Dusting provided an opportunity to become acquainted with the wide range of surfaces that can be found on wooden sculpture from Africa. Given all the information one can get from these surfaces, this part of the project has been a visual and art historical education.

Under the dust, the surface observed can be one that the artist created.  Yoruba sculptor Lamidi O. Fakeye, for example, highlighted the wood itself by leaving the surface of his mounted horseman unpainted and unvarnished.

Detail of Mounted Horseman by Lamidi O. Fakeye, which features a bare wooden surface.

This is just one of a wide variety of possible surface finishes the artist could have chosen.  In contrast, this 20th century helmet mask for Bonu Amuen masker features a thick, slightly textured paint layer.

Detail of the painted surface of a 20th century helmet for Bonu Amuen masker.

The forehead of the Deangle mask is covered with layers of ritually applied materials.

For many works, however, the observed surface is the result of the combination of the artist’s activity and the use of the object after it was created.  Substances are often applied to painted wooden sculpture in Africa, however the material used and the reason for its application varies with the culture of origin of the piece.  Because of this variety, materials on the surface of African sculpture can provide information that is valuable for understanding the ways in which people have interacted with it.

The forehead of this face mask for Deangle masker, for example, shows a rough texture that is distinct from the smooth surfaces elsewhere on the mask.  This texture is the result of the application of many different sacrificial materials as an important part of its use in circumcision rituals.

This crocodile helmet mask made by the Nuna people of Burkina Faso is covered on the top of the head with chicken feathers and other remnants of sacrificial offerings.

Feathers and other ritual substances found on the Nuna crocodile helmet mask)

A third, key factor that contributes to the observed surface is the condition of the original and applied materials after aging. An example of a common condition than can develop with time is fatty acid bloom which results from the polymorphic transformation of fats or waxes. This condition is seen on this Tusian helmet mask.

Grey bloom on the Tusian helmet mask.

Analysis of the bloom can determine its chemical composition in order to help identify the applied material.  The kind of materials applied to the surface can be diagnostic for the country or culture of origin for unknown works.

This education has already informed my activity in the next part of the redesign project–assessing the condition of artworks as part of the collection survey.

Wayne Kimball, "Chairing Thanksgiving," 1982.

Just like that odd distant relative engaging you in awkward small talk for the entirety of the family dinner, Wayne Kimball’s quirky but meticulously crafted lithograph allows us a chance to appreciate that which often goes unnoticed or makes us uncomfortable. Kimball states, “My perceptions of certain past movements in art (most notably Northern Renaissance and Islamic Painting) coupled with idiosyncrasy…lead me to making some rather odd pictures…the compilation, arrangement and execution (and material quality) combine to hint at symbolic interpretations.”

Norman Rockwell, "Ours To Fight For, Freedom From Want," 1943.

Rockwell’s iconic image of the American gathering is more than likely etched in the back of everyone’s minds as we celebrate this season. Culturally significant now for its representation of American nostalgia, it was complementary in its own time to FDR’s “Four Freedom’s” speech given in 1942 to aid the war effort. This lithograph is based on one from a series of four themed paintings:  Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of Worship (the Tenants of FDR’s speech).

Emile Bernard, "Le Moissonneur (The Harvester)," 1889.

Thanksgiving is said to have been born out of an English tradition of appreciative agrarians gathering as a community, not only to give thanks for their fall harvest, but also to rest and celebrate their hard work throughout the summer months. Bernard’s Breton farmers engaged in back-breaking labor to gather wheat from the field with their scythes. Bernard’s primitive technique and subject matter allows the viewer to be transported back in a time where the harvest was well-earned – where one didn’t go to the big-box store to grab a turkey from a freezer section, make stuffing from a box, or pick up a plastic wrapped Pumpkin pie and canned whipped cream.

Workshop of Jan Brueghel the younger, "The Sense of Taste," 1618.

This image is our urging of how not to eat today. Thanksgiving is a notorious diet breaker, and even the strongest-willed dieter can easily crumble at the mouth watering smell of Grandma’s homemade yams or Aunt Becky’s mashed potatoes. Jan Brueghel’s image contains a gluttonous feast, drunkenness, and if you look hard enough in the (bottom center left) you will see a small monkey. This is the artist’s representation of the devil being present in the scene (a common symbol in artwork during this time period). Lesson to be learned: Stuff the turkey, not yourself.

For those of you who have a taste for the technical and an appreciation of process, begin reading here:

Art Directed Photography

Unfortunately for me (and I would argue the patron), this is what I get to do the least.

Art Directed photography requires a fair amount pre-planning and time to explore an approach to photography of an object or setting.  It requires the input of multiple parties, is of high quality, and has a distinct “look” to the final image.  These images are generally intended for more targeted uses in magazine and catalogues.

The images below of Alberto Meda’s Light-Light chair were taken with a Mamiya 645D and a Phase One P45 digital back. The inspiration came from our Senior Curator of Design Arts Craig Miller, who wanted to focus on the texture of the material. The silhouette of the chair legs emerges from the darkness to reveal the back and the carbon fiber texture.

Alberto Media, "Light-Light chair (prototype)," 1988, carbon fiber and Nomex composite. Purchased with funds provided by James E. and Patricia J. LaCrosse.

Here’s another example of an art directed photo shoot:

Allesandro Mendini and Alessandro Guerriero, "Side chair from Ollo Collection,"1988, plastic, laminate. Frank Curtis Springer and Irving Moxley Springer Purchase Fund. © Alessandro Guerriero.

Publication Photography

Occurring much more frequently than art directed projects, publication photography is what you will typically find me doing day to day. It generally consists of high quality documentation photography, which requires more setup time and use of higher end equipment. The background may be white or gradated. Publication photography fulfills the need of catalogues and other external requests that require large image sizes.

Below are images of a more straightforward nature.  A generic gradient background is used rather than something more dramatic. Therefore the background or lighting does not become a distraction or a more obvious component of the image.  We have recently moved away from using the gradients.  Much of our work is shot on a plain white background to give all the attention to the art object.

Documentation Photography
This approach is similar to publication photography, however the intended results are more focused on a specific collection.  The drive behind this type of photography is to get a clear visual record of the object.

 Documentation photography is a systematic approach to photographing objects in the collection. The image is captured in a very generic setting (usually with a white background). Although quick snapshots can also be utilized as documentation, the goal of the Publishing & Media department is to acquire a clean, representative image of the work of art.  The resulting image can then be utilized for 80-90% of image needs (small press, newspaper, online, magazine, some catalogue uses).

We tend to create these images with Canon 5D Mark IIs and similar full frame digital cameras. A group of photographers are usually involved with any systematic documentation of the collection, along with staff from other departments coordinating the object movements.  See image below:

The role of the museum photographer is an exciting and rewarding one, and – as with many jobs in the museum – you frequently have the opportunity to get up-close with a variety of artwork.  And as a photographer, we get to see the work in its best light.  Future posts from me will be dealing with specific objects and how we shoot them, including images of our setup and some trial and error photographs, if I can get them by our editor.  Stay tuned!

At the 1952 Venice Biennale, Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion, Eloise O. Spaeth, employed a different approach with mixed results. Four established and well-known artists – Edward Hopper (1882-1967), Stuart Davis (1892-1964), Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893-1953), and Alexander Calder (1898-1976) – were honored with small retrospective exhibitions. In his review of July 20, 1952, Stuart Preston of the New York Times expressed disappointment with the uninspired exhibition concept, stating that the American Federation of Arts “play[ed] [it] safe this year.” Despite this critique, Preston found merit in the apt selection of Hopper to represent the United States abroad. Preston observed that: “Hopper made the deepest impression. Foreigners recognized, and rightly, something authentically American in the pathos of his landscapes, a germ of loneliness which they detect in our literature.” The IMA’s Hotel Lobby (1943), which was among the works displayed at the 1952 Biennale, conveys the feeling of isolation described by Preston and noted by the show’s attendees. Hopper’s figures, whether alone or in the company of others, appear detached from their surrounding environment.

Edward Hopper, "Hotel Lobby," 1943. William Ray Adams Memorial Collection. ©Edward Hopper.

The motif of the contemplative figure is hardly unique to the work of Hopper, or even American art, though. Scholar Gail Levin and others have cited artistic precedence in the domestic interiors of Dutch seventeenth-century painter Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), which were likely seen by Hopper on his many trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or on the three occasions he visited Europe from 1906 to 1911. According to art historian Pamela Koob (“States of Being: Edward Hopper and Symbolist Aesthetics”), Vermeer studies experienced a revival during this period due to the organization of several exhibitions in New York.

Hopper’s paintings also bear a strong resemblance to those of Dane Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916). In December 1912, an exhibition of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish art, sponsored by the American-Scandinavian Foundation and organized by Christian Brinton, opened at the American Art Galleries in New York. Since Hopper lived in the city at this time, it is possible that he was introduced to Hammershøi’s paintings in person or in print, as they were discussed in three separate New York Times reviews. Interestingly, art critics lauded the curator’s selection of Hammershøi and praised the authenticity of his work. In a preview of the exhibition, published  August 11, 1912, a Times reporter found that Hammershøi “…not yet in his fifties, has taken an isolated place in the art of Denmark, belonging to no school, and betraying in his work no clearly defined inheritance from the past.”

Vilhelm Hammershøi; Interiør med ung læsende mand 1898.Olie på lærred. 34,4 x 51,8 cm. (via www.hirschsprung.dk)

Forty years apart, the reviews of Hopper and Hammershøi exhibited rather provincial slants, as they failed to acknowledge the wider application of the artists’ themes.  However, Robert Rosenblum’s seminal Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition (1975) would later propose the existence of a “Northern” sensibility, which manifested itself in the artistic production of Europe and America for at least a century and a half. Noting parallels in form and feeling, Rosenblum traced a trajectory from the German Romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) (who, incidentally, popularized the motif of a contemplative figure seen from the back, called a Rückenfigur) to the chromatic abstractions of Mark Rothko (1903-1970). Clearly, the cases of Hopper and Hammershøi substantiate Rosenblum’s argument. (The prolific scholar even identified the works of the two artists as analogous in a 1997 essay on Hammershøi.) Yet, the broader context of their paintings seems to have been lost on critics of the American-Scandinavian exhibition in 1912 and, later, of the 1952 Biennale.

Theodor Groll, "Washington Street, Indianapolis at Dusk," 1892-5.

This work from the IMA’s permanent collection by Theodor Groll showcases late 19^th century Indianapolis, the State Capitol Building and Washington Street. Groll himself was not an Indianapolis resident, but instead a prominent German artist passing through Indianapolis after judging the German entries for the World’s Exposition in Chicago.

Illuminated by gaslight electricity, the painting exhibits horse-drawn trolleys rattling down the metal tracks in Indianapolis streets. A year after this painting was completed, 1896, the first electric streetcars were introduced in Indianapolis. They were an effective mode of transportation, but were soon phased out by the even more convenient automobile.  The last Indianapolis electric streetcar line closed in January of 1953.

The view also includes the brilliantly lit Park Theater directly to the east of the Capitol building. It was once called, “The most elegant theater in the west” but burned in March 1897, just two short years after this painting was complete. On the right side of the painting, the street is lined with market stalls and a dimly lit saloon, one of many in the area. The 1892 Indianapolis Business Directory listed Washington Street alone as having 74 people in the saloon trade.  In the 1920′s, Prohibition put many of these locally renowned establishments out of business.

If you view historical photos like those from the Indiana Historical Society archives, you will see that Groll’s representation of Indianapolis was somewhat idealized. In fact he finished his painting in Germany using memory, photographs and sketches he had taken while in the city. The painting is fairly accurate except for the sunset appearing to the Northeast, and the distortion of the Capitol building resting on the edge of the street. As you can see in this contemporary photo, it actually sits back much farther.

The Capitol building in 2011

Instead of streetcars we now have IndyGo buses. There are no longer horse-drawn carts and daily markets, but cars and franchise businesses. If you look closely at the painting you can see men and women talking, citizens engaged in commerce, and those headed home in their wagons after a long day in the city. A boy walking his dog, a woman and child walking hand in hand and the formidable State Capitol aren’t much different than what you would see today.

Groll’s painting is a refreshing snapshot of nostalgia and is currently on view on the second floor in American Art. Come take a look!

Most painted sketches were never intended to be displayed publicly, but rather were made as tools in the creative process. They were used to experiment with ideas for a composition, to propose a composition to a patron, or to record a finished painting for future reference. Preliminary painted sketches could be very rough in appearance, mapping out the artist’s first thoughts about a composition, or more finished exercises that laid out not only elements of the composition, but also served as studies of color and light.

Sebastiano Conca (Italian, 1680–1764), "The Madonna Appearing to St. Philip Neri," 1740, James E. Roberts Fund, 71.6

This lively, loosely painted sketch is a preliminary study for a large altarpiece in the Pilo e Calvello Chapel, Sant’Ignazio Martire all’Olivella (formerly San Filippo Neri), Palermo, commissioned from Conca at the height of his fame in 1739-40. In these years, Conca led a large and busy workshop in Rome and served as the director of the Roman academy. Unwilling to relocate to complete such commissions, Conca would have sent small preliminary sketches like this to his patron in Sicily for approval before undertaking the final full-scale altarpiece. Two additional painted sketches and one drawing related to the altarpiece also survive, with slight variations between them that indicate Conca’s exacting approach to composition.

Giacinto Diana (Italian, 1730–1803), "The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian," about 1780, James E. Roberts Fund, 71.5

Diana’s sketch is a preparatory study for the main altarpiece of the church of San Sebastiano (now San Giovanni Battista), Gragnano, part of a series of five paintings dedicated to the life of the saint. This painting is relatively large in scale, indicating that it might have served as a presentation model for the patrons, even though it displays the unfinished quality of a preparatory sketch. Diana omits fine details such the bows and arrows held by the executioners, which he may have judged to be extraneous to the overall effect of the composition. The graceful, refined figures and warm tonality are hallmarks of Diana’s style, which was widely disseminated thanks to his role as an instructor at the academy in Naples.

Carlo Innocenzo Carlone (Italian, 1686–1775), "Glorification of the Cross," about 1718, Martha Delzell Memorial Fund, 56.106

Carlone’s brilliantly colored, fluid sketch is a study for the cupola fresco in the chapel of Schloss Ludwigsburg, the residence of Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemburg. Large-scale ceiling decorations required especially careful planning because of their complexity. As in this composition, they often featured a multitude of figures in extreme foreshortening arranged in highly complex interwoven groups. Here, heaven expands upwards, presided over by the Trinity and swirling masses of angels and saints. Carlone’s dependence on painted sketches to work out the elaborate commissions he undertook for palaces and churches in Germany and Austria is attested to by the presence of some 300 sketches that remained in his studio at his death.

With their fluid brushwork, abbreviated handling, and intimate scale, painted sketches are often more vibrant than finished full-scale paintings. As a glimpse of the artist’s creative process and because of their aesthetic value, these studies appealed to sophisticated connoisseurs and collectors in the eighteenth century, who conceded them to painted sketches the status of works of art in their own right.

A new installation featuring 18^th-century painted sketches from the IMA’s permanent collection is now on view in the Charles O. McGaughey Gallery. The paintings by Conca and Diana are being exhibited for the first time since entering the museum’s collection in 1971, following recent conservation treatment. An upcoming post will discuss the treatment of these two paintings.

IndyChannel recently launched their A-list ballot for 2011 – a yearly poll that highlights the best of Indy. The IMA is proud to say that we have been nominated as a contender for best museum. The wide-ranging list below, in the form of a TOP ten, are just a few reasons why you should vote in support of the IMA as Indianapolis’ BEST museum. We know you already agree but we hope to reassure you anyway.

10. First and foremost, the IMA is an ART museum, even though it provides films, talks, events, galas, and workshops that may convince you otherwise, the enormous and comprehensive collection is at the heart of our existence. The IMA strives and achieves in providing an art museum environment that is friendly and non-threatening to those without an artistic background, embracing the community as a whole. Those with a love and passion for the arts can mingle amongst peers and schedule an entire weekend of events solely with IMA activities.

9. The IMA has had a remarkable year which included a recent performance at the Venice Biennale, representing the US on a global venue. As you know, the IMA has been working tirelessly on this event, which has garnered amazing responses to Allora & Calzadilla’s works. The IMA represented Indianapolis and the US in an authentic and innovative way through this artistic duo. Did I mention the IMA represented the ENTIRE UNITED STATES? Just checking.

Photos by Andrew Bordwin.

8. In recent years, the opening of the Randall L. and Marianne W. Tobias Theater, aka The Toby, has drawn some big-named speakers into our Indianapolis sphere. Most recently Stefan Sagmeister came to speak about design and happiness from his personal studio, Sagmeister Inc, which was founded in 1993. Sagmeister has designed for the likes of The Rolling Stones, HBO and the Guggenheim with his maxim’s made of both conventional and unconventional mediums using his words and design as a “tool for social renewal.” The Toby has also hosted, Temple Grandin, a woman living with Autism, who is praised with her humane design for handling livestock facilities. An HBO film biography on her won seven Emmy awards! With an amazing turn out for the Toby’s first year (almost 37,000 visitors) the future only looks brighter. Who will the Toby draw in next?

7. Not only does the IMA host galleries filled with ancient arts and artifacts from cultures around the world, it also hosts its own contemporary art wing from a world-wide net. Do-Ho Suh’s contemporary work, Floor is  a very awe inspiring piece. Viewers are allowed and meant to step upon this expansive platform where hundreds of male and female figurines seemingly hold you up. The hundreds of figures that cover the underside of the 32 individual squares allow each viewer’s weight to be held up by their tired plastic arms. The IMA has a contemporary collection worth noting as well as artist showcases, presently being Mr. Thorton Dial—whose exhibition Hard Truths runs through September 18.

6. Spring has sprung and summer is fully fledged! 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park is an amazing outdoor experience that is definitely worth its own visit to the IMA. On these beautiful Indianapolis summer days, 100 acres is a perfect getaway from the bustle of the city (even just for a few hours)! With eight sight-specific works commissioned, the park shows how art and nature intertwined in a contemporary style. Joep van Lieshout, with his studio Atelier van Lieshout, created Funky Bones, and interactive large-scale sculpture of a Halloween-esque skeleton to be multifaceted, as both art and as functional benches. Plus, where else can you row out to an artist-inhabited island? Pretty sure we’re the only one.

5. In 2008 the IMA was named an Energy Star partner with a pledge to reduce energy consumption. In turn, we reduced natural gas consumption by 48 percent and electricity by 19 percent. In 2010 the IMA was named one of 11 museums to receive recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency which sparked the IMA’s own “greening committee”- displaying art and protecting the environment, one day at a time.

4. We love to collaborate! The Indianapolis International Film Festival has again paired with the IMA’s Toby theatre and DeBoest Lecture hall and will be running from July 14-July 18. This festival will show films from all over the world of varying genre, skill level and lengths. From one minute films (Check out Dinosaur Ballet) to full length feature films, this festival will have a film to suit everyone’s taste. The IMA bringing a small piece of the world to you through this collaboration is sure to be an eye-opening experience. (It also includes a film by one of the IMA’s own staff, be sure to check out Type A!)

3. A certain buzz has been generated from the unveiling of the enigmatic Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana. This acquisition marks an expansion that the IMA knows no bounds and will restore and display art of many forms while also showcasing Indiana’s architectural gem, the city of Columbus itself.

2. Summer Nights is a summer film series that has been widely received by the Indianapolis community. Not only can you sit amongst your friends, and enjoy a great film in the evening, but you can lounge in an amphitheatre setting reminiscent of the ancient Greeks and enjoy food and refreshments. This series is widely popular and lets you escape from the air-conditioned doldrums of the standard blockbuster while enjoying an acclaimed film and a nice summer breeze. Are you convinced yet?

1. In the words of a beloved YELP reviewer: “…an art museum that’s free? Must be a joke or not worth going to. Turns out that I was wrong.” You heard right, to everyone’s utter amazement and enjoyment, admission is FREE! VOTE NOW for the IMA as the BEST Museum in Indianapolis!

One interesting thing we found is that the top ten lists (based on unique pageviews) for 2007, 2008, and 2009 are all very similar. While there was some movement within the lists as far as #1, #2, etc., the pieces that made the cut for these three years were all the same (with the exception of 1-2 variations each year). A noticeable shift happened in 2010 when different works started popping up on the list.

As it just so happens, we introduced a new website in early 2010 and one of the changes we made involved the collection section. We improved the search capabilities with the intent of allowing someone to find something specific with ease, while also creating an interface to support casual browsing. A month later, we also introduced a new tagging feature that made the collections search more interactive. Tagging features in general have changed the way people look for information as users can search based on input or classifications from other users -  another possible reason for the shift in the top ten.

Even without these changes to the website, I would expect to see a change of sorts as technology improves and computer usage behavior changes. Online search habits have transformed (and will continue to do so) as people become more accustomed to search mechanisms and better in tune with the results a specific query will trigger. This is naturally going to change the results that are returned, thereby influencing the popularity of certain pages.

Over the past few years we’ve also become more active on social media sites, which may account for some of the changes seen pre and post 2010. Miss Lemon Drop (below) is just one example of this:

Caption: Mel Ramos, "Miss Lemon Drop," 1964.

We tweeted about this piece back in February, (in response to MAN’s Swimsuit Issue), and it made its top 10 debut for the first time as #6 for 2011. Granted, our 2011 list only includes the past two months of data, but I think this does speak to the influence of social media and the way it allows us to share our collection with wider audiences. Search engines have also added social networks to their results pages, fueling the popularity of those pieces we feature on places like Twitter or Facebook. This, in turn, gives museums an opportunity to call attention to works that may not otherwise be seen amidst the collection blockbusters that are regularly searched for on a site.

Speaking of blockbusters – even with changes in search habits, social media, and our website, we did see two pieces that made the top ten lists in all five years:

Tiffany Louis Comfort, "Angel of the Resurrection," 1904.

Do-Ho Suh, "Floor," 1997-2000.

Angel of Resurrection and Floor are clearly two popular pieces on our website peaking in popularity in 2009 at #1 and #4, respectively. Other works that made the list multiple times throughout the years include:

Rembrandt van Rijn, "Self-Portrait," 1629.

Alfred Thompson Bricher, "Morning at Grand Manan", 1878.

John Currin, "Blond Angel," 2001.

Winslow Homer, "The Boat Builders," 1873.

Below you can see a bit of the data we have gathered from this exercise. Starting with 2011, each graph lists the rank, title of the piece, and its change in rank from the previous year. From this you can see that Robert Indiana’s LOVE (1966) moved up one position from 2010 to 2011, or that Georgia O’Keefe’s Jimson Weed was not on the list in 2009, but made it to the top ten in 2010.

2011 Most Accessed (year-to-date)

Rank	Title
1	Tim Hawkinson, Möbius Ship, 2006.
2	Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1966.
3	Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1970.
4	Janet Scudder, Nude Child (Seaweed), 1914.
5	Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fifth Plague of Egypt, 1800.
6	Mel Ramos, Miss Lemon Drop, 1964.
7	Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel of the Resurrection, 1904.
8	Georgia O’Keefe, Jimson Weed, 1936.
9	Jan the younger Brueghel, The Sense of Taste, 1618.
10	Do-Ho Suh, Floor, 1997-2000.

2010 Most Accessed

Rank	Title
1	Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fifth Plague of Egypt, 1800.
2	Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1970.
3	Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1966.
4	Ingrid Calame, From #258 Drawing (Tracing from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the L.A. River, 2007.
5	Georgia O’Keefe, Jimson Weed, 1936.
6	Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel of the Resurrection, 1904.
7	James Turrell, Acton, 1976.
8	Do-Ho Suh, Floor, 1997-2000.
9	Vincent Van Gogh, Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant), 1889.
10	Kara Walker, They Waz Nice While Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another), 2001.

2009 Most Accessed

Rank	Title
1	Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel of the Resurrection, 1904.
2	Kara Walker, They Waz Nice While Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another), 2001.
3	Barnaba da Modena, Crucifixion, 1375.
4	Do-Ho Suh, Floor, 1997-2000.
5	Alfred Thompson Bricher, Morning at Grand Manan, 1878.
6	Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1629.
7	Robert Indiana, LOVE, 1966.
8	Master of San Baudelio de Berlanga, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, 1125.
9	Winslow Homer, The Boat Builders, 1873.
10	John Currin, Blond Angel, 2001.

2008 Most Accessed

Rank	Title
1	John Currin, Blond Angel, 2001.
2	Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1629.
3	Barnaba da Modena, Crucifixion, 1375.
4	Louis Comfort Tiffany, Angel of the Resurrection, 1904.
5	Kara Walker, They Waz Nice While Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another), 2001.
6	Master of San Baudelio de Berlanga, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, 1125.
7	Alfred Thompson Bricher, Morning at Grand Manan, 1878.
8	Do-Ho Suh, Floor, 1997-2000.
9	Winslow Homer, The Boat Builders, 1873.
10	Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar, 1669.

2007 Most Accessed

First up, collections search.

Search is available on every page on the site.

We created rich menus for the navigation of the website.  Under the “Art” menu item you’ll find we’ve added a collections search box.  This makes the collections available from every single page on the website.

Overview of the collections search page.

Upon visiting the collections search page itself, you’ll be presented with a random selection of works of art that are currently on view in the galleries.

Hovering a result gives detailed information.

In the picture above, I did a search for “landscape“. Hovering the results presents you with some more information and options for each work. You can quickly see if the work is currently on view and how relevant it is to your search. You can also click the magnifying glass to zoom the image or click on several other places to visit the works web page.

We're talking serious zoom.

Results can be filtered by creator.

We can see from search logs that most people are actually searching by artist names. In response to this we have added the ability to filter your search results by creator. In the screenshot above I have filtered my “landscape” search to only show works by John Ottis Adams.

User supplied tags make works easier to find.

Sometimes you might be looking for a work in a non-standard way. User-supplied tags can make it easier to find works that may not have the words in the tombstone that you are looking for. Case in point: a recent Super Bowl bet in which we now have to lend a specific work to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

You can select custom creation date ranges.

Finally we wanted to make it easy to search works by their creation and accession dates. We added some simple sliders to the advanced section of the form that let you do exactly this. In the example above I am viewing works from our Asian department that were created during the Edo period. You can ask some reason specific questions using the search. In the example below I am looking for paintings acquired since the beginning of 2009.

You can also select custom accession date ranges.

We always love feedback, good or bad. Let us know what works and what doesn’t.

If you visited the IMA’s permanent galleries more than once this year, it is likely you did not see the same works of art. Each month the IMA rotates different works of art in an effort to display the breadth of the Museum’s collection. The scheduled rotation is determined through a collaboration between curators and conservators. Curators decide which works are displayed and their display time frame, while the conservators regulate the exposure time of certain sensitive artworks. Below are just a handful of the hundreds of works newly displayed in the IMA’s galleries in 2008:

For a look at all the works that went on view in 2008, visit the IMA’s Dashboard.

In celebration of the IMA’s 125th anniversary, the Museum also sought to acquire 125 new gifts to add to its collection this year. Stay tuned for a complete recap of this project.