Tag Archives: Philadelphia Museum of Art

Contemporary

Ellsworth Kelly, Black Red Orange, 1966, oil on canvas, two joined panels. Promised gift The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection

Embracing the Contemporary:

The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection of Contemporary Art

Through September 5, 2016

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is opening a major exhibition entitled Embracing the Contemporary: The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection. The exhibition presents one of this country’s finest collections of contemporary art, which includes outstanding works by some of the most influential European and American artists since the mid-twentieth century, including Jasper Johns, Howard Hodgkin, Ellsworth Kelly, Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, Bruce Nauman, Gabriel Orozco, Charles Ray, and Cy Twombly. Many of these works have either been donated to the Museum or pledged as promised gifts.

Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We are delighted to present the collection assembled with a spirit of adventure and intelligence by Keith and Kathy Sachs over the course of more than four decades. They are not only thoughtful collectors, but also great Philadelphians who love this city and its cultural and educational institutions. To have such a fine collection come to the Museum as a gift is a rare and wonderful thing. It is also transformative, much like the important collections of modern art that came to us in the early 1950s from Albert E. Gallatin and Louise and Walter Arensberg. Keith and Kathy’s promised gift to the Museum of more than 90 works, which we announced to the public in 2014, immensely strengthened our holdings of contemporary art.”

Embracing the Contemporary presents a selection of about one hundred works from the Sachs Collection, reflecting Keith and Kathy’s engagement with individual artists and the development of their collecting over time. A number of artists with whom the couple developed meaningful ties over the years are presented in depth, including Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Brice Marden. Among the works by Johns are a recent suite of paintings entitled Five Postcards (2011), and Nines (2006), an assemblage featuring the late 1960’s flagstone motif painted in red, yellow and blue, as well as Voice II (1982), a three-part, ink-on-plastic drawing. Other works in the collection complement the Museum’s holdings of works by leading German artists such as Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, and Gerhard Richter.

Red Ground Letter, 2007-2010. Brice Marden, American, born 1938. Oil on canvas, 6 × 8 feet (182.9 × 243.8 cm). Promised gift of Keith L. and Katherine Sachs. © 2016 Brice Marden/ Artists Rights Society (ARS) NY.

The exhibition reflects the variety and range of interests that distinguish the Sachs Collection. It includes, for example, a work on paper by the Pennsylvania-born Abstract Expressionist painter Franz Kline, Untitled (c. 1956), which was among the couple’s first purchases after they married in 1969. Also on view is the earliest work to enter their collection, Portrait of Jean-Louis (1947-49) by Louise Bourgeois, and one of the most recent, Untitled (2000-2013) by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, as well as major works by Robert Gober, Richard Hamilton, Robert Ryman, and Terry Winters.

At the heart of the exhibition is Boy with Frog (2008) by Charles Ray. The oversized nude figure extends his arm and holds aloft a captured amphibian, regarding it with a mixture of fascination and bewilderment that can be considered a metaphor for discovery. Among the large-scale photographs in the Sachs Collection are exceptional works by Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Clifford Ross, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, and Jeff Wall. Important examples of video and film work by such celebrated figures as Francis Alÿs, Pierre Huyghe, and Steve McQueen will be presented. Also included are artist’s portfolios, personal mementos, letters, photographs, and other items that document the history of the Sachs Collection.

Voice 2, 1982. Jasper Johns, American, born 1930. Ink on plastic, 3 panels, Promised gift of Keith L. and Katherine Sachs. © Jasper Johns/ Licensed by VAGA, New York. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.

The exhibition continues in the contemporary galleries of the Modern and Contemporary wing, recently named for Keith and Katherine Sachs. In this section of the exhibition, works from the collection are interspersed with holdings of the Museum, highlighting the ways in which the gifts and promised gifts both complement and strengthen the Museum’s collection of contemporary art.

Carlos Basualdo, The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, said: “The Sachs Collection contains works that reflect some of the most daring developments in contemporary art over the past few decades, and a vision that is deeply personal and grounded in Keith and Kathy’s admiration for the artists whose work they collect. Their commitment to the work of living artists is what makes this collection so remarkable.”

Publication

An illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition, edited by Carlos Basualdo, the organizing curator, with Anna Mecugni, Exhibition Assistant. It is co-published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press. The book features nearly 80 entries on individual artists, with essays by distinguished art historians and curators devoted to artists whose work Keith and Kathy Sachs have collected more in depth. The introductory essay by Carlos Basualdo will situate the Sachs Collection gift within the Museum’s history of collecting contemporary art. A statement by the couple and an interview with them will offer insights into their personal history of collecting and illuminate their lifelong relationship with the Museum.

Curator

Carlos Basualdo, The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art

Howard Hodgkin, Keith and Kathy Sachs, oil on wood, historic frame

Location

Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries, first floor

The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Galleries, first floor

About the collectors

Keith and Katherine Sachs have been supporters of the Philadelphia Museum of Art since the 1970s. Katherine Sachs has contributed scholarship to numerous Museum exhibitions organized by the Department of European Painting before 1900, including Cézanne (1996), Van Gogh Face to Face: Portraits (2000), and Cézanne and Beyond (2009), for which she served as co-curator.

A Trustee of the Museum since 1988, Keith Sachs serves as chair of the Museum’s Contemporary Art Committee and has been active as Chair or Vice Chair on Trustee committees including Architecture and Facilities, Collections, and Executive. He is the former CEO of Saxco International LLC, a principal distributor of packaging material to producers of alcoholic beverages in North America. In addition to their commitment to the Museum, the couple has been active in supporting contemporary art in Philadelphia. Keith Sachs served as chair of the Board of Overseers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design, and Katherine Sachs is an Emeritus Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Board of Overseers of the University’s Institute of Contemporary Art, where she was Chair for ten years. At Penn the couple endowed The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Professor of Contemporary Art, The Visiting Professor in the Fine Arts at Penn Design, The Sachs Guest Curator Program at the ICA, and The Sachs Fine Arts Program Fund.

Modern Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Museum’s twentieth-century holdings represent an especially close collaboration between artists and collectors. At the core are the Albert E. Gallatin and Louise and Walter Arensberg collections. Both were among the most significant collections of contemporary art formed during the 1920s and 1930s in the United States. These gifts determined the nature of the Museum’s collection as one especially rich in concentrations of work by particular artists, such as Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi, and Joan Miró. Gallatin, an artist as well as a collector, was a central figure in the American Abstract Artists Group in New York, where his collection was on view as the “Gallery of Living Art” before it was transferred to Philadelphia in 1943. The Arensbergs formed their collection over the course of four decades with the assistance of Duchamp. The Museum is now home to the world’s most important collection of Duchamp’s work, much of it assembled by the Arensbergs.

Social Media

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/YouTube @philamuseum

Exhibition Hours:
Tuesday–Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday: 10:00 a.m.–8:45 p.m.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is Philadelphia’s art museum. We are a landmark building. A world-renowned collection. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Thank you to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post.

DoN asked Katherine Sachs a question for DoNArTNeWs.

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Community

The Architecture of Francis Kéré, Building for Community, Philadelphia Museum of Art

May 14 – September 25, 2016, Collab Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Francis Kéré is an internationally renowned, Berlin based architect who integrates traditional knowledge and craft skills into innovative and sustainable buildings worldwide. As the first son of the head of Gando, his home village in Burkina Faso, he was the only child allowed to attend school in a large city; he later studied architecture in Europe. While still a student, he began to reinvest his knowledge back into his community, building schools that would change its future trajectory.

In Gando, Kéré combined traditional Burkinabé building techniques with modern engineering methods, maximizing local materials and community participation to reduce costs and ecological impact—a practice common to many of the projects highlighted in this exhibition. His work in Gando has become a catalyst for further development: the men and women he trained in construction techniques can now use their skills to earn incomes for their families. Students in his schools have gone on to pursue higher education and aspire to circumstances that were considered impossible before. Primary school in Gando, Burkina Faso, completed 2001, Designed by Francis Kéré, Burkinabe, active Berlin, Photograph by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk

Harnessing the success of the Gando initiative, Kéré founded his Berlin office in 2005 and has since garnered acclaim for his work elsewhere in Western Africa and, more recently, in Europe and North America. He is the recipient of the 2014 Schelling Architecture Foundation Award, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, and the BSI Swiss Architectural Award, among others.

Gando School Library, Designed by Francis Kéré, Burkinabe, active Berlin, Photograph © Kéré Architecture

This school consists of nine modules that house a series of classrooms and administrative offices. The laterite stone walls, undulating off-white ceiling, and unique wind-towers exponentially reduce the interior temperature.

Secondary School, 2007 / Dano

Consisting of three classrooms, a computer room, and office space, this school is built mostly of widely available laterite stone and features a permeable ceiling, a corrugated sheet roof, and shaded windows that ensure natural ventilation. The laterite refining process and the ventilation system illustrate Kéré’s innovative techniques utilizing local handicraft.

Gando School Extension, Designed by Francis Kéré, Burkinabe, active Berlin, Photograph by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk

Primary School , 2001 / Gando

To ensure a natural and sustainable cooling system in an extremely hot region, the roof over the classrooms is elevated from the interior construction; underneath, a perforated clay ceiling allows for maximum ventilation.

Canopy Shelter and Shade

The tree is a primal form of shelter. Four fundamental elements of architecture can be extracted from the various parts of the tree: canopy, structure, gathering place, and shadow. The canopy, as a general concept of various roof and ceiling enclosures, is an architectural cornerstone in Kéré’s work. Constructions in hot, arid places like Burkina Faso depend on innovative shade-making devices that allow ventilation and cooling without the need for electricity, as well as overhangs that provide protection from torrential rains. This video’s skyward perspective presents the importance of canopies in Burkina Faso, from village trees to traditional ceilings made of clay and thatch, to Kéré’s roof constructions at different stages of completion.

Gando School Library, Designed by Francis Kéré, Burkinabe, active Berlin, Photograph © Kéré Architecture

Building with Community

Reflecting the accessibility of Kéré’s building process, this video shows one of his most recent projects: the Lycée Schorge school in Koudougou, Burkina Faso. Unlike most modern construction sites in the West, which are strictly off-limits to the public, the Schorge site is left open for the surrounding villagers to observe. This process demystifies the act of building, allowing the public to slowly accept and sometimes even contribute to the new construction. Every stage of the project, including mounting the ceiling trusses and facade elements, fabricating the classroom furniture, and painting the interiors and window shutters, is performed without the use of heavy machinery.

The chairs in this space were made by a local fabricator in Philadelphia using the same design that Kéré created for schools in Burkina Faso. The Francis Kéré Foundation and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are pleased to offer these fifteen chairs for sale at the close of the exhibition to support Kéré’s further work in Gando. If you would like to reserve one or more chairs, please visit the Museum Store in this building for further details.

Diébédo Francis Kéré: How to build with clay… and community

Sharing Knowledge

Whether in a classroom with chalkboards and desks, or under a great baobab tree with logs and stones, the survival and prosperity of each new generation relies heavily on the transmission of knowledge. Gathering is not only a function of social occasions, it is also how ideas are discussed and spread. Shadow symbolizes this place of coming together. Visitors are invited to sit within this gathering space.

Wood

While natural hardwood forests are rare in Burkina Faso, the fast-growing eucalyptus tree provides a useful source of timber. This species is considered a nuisance in the region because it provides little shade and leaches moisture from the soil, exacerbating the problems of desertification. Despite its limited structural strength, it can still be made into screens, interior finishes, furniture, and even secondary facade systems that shade and protect buildings from wind and rain. Through the process of testing and prototyping, Kéré’s firm is also exploring new solutions for reinforcing the material for structural applications.

Clay

Burkinabés have long built with clay, extracting it from the earth, processing it by hand, and using it in a variety of architectural and craft elements, from walls to hand-built pottery. For the Gando School Library, Kéré pioneered a new use for local clay, casting sections of large pots into the ceiling to provide natural ventilation and lighting. Made by local women, the pots were transported to the building site on foot, involving the community’s expertise and participation. More recently, Kéré engineered an innovative way to cast the clay into reusable molds, creating wall systems that can be replicated for use in modular buildings.

Bricks

Bricks play a crucial role in Kéré’s architectural practice. Whether cast from clay or cut from locally extracted laterite stone, the simple form of the brick can be used to create sophisticated architectural forms and building systems. With or without mortar, bricks can be used in walls, ceilings, and floors. Different systems of stacking and bonding can produce a permeable boundary, allowing air and light to pass through. Thick brick walls also create a thermal mass, which, together with adequate ventilation and shading, helps to maintain a comfortably cool interior space.

School Furniture

To offset the costs of transporting building materials to remote sites with extremely limited means, Kéré and his team came up with ingenious ways to use every scrap of material left over from construction. Using steel rebar and plywood, the team built customized chairs and desks for school students and staff. Every bend and weld was carefully calculated to streamline production time and costs. The furniture was produced on-site with simple hand tools and jigs. A particularly striking detail is the rubber “shoe” made by hand from recycled automobile tires.

Architecture of Community

Despite the many differences between the city of Philadelphia and the village of Gando in Burkina Faso, where Francis Kéré was born, the installation in this atrium emphasizes the human-scale domestic architecture of both places and the sense of community such a design produces. In the plan of this space, Kéré overlaid the geometric grid of William Penn’s Philadelphia — represented by the regular placement of the frames that support the hanging parachute cord enclosures — with the irregular disposition of the enclosures themselves, mimicking the organic development of a Burkinabé village. The installation also features sounds collected from both Burkina Faso and Philadelphia, reinforcing the concept of community and shared space. The hanging parachute cord material may appear first as an obstacle, but on entering and interacting with the installation, the visitor will perceive that the material is a unifying, enclosing element that creates common spaces that must be negotiated and shared.

It Takes a Village

Conceived by Kéré Architecture and designed in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Curatorial, Exhibition Design, and Editorial and Graphic Design teams, this exhibition has fostered an exchange of ideas, traditions, and experiences between Africa, Europe, and the United States. Thanks to the eager participation of many members of the Museum staff and volunteers, the Young Friends Executive Board and event committee, students from the University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Program in Architecture, and the general public to help fabricate components, this installation truly represents the coming together of a community. In addition, the Philadelphia Museum of Art would like to acknowledge Richard Wesley, for facilitating the UPenn collaboration; Larry Spitz, Carol Klein, and Sasha Barrett, who generously offered their services in creating the red clay pots to suggest the Gando Library ceiling; and David Cann and James Bassett-Cann, for their help in the realization of the atrium installation.

Photography is OK, but please no flash.

Social Media: #CreativeAfrica

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is Philadelphia’s art museum. We are a landmark building. A world-renowned collection. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Thank you to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post.

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Canopy, The Architecture of Francis Kere #donartnews #art #philadelphia #pma #architectureporn

A video posted by DoN Brewer (@donniebeat) on May 13, 2016 at 6:55am PDT

Vlisco

Creative Africa, Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Through January 22, 2017

Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building

The Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrates West and Central African fashion and culture in an exhibition exploring the classic and contemporary looks of Vlisco, the oldest international textile brand that specializes in Dutch wax fabrics. From the earliest designs and most recognizable patterns, continuing through a selection of iconic styles that have been re-interpreted in a contemporary way, the exhibition will highlight a selection of the thousands of patterns Vlisco has produced for the African and diaspora markets.

Dilys Blum, The Museum’s Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles and organizer of this exhibition, said: “The wax-printed fabrics long associated with Central and West Africa have a surprising history that is truly global. Many of the patterns shown in this display tell stories and convey images that reflect Africa’s past and reimagine its future. For this special presentation in Philadelphia, we are celebrating the transnational character of Vlisco by showing the company’s classic designs, these classics re-imagined, and new contemporary patterns, sharing how fashion designers in West Africa and other parts of the world use Vlisco wax fabrics today.”

When cloth leaves the factory it is generally identified only by a stock number. The women who trade in the open-air markets in African cities, and their customers, assign the patterns names inspired by current events, politics, religion, and material culture. The exhibition explores the ways in which such patterns acquire social meaning, status, and value and become culturally assimilated into African society, and examine how designs can have many interpretations depending on where they are used.

Printed Textile, Late 20th century. Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands, founded 1846. Cotton plain weave, wax‑resist print, 36 × 47 1/2 inches (91.4 × 120.7 cm). Private Collection, © Vlisco

Among the classic patterns represented are the “Happy Family” egg motif, featuring an image of a hen surrounded by her chicks and chicks-to-be referencing the importance of family, and the “Fallen Tree” pattern that acts as a visual substitute for a proverb that teaches unity and strength in Ghana. The “Alphabet” design symbolizes the value that Africans place on education, and “Swallows”, a symbol of good luck, refers to the transience of riches. The classic “Swallows” pattern was worn by flight attendants for Air Afrique in the 1970s. The display will show how this particular pattern has been reinterpreted to include airplane imagery, a symbol of globalization.

“La Famille” Printed Textile, 1952. Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands, founded 1846. Cotton plain weave, wax‑resist print, 18 feet × 47 1/4 inches (548.6 × 120 cm). Private Collection, © Vlisco

“Angelina” Printed Textile, 1962. Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands, founded 1846. Cotton plain weave, wax‑resist print, 70 × 48 1/4 inches (177.8 × 122.6 cm). Private Collection, © Vlisco

The “Eye” pattern, one of the most enduring European designs for the African market, appears in the exhibition in multiple variations and colors. The original design of 1904 by the Haarlem Cotton Company was inspired by the Egyptian god Horus, a symbol of protection, royal power, and good health. Some of the eye patterns were intended to silently communicate and identify with a woman’s family and marital relationships. In Nigeria, the original Haarlem pattern is known as “Eyes”. In Côte d’Ivoire, it is called “Bull’s Eye” and is worn by a woman to show a man that she desires him. Also in Côte d’Ivoire, the classic “Jumping Horse” pattern expresses rivalry between co-wives. In Nigeria, Igbo women favor this design for family to express unity at their annual women’s meeting.

Dazzling Graphics Collection, 2011, Made by Vlisco, Helmond, Netherlands, Photograph courtesy of Vlisco

The exhibition will touch upon the rise of the most successful market women in Togo, called the Nana Benz, who traded in wax prints beginning in the 1930s. The Nana Benz were essential to the success or failure of the designs. Wholesalers to other market traders, the women provided Vlisco agents with information on customer preferences. In return, the women were often given exclusive access to certain designs. A playful design featuring the Mercedes-Benz three-pointed star logo pays homage to these traders, as this was their car of choice and became a symbol of their success. In another design, the Vlisco logo on the radiator grill replaces the car’s original trademark.

Displayed on mannequins in the center of the gallery is an installation of contemporary designs using the wax fabrics as created by African, diaspora and other international designers.

One of Nigeria’s foremost fashion designers, Lanre da Silva Ajayi, who is known for her ultra-feminine looks and elegant use of prints, has collaborated with Vlisco on numerous projects including a gala dress on view in the exhibition. The designer’s ensemble is made in a limited-edition shimmering gold print embellished with the designer’s signature beads and sequins.

Owner and creative director Araba Stephens Akompi of the Ghanaian fashion house Stylista has reconfigured patterns showing a Spanish fan to create a flamenco-style dress with a distinctively African twist. Stylista sees this gala dress as an evolution of the traditional Ghanaian blouse with a matching skirt.

The exhibition features ensembles by Vlisco’s senior fashion designer from 2008 to 2016, Inge van Lierop, who was responsible for translating each seasonal concept into stylish ensembles used for marketing. A strapless, two-piece wedding dress made from two color ways of the same design is embellished with beads, as is the veil, which was embroidered in India. Deconstructed and made into a late 1960s-style mini dress that pays homage to the decade when the design first achieved popularity, the classic “Angelina” pattern associated with the dashiki —a loose tunic worn by men and women— is updated and re-colored in luminous pastels for a more contemporary look.

The fashions of Manish Arora, one of today’s most inspiring designers, fuse his Indian roots, global style, and contemporary popular culture. This year, Arora has collaborated with Vlisco for his ready-to-wear collection shown recently in Paris and inspired by the American West. For his ensemble on display, he has re-interpreted wax prints into knit fabrics.

Ikiré Jones of Philadelphia, led by Nigerian-American menswear designer, Walé Oyéjidé, shows how the designs can be creatively cut and mixed together for unique looks. His hand-tailored trousers, and a jacket made of Vlisco fabric, are accessorized with a storytelling scarf.

Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage is one of five exhibitions in the Perelman Building this season, accompanied by related programs that feature a broad spectrum of the arts from across the African continent. They feature historical works of art as well as contemporary fashion, photography, design, and architecture. Each calls attention to the continuities and differences between African art forms over the centuries.

The related exhibitions are:

Look Again: Contemporary Perspectives on African Art, a major exhibition drawn from the collection of the Penn Museum (May 14 through December 4, 2016).

Threads of Tradition, focusing on the traditional patterns in West and Central African textiles and the techniques used to create them, including strip weaving, resist dyeing, piecing, appliqué, and embroidery (Through January 2017).

The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community, featuring a site-specific, immersive environment designed by this world-renowned Burkina-Faso-born architect (May 14–September 25, 2016).

Three Photographers/Six Cities presents an in-depth look at three photographers who create powerful pictures of African cities: Cairo, Egypt; Nairobi, Kenya; Lagos, Nigeria; Johannesburg, South Africa; Bamako, and Tombouctou (Timbuktu), Mali. From Akinbode Akinbiyi’s observation of urban centers and Seydou Camara’s examination of Islamic manuscripts to Ananias Léki Dago’s pictures of offbeat locales, the images offer unique perspectives on contemporary African experience (Through September 25, 2016).

Curator: Dilys Blum, The Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles

Location: Joan Spain Gallery

About Vlisco

Vlisco, founded in 1846, began exporting factory printed cloth to West Africa around 1876. Over the years Vlisco absorbed several Dutch textile manufacturers that also produced wax prints for the market prior to World War I. Today it is the last surviving European wax-resist textile manufacturer. The Vlisco brand is manufactured in Helmond, Netherlands and is the premier brand of the Vlisco group which includes three other brands, GTP and Woodin made in Ghana and Uniwax produced in Cote d’Ivoire. Each brand caters to a distinct segment of the market.

Social Media: #CreativeAfrica

Thank you to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post.

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Cities

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Untitled (Cairo, Egypt), 2002. Akinbode Akinbiyi, Nigerian (born England), born 1946. Gelatin silver print, approx: 20 1/16 × 24 inches (51 × 61 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Akinbode, Akinbiyi.

Creative Africa, Three Photographers/Six Cities

Through September 25, 2016

Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition dedicated to several important photographers, little-known in the United States, who make African cities their subjects. Three Photographers/Six Cities takes an in-depth look at the work of artists Akinbode Akinbiyi (Nigerian, born in England), Seydou Camara (Malian), and Ananias Léki Dago (Ivorian). Each has produced powerful series of images that portray African places in the midst of change or on the cusp of it. While their approaches vary, they are united by their concern for documentation and an intense layering of the past and present within their works.

Untitled (Lagos, Nigeria), 2004. Akinbode Akinbiyi, Nigerian (born England), born 1946. Inkjet print, approx: 33 7/16 × 25 9/16 inches (85 × 65 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Akinbode, Akinbiyi.

Peter Barberie, the Museum’s Brodsky Curator of Photographs, said: “I brought the work of these three together because as a group they compel us to think about African cities in intriguing ways, juxtaposing one period of time against another, documenting daily life in the context of sprawling growth and often with an acute awareness of potential loss or threat. I also wanted to show their art in sufficient depth, so that audiences could come to know their work. Each photographer is highly accomplished, and deserves to be better known in the United States.”

Untitled (Lagos, Nigeria), 2004. Akinbode Akinbiyi, Nigerian (born England), born 1946. Gelatin silver print, approx: 24 × 20 1/16 inches (61 × 51 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Akinbode, Akinbiyi.

Akinbode Akinbiyi is a self-taught photographer who has traveled extensively in Africa, especially in its largest and fast-growing cities, often taking months or years to produce a single series. In the exhibition, he is represented by his black-and-white photographs of Egypt and Nigeria. The seven works from his Masr portfolio capture scenes of Cairo in orchestrated masses of light and dark and through interlocking open and congested spaces: the pyramids appearing through metal fencing against sun-blanched sand; a crowded bus hurtling past buildings bearing huge commercial billboards; a crowded museum in which visitors back up against a glass case, all but ignoring the ancient stone figure it contains. On an opposite wall is a gridded arrangement of 18 square photographs from Akinbiyi’s All Roads series. These scenes of Lagos juxtapose open and tight spaces as well, punctuated sometimes by the visual clutter of urban streets and the clamor of random signage: a wall plastered with posters declaring war against marital problems in Lagos, a jumble of cars and heaps of trash, and such scenes of beauty as five boys playing in the sand as foamy water washes onto a beach.

CBD, Johannesburg, from the series Shebeen Blues, 2007 (negative); 2015 (print). Ananias Léki Dago, Ivorian, born 1970. Gelatin silver print, approximate: 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Ananias Léki Dago.

Orlando East, Soweto, from the series Shebeen Blues, 2007 (negative); 2015 (print). Ananias Léki Dago, Ivorian, born 1970. Gelatin silver print, approximate: 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Ananias Léki Dago.

Alexandra Township, from the series Shebeen Blues, 2008 (negative); 2015 (print). Ananias Léki Dago, Ivorian, born 1970. Gelatin silver print, approximate: 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), Courtesy of the artist, © Ananias Léki Dago.

Ananias Léki Dago, also a street photographer working with black-and-white film, is represented by works he took in Mali, Kenya, and South Africa. Included are prints from his Bamako Crosses series that hone in on wheelbarrow handles, a cruciform shape that he transforms into an urban street motif, seen even in a chance reflection in a puddle. Works from his Mabati series, devoted to images of Nairobi, focus on the distinctive corrugated metal used in buildings all over that city. They convey a play of textures and patterns in which the human presence is often elliptical or seen partially, framed within windows or masses of light and dark. Also included are four works from a series inspired by shebeens, underground bars that were illegal during apartheid years, which became sites for activist gatherings, and formed the subject of a book by the artist. Called Shebeen Blues, the series evokes elements of life in the former segregated townships, such as Soweto, that now make up a part of Johannesburg.

Untitled, 2009. Seydou Camara, Malian, born 1983. Inkjet print, Image: 13 5/8 × 18 1/8 inches (34.6 × 46 cm)

Untitled, 2013. Seydou Camara, Malian, born 1983. Inkjet print, Image: 13 5/16 × 20 inches (33.8 × 50.8 cm)

Seydou Camara, who turned his attention to photography after earning a law degree in 2007, is represented by eleven digital color inkjet prints from his Manuscripts of Tombouctou series. These works reflect his devotion to preserving the centuries-old, treasured writings that face potential destruction in a land riven by rebel groups. The most documentary in spirit of the three artists, Camara conveys the fragility of these volumes and the beauty of their cursive script in all their rich color and mottled tones. Rather than focusing on more conventional markers of urbanization, such as a densely built environment or a concentration of commercial activities, they evoke other characteristics that are essential to Tombouctou’s identity, namely the city’s age and its continuing role as a center of Islamic scholarship. His series records not only texts, but efforts to conserve and transcribe them, and mixes those pictures with views of mosques, whose mud walls provide slivers of shade for people seeking relief from the sun.

Curator: Peter Barberie, The Brodsky Curator of Photographs, Alfred Stieglitz Center

Three Photographers/Six Cities is one of five Creative Africa exhibitions in the Perelman Building this season. The accompanying programs feature a broad spectrum of the arts from across the African continent. The exhibitions feature historical works of art as well as contemporary fashion, photography, design, and architecture. Each calls attention to the continuities and differences between African art forms over the centuries.

Related exhibitions are:

Look Again: Contemporary Perspectives on African Art, a major exhibition drawn from the collection of the Penn Museum (May 14–December 4)

Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage, exploring the celebrated company’s most enduring designs, examines the process of creating a new textile and showcases a selection of contemporary fashions by African and European makers as well as Vlisco’s in-house design team (April 30, 2016–January 22, 2017)

The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community, featuring a site-specific, immersive environment designed by this world-renowned architect from Burkina Faso (May 14–September 25)

Threads of Tradition, focusing on the traditional patterns in West and Central African textiles and the techniques used to create them, including strip weaving, resist dyeing, piecing, appliqué, and embroidery (April 30, 2016–January 2017)

Related events range from school programs and artists’ residencies to Art After 5 live performances and the Museum’s summer-long Art Splash family festival, which runs from

July 1 through September 5

Social Media

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/YouTube @philamuseum

#creativeafrica

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is Philadelphia’s art museum. A place that welcomes everyone. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Thank you to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post.

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Pop

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International Pop, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Through May 15, 2016

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting a groundbreaking survey of an important movement that explores a global phenomenon that was shaped by artists working in many different countries throughout the world. International Pop features paintings, sculpture, assemblage, installation, printmaking, and film by eighty artists, drawn from public and private collections, and offers an intriguing new look at a subject that is familiar. Viewing Pop Art through a much wider lens, it is sure to delight audiences and broaden their understanding of one of the most significant chapters in the history of contemporary art. This is the first traveling exhibition in the United States to present a comprehensive account of the development of Pop Art during the 1960s and 1970s. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is the final venue and the only East Coast presentation.

Hers is a Lush Situation, 1958, Richard Hamilton, (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK, Wilson Gift through the Art Fund, 2006)

Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, stated: “Pop was one of the most iconic art movements of the second half of the twentieth century. This exhibition is an ambitious effort to explore its emergence and impact far beyond the borders of the United States and Britain. We are delighted that in Philadelphia we are adding to the exhibition some important works from private collections and our own holdings of contemporary art.”

Highlights of International Pop include works of major British and American artists presented in juxtaposition with works by artists from other countries that were centers for the development of Pop Art. Hers is a Lush Situation, a work painted in 1957 by one of the seminal figures of this movement, the British artist Richard Hamilton, offers a witty commentary on the advertising adage that sex sells. It treats the forms and shapes of a Buick as an evocation of the human body, punctuated by a cut-out of Sophia Loren’s lips. Other artists would look at this issue in a different light. In O Beijo (The Kiss) of 1967, for example, the Brazilian Waldemar Cordeiro turns the lips of Bridget Bardot into a mechanized image of a kinetic sculpture, fusing pop culture and emerging computer technology. By contrast, in Ice Cream, the Belgian artist Evelyne Axell paints a woman licking an ice cream cone from a radically feminized perspective, at once quoting and challenging notions of sexual desire.

Dalila doble plataforma, 1967, by Dalila Puzzovio (Mock Galeria, Buenos Aires)

Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero (Seja Marginal, seja herói), 1967, by Hélio Oiticica (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with funds contributed by the Committee on Modern and Contemporary Art)

A key work shown only in Philadelphia is Jasper Johns‘s Flag, 1958, in which the artist represents the iconic image of the American flag in a literal way and at the same time utilizes it as a vehicle for exploring new possibilities for contemporary painting. Other works, such as Antônio Henrique Amaral‘s Homenagem ao Século XX/XXI (20th/21stCentury Tribute), 1967, suggest that such an image could not be separated from the dominance of America as a cultural power in Brazil at this time. Ushio Shinohara‘s Coca-Cola Plan (After Rauschenberg) of 1964 reflects the complex relationship between Japanese artists and their American counterparts, whose work they largely experienced through print media. Also seen only in Philadelphia are Mimmo Rotella’s The Hot Marilyn, 1962—a decollage of an Italian movie poster shredded from wear on the street—and Ed Ruscha’s Felix, 1960, an early example of his work in the idiom of Pop Art, of which he was one of this country’s pioneering figures.

Woman Descending the Staircase (Frau die Treppe herabgehend), 1965, by Gerhard Richter (The Art Institute of Chicago; Roy J. and Frances R. Friedman Endowment: Gift of Lannan Foundation) © Gerhard Richter

Foodscape, 1964, by Erró, Oil on canvas, (Moderna Museet, Stockholm)

Emerging first in the United Kingdom and the United States, Pop Art soon become an international phenomenon, finding expression in a bewildering variety of different forms and media. It was a product of a revolutionary social and political era as well as a response to the proliferation of consumer culture in the decades after World War II and the media—magazines, television, and motion pictures—that fueled its growth. The exhibition gives visitors a rare opportunity to see Pop Art in a new light. It examines the factors that shaped artistic activity in the social democracies of Europe, the military regimes of Latin America, and Japan in the aftermath of U.S. occupation. It includes sections closely examining vital hubs of Pop activity in Great Britain, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, the United States, and Japan. International Pop also brings together works from diverse geographic regions and different periods during the development of the movement to explore common themes and subjects.

Ice Cream, 1964, by Evelyne Axell (Collection of Serge Goisse, Belgium)

Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, by Edward Ruscha (Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire: Gift of James Meeker, class of 1958, in memory of Lee English, Class of 1958, scholar, poet, athlete and friend to all) © Edward Ruscha, courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Among the other artists featured in International Pop are James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Rosalyn Drexler, and Andy Warhol (United States); Peter Blake, and Pauline Boty (Great Britain); Konrad Lueg, Sigmar Polke, and Gerhard Richter (Germany); Keiichi Tanaami, and Genpei Akasegawa (Japan); Antônio Dias (Brazil); and Marta Minujín, Dalila Puzzovio, and Edgardo Costa (Argentina); Sergio Lombardo and Mario Schifano (Italy); and Yves Klein, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Martial Raysse (France).

Still Life #35, 1963, by Tom Wesselmann (Collection of Claire Wesselmann) © Visual Artists and Galleries Assoc., Inc. (VAGA), New York

Look Mickey, 1961, by Roy Lichtenstein (National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Zone, 1961, by James Rosenquist (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with the Edith H. Bell Fund, 1982-9-1) © Visual Artists and Galleries Assoc., Inc. (VAGA), New York

Curator: Erica F. Battle, The John Alchin and Hal Marryatt Associate Curator of Contemporary Art

Support: International Pop is organized by the Walker Art Center. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Major support for the exhibition is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Prospect Creek Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Margaret and Angus Wurtele Family Foundation. Additional support is generously provided by Judy Dayton, Lyn De Logi, Marge and Irv Weiser, and Audrey and Zygi Wilf.

In Philadelphia, the exhibition is supported by the Estate of Phyllis T. Ballinger, the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, The Laura and William C. Buck Endowment for Exhibitions, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. Additional generous donors include John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Mitchell L. and Hilarie L. Morgan, Isabel and Agustín Coppel, Jaimie and David Field, Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman, and Lyn M. Ross.

Corporate support generously provided by RBC Wealth Management.

The Museum gratefully recognizes exhibition media partner Time Out.

Publication: The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue. It is the first major survey to chronicle the emergence and development of Pop art from an international perspective, focusing on the period from the 1950s through the early 1970s. Including original texts from a diverse roster of contributors, the catalogue offers important new scholarship on the period. The volume includes some 320 illustrations, including full-color plates of each work in the exhibition, integrating many classics of Pop art with other rarely seen works. Published by the Walker Art Center, the hardbound 368-page volume is distributed by Distributed Art Publishers.

“Passport to Pop” Public Programs: In Philadelphia, the exhibition will be accompanied by Passport to Pop, a series of public programs including artists’ talks, lectures, panel discussions, and special tours. In addition, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is collaborating with International House, in West Philadelphia, and Ed Halter of Light Industry, New York, to host eight nights of Pop art films from February to May.

Social Media:

Facebook and Twitter: philamuseum

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YouTube: PhilaArtMuseum

Instagram: @philamuseum

Thank you to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for the content of this post. Search engine optimization and Photoshop by DoN Brewer.

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