Community: bloggers@brooklynmuseum

Almost every day that the Caillebotte show has been open to the public, I have been in the galleries—to ponder the works, to give tours, and to talk to our fantastic guards about visitor response. (The guards can tell you how I plague them.) While the installation of an exhibition offers incomparable, exhilarating joy as you work with the exhibition designer and the art handlers to create a distinctive visual narrative, the time spent in the galleries during the run of the show follows shortly thereafter on the fun scale. (Loan paperwork predictably comes in at the bottom of the scale.) Interactions with our visitors—from Caillebotte initiates to die-hard aficionados—are great treats because they prompt fresh observations.

So, with time running out for these face-to-face discussions—the show closes on 5 July!—I urge you to come out here and to let us all know what you see—enter your observations here on this blog or on our digital comment book in the exhibition.

Gustave Caillebotte @ Brooklyn Museum via pixonomy on Flickr.

Here are five reasons to come to see this exhibition:

1. A Brooklyn Exclusive!—Brooklyn is the final stop on this tour and the only American venue for this exhibition. Works by Gustave Caillebotte are rare in American museums—even for collections that are otherwise very rich in Impressionism. We have two at Brooklyn, and this makes us very lucky as I soon discovered when I went looking for more to add to our presentation. Most of the paintings in this exhibition come from private collections, so you will likely not see another significant gathering of works by Caillebotte in New York again very soon.

2. And a Journey to France—As Caillebotte moves from Paris to the French countryside and back to Paris, follow his move from early works executed in the studio to those painted on the spot before the motif. Caillebotte paints a France in flux: the newly reconstructed French capital with its broad avenues and regularized façades—the Paris we know today; coastlines developed with getaway homes for the well-to-do; and suburbs caught between leisure pursuits and a burgeoning heavy industry.

3. Art and Design—An avid competitive yachtsman, Caillebotte revolutionized sailboat design, and we are lucky to have six half-models of his designs in the exhibition. Listen to Tom Jackson, Senior Editor of WoodenBoat, eloquently describe the particularities of Caillebotte’s innovations on our cell phone guide. As scholars have noted, Caillebotte’s engagement with yachting prompted complete conceptions as he designed, built, sailed, and, finally, painted his many boats as they cut through the currents of the Seine or quietly bobbed at his dock. In this way, Caillebotte was like Claude Monet who planted elaborate gardens at Giverny and then painted them.

4. Daring Subject Matters—With The Floor Scrapers—one of two paintings devoted to this subject—Caillebotte established his reputation as a painter to watch when he made his debut at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. Many conservative writers disliked such scenes of urban labor, but critics allied with the avant-garde applauded the subject drawn from daily life. And Caillebotte’s Factories at Argenteuil (1888) marries a distinctively modern subject with bold paint handling—listen to Paul Tucker’s cell phone commentary on this one, he says it far better than I can.

5. Painter and Patron—Caillebotte played a critical role in the early days of Impressionism as he financially supported his fellow artists and helped to organize their landmark exhibitions. As one of the most significant early collectors of Impressionism, Caillebotte owned now-iconic works by his fellow painters. When he died prematurely in 1894, his collection of paintings by his Impressionist peers passed to the French state and now forms one of the most important core collections at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. You can catch a glimpse of The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (1876) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Caillebotte’s Self-Portrait at the Easel (1879). Notably, Caillebotte paints Renoir’s work in a very distinctive manner, but I will let you discover this on your own!

Caillebotte’s Ladies Wear Hats via Trish Mayo on Flickr.

And please do let us know what you observe! Can’t wait to see what you see!

Many thanks are due to our faithful community. Their tweets helped us get in touch with @TrueBloodHBO, the official True Blood twitter feed and they set up a coast-to-coast conference call Tuesday evening between Suzuki Ingerslev, Production Designer for the show, Shelley (who has seen every episode), and me (who has read the books and will now go out and rent Season 1).

Getting to ask Suzuki our questions directly was incredibly exciting and the answers we got were pretty thrilling too! How cool is this…

How True Blood found the “Bird Lady”

The script for Episode 1 of Season 2 called for “a primitive piece of art; like a dancing girl” to be placed on the character Maryann’s coffee table. Suzuki and Cat Smith, Art Director, went to Google to look for images that fit these requirements, hoping to find something that inspired them. They looked at many different types of ancient images including Mycenaean, Etruscan, and Minoan examples. Entering search terms something like “Egyptian female statues,” they came across our very own “Bird Lady.” They printed out a selection of appropriate images and presented them to Alan Ball, the show’s creator.

He was immediately drawn to the “Bird Lady,” seeing something so elegant, beautiful and perfect in her form that she became the obvious choice. As Suzuki pointed out, though she is not the first to do so, this ancient figure looks both modern and primitive at the same time. In terms of the show, she said using it helped to emphasize that Maryann’s character is timeless.

We also found it interesting that Suzuki said they looked at a lot of Egyptian images and chose this one precisely because it is not a “typical” ancient Egyptian representation. This was precisely the thinking behind curator James F. Romano’s choice of the “Bird Lady” as the signature image for the reinstalled Egyptian galleries, which opened in April 2003. As usual, he wanted to get people to stop, look and think twice.

How True Blood created their “Bird Lady”

As part of Alan Ball’s vision for the show, which involves going the distance to add a level of authenticity, an artist was hired to make a version of the “Bird Lady” based on renderings off the web. Cindy Jackson made three statues in case one got broken during filming. Suzuki wanted a base that let the figure float and emphasized its sense of movement. So the artist drilled a rod into the bottom of the statue that connects to a flat base. We explained that we obviously couldn’t do that to a 5,500 year old object but we do have a special mount that safely produces the same floating effect.

HBO’s version of “Bird Lady” made for the series True Blood by artist Cindy Jackson from a mold she created and casting plaster.  Images courtesy Suzuki Ingerslev. 

Lastly, a few final bits of “Bird Lady” and True Blood trivia.

One of the characters refers to the statue as “Mycenean or something.” Maryann intentionally raises her arms in the same pose during the episode; this gesture was directly inspired by the choice of the “Bird Lady” for the statue. And yes, the “Bird Lady” can be read as a clue to Maryann’s eternal nature, but no, there is not necessarily any further connection.

Many thanks to HBO’s True Blood team for responding so quickly and warmly to our questions. We are glad you love the “Bird Lady” as much as we do.

Thursday afternoon, around noon, I was doing an advance press interview with Modern Painter magazine about the exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll, which opens here at the Brooklyn Museum in October. One of the questions the writer asked me was, “What challenges do you face in designing an exhibition of rock and roll photographs for an art museum?” My immediate responses were: “Since it’s the first major exhibition about rock and roll photographs in America, we are including an encyclopedic 175 works and the challenge will be how I can install so many works, and still give each one its own space.” . . . as well as, “It’s not often that I’m installing images such as Johnny Cash giving the finger, and an equally provocative image of Courtney Love, and how do you present these works, which overtly say rock and roll, but might offensive to some museum patrons?”

Michael Jackson, 1999. (printed 2000). Photograph by Albert Watson.

Well today, it’s a different world in Rock and Roll.  Michael Jackson died.  We have a huge 8′ x 6′ portrait of Michael Jackson in the show, by the world renown photographer Albert Watson. Before, my mind was on “Where should we put the 8 photographs of Elvis from 1956?” . . . and “Where can we fit the 6 panel lenticular photograph of Jimi Hendricks?” Today. . . my thought is, “In what special place can we put our great American artist Michael Jackson?”

In the last several days, I’ve had dozens of conversations about Michael and his music and dancing. It seems everyone has a story of where they were and what happened when they were listening to his songs. A similar thing happened late in 2007, when Michael Jackson came to the Brooklyn Museum for an Ebony magazine photo shoot to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thriller. I’ve never seen such giddy, smiley people before . . . all wondering if they were going to catch a glimpse of Michael . . . and all saying how much they just LOVED THRILLER!

What’s your story?

Last Thursday we welcomed over 900 members to the opening of Yinka Shonibare MBE. The weather was perfect, the galleries were packed, and the glass Pavilion was pretty in pink, with festive tablecloths to complement the hot pink walls of the exhibition.

Video via Urban Art & Antiques blog.

Speaking of festive, members received a special surprise when the artist showed up. While having an artist attend the exhibition opening is always a treat in and of itself, Shonibare made an entrance that we wouldn’t forget:  he walked in arm in arm with two companions who were impeccably dressed in full Victorian costume−it was as if they had just emerged from one of Shonibare’s photographs right into the museum!

Photo courtesy Trish Mayo via Flickr.

After walking through the exhibition with these lovely attendants by his side, Shonibare spoke with his good friend and author, Dr. Anthony Downey of the Sotheby’s Institute in London. This was truly the main event, as 450 members packed in to the auditorium to have this special chance to hear the artist speak about his work in conversation with a leading expert on contemporary art. Their engaging conversation centered on the “authenticity” of Shonibare’s work as an “African” artist working in the UK. A tutor of his initially recommended he focus on his African heritage instead of other themes he was exploring at the time. He went to Brixton market where African print fabrics are sold and found out that Dutch wax fabric as it is called, is actually produced in Europe and imitates Indonesian Batik patterns. Initially made to sell in Indonesia, they ended up being sold in West Africa because Indonesians preferred their own fabrics. At the time Yinka realized this would be the central theme that would run in his works: the idea of authentic versus inauthentic.

Photo courtesy Trish Mayo via Flickr.

Following questions from the audience, Shonibare graciously signed exhibition catalogues for members on stage until he’d gotten through the very last person in line. Members flocked to the galleries afterwards, particularly to the museum’s Period Rooms, where Shonibare’s works are whimsically integrated into these 18^th and 19^th century settings.

As this exhibition is the first major U.S. survey of Shonibare’s work, the opening last night was meaningful for everyone involved, and we thank everyone who came out for this special evening. Yinka Shonibare MBE is now open to the public and will be on view until September 20.

Judging by the number of re-tweets Nick’s “Poor SpumoniNick’s Almanack” project received, I think it’s safe to say that 1stfans enjoy Twitter Art Feed projects that mix language and wit with a little interactivity. This month, we ramp up the interactivity to create the first ever work of art by 1stfans themselves. Ranjit Bhatnagar, whose personal website has been around since 1993 (!!), submitted a proposal for the Twitter Art Feed that demonstrated his great understanding of how twitter works and what creative possibilities lie within the daily interactions on this platform.

Screenshot of the original “Exquisite Sonnet” project in 1992, a collaboratively-produced sonnet.

Ranjit’s proposition is actually an updated version of a project he did a long time ago (at least in internet years), and Shelley and I are convinced it’s going to work really well with the 1stfans crowd we have on twitter right now. Here’s Ranjit’s proposal:

Long ago in the dark ages of the internet I conducted a version of the surrealists’ language games. In the “Exquisite Sonnet Project” (1992) I had participants write a sonnet, one line each; each person only knowing the preceding line and the rhyme they had to match. I edited the entries slightly for meter and posted the results of each sonnet as it was completed I’ll do a similar project for the 1stfans feed, constructing a group sonnet over the course of the month. 1stfans members can submit candidate lines for the sonnet by posting to @1stfans, and every two days I’ll choose a line and re-tweet it.  Submissions which follow the meter and rhyme constraints of the sonnet form will have the best chance of being chosen, and I might edit them slightly to fit.  People who want to talk about the project should use the hashtag #exquisitesonnet. I’ll also make a web application which creates random sonnets from all the submissions that at least come close to fitting the sonnet rules (launching mid-July).

In the 1992 “Exquisite Sonnet” project, the entire process was done over email. This time around, the sonnet will be composed entirely via Twitter. 

If the concepts don’t seem straightforward, they will soon after the tweeting begins. You’ll get the hang of it, and Ranjit (@ranjit) and I (@willcary) will be able to help out with any questions that may arise throughout the month. What’s exciting is that at the end of the month, we’ll end up with a 1stfans-produced sonnet that everyone can enjoy. If you want to be part of this project and are not a 1stfan Member, you can join here.