Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Obamas Choose 4 William H. Johnson Paintings for the White House

The Obamas love the art of Willam H. Johnson--and so will your museum visitors.

On Tuesday, October 6, the White House announced the list of artworks that will now grace their famous walls, and Johnson is prominently featured. In a happy coincidence, SITES is launching a new exhibition, William H. Johnson: An American Modern, a collection of 20 extraordinary paintings that span the artist's career, from the James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University. 

Four works by the 20th-century American artist were included on the Obamas' list--all painted around 1944, and all on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

A pivotal figure in modern American art, Johnson (1901-1970), was a sophisticated virtuoso in many media and techniques, and trained in the US and Europe. His work was a conscious response to the prevailing conventions of refinement, taste, and artistic beauty. In works he did late in his career, such as the four now hanging in the White House, Johnson used flat, elongated human forms in bold shapes of intense color, flanked by seemingly simple curves and lines. In so much of his art, his broad visual vocabulary disguised the complexity of his "simplicity,"-- to many, his works are considered a bold reclamation of an African American aesthetic.

--Teresa Gionis, SITES writer/editor

William Johnson, "Aunt Alice," c.1940  Courtesy Morgan State University

Ted Kennedy: The "Lion" Sleeps--and an Era Ends

Three weeks have passed since the death of Senator Ted Kennedy, "the Lion of the Senate." One of the most influential and powerful senators in our history, he served congress for 46 years. For millions, his death marks the end of an era. The political triumphs and personal tragedies of brothers Ted, Bobby, and John Kennedy have fascinated the public for decades.

The mountain of media coverage surrouding the senator's passing included the familiar, now classic newsreels and archival photographs depicting the lives and tragic deaths of his brothers. They are pictures steeped in mythology. The impossibly young and athletic Kennedys cavorting on their Hyannis Port, Massachusetts compound. Beaming smiles at various spots along the campaign trail during their political rise. Posing with their wives and growing families. And of course, there are the tragic pictures. We watched in disbelief as first one, then, incomprehensibly, two of the brothers were felled by assassins' bullets. And a tiny boy bravely saluted his father's coffin.

Though these images have been burned into our national consciousness, there is another collection of pictures, beautiful and rare, that until recently have not been seen by the public. A series of Kennedy family photographs, taken by the elite photographer Richard Avedon on January 3, 1961, are an exquisite addition to the body of imagery that documents this larger-than-life family. These unforgettable, and deeply personal pictures, now traveling in the SITES exhibition The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family, capture the essence of John F. Kennedy's young family at their finest, looking their most...mythical.

The exhibition's curator, Shannon Thomas Perich, says that "these poignant and stirring photographs never fail to trigger memories, generate conversation, and make visitors recognize that they themselves are part of American history."

To see more of these incredible pictures, or learn about the exhibition, visit our website.

-Teresa G. Gionis, SITES Writer/Editor

William H. Johnson: By the Book

Earlier this week my colleagues and I met with Ed Marquand, creative director of Marquand Books, to brainstorm ideas for the catalog that will accompany our upcoming exhibition William H. Johnson: An American Modern, opening in 2011. As expected of someone with his experience in producing fine illustrated books for art museums, galleries, trade publishers, artists, collectors, and architects, Ed had a wealth of planning and conceptual advice that was very helpful as we begin work.             

The catalog is projected to be the lead title in the Jacob Lawrence Series on American Artists at the University of Washington Press and will present essays by noted scholars David C. Driskell, Leslie King-Hammond, Richard J. Powell, Lowery Sims, and Aaron Bryant. In addition to the exhibition’s 20 paintings and works on paper from Morgan State University, it will feature additional works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (the largest repository of Johnson’s works) and photos from the Archives of American Art. 

Ed’s take on the museum publishing market, gleaned from visits to some 60 museums over the past six months, was also valuable. He's gotten a sense, he says, of how some museums are taking advantage of the current financial situation to rethink how they organize exhibitions, present permanent collections, and connect with their public, patrons, and members. He says he’s been encouraging clients (and getting little resistance from them) to reconsider oversized, highly academic tomes in favor of smaller books that include an electronic component for the deep research that's of interest to a handful of specialists.

Watch for future posts from me as the catalog wends its way through the editorial, rights and permissions, design, printing, and distibution phrases. In the meantime, check out Marquand Books' blog, particularly the March 10 and 12 posts, respectively, on preparing digital images for book production and controlling publication budgets in tight economic times.

--Ann Carper, SITES editor

_{Developed by Morgan State University's James D. Lewis Museum of Art, organized for travel by SITES, and funded in part by the Henry Luce Foundation.}

Ancestry & Innovation at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

As a registrar responsible for installing some of our more complex traveling exhibitions, I know that each museum will have its own style when displaying our shows. SITES encourages this variety; it's good to have an exhibition look different at every venue. But the inventiveness of each museum's choices never fails to impress me--every time I work on an installation.

For example, take the SITES tour of Ancestry & Innovation, from the American Folk Art Museum.  At the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, curator Margaret Lynne Ausfeld and preparators Jeff Dutton and Brad Echols chose a bright blue for some of the gallery walls. The blue was "Madonna" from Benjamin Moore, and, when I first saw it, I was curious as to how  the pink quilt by Mary Maxtion would look against that deep sky blue with the Bessie Harvey sculpture, "A Thousand Tongues Can Never Tell," in front. Well, as you can see from the photograph below, the color contrast is something special. 

   

The wit of Margaret Lynne's installation is also special. Her insertion of Clementine Hunter's "Funeral" between the revelry of the two versions of "Saturday Night" made for a sly commentary on the aftermath of too many wild nights. 

 

So, thanks to the excellent staff at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, including Pam Bransford, Emily Thomas and Alice Novak, with the museum director Mark Johnson, for a wonderful installation and a great experience.

--Cheryl Washer, SITES registrar

Science and Art Blend with NASA | ART

At the National Air and Space Museum, just upstairs from the bold black-and-white missiles, sounding rockets, and launch vehicles, is a quiet little preview of some fairly amazing works of art. Of course, these pieces could easily be missed among the colossal machines suspended from the ceiling, but the group of seven works by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Annie Leibovitz, and Normal Rockwell is worth a side step off the bustling main corridor.

The collection represents a small sampling from the new SITES exhibition NASA | ART: 50 Years of Exploration. In 1962, NASA (just a few years young at that stage) invited artists to document and interpret the accomplishments, set backs, and sheer excitement of stellar exploration. In those days, the space program was all new and tapped into the infectious post-war belief that anything was possible. Frankly, it still exudes that kind of energy for me. Every time a new satellite, probe, or shuttle is propelled into space, I feel the chills ripple up my spine. Indeed, anything IS possible. What could be a more inspiring launch point for artists?

In oils, acrylics, watercolors, and everything in between, the works in NASA | ART reflect a marriage of science and art, technology and the natural world. Take James Dean's watercolor Shuttle Flowers, for example. It's a small, unassuming piece that shows the Space Shuttle Columbia at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Far in the background, the Shuttle is meticulously painted as is the surrounding launch equipment, but of equal visual importance is the field of wild white daisies in the foreground, a homage to the real-life wildlife refuge that encapsulates the space center. Showing the expressive faces of the Apollo 11 astronauts, their wives, the back-up crew, and scientists, Norman Rockwell's Behind Apollo II is also subtle yet evocative.

Other works, like James Cunningham's Imaging to the Edge of Space and Time, are louder and more boisterous, a celebration of color, light, and the essence of space itself. Whatever your favorite style, NASA | ART has something for you.

The full traveling exhibition will open at the Art League of Bonita Springs in Florida on October 25. Check it out in your neighborhood.

More than Art: An Experience for Kids

When was the last time you went to an exhibition that tolerated, no WELCOMED, toddlers? This group of underserved citizens isn't exactly the type that's likely to make a donation or start blogging about the merits of your museum. From an institution's point of view, toddlers and babies might just be the last frontier of constituent cultivation. As the mother of an almost-two-year-old, I certainly understand why this is often the case, but maybe it shouldn't be. Kids this age are actually quite responsive, little sponges that they are, and more eager to learn than most adults who enter an exhibition with a preconceived notion about what makes a successful presentation and what ruins it. At age two, there's none of that. Any new information is good information--the gooey stuff that's likely to become lodged in the sticky corners of the brain.

My daughter's class recently had the pleasure of visiting Jim Henson's Fantastic World (organized by SITES), now on display at the Smithsonian's International Gallery in Washington, D.C. It was a joy to see the youngsters sit on their hands and knees in front of the cases and shout (in outside voices, mind you), "Look! Bert, Ernie!" Seeing Kermit in person was especially exciting for some, but even for those who didn't know Kermit, they were still able to identify him as a happy, green frog. These are big concepts for toddlers, who are everyday striving to make sense and verbally describe the landscapes around them. In Henson's world--as in the exhibition--colors are big and bold; art is imaginative and fresh and as much about "process" as about the finished product itself.

For the kids, the most engaging part of the exhibition was surely the Resource Room, a hands-on and "Hensonesque" space replete with colorful picture books to flip through and story boards to design. A full-scale puppet theater and a heaping basket of puppets inspired them all as they ran around exchanging Big Bird puppets for Elmos, making each babble in its own hilarious voice. Felt faces, mounted low to the ground, were another crowning jewel of the Resource Room. Kids could rummage through a variety of Velcro noses, crazy mouths, furry mustaches, and big ears to create perfectly silly faces (I had to force my child to leave this station). Floppy bean-bag chairs, in every color imaginable, rounded out the experience for the toddlers. When the kids were all bouncing on the chairs--each with a big, toothy grin on his or her face--I realized that somebody understood the need to entertain and educate the youngest of audiences. And when kids are happy, you guessed it, parents are even happier.

Yves Saint-Laurent in More Than Words

The fashion industry lost one of its icons this week--Yves Saint-Laurent, the French designer best known for creating the Beatnik look, thigh-high boots, Safari jackets, as well as the general democratization of fashion.

Gifted people like Saint-Laurent exude creativity in everything they do--whether designing extraordinary clothing or simply writing a letter to a friend. And while we can't profess to knowing much about the former, we do know a little something about the latter.

Such endeavors are the subject of More Than Words: Illustrated Letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. This is a gem of an exhibit, especially in our world of e-this and e-that. Do you really recall a time when people took pen (ink, crayons, and paint, in this case) to paper to communicate with each other? The missives in the show--from artists such as Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Andrew Wyeth, and Yves Saint-Laurent--surely reflect a different time, but they also demonstrate the expressive energy of the authors, people for whom words alone were not enough.

In a 1970 letter to Alexander Liberman, art director at Vogue magazine, Saint-Laurent literally used the language of clothes as his medium, writing affectionately to Liberman on the space of a traditional Islamic cloak worn by women in Marrakesh, Morocco (where Saint-Laurent owned a home). The bold but minimalistic patterns in the background complement the simplicity of the author’s heartfelt message.

If you have just a slight voyeuristic curiosity about this and other personal notes from the exhibition, check out the book (of the same name), very eloquently written by Smithsonian curator--Liza Kirwin.

More Than Words will travel the country until summer 2009. Catch it in a city near you!

Smithsonian and Teen Second Life

Visited Second Life lately? If you haven't jumped on the virtual bandwagon to explore this alternate world, let me catch you up to speed:

Second Life is an online gathering place for people of all ages to play, learn, create, and interact. In this realm, you customize a digital self called an "avatar," (yes, you can become a blonde) the being through which you experience everything from theatrical performances to museum exhibitions. You can go shopping at a high-end retail store one day and build your virtual dream house the next. The possibilities are truly limitless. Teen Second Life, just for kids ages 13-17, is a bit different--more protected, with a focus on education and community but still endless in its scope.

We're elated to report that one of our exhibitions, Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer, is now on view in Teen Second Life. The online show was created by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg Counties (NC) in conjunction with the library's real-world presentation of the exhibit (a teen patron actually built the gallery space). This micro version is nearly identical to the traveling exhibit with one exception: Here, the gallery will also house works of scanner art by teens themselves, and unlike a traditional gallery, this space has room to grow, giving students virtual walls on which to hang their digital designs.

Indeed, the library has done a fantastic job of integrating hands-on instruction--scanner photograhy classes that were offered at the library--with the virtual world, the world that these digital natives know so well.

Look for the Second Life photo gallery in the left column . . .

Running the River with John Blaustein

John Blaustein, a veteran photographer from Berkeley, California, is just one of 26 artists featured in the upcoming SITES exhibition Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography. Run the river with John as he talks about getting one of his most compelling shots:

"As a river guide, I made dozens of trips through the Grand Canyon. On a cool, stormy day, we had stopped for lunch on a little beach at the mouth of 140-Mile Canyon, the halfway point through the Grand Canyon. Munching on a sandwich and waiting for the inevitable afternoon thundershower, someone glanced up the talus slope and noticed this bighorn sheep perched on a rock surveying the boats and all the people. 

While I'd seen dozens of bighorn over the years, this was the closest I'd ever been to one. I ran to my boat, grabbed my camera with a 200mm lens and started climbing the slope toward the sheep. When he noticed me approaching, he took a few steps up the slope and then hopped onto a big boulder, putting himself in a silhouette from my point of view. Not only that, his pose was a perfect profile, and then he had the courtesy to turn his head right toward me. I shot two or three frames before he turned and vanished up the slope. Lots of luck is involved with this kind of photography--the perfect pose, the perfect steel gray sky, and being there to shoot it!"

>>Want more images?

New Podcast on Jim Henson

Tired of listening to those same 2,000 songs on your iPod or .mp3 player? Want to hear something different? Download our latest podcast about Jim Henson's Fantastic World, a glimpse into the life of true American original.

Can't wait for opening day at the ballpark? Download Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente to get you ready for that first pitch! This one is sure to move and motivate you!