October 2, 1929: Announcement of the plans, as far as they have been settled for this present season at the Brooklyn Museum has just been made. The first event of importance will be a dedicatory recital on the large pipe organ which has been presented to the Museum by Mrs. Edward C. Blum, wife of the President of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. This is scheduled to occur on the afternoon of October 28th when Dr. Lynwood Farnum will give the recital and the organ will be accepted for the Museum by a City official who is a member of the Board of Trustees.
In the Department of Fine Arts the First event will occur in November. The painting galleries will be occupied by the work of New York public school children to show how the art appreciation courses in the schools are carried on. The results of the courses illustrated by examples of pupils' work. In December an event of extreme importance will be the presentation to the public of a large section of early American rooms arranged on a unique plan. At the same time the painting galleries will exhibit the most complete collection of the works of the late Walter Shirlaw ever gotten together. In conjunction with this will be shown the work of students of the summer class of the Art Department of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, of which John R. Koopman is the head.
The season has already started in the Print Department where an exhibition of recent accessions has been arranged. This will be fol,owed by a showing of modern Norwegian prints from the middle of November to the end of December. After this will come the Annual Exhibition of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers which will open on January 7th and extend to January 31st.
The next event of great importance will be the opening of the Belgian Exhibition of Fine Arts a large show sponsored by King Albert of Belgium, the Belgian Government and the Belgian Ambassador to the United States, the largest entirely Belgian show ever seen in this country, This will open January 20th and be on view through February.
Another event which depends upon the completion of installation work is, therefore, indefinite as to date, is the presentation to the public of Japanese gallery which is undergoing complete re-arrangement. The result will give the public an idea of the richness and extent of the Japanese collection which it has never had before.
Plans for the late winter and spring are not so far advanced as the above but three events have been announced. In March a splendid exhibition of art objects from Java and Bali will be arranged by Mr. Tassilo Adam, Associate Curator in charge of Oriental Art. It will consist of his collection of batiks presented to him by the sultans of Java, Javanese paintings, casts of sculpture from the temples of Borobudur, Buddhistic images, Javanese puppets, and Balinese idols. Plans are being considered for a general exhibition of textile art some time during the season and the late spring it is planned to arrange an international exhibition of both indoor and outdoor sculpture.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 10-12/1929, 086-7.
October 25, 1929: To the Art Editor:
Due to the difficulty of getting together the Museum's latest exhibition, we have been unable to invite you to see it before this date. However, it is now available to be seen and reviewed.
It is an exhibition put on by the Art Department of the Board of Education of New York City. It is to show what has been developed during the last four years in the required courses in the schools known as "Art Appreciation". Along with this will be several exhibits of the elective and advanced work. Twenty-nine high schools will be represented.
According to the representatives of the Board of Education, New York City is the only one in the country which is attacking the introduction of art to the students in a way that will teach them to enjoy it rather than to dislike it because they do not show technical ability. In other words, of course, the title "Art Appreciation" explains its object. We are told that since this method has been used there is five times as much drawing done among the students as there used to be under the old method of compulsory drawing. However, this is all told in much better detail in the enclosed publicity material.
The exhibition opens on Sunday, October 27th, and continues through until November 17th.
Very truly yours,
ARTHUR H. TORREY
for the Brooklyn Museum
AHT:FS
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 10-12/1929, 103.
