the latter half of the 1970s:

Animals from Legend and Life in Antique and German Porcelain, 1977
The Desert: Indian Art of the Southwest,1976
People of the Plains 1820-1850, 1978
Mimbres Painted Pottery, 1979
Once Upon a Time: Illustrations of Children’s Tales from Around the World, 1979
The Mountains of Marsden Hartley, 1979

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Happy Anniversary!

MNDaily_4.4.11.pngSeventy-seven years ago, on April 5, 1934, the experiment in fine arts, the “Little Gallery” opened at the University of Minnesota in a few rooms on the top floor of Northrop Auditorium. The front page of the MN Daily for April 5th announces the opening convocation that was held to commemorate the opening, and advertises that Mr. Russell A. Plimpton, of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, would be giving a speech titled, “Who Started Museums Anyhow?,” to include a slide presentation of, in Plimpton’s regard, “some of the most interesting museums in the world.”

The following day, April 6, the MN Daily front-page headline reads, “Museum Head Converts Students to Art, Culture.” Another article, placed near the bottom of the page, titled, “Art Finds Home In New Gallery Over Auditorium,” vividly describes the activity in Northrop Auditorium with the addition of the new gallery:

“While several hundred students and faculty members wandered through the University’s ‘Little Gallery’ on the third floor, viewing the work of famous European and American artists, a typist on the floor below blended the staccato notes of her machines with opening chords of Beethoven’s fifth symphony, as interpreted by the orchestra on the stage of the auditorium.

An unnamed workman, oblivious of the great event which was transpiring upstairs, found the necessity to grasp a hammer firmly and contribute to the booming of the drummer, practicing in the University band rehearsal room.

Upstairs, a professor gazed at the exhibits hung along the wall of the improvised gallery, ‘Those are the first original pieces by Corot and Henner that I have ever seen,” he declared to no one in particular. And that was the general impression as the University contributed a full-fledged art gallery to its courses in culture.”

(The Plimpton speech article continues onto page 3. Also on page 3, don’t miss the advertisements for Rice Krispies cereal or Arrow Underwear. “Nothing tries my patience like creeping underwear.”)


Luciano’s Lines

An Italian artist named Luciano Lattanzi had an exhibition titled “Semantic Paintings and Drawings” at the University Gallery in 1960. While logging his file, I found a mysterious stack of pen drawings, rendered in a spiderweb-like scrawl. These turned out to be made by the artist himself — you can see his signature at the bottom of the images. I realized these were templates for a promotional poster for the show. The file contained a reproduction of the following drawing, so I assume they chose this for the poster:

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And here are two of the unused poster designs:
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Questionnaire

Questionnaire1.JPGAs I reached to pull the folder titled, “Victorian Questionnaire” out of the box and opened the front flap to transfer the contents, to my surprise, there were no loosely assembled papers or correspondence, research, or exhibit checklists (as per usual), but rather a stiff and tightly packed manila envelope.

A peak inside the envelope revealed a stack of ¼ sheet questionnaires, completed by those that attended the campus-wide festival, “The Art & Mind of Victorian England” held September 28-November 8, 1974, and included public balloon ascensions, Victorian music performances, production of the operetta, ‘Patience,’ library display of 19th century boys magazines, and a lecture series. A University Gallery exhibition titled, “The Art and Mind of Victorian: England: Paintings from the Forbes Magazine Collection,” was also part of the festival. From an August 20, 1974 U of M News Release (Digital Conservancy):

“Included are 47 paintings, spanning the reign of Queen Victoria, and furniture and decorative objects from the period. This will be the first time the paintings, assembled by Christopher Forbes as part of the Forbes Magazine Collection, have been publicly displayed.”

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I wonder who was tasked with tallying all of the submitted answers?


Candid Revisited

Through supplementary research on the history of the University Gallery, my tired eyes have scanned download after download from the PDF Archive collection of the MN Daily, the University’s student newspaper. The Daily’s PDF Archives provide access to PDFs of the paper dating back to 1900.

I came across the published MN Daily PDF for June 17, 1957, which contained an edition of the “Ivory Tower.” On page 11, continued on page 20, the feature story titled, “The Artist in The Gallery,” highlights Ruth Lawrence, the “quick-moving little woman with a ready smile,” at her retirement. The article includes an accompanying photograph, a candid of the artist in her gallery… a print of which resides in Box 3 of the WAM Archives.

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The article, which contains personal memories and career accomplishments, also reveals Lawrence’s thoughts on retirement and her prophecy for the future of the Gallery:

It’s high time someone else took over. Saying goodbye to things you’ve loved is always hard. But I think you have to look ahead – and I’m sure everything will be as interesting as my earlier years have been.

The MN Daily recently featured the University Archives in a March 9, 2011 article and mentioned the Weisman Art Museum’s WAM Files archives project. Elisabeth Kaplan, University Archivist, gives a wonderful overview of the resources available in the Archives in “Following the U’s paper trail”.


Edvard Munch

In the fall of 1960, the University Gallery showed 40 master prints by the famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. These contact sheets feature images from the opening. Everyone seems to be drinking coffee or tea from tea cups, a tradition I’d rather like to see revived at art openings.

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Homeless No More

Two gigantic paintings by James Rosenquist and Roy Litchenstein (both painted for the 1964 World Fair) have long been important works in the Weisman Art Museum’s collection. I discovered these newspaper clippings and some small photos from 1966 in the files, which commemorate the first display of these works in Northrop Auditorium, where the University Gallery resided. They had to be laid out on the ground for viewing, as there was no place to hang such large work (and as I gather, they are still a bear to move). Apparently, the paintings were created to represent current American culture at the World’s Fair in New York. Afterward, they were given to the University by the artists, which found a home for them in the Weisman Art Museum.

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Draft Description

Found amongst the files was a draft of a brief history of the University Gallery. No author is identified, and while the tattered edges and coloring of the paper can give clue to its age, the final paragraph draws attention to the tentative list of exhibitions scheduled for the 1959-1960 season, providing an indication of when the draft may have been created.

The draft identifies the major contributors to the development of the Gallery, to include President Lotus Coffman, Hudson Walker, and Ruth Lawrence. A description of the scope and size of the permanent collection and mention of key works is included.

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Simons says…

Simon.jpgFollowing Ruth Lawrence’s retirement in 1957, Sidney Simon, assistant professor of art, was hired as the next director of the University Art Gallery.

Meeting Minutes of the Board of Regents from Nov. 7-8, 1958 (Digital Conservancy) record the details of his appointment:

Sidney Simon appointed as Assistant Professor and Art Gallery Director Sept. 16, 1958 to June 15, 1960 at the rate of $6,235 Term B to read Nov. 16, 1958 to June 15, 1960

Due to Lawrence’s efforts in building the Gallery’s permanent collection over the course of her directorship (1934-1957), Simon would have ample opportunity to feature the University’s collection. A January 3 1961, U of M News Service release (Digital Conservancy) announces the Gallery’s annual permanent collection exhibition,

The choicest jewels of the University of Minnesota gallery – oils by Georgia O’Keeffe, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Dove, Hartley and Feininger, water colors by Marin and Gross, Picasso prints, Kaethe Kollwitz drawings – will be put on public display in Northrop Memorial auditorium Thursday, January 12…

Following the permanent collection exhibition, a January 17th news release (Digital Conservancy) announces the Gallery’s “big show” of the year, “The Eighteenth Century – One Hundred Drawings by One Hundred Artists,” to open on January 23,

Outstanding 18th Century artists whose original works have been borrowed from museums throughout the world include Watteau, Fragonard and Boucher from France; Gainsborough and Romney from England; and Canaletto and Guardi, from Italy as well as numerous works from Germany, Switzerland and Holland… The show, which will hang in the galleries until March 7, is planned as a feature of the 49th annual meetings, in Minneapolis on Jan. 27, 28 and 29, of the College Art Association of America and the 14th annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians…

The works were assembled by University art department faculty, Professor Lorenz E.A. Eitner and Associate Professor Hylton A. Thomas, and were exhibited in the fourth floor gallery of Northrop:

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Appraisal

In the 1950-1952 Biennial President’s Report (Digital Conservancy), Ruth Lawrence shares an appraisal of how the concepts of museums and art have changed since becoming Director in 1934:

The concepts of museums, the methods of teaching art, and the attitudes of art have changed completely since WWI. Our 19th century patterns were deliberate and unhurried; speed is today’s yardstick. Therefore, what is presented must meet the demands of rapid appraisal, coupled with maximum interest.

From Box 3, “Staff Photographs, Resumes,” Ruth in the gallery…

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