Displaying items by tag: indian art

In the annals of Native American art history, Ralph T. Coe (1929-2010) ranks as one of the good guys. A scion of a wealthy Ohio family, he grew up amid Impressionist art, but he appreciated the aesthetic value of Indian art and strove to persuade reluctant art museums, which mainly recognized its ethnographic significance.

Trained in art history at Oberlin and Yale, and eventually director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, “Ted” Coe made his first purchase—a Northwest Coast totem pole—at age 26. By the time he died, he left some 2,000 pieces to the Ralph T. Coe Foundation, which has lent about 200 of them to the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian here for “Connoisseurship and Good Pie: Ted Coe and Collecting Native Art.”

The title of the exhibition of American Indian art at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, “Indigenous Beauty,” reminds us that there were centuries-old traditions of art-making in the Americas long before Europeans arrived, traditions that continued even as the new settlers’ expansion threatened to engulf them.

Valerie and Charles Diker, an American couple, have spent a good deal of their lives developing a wide-ranging collection of Indian art from one corner of North America to the other.

Douglas Druick, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, announced today that Barbara Levy Kipper has pledged to give the Museum nearly 400 items from her exceptional collection of Buddhist ritual objects and Asian ethnic jewelry. Kipper’s gift will provide an important new dimension to the Museum’s collections of Indian, Himalayan, Central Asian, Southeast Asian and Chinese art. An exhibition of the objects, with an accompanying catalogue, is planned for the museum’s Regenstein Hall in the summer of 2016.

Kipper, the former chairman of book distributor the Chas Levy Company and a Life Trustee of the Art Institute, is a wide-ranging collector who previously has made generous donations to the Museum’s departments of Photography, Prints and Drawings, and Asian Art.

The Cleveland Museum of Art announced that it has received a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor to further strengthen the institution’s mission and core principles, which focus on scholarship, artistic excellence and community engagement. Thanks to the donation, the museum has established two endowments -- one to support community engagement activities and another for interpretation of its permanent collection. Interpretation efforts will include research and curriculum development.

Recently, the Cleveland Museum of Art began to reevaluate its community engagement program and decided to transition from a traditional community arts model to a more comprehensive, multi-faceted effort. The generous gift will help the museum bring its new community engagement strategy and its related activities to fruition. The strategy will help the museum form stronger connections with local and regional communities while drawing in new audiences.

A portion of the gift was used to help fund the purchase of Deccan and Mughal paintings from a Los Angeles collection formed by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and the late Ralph Benkaim. The acquisition of the Benkaims’ collection, which includes 95 works from India’s major Islamic courts, helped diversify the Cleveland Museum’s holdings.

The donation also helped the institution complete a 3-to-1 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The resulting fund will be used to develop and enhance text labels, audio and video clips, gallery lectures, and interactive technology. The rest of the $10 million gift will be used for a variety of projects such as public art, performances, and off-site programs.

Fred Bidwell, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s interim director, said, “This incredibly generous gift really touches upon the fundamental initiatives of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The establishment of the two endowments and the Benkaim Collection acquisition reflect the museum’s mission and help to leverage this vision to optimally benefit its diverse communities. Adhering to the highest standards of excellence in scholarship, artistic excellence and community engagement, the museum can contribute to and enhance the quality of life of Northeast Ohio citizens and beyond.”

Christie’s announced that it will hold its first ever sale in India during December of this year in order to tap into the country’s burgeoning art scene. The London-based auction house has had an office in Mumbai for the past 20 years.

The upcoming sale will include domestic artwork and according to Christie’s chief executive, Steven Murphy,” will reflect “the increased international appeal of Indian art and the growing participation of Indian collectors across international sale categories.” The sale will be the first of its kind by an international auction house in India.

Interest in western art has increased in India over the past decade thanks in part to the country’s substantial economic growth. The first auction of international masterpieces in India took place last year in New Delhi and included works by Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. The demand for Indian artworks outside of India continues to grow. In 2010, a painting by Indian artist Syed Haider Raza sold for nearly $3.6 billion at Christie’s London, setting the record for a modern Indian work.  

The Fenimore Museum of Art in Cooperstown, NY is currently hosting the exhibition Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision. The show presents a number of important works by key figures in the movement including Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), Thomas Cole (1801-1848), Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), Jasper F. Cropsey (1823-1900) and Asher Durand (1796-1886). Nature and the American Vision was organized by the New-York Historical Society and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts.

The exhibition aims to communicate the Hudson River School artists’ fascination with the American landscape. The mid-19^th century movement was influenced by romanticism and is defined by its paintings that celebrate nature’s sublimity and exude an almost ethereal quality. Many Hudson River School painters regarded nature as an indefinable manifestation of God, which strongly influenced the movement’s aesthetic qualities.

Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision will be on view at the Fenimore Museum of Art through September 29, 2013. The Fenimore, which is operated by the New York State Historical Association, specializes in American Folk Art, Indian art and artifacts, 19^th century genre painting and American photography.