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Zo

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zo8Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Tiddim Woman’s Wedding Mantle (Tawnok), 1900–30, Myanmar (Burma), Chin State, Tiddim Township (Gift of David W. and Barbara G. Fraser, 2014-70-28)

Art of the Zo: Textiles from Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh, Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition of woven textiles made by the Zo peoples of South Asia, including works that range from ceremonial tunics and wrap skirts to mantles, capes, blankets, and loincloths. Art of the Zo: Textiles from Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh features traditional weavings worn for daily life and ceremonial occasions, such as weddings, funerals, and feasts. The exhibition comprises works from the Museum’s collection of costume and textiles, supplemented by gifts and loans from David W. and Barbara G. Fraser, coauthors of Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh (2005).

Art of the Zo, Haka High-Ranking Man’s Mantle (Can-lo Puan) Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Haka High-Ranking Man’s Mantle (Can-lo Puan), 1900–40, Myanmar (Burma), Chin State (Purchased with funds from the proceeds of the sale of deaccessioned works of art, 2006-57-1)

The exhibition showcases the patterns, techniques, and local variations that contribute to the beauty and craftsmanship of these woven treasures. Zo weavers create textiles that vary from unpatterned, indigo-dyed cloth and simple, colorful stripes to complex weaves that could be mistaken for embroidery. Among the highlights is a cotton blanket produced in a warp-faced weave around 1900 that would have been used in ceremonies for the sacrifice of a mithan, a semi-domesticated, ox-like animal. Also included is a Dai woman’s gray and white wedding blanket, woven between 1920 and 1960, which would have been created for a bride by her mother, along with shoulder cloths, decorated with glass beads and metal bells, which could double as baby carriers. A variety of men’s loincloths are on display as well, woven of cotton and silk.

Art of the Zo, Lauktu Woman’s Head Wrapper (Tonpauk La), Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lauktu Woman’s Head Wrapper (Tonpauk La), 1910–20, Myanmar (Burma), Rakhine State (Purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund, 2006-1-23)

In addition to textiles, various adornments are featured in the exhibition, among them earrings, bracelets, and necklaces made of metals, glass, and mirrors. The exhibition includes an example of the back-tension looms made of bamboo rods and wooden sticks that are traditionally employed by the Zo peoples to produce their fabrics. The simple loom is shown with a partially woven cloth next to a finished example from the Museum’s collection to offer insight into the weaving techniques. A video presentation, photographic details of selected works, and graphics of specific weave structures further demonstrate the virtuosity of Zo skills.

Art of the Zo, Laytu Man’s Tunic (Khrangimm)Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Laytu Man’s Tunic (Khrangimm), 1920–40, Myanmar (Burma), Chin or Rakhine State (Purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund, 2006-1-18)

The Zo peoples, of Tibetan-Burmese origins, have lived for hundreds of years in mountainous regions of South Asia. They comprise about fifty linguistic groups, culturally related through affinities of language, the values surrounding their textiles, and the structure and technique of their weavings. Prior to the arrival of missionaries in the mid-1800s, they worshiped ancestral spirits and spirits dwelling in nature. Today most are Christian. Encouraged by missionaries to give up their traditional textiles, today Zo weavers continue to produce these culturally important textiles and frequently sell them as collectibles.

Art of the Zo, Khami Woman’s Breast Cloth (Akhen)Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Khami Woman’s Breast Cloth (Akhen), 1920–50, Myanmar (Burma), Rakhine State (Purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund, 2006-1-6)

In Zo communities, textiles have long conferred status on the weaver and document the wearer’s merit in this life and in the afterlife. The textiles are woven exclusively by women and are prized as the highest form of art. The exhibition explores how these works are made and worn, and features early to mid twentieth-century examples from specific localities and cultural divisions, such as the Northern Chin; Southern Chin; Ashö; and Khumi, Khami, and Mro. Although today most Zo people increasingly adopt Burmese and western attire, the weaving traditions are being preserved through the efforts of textile experts like Pa Mang, Nu Shwe, and Mai Ni Ni Aung, who have engaged master weavers to produce contemporary pieces for sale and to train the next generation of weavers. Some of these are available in the Museum Store.

Art of the Zo, Utbu Woman’s Mantle (Pachang Sungkyar)Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Utbu Woman’s Mantle (Pachang Sungkyar), 1930–80, Myanmar (Burma), Magwe Division, Sedouttaya Township (Gift of David W. and Barbara G. Fraser, 2014-70-23)

David Fraser stated: “These extraordinary textiles offer us rare and exceptional beauty. As records of the artistic traditions that illuminate Zo values, they also are highly valuable in preserving a living culture. Among the Zo, men create the looms, and they also make utilitarian baskets. The women create the art and they are much respected for it.”

Art of the Zo, Haka Woman’s Ceremonial Tunic (Kor)Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Haka Woman’s Ceremonial Tunic (Kor), 1940–70, Myanmar (Burma), Chin State (Purchased with funds from the proceeds of the sale of deaccessioned works of art, 2006-57-5)

Support

Support for this exhibition is provided by The Coby Foundation, Ltd.

Curators

Dilys E. Blum, The Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles, with consulting curators David and Barbara Fraser

Location

Joan Spain Gallery, Perelman Building, ground floor, The Philadelphia Museum of Art

About David and Barbara Fraser

David W. and Barbara G. Fraser have been studying the artistry, structure, and cultural importance of Zo textiles for fifteen years. Their book, Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh, won the Millia Davenport Publication Award of the Costume Society of America and the R.L. Shep Book Award of the Textile Society of America. Their work also garnered the Ancient & Modern Prize. They have curated exhibitions of Zo textiles at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., the University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery, and Denison University, and David Fraser has co-curated an exhibition at Haverford College. Barbara Fraser is a member of the Advisory Council of the Textile Museum. A retired financial services attorney, she is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Emory University Law School. David Fraser is a member of the Costume and Textiles Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a research associate at the Textile Museum, a consulting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and a master artisan of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. A former president of Swarthmore College, he is a graduate of Haverford College and Harvard Medical School.

Art of the Zo, Mizo Woman’s Ceremonial Wrapped Skirt (Puan Laisen)Art of the Zo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Mizo Woman’s Ceremonial Wrapped Skirt (Puan Laisen), 1950–70, Myanmar (Burma), Northern Chin State or India, Mizoram (Gift of David W. and Barbara G. Fraser, 2014-70-25)

Exhibition hours

Tuesday–Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Social Media

Facebook and Twitter: philamuseum ; Tumblr: philamuseum ; YouTube: PhilaArtMuseum ; Instagram: @philamuseum


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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This

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Picture This, Gauri Gill, PMARevanti, 2003 (negative); 2015 (print). Gauri Gill, Indian, born 1970. Inkjet print, Image: 62 13/16 × 42 inches

Picture This: Contemporary Photography and India

December 2015 – April 3, 2016

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting the work of four contemporary photographers whose visions of India blend keen social observation with emotional insight, beauty, and imagination. Picture This: Contemporary Photography and India focuses on Gauri Gill, Sunil Gupta, Max Pinckers, and Pamela Singh. This exhibition features sensitive portraits and self-portraits; landscape photographs dealing with identity, family history, and the notion of a homeland; and a unique body of work mixing a documentary inquiry into love with the fantasy and spectacle of Bollywood film—all on view for the first time in Philadelphia. The artists share a cosmopolitan approach to the world, picturing India from multifaceted perspectives that often blur such categories as “insider” and “outsider.” They are also united by a creative approach to the documentary capacities of the photographic medium.

Picture This, Gauri Gill, PMASunita, Sita, and Nirmala, 2003. Gauri Gill, Indian, born 1970. Inkjet print, Sheet: 28 × 42 inches

Gauri Gill is represented by images from her Balika Mela series, in which she combines traditions of popular and fine-art portraiture with an awareness of photography’s historical role in ethnographic documentation and exotic stereotyping. Asked to “do something with photography” at a fair for girls in rural Rajasthan, the artist set up a makeshift studio and invited fair-goers to have their portraits made. The subjects of Gill’s photographs mix improvised demonstrations of personality and friendship with gestures and poses drawn from local visual culture and popular media. Above all, the girls embrace the unusual opportunity to decide how they will be seen—not only within their own communities, but also by audiences beyond.

Picture This, Sunil GuptaUntitled, 20062011 (negative); 2015 (print). Sunil Gupta, Canadian (born India), active London and Delhi, born 1953. Inkjet print, Image: 17 7/8 × 22 inches

Sunil Gupta is an artist-activist. Since the 1970s, he has explored the politics and experience of gay life in terms of his own identity as an HIV-positive Indian man living and working between Canada, the US, England, and India. He is represented by unflinching images from the beginning of his career, including the 1976 Christopher Street series shot in New York’s West Village, to an ongoing series, originating in 2006, dealing with Gupta’s contradictory emotions around his family’s ancestral village and the death of his father.

Picture This, Pamela Singh, PMATreasure Map 006, 19941995 (negative); 2015 (print and painting). Pamela Singh, Indian, born 1962. Inkjet print, hand painted, Image: 5 1/4 × 8 inches

Pamela Singh turned to photography as an expressive medium after many years as a photojournalist. Featuring her own body in photographs of the social landscape of the Old City of Jaipur, she imbues the images with psychic depth, placing her cosmopolitanism in dialogue with nostalgia for community. These works raise questions about what it means to look and to be looked at across social boundaries. Singh’s use of paint to embellish the surface of her images also connects them with traditions of Indian miniature painting, as well as with the historical practice of painting on photographs. In the Tantric Self-Portrait series, her application of gold, vermillion, and mud further invests the photographs with personal spiritual meaning.

Picture This, Pamela Singh, PMAThe Lorry Driver, 19941995 (negative); 2014 (print). Pamela Singh, Indian, born 1962. Gelatin silver print, Image: 6 × 9 inches

Picture This, Max Pinckers, PMAZindagi, 2014. Max Pinckers, Belgian, born 1988. Inkjet print, Sheet: 42 15/16 × 52 3/8 inches

Max Pinckers, who was raised primarily in South and Southeast Asia, is represented by a body of work titled Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty (2014). The project weaves photojournalistic images with staged scenes that draw on the romantic plots and glitzy look of Bollywood films, magazine and newspaper clippings, and photographs of ephemeral sculptures created in the streets of Mumbai. It also documents love and marriage in India and explores the ways in which photographs can tell the truth about complex subject matter. Using the photobook as a primary format, Pinckers weaves these pictures into a loose narrative that becomes a tapestry of facts and perceptions.

Picture This, Max Pinckers, PMAPaper Planes, 2014. Max Pinckers, Belgian, born 1988. Inkjet print, Sheet: 21 1/4 × 26 inches

Nathaniel M. Stein, the Museum’s Horace W. Goldsmith Curatorial Fellow in Photography, stated: “Like many contemporary photographers, the artists featured in this exhibition use the documentary capacities of the medium imaginatively. They pose questions about identity, self-representation, and truth. They also explore the role of photographic images in modern society, and they envision social experiences such as desire, dislocation, and love. In doing so, these photographers are connecting a culturally specific engagement with India to themes and strategies that are central to contemporary artists across the globe.”

About the artists

Gauri Gill (b. 1970, Chandigarh, India) is based in New Delhi. She received a BFA in Applied Art at the Delhi College of Art, New Delhi; and a BFA in Photography at the Parsons School of Design, New York; and an MFA in Art at Stanford University in California. In addition to maintaining a robust international exhibition schedule, she works extensively with local communities in India, using photography as a means to effect social change. Gill is a coeditor (with Sunil Gupta and Radhika Singh) of the Delhi-based photography journal, Camerawork. In 2011 she was awarded the Grange Prize, Canada’s foremost award for photography.

Sunil Gupta (Canadian, b. 1953, New Delhi, India) is among India’s best-known living photographers. He is an artist, writer, activist, and curator who lives and works in London and Delhi. Gupta’s work has been presented in over ninety international solo and group exhibitions. Educated at Concordia University, Montreal; The New School for Social Research, New York; and the Royal College of Art, London, his publications include three monographs Pictures From Here (2003), Wish You Were Here: Memories of a Gay Life (2008), and Queer: Sunil Gupta (2011).

Max Pinckers (b. 1988, Brussels, Belgium) received his BA and MFA in photography from the School of Arts at University College, Ghent, where he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the fine arts. Based in Brussels, Pinckers was raised in Indonesia, Australia, Belgium, India, and Singapore and has worked extensively in Thailand, India, and Africa. In 2015 he was selected as a Nominee Member of Magnum Photos. His publications include The Fourth Wall (2012) and Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty (2014). Picture This: Contemporary Photography and India is his first exhibition in an American museum.

Pamela Singh (b. 1962, New Delhi, India) trained at the Parsons School of Design, New York; the American College, Paris; and the International Center for Photography, New York. During the 1990s Singh worked as a photojournalist in communities, disaster areas, and conflict zones around the world, publishing in venues such as Newsweek, Paris Match, The Sunday Times (London), and The Washington Post. In 1997 her work was included in the major touring exhibition India: A Celebration of Independence, 1947–1997, organized by Aperture and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. By 2000 Singh shifted her attention away from photojournalism and has since exhibited internationally.

Curator

Nathaniel M. Stein, Horace W. Goldsmith Curatorial Fellow in Photography

Location

Julien Levy Gallery, Perelman Building

Exhibition hours

Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Social Media

Facebook and Twitter: philamuseum; Tumblr: philamuseum; YouTube: PhilaArtMuseum; Instagram: @philamuseum

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.

Read DoN‘s review of Sunil Gupta‘s photography at DoNArTNeWs

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India

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Drawn from Courtly IndiaTwo Archers, c. 1710‑1720, India (Rajasthan, Sawar), Brush and black ink, watercolor, and opaque watercolor on beige paper, mounted on paper, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund for Indian and Himalayan Art, 2013

Drawn from Courtly India: The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting an exhibition of rare and masterful drawings created in the workshops of royal Indian courts over the course of four centuries. Drawn from Courtly India: The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection features a wide range of sketches, preparatory studies, and compositional drawings that vividly depict mythological themes, verdant landscapes and architectural settings, portraits of prominent rulers, and scenes from the lives of Indian nobility. The Museum acquired these important works in 2013, many as a gift, and is presenting the collection in this exhibition for the first time.

india3Portrait of a Seated Ruler Dressed for Ritual Practice, c. 1740, India (Rajasthan, Kishangarh), Brush and black ink and watercolor over charcoal with corrections by the artist in white opaque watercolor on beige laid paper on decorative mount, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, 2013

While Indian paintings have long been sought after by museums and individual collectors, there has been only a limited interest in drawings. Yet drawings may be wonderful works of art in their own right, yielding a remarkable amount of information about workshop practices and artistic process. Conley Harris, a landscape painter, and the late Howard Truelove, an architectural designer, shared a passion for drawing. They began collecting Indian drawings after being inspired by their travels throughout that country. The collection they assembled over the course of more than a decade provides new insights into the artistic practices of the royal workshops that developed over generations, and offers fresh perspectives on Indian painting. Many of the works to which these collectors were drawn were created during the eighteenth century in the Hindu courts of western India and the Himalayan foothills, an area including the present-day states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu-Kashmir.

india2A Prince and Courtiers in a Garden, c. 1720‑1730, India (Rajasthan, Jodhpur), Brush and brown ink, metallic gold and silver paints, and opaque watercolor over traces of charcoal on beige laid paper,The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, 2013

Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and CEO, stated: “The ongoing development of the Museum’s collection has always represented our partnership with great collectors who have been as passionate as we are about sharing with everyone the finest works of art. In this regard we are especially fortunate to have acquired the marvelous collection assembled by Conley Harris and Howard Truelove, and we are enormously grateful to the collectors. This collection adds a new and important dimension to our holdings of Indian art, which is one of the most important in the country. It also enables us to bring to a broader audience this fascinating and delightful aspect of South Asia’s artistic heritage.”

The first section of the exhibition features a group of finished drawings and explores the relationship between court artists and their royal patrons. A second focuses on the innovative workshop process, examining how artists developed and revised drawings through techniques such as white wash corrections, color notations, and pouncing. The drawings in this section highlight not only the artists’ adept handling of the medium, they will also testify to the collaboration of artists employed within a hierarchical workshop structure, demonstrating how skills were conveyed from master to apprentice. A third section, dedicated to the key moment when brush first meets paper, calls attention to the expressive power of the expert brushstroke. The fourth and final section of the exhibition invites visitors to respond to the works on display by creating their own drawings using workshop techniques.

india1Raj Singh of Sawar with a Standing Courtier, c. 1710‑1720, India (Rajasthan, Sawar), Brush and black ink with white opaque watercolor on beige paper, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, 2013

The exhibition is organized by Ainsley M. Cameron, the Museum’s Ira Brind and Stacey Spector Assistant Curator of South Asian Art. She stated: “These works offer new ways of looking and thinking about Indian courtly drawing. People tend to approach the study of paintings or drawings from the perspective of the patron because so many of the artists’ names are unknown, but we are exploring the perspective of the artist, as maker—the gesture of an artist’s hand, the spontaneity of line, and the process through which ideas are born.”

Drawn from Courtly IndiaBattle Scene with Demons, c. 1740, Attributed to Manaku of Guler, India (Himachal Pradesh, Guler), Brush and black ink over charcoal with pen and red ink ruled line around perimeter on beige paper, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund for Indian and Himalayan Art, 2013

Publication: Drawn from Courtly India: The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection

ISBN: 9780876332696

This volume presents the first in-depth survey of the Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian drawings (160 pps., 185 color illustrations; $35) and is co-published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Yale University Press, supported by a grant from Conley Harris. Comprised largely of works from the royal courts of North India, the 65 drawings in this collection, recently acquired by the Museum, were created between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries and have never before been published. The majority of these drawings were preparatory models for the colorful paintings created by Indian court artists that have been widely collected and studied throughout the world. The major essay is written by Ainsley M. Cameron and uses the collection to survey the genre and explore the overarching themes of Indian drawing. Darielle Mason, the Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art, introduces us to the collectors. In total, this catalogue highlights the assured draftsmanship of Indian artists, recognizes these drawings as consummate works of art in their own right, and celebrates the art of drawing.

Drawn from Courtly IndiaA Nobleman and His Family in a Pavilion, c. 1790, India (Himachal Pradesh, Kangra), Brush and black and red inks, watercolor, and opaque watercolor with corrections by the artist in white opaque watercolor on beige paper, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund for Indian and Himalayan Art, 2013

Support

Support for this exhibition is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Robert Montgomery Scott Endowment for Exhibitions. The publication is also generously supported by Conley Harris.

About Conley Harris and Howard Truelove

Based in Boston, artist Conley Harris (born 1945) is a former faculty member of the department of art and art history at the University of New Hampshire. Harris is known for his lyrical landscapes of New England and the American West. Howard Truelove (1946–2012) was an architectural designer and vice president of design at the firm KlingStubbins in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His interior-design work ranged from public spaces in major office buildings to universities and museums. Harris often uses works in their collection as a source of inspiration, creating paintings that not only absorb motifs from South Asian and Persian miniature paintings, but also play with the idea of multiple layers, the palimpsest found in artists’ working sketches and so creatively reinterpreting the historical drawings for a new generation.

Drawn from Courtly IndiaMen Falling from Their Rearing Horses, c. 1790, India (Himachal Pradesh, Guler), Brush and black ink over charcoal on beige laid paper, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Conley Harris and Howard Truelove Collection of Indian Drawings, purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund for Indian and Himalayan Art, 2013

Curator

Ainsley M. Cameron, The Ira Brind and Stacey Spector Assistant Curator of South Asian Art

Location

Special Exhibitions Gallery, first floor, Perelman Building

Exhibition hours

Tuesday through Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Wednesdays and Fridays until 8:45 p.m.

Exhibition tour dates

Philadelphia Museum of Art, December 6, 2015–March 27, 2016

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, November 2016–March 2017

Drawn from Courtly India

Social Media Facebook and Twitter: philamuseum; Tumblr: philamuseum; YouTube: PhilaArtMuseum; Instagram: @philamuseum

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.

Read the press release for Picture This: Contemporary Photography and India at DoNArTNeWs

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Inside Out

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public24Dog Barking at the Moon (1926) by Joan Miro, photographed by Laura Storck

Inside Out, Philadelphia Museum of Art,

Museum Masterpieces in Your Community

Written and photographed by Laura Storck

I spy art in unexpected places! That’s right — high-quality reproductions of famous art works have popped up in local communities as a part of the Inside Out program, a project sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In this program, the museum is sharing 61 framed replicas from its collection around the region.  Brilliant!

public22Two Calla Lilies on Pink (1928), Georgia O’Keeffe, photographed by Laura Storck

What a great way to bring fine art outside of the confines of the gallery walls to the public realm. I felt absolutely ecstatic when I learned that 11 works would be sprinkled throughout my own backyard in Haddonfield, NJ. Not only does this allow for the convenience and easy accessibility to enjoy these works nearby, but I can savor them en plein air; I absolutely adore the organic context.public21The Libraries Are Appreciated (1943) by Jacob Lawrence, photographed by Laura Storck

Since I spend the majority of my free time in Philly, this outdoor exhibit also allows me to rediscover, reconnect, and to appreciate this beautiful neighborhood and all it has to offer.

public20The Kiss (1916) by Constanin Brancusi, photographed by Laura Storck

I was able to locate and photograph the pieces in under an hour (by the way, I DO love a good scavenger hunt!). These alluring works are very carefully placed, and complement each spot very well. The art at each location conveyed a cosmic romanticism and palpable energy that forcefully pulled me in.

public18Tanis (1915) by Daniel Garber, photographed by Laura Storckpublic16Portrait of a Roman Lady (La Nanna, 1859) by Sir Frederic Leighton, photographed by Laura Storckpublic15Poplars on the Bank of the Epte River (1891) by Claude Monet, photographed by Laura Storck

Here is the list of all 11 replica art works that are currently on view at various locations in Haddonfield:

  • Rondel Depicting Holofernes’s Army Crossing the Euphrates River (1246-48), from France
  • Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-4), by Paul Cezanne
  • The Libraries Are Appreciated (1943), by Jacob Lawrence
  • Dog Barking at the Moon (1926), by Joan Miro
  • Marine (about 1652-53), by Simon Jacobsz de Vlieger
  • Tanis (1915), by Daniel Garber
  • Two Calla Lilies on Pink (1928), by Georgia O’Keeffe
  • Portrait of a Roman Lady (La Nanna) (1859), by Sir Frederic Leighton
  • Pichincha (1867), by Frederic Edwin Church
  • The Kiss (1916), by Constantin Brancusi
  • Poplars on the Bank of the Epte River (1891), by Claude Monet

I was thrilled to see a photograph one of my favorite masterpieces of all time, Brancusi’s The Kiss, included in this outdoor exhibit. This piece is so simple yet it conveys such emotion, tenderness, and gentle eroticism that runs deep to the core. Personally, I am always swept away and overcome with emotion when this amazing sculpture finds my gaze.

public13Pichincha (1867) by Frederic Edwin Church, photographed by Laura Storck

public12Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-4) by Paul Cezanne, photographed by Laura StorckInside Out, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Laura StorckMarine (1652-3) by Simon Jacobsz de Vlieger, photographed by Laura Storck

Inside Out is being unveiled in two cycles between Summer and Autumn 2015. From mid-May until August, you may find art works in the following communities:

  • Haddonfield, Camden County, NJ
  • Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, Philadelphia, PA   
  • East Passyunk, Philadelphia, PA  
  • Media, Delaware County, PA
  • Newtown, Bucks County, PA

From mid-August through November, you may stroll through these neighborhoods to find the next wave of pop-up collections:

  • Fishtown, and Kensington, Philadelphia, PA
  • Ambler, Montgomery County, PA
  • Norristown, Montgomery County, PA
  • Wayne, Delaware County, PA
  • West Chester, Chester County, PA

This project does an amazing job of reaching out to make this fine art accessible to communities that are relatively geographically distant from the museum.  I sincerely look forward to checking out the rest of the outdoor exhibits!

Go to www.philamuseum.org/insideout for maps and detailed information.

Included in this article are photographs of all but one of the Haddonfield art replicas on display. I’ll leave the challenge up to you to find it!

“Inside Out, May 15, 2015 – Mid-November 2015

Encounter high-quality replicas of artworks from the Museum’s collection in your neighborhood. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is sharing its art. This summer and fall, sixty high-quality replicas of Museum masterpieces will find their way into communities around the region. Each participating neighborhood will feature about ten artworks within a short distance of each other. Walk through the park, hop on a bike, or meander down Main Street through each exciting outdoor exhibition.Join your family and friends and encounter art in unexpected places. Picnic next to Claude Monet’s iconicJapanese Footbridge, stop to smell the flowers near Georgia O’Keeffe’s Calla Lilies, or shine a flashlight on Paul Gauguin’s Sacred Mountain during a midnight stroll. Never been to the Museum? Inside Out brings treasures from its collection to you. Pick a neighborhood, grab your friends and family, and explore.” – Philadelphia Museum of Art, Inside Out

Written and photographed  by Laura Storck except where noted

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AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART IN PHILLYMartin Luther King, Jr., 1981, by John Woodrow Wilson (Philadelphia Museum of Art: 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Purchased with funds contributed by the Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in honor of the 125th Anniversary of the Museum and in celebration of African American art © John Wilson/Licensed by VAGA, New York Credit: Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Bringing together more than 75 works from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s extensive collection of art by African Americans, Represent: 200 Years of African-American Art displays works by 50 artists, including Henry Ossawa Tanner, Horace Pippin, Jacob Lawrence, Alma Thomas, Martin Puryear, Carrie Mae Weems and others. Highlighted by Tanner’s iconic painting The Annunciation, the exhibition features a wide range of items such as pre-Civil War-era decorative pottery, early 20th-century paintings and photography, sculpture and portraits. It runs through April 5, 2015.

In 2015, Philadelphia museums will mount six major exhibitions featuring some of the most celebrated African-American artists, further adding to the city’s reputation as one of the world’s great art centers. In addition to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s special exhibition Represent: 200 Years of African American Art, featuring dozens of works from its collections, art lovers can take in the Brandywine Museum of Art’s landmark exhibition Horace Pippin: The Way I See It. Adding to the trove of artistic treasures is As We See It: Selected Works from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection, coming to the African American Museum in Philadelphia, along with shows at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Woodmere Art Museum.

After touring these special exhibitions, visitors can discover the array of African and African-American art in the permanent collections at many institutions around town. Here’s a look at the exhibits and museums worth exploring this year especially:

Special Exhibitions:

  • With work by renowned artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner, Horace Pippin, Jacob Lawrence, Martin Puryear and Carrie Mae Weems, Represent: 200 Years of African American Art showcases a range of subjects, styles, mediums and traditions. Since acquiring Tanner’s The Annunciation painting in 1899, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection of African-American art has grown significantly, especially during the last three decades, and much of it will be on display in this exhibit. January 10-April 5, 2015. 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (215) 763-8100, philamuseum.org
  • The African American Museum in Philadelphia presents two major art exhibitions this year. Masterpieces by such luminaries as Edward Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Elizabeth Catlett sit alongside works by school children who have been influenced by them during As We See It: Selected Works from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection. February 5-March 21, 2015. In the spring, the museum explores the artistic side of Danny Simmons, who is best known as a writer, producer and Tony winner for his Broadway version of Def Poetry Jam. The United Nations and the Smithsonian count his art in their collections. Selected Works from the Danny Simmons Collection features Simmons’ art works and poetry, as well as items from his own collection (Beauford Delaney, James Van Der Zee, Mickalene Thomas, Sol Sax, Derrick Adams and Kara Walker). April 24-June 7, 2015. 701 Arch Street, (215) 574-0380, aampmuseum.org
  • In the first major exhibition of the artist’s works in the country in more than two decades, Horace Pippin: The Way I See It features more than 60 bold, colorful and candid paintings that reflect life in the African-American community and comment on race, religion, war and history. The Brandywine Museum of Art’s exhibition reveals Pippin as an artist who upheld his own aesthetic sensibility while addressing larger social issues. April 25-July 19, 2015.U.S. Route 1 by Creek Road (formerly Route 100), (610) 388-2700, brandywine.org
  • Through an array of works in a broad spectrum of media, African-American Artists of 20th-Century Philadelphia at the Woodmere Art Museum tells the stories of some of Philadelphia’s most celebrated African-American artists, such as James Brantley, Claude Clark, and Ellen Powell Tiberino, and the institutions that nurtured their talents and exhibited their works. Numerous oral histories round out the story. September 26, 2015-January 24, 2016. 9201 Germantown Avenue, (215) 247-0476, woodmereartmuseum.org
  • With more than 80 paintings, works on paper and the artist’s hand-made puppets all culled from major international private and public collections, Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis travels through four decades of the artist’s career from the 1930s through the 1970s. Through the exhibition, visitors to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts learn about Lewis’ role in the Harlem art community and his contributions to abstract expressionism.November 13, 2014-April 3, 2016. 118 N. Broad Street, (215) 972-7600, pafa.org

Permanent Collections:
African Art:

  • Dr. Albert Barnes’ interest in African art dates back to the early 1920s when he acquired traditional African masks and sculptures from the Dan and possibly Kulango societies of Côte d’Ivoire, as well as from Guinea and northeast Liberia. Visitors can see theses works, which he describes as “the purest expression of the three-dimensional form,” at the Barnes Foundation. Home to a remarkable collection of paintings from the masters of modern art, the Barnes Foundation’s significant collection of African art is displayed in remarkable ensembles that show how the likes of Picasso and Modigliani were influenced by the stylistic and symbolic forms in African art. The Barnes Foundation also holds important works by American artists, including Horace Pippin. 20th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (866) 849-7056, barnesfoundation.org
  • The Penn Museum, or University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, boasts an extensive collection of African art and artifacts such as masks, sculptures, instruments, famed Benin bronzes, embroidered garments and jewelry. Visitors can also marvel at a wide range of other materials from throughout the continent, which are on permanent display in the African and Ancient Egyptian galleries. 3260 South Street, (215) 898-4000,penn.museum

African-American Art:

The With Art Philadelphia® collaborative is a first-of-its-kind partnership to position Philadelphia among the world’s great art destinations and to increase visitation to the region from around the world. The groups contributing financial and other resources to the campaign are: the City of Philadelphia, VISIT PHILADELPHIA™, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, The Lenfest Foundation, William Penn Foundation, Knight Foundation, Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, PNC and PECO.

For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit visitphilly.com or uwishunu.com, where you can build itineraries; search event calendars; see photos and videos; view interactive maps; sign up for newsletters; listen to HearPhilly, an online radio station about what to see and do in the region; book hotel reservations and more. Or, call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Historic Philadelphia, at (800) 537-7676.

For more information about With Art Philadelphia and high-resolution photos of the Philadelphia art scene and the region, visit visitphilly.com/withartpress.

Thank You to With Art Philadelphia for the content of this blog post. DoNArTNeWs contributed links to artist’s website and Wikipedia pages.

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