The journey from concept to completion of the catalog for the American collection began more than two years ago with a compilation of the material that would be necessary to begin the project. Nothing could begin without a complete list of the American collection. For this project the list took the form of a printout which contained each piece in the American collection organized by its accession number, the order in which it came into the collection. For example 2008.352 was the 352nd piece to come into the collection in 2008. It was then necessary to ascertain from this list the works to be included in the web catalog. The remarkable aspect of a web catalog is that once this decision is made there will always be the opportunity to create more entries in the future.

Each work in the American collection was examined by the curator. A list of the works that would be included in the web project was made. This list included but was not limited to every work from the American collection that has been on display at the IMA. While working on this project a list was made of works that had come into the collection during the early period of the museum’s existence that are not deemed museum quality and should be considered for deaccession (sale). When these lists were completed, the files on each of these pieces, known as the works’ “historical files,” had to be examined. It was hoped that these files would provide detailed information on the work and its history. In some cases they did and in others very little information could be gleaned from these files. It was also necessary to pull together every label produced for the art work, which would be a starting point for the art work’s catalog entry. Since biographies on the artists were not available in the museum’s historical files, this research was also required. All these tasks would have been difficult for one curator to do without devoting every working moment to these tasks. Fortunately, the American Art department was given an endowment to create a fellowship by Joan D. Weisenberger, a museum patron, which provided an assistant for this project. One of the tasks the Fellow was responsible for was compiling the pertinent information from the historical files.

Once we had all the available information, we had to devise a format for each entry in the American Collection web catalog. It was decided that each work would have a label that included its accession number, artist, title, medium, size and credit line, followed by a section called “Learn More” containing the artist’s biography and a discussion of the work in the collection. The last section called “Reference,” includes a source where the reader can find more information.

Compiling the information took about a year. It was now time to start writing. The curator wrote the entries and the Weisenberger Fellow created the checklists that would be used to transfer the material to the web and worked with the web team so these lists met their criteria. Periodic meetings where held with the web team, curator, and Fellow to make certain we were all on the same page. Putting a collection on the web was a new project that had to be worked out so that the final product would be easy to transfer to the museum’s website.

Each work was to contain an image to accompany the text. In most cases this was possible before the launch date, but we decided not to hold up the catalog for those entries without an image and add the image when it became available. Of course, this is another great aspect of a web catalog. Everything we put on the museum’s webpage can be altered, added to or removed if necessary. We can even redesign the whole project, if at a later date it is decided that the catalog needs a new look that would work better. I am constantly reminded of the flexibility of the web, which allows us to launch this catalog without feeling permanently locked into any decisions. So if a reader comes across something that they question, something we missed, or just doesn’t like some aspect of the project, we can address these concerns. We are anxious for input on the American collection catalog on the IMA website. This is the IMA’s first attempt at creating a web collection catalog, and we want you, our audience, to be able to not only learn from it but be motivated to come to visit the museum to see these works of art. It is hoped that with the information this web catalog offers, our visitors can come to the museum and enjoy the work as the artist intended.

Severin Roesen, Before

Severin Roesen was known for his realistic, sumptuous still life paintings. Most of his work was done in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he settled in 1857.

Roesen pioneered the American still life and is the artist who comes to mind as the premier colonial still life painter. Although best known for his meticulously painted tables filled with fruit that reflected mid-nineteenth century optimism, his particularly striking and difficult to find floral still life paintings paved the way for floral themes in American art.

The IMA has long sought to display a work by Roesen in its Early American gallery, so it was very exciting to learn that Conner Prairie had a floral still life painting by the artist that they wanted to put on long term loan at the IMA. The only requirement was to bring it back to its original glory by conserving the painting.

It is with great anticipation that we await the completion of this work, when the painting can be placed on view for the public to appreciate its beauty and become acquainted with the style and quality of Severin Roesen’s still lifes. We sincerely thank Conner Prairie for sharing this treasure with the IMA and its visitors.

He Is Risen (The Passion of Christ Series)

There are two African American artists that I thought I would never have the opportunity or the funds to purchase, Romare Bearden and Henry Ossawa Tanner.  I still haven’t been fortunate to acquire a Tanner, but Bearden became part of the American collection in 2006.  Much of Bearden’s work falls outside the American collection, because it was done after 1945 and, therefore, considered contemporary art.  The organization of museum collections can seem so arbitrary to an outsider, even inside it can be confusing. The cut off of 1945 was made because that is the period when American art no longer emulated European style and ventured out on its own to develop Abstract Expressionism.  I discussed this in the Delaney blog.  Because of this demarcation I never thought a Bearden would become available that would fit into the American before 1945 collection.

The discovery of this painting occurred during my 2006 trip to New York for my yearly symposium on American art.  I always visit the galleries to see what is available.  On the wall in an American art gallery was an early Tanner that caught my eye, but it was not representative of the artist’s style and would not have been a good representation of his work.  So I continued to look at the display on the rest of the wall when I was struck by the color and design of the work next to it.  I wasn’t used to seeing early works by Romare Bearden, so I was surprised to learn he was the artist.  The piece was stunning.  I kept coming back to it during my walk through the gallery.  When I returned to the IMA I couldn’t take my mind off the painting.  The price was more than I had ever asked the museum to pay for an acquisition, but I thought it was so important to the collection that I had to try to acquire it for the museum.  
The painting is from a series called The Passion of Christ.  It is not so much a translation of a biblical text as it is a statement about the human condition, and the artist’s hope for the future of his race. He is Risen captures the spirit of resurrection, rebirth and redemption, while its vibrant colors create a celebratory mood. After serving in the Army during World War II, Bearden created this series of cubist inspired watercolors and paintings and called it The Passion of Christ.  He completed 24 pieces based on the gospels of St. Matthew and Mark.  Most of the series was done in watercolor.  When Bearden was offered his first one-man show in New York the dealer felt the series would benefit from the addition of a few oil paintings.  We don’t know how many oil paintings Bearden created in this series, but we do know there were not many.  These oil paintings are unique experiments in technique and the beginning of the artist’s experimentation that would eventually lead to his later collages. Out of the 24 works in this group, 20 of them sold.  One of the oil paintings was purchased by Duke Ellington.  You’ve probably guessed that it was the one being offered for sale to the IMA.

The religious subject matter reflected Bearden’s interest in Albrecht Durer’s Passion series. It is very close to Durer’s 1512 engraving of the Resurrection.  The similarity is remarkable considering the difference in style, but it clearly shows Bearden’s interest in this early Northern European master.

At the time of this purchase, the IMA had a new director who fortunately saw the merit in acquiring this piece. Money from four acquisition funds were required to make this purchase, but this is one painting that was worth the sacrifice. Of course, all curators feel that way about their purchases, and it would be the other curators who would have to make the sacrifice.  That’s the way it works with museum purchases, especially ones with a high price tag.  There is never enough funds to buy everything that the curators propose. The director, with the curator’s input, makes the final decision on what objects should be added to the collection.

The painting came to the IMA in a silver-toned frame which did nothing to bring out its vibrant color and was not the type of frame the artist would have used.  The IMA conservation department researched the artist’s frames and had a similar style made for this painting, which can be seen in all its glory in the American galleries.

Much of Johnson’s art focused on his roots in South Carolina and his life in Harlem.  His work is very colorful and expressive and often tinged with humor.  After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and America went to war, Johnson produced numerous paintings and prints that explored the contributions of African Americans to the war effort.  His paintings depicted black soldiers engaged in infantry training, ammunition drills, actual battle, and war-related support services.  He focused on their heroism as well as the segregation of the armed forces with a combination of seriousness and his signature style of humor.

Training for War by William H. Johnson

Since the work under consideration was a serigraph, which meant that more than one image of Training for War existed, I wanted to find out more about his work in this medium.  I called the Library of Congress whose prints and photographs division contains a large collection of serigraphs by William H. Johnson.  I learned that the work is a combination of techniques – serigraph (screen print), pochoir (stencil print) and some hand painting.  Several cardboard cutouts were found in Johnson’s studio similar to images in his prints.  He made the prints using his own type of screening and hand painting technique which meant that they were not exactly alike.  The IMA was fortunate because the paper used in the print under consideration was art paper, a better quality of paper than Johnson often used for his prints.

Training for War would also be perfect for the July 2005 opening of the new American galleries; patriotic and timely, it would complement the museum’s Frederic Edwin Church Civil War flag painting and Arthur Clifton Goodwin’s Liberty Loan Parade.  This print would be the last of the five works sponsored in part by the Coalition of 100 Black Women, Indianapolis Chapter.  Two of these works are not being discussed in this series because they are in the Contemporary collection, but for your information these pieces are the sculpture Nappy Head Blues by Alison Saar and the painting In the Studio by William Majors.

Johnson’s prints are difficult to acquire because they have the same condition concerns as works by Jacob Lawrence, fading colors, warped paper, stains, etc.  They also have the same light and hanging restrictions as Lawrence’s painting.  In 1967 the Harmon Foundation gave 1200 works of art by Johnson to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and a large collection of his prints to the Library of Congress making it very difficult to find this artist’s work on the open market.  The print under consideration was from the collection of Thurlow Tibbs, an important African American collector, who left most of his collection to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.  Having a work by Johnson in the IMA collection is a major coup, so don’t miss it in the American galleries where it will be on view until July when it comes down to rest until next year.

The IMA rarely has the luxury of reframing the paintings in its collection, since funds to pay for new frames are not readily available. A frame is an important part of a painting that serves not only to enhance the image but also to protect it.  Several paintings at the IMA have unsuitable frames that do nothing to enhance the beauty of the work and may actually detract from it.  One of those paintings is Abbott Thayer’s 1886 Still Life, a simple but lush depiction of a peony in a pewter-lined copper bowl.  This spare but dramatic still life was in a deteriorating reproduction frame that had a negative affect on the painting.

Last year the work appeared in the exhibition American Art and the East at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.  It was seen by Eli Wilner, a leading frame dealer and restorer, who noticed that the frame did not show the painting to its best advantage.  Mr. Wilner contacted the IMA and made a proposal to reframe the painting for a minimal payment from the museum.  The IMA was being given the opportunity to obtain a museum quality frame that we would not have been able to purchase if Mr. Wilner had not offered to donate most of its cost.

A comparison of Thayer’s still life before and after reframing shows a stunning transformation in the presentation of the painting.  It is now surrounded by a frame that resembles those of the period in which it was created and one that brings out the beauty of the image.  Mr. Wilner has offered to help the IMA reframe additional paintings with his support, so we are hoping that we will be able to take advantage of this very generous offer in the future.

The next time you are visiting the IMA come to the American galleries and see the Abbott Thayer still life in its new frame and experience what the appropriate frame can do for a painting.

The Artist's Party by Joseph Delaney

I was in New York for an annual symposium on American art in the spring of 2003. I went even though the IMA was still contemplating the purchase of a work that I had strongly advocated for the museum’s African American collection. The symposium was important, but so was the purchase, so I kept an open communication with the IMA via cell phone.  The decision to purchase this painting was difficult because Joseph Delaney is not a well known African American artist.

At the time, his brother, Beauford had a broader reputation for his abstract canvases, but Joseph was just beginning to be acknowledged for his expressionist New York scenes populated with crowds of people.  I had very few examples of this type of art in the American collection and none by an African American artist.

I thought this was a rare opportunity to acquire a painting that not only showed the expressionist style but also contained images of a group of Abstract Expressionist friends of Delaney that he had invited to his studio for a party.  The party appeared to have turned into a heated discussion with Delaney at the head of the table facing away from the viewer.  I also liked the setting which was Delaney’s Harlem studio complete with fire escape and kitchen interior typical of 1940s New York apartments.

The artists in the painting were tentatively identified as Adolph Gottlieb opposite Delaney, Willem de Kooning on the left and the most famous of all Jackson Pollock, who is the one artist in the scene whose identity is most certain.  This would be the second painting supported in part by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Indianapolis Chapter fund.  As in the previous blog other funds would have to be found to support the remainder of the purchase price, which would not prove difficult. There were numerous back and forth phone calls and voicemail messages between me, the IMA director and chief curator which resulted in a decision to purchase the painting.

Delaney’s work has since become more sought after, but that is true of much of African American art before 1945.  It seems that museums and collectors have discovered this wealth of great art and are trying to make up for lost time.  The Artist’s Party bring together the museum’s American and contemporary collections in that it leads to a discussion of Abstract Expressionism, the first art movement that is represented in the contemporary galleries and the first art movement that made America a leader in the art world and New York an art scene similar to Paris.  It also leads to a discussion of the relationship between Abstract Expressionism and earlier art and what artists like Delaney, who still focused on representation, thought about this relatively new abstract art movement.  It looks like that topic could be part of the heated discussion depicted in the painting.

You can’t miss the Delaney hanging in the American Scene section of the American galleries.  It makes a striking contrast as well as a welcome addition to the other pieces in the gallery that focus on American life in the 1930s and 40s.

Loch Long by Robert Duncanson

The next step was to research the artist and the painting to make sure the landscape represented Duncanson’s best work. The artist traveled to Scotland many times bringing back numerous sketches that he turned into landscape paintings.  Some of these paintings are considered his most important pieces.  Research showed that Loch Long certainly belonged in this category.  Since the painting was being offered at auction, we could not bring it into The IMA to be examined by our conservation department prior to its purchase.  Our conservation department recommended a conservator near the auction who sent us a condition report.  Although the painting would require cleaning along with some additional work, this was not considered a deterrent to its acquisition.

Having taken all the necessary steps to make sure the painting would make an important addition to the collection and its condition was not problematic, I still had to decide on the maximum amount we should bid and find someone who would step in and purchase the work if the committee or the Board turned it down.  Considering all the research a curator does before suggesting a work be acquired by the museum, it is very unlikely that it would be rejected, but it is still necessary to be prepared.  I contacted a local art collector who agreed to purchase the work if it did not obtain approval.  We decided on a maximum bid, but not before researching the artist’s auction records.  It was necessary to also establish where the painting fit into previous sale prices and how much the museum, and in this case the collector, could pay.  Most auction catalogs contain estimated sale prices for each piece in the sale, but these estimates are not always reliable. It is critical to understand the art market and the painting’s place in it before deciding on a maximum bid.  I also had to determine which art acquisition fund could support this purchase.  Some of these funds are designated for specific types of art and others are general funds that can be used for any purchase. It is possible that none of the funds would be accessible, if they were already designated for other purchases.  Funds were found to be available that could be used to purchase Loch Long in the Alliance of the Indianapolis Museum of Art Fund.

I placed the bid by telephone, which is the typical method of bidding if it is not possible to attend the auction.  The final bid was double the auction house’s high estimate, which was not surprising.  Collectors and museums were beginning to recognize the significance of African American art and prices were climbing. Duncanson’s Loch Long was not only an important landscape but also a very striking one.  The final bid was one bid under the maximum the museum and collector were willing to pay, so we were extremely fortunate to be the high bidder.  The purchase was unanimously approved by the committee and the Board, which, as expected, eliminated any obligation on the part of the collector. After undergoing conservation, Loch Long was placed on view in the American galleries with the Hudson River School paintings already on display.

I was in the process of organizing the exhibition A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans when I made my first African American acquisition for the museum in 1993.  It was an atypical purchase because the painting, Little Brown Girl by Indiana artist John Wesley Hardrick, had been a gift to the museum in 1929.  At that time the IMA was known as the Herron Art Museum or the John Herron Art Institute.  The policy in those days for lending works from the museum’s collection was very broad and record keeping was not what it is today.  This resulted in the painting being listed as missing in inventory in 1942. Repeated inventories failed to reveal its whereabouts.  The painting remained unaccounted for until 1993 when it was offered to the IMA by a New York dealer because of the artist’s Indianapolis connection.  A discussion with the dealer revealed that the painting belonged to a collector in Maine, but the trail leading back to the Herron Art Museum had gone cold.  The museum’s director went to see the painting and noticed the number 29.40 on the frame, the wooden stretcher and the back of the canvas.  This number confirmed the painting belonged to the IMA, since it was the accession number placed on the work when it was acquired by the museum.  The number indicates that it was the 40th piece of art to be added to the collection in 1929.

Little Brown Girl by John Wesley Hardrick

John Wesley Hardrick was one of the artists in A Shared Heritage exhibition, which was why research was being done on him and his work.  Little Brown Girl had been awarded the Harmon Foundation Bronze Medal in 1927. The Harmon Foundation presented awards to African Americans for distinguished achievement in the fine arts. The painting became so popular that a group of African Americans in an Indianapolis congregation took up a campaign to raise funds to purchase it for the museum. The sitter, Nellie Henderson about eleven years old, was a singer in the church choir at Allen Memorial Chapel where Hardrick was a member.  Hardrick chose this young girl to sit for a portrait required for his class at Herron.  Every Saturday Nellie’s father would bring her to the art school to sit for the artist.

The problem of how to bring the painting back into the collection had to be solved.  The museum could not buy back a painting that was already part of its collection, but it could compensate the dealer for her financial investment in the painting.  Negotiations are often difficult with any acquisition, but they were even more problematic since the IMA was trying to acquire a painting it already owned.  The dealer bought the painting in good faith and the seller knew nothing about its history. After numerous discussions, the dealer and the museum reached an amicable agreement that resulted in the return of Little Brown Girl after more than a 50-year absence. Through an accident of fate, Little Brown Girl was offered to the IMA at a time when I was researching Hardrick for the Shared Heritage exhibition.  Otherwise, I would not have recognized the work as ours or realize its importance to the artist and the collection.   However, fate cannot always be depended upon to make things right, so we now rely on strict rules and regulations along with meticulous record keeping to ensure that such a loss is never repeated.

William Edouard Scott, American, 1884-1964, “Simeon and the Babe Jesus,” oil on canvas mounted to Masonite, 98 x 44 inches, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, Indiana

It was a monumental undertaking one that had never been attempted at another American hospital.  Murals in public buildings were a new concept in 1914. Only the Library of Congress and the Boston Public Library had successfully completed similar projects.  The idea of bringing art to Wishard, then known as City Hospital, started on a very small scale with the idea of commissioning a local artist to create an oil painting for the new Burdsal units which had just opened in 1914. A committee of local artists was asked to select the artist, but the committee came back with a better suggestion.  Why not enlist several Indiana artists to paint murals on the hospital walls?  William Forsyth, a prominent member of Indiana’s famous Hoosier Group, agreed to oversee the project. At the conclusion of many months of work, sixteen Indiana painters had created thirty-three different murals that covered a quarter mile of the hospital’s wall space.

This included well-established artists such as, T. C. Steele, Otto Stark, Clifton Wheeler, Wayman Adams, J. Ottis Adams, and Forsyth himself, and younger painters and local art students such as Simon Baus, Walter Hixon Isnogle, Carl Graf, Jay Connaway, Emma B. King, Dorothy Morlan, Martinus Anderson, Francis E. Brown, Helene Hibben and an African American artist, William Edouard Scott, who would make a name for himself as a mural painter along with his other successful artistic endeavors.  Most of this group received housepainter’s wages, slept in empty wards and ate in the hospital kitchens, while the established artists painted in their studios and received no more than $150 a month for their work.

Despite the success of this mural project and the national accolades it received, only a fraction of these murals survive, many having been badly damaged, lost, destroyed or given away over the years.  It is the goal of the IMA conservation department and Wishard Hospital to conserve those murals that can be salvaged.  Since 2003 the IMA has been working on the conservation of the Wishard murals.  To date 13 of these murals have either been conserved, are in the process of being conserved or will be conserved in the near future.  The IMA will host an exhibition of these murals opening January 17, 2009 that will run through March 31, 2009.  The purpose of this exhibition is to recognize the importance and quality of these murals and to show the various stages of conservation required to preserve them.  The original mural project was monumental, the results spectacular, the legacy stunning. It is with great pride and pleasure that the IMA presents the exhibition Preserving a Legacy: The Wishard Hospital Murals in honor of those artists who gave of their time to bring a measure of joy to the lives of the hospital’s patients.

The story of the departure of the John Sloan began in July 2006 when the IMA director received a letter from another institution requesting the loan of Red Kimono on the Roof for an exhibition on Sloan’s New York paintings.  The exhibit was scheduled to be shown at four museums from October 2007 through December 2008.  The letter was passed on to me,  the American art curator, and the museum’s registration department setting in motion a carefully documented chain of events that would lead to the departure of the painting. The IMA requires at least six months notice to process the loan of a work of art from its collection.
I assessed the loan request to decide if the exhibition would be appropriate for the loan of this important painting and decided that the exhibition was a significant overview of the artist’s work and both the painting and the IMA would benefit from the loan.  The conservation department examined the painting to assess its condition to travel and the registration department requested facilities reports from each of the institutions that will be presenting the exhibition.  There are numerous criteria that have to be met for the IMA to agree to lend to any institution, including appropriate fire protection standards, proper security guards, access to conservation staff in case of damage, no construction or renovation that might pose a risk to the work, proper humidity and temperature control and no food in the gallery space to name just a few of the things we consider before lending to another institution.  Even crate storage is taken into consideration to make sure the crate is properly stored to avoid damage or contamination.  Little critters in the crate pose a threat to any work of art.  The crate is carefully constructed by the IMA to withstand the rigors of travel and protect the work of art, so we want to be sure it remains in the same condition it was created.

Red Kimono on the Roof was deemed safe for travel. Sometimes the IMA requires a courier to travel with a work of art, especially if it is going abroad or if there are concerns about potential damage to a fragile piece.  Curators, conservators and registrars can be couriers as can their assistants if trained for the purpose.  The courier must be present during all phases of transportation and to oversee the hanging of the work in the exhibition space.  When the exhibition closes, the courier often returns to manage the process of taking the work down, assess its condition and accompany it back to the IMA.  If a courier is not required for the entire travel route, one can still be sent to the destination site to assess the work when it arrives. Before a work can go out on loan, the loan must be assessed by the museum’s Collection Committee and approved by its Board of Directors.

So, come and visit John Sloan’s Red Kimono on the Roof when it returns to its permanent place in the American galleries.  There is always a renewed appreciation for a work that has gone out on loan, along with the satisfaction that people who have not visited the IMA have had the opportunity to enjoy it.