Eighteenth-Century Furniture Design

Just a few more days remain to see an exhibition of 18th Century Furniture Design at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, which closes on 21 February. It includes more than 30 eighteenth-century prints of furniture design from France, Germany and England as well as related pieces of furniture, all drawn from the IMA's permanent collection.

These prints provided models for individual craftsman or gentleman clients. They reflected current fashions ranging from the graceful, organic curves of the Rococo to the sober, geometric forms of Neoclassicism. Together with the furnishings, they illustrate the major stylistic developments of one of the most significant periods of European decorative arts. Some of the most famous authors of published manuals of furniture design are represented, including Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton. Conant Gallery.

(Image credit: George Hepplewhite, Double Chest of Drawers, 1787, engraving, Director’s Discretionary Fund, 73.2.125)

.

Tajima Hiroyuki Exhibition Continues at IMA

Tajima Hiroyuki (1911–1984) is widely regarded as an important sōsaku hanga (creative print) movement artist. Traditional Japanese woodblock prints were collaboratively produced by a team of skilled artisans directed by a publisher, but in sōsaku hanga the artist designed, carved and printed his creations by himself. The creative print movement was, in part, a response to Western ideas of originality and individual artistic expression.

Tajima’s method included the use of shellac, torn and crumpled papers, dyes and other materials in conjunction with wood blocks to create low reliefs and intricate surfaces upon which to print. This method, combined with suggestions of highlighting and modeling, makes his prints appear to take on three-dimensional qualities, although the print surface is completely flat.

He used overprinting and techniques of dye resist, producing richly saturated colors with complex and textured effects that invite and reward close observation. His layered color combinations make his prints glow as if illuminated from behind, resulting in great visual depth and instilling his works with a mood of mystery and quiet beauty.

Tajima was born in Tokyo and graduated from Nihon University in 1932, and from the Western-style painting division of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1943. He created his first print in 1946, and joined the Bijutsu Bunka Kyokai (a group of abstract and surrealist artists) the same year. He studied printmaking under Nagase Yoshio (1891–1978), an artist of the sosaku hanga school, and fabric dyeing with Hirokawa Matsugorō (1889–1952). He also made landscape prints under the name of Nagai Kiyoshi.

The exhibition continues through 11 October in the Frances Parker Appel Gallery, gallery level 2 of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 North Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

Image credit: Tajima Hiroyuku, Japanese, 1911-1984. Chiizuroune, 1962, wood block print. Gift of Toshie Tajima

.

"Sacred Spain" Exhibit at IMA

The first exhibition to examine the religious visual culture of 17th-century Spain and Latin America will open at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on 11 October.

"Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World" brings to life the challenges faced by visual artists such as El Greco, Francisco Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Franciso Ribalta, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Juan de Valdes Leal, Juan Correa, Cristobal Villalpando and others, who were charged with the creative task of making religious imagery that was "useful, truthful and moving".

The exhibition will feature 70 works — including paintings, polychrome sculpture, metalwork and books, many of which have never before been seen in the United States — that not only illustrate religious iconography and allegory, but also bring to light the significant role of the artist in 17th-century Spain. "Sacred Spain" will be on view through 3 January 2010.

A $1 million grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation to support the exhibition will allow the IMA to offer free general admission to "Sacred Spain".

A two-day symposium titled “Sacred and Profane in the Early Modern Hispanic World” will be held on 16 and 17 October, coinciding with the exhibit.

Symposium topics will include 1) The Irreligious, dealing with cultural production that rejected Catholic orthodoxy; 2) The Non-religious, in which the discourse of religion stands aside from cultural production; 3) Classical Myth and its engagement and/or distancing from Catholic culture; 4) Sacred Others: Jewish, Islamic and Pre-Columbian religious perspectives; 5) Empire and Religion, on the implication of religion into this expansive mindset; and 6) Text and the Sacred Image, investigating interrelationships among texts and the visual.

The first day will take place at the IMA, and the second day will take place at Indiana University Bloomington. The symposium, organized in conjunction with the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and the History of Art at Indiana University, will bring together internationally recognized scholars from the fields of art history, literature, sociology, language and history.

There's more here.

.

International Design Symposium

Designers, critics, scholars, manufacturers and dealers are participating in a two-day symposium at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in conjunction with the "European Design" exhibit on display 8 March through 21 June.

"Shaping a New Century: An International Design Symposium" will be held 6 and 7 March at the IMA to examine the present and future of European decorative and industrial design.

Four sessions will focus on creating, making, judging and designing.

Registration information is online. Cost is $150 for students and $250 for the public.

UPDATE:

Costs have dropped! It's now $50 for students and $100 for the public for both days!

Participants also have been announced. They are:
* Alberto Alessi (Director of Marketing Strategies and Design Management, Alessi s.p.a. – Italy)
* Jurgen Bey (Creative Director, Studio Makkink & Bey– Holland)
* George Beylerian (CEO & Founder, Material ConneXion - New York)
* Juli Capella (Director, Capella Arquitectura & Design, s.l. – Spain)
* matali crasset (industrial designer, matali crasset productions – France)
* Beatrice de Lafontaine (Director, when objects work – Belgium)
* Michele De Lucchi (architect, aMDL-architetto Michele De Lucchi Srl– Italy)
* Sylvain Dubuisson (Dubuisson Associes - France)
* Rolf Fehlbaum (Chairman, Vitra – Switzerland)
* Nasir Kassamali (Owner, LUMINAIRE® – U.S.)
* Eero Koivisto (Co-Founder, Claesson Koivisto Rune - Sweden)
* Didier Krzentowski (Owner, Galerie kreo – France)
* Susan Grant Lewin (President, Susan Grant Lewin Associates - New York)
* Catherine McDermott (Professor, Kingston University - United Kingdom)
* R. Craig Miller (curator, Indianapolis Museum of Art – U.S.)
* Cedric Morriset (independent journalist, curator and design consultant – France)
* Cilla Robach (curator, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm – Sweden)
* Jerszy Seymour (designer, Jerszy Seymour Design Workshop – Germany)
* Penny Sparke (scholar, Kingston University – United Kingdom)
* Dr. Josef Strasser (senior curator, Die Neue Sammlung--The International Design Museum Munich – Germany)
* Richard Wright (Director, Wright – U.S.)

.

Museums in Africa and the United States

Dr. Boureima Diamitani, executive director of the West African Museum Programme, will join Dr. Maxwell L. Anderson for a conversation about colonial collections and post-colonial communities, conserving cultural and art history, and the impact of civil wars on cultural heritage preservation.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (9 October) in the Deer Zink Events Pavilion of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis. It's open to the public at no charge as part of the Conversation Series: Museums in a Global Context (in honor of the 125th anniversary of the IMA).

Campecine Film Festival

Join youth organizers and filmmakers at Campecine Film Festival from 1-4 p.m. 27 September at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

More than a film festival, Campecine was founded in 2007 by youth from Thermal, Calif., and Indianapolis, who are exploring collective action, film, inquiry, research and media education.

With the theme "From Invisible to Invincible / De Invinzivlez a Invenzivlez," Campecine 2008 will present student "testimonios," film and music. Program participants will view "Issue-Mations" (animations) and "Varriomentaries" (documentaries) and engage in a community dialogue on current issues including race relations, local and national immigration policy reforms, teen pregnancy, ICE Raids, and education.

In addition to student-produced cultural products, Campecine 2008 will feature live music from composer and pianist Dr. Gabriela Lena Frank.

Campecine 2008 is a free, Spanish-English bilingual event. Copies of student work will be made available and donations will be accepted to benefit the Latino Youth Collective.

Cine Latino Debuts at IMA in September

"Cine Latino: films from Latin America" includes four Thursday evening screenings in the DeBoest Lecture Hall of the Indianapolis Museum of Art featuring films from Latin America. All are in Spanish or Portuguese with English subtitles.

Here's the lineup for the 6:30 p.m. showings, for which tickets are $5 each:

4 September: "Golope de Estadio / Time Out"
(Colombia, 1999, 120 mins., dir. Sergio Cabrera)
As the nation teeters on the brink of civil war, most citizens are mesmerized by a championship soccer match. This includes a pilot whose excitement about Columbia scoring a goal causes him to crash into an American-owned oil tower at the center of a standoff between Colombian military guards and insurgent guerrilla forces. Golpe de Estadio is a scathing political and social satire of all the parties involved in one nation’s seemingly insurmountable problems. Shown in collaboration with Sociedad Amigos de Colombia.

11 September: "Eu Tu Eles / Me You Them"
(Brazil, 2000, 104 mins., dir. Andrucha Waddington (pictured))
Waddington’s gently ironic and seductively picturesque tale of female empowerment centers on an impoverished mother of four children by four different fathers. Based on a true story, Waddington explores how her heroine navigates an intensely patriarchal environment, as three of the fathers end up sharing a house with the mother and children. Shown in collaboration with the Association of International Women.

18 September: "La Zona / The Zone"
(Mexico, 2007, 97 mins., dir. Rodrigo Plá)
When an electrical storm disables security for a wealthy private community, three teenage boys from the slums sneak in with a plan to rob the homes and make a quick getaway. A bungled robbery results in the death of two of the teens, a security guard and a woman. While the third teen hides, the community declares martial law to prevent losing its privacy and protection. At once a taut thriller and a portrait of a society willing to give up its own humanity in the name of security, La Zona won the De Laurentis Award at the Venice International Film Festival and the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

25 September: "Encarnación / Erni"
(Argentina, 2007, 93 mins., dir. Anahí Berneri)
Encarnación (Erni) is a fiercely independent woman. The former pin-up model and showgirl, now in her fifties and happily single, still has enough sex appeal and determination to keep her career going despite the passage of time. But when she receives an invitation to her favorite niece’s 15th birthday party, Erni puts herself to a harder test: returning to the small town she left behind. Encarnación won the Innovation Award at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Shown in collaboration with the Association of International Women.

Art of China's Ming Dynasty Comes to Indy

"Power & Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty" is the first exhibition in the United States to focus on the full range of art from China’s Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

Organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the exhibition marks the first collaboration with three of China’s most prestigious institutions: The Palace Museum (Forbidden City) in Beijing, the Nanjing Municipal Museum, and the Shanghai Museum.

Ming artworks from these museums will be featured along with some of the finest items owned by the Asian Art Museum, such as the item at left.

"Power and Glory" opens at the Indianapolis Museum of Art 26 October, closing 11 January 2009.

Tour the IMA in French or Chinese

The next "World Language Tour" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art will take visitors through the European galleries in French. Meet at the entrance to Gallery Level 1 at 6:30 p.m. 15 May for the free tour.

Rather hear it in Chinese? Meet on Gallery Level 1 at the IMA at 2 p.m. 17 May for a free tour of the Contemporary Galleries.

The World of Ancient Egypt Comes to Indy

A bit of ancient Egypt arrives at the Indianapolis Museum of Art this summer. The IMA will be the first venue to host "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum", which will be on view 13 July through 7 September. Featuring some 120 objects dating from 3600 BCE to 400 CE from the world-renowned Egyptian art collection of New York’s Brooklyn Museum, the exhibition will illustrate the range of strategies and preparations the ancient Egyptians developed to defeat death and to achieve success in the afterlife. After its debut at the IMA, To Live Forever will travel to the John and Mable Ringling Museum (Sarasota, FL); Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art; Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA); Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, FLA), and Frist Center for Visual Arts (Nashville, TN).

Indy Says "Hello Kitty"

Ken Belson, author of Hello Kitty: The Global Brand with Nine Lives will talk about his book during a 6:30 p.m. lecture in the DeBoest Lecture Hall of the Indianapolis Museum of Art on 27 March. The presentation is sponsored by the IMA's Asian Art Society and the Japan-America Society of Indiana. Hello Kitty was Japan’s brilliant answer to Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Belson will discuss how Japan’s most famous cartoon kitten and other Sanrio characters have become a global cultural phenomenon, beginning in the 1970s with the Japanese concept of kawaii or "cute".

Hats from Africa on Display at IMA

More than 50 traditional head coverings representing 30 ethnic groups from across Africa show the great cultural diversity of the continent. The exhibit, Hats of Africa: From Asante to Zulu, includes hats made for a variety of purposes and composed of a variety of materials, including cloth, leather, feathers, shells and hair. Take a virtual tour of the exhibit here.

"Everything is Separated by Water"

"Regalos/Gifts: a Public Performance" is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday (24 February) in the Pulliam Great Hall of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis.

A notice from the IMA says, "A regalo is a gift, a gesture that extends the self into another as a way to communicate. In this performance, the artist's body forms a bridge, an informational memory line, to the audience."

The artist giving the performance is María Magdalena Campos-Pons, whose work is featured in IMA's special exhibition, "Everything Is Separated by Water", open Sunday (25 February) through 3 June.

The IMA notes, "As the first in-depth exhibition of María Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most important Cuban artists working today, this show features 34 major works including paintings, sculptures, new media installations, and large-format Polaroid photographs that the artist produced since leaving Cuba in 1990. Campos-Pons re-assembles fragments and symbols of personal and collective memories in order to grapple with her imagined displacement from Africa, her actual exile from Cuba, and her experience as a black Cuban woman living in North America."

The exhibit was organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art with support in part by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Admission to the special exhibit is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors (65 and over); $6 for children ages 7-17 and college students with valid ID, and free for children six and under and IMA members.

Saturday's performance, however, is open to the public at no charge.

Africa in the Americas: A Film Series

Three award-winning films are co-presented by Education Division of Indianapolis Museum of Art, Committee on African and African-American Studies of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, and IMA's EthnoArt Society.

• 8 February, 7 pm, DeBoest Lecture Hall, IMA; free.
  
  Favela Rising (Brazil, 2005, dirs. Matt Mochary & Jeff Zimbalist, 80 min.) Winner of thirteen national and international film festival awards, Favela Rising documents a man, a movement, a city divided and a favela-a Brazilian squatter settlement-united.
  Discussion led by: Kelly Hayes, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.


• 15 February, 7 p.m. DeBoest Lecture Hall, IMA; free
  
  Rize (USA, dir. David LaChapelle, 2005, 86 min.) This powerful documentary about dance styles developed on the streets of South Central Los Angeles will be introduced at IMA by Larry Barry, one of the dancers featured in the film.
  Discussion led by: Najja Modibo, Associate Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.


• 22 February, 7 p.m. DeBoest Lecture Hall, IMA; free
  
  African Blood (Mexico, 2004, dir. Roberto Olivares, 25 min.) Through testimonies, reflections and powerful cultural expressions, this documentary gives voice to the people of the Costa Chica region of Mexico that carry a little known legacy: the Afro-Mestizo culture.
  Discussion Led by: Gina Sánchez Gibau, Associate Professor of Anthropology, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

World Language Tours of European Galleries at IMA

Hats off to the Indianapolis Museum of Art for its innovative foreign language tours of the newly expanded and renovated European galleries.

Last Sunday, a Spanish-speaking docent led visitors on a tour of the galleries.

On 18 February, the docent will be speaking German. The tour begins at 2 p.m. at the information desk at the top of the escalator on the first gallery level.

The Nationalities Council hopes that the IMA has more "World Language Tours" scheduled in the future!