Edward Laning, Coney Island Beach Scene, 1938, oil on canvas, 35 5/8 x 41 3/4 in. Gift of his family in honor of Mr. Benjamin Cone’s 80th birthday, 1980.

On October 28, 1929, the stock market began its historic sink. By the end of the next day, the market had lost over thirty billion dollars, catapulting the United States and much of the Western world into the Great Depression. The Great Depression affected every aspect of life, from having a house, food, or job to how people spent their free time. Most people no longer participated in the overwhelmingly extravagant parties which had become identified with the 1920s. They now explored more affordable ways of entertainment, from parlor and board games to spectator sports and listening to radio broadcasts.

For many New Yorkers during this time, the best way to relax in the summertime was to go to the beach at Coney Island. The beach was free; just 5 cents for the subway ride was required. The amusements and atmosphere of Coney Island consequently became the subject of numerous artworks. Compare Laning’s painting with a painting by Louis Lozowick, Coney Island, from 1935:

Laning’s painting portrays the frivolity of Coney Island while still subtly showing the tense undertones evident during the Great Depression. Lozowick’s piece conveys a much more overt and ominous tone. His painting depicts the darkness and foreboding that permeated all aspects of life at the time, including leisure activities and amusement parks. In contrast, note the similarities between Edward Laning’s painting and this video of New Yorkers at leisure at Coney Island and in city parks.

Meet Me Down at Coney Island (1930)

Which work is most effective communicating the times in your opinion?

Edward Laning’s Coney Island Beach Scene can be seen at the Weatherspoon Art Museum as a part of their Telling Tales: Narratives from the 1930s exhibition in the Gregory D. Ivy Gallery until May 13, 2012.

Post written by Stephanie Krysiak, a second year History Master’s student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

"Voices of the Gulf - A Message to North Carolina"

A message from Sara Dorsey with the UNCG Sustainability Committee:

We had a great evening on Thursday at the Weatherspoon Art Museum—great entries, great food, great music, great messages from all of our film makers.  Here are links for the entries we had this year with links for those of you who could not come…or maybe for you who could come and want to share them with your friends.

First of all, a heartfelt thanks to our wonderful sponsors: Barnabas Network, Fund 4 Democratic Communities, Goat Lady Dairy, Sierra Club, Tate Street Coffee, UNCG Office of Leadership and Service Learning, UNCG Sustainability Committee, Weatherspoon Art Museum and Zaytoon.

Third Prize went to Contagious Media Productions for “Flora” by Mike Dickens and Caitlin Rhyne.  A poetic, thought-provoking narrative on preserving our natural resources. It is on Vimeo and was created for the 48 Hour Go Green Film Competition last year.  This year their 48 Hour entry is “Fragile Creatures“—go here to watch and vote—March 25 is the last day, so vote SOON!

Second Prize went to “Sustainability For Everyone: Rethinking Piedmont Ideas about Living Green and Local”—Andrew J. Young, et al. This film is about about the cultural sustainability of the Montagnard traditions in Greensboro which was introduced by the impressive young woman, Lek Siu.

First Prize went to “Voices From the Gulf – A Message to North Carolina”—Todd Tinkham, Molly Matlock, Ben Turney, and Bill L. Elias. A moving call from Gulf Coast citizens to people in North Carolina to resist giving in to political pressures for off shore drilling—this is part of a larger project called “Dispersed” they are working on that includes the issue of fracking as well.

Special thanks to the musicians, Aaron Bond and Melvin Holland and to Zaytoon for delicious food and drink and to the wonderful Weatherspoon for hosting us!

Huzzah to all for an excellent 2012 Third Annual UNCG Sustainability Shorts Film Competition.

— Sarah Dorsey

Tom Burckhardt, "Whiteout", 2006, ink and digitized image on paper, 36 x 80 in. Gift of Lysiane Luong Grooms and Red Grooms, 2012.

The Weatherspoon Art Museum is pleased to announce that it just received a gift of a work on paper by the artist, Tom Burckhardt.  Burckhardt was a Falk Visiting Artist last semester, and his solo exhibition closed on Jan. 8th.  The new acquisition, entitled Whiteout, is unlike the works that were on display.  More narrative and descriptive, but equally conceptual, it features the artist in a snow-covered, Asian-inspired landscape contemplating an easel painting and by extension, the act and purpose of painting.

The work on paper was donated by the artist Red Grooms, whose work was recently on view in Altered States & Visions and for whom Burckhardt worked for many years as a studio assistant, and his wife Lysiane Luong.

E.J. Bellocq, "Girl Lying on Grass Chaise Lounge", c. 1911-13, gelatin silver print, 8 x 9 7/8 in. Museum purchase with funds from the Benefactors Fund, 1973.

Although he was wealthy from a family inheritance and considered a part of the elite of New Orleans, E.J. Bellocq made his living mostly by taking photographic records of landmarks, ships and machinery for local companies.  He gained posthumous fame, however, for his personal photographs of the hidden underside of local life, notably the prostitutes of Storyville, New Orleans’ legalized red light district. Although it is possible that these images were made for commercial purposes—photographs of prostitutes were included in Blue Books, advertisements created by the city’s brothels—it seems more likely that Bellocq personally knew the women in his photographs, given their ease with the camera and their willingness to pose and sometimes even feign for it. Upon his death in 1949, Bellocq’s possessions, along with the disreputable photographs, were given to his brother, Leon, a Jesuit priest. When the photographs were discovered years later, many of the women’s faces had been scratched out. Initially it was speculated that Leon scratched the photos upon receiving them, but this is no longer believed since the damage was done in the emulsion rather than on the glass plate negatives.

Young E.J. Bellocq. photo courtesy of Tulane Special Collections.

The district of Storyville was created in 1897 when Alderman Sidney Story decided that the expansion of brothels in New Orleans needed to stop because they drove down building and family values. Knowing full well that banning prostitution would be ineffective, Story set out to regulate it. He created a thirty-five block area in which prostitution was legal, and banned it in the rest of the city. This area quickly became one of the most scandalous red-light districts in the United States, and much to the ire of Alderman Story, came to bear his name.

Storyville and Bellocq himself, have become infamous symbols of New Orleans at the turn of the century. Several movies, including the 1992 film, Storyville, and the 1978 film starring Brooke Shields and Susan Sarandon, Pretty Baby, focus on this particularly notorious and fascinating part of New Orleans’ history. This photograph by Bellocq will be on display until April 8, 2012 in the exhibition To What Purpose? Photography as Art and Documentary at Weatherspoon Art Museum.

Post written by Stephanie Krysiak, a second year History Master’s student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Thanks to Elaine Gustafson, Curator of Collections, Weatherspoon Art Museum.

Marion Post Wolcott, "Titus Oakley family stripping, tying, and grading tobacco in their bedroom...", 1939

The photograph of Titus Oakley and his family shows the necessity of a family working together to make ends meet. During the Great Depression, this was commonplace; families depended on the labor of all members to survive. Men felt responsible for supporting their families, and in the wake of the depression, were troubled by their inability to be the sole providers. Whether they could provide or not, men were still considered by society to be the head of the household. This belief is evident in through the photo of the Oakley family because Titus is the only person whose name is recorded. Even in later photographs, which focus on his wife and daughter and do not include him, his wife and daughter are not given names. They are defined in relation to him.

Marion Post Wolcott, the photographer of this piece, was hired by the Farmer Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression to document the lives of the rural and small town poor. From 1935 to 1944, the photographers hired by the FSA took photos, which were used to draw support for impoverished farmers. The images taken in this campaign were often published in popular magazines and are credited with creating the perception of the Great Depression held today. Wolcott took this picture, and two others, of the Oakley family working with tobacco. One is of Mrs. Oakley, barefoot, hanging the tobacco.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection

Another photo of the Oakley family is of the Oakley’s eight-year old daughter stripping and tying the tobacco in their bedroom since it had become too cold for them to work outside.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection

These photos were taken in 1939, the year after Dr. Raymond Pearl published the first report stating that non-smokers lived longer than smokers. While this fact would be debated for many years, it marked a significant moment in the tobacco industry.

Through April 8, 2012, you can visit the Weatherspoon Art Museum to see the photo of the Oakley family (from the Weatherspoon’s collection) and try to figure out for yourself what their life was really like, in the To What Purpose? Photography as Art and Document exhibition in Gallery 6.

The Library of Congress also has over 160,000 of the FSA photos published online at the following website.

Post written by Stephanie Krysiak, a second year History Master’s student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Willem de Kooning, "Woman", 1949-1950, oil on canvas, Lena Kernodle McDuffie memorial purchase, 1954.

As many of you may know, WAM recently loaned Woman by Willem de Kooning (1949-1950, oil on canvas) to the Musem of Modern Art’s blockbuster exhibition de Kooning: A Retrospective (September 18, 2011–January 9, 2012). As is common among many museums lending artworks to exhibitions at other institutions, one condition of this loan was that a courier must accompany the artwork to and from the MoMA. The role of a courier is to ensure that an artwork travels safely to its destination, to monitor the unpacking and installation of the work, and to closely inspect the work’s condition to make sure that it has not been affected by the rigors of travel.  The Registrars Committee of the American Association of Museums even has a “Code of Practice for Couriering Museum Objects.” I was pleased to serve as the courier for the return of the work but also a bit nervous, knowing the responsibilities it entailed. My worries manifested in concerns of slipping on an icy New York sidewalk and rendering myself unable to perform my courier duties.

Arrangements were made for me to fly to New York and report to MoMA following the close of the exhibition. After providing the proper credentials, I was escorted by the exhibition’s registrar into the gallery where Woman hung, surrounded by other works from de Kooning’s second Woman series. Our Woman more than held her own amongst the other ‘gals’. Crates were staged along the floor and I quickly recognized the crate for our painting standing nearby.  A few other couriers were working in various areas of the gallery and overseeing their works being packed. I was assigned to one of the painting conservators working on the exhibition who, coincidentally, had examined Woman upon her arrival with Registrar Heather Moore back in August.

Photo: Harry Bowden, January 1950; photo of Willem de Kooning with WAM's "Woman" painting.

Together we closely examined the work, referencing the condition report created prior to the painting’s departure from the Weatherspoon. A condition report is a document containing images and detailed notes about the condition of a work (i.e. cracks in paint, marks, abrasions, etc.). After examining the painting and the frame we jointly concluded that there had been no changes to the condition of the work since its arrival at MoMA. I was happy to learn from the conservator that Woman was in good condition in relation to other de Kooning works from this time period.  Once we were finished with the condition report a team of two preparators (museum professionals whose duties include handling and installing artwork) packed the work into its crate while I observed. The crate was custom designed by a fine arts crater to protect the work during travel. After Woman was packed securely in the crate I reviewed the schedule and arrangements with the MoMA staff for the next leg of Woman’s journey via fine arts shipper.

In front of images demonstrating the stages of the artist’s work in de Kooning: A Retrospective

I reported back to the MoMA the next day to observe the crate being moved by the MoMA preparators through the museum and onto the fine art shipper’s awaiting vehicle. Trucks and vans used in fine arts shipping are typically outfitted with environmental controls (including temperature and humidity regulation), air ride and other security measures and are manned by two drivers. After the crate was loaded, strapped into place, and the doors to the vehicle secured, locked, and alarmed, I joined the two drivers as we set forth on our way back south.

My folder of paperwork with the condition report

The eleven hour ride home was fortunately fairly uneventful except for some very heavy rain in Virginia. As we drew closer to Greensboro I was in contact with WAM staff on the other end who were patiently awaiting our arrival. The painting was quickly and carefully offloaded and moved into our secure storage, where it remained crated for at least 24 hours to allow it to acclimatize. This is done so the temperature and humidity of the surrounding air and the microclimate existing in the crate slowly and gradually adjust so as not to cause any drastic changes that would cause damage to a work (i.e. a canvas expanding and contracting due to severe humidity changes). After the acclimatization period our preparators unpacked the work and it was examined again using the condition report. We were pleased and relieved to find that Woman had travelled safely to and from New York.

View of rainy highway en route to North Carolina.

You’ll have a chance to welcome Woman home when she goes on view in Highlights of the Permanent Collection this fall.

Posted by Myra Scott, Assistant Registrar, Weatherspoon Art Museum

WAM Collection mystery drawing...who is the artist?

Stieg Larsson’s investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist definitely has talents I don’t possess.  For the last two weeks I have been trying intermittently to determine who drew this portrait.  It came to us as part of the Etta and Claribel Cone collection in 1950 and has been attributed to Mersyes based on the inscription. Unfortunately no such artist exists. Is the inscription a signature or a title? The drawing is in the style of Jacques Villon, whose work the Cones collected and the Weatherspoon owns, but he typically signed his work. Likewise the inscription is not in the style of Jean Metzinger, a fellow cubist. The drawing is adhered to a mat that has the words “Safsa (Trinini)” inscribed on it (by whom?) as well as the date 1926. The face looks Algerian or Moroccan and I’ve learned that there is a place in Algeria called Safsaf, but what does Trinini mean? The only other clue is the word Tefúgahe (?) inscribed in pencil on the drawing’s upper right corner. I’m not giving up yet, but I hope some Lisbeth Salander will read this post and provide some much needed help.

UPDATE:

Mystery Solved!!

This was a good week for art sleuths out there, and thus for WAM.  While visiting the Museum for another project, paper conservator Jane Sugarman looked at the mystery drawing and figured out that the inscription did not read “Trinini,” but rather the country Tunisia. From that, I was able to decipher part of the upper right inscription to read “Gafsa.”  The town of Gafsa, also spelled Qafsah, has been around since Roman times when it was known as Capsa.

The next day, I got a post from the Ackland Art Museum’s Chief Curator, Peter Nisbet, who identified the signature as “Medgyes.” Better known as a furniture and stage designer than as an artist, Ladislas Medgyes was born in Hungary but worked in New York from the 1920s until his death sometime in the late 1940s.

Many, many thanks to both Jane and Peter for helping identify this wonderful drawing and for confirming that a career in the visual arts is never dull.

"Snow Pines" by Helen Frankenthaler, from the Weatherspoon's collection; the artist at work in her studio.

During the bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to lose track of important news events. The death of pioneering post-World War II artist, Helen Frankenthaler on December 27 may have been such an event, but her achievements deserve to be acknowledged.

Beginning in 1952 Frankenthaler took abstract art in a new direction by pouring thinned paint directly onto unprimed canvases.  Applauded for its lyricism and luminous color, Frankenthaler’s work not only gave rise to the Color Field movement, but also has remained vital throughout the years.

Frankenthaler was equally talented as a printmaker, and the Weatherspoon is privileged to own a 34-color Ukiyo-e style woodcut entitled Snow Pines, 2004.  The art world definitely has lost a significant talent.

Image:  Helen Frankenthaler, Snow Pines, 2004, 34-color Ukiyo-e style woodcut, Ed. 6 out of 65, 37 1/2 x 26 in. Museum purchase with funds from the Weatherspoon Art Museum Acquisition Endowment, the Louise D. and Herbert S. Falk Acquisition Endowment, the Lynn Richardson Prickett Acquisition Endowment, the Weatherspoon Guild Acquisition Endowment, and a bequest by Hubert Humphrey, 2011.

Read about this new WAM acquisition in our Winter newsletter on page 9 here.

Wikipedia article about Frankenthaler.

More photos of Helen and her work on the blog Habitually Chic.

And more on the site TheArtStory.org.

The Cemala Foundation and Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation. Inc.  Both of these groups are mainstays in supporting nonprofit organizations in our community. One can only guess the scope—and effect—of their countless contributions over the years.

In the Weatherspoon’s case, their gifts are helping to address the sizable budget reductions we’ve experienced this year.  The Cemala Foundation’s gift will help support the crucial staff position of Associate Curator of Education and some of her programs. Terri Dowell-Dennis works with the Guilford County Schools, conducts teacher workshops, organizes our biannual Community Days, offers tours to school and community groups, and dozens of other things to keep our education program vibrant and meaningful.

Tannenbaum-Sternberger has offered a challenge grant to support our lively exhibition and program schedule.  For every 2 dollars that we raise, they will provide 1 dollar, up to $20,000.

You can help us meet our match by contributing online or by calling 336-334-5770

We’re truly grateful to both foundations.

"Wall Bearer" performers

Time has just flown by and now we are down to the final three live performances of Kate Gilmore‘s Wall Bearer at the Weatherspoon.  I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to the artist and all of the performers  of this work, who have been so amazing to get to know.

Here’s a picture of the whole group!  Back row (left to right): Jennifer Schenck, Heather Flow, Rebecca Henderson, Mary Piepmeier, Kate Gilmore, Valerie Osipova, and Diana Dau. Front row (left to right): Tiffany Littlejohn, Claire Wardlaw, Melanie Harris, Katie Tyler, Kim Yancey, Gracelee Lawrence, and Arleen Westmoreland.

The dates and times for the final performances of Wall Bearer are:

Thursday, December 1, 3:30-6:30 pm

Saturday, December 3, 2-5 pm

Saturday, December 10, 2-5 pm

- posted by the exhibition’s Curator, Xandra Eden