We could all use a little inspiration in our busy lives, and benefit from the context that art can bring to bear on our world, our times, and our history. Join us and museum directors from around the world as we explore some of our greatest artistic treasures. We’ll take a closer look at a new masterpiece every two weeks, so be sure to tune in, learn more, be inspired and discuss with friends and family.
Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment
At Bank of America, we believe in the power of the arts to help economies thrive, educate and enrich societies, and create greater cultural understanding. That’s why we’re proud to bring you Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment—a video series that celebrates great works of art from museum collections around the world.
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Art inspires, educates, and helps us see our world in a new way
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the British Museum
On-screen text: British Museum, London
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
On-screen text: The Lewis Chess Pieces, probably made in Norway, about 1150–1200, found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, walrus ivory and whale tooth, height: 1 ½” – 2” (4–5.60 cm)
Video: Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, standing next to a glass case that holds the Lewis chess pieces
On-screen text: Hartwig Fischer, Director, British Museum
Audio— Hartwig Fischer: Hello, I’m Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum in London. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment.
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Today, I’d like to talk about the Lewis chess pieces and tell you why I think they are masterpieces, as a group and individually. The Lewis chess pieces are perhaps the most famous chess pieces in the world. They were part of a remarkable hoard, or group…
Video: The Albrecht Dürer ink and watercolor illustration The Head of a Walrus, 1521, followed by a photograph of a whale tooth
Audio: …of walrus ivory and whale tooth objects…
Video: A view across Uig Bay and beach on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles
Audio: …discovered in Uig Bay on the Outer Hebridean Isle of Lewis, off the coast of northwest Scotland, in or before 1831.
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
Audio: To look at the pieces set up on a board is to see a microcosm of medieval society, from enthroned kings and queens to powerful bishops, mounted knights, standing warders and anonymous, obelisk-shaped pawns. The 78 Lewis chess pieces are remarkable both because of the incredible detail with which they were fashioned and the individual personality imbued in each piece.
Video: The exterior of the National Museum of Scotland; the exterior of the British Museum; and the exterior of the Museum nan Eilean
Audio: Eleven are at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the rest are in the British Museum, six of which are on long-term loan to the Museum nan Eilean on the Isle of Lewis.
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Made in the second half of the twelfth century, probably in Trondheim, Norway, nearly four complete chess sets can be made up of the pieces, and they demonstrate the popularity of the game among the elite of that time. Also in the hoard are fourteen blank discs, which would have been decorated and…
Video: An illustration of two men playing Tables from Codex Manesse, Zürich, 1305–1340
Audio: …used to play Tables, a form of backgammon that was popular at this time.
Video: A belt buckle carved of walrus ivory and whale tooth
Audio: And there is also an intricately carved belt buckle.
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
Audio: It is not known for certain where the chess pieces were made or how they came to be on the Isle of Lewis. They might have belonged to a trader traveling from Norway who stopped at Lewis—or perhaps they were intended for local island nobility. The history of chess is an international story of travel and the exchange of ideas. Chess is believed to have begun in seventh-century India, and from there it spread to many regions. Its journey westwards passed into Iran, and then into the expanding Islamic Arabic empire.
Video: The illustration Templars Playing Chess, 1283, from Book of Chess, Dice and Tables by Alfonso X of Castile, the Wise
Audio: By the twelfth century, the board game had gained prominence in northwestern Europe…
Video: A display of early chess pieces
Audio: …and the style of the pieces became figurative…
Video: The Lewis chess pieces
Audio: …morphing into the positions found in royal courts. Many of our visitors find the figures amusing, with their bulbous eyes and intense expressions; but these are also complex objects, and a close look reveals the wealth of detail in these miniature marvels.
Video: King and queen pieces from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: When the kings and queens are turned around, we see that each one is seated on an intricate and uniquely carved throne. Here, a mass of swirling, interlaced tendrils and snapping beasts crawl across the face of each seat.
Video: A king piece from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: One of my favorite things about these objects is their characterization. Here, the crowned king is the epitome of strength and authority, with his hands gripping the sword in his lap. It is a dynamic image, and he appears as if he is about to leap out of his seat and strike down his opponent. All of the kings are bearded, and most have thick hair, which falls down their backs in tendrils.
Video: A queen piece from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: The queen is particularly interesting. She is luxuriously dressed, rests her head in one hand and, in some of the pieces, also holds a horn. You might think that she looks unhappy. What this enigmatic expression means, however, is the subject of debate.
Video: Bishop pieces from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Next on the board comes the bishop. All are richly dressed in robes. They wear the symbolic headgear of the bishop, known as a miter, and on the back are two bands of textile, or lappets, hanging down. They hold their staff of office, called a crozier, which takes the form of a curled shepherd’s crook. Some clutch books, and others raise their fingers in blessing.
Video: A modern chessboard displaying a bishop piece
Audio: In the modern game of chess, the bishop is a standard piece. However, around the time that the Lewis hoard was made…
Video: A bishop piece from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: …it was unusual to find bishops on the board. This is one of the signs that marks the growing popularity of the game in western Europe.
Video: Knight pieces from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Moving on to the mounted knights: They are all riding stocky horses and are fully dressed for war, carrying large kite-shaped shields, holding spears and wearing helmets, some of which have distinctive nose guards and ear flaps. A lively depiction of martial power, these knights remind us that chess is no genteel game and that it reflected the threat of battle in the real world.
Video: Rook pieces from the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Standing on all four corners of the board are the warders, or rooks. A number of these are striking an unusual pose. With their shields and upright swords held in front of them, all are leaning forward, with their teeth on show, clearly biting down onto the tops of their shields. These are known as berserkers, from the Old Norse berserkir, evoking the furious warriors from heroic sagas who enter the battlefield, driven wild with rage—hence, the modern word berserk.
Video: Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, standing next to a glass case that holds the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: Today, these objects continue to capture the imagination. One thing you might not know is that the pieces have starred in film and television…
Video: A still from the film The Lion in Winter, 1968, showing two characters playing chess with replica Lewis chess pieces
Audio: …from The Lion in Winter…
Video: A clip from the television show The Walking Dead showing two characters playing chess with replica Lewis chess pieces
Audio: …to The Walking Dead.
Video: Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, standing next to a glass case that holds the Lewis chess pieces
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about the Lewis chess pieces. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss them with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Video footage of the British Museum
© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
The Lewis Chess Pieces, probably made in Norway, about 1150–1200
Found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Walrus ivory and whale tooth
© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
Medieval Europe 1050–1500, Room 40, The Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Gallery, the British Museum
© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
The Head of a Walrus, 1521
Pen and brown ink, with watercolor
© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
Whale tooth
Nelli Polk / Alamy Stock Photo
Scenic view across Uig Bay and beach on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles
Paul Williams / Alamy Stock Photo
Dunes, Uig Bay, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Keith Taylor / Alamy Stock Photo
The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2005
Wikimedia Commons / Maccoinnich
Codex Manesse, Zürich, 1305–1340
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Alfonso X of Castile, the Wise (Spanish, 1221–1284)
Templars Playing Chess, 1283, from Book of Chess, Dice and Tables
Collection of Monasterio Library, San Lorenzo del Escorial, Madrid
Album / Art Resource, NY
The twelfth-century Lewis Chess Pieces, the Bishop piece
David Gowans / Alamy Stock Photo
Chessboard, fork by Bishop
Alessandro de Leo / Alamy Stock Photo
Berserkers Biting their Shields, the Lewis Chess Pieces, c. 1150–1200
The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo
The Lion in Winter, 1968 film
The Lion in Winter © 1968 STUDIOCANAL – Conbow Productions
The Walking Dead, the Governor and Beth Play Chess, Episode 406
Courtesy of AMC Film Holdings, LLC
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2022 Bank of America Corporation.
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
Lewis Chess Pieces
Quite possibly the most famous chess pieces in the world, the Lewis Chess Pieces were discovered on the Isle of Lewis around 1831. Their existence speaks to the popularity of the game among the 12th century elite. Learn more about these objects with the British Museum in London.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Baltimore Museum of Art
On-screen text: Baltimore Museum of Art
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
On-screen text: Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935), Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, oil on canvas, 20.25” x 16”
Video: Christopher Bedford, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
On-screen text: Christopher Bedford, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, Baltimore Museum of Art
Audio— Christopher Bedford: Hello, I’m Christopher Bedford, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today, I’d like to talk about…
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …Snowstorm, Madison Square, circa 1890, a luminous winter cityscape by the American artist…
Video: A photograph of Childe Hassam
Audio: …Childe Hassam, and tell you why it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: A close-up of the back of the painting’s frame showing a hand-lettered sign that reads, “Madison Square-Snow Storm. Childe Hassam.”
Audio: Snowstorm, Madison Square is an…
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …oil-on-canvas painting created by a pioneer of American Impressionism and perhaps…
Video: The paintings French Peasant Girl, 1883; Along the Seine in Winter, 1887; Old House Garden, East Hampton, 1898; and Washington Arch, Spring, c. 1893, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …its most devoted, prolific and successful practitioner. Equally adept at capturing the excitement of modern cities and the charms of country retreats, Hassam became one of the foremost chroniclers of New York City at the turn of the century.
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: This work is a masterpiece because it exemplifies the artist’s skillful incorporation of the techniques…
Video: An image of the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam, shown next to an image of the painting The Pont Neuf, 1902, by Camille Pissarro and then next to an image of the painting Water Lilies, 1908, by Claude Monet
Audio: …of the French Impressionists into a fully American urban scene, while also…
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …foreshadowing the social progress to come in the next century. Originally purchased by Baltimore philanthropist George Peabody, it is now part of the Maryland State Archives’ Peabody Art Collection. It is currently on long-term loan at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where general admission is always free.
Video: A photograph of St. Peter’s Church and Lyman Memorial Fountain, Meeting House Hill, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts
Audio: Childe Hassam was born in a suburb of Boston in 1859…
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …and was descended from a long line of New Englanders.
Video: An illustration of Dorchester High School, Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1906
Audio: He had his first lessons in drawing and watercolor in school but was forced to drop out at age 17 to help support his family after…
Video: Photographs showing buildings in ruins after the Great Boston Fire of 1872
Audio: …a fire destroyed his father’s cutlery business in 1872.
Video: A photograph of Harvard House, Harvard University, c. 1899
Audio: Despite an offer to attend Harvard University, Hassam instead chose to work.
Video: The lithograph The Court, Gloucester, August 4, 1918, by Childe Hassam, followed by a portrait of a young boy by Childe Hassam
Audio: He took on jobs as a wood engraver, which eventually led to becoming a draughtsman and illustrator for commercial clients.
Video: The paintings Horse-Drawn Cabs at Evening, c. 1930s, and White Barn, c. 1930s, by Childe Hassam
Audio: By 1879, he began painting with watercolors and oils and…
Video: A photograph of the Boston Art Club, Dartmouth Street, c. 1882
Audio: …took classes at the Boston Arts Club to refine his techniques.
Video: The paintings At Dusk (Boston Common at Twilight), 1885–86; Ponte Santa Trinità, 1897; and Canterbury Cathedral (recto), 1889, by Childe Hassam
Audio: He successfully established a reputation as a painter in Boston in the following years. In 1883, he joined a fellow art club member on a tour of Europe, viewing the work of Old Masters…
Video: The paintings The Port of London, 1824, and The Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807, by J.M.W. Turner
Audio: …and taking a particular interest in the work of J.M.W. Turner.
Video: A photogravure print from the original 1879 painting La Place Saint Georges, Paris,
by Edmond-Georges Grandjean, followed by a group portrait at Académie Julian, Paris, 1880s
Audio: In 1886, Hassam spent three years in Paris, where he studied at the prestigious Académie Julian and exhibited his works at the famed Salons.
Video: A photograph of Childe Hassam
Audio: Hassam was unusual among his American contemporaries for his…
Video: The painting Argenteuil, 1875, by Claude Monet and the painting February, Sunrise, Bazincourt, 1893, by Camille Pissarro
Audio: …visionary attraction to French Impressionism, which was only just beginning to find favor with American collectors.
Video: Photographs of the New York skyline and Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1890s, and a crowd of people on Fifth Avenue Plaza at 58th Street, New York, 1898
Audio: Hassam returned to the United States late in 1889 and took up…
Video: The painting Brooklyn Bridge in Winter, 1904, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …lifelong residence in New York.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: During the 1890s and the following two decades…
Video: The paintings Mount Vernon Street, Boston, 1890; Castle Island, Boston Harbor, 1916; Quincy, Massachusetts, 1892; The South Ledges, Appledore, 1913; Gloucester Harbor, 1899; and New England Road, 1902, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …Hassam spent his summers painting in locations throughout New England. A prolific and industrious artist, he produced numerous scenes of both the city and the countryside and is perhaps…
Video: The paintings Promenade, 1883; Allies Day, May 1917; Spring Morning in the Heart of the City, 1890; Rainy Day, Boston, 1885; Quai St. Michel, 1888; Cab Stand, Night, Madison Square, New York, 1891; Rainy Midnight, late 1890s; and A City Fairyland, 1886, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …best known for his depictions of flag-draped Fifth Avenue during World War I. Many of his early street scenes of Boston, Paris and New York—with their reflections of wet pavement or gaslight on the snow—demonstrate his wonderful talent for capturing the effects of light and atmosphere.
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: Snowstorm, Madison Square is an expression of Hassam’s love of New York City. Using delicate paint strokes, he has created a softly shimmering tapestry of swirling snow that gives…
Video: Photographs of Madison Square, 1908, showing the second Madison Square Garden, built in 1890, in the center background; a boxing match and a circus scene
Audio: …no hint of the sounds of traffic or boxing matches, musical performances and circuses that were staged at Madison Square Garden, then located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
Video: Close-up views of the tower of Madison Square Garden in a photograph of the building and in the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, shown next to a photograph of the bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville in Spain
Audio: We see only architect Stanford White’s minaret-like tower, modeled after the bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville in Spain.
Video: A photograph of Madison Square Garden, c. 1920s
Audio: The tower soared 32 stories into the air and was topped by a copper sculpture…
Video: The statue Diana, 1892/94, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Audio: …of the goddess Diana by Augustus St. Gaudens.
Video: Photographs of the statue Diana, 1892/94, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens undergoing conservation
Audio: The statue of Diana was conserved through support from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project…
Video: The statue Diana, 1892/94, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Audio: …and is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Video: The etching C. H. 1920 (Self-Portrait), 1920; the lithograph New York Skyline – Light Buildings, 1918; and the painting Fifth Avenue, 1919, by Childe Hassam
Audio: Hassam found skyscrapers “more beautiful than many of the old castles in Europe, especially if viewed in the early evening when the city is a magical evocation of blended strength and mystery.”
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: The subtle peach and golden hues around the tower provide this luminous glow. With a close look, we can see hints of the future in this painting.
Video: The statue Diana, 1892/94, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Audio: Though Diana is suggested by Hassam with just a few squiggles of paint on top of the tower…
Video: The statue of Diana on top of Madison Square Garden, c. 1900
Audio: …her presence was quite significant.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: During the day, St. Gaudens’ gilded copper figure caught the sun and could be seen all over the city.
Video: The statue of Diana on top of Madison Square Garden, c. 1900
Audio: It was illuminated at night and the first statue in history to be lit by electricity.
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: The statue in the park is of William Seward…
Video: The Seward Monument in Madison Square Park followed by two portraits of William Henry Seward
Audio: …a former governor and senator of New York who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869.
Video: The painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln, 1864, by Francis Bicknell Carpenter
Audio: Seward signed several laws that advanced the opportunities and rights for Black citizens and was a determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: The horse-drawn trolley emerging from the right corner of the painting…
Video: A photograph of horse-drawn carriages in New York, c. 1900
Audio: …one of the earliest forms of public transportation in New York City, provided increased access and opportunities for the middle class.
Video: The painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: Horizontal golden brushstrokes indicate the tracks of its journey.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam, with the paintings Roses in a Vase, 1890, by Childe Hassam, and Reflections, Grez-sur-Loing, 1886, by Willard L. Metcalf hanging on either side of it
Audio: The painting is shown in its original frame and is placed alongside…
Video: The painting Roses in a Vase, 1890, by Childe Hassam
Audio: …a marvelous floral still life, also by Hassam, and…
Video: The painting Reflections, Grez-sur-Loing, 1886, by Willard L. Metcalf
Audio: …Willard Metcalf’s tranquil view of reflections on water, both in the BMA’s collection of American art.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam, with the paintings Roses in a Vase, 1890, by Childe Hassam and Reflections, Grez-sur-Loing, 1886, by Willard L. Metcalf hanging on either side of it
Audio: This trio of paintings allows us to feature the transatlantic connections between American artists…
Video: The paintings February, Sunrise, Bazincourt, 1893, by Camille Pissarro; Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil, 1874, by Édouard Manet; and Poplars, Three Trees in Autumn, 1891, by Claude Monet
Audio: …and their French Impressionist sources of inspiration.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam, with the paintings Roses in a Vase, 1890, by Childe Hassam and Reflections, Grez-sur-Loing, 1886, by Willard L. Metcalf hanging on either side of it
Audio: Through these connections, we can also trace a lineage back…
Video: The painting Bridge Over the Stour, 1887, by Childe Hassam, next to the woodblock print A View of the Great Bridge at Senju in Musashi Province, c. 1820s, by Shotei Hokuju
Audio: …Japanese compositional styles, demonstrating…
Video: The painting The Concord Meadow, c. 1891, by Childe Hassam next to the woodblock print Shell Gathering, c. 1800–1849, by Katsushika Hokusai
Audio: …the wide range of important global influences that have always shaped…
Video: The painting April (The Green Gown), 1920, by Childe Hassam, next to the woodblock print The Courtesan Somenosuke of the Matsubaya, and Attendants Wakagi and Wakaba, from the series A Comparison of Contemporary Beauties (Tosei bijin awase), c. 1796/97, by Chokosai Eisho
Audio: …American artistic production.
Video: Christopher Bedford standing next to the painting Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890, by Childe Hassam, with the paintings Roses in a Vase, 1890, by Childe Hassam and Reflections, Grez-sur-Loing, 1886, by Willard L. Metcalf hanging on either side of it
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Snowstorm, Madison Square, by Childe Hassam. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935)
Snowstorm, Madison Square, 1890
Oil on canvas
The Peabody Art Collection. Collection of the Maryland State Archives, on extended loan to the Baltimore Museum of Art, MSA SC 4680-10-0032
French Peasant Girl, 1883
Oil on canvas
IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Along the Seine in Winter, 1887
Oil on wood
Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Joel T. Howard
Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art
Old House Garden East Hampton, 1898
Oil on canvas
Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo
Washington Arch, Spring, c. 1893
Oil on canvas
Image courtesy the Phillips Collection
The Court, Gloucester, August 4, 1918
Lithograph; from an edition of seven
Artokoloro / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of a young boy, n.d.
Etching
The Reading Room / Alamy Stock Photo
At Dusk (Boston Common at Twilight), 1885–86
Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Miss Maud E. Appleton
Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo
Ponte Santa Trinità, 1897
Oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
Canterbury Cathedral (recto), 1889
Watercolor with gouache and graphite
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
Brooklyn Bridge in Winter, 1904
Oil on canvas
Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia
Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
Mount Vernon Street, Boston, 1890
Oil on canvas
Art Heritage / Alamy Stock Photo
Castle Island, Boston Harbor, 1916
Watercolor, gouache and graphite
Antiquarian Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Quincy, Massachusetts, 1892
Oil on canvas
Art Collection 3 / Alamy Stock Photo
The South Ledges, Appledore, 1913
Oil on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
Promenade, 1883
Watercolor, gouache and graphite on off-white wove paper
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul, 1971
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Allies Day, May 1917
Oil on canvas
Gift of Ethelyn McKinney in memory of her brother, Glenn Ford McKinney
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rainy Day, Boston, 1885
Oil on canvas
Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
The Artchives / Alamy Stock Photo
Rainy Day, Boston, n.d.
Oil on canvas
The Artchives / Alamy Stock Photo
Quai St. Michel, 1888
Oil on canvas
incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Cab Stand, Night, Madison Square, New York, 1891
Oil on panel
Smith College Museum of Art, Bequest of Annie Swan Coburn (Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn)
Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo
Rainy Midnight, late 1890s
Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Mrs. Langdon Dearborn
A City Fairyland, 1886
Oil on canvas
Frederick Childe Hassam / Alamy Stock Photo
C. H. 1920 (Self-Portrait), 1920
Etching with plate tone
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
New York Skyline – Light Buildings, 1918
Lithograph on cream wove paper
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Gift of Mrs. Childe Hassam
Fifth Avenue, 1919
Oil on canvas
IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
Water Lilies, 1908
Oil on canvas
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Japan
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
Argenteuil, 1875
Oil on canvas
Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris
Poplars, Three Trees in Autumn, 1891
Oil on canvas
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Dorchester High School, Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1906
Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
The Great Boston Fire of 1872
Hi-Story / Alamy Stock Photo
The Great Boston Fire of 1872
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Harvard House, Harvard University, c. 1899
Imago History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Boston Art Club, Dartmouth Street, c. 1882
Boston Pictorial Archive, Boston Public Library
J.M.W. Turner (English, 1775–1851)
The Port of London, 1824
Watercolor
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807
Oil on canvas
Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
La Place Saint Georges, Paris
Photogravure print from the original 1879 painting by Edmond-Georges Grandjean
The Masterpieces of French Art, by Louis Viardot, published by Gravure Goupil et Cie, Paris, 1882, Gebbie & Co., Philadelphia, 1883
Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Group portrait at Académie Julian, Paris, 1880s
ABC Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Camille Pissarro (French, b. Danish West Indies, 1830–1903)
February, Sunrise, Bazincourt, 1893
Oil on canvas
Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands
PvE / Alamy Stock Photo
New York skyline and Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1890s
Pump Park Vintage Photography / Alamy Stock Photo
Crowd Scene, Fifth Avenue, Plaza at 58th Street, New York, 1898
Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Preparing for Circus Week, Madison Square Garden, March 21, 1913
Hum Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, New York, c. 1920s
Pump Park Vintage Photography / Alamy Stock Photo
Seville, Spain, skyline with La Giralda tower, Cathedral El Salvador Church and bridge seen from the Parasol Metropol city overlook
Wiskerke / Alamy Stock Photo
Madison Square Garden, Madison Square, New York
Artokoloro / Alamy Stock Photo
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, b. Ireland, 1848–1907)
Diana, 1892/94, cast 1928
Bronze, gilt
Agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Diana, 1892/94
Copper sheets, made in the United States, North and Central America
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Model of Diana sculpture for tower at Madison Square Garden
McKim, Mead & White
The Museum of the City of New York
Seward Monument, Madison Square Park, New York
Artokoloro / Alamy Stock Photo
William Henry Seward
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Chester Harding (American, 1792–1866)
Official Gubernatorial portrait of New York Governor (and United States Secretary of State) William H. Seward, c. 1840
Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
Francis Bicknell Carpenter (American, 1830–1900)
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln, 1864
Oil on canvas
United States Capitol, Washington
Gift of Elizabeth Thompson, 1878
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
Street scene, New York, early 1900s
Sheldon Marshall / Art Resource, New York
Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)
Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil, 1874
Oil on canvas
Steve Vidler / Alamy Stock Photo
Shotei Hokuju (Japanese, 1789–1818)
A View of the Great Bridge at Senju in Musashi Province, c. 1820s
Color woodblock print
Gift of Mrs. Henry S. Upson
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry S. Upson
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Shell Gathering, c. 1800–1849
Color woodblock print
Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Japan
Chokosai Eisho (Japanese, active 1790–1799)
The Courtesan Somenosuke of the Matsubaya, and Attendants Wakagi and Wakaba, from the series A Comparison of Contemporary Beauties (Tosei bijin awase), c. 1796/97
Color woodblock print; chuban
Clarence Buckingham Collection
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
Snowstorm, Madison Square by Childe Hassam
This shimmering look at New York City showcases Hassam’s skillful incorporation of French Impressionist techniques into a fully American urban scene, while foreshadowing the social progress to come. Learn more about this masterpiece with the Baltimore Museum of Art.
October 25th- December 6th
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
On-screen text: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
On-screen text: Marc Chagall (French, b. Russia, 1887–1985), Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, oil on canvas, 6’ 5 1/8” × 57”
Video: Timothy Rub, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
On-screen text: Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Audio— Timothy Rub: Hello, I’m Timothy Rub, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment.
Video: Shots of Philadelphia Museum of Art galleries
Audio: One of the things I love most about the Philadelphia Museum of Art is its wonderfully rich and diverse collection of European art from the first several decades of the twentieth century, a period of innovation and radical change.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: Today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, Half-Past Three (The Poet)…
Video: A photograph of Marc Chagall, 1928
Audio: …by Marc Chagall, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: It was owned by three prominent collectors of modern art before coming to Philadelphia in 1950.
Video: Photographs of Herwarth Walden
Audio: In 1914, the German publisher and art dealer Herwarth Walden presented the first solo exhibition of…
Video: A black-and-white photograph of paintings by Chagall hanging in a gallery
Audio: …Chagall’s work at his gallery Der Sturm in Berlin.
Video: A photograph of Herwarth Walden with his second wife Nell at home with the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall hanging on their wall
Audio: It is likely that Walden purchased Half-Past Three for his own collection then.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: The painting was later acquired in 1926 by the influential…
Video: A photograph of Christian Zervos
Audio: …art critic, publisher and collector Christian Zervos, who in turn sold it in 1937 to the celebrated American collectors…
Video: A photograph of Louise and Walter Arensberg with Marcel Duchamp
Audio: …Louise and Walter Arensberg. Their agent for this transaction was the artist Marcel Duchamp, who often served as their advisor.
Video: Photographs of the interior of the apartment of Louise and Walter Arensberg in New York
Audio: Their great collection—with masterpieces by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse and Duchamp himself—came to Philadelphia in 1950, making it a destination for anyone interested in the history of modern art.
Video: Scene of Paris street life and people sitting at cafés, early 1900s
Audio: These renowned artists were all living in Paris in the early twentieth century, a time when the city was a magnet for artists throughout Europe—indeed, from around the world.
Video: A photograph of Marc Chagall, 1920s
Audio: One of the most unlikely and brilliant of these émigrés was Marc Chagall, a young artist from…
Video: A photograph of the city of Vitebsk
Audio: …Vitebsk, a small city in Belarus…
Video: Marc Chagall’s childhood home in Vitebsk
Audio: …at that time part of the Russian Empire.
Video: A photograph of the family of Marc Chagall
Audio: Born in 1887 into a working-class family of devout Hasidic Jews…
Video: An oil portrait of Marc Chagall, c. 1915, by Yuri Pen
Audio: …there was very little in Chagall’s upbringing or early education that…
Video: Photographs of Marc Chagall
Audio: …foreshadowed his decision to become an artist; but once he did, that choice seems to have been preordained, so rapidly did his…
Video: The painting I and the Village, 1911, and the painting The Wailing Wall, 1932, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …talent develop and give evidence of what would come to characterize all of his work: a fertile visual imagination and…
Video: A photograph of Marc Chagall smiling
Audio: …an abiding—and irrepressible—sense of joy.
Video: A photograph of Clichy Place, Paris, 1910, and footage of Paris street scenes, c. 1910
Audio: By the time he made the momentous decision to move to Paris in 1910…
Video: The paintings Le Pont de Passy et la Tour Eiffel, 1911; Lovers, 1929; The Musician with the Red Beard, 1919; Paris through the Window, 1913; Jew with Torah, 1925; and Solitude, 1933, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …he had already become the Chagall we have come to know and to love. Chagall brought much to Paris with him: his distinctive draftsmanship and his gift as a colorist, already well developed; his lovely and, at times, childlike sense of humor and delight that has endeared his art to so many; his lifelong embrace of Jewish culture and customs.
Video: The paintings Self-portrait, 1909; The City of Paris, 1912; and Eiffel Tower, 1911, by Robert Delaunay
Audio: In turn, Paris would give him exposure to new ideas and to the most radical visual art experiments of the day.
Video: Photographs of La Ruche in Danzig Passage, Paris
Audio: Chagall often worked well into the night, in the studio that he had taken in La Ruche (or “The Beehive,” after its oddly shaped form), a building occupied by a number of artists and writers in the area of the city known…
Video: The drawing Six o’clock in the Evening, an animated Boulevard Montparnasse, 1920, by Georges Paul Leroux, followed by a photograph of a street in Montparnasse
Audio: …as Montparnasse. It was there that he found a vibrant community of creative and likeminded artists…
Video: The painting Tea Time (Woman with a Teaspoon), 1911, by Jean Metzinger, shown next to a photograph of Jean Metzinger, c. 1912; a photograph of Guillaume Apollinaire shown next to the cover of Calligrammes, Poems of Peace and War, 1913–1916, by Guillaume Apollinaire; and a photograph of Blaise Cendrars, c. 1907, shown next to the cover of Feuilles de route, 1924, by Blaise Cendrars
Audio: …many of whom sought to blend their own experiences and cultural backgrounds with the latest advances in modern art.
Video: A photograph of La Ruche followed by a photo of Chagall
Audio: And it was there—in La Ruche—that Chagall produced many of his earliest masterpieces, including…
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …Half-Past Three (The Poet), which was painted in the winter of 1911–1912. What’s most striking about this work is that it is so personal: a record of life in Chagall’s studio and at the same time a meditation—as so many great paintings are—on the act of artistic creation.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: The subject of this picture—the figure sitting at the table in the studio—is not Chagall himself, but a friend and fellow Russian who also lived in The Beehive, a poet named Mazin.
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: Here he is shown dressed in blue, sitting with his left elbow propped on a table, a cup in one hand. In his other hand he holds a pen poised over an open book of poetry, in Cyrillic, the alphabet used in writing the Russian language. On the table are some familiar objects: a knife, fork and glass, along with a few pieces of fruit and a bottle of wine. In the upper right-hand corner of the painting there is a window curtain decorated with flowers. Finally, and most curiously, sitting just next to the poet is a cat, its tongue licking the sleeve of his jacket.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: If the elements of this painting are conventional, Chagall’s treatment of them is anything but.
Video: The painting Seated Nude, 1909–10, by Pablo Picasso; and the painting Le Verre, 1911, by Georges Braque
Audio: Responding to the radical new style of painting known as Cubism pioneered by Picasso and Braque…
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …he rendered both the image of the poet seated at the table in his small studio and the space of the studio itself in a truly…
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …unconventional way: as a set of intersecting and overlapping lines and prismatic planes in red, blue, green and white that jostle against each other like the pieces of a large and unruly jigsaw puzzle. The objects depicted and the space around them seem to merge together, confusing the eye and making it difficult to distinguish foreground from background. The table and the bottle of wine perched precariously on it tilt upward at a steep angle—echoed by the seated figure’s legs and the fringe of the curtain.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: These compositional strategies invest the scene with a dynamism and, at the same time, a sense of instability.
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: Has the poet had too much to drink? And is that why everything around him—including his own head—seems to be off-kilter?
Video: The painting Oh God, 1919, and the painting The Fiancée with Blue Face, 1939–62, by Marc Chagall
Audio: This is a motif that Chagall used with some frequency throughout his career and seems to be the visual equivalent…
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …of a Yiddish idiom that can be translated as “a turned head,” signifying a state of emotional giddiness.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: However we may choose to interpret this scene, the key, I think, is the time of night...
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …when everyone else is fast asleep, leaving the poet in solitude seeking inspiration in the world of his own imagination.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: Note the horizontal bars of color…
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: …red mostly, as well as green, yellow and white—on the page opposite the text in the book open on the poet’s lap. It’s a telling detail…
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911. by Marc Chagall
Audio: …that calls to mind the equivalence often drawn between painting and poetry.
Video: The painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: In this regard Half-Past Three can be considered as something of an artistic manifesto, a celebration of individual creativity and of the power of our imagination—be it in the form of a painting or a poem—to, quite literally, change the world.
Video: The painting Self-Portrait with White Collar, 1914, by Marc Chagall
Audio: This was an audacious statement for a young man to make at the outset of his career.
Video: Photographs of Marc Chagall
Audio: But it was also prophetic. Chagall went on to fulfill the promise of this bold vision—formed in the quiet of his own studio in the midst of a city that was, at that very moment…
Video: A Paris street scene, c. 1900
Audio: …poised on the cusp of an artistic revolution…
Video: A photograph of Marc Chagall
Audio: …and to become one of the most beloved artists of the twentieth century.
Video: Timothy Rub standing next to the painting Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911, by Marc Chagall
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Half-Past Three (The Poet), by Marc Chagall. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Marc Chagall (French, b. Russia, 1887–1985)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Oh God, 1919
Oil and distemper on paper, mounted on cardboard
22 3/4” × 18 5/16” (57.8 × 46.5 cm)
The Louis E. Stern Collection, 1963
The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY
Half-Past Three (The Poet), 1911
Oil on canvas
6’ 5 1/8” × 57” (195.9 × 144.8 cm)
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Philadelphia Museum of Art
I and the Village, 1911
Oil on canvas
6’ 3 5/8” × 59 5/8” (192.1 × 151.4 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
The Wailing Wall, 1932
28 3/4” × 36 1/4” (73 × 92 cm)
Oil on canvas
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Le Pont de Passy et la Tour Eiffel, 1911
Oil on canvas
23 3/4” × 32” (60.3 × 81.3 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Lovers, 1929
Oil on canvas
21 3/4” × 15” (55 × 38 cm)
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Gift of Oscar Fischer, Tel Aviv, c. 1940
Photo: Avraham Hai
The Musician with the Red Beard, 1919
Oil on canvas
24” × 18 1/2” (61 × 47 cm)
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Paris through the Window, 1913
Oil on canvas
53 9/16” × 55 7/8” (136 × 141.9 cm)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
Jew with Torah, 1925
Gouache on paper, mounted on board
26 7/8” × 20 1/8” (68 × 51 cm)
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Solitude, 1933
Oil on canvas
40 1/4” × 66 1/2” (102 × 169 cm)
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The Fiancée with Blue Face, 1939–62
Oil on canvas
39 3/8” × 31 1/2” (100 × 80 cm)
Private Collection
Banque d’Images, ADAGP / Art Resource, NY
Self-Portrait with White Collar, 1914
Oil on cardboard
11 1/2” × 10 1/8” (29.2 × 25.7 cm)
The Louis E. Stern Collection, 1963
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo
Jasper Johns (American, b. 1930)
© 2021 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
In the Studio, 1982
Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects
Painting with Two Balls, 1960
Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects
Fall, 1986
Encaustic on canvas
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
© 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Three Musicians, 1921
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Seated Nude, 1909–10
Oil on canvas
Nude Woman, 1910
Oil on canvas
Violin and Guitar, 1913
Oil on canvas
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Mademoiselle Yvonne Landsberg, 1914
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
© 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Fernand Léger (French, 1881–1955)
The City, 1919
Oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Marc Chagall, 1928
Image: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of the gallerist and publisher Herwarth Walden (1878–1941), 1918
Private Collection
HIP / Art Resource, NY
Herwarth Walden in front of his portrait bust by William Wauer (probably a clipping from a magazine). Herwarth Walden (1878–1941), German writer and publisher, editor of the magazine Der Sturm, c. 1918
bpk Bildagentur / Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany / Art Resource, NY
View into the solo exhibition of Marc Chagall in Herwarth Walden’s Der Sturm gallery in Berlin, Potsdamer Straße 134a. 1914. Herwarth Walden (1878–1941), German writer and publisher, editor of the magazine Der Sturm. Inv. Dep.41, 74v (unten). Manuscript Division.
bpk Bildagentur / Art Resource, NY
Herwarth Walden with his second wife Nell in their dining room in the apartment at Potsdamer Strasse, Berlin (in the background on the wall are two paintings by Marc Chagall). Herwarth Walden (1878–1941), German writer and art critic, publisher of the magazine Der Sturm. Berlin, 1916
bpk Bildagentur / Art Resource, NY
Varengeville-sur-Mer, Normandy, outside the house of American architect Paul Nelson and his wife, designer Francine Nelson, 1934. Standing in the foreground: Christian Zervos; seated: Yvonne Zervos; behind her: Francine Nelson and Nina Kandinsky; back right, wearing a hat: Kandinsky; to the right of him: Susi and Alberto Magnelli.
Digital Image © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
The Arensbergs with Duchamp, date unknown
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Archives
Philadelphia Museum of Art Library & Archives
The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY
Charles Sheeler (American, 1883–1965)
Interior, Arensberg’s apartment, New York, after May 1919
Casein silver print
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY
View of the Walter Arensberg apartment, New York, after May 1919
Casein silver print
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY
Interior of the apartment of Louise and Walter Arensberg in New York, after May 1919
Casein silver print
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY
Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, c. 1900
Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo
Montparnasse Café, 1924
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
A scene from La Bohème, Act II, at the Café Momus, the central meeting point of Bohemian society, from a production at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, June 1898
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of Marc Chagall, late 1920s
Image: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
City of Vitebsk, White Russia
Wikimedia Commons
Marc Chagall’s childhood home in Vitebsk, Belarus. Currently one of the sites of the Marc Chagall Museum, 2013
Image courtesy Marc Chagall Museum, Vitebsk, Belarus
Family of Marc Chagall, n.d.
Photo: © Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris
Marc Chagall, c. 1915
Photo: © Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris
Fred Stein (German, 1909–1967)
Marc Chagall, New York, 1941
© Fred Stein Archive
Image: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
Marc Chagall, 1927
Image: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
Clichy Place, Paris, 1910
Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
Robert Delaunay (French, 1885–1941)
Self-portrait, 1909
Oil on canvas
Centre Pompidou, Paris
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
The City of Paris, 1912
Oil on canvas
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Eiffel Tower, 1911
Oil on canvas
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Vital Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Limot (Walter Lichtenstein) (German, 1902–1984)
La Ruche, Passage de Dantzig, Montparnasse, n.d.
Album / Alamy Stock Photo
La Ruche, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
Robert Gilhooly / Alamy Stock Photo
Jonathan Eastland (British, b. 1945)
La Ruche in Danzig Passage, Paris, n.d.
Ajax News & Feature Service / Alamy Stock Photo
Georges Paul Leroux (French, 1877–1957)
Six o’clock in the Evening, an animated Boulevard Montparnasse, 1920
Gouache and black chalk (fusain) on paper
Photo: Bertrand Prévost
Digital Image © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Paris, c. 1900, rue de l’Arrivée, Avenue du Maine, Montparnasse
The History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Jean Metzinger (French, 1883–1956)
Tea Time (Woman with a Teaspoon), 1911
Oil on cardboard
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo
The cover of Calligrammes, Poems of Peace and War, 1913–1916, by Guillaume Apollinaire
Published posthumously in 1918. Cover printed and edited in Paris in 1918.
Biblioteca Espiscopa. Barcelona
Album / Art Resource, NY
The cover of Feuilles de route, 1924, by Blaise Cendrars
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
La Ruche, Paris, France
Christophe Boisvieux / Alamy Stock Photo
Marc Chagall with his wife Bella, 1922
Photo: © Archives Marc et Ida Chagall, Paris
Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963)
Le Verre, 1911
Oil on canvas
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Marc Chagall with his wife Bella, 1926
Image: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, early twentieth century
Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo
Marc Chagall in his studio in St. Paul de Vence, near Nice, in front of his painting of The Song of Songs, 1975
Image: Tim Wright / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the RISD Museum
On-screen text: RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
On-screen text: Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902–1982), The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, oil and pastel over papier mâché and chalk ground on bast fiber fabric, 85 1/4” x 77 1/8”
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director of the RISD Museum, standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence(An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
On-screen text: Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director, RISD Museum
Audio— Sarah Ganz Blythe: Hello, I am Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director of the RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite works from our collection, Wifredo Lam’s…
Video: Wifredo Lam in his studio in front of The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, and The Wizard of the Ocean, 1947
Audio: …The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla) from 1944, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
Audio: Wifredo Lam’s surrealist composition The Eternal Presence is a dense and haunting image that embraces aspects of Lam’s Cuban, Chinese and African heritage.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: It was painted in 1944 and measures around 7 feet high by 6 1/2 feet wide.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
Audio: It’s one of the most compelling works in the RISD Museum’s collection. For The Eternal Presence, Lam used monochromatic washes of browns and blacks to evoke the fog of a dream. He drew his composition on a rough hemp surface and used charcoal, pastels, papier mâché and oil paint to emphasize contours and internal structures. Blue and green strokes heighten female forms and sharpen the edges of jungle-like fronds. Reds and oranges flicker across the canvas, enflaming eyes and suggesting wounds. It is this combination of skillful technique and deeply layered, mysterious subject matter that makes this work a masterpiece.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: In the 1960s, the museum actively collected works by Latin American artists in an effort to create a unique focus within collection of twentieth-century modernist painting.
Video: A gallery installation view of the Modern and Contemporary Galleries at the RISD Museum, 2017, showing the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam, and the drawing The Lesson, c. 1948, by Elizabeth Catlett
Audio: Through the generous support of the family of Nancy Sayles Day, important works…
Video: The painting The Remainer, 1945, by Roberto Matta; the painting Untitled, 1957, by Elsa Gramcko; the painting Construction with Central Anchor, 1932, by Joaquín Torres-García; the woodcut Smoker in the Window, 1964, by Cesar T. Miranda; the painting Portrait of Maria, 1932, by Cândido Portinari; the woodcut Untitled, 1964, by Américo Abraham Balán; and the woodcut The Prophet, 1963, by Daniel Zelaya
Audio: …by Roberto Matta, Elsa Gramcko, Joaquín Torres-García and numerous others helped establish a diverse representation that continues to grow today.
Video: A photograph of a Theodore Roszak installation at Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1962, followed by a Wifredo Lam installation at the same gallery
Audio: The painting came into RISD’s collection through the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1966 and…
Video: The front exterior of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Audio: …was soon requested for loan to an exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: During this loan, The Eternal Presence…
Video: Close-up details of the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam shown in various stages of conservation interspersed with photographs of conservators working on the painting
Audio: …sustained water damage that weakened its loosely woven fibers and compromised the bonds of its various pigments. In 2015, a grant from Bank of America Conservation Project supported the construction of a new stretcher and a new enclosed frame that protects the painting’s delicate, multi-media surface. The replacement of an old lining using new adhesives established this important painting’s structural stability.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Thanks to the generosity of Bank of America, we have recently been able to share it with the international audience.
Video: An aerial view of old fields of a cane plantation followed by a photograph of workers and a horse in a sugar cane field
Audio: Wifredo Lam was born in a small sugar farming province of Cuba in 1902.
Video: Wifredo Lam at the age of 12, Sagua la Grande, Cuba, c. 1914
Audio: His mother was of Congolese and Cuban descent, and his father was a Chinese immigrant.
Video: Archival photographs of the railway station Estación del Norte, Madrid, 1900s, and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Audio: At the age of 21, he moved to Madrid to study at the Academy of Fine Arts and immersed himself in Spanish culture and politics.
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam, Vallauris, 1954, by André Villers
Audio: It was there that he met Pablo Picasso, who introduced him to a wide circle of French artists and writers whose work informed his interest in surrealism.
Video: A photographic portrait of André Robert Breton, 1927, by Henri Manuel
Audio: He credited the French poet André Breton for opening him to opportunities…
Video: A photograph of Wifredo Lam standing in front of one of his paintings
Audio: …to explore his psyche and his heritage.
Video: A view of the Capitol building and skyline followed by a street scene with trolley cars and a view of La Playa Beach, in Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
Audio: After fleeing Europe at the outset of World War II, Lam returned to Cuba and immersed himself in the music, religion and landscape of its rich culture.
Video: The painting The Jungle, 1943, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: In paintings like The Jungle from 1943 in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art…
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …and The Eternal Presence, tropical foliage pulses with the same life force as human and animal forms.
Video: A photograph of Alejandro García Caturla followed by an image of a postage stamp featuring his face over musical notes
Audio: Lam dedicated The Eternal Presence to the Cuban composer Alejandro García Caturla, who was murdered four years earlier at the age of 34. In his compositions, Caturla blended elements of European and African music…
Video: A series of photographs depicting people playing instruments, parading and dancing, and a colorful altar
Audio: …becoming a leader of Afrocubanismo, an artistic and social movement that highlighted aspects of African culture in Cuban society. This fusion of cultures resonated with…
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …Lam’s artistic objectives, too.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Surrealist art summons memories from the unconscious, and as with all dreams, the meaning of The Eternal Presence is mysterious and multilayered.
Video: Wifredo Lam in front of his painting The Jungle, 1943, Cuba, 1963, followed by the painting Undesirable, 1962, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Lam himself alternated between two titles: the embodied “the eternal presence”; and the temporal “eternal present.” The painting is an example of Lam’s late style, in which humans, animals and plants merge into monstrous, hybrid creatures.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: The massive haunches and high-heeled shoe of the figure at left signal a voluptuous femme-cheval. Part horse, part woman, she peers at us from a mask-like equine face. Her counterpart’s alluring curves are accessorized by a twin-headed axe and a lethal knife. Her manicured fingers convey sexual touch while threatening castration.
Video: A photograph of Carl Jung and a photograph of Sigmund Freud
Audio: Lam studied Carl Jung’s work on the collective unconscious, but he also incorporated misogynistic aspects of surrealism that sprang from Freudian psychology.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: The powerful horse-women guard two additional figures. In the foreground, you’ll notice a hunched form crowned by an egg-shaped face. Above it, a multi-horned specter evokes the spirit of Alejandro Caturla.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Each presence is associated with Santería…
Video: Photographs of a Santerían altar and a woman performing a Santería ceremony
Audio: …a polytheistic and decentralized religion that synthesizes African Yoruba traditions and Spiritism and which flourished in Cuba.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Known as orisha, they are representatives of a Supreme Deity and perform the role of guiding humans on Earth.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: It is this combination of Afro-Cuban and European aesthetic influences…
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …combined with political and spiritual fervor, that make this painting by Wifredo Lam a work of genius.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and learn more about Wifredo Lam’s The Eternal Presence. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902–1982)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944
Oil and pastel over papier mâché and chalk ground on bast fiber fabric
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 66.154
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Wifredo Lam in his studio in front of The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, and The Wizard of the Ocean, 1947
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
The Jungle, 1943
Gouache on paper mounted on canvas
Inter-American Fund. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Wifredo Lam in front of his painting The Jungle, 1943, Cuba, 1963
Snark / Art Resource, NY
Undesirable, 1962
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
Installation view of the Modern and Contemporary Galleries at the RISD Museum, 2017
Shown:
Wifredo Lam, The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944
Elizabeth Catlett, The Lesson, c. 1948
© 2021 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911–2002)
The Remainer, 1945
Oil on canvas
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 66.159
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Elsa Gramcko (Venezuelan, 1925–1994)
Untitled, 1957
Acrylic on canvas
The Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 69.206
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Elsa Gramcko
Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguayan, 1874–1949)
Construction with Central Anchor, 1932
Oil on board
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 65.070
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Courtesy of the Estate of Joaquín Torres-García
Cesar T. Miranda (1922–2017)
Smoker in the Window, 1964
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 68.025
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Cesar T. Miranda
Cândido Portinari (Brazilian, 1903–1962)
Portrait of Maria, 1932
Oil on canvas
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 67.161
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / AUTVIS, São Paulo
Américo Abraham Balán (Argentinian, 1915–1986)
Untitled, 1964
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 67.161
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Américo Abraham Balán
Daniel Zelaya (Argentinian, 1938–2012)
The Prophet, 1963
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 71.033.1
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Daniel Zelaya
Theodore Roszak installation at Pierre Matisse Gallery New York, 1962
© 2021 Estate of Theodore Roszak / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Wifredo Lam exhibition installed at Pierre Matisse Gallery
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Palais de Tokyo, Paris
UlyssePixel / Alamy Stock Photo
An aerial view of old fields of the cane plantation at Cuba Trinidad Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of Sugar Mills)
dov makabaw Cuba / Alamy Stock Photo
Harvest of sugar cane on a plantation, Cuba, c. 1900
Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
Wifredo Lam at the age of 12, Sagua la Grande, Cuba, c. 1914
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
Railway station Estación del Norte, Madrid, 1900s
Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo
San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Alcala Street, Madrid
Factofoto / Alamy Stock Photo
André Villers (French, 1930–2016)
Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam, Vallauris, 1954
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Henri Manuel, Portrait of André Robert Breton, 1927
IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Manuel Carbonell and Wifredo Lam during an interview at Union Radio television station, Havana, Cuba, 1952
Manuel Carbonell
View from the Sevilla Hotel of the Capitol building and skyline, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Street scene with trolley cars, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
La Playa Beach, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Alejandro García Caturla, n.d.
History and Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Postage stamp featuring Alejandro García Caturla
Mark Markau / Alamy Stock Photo
Santería merges the Yoruba religion with Roman Catholic and Native Indian traditions (three Santerían musicians playing) Havana, Cuba
Jorge Royan / Alamy Stock Photo
Santerían procession taking part in May Day celebrations in Santiago de Cuba
ZEN - Zaneta Razaite / Alamy Stock Photo
Santerían altar, Havana, Cuba
Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
Afro-Cuban musical performers in Callejon de Hamel, Havana, Cuba
dave stamboulis / Alamy Stock Photo
Carl Gustav Jung, c. 1940
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Sigmund Freud, n.d.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
An altar inside a Santería house in Trinidad, Cuba
Fabienne Fossez / Alamy Stock Photo
India Colon preforms a Santería ceremony in New York, Sunday, July 15, 2007
Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the National Museum of the American Indian
On-screen text: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
On-screen text: Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, Portuguese, 1946–2006), Creation Story, 2000, acrylic paint on canvas, 206 5/8” x 76 3/8” x 213 3/8”
Video: Kevin Gover, the Under Secretary for Museums and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution, standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
On-screen text: Kevin Gover, Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
Audio— Kevin Gover: Hello, I’m Kevin Gover, the Under Secretary for Museums and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to tell you about one of my favorite works from our collection, Creation Story by Harry Fonseca, in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Every time I walk past Harry Fonseca’s monumental, almost eighteen-foot-wide painting Creation Story, on the third floor of the museum…
Video: Kevin Gover standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …I stop for a moment and look at it. The painting is particularly meaningful to me…
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …because Fonseca created it especially for the inauguration…
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the National Museum of the American Indian
Audio: …of the new building of the National Museum of the American Indian. Like many Native people, he was excited about the prospect of the new museum in Washington…
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …and was proud to offer the largest and most ambitious creation of his career.
Video: The painting And Still We Dance, 1995, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Fonseca was much beloved among the Native community and, sadly, succumbed to cancer shortly after the museum opened in 2004.
Video: Kevin Gover standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: His painting has remained installed in the same location ever since we opened to the public.
Video: A photograph of the artists, judge and curator for the 3rd Biennial Native American Fine Arts Invitational, Central Courtyard, Heard Museum, Phoenix
Audio: Fonseca was one of the most promising of a generation of Native artists…
Video: The painting Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon #61, 1991, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …that redefined American Indian art in the 1980s and 1990s.
Video: Kevin Gover standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Although his career was shortened prematurely, Creation Story represents a crowning achievement and a true masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Video: Two photographs of Harry Fonseca
Audio: Harry Fonseca was born in Sacramento, California, in 1946. He was of mixed ancestry: His father was Portuguese, and his mother, the child of Native Hawaiian and Maidu parents.
Video: An archival image of an aerial view of Sacramento
Audio: He studied painting at both Sacramento City College and California State University, Sacramento…
Video: Two photographs of Henry Azbill
Audio: …but claimed that his most important influential teachings came from his Maidu maternal uncle, Henry Azbill, who was well known and an important knowledge keeper in the Maidu community.
Video: An archival image of Maidu Headmen with Treaty Commissioners
Audio: The Maidu are a small tribe in Northern California…
Video: A black-and-white drawing of a Maidu lodge in the High Sierra
Audio: …and his uncle brought Fonseca into ceremonies…
Video: An archival image of Maidu dancers
Audio: …urged his participation in traditional dances…
Video: A black-and-white drawing of Konkow Maidu
Audio: …and taught him the Maidu creation stories that are the inspiration for this painting.
Video: The painting Silence of Dusk, They Begin to Shed Their Skins, 1995, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Fonseca made paintings inspired by the Maidu creation story throughout his career.
Video: Kevin Gover standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: His earliest works date back to the 1970s. There is no question that his painting for the National Museum of the American Indian represents the sum of his efforts on this theme. But the painting does not tell a story. Instead, Fonseca created a work of art that celebrates the act of creation itself and the enormous, complex and magical world that resulted.
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: The Maidu creation story, as told by Fonseca’s uncle, is long and complicated. It begins with Earthmaker, alone in a watery world of no light, of nothingness. Through the power of song, Earthmaker willed other beings to join them, and together they created light, the air and the earth with all its varied mountains and rivers, plants, animals, and a man and a woman, the first people. Fonseca’s act of painting mimics the power of the Earthmaker’s creation through songs, filling his empty canvas with a lively topography of gold and blue, animated by specks of red, the color of life-giving blood. The space is inhabited by enigmatic symbols, clumps of trees, scurrying animals and mysterious, paired figures. I particularly like the many bighorn sheep running in small clusters throughout the painting.
Video: Pictographs of bighorn sheep on a rock
Audio: They are drawn from pictographs carved in the rocky valleys of the Coso Mountains in Northern California.
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca, and pictographs of bighorn sheep shown side-by-side
Audio: Ancient hunters carved the images of the bighorn sheep with spindly legs but fat, meaty bodies…
Video: The painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …as seen here in Fonseca’s painting. Some think that the pictographs were intended to help multiply more bighorn sheep for hunting. I like to think that Fonseca identified with the idea that making art, making this painting, is itself an act of creation, just like Earthmaker’s songs and the ancient hunter’s hopeful pictographs.
Video: The painting Carmen – First Act, 2006, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Fonseca’s paintings like this one should be better known than they are now. Native artists like Fonseca…
Video: The drawing Untitled (self-portrait), 1972, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …have had difficulty being recognized in the larger, non-Native art world.
Video: The painting American Dream Machine, 2005, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: His many Coyote pictures are probably his most familiar works. They recast the traditional Maidu culture hero and trickster, Coyote…
Video: The painting Dance Break, 1982, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …into contemporary Pop art terms, dressed in leather jackets, blue jeans and high-top sneakers, for example.
Video: The reverse side of one of the paintings from Untitled (Discovery of Gold series), c. 1997, showing Harry Fonseca’s signature
Audio: But his work can also be gut wrenching and political, like the series…
Video: The painting Gold & Souls #32, 1992, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …The Discovery of Gold and Souls in California. The small abstract pictures offer variations of a black cross set in a gold leaf and splattered with blood-red iron oxide pigment. Fonseca has said that they are “a direct response to the…
Video: A black-and-white illustration depicting the Gold Rush, Native Americans and Chinese immigrants, c. 1850
Audio: “…physical, emotional and spiritual genocide of the Native people of California.
Video: A black-and-white illustration depicting missionaries preaching to Native Americans, 1820
Audio: “With the rise of the mission system…
Video: A black-and-white photograph of gold washers on a river
Audio: “...and much later the discovery of gold in California…
Video: A black-and-white photograph of an Indian Camp – Ta Sai Dum, Maidu
Audio: “…the Native world was fractured, and with it…
Video: A black-and-white photograph of Mike Jefferson (Maidu) – Head Dancer at Stonyford Pomo Ceremony, 1907
Audio: “…a way of life and order devastated.”
Video: The painting Wide-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed # 1, 1993, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: Harry Fonseca was a major American artist of the late twentieth century…
Video: Kevin Gover standing next to the painting Creation Story, 2000, by Harry Fonseca
Audio: …and his Creation Story for the National Museum of the American Indian is one of his true masterpieces. We are very proud to share this magnificent painting with visitors to our museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and learn more about Creation Story by Harry Fonseca. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss this work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website and sign up for alerts and ensure you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, Portuguese, 1946–2006)
Creation Story, 2000
Acrylic on canvas
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian (26/5007)
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West
And Still We Dance, 1995
Acrylic on canvas
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.4
Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon #61, 1991
Acrylic on paperboard
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian (26/3971)
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West
Silence of Dusk, They Begin to Shed Their Skins, 1995
Mixed media on canvas
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.2
Carmen – First Act, 2006
Acrylic on canvas
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.255
Untitled (self-portrait), 1972
Watercolor, pen and crayon on matboard
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.327
American Dream Machine, 2005
Acrylic, glitter and plastic coins on canvas
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.1
Dance Break, 1982
Acrylic on canvas
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian (26/8885)
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West
Untitled (Discovery of Gold series), c. 1997 (detail)
Mixed media on paper
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.121
Gold & Souls #32, 1992
Mixed media on paper
Image courtesy of Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West
Untitled (Discovery of Gold series), c. 1997
Mixed media on paper
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.143
Untitled (Discovery of Gold series), c. 1997
Mixed media on paper
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.54
Wide-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed # 1, 1993
Acrylic on canvas
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.211
Artists, judge and curator for the 3rd Biennial Native American Fine Arts Invitational, Central Courtyard, Heard Museum, Phoenix
Image: Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Harry Fonseca, 1976
Center for Sacramento History, Sacramento Bee, 1983/001/SBPMP01881a
Dugan Aguilar (Northern Paiute/Maidu/Pit River (Achomawi), 1947–2018)
Harry Fonseca, n.d.
Dugan Aguilar Collection at the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of the family of Dugan Aguilar.
© 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum, Los Angeles; 2016.10.262
Sacramento, California, from the dome of the Capitol, c. 1900
The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo
Henry Azbill speaking at Davis
California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections
Henry Azbill holding Maidu basket
California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections
Maidu Headmen with Treaty Commissioners, late July or early August 1851
George Eastman House
Maidu lodge in the High Sierra
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
Maidu dancers
California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections
Konkow Maidu
Shim Harno / Alamy Stock Photo
Coso rock art
Photo courtesy Craig Baker
Gold Rush, Native Americans and Chinese immigrants, c. 1850
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Missionaries preaching to Native Americans, 1820
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Gold washers on the American River, California, nineteenth century
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Indian Camp – Ta Sai Dum, Maidu
California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections
Mike Jefferson (Maidu) – Head Dancer at Stonyford Pomo Ceremony, 1907
California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of The Cleveland Museum of Art
On-screen text: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
On-screen text: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), La Vie, 1903, oil on canvas, 77 3/8 x 50 7/8 in.
Video: William Griswold, Director and President of The Cleveland Museum of Art, standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
On-screen text: William Griswold, Director and President, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Audio— William Griswold: Hello, I’m William Griswold, Director and President of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, Pablo Picasso’s La Vie, of 1903, and tell you why I think it’s truly a masterpiece.
Video: The museum gallery where the Pablo Picasso painting La Vie, 1903, is on display
Audio: The Cleveland Museum of Art is extremely fortunate to have one of the most important Picasso collections in the United States. One of the stars of the collection is the artist’s great Blue Period masterpiece, the 6 ½ x 4 ¼ foot oil on canvas painting La Vie, of 1903.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: We know now that the painting was the product of months of revision and reworking. In the breadth and complexity of its ideas, and as…
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …a poignant statement by a young artist struggling to understand human tragedy and the meaning of life, La Vie stands out as the first great masterpiece by…
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso
Audio: …a painter considered by many the most important and influential artist of the twentieth century.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: The work is a masterpiece because it represents the culminating work of Picasso’s Blue Period, which began in 1901…
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso, Ángel Fernández de Soto and Carles Casagemas
Audio: …following the suicide of his close friend, Carles Casagemas, the man portrayed…
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …on the left side of the painting.
Video: The painting Carles Casagemas, 1899–1900, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Casagemas was a failed artist who shot himself in a café after being rejected by a lover.
Video: The painting Burial of Casagemas, 1901, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Picasso said it was thinking about Casagemas that inspired him to paint in a blue palette.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Picasso drew his first sketches for the painting in the spring of 1903, while living in Barcelona.
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso
Audio: Only twenty-one years old, he had spent the past two years drifting back and forth between Barcelona and Paris…
Video: The paintings The Visit (Two Sisters), 1902; Woman Ironing, 1904; and The Mother, 1901, by Pablo Picasso
Audio …painting themes of human misery, poverty and social alienation.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Picasso’s studies for La Vie reveal that he originally intended to depict himself as an artist in his studio, standing between a nude woman and a canvas resting on an easel.
Video: An x-radiograph of La Vie showing Picasso and Germaine
Audio: X-radiographs of the work show that Picasso continued to portray himself as the artist in the early stages of this painting.
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: He eventually decided to alter the central figure and began the process of transforming the subject into a complex Symbolist allegory. Since its creation, La Vie has been a controversial work. Although the subject is complicated, it is possible to unlock the painting’s meaning by tracing the process of its creation.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: It begins with the title, which is original as it was published in the Barcelona press while the painting was still in Picasso’s possession. Over the years, scholars have interpreted La Vie as either an allegory of the cycle of life…
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …or as an allegory of sacred and profane love, represented by the opposition between the mother and child on the right, and the nude couple on the left. The “cycle of life” starts with the infant on the right, then flows through figures of various ages, until concluding with the crouching woman representing death in the lower center.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: A more recent interpretation focuses on Picasso’s drawings or studies for the painting.
Video: A series of 1903 studies for La Vie by Pablo Picasso
Audio: All of the studies depict Picasso standing in his studio between a nude woman, his model or lover, and a canvas resting on an easel. Three studies include a bearded man with long hair entering the studio on the right. Close comparison of the drawings reveals that Picasso was experimenting with assigning different gestures and attributes to the figures in ways that alter their meaning. While the nude woman is usually depicted with short hair, in one drawing she has long hair flowing down her back, often an attribute of the femme fatale in Symbolist art. In the drawing on the left, the same woman appears pregnant. In this drawing, Picasso points upward with one hand, and toward the canvas on the easel with the other. This double gesture suggests that the artist’s role in life is to translate ideas from above into images on the canvas. In other words, the artist serves as a mediator between metaphysical and physical reality, and as a progenitor of new life.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: While details in the drawings differ, the core idea of placing an artist between his model and a canvas on an easel indicates that Picasso originally conceived the subject…
Video: The charcoal and pastel drawing Portrait of Pablo Picasso, c. 1900, by Ramon Casas
Audio: …as alluding to the life of the modern, bohemian artist.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: But why did Picasso substitute Casagemas as the central figure?
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: La Vie brought the Blue Period to a close by resurrecting the specter of Casagemas, whose suicide had inspired Picasso’s ambition of becoming, so he wrote, “the painter of human misery.”
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: For many years, the painting’s provenance was shrouded in mystery. In April 1904, Picasso sold La Vie and another painting to…
Video: The painting Portrait of Sebastià Junyent, c. 1887, by Antoni Caba
Audio: …his friend and studio-mate Sebastià Junyent for 500 pesetas.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Afterward, La Vie disappeared from public view.
Video: A photograph of William Milliken seated at a desk
Audio: William Milliken, then director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, recounts how upon a 1945 visit to Jacques Seligmann’s gallery in New York…
Video: A photograph of William Milliken looking at the painting The Young Women of Avignon, 1907, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …he was greeted by the dealer with the news: “I have something that may interest you,” and…
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …he was shown La Vie. After conferring by phone with the museum’s curator of paintings, Henry Francis, they had the painting quietly shipped to Cleveland…
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …where it was hidden under a cloth until the board of trustees approved its acquisition.
Video: A photograph of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
Audio: Cleveland Museum of Art trustee Leonard C. Hanna commented in a letter…
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …that he considered the acquisition crucial for developing an audience for modern art in Cleveland…
Video: The painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso hanging on the museum gallery wall in between the paintings The Harem, 1906, by Pablo Picasso and Dos Mujeres (Two Women), 1914, by Diego Rivera
Audio: …and this painting remains one of the most important works in the museum’s collection to this day.
Video: William Griswold standing in front of the painting La Vie, 1903, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about La Vie by Pablo Picasso. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987)
Marilyn x 100, 1962
Screenprint ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund, and Anonymous Gift
The Cleveland Museum of Art
© 2021 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Simone Leigh (American, b. 1967)
Las Meninas, 2019
Terracotta, steel, raffia and porcelain
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller
The Cleveland Museum of Art
© 2019 Simone Leigh. All rights reserved.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
© 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
La Vie (Life), 1903
Oil on canvas
Gift of the Hanna Fund
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Harem, 1906
Oil on canvas
Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Harlequin with Violin, 1918
Oil on canvas
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Carles Casagemas, 1899–1900
Oil on canvas
Museu Picasso de Barcelona
Album / Art Resource, NY
Burial of Casagemas, 1901
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Image: © Paris Musées, Musée d’Art Moderne, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image ville de Paris / Art Resource, NY
The Visit (Two Sisters), 1902
Oil on canvas
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Woman Ironing, 1904
Oil on canvas
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Mother, 1901
Oil on cardboard mounted on panel
Saint Louis Art Museum
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Infrared reflectograph: Picasso and Germaine (detail); x-radiograph of La Vie
Digital image: The Cleveland Museum of Art
X-radiograph of La Vie
Digital image: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Study for La Vie, 1903
Pen and brown ink on paper
Musée national Picasso, Paris
Study for La Vie, 1903
Conté pencil on paper
Museu Picasso de Barcelona
Gift of the artist, 1970
The Young Women of Avignon, 1907
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957)
Dos Mujeres (Two Women), 1914
Oil on canvas
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection: Gift of Abby Rockefeller Mauzé
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Ricard Canals y Llambí (Spanish, 1876–1931)
Photograph of Pablo Picasso, 1904
Digital image: © RMN-Grand Palais
Manuel Pallarès i Grau (Spanish, 1876–1974)
Photograph of Pablo Picasso, Ángel Fernández de Soto and Carles Casagemas, n.d.
Bodegas Güell
Pablo Picasso, Ravignan, Montmartre, 1904
Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Ramon Casas (Spanish, 1866–1932)
Portrait of Pablo Picasso, c. 1900
Charcoal and pastel on paper
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
Gift of the artist
The Artchives / Alamy Stock Photo
Antoni Caba (Spanish, 1838–1907)
Portrait of Sebastià Junyent, c. 1887
Oil on canvas
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
William Milliken, Director, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Courtesy of Cleveland Public Library
William Milliken, Director, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Courtesy of the Cleveland Press Collection, Cleveland State University
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Cleveland Museum of Art trustee and advisor, about 1955
The Cleveland Museum of Art
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
August 30th-October 11th, 2021
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Dallas Museum of Art
On-screen text: Dallas Museum of Art
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
On-screen text: Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956), Cathedral, 1947, enamel and aluminum paint on canvas, 71 1/2” x 35 1/16”
Video: Agustín Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, standing in front of the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
On-screen text: Agustín Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director, Dallas Museum of Art
Audio— Agustín Arteaga: Hello, I’m Agustín Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite and most iconic works from our collection, Cathedral by Jackson Pollock, and tell you why it’s truly a masterpiece.
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: Jackson Pollock’s Cathedral has been part of the Dallas Museum of Art Collection for more than seven decades. It was acquired in 1950 by the formerly named Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, which was one of the first museums to collect the artist’s work.
Video: Agustín Arteaga standing in front of the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: Created in 1947, the six-by-three-foot painting of enamel and aluminum on canvas was a gift…
Video: Photograph of Bernard Reis and Rebecca Reis
Audio: …to the Museum by New York-based collectors Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Reis…
Video: Photograph of Stanley Marcus
Audio: …at the urging of famed retailer and then board member Stanley Marcus.
Video: Archival photographs of the Dallas Museum of Art galleries and exterior
Audio: The donors wanted to place an example of the most progressive and important new art in the heart of the United States, beyond the traditional Eastern Corridor of culture.
Video: Archival photograph of the artist Rufino Tamayo seated near the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock at the Dallas Museum of Art
Audio: In accepting the gift of Cathedral so early, the Museum set a standard for future works entering the contemporary collection…
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: …and became part of the vanguard of contemporary art.
Video: A series of photographs of Jackson Pollock painting
Audio: Capturing the artist’s movement, passion and ability to create harmony in abstraction…
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: …Cathedral is considered a masterpiece by Abstract Expressionism’s greatest artist.
Video: The painting One: Number 31, 1950, 1950, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: Pollock is best known for his monumental “drip paintings” created between...
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock painting
Audio: ...1947 and 1950, which were revolutionary to the world of art.
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: An early and successful example of this new style of painting, works such as Cathedral defined Abstract Expressionism…
Video: The painting Sea Change, 1947, by Jackson Pollock and the painting Pasiphaë, 1943, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: …a uniquely American movement that captured the energy, as well as the introspections and angst, of post-World War II culture in the United States.
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock as an adult
Audio: Jackson Pollock was born in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming…
Video: A series of photographs of Jackson Pollock as a child and with his family
Audio: …to a struggling farming family. Growing up between Arizona and California, he began his art training while in high school in Los Angeles. His mother is credited with cultivating artistic potential in each of her five children—three of whom would later become artists.
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock as an adolescent
Audio: At age eighteen, he moved to New York with his brother, where he studied at the Art Students League…
Video: A photograph of Thomas Hart Benton
Audio: …with the leading American scene painter of the time, Thomas Hart Benton.
Video: The painting America Today (Midwest), 1930–31, by Thomas Hart Benton
Audio: He absorbed Benton’s technique of focusing compositions around canted vertical elements…
Video: The painting Mural, 1943, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: …which would later push Pollock in new artistic directions.
Video: A poster for the Federal Arts Project: Exhibition of Graphic Arts
Audio: Through the 1930s and early 1940s, Pollock worked for the Federal Arts Project…
Video: A photograph of David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jackson Pollock
Audio: …and assisted Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros…
Video: The paintings Convergence, 1952; Naked Man with Knife, c. 1938–41; and The Key, 1946, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: …from whom he learned the dripping technique and discovered the use of new industrial materials, while his style evolved from a dark regionalism to a more freely rendered form of abstraction.
Video: A photograph of Peggy Guggenheim and Jackson Pollock standing in front of his painting Mural, 1947
Audio: By 1943, he landed his first solo exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim’s legendary Art of This Century gallery in New York, an instrumental showcase for avant-garde art.
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock painting
Audio: To develop his complex imagery, Pollock pulled inspiration from a range of diverse sources…
Video: An image of Native American Navajo drawing and sand painting
Audio: …such as Navajo sand painting…
Video: A photograph of a man painting a Japanese character onto a large scroll
Audio: …Asian calligraphy…
Video: The painting Carnival of Harlequin, 1924–25, by Joan Miró
Audio: …Surrealism…
Video: The painting Still Life with Liqueur Bottle, Horta de San Joan, August 1909, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: …Cubism…
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock
Audio: …and even personal revelations from psychotherapy sessions.
Video: The painting Guernica, 1937, by Pablo Picasso
Audio: His influences included Pablo Picasso…
Video: The painting Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1904–1906, by Paul Cézanne and the painting Death and Resurrection, c. 1943, by José Clemente Orozco
Audio: Paul Cézanne and, above all, José Clemente Orozco, among others.
Video: Agustín Arteaga standing in front of the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: In 1947, Pollock began a revolution with paintings like Cathedral, marking the beginning of his “drip period,” which would last through 1950.
Video: A series of photographs of Jackson Pollock painting
Audio: Pollock, with his drip paintings, introduced a radical technique by placing his canvases on the ground and creating abstract form from a simple fusion of physics, material and movement, using his body to fling, drip and otherwise apply paint to a flat surface with energetic motion.
Video: The painting Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: His most famous paintings were created during this time, and his popularity soared overnight after being featured in…
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock standing in front of his painting Number 9, 1949
Audio: …a 1949 Life magazine article. The article posed the question, “Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?”
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: A combination of artist’s oil paint and commercial enamel paints were used to create Cathedral. There is a white ground layer over which thin black paint was applied and then scraped away. This was followed by dripping and pooling of the glossy black, white and aluminum commercial paints. He let this paint fall into complex webs that intersect, break, overlap and conjoin in a teeming field of silver, gray and black, flecked with hints of orange, yellow, blue and green. Tube paint was also squeezed onto the surface, and there were web-like applications of thick, brighter colors, including chartreuse, orange, red, blue and yellow. The paint is applied in arched applications using various tools as well as flicked and brushed.
Video: Agustín Arteaga standing in front of the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: The resulting work is a masterpiece of this style of painting…
Video: Photographs of paint cans on the floor and of Jackson Pollock in his studio
Audio: …and captures the zeitgeist of a new era for American art and culture.
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: The layering techniques are complex and beautiful…
Video: A photograph of Jackson Pollock painting
Audio: …and Pollock’s movement and energy vibrates off the canvas to this day.
Video: A photograph of atomic bomb testing in the Pacific; an atom model; and a 3-D computer graphic of nebulae and starry sky in outer space
Audio: In 1947, one might have discovered a parallel between Cathedral and the energy released by the atomic bomb, the energy inside an atom itself, or the patterns of the universe just then being discerned.
Video: A photograph of the poet Frank O’Hara
Audio: Poet and friend of Pollock Frank O’Hara…
Video: A composite image showing the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock alongside the Milan Cathedral
Audio: …compared the painting to the façade of a Gothic cathedral.
Video: The painting Cathedral, 1947 by Jackson Pollock
Audio: Almost 75 years later, this energy is still present. It has been conserved several times, and though fragile, the painting remains in beautiful condition.
Video: Agustín Arteaga standing in front of the painting Cathedral, 1947, by Jackson Pollock
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and learn about Jackson Pollock’s Cathedral. I encourage you to visit the Dallas Museum of Art in person or online, and join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Page Break
Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956)
© 2021 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Cathedral, 1947
Enamel and aluminum paint on canvas
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard J. Reis
Dallas Museum of Art
Image: Bridgeman Images
One: Number 31, 1950, 1950
Oil and enamel paint on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sea Change, 1947
Oil and pebbles on canvas
Seattle Art Museum
Pasiphaë, 1943
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Rogers, Fletcher, and Harris Brisbane Dick Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1982
Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY
Convergence, 1952
Oil on canvas
Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1956
Albright-Knox Art Gallery / Art Resource, NY
Naked Man with Knife, c. 1938–41
Oil on canvas
Image: © Tate, London / Art Resource, NY
The Key, 1946
Oil on linen
Through prior gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Morris, 1987.261
The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY
Mural, 1943
Oil and casein on canvas
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
Enamel on canvas
George A. Hearn Fund, 1957, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY
Number 9, 1949
Oil on canvas
Photograph of Bernard Reis and Rebecca Reis with Piero Dorazio in Venice, Italy, 1966.
Bernard J. Reis papers, c. 1913–1983. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Stanley Marcus at the Albert D. Lasker Collection exhibition opening event, March 1953
Southern Methodist University, Hamon Arts Library, Bywaters Special Collections [Gift of Dr. Richard Bywaters and Mrs. Jerry Bywaters Cochran]
People in Dallas Allied Arts exhibition, 1950s
Dallas Museum of Art Archives, Photograph Scrapbook
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Fair Park, Lagoon entrance, 1950s
Dallas Museum of Art Archives, Building Photography
Reception during Rufino Tamayo visit; Tamayo is seated in center speaking with Elizabeth Ann McMurray, 1953
Dallas Museum of Art Archives, 90th Anniversary Timeline Photographs
Hans Namuth (American, b. Germany, 1915–1990)
Photographs of Jackson Pollock, 1950
©1991 Hans Namuth Estate, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
Photographs of Jackson Pollock as a child and with his family
Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Jackson Pollock, age 16, c. 1928
Archivio GBB / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and muralist
Album / Alamy Stock Photo
Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975)
America Today (Midwest) (one of ten panels), 1930–31
Egg tempera with oil glazing over Permalba on a gesso ground on linen mounted to wood panels with a honeycomb interior
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of AXA Equitable, 2012
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
© 2021 T.H. and R.P. Benton Trusts / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
A woman looks at Mural, 1943, by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
A poster for the Federal Art Project: Exhibition of Graphic Arts
Universal Images Group North America LLC / Alamy Stock Photo
George Cox, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jackson Pollock in New York, 1936
Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Peggy Guggenheim and Jackson Pollock, 1946, standing in front of the mural Guggenheim commissioned in 1943 for her New York apartment. The painting is now owned by the University of Iowa.
Photograph by George Karger. Courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Archives
Native American Navajo drawing and sand painting, Arizona
SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Calligraphy painting of the character for “brush,” by artist Souun Takeda, Japan
jeremy sutton-hibbert / Alamy Stock Photo
Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983)
Carnival of Harlequin, 1924–25
Oil on canvas
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Room of Contemporary Art Fund, 1940
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
© Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2021
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
© 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Still Life with Liqueur Bottle, Horta de San Joan, August 1909
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund
JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
Guernica, 1937
Oil on canvas
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Jackson Pollock, 1950s
United Archives GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906)
Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1904–1906
Oil on canvas
PAINTING / Alamy Stock Photo
José Clemente Orozco (Mexican, 1883–1949)
Death and Resurrection, c. 1943
Tempera on Masonite
Archivart / Alamy Stock Photo
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOMAAP, Mexico City
Tony Vaccaro, Jackson Pollock Painting, 1953
© Tony Vaccaro / Bridgeman Images
Page Break
Portrait of Jackson Pollock next to his painting Number 9, New York, January 3, 1949
Arnold Newman / Contributor
Atomic bomb testing in the Pacific
American Photo Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Abstract atom model
Rostislav Zatonskiy / Alamy Stock Photo
3-D computer graphic of nebulae and starry sky in outer space
Atelier Sommerland / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of Frank O’Hara at home, October 31, 1964
Fred W. McDarrah / Contributor
The Milan Cathedral
Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior shot of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
On-screen text: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
On-screen text: Julie Mehretu (American, born Ethiopia, 1970), HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, ink and acrylic on canvas, each panel: 324” x 384” (823 x 975.4 cm)
Video: Neal Benezra, the Helen and Charles Schwab Director of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
On-screen text: Neal Benezra, Helen and Charles Schwab Director, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Audio— Neal Benezra: Hello, I’m Neal Benezra, the Helen and Charles Schwab Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection…
Audio: Music plays throughout
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: …HOWL, painted in 2017 by Julie Mehretu, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of SFMOMA
Audio: In the spring of 2016, SFMOMA completed a major expansion project, which resulted in 3000 new accessions and a dramatic increase in our gallery space.
Video: A view of the SFMOMA lobby before the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu was installed, showing two blank walls
Audio: When the project was complete, however, there remained two enormously large white walls in the Haas, Jr. Atrium that cried out for works of art.
Video: Julie Mehretu posing in front of one of her artworks
Audio: It did not take long for us to conclude that Julie Mehretu was just the right artist.
Video: A group of people examining the Julie Mehretu painting Stadia I, 2004, in a storage area
Audio: In 2006, we acquired Stadia 1.
Video: The Julie Mehretu painting Stadia I, 2004
Audio: It’s composed of wide-ranging graphic imagery suggestive of the collision of maps, architectural fragments, banners and flags, all set in a churning imaginary environment.
Video: A shot of the Julie Mehretu painting Mural, 2009, installed in a building lobby
Audio: More recently, Mehretu had worked at a scale comparable to our project, having completed Mural in 2009, a site-specific commission in Lower Manhattan.
Video: Julie Mehretu onstage with a blue ribbon around her neck, shaking hands with former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
Audio: She’s received many prestigious awards…
Video: Julie Mehretu standing at a podium onstage
Audio: …and her work has been shown…
Video: Installation shots of Julie Mehretu exhibitions
Audio: …worldwide, including a retrospective that opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in March 2021.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: Mehretu’s artworks exhibit a deep knowledge of the history of painting, as well as a fluid mastery of many techniques. She often combines painting, drawing and printmaking onto one canvas. They can also be strikingly large in scale. She works in layers, combining recognizable images with abstract forms one on top of the other. The layers have messages. Some may include subtle historical references, while others are clearly addressing current events. She explores different times…
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: …and situations, from the prehistoric to the contemporary era, to confront our complicated human history. The ambition in Mehretu’s subject matter…
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: …her readiness to explore an astonishing scope of human history and her complexly layered paintings…
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: …distinguishes her as one of the great painters of her generation.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: This diptych is titled HOWL…
Video: The book cover of Howl and Other Poems, 1956, by Allen Ginsberg
Audio: …a reference to the Allen Ginsberg poem of the same title.
Video: A photograph of Allen Ginsberg holding books and pamphlets inside a bookstore
Audio: Written in the mid-1950s, Howl is the manifesto of the Beat Generation…
Video: A photograph of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac reading a book together
Audio: …of writers and artists, which dominated the progressive culture of San Francisco at that time.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: Throughout her career, Mehretu has combined abstract visual imagery with powerful social and political messages.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: HOWL is an excellent example of this process. The work addresses important, complex issues in American history with a nod to San Francisco’s progressive thinking in her unique style of layered painting.
Video: The lithograph Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, 1868, by Frances Flora Bond Palmer
Audio: In preparation, Mehretu thought deeply…
Video: An archival photograph of railroad workers
Audio: …about Manifest Destiny…
Video: A black-and-white ad for The California Steam Navigation Company
Audio: …the historic westward expansion of America to the West Coast.
Video: Footage of an ocean shore
Audio: She studied nineteenth-century…
Video: The paintings The Andes of Ecuador, 1855, by Frederic Edwin Church and Among the Sierra Nevada, 1868, by Alfred Bierstadt
Audio: …American painters who also worked at large scale, and who depicted…
Video: A study for Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way, c. 1860, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Audio: …the sublime grandeur of the Western landscape.
Video: The Theodore R. Davis illustration Pilgrims of the Plains, from Harper’s Weekly, June 12, 1869
Audio: But this sense of promise and infinite possibility, which California has long held…
Video: The engraving Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1869, by Henry Bean Hall
Audio: …is balanced in the finished work by underlying images…
Video: The painting Fort Laramie, 1858–1860, by Alfred Jacob Miller
Audio: …that draw attention to the negative aspects of American domestic colonialism.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu and her studio assistants working
Audio: HOWL features a base layer of embedded digital images of contemporary race riots and street protests, which were printed directly onto the canvas. These images provided the foundation of the palette and are topped with luminous layers of paint and ink applied with brushes, spray paint and even screen-printing. The physical creation and installation of this work was an incredible feat.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: It was clearly not realistic for Julie to paint directly on the walls while the museum was open. The museum agreed that Julie needed a space in New York, where she lives and works, and where she could simulate the architecture of the museum.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of a church
Audio: We helped her identify and lease a decommissioned church in Harlem.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu and her studio staff working
Audio: In this vast space, complete with the most extraordinary light, Julie had walls constructed to exactly the scale needed for the museum space.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: Once the artist had completed work in her New York studio…
Video: Footage of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, being prepared for transport and then of it being installed at SFMOMA
Audio: …the paintings were taken off their stretchers, carefully rolled on large tubes and transported across the country. Thanks to incredible coordination, a team of museum art handlers and the artist’s studio assistants unfurled the canvases like enormous sails and mounted them to our white walls. I love these paintings because of their painterly ambition and their achievement. They are simultaneously extraordinary abstract paintings that celebrate…
Video: The painting Sunset Glow on Mt. Tamalpais, 1896, by William Keith
Audio: …the promise of California, while also…
Video: A close-up photograph of a person’s sneakered feet stomping on a broken car windshield with a handwritten sign on it that says, “No Justice, No Peace”
Audio: …acknowledging the social and economic difficulties…
Video: A photograph of man running by a building on fire while pushing a cart full of packaged diapers
Audio: …that have often been the reality of…
Video: A close-up photograph of a person’s wrists in handcuffs
Audio: …of the Western United States.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: HOWL also thrills me for what these great paintings mean in our museum and for our community. Our Haas, Jr. Atrium is open free of charge to the public, and Mehretu’s work provides an unparalleled invitation to our community to experience contemporary art at SFMOMA. It is hard for me to ever imagine SFMOMA without this extraordinary masterpiece. I hope you can visit and share in my enthusiasm.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Julie Mehretu’s HOWL. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018)
Love, 1973
Painted aluminum
© 2021 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Ursula von Rydingsvard (American, b. Germany, 1942)
Czara z Bąbelkami, 2006
Cedar
© Ursula von Rydingsvard
Olafur Eliasson (Danish–Icelandic, b. Copenhagen, 1967)
One-way colour tunnel, 2007
Stainless steel, color effect acrylic and acrylic mirror
© Olafur Eliasson
Sol LeWitt (American, 1928–2007)
Wall Drawing 895: Loopy Doopy (white and blue), February 1999
Acrylic paint
© 2021 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Tony Smith (American, 1912–1980)
Throwback, 1976
Aluminum and paint
© 2021 Tony Smith Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Julie Mehretu (American, b. Ethiopia, 1970)
© Julie Mehretu
HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Ink and acrylic on canvas
Collection SFMOMA, gift of Helen and Charles Schwab
Stadia I, 2004
Acrylic and ink on canvas
Collection SFMOMA, partial gift of Dominique Lévy and purchase through the Accessions Committee Fund with the additional support of Gay-Lynn and Robert Blanding, Jean and James E. Douglas, Jr., Ann and Robert S. Fisher, and Pat and Bill Wilson
Mural, 2009
Acrylic, ink and silica on canvas
Installed at Goldman Sachs, New York
Photo credit: Jason Schmidt
Installation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24–August 8, 2021). From left to right: Migration Direction Map (large), 1996; Migration Direction Map, 1996; Untitled (sketch), 1996; Transcending: The New International, 2003.
Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24–August 8, 2021). From left to right: Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation, 2001; Stadia II, 2004; Dispersion, 2002; Untitled 2, 2001; Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts) (2 of 4), 2012.
Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Twin Walls Mural Company
Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, 2020
Acrylic paint
© 2020 Twin Walls Mural Company. Designed and painted by Marina Perez-Wong and Elaine Chu for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Assisted by Priya Handa and Lisa Max.
Julie Mehretu poses in front of her artwork at the art club Kunstverein in Hannover, Germany
dpa picture alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry awards Julie Mehretu the Medal of Arts Lifetime Achievement Award at the Art in Embassies Medal of Arts award luncheon at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2015
506 collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Julie Mehretu speaks during David Hammons’ monumental sculpture Day’s End dedication ceremony, Gansevoort Peninsula
Lev Radin / Alamy Stock Photo
Julie Mehretu exhibition at documenta-Halle, Kassel, Germany
Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
Installation footage by 32K productions, courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art © SFMOMA 2017
Footage of Julie Mehretu in the Art21 digital series Extended Play, Politicized Landscapes
© Art21, Inc. 2017
The cover of Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
sjbooks / Alamy Stock Photo
Allen Ginsberg, 1959
Joe Rosenthal / San Francisco Chronicle / Polaris
American Beat writers Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) and Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) read a book together, 1959
Getty Images, John Cohen / Contributor
Frances Flora Bond Palmer (American, b. England, 1812–1876)
Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, 1868
Published by Currier & Ives, 125 Nassau St., New York, 1835–1907
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Kathy and Ted Fernberger, 2009
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (American, b. Germany, 1816–1868)
Study for Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way, c. 1860
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Theodore R. Davis (American, 1840–1894)
Pilgrims of the Plains, from Harper’s Weekly, June 12, 1869
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Henry Bean Hall (American, dates unknown)
Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1869
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810–1874)
Fort Laramie, 1858–1860
Watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
William Keith (American, b. Scotland, 1838–1911)
Sunset Glow on Mt. Tamalpais, 1896
Oil on canvas
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Ferdinand Heim in memory of Ferdinand Heim
Participants in protest march against police violence over the death of George Floyd, Los Angeles, May 30, 2020
Hayk Shalunts / Alamy Stock Photo
A man runs by a building on fire with a cart full of diapers during the second day of the Los Angeles riots on April 30, 1992
Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Photo
U.S. Marshals handcuff a fugitive wanted for violent offenses during the 90-day Operation Triple Beam, March 7, 2019, in Las Cruces, New Mexico
U.S. Marshals / Alamy Stock Photo
Music by Jason Moran from Mass {Howl, eon}
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Architectural renderings of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery—Buffalo AKG Art Museum
On-screen text: Albright-Knox Art Gallery—Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Video: Overhead footage of the construction site for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery—Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Video: A rendering of the sculpture Common sky (working title), 2022, by Studio Other Spaces, Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann
Video: Architectural rendering of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery—Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Video: The painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo
On-screen text: Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, oil on Masonite
Video: Janne Sirén, the Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, standing in front of the painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo
On-screen text: Janne Sirén, Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director, Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Audio— Janne Sirén: Hello, I’m Janne Sirén, Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece. Although the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is located in Buffalo, today…
Video: Exterior of the Detroit Institute of Arts
Audio: …we are at one of our sister museums on the Great Lakes, the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Video: The painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo
Audio: …Kahlo was thirty-one when she painted this small but visually super-charged image that is one of the most beloved paintings in the Albright-Knox’s collection…
Video: Janne Sirén standing in front of the painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo
Audio: …inspiring viewers around the world. Through its warm colors, the intensity of its graphic detail and subject matter that pokes our curiosity, it beckons the viewer to visually dive into Kahlo’s dynamic world, in which local and global cultural trends collide and private and universal aspects of life converge.
Video: Archival footage of Frida Kahlo sitting in a chair and sketching on a pad, followed by black-and-white footage of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera on scaffolding in front of a Diego Rivera mural
Audio: Given that we are in Detroit, it is interesting to look back to the early 1930s—the days of the Great Depression, when Kahlo in fact lived here with her husband, Diego Rivera, who at the time was working on the famous…
Video: Footage of Detroit Industry murals, 1932–1933, by Diego Rivera
Audio: …Detroit Industry murals, the subject of a previous episode of Masterpiece Moment, that still today frame the interior courtyard of this museum.
Video: A photograph of Kahlo as a young child followed by photographs of her as an adolescent and an adult
Audio: Frida was an interesting individual already as a child. She planned to be a doctor, but as fate would have it, she dedicated herself to art.
Video: A series of archival photographs of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera together
Audio: Kahlo met painter and fellow progressive activist Diego Rivera while still a schoolgirl, and theirs was an unconventional, and often stormy, union. They married in 1929, divorced in 1939 and remarried in 1940, and bonded over a shared sense of humor, political outlook and love for Mexicanidad. The couple were collectors of Mesoamerican artifacts and books about Aztec people and culture.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting The Broken Column, 1944
Audio: Kahlo’s life was marked by significant physical suffering.
Video: A photograph of Kahlo as a young child
Audio: She contracted polio at the age of five…
Video: Janne Sirén standing in front of the painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938 by Frida Kahlo
Audio: …and suffered a catastrophic trolley accident in 1925, which left her with debilitating, life-altering injuries at the age of eighteen.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with the Portrait of Doctor Farill, 1951
Audio: As a result of the accident, Kahlo was in and out of hospitals throughout her life…
Video: Archival photographs of Kahlo lying in bed and painting and a view of her studio
Audio: …and subjected to numerous painful surgeries. Many of her works were created while she lay in bed recovering. A self-taught artist…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940
Audio: …Kahlo created imagery that primarily focused on personal stories…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting The Wounded Deer, 1946
Audio: …on love and its connection to pain in her life.
Video: A black-and-white photograph of Kahlo standing next to her painting The Two Fridas, 1939
Audio: A common feature in Kahlo’s work is duality, for example…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting The Two Fridas, 1939
Audio: …the body she lost through injury and the body that remained…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Without Hope, 1945
Audio: …traditional and modern ways of Mexican and European identity…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting My Grandparents, My Parents, and I, Family Tree, 1936
Audio: …the closeness of those she loved…
Video: A photograph of Frida Kahlo lying in bed and Diego Rivera leaning over to kiss her
Audio: …but also their betrayal; sadness and joy.
Video: A photograph of Frida Kahlo looking out a window
Audio: Additionally, Kahlo was haunted by an unfulfilled…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting My Grandparents, My Parents, and I, Family Tree, 1936
Audio: …desire to have children and looked for comfort in pets.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940
Audio: Kahlo was drawn to monkeys for their symbolism and their playful, childlike nature.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1940
Audio: Kahlo took a particular interest in self-portraiture, creating fifty-five self-portraits during her lifetime…
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Small Monkey, 1945
Audio: …comprising nearly one-third of her known body of work.
Video: A photograph of Frida Kahlo looking into a mirror
Audio: Frida Kahlo once said, “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone. I am the person I know best.”
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot, 1942
Audio: Many of these self-portraits feature the artist in the company of her various pets.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938
Audio: Featured here is her favorite pet monkey, Fulang-Chang, who sits behind her right shoulder with his arm lovingly and protectively draped around her neck. The artist’s dark brown eyes stare directly out, arresting the viewer with the intensity of her confident gaze. Around the monkey’s neck is a collar, a leash made of green ribbon. The end of the cord continues off the painting’s bottom edge but is presumably in the artist’s hand. Her lips are pursed, and expression is set. Her choice to depict the facial hair above her lip and along the left side of her face gives her portrait an intriguing combination of masculine and feminine features. She wears a traditional Mexican blouse and unusual, Mesoamerican-inspired necklace made of segments of bone connected by a thin, blood-red cord. In the background, a lush curtain of leaves envelops her. The bright color palette, vegetation and traditional costume and jewelry featured in this painting reflect Kahlo’s interest in her heritage and native Mexican art.
Video: A photograph of Frida Kahlo wearing traditional Mexican jewelry
Audio: Throughout her life, she would don the clothing and jewelry of traditional Mexican culture…
Video: A photograph of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in a parade with a large group of people
Audio: …as a form of political statement.
Video: The Frida Kahlo painting Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia), 1928
Audio: Frida Kahlo was instrumental in the revival of traditional Mexican culture in the early twentieth century…
Video: A color photograph of Frida Kahlo seated at an easel while painting
Audio: …and while this is an important source of inspiration for her work…
Video: A black-and-white photograph of Frida Kahlo holding a monkey
Audio: …understanding Kahlo also requires seeing her work within the context of Mexico’s history.
Video: Janne Sirén standing in front of the painting Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, by Frida Kahlo
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today, to learn more about Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey from the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss this piece with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment!
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Albright-Knox Art Gallery—Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Renderings courtesy of OMA New York
Common sky (working title), 2022, by Studio Other Spaces, Olafur Eliasson (Danish–Icelandic, b. Copenhagen, 1967) and Sebastian Behmann (German, b. 1969)
© Studio Other Spaces
Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954)
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938, oil on Masonite
Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966
Photo: Tom Loonan and Brenda Bieger for Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Broken Column, 1944, oil on Masonite
Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City
The Artchives / Alamy Stock Photo
Self-Portrait with the Portrait of Doctor Farill, 1951, oil on Masonite
Archivart / Alamy Stock Photo
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940, oil on canvas mounted to board
Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin
Album / Alamy Stock Photo
The Wounded Deer, 1946, oil on Masonite
Private Collection Houston, Texas
Archivart / Alamy Stock Photo
The Two Fridas, 1939, oil on canvas
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
Benedicte Desrus / Alamy Stock Photo
Without Hope, 1945, oil on canvas and Masonite
Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City
The Artchives / Alamy Stock Photo
My Grandparents, My Parents, and I, Family Tree, 1936, oil and tempera on zinc
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Allan Roos, M. D., and B. Mathieu Roos
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1940, oil on canvas
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.
Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo
Self-Portrait with Small Monkey, 1945, oil on Masonite
Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City
Vidura Luis Barrios / Alamy Stock Photo
Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot, 1942, oil on Masonite
Museum of Latin American Art, Buenos Aires, Eduardo F. Costantini, 2001
Bjanka Kadic / Alamy Stock Photo
Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia), 1928, oil on canvas
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Charles H. Bayley Picture and Paintings Fund, William Francis Warden Fund, Sophie M. Friedman Fund, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow Fund, Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, Gift of Jessie H. Wilkinson—Jessie H. Wilkinson Fund, and Robert M. Rosenberg Fund.
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957)
Detroit Industry murals, 1932–1933, frescos
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Guillermo Kahlo (German-Mexican, b. Germany, 1871–1941)
Frida Kahlo, June 15, 1919
Archivart / Alamy Stock Photo
Frida Kahlo, 1926
ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, early 1930s
JSM Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Unknown, photograph of Frida Kahlo, n.d.
Vintage_Space / Alamy Stock Photo
Bernard Silberstein (American 1905–1999)
Diego Rivera Watching Frida Kahlo Paint a Self-Portrait, c.1940, gelatin silver print
© Estate of Bernard Silberstein. © Cincinnati Art Museum / Gift of the Artist / Bridgeman Images
Frida Kahlo with her husband the Mexican artist Diego Rivera in her studio in Mexico City, c. 1945
Album / Art Resource, NY
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, n.d.
Album / Art Resource, NY
Photograph of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from the personal collection of Frida Kahlo, n.d.
Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City
Edward Weston (American, 1886–1958)
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, 1930, gelatin silver print
Edward Weston Archive. 81.276.1
© 2021 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo in their apartment in the Barbizon Plaza Hotel in New York, the day after his dismissal from painting the Rockefeller Center mural, May 10, 1933
CSU Archives/Everett Collection / Everett Collection / Bridgeman Images
Times Wide World Photos (Active 1919–1941)
A Mexican Artist Records his First Impressions of San Francisco, 1930
The New York Times Collection. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and their pet monkey, 1948
Bridgeman Images
Frida Kahlo, famous Mexican painter, n.d.
Vintage_Space / Alamy Stock Photo
Lola Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1907–1993)
Interior of Casa Azul, 1950s. Casa Azul, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, gelatin silver print. Lola Álvarez Bravo Archive, 95.29.23
© 2021 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo’s workspace, Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City
dbimages / Alamy Stock Photo
Frida Kahlo shown with her painting The Two Fridas, 1939
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Tina Modotti (Italian, 1896–1942)
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the Blue House (Casa Azul), Coyoacan, Mexico City, 1940
© Galerie Bilderwelt / Bridgeman Images
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in the May Day Parade, Mexico City, May, 1 1929
© Galerie Bilderwelt / Bridgeman Images
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter [1 of 2], n.d.
Dom Slike / Alamy Stock Photo
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter [2 of 2], n.d.
Dom Slike / Alamy Stock Photo
Gisèle Freund (French, b. Germany, 1908–2000)
Frida Kahlo Working on a Portrait of Her Father, 1951, color slide
© IMEC, Fonds MCC, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/ Gisèle Freund / Art Resource, NY
Frida Kahlo holding her pet monkey, 1944
Getty Images / Bettmann / Contributor
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior shot of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
On-screen text: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
On-screen text: Julie Mehretu (American, born Ethiopia, 1970), HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, ink and acrylic on canvas, each panel: 324” x 384” (823 x 975.4 cm)
Video: Neal Benezra, the Helen and Charles Schwab Director of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
On-screen text: Neal Benezra, Helen and Charles Schwab Director, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Audio— Neal Benezra: Hello, I’m Neal Benezra, the Helen and Charles Schwab Director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection…
Audio: Music plays throughout
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: …HOWL, painted in 2017 by Julie Mehretu, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of SFMOMA
Audio: In the spring of 2016, SFMOMA completed a major expansion project, which resulted in 3000 new accessions and a dramatic increase in our gallery space.
Video: A view of the SFMOMA lobby before the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu was installed, showing two blank walls
Audio: When the project was complete, however, there remained two enormously large white walls in the Haas, Jr. Atrium that cried out for works of art.
Video: Julie Mehretu posing in front of one of her artworks
Audio: It did not take long for us to conclude that Julie Mehretu was just the right artist.
Video: A group of people examining the Julie Mehretu painting Stadia I, 2004, in a storage area
Audio: In 2006, we acquired Stadia 1.
Video: The Julie Mehretu painting Stadia I, 2004
Audio: It’s composed of wide-ranging graphic imagery suggestive of the collision of maps, architectural fragments, banners and flags, all set in a churning imaginary environment.
Video: A shot of the Julie Mehretu painting Mural, 2009, installed in a building lobby
Audio: More recently, Mehretu had worked at a scale comparable to our project, having completed Mural in 2009, a site-specific commission in Lower Manhattan.
Video: Julie Mehretu onstage with a blue ribbon around her neck, shaking hands with former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
Audio: She’s received many prestigious awards…
Video: Julie Mehretu standing at a podium onstage
Audio: …and her work has been shown…
Video: Installation shots of Julie Mehretu exhibitions
Audio: …worldwide, including a retrospective that opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in March 2021.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: Mehretu’s artworks exhibit a deep knowledge of the history of painting, as well as a fluid mastery of many techniques. She often combines painting, drawing and printmaking onto one canvas. They can also be strikingly large in scale. She works in layers, combining recognizable images with abstract forms one on top of the other. The layers have messages. Some may include subtle historical references, while others are clearly addressing current events. She explores different times…
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: …and situations, from the prehistoric to the contemporary era, to confront our complicated human history. The ambition in Mehretu’s subject matter…
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: …her readiness to explore an astonishing scope of human history and her complexly layered paintings…
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: …distinguishes her as one of the great painters of her generation.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: This diptych is titled HOWL…
Video: The book cover of Howl and Other Poems, 1956, by Allen Ginsberg
Audio: …a reference to the Allen Ginsberg poem of the same title.
Video: A photograph of Allen Ginsberg holding books and pamphlets inside a bookstore
Audio: Written in the mid-1950s, Howl is the manifesto of the Beat Generation…
Video: A photograph of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac reading a book together
Audio: …of writers and artists, which dominated the progressive culture of San Francisco at that time.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu working
Audio: Throughout her career, Mehretu has combined abstract visual imagery with powerful social and political messages.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: HOWL is an excellent example of this process. The work addresses important, complex issues in American history with a nod to San Francisco’s progressive thinking in her unique style of layered painting.
Video: The lithograph Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, 1868, by Frances Flora Bond Palmer
Audio: In preparation, Mehretu thought deeply…
Video: An archival photograph of railroad workers
Audio: …about Manifest Destiny…
Video: A black-and-white ad for The California Steam Navigation Company
Audio: …the historic westward expansion of America to the West Coast.
Video: Footage of an ocean shore
Audio: She studied nineteenth-century…
Video: The paintings The Andes of Ecuador, 1855, by Frederic Edwin Church and Among the Sierra Nevada, 1868, by Alfred Bierstadt
Audio: …American painters who also worked at large scale, and who depicted…
Video: A study for Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way, c. 1860, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Audio: …the sublime grandeur of the Western landscape.
Video: The Theodore R. Davis illustration Pilgrims of the Plains, from Harper’s Weekly, June 12, 1869
Audio: But this sense of promise and infinite possibility, which California has long held…
Video: The engraving Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1869, by Henry Bean Hall
Audio: …is balanced in the finished work by underlying images…
Video: The painting Fort Laramie, 1858–1860, by Alfred Jacob Miller
Audio: …that draw attention to the negative aspects of American domestic colonialism.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu and her studio assistants working
Audio: HOWL features a base layer of embedded digital images of contemporary race riots and street protests, which were printed directly onto the canvas. These images provided the foundation of the palette and are topped with luminous layers of paint and ink applied with brushes, spray paint and even screen-printing. The physical creation and installation of this work was an incredible feat.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: It was clearly not realistic for Julie to paint directly on the walls while the museum was open. The museum agreed that Julie needed a space in New York, where she lives and works, and where she could simulate the architecture of the museum.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of a church
Audio: We helped her identify and lease a decommissioned church in Harlem.
Video: Footage of Julie Mehretu and her studio staff working
Audio: In this vast space, complete with the most extraordinary light, Julie had walls constructed to exactly the scale needed for the museum space.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: Once the artist had completed work in her New York studio…
Video: Footage of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, being prepared for transport and then of it being installed at SFMOMA
Audio: …the paintings were taken off their stretchers, carefully rolled on large tubes and transported across the country. Thanks to incredible coordination, a team of museum art handlers and the artist’s studio assistants unfurled the canvases like enormous sails and mounted them to our white walls. I love these paintings because of their painterly ambition and their achievement. They are simultaneously extraordinary abstract paintings that celebrate…
Video: The painting Sunset Glow on Mt. Tamalpais, 1896, by William Keith
Audio: …the promise of California, while also…
Video: A close-up photograph of a person’s sneakered feet stomping on a broken car windshield with a handwritten sign on it that says, “No Justice, No Peace”
Audio: …acknowledging the social and economic difficulties…
Video: A photograph of man running by a building on fire while pushing a cart full of packaged diapers
Audio: …that have often been the reality of…
Video: A close-up photograph of a person’s wrists in handcuffs
Audio: …of the Western United States.
Video: The painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017, by Julie Mehretu
Audio: HOWL also thrills me for what these great paintings mean in our museum and for our community. Our Haas, Jr. Atrium is open free of charge to the public, and Mehretu’s work provides an unparalleled invitation to our community to experience contemporary art at SFMOMA. It is hard for me to ever imagine SFMOMA without this extraordinary masterpiece. I hope you can visit and share in my enthusiasm.
Video: Neal Benezra standing in front of the painting HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Julie Mehretu’s HOWL. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018)
Love, 1973
Painted aluminum
© 2021 Morgan Art Foundation Ltd / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Ursula von Rydingsvard (American, b. Germany, 1942)
Czara z Bąbelkami, 2006
Cedar
© Ursula von Rydingsvard
Olafur Eliasson (Danish–Icelandic, b. Copenhagen, 1967)
One-way colour tunnel, 2007
Stainless steel, color effect acrylic and acrylic mirror
© Olafur Eliasson
Sol LeWitt (American, 1928–2007)
Wall Drawing 895: Loopy Doopy (white and blue), February 1999
Acrylic paint
© 2021 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Tony Smith (American, 1912–1980)
Throwback, 1976
Aluminum and paint
© 2021 Tony Smith Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Julie Mehretu (American, b. Ethiopia, 1970)
© Julie Mehretu
HOWL, eon, (I, II), 2017
Ink and acrylic on canvas
Collection SFMOMA, gift of Helen and Charles Schwab
Stadia I, 2004
Acrylic and ink on canvas
Collection SFMOMA, partial gift of Dominique Lévy and purchase through the Accessions Committee Fund with the additional support of Gay-Lynn and Robert Blanding, Jean and James E. Douglas, Jr., Ann and Robert S. Fisher, and Pat and Bill Wilson
Mural, 2009
Acrylic, ink and silica on canvas
Installed at Goldman Sachs, New York
Photo credit: Jason Schmidt
Installation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24–August 8, 2021). From left to right: Migration Direction Map (large), 1996; Migration Direction Map, 1996; Untitled (sketch), 1996; Transcending: The New International, 2003.
Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Julie Mehretu (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, March 24–August 8, 2021). From left to right: Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation, 2001; Stadia II, 2004; Dispersion, 2002; Untitled 2, 2001; Mogamma (A Painting in Four Parts) (2 of 4), 2012.
Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Twin Walls Mural Company
Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, 2020
Acrylic paint
© 2020 Twin Walls Mural Company. Designed and painted by Marina Perez-Wong and Elaine Chu for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Assisted by Priya Handa and Lisa Max.
Julie Mehretu poses in front of her artwork at the art club Kunstverein in Hannover, Germany
dpa picture alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry awards Julie Mehretu the Medal of Arts Lifetime Achievement Award at the Art in Embassies Medal of Arts award luncheon at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2015
506 collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Julie Mehretu speaks during David Hammons’ monumental sculpture Day’s End dedication ceremony, Gansevoort Peninsula
Lev Radin / Alamy Stock Photo
Julie Mehretu exhibition at documenta-Halle, Kassel, Germany
Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
Installation footage by 32K productions, courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art © SFMOMA 2017
Footage of Julie Mehretu in the Art21 digital series Extended Play, Politicized Landscapes
© Art21, Inc. 2017
The cover of Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
sjbooks / Alamy Stock Photo
Allen Ginsberg, 1959
Joe Rosenthal / San Francisco Chronicle / Polaris
American Beat writers Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) and Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) read a book together, 1959
Getty Images, John Cohen / Contributor
Frances Flora Bond Palmer (American, b. England, 1812–1876)
Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, 1868
Published by Currier & Ives, 125 Nassau St., New York, 1835–1907
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Kathy and Ted Fernberger, 2009
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (American, b. Germany, 1816–1868)
Study for Westward, the Course of Empire Takes its Way, c. 1860
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Theodore R. Davis (American, 1840–1894)
Pilgrims of the Plains, from Harper’s Weekly, June 12, 1869
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Henry Bean Hall (American, dates unknown)
Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1869
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810–1874)
Fort Laramie, 1858–1860
Watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
William Keith (American, b. Scotland, 1838–1911)
Sunset Glow on Mt. Tamalpais, 1896
Oil on canvas
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Ferdinand Heim in memory of Ferdinand Heim
Participants in protest march against police violence over the death of George Floyd, Los Angeles, May 30, 2020
Hayk Shalunts / Alamy Stock Photo
A man runs by a building on fire with a cart full of diapers during the second day of the Los Angeles riots on April 30, 1992
Abaca Press / Alamy Stock Photo
U.S. Marshals handcuff a fugitive wanted for violent offenses during the 90-day Operation Triple Beam, March 7, 2019, in Las Cruces, New Mexico
U.S. Marshals / Alamy Stock Photo
Music by Jason Moran from Mass {Howl, eon}
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
July 5th–August 8th, 2021
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
On-screen text: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Video: The Fernand Léger painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
On-screen text: Fernand Léger, Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939, Oil on canvas, 113 1/8” x 74 ½” (287.3 x 189.2 cm)
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
On-screen text: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Audio—Gary Tinterow: Hello, my name is Gary Tinterow, Director and Margaret Alkek Williams Chair of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment.
Video: The Léger painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: Today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, Fernand Léger’s Rockefeller fireplace mural, and tell you why I think it’s a masterpiece.
Video: An interior shot of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Audio: The Museum of Fine Arts was fortunate to acquire this magnificent mural by Fernand Léger from The Museum of Modern Art, in New York, in 2017. It is now on view in the recently opened Nancy and Rich Kinder Building for modern and contemporary art.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: It was painted for what many consider to be the most remarkable domestic space created in the United States in the twentieth century:…
Video: An exterior photograph of the Rockefeller Fifth Avenue home, New York
Audio: …the apartment at 810 Fifth Avenue, at 62nd Street…
Video: A photograph of Mary Clark Rockefeller and future U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller on their wedding day, June 23, 1930
Audio: …created in the late 1930s for Nelson Rockefeller and his wife Mary Clark Rockefeller.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: That apartment represents the combined efforts of a team of architects, designers, painters and sculptors, American and European, each of whom was operating at the height of their abilities…
Video: A photograph of the New York City skyline, aerial view overlooking the East River, Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and other buildings, November 16, 1937
Audio: …at a time when the United States…
Video: The Berenice Abbott photograph Herald Square, 34th and Broadway, Manhattan, 1936
Audio: …and New York in particular…
Video: A shot of automobile traffic in New York, c. 1930
Audio: …was the site of extraordinary accomplishments…
Video: A photograph of the skyline of New York, as many first saw it arriving by sea on board the Augustus, 1931
Audio: …much admired by people around the world.
Video: The Rogi André photograph Fernand Léger, 1933
Audio: Fernand Léger was born in France…
Video: A view from a hill in a tranquil landscape in rural Normandy
Audio: …in Normandy, 1881…
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso, 1935
Audio: …the same year that Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: Léger was trained as an architect, and, moving to Paris…
Video: A group of artists in Ballingschap (Dutch for exile), New York, 1942
Audio: …he became associated with some of the painters who were developing Cubism…
Video: The Amédée Ozenfant painting The Vases, 1925
Audio: …such as his friend Amédée Ozenfant.
Video: The Robert Delaunay painting La tour aux rideaux (The Tower with Curtains), 1910
Audio: In 1910, he exhibited at the Paris Salon…
Video: The Henri Le Fauconnier painting L’Abondance (Abundance), 1910–11
Audio: …alongside the so-called ‘Salon’ Cubists, but not with Picasso and Georges Braque…
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: …who are commonly regarded as the innovators of that style, but they kept apart.
Video: The Hermann Landshoff photograph Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant, New York City, fall 1942
Audio: Léger knew the key factors of this new style—
Video: The Paul Cézanne painting Mont Sainte-Victoire, c. 1885–86
Audio: …worship of Paul Cézanne’s manner…
Video: The Paul Cézanne painting The Large Bathers, 1906
Audio: …of breaking landscapes and figures into mosaic-like compositions…
Video: The Paul Cézanne painting Mont Sainte Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley, 1882–85
Audio: …with an emphasis on geometric forms…
Video: The Henri Rousseau painting The Dream, 1910
Audio: …as well as an appreciation of painter Henri Rousseau’s style called primitivism…
Video: The Henri Rousseau painting The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897
Audio: …which was actually an exaggerated and simplified representational style.
Video: The Léger painting Les acrobates en gris, 1942–44
Audio: These artists propelled Léger…
Video: The Léger painting Les Loisirs-Hommage à Louis David, 1948–49
Audio: …to make graphic, clear and poster-like compositions…
Video: The Roy Lichtenstein painting Bauhaus Stairway, 1988
Audio: …that are often considered to herald the Pop art of the 1960s.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: By the 1930s, Léger had developed his own form of Cubism…
Video: The Léger painting Les disques dans la ville, 1920
Audio: …one that elegantly used geometric forms…
Video: The Max Ernst painting Landscape with Wheatgerm, 1936
Audio: …and the biomorphic representations that the Surrealists had developed in the preceding decade.
Video: The Léger painting Adieu New York, 1946
Audio: Léger was unique, though, in the clarity and boldness of his compositions, often marked by flat panes of strong color, delineated with strong outlines legible from a distance.
Video: A photograph of the Republican governor of New York State, Nelson A. Rockefeller, after his arrival at the Frankfurt airport, on May 14, 1976
Audio: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was an American businessman and politician…
Video: A photograph of President Gerald Ford meeting with newly installed Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, Dec. 21, 1974
Audio: …who served as vice president of the United States from December 1974 to January 1977…
Video: A photograph of Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York State, riding in a car on Wall Street, New York City, reaching out to shake a man's hand during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968
Audio: …and previously as governor of the State of New York from 1959 to 1973.
Video: A stock certificate for Standard Oil Company, 1882
Audio: For most of the twentieth century, the Rockefeller name was synonymous with great wealth.
Video: A portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., c. 1914
Audio: Nelson’s grandfather was the founder of Standard Oil Company, one of the world’s largest corporations.
Video: A photograph of John D. Rockefeller Jr., American financier
Audio: His father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., was responsible…
Video: The Irving Underhill photograph RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City, 1939
Audio: …for the creation of Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, the largest privately financed urban complex in the country…
Video: The H. Armstrong Roberts photograph Evening at Prometheus Fountain, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New York, c. 1930s
Audio: and a model for urban design.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: And although the architects of Rockefeller Center made the initial selection…
Video: A mural by José María Sert that depicts the abolition of slavery
Audio: …of the painters and sculptors…
Video: The Lee Lawrie sculpture Columbia Greeting a Woman, 1937
Audio: …who embellished its fourteen buildings…
Video: A photograph of the bronze Atlas statue in front of Rockefeller Center, September 14, 2014
Audio: …by the late 1930s…
Video: A photograph of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and sons David Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller, Winthrop Rockefeller, Laurance Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller III, Tarrytown, New York, 1937
Audio: …John Jr. had appointed his son Nelson to oversee the aesthetics of the project…
Video: The Isamu Noguchi sculpture News, 1940
Audio: …including the commission of works by Isamu Noguchi…
Video: The Paul Manship sculpture Prometheus, 1934
Audio: …Paul Manship…
Video: A photograph of artist Diego Rivera with a study for his mural Man at the Crossroads, date unknown
Audio: …and the infamous murals by Diego Rivera…
Video: A Lucienne Bloch close-up photograph of Diego Rivera’s El hombre en el cruce de los caminos (Man at the Crossroads), 1933 (Lenin segment)
Audio: …that were eventually removed because of the prominence given to a portrait of Vladimir Lenin.
Video: A photograph of Nelson Rockefeller
Audio: Nelson, only 21 years old in 1929, had been closely involved…
Video: A photograph of a model for The Museum of Modern Art, New York, building completed in 1939, shown with the museum’s Building Committee, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Treasurer; A. Conger Goodyear, President; and Stephen C. Clark, Trustee and Chairman of the Building Committee, 1937
Audio: …with the creation that year of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where his mother was a founding trustee.
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller, President from May 1939 to January 1941, and Stephen C. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, at the opening of the new museum Building; behind them is the Charles Sheeler painting Classic Landscape, 1931
Audio: Through MoMA and its director Alfred Barr, and his mother…
Video: An installation view of the exhibition Twentieth-Century Art from the Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Collection at The Museum of Modern Art, May 28 through September 1, 1969; pictured are a Pablo Picasso tapestry after Confidences, 1934, and Picasso’s Buste de Femme (Bust of a Woman), September 20, 1943
Audio: …Nelson was introduced to the latest trends in European Modernism, and he met prominent artists…
Video: A photograph of Fernand Léger
Audio: …such as Fernand Léger…
Video: The Alvin Langdon Coburn photograph Henri Matisse, 1913
Audio: …and Henri Matisse, when they came to the United States.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: After acquiring a three-story penthouse in 1936, he set out to furnish his home with masterpieces by the most famous and forward-looking artists of his time…
Video: The Pablo Picasso painting Pichet et coupe de fruits (Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit), 1931
Audio: …including Picasso…
Video: The Henri Matisse painting Le Chant, 1938
Audio: …Matisse…
Video: The Léger painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: …Léger…
Video: The Alberto Giacometti sculpture Pair of Chenets, designed 1933, executed 1939
Audio: …and Giacometti.
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller’s apartment, New York
Audio: For the living room…
Video: A photograph of Jean-Michel Frank, 1935
Audio: …Parisian designer Jean-Michel Frank…
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller’s apartment, New York
Audio: …calculated everything to look as if it had not been calculated. There were pleasant harmonies between the colors of the carpet, colors of the upholstery, drapes, paintings and murals, but nothing matched.
Video: A photograph of a typical Jean-Michel Frank monochromatic design
Audio: Jean-Michel Frank abandoned his habitual monochrome palette…
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller’s apartment, New York
Audio: …but the wood paneled walls provided unity and intimacy.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: No expense was spared:
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller’s apartment, New York
Audio: One silk sofa cost $50,000 in today’s money.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: Only a year after the Rockefeller Apartment was completed in 1939…
Video: A photograph of the invasion of German troops in Paris, 1940
Audio: …Germans invaded Paris, and projects such as this were simply unthinkable.
Video: A Léger pencil study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938
Audio: For his part…
Video: Two Léger studies for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938–1939
Audio: …Fernand Léger made an inordinate number of studies for the Rockefeller mural.
Audio: More than a dozen exist…
Video: Two Léger studies for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938–1939
Audio: …each with the modified Rococo curves of the wood paneling.
Video: Close-up views of the Léger painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: They all show Léger balancing three components: representational elements; a still life of objects that could be resting on the mantel, such as shells or vases; and a set of rectangular forms to the right, suggesting sculptural monoliths or architectural ensembles.
Video: The Léger sculpture Rockefeller Branch, 1952
Audio: Later, he developed the leaf-like form into a sculpture called Rockefeller Branch.
Video: A photograph of Nelson A. Rockefeller
Audio: Nelson Rockefeller said, “I used to watch Léger with fascination…
Video: A photograph of Léger and Le Corbusier in front of the Zervos house, 1937
Audio: “…as he painted and the details of the mural unfolded.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: “After he had finished, we liked it so much that we persuaded him to do additional murals…
Video: A photograph of the Léger murals in the Rockefeller apartment stairwell, 1939
Audio: “…for the circular stairwell and the hallways, both upstairs and down.
Video: A photograph of Léger standing next to his Untitled (Fireplace Mural) in the Rockefeller apartment, 1939
Audio: “Léger was a wonderful human being, and we remained friends until his death.”
Video: A photograph of architect Wallace K. Harrison
Audio: Wallace K. Harrison…
Video: A photograph of Rockefeller Center, 1939; and an exterior view of the Rockefeller apartment
Audio: …the architect of Rockefeller Center and the Rockefeller Apartment…
Video: A photograph of the United Nations General Assembly, October 2012
Audio: …ordered after World War II…
Video: A Léger mural in the U.N. General Assembly building, 1952
Audio: …murals for the General Assembly at the United Nations.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: Rockefeller also owned easel paintings by Léger…
Video: The Léger painting Woman with a Book, 1923
Audio: …and the most important works of the vast Rockefeller Collection are now at The Museum of Modern Art, New York…
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: …except of course, for those that are now in Houston.
Video: The Henri Matisse painting Le Chant, 1938
Audio: Thanks to the generous loan by the Lewis Collection of Henri Matisse’s fireplace mural…
Video: The Alberto Giacometti sculpture Pair of Chenets, designed 1933, executed 1939
Audio: …and the recent purchase of the Rockefeller andirons, designed and made by Alberto Giacometti…
Video: An interior shot of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Audio: …we have been able to bring together here in Houston the principal elements of one of the most extraordinary environments created between the two world wars by French artists working for an American.
Video: Gary Tinterow, Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, standing next to Fernand Léger’s painting Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch and learn more about Léger’s fireplace mural, and I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with your friends and family. Please visit the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment website to join up for alerts and make sure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Fernand Léger (French, 1881–1955)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Untitled (Fireplace Mural), 1939
Oil on canvas, 113 1/8” x 74 1/2” (287.3 x 189.2 cm)
Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund
Les acrobates en gris, 1942–44
Oil on canvas, 72” x 57 7/8” (183 x 147 cm)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Les Loisirs-Hommage à Louis David, 1948–49
Oil on canvas, 60 5/8” x 72 7/8” (154 x 185 cm)
Centre Pompidou, Paris
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Les disques dans la ville, 1920
Oil on canvas, 51 1/8” x 63 3/4” (130 x 162 cm)
Centre Pompidou, Paris
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Adieu New York, 1946
Oil on canvas, 51 1/8” x 63 3/4” (130 x 162 cm)
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938
Pencil on paper, 13” x 8 1/2” (33 x 21.6 cm)
Study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938–1939
Pencil and gouache on composition board, 7 7/8” x 6 3/16” (20 x 15.7 cm)
Study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, c. 1938–39
Pencil and gouache on composition board, 7 3/4” x 6 1/2” (19.7 x 16.5 cm)
Study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, 1938
Gouache and graphite on wove paper, laid on cardboard
Sheet: 11” x 7 1/2” (27.9 x 19.1 cm)
Museum purchase funded by the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors, 2020.156
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Study for the fireplace mural in Nelson A. Rockefeller’s New York apartment, c. 1938–39
Pencil and gouache on composition board, 7 7/8” x 6 1/4” (20 x 15.9 cm)
Rockefeller Branch, 1952
Sculpture
Musée National Fernand Léger, Biot, France
Fernand Léger murals in the Rockefeller apartment stairwell, 1939.
Rockefeller Archive Center
Fernand Léger standing next to his Untitled (Fireplace Mural) in the Rockefeller apartment, 1939. Rockefeller Archive Center
Fernand Léger murals in the General Assembly Building at United Nations Headquarters, 1952.
Woman with a Book, 1923
Oil on canvas, 45 3/4” x 32 1/8” (116 x 81.4 cm)
Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Rockefeller Fifth Avenue Home, New York.
John Lindsay/AP/Shutterstock
Mary Clark Rockefeller and future U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, on their wedding day, June 23, 1930.
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
New York City skyline, aerial view overlooking the East River, (L) Empire State Building, (R) the Chrysler Building and other buildings, November 16, 1937.
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991)
Herald Square, 34th and Broadway, Manhattan, 1936
Gelatin silver print
FL Historical collection 5 / Alamy Stock Photo
The skyline of New York, as many first saw it arriving by sea on board the Augustus, 1931.
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Rogi André (Rozsa Klein) (Hungarian, 1905–1970)
© CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Fernand Léger, 1933
Gelatin silver print, 15 5/8” x 11 7/8” (39.7 x 30 cm)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
AM1982-309. Photo: Georges Meguerditchian
Jean-Michel Frank, 1935
Gelatin silver print, 15 3/4” x 11 3/4” (40.1 x 29.9 cm)
AM1983-432. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
View from a hill in a tranquil landscape in rural Normandy.
Zeljko Vranjkovic / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait de Pablo Picasso, 1935
A group of artists in Ballingschap, New York, 1942. Includes: Roberto Matta; Ossip Zadkine; Yves Tanguy; Max Ernst; Marc Chagall; Fernand Léger; André Breton; Piet Mondrian; André Masson; Amédée Ozenfant; Jacques Lipchitz; Pavel Tchelitchew; Kurt Seligmann; Eugene Berman.
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Amédée Ozenfant (French, 1886–1966)
The Vases, 1925
Oil on canvas, 51 3/8” x 38 3/8” (130.5 x 97.5 cm)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
Robert Delaunay (French, 1885–1941)
La tour aux rideaux (The Tower with Curtains), 1910
Oil on canvas, 45 5/8” x 38 1/8” (116 x 97 cm)
Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
Henri Le Fauconnier (French, 1881–1946)
L’Abondance (Abundance), 1910–11
Oil on canvas, 75 1/4” x 48 1/2” (91 x 123 cm)
Volgi archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Hermann Landshoff (American, 1905–1986)
Piet Mondrian, Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant, New York City, fall 1942.
Photograph. Inv: FM-2012/200194.
Photo Credit: © bpk Bildagentur / Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich / Hermann Landshoff / Art Resource, NY
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906)
Mont Sainte-Victoire, c. 1885–86
Oil on canvas
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Mont Sainte Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley, 1882–85
Oil on canvas, 25 3/4” x 32 1/8” (65.4 x 81.6 cm)
Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
The Large Bathers, 1906
Oil on canvas, 6’ 10 7/8” x 8’ 2 3/4” (210.5 x 250.8 cm)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1937
Henri Rousseau (French, 1844–1910)
The Dream, 1910
Oil on canvas, 6’ 8 1/2” x 9’ 9 1/2” (204.5 x 298.5 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, NY, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller
incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897
Oil on canvas, 51” x 6’ 7” (129.5 x 200.7 cm)
Museum of Modern Art, NY, Gift of Mrs. Simon Guggenheim
Ian Dagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923–1997)
Bauhaus Stairway, 1988
Oil and synthetic polymer paint (magna) on canvas, 7’ 10” x 66” (238.8 x 167.6 cm)
Gift of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein
© The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Max Ernst (German, 1891–1976)
Landscape with Wheatgerm, 1936
Oil on canvas, 59 1/4” x 64” (150.5 x 162.5 cm)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Artepics / Alamy Stock Photo
Hans (Jean) Arp (German, 1886–1966)
Dance, 1925
Oil on wood
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo
The Republican governor of New York State, Nelson A. Rockefeller, after his arrival at the Frankfurt airport, on May 14, 1976.
dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
President Gerald Ford meets with newly installed Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. He was the second person appointed VP under the 25th Amendment. Ford was the first. Dec. 21, 1974. (CSU_ALPHA_363) CSU Archives/Everett Collection
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York State, riding in a car on Wall Street, New York City, reaches out to shake a man’s hand during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968.
American Photo Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Stock of Standard Oil Company, 23.12.1882.
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
John D. Rockefeller.
Ian Dagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
John D. Rockefeller Jr., American financier and member of the Rockefeller family.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Irving Underhill (American, 1872–1960)
RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City, 1939
© Irving Underhill
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
H. Armstrong Roberts (American, 1883–1947)
Evening at Prometheus Fountain, Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New York, c. 1930s.
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Portrait of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., c. 1914.
Ian Dagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Lee Lawrie (American, b. Germany, 1877–1963)
Columbia Greeting a Woman, 1937
Bas-relief in limestone
© Lee Lawrie
Patti McConville / Alamy Stock Photo
September 14, 2014: View of bronze Atlas statue in front of Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York.
Littleny / Alamy Stock Photo
Rockefeller Family. From left: Industrialist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and sons David Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller, Winthrop Rockefeller, Laurance Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller III, Tarrytown, New York, 1937.
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988)
News, 1940
Cast stainless steel, 22’ x 17’ (670.6 x 518.2 cm)
© 2021 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Paul Manship (American, 1885–1966)
Prometheus, 1934
Gilded bronze, 18’ x 10’ (548.6 x 304.8 cm)
© Paul Manship Estate by authority of the Manship Artists Residency + Studios
AlanHaynes.com / Alamy Stock Photo
Photograph of artist Diego Rivera with a study for his mural Man at the Crossroads, date unknown.
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
A. Estrada
Lucienne Bloch (American, b. Switzerland, 1909–1999)
Close-up of Diego Rivera’s El hombre en el cruce de los caminos (Man at the Crossroads), 1933 (Lenin segment)
Gelatin silver print, 4 3/8” x 7” (11.2 x 17.6 cm)
Courtesy of Old Stage Studios
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Nelson Rockefeller.
SBS Eclectic Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Model for The Museum of Modern Art, New York building completed in 1939, shown with the Museum’s Building Committee, left to right: Nelson A. Rockefeller, Treasurer; A. Conger Goodyear, President; and Stephen C. Clark, Trustee and Chairman of the Building Committee. 1937.
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Nelson A. Rockefeller, President from May 1939 to January 1941, and Stephen C. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, at the opening of the new Museum Building. Installed behind them is Charles Sheeler, Classic Landscape, 1931, lent by Mrs. Edsel B. Ford to the exhibition Art in Our Time: 10th Anniversary Exhibition. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. May 1939.
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Installation view of the exhibition Twentieth-Century Art from the Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Collection. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. May 28 through September 1, 1969. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
© 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Tapestry after Confidences, 1934
Cotton warp and wool weft with silk highlights, 75” x 67” (190.5 x 170.2 cm)
Buste de Femme (Bust of a Woman), September 20, 1943
Oil on canvas
Pichet et coupe de fruits (Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit), 1931
Oil on canvas, 51 1/2” x 64” (130.8 x 162.6 cm)
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation / Art Resource, NY
Buste de Femme (Bust of a Woman), Dora Maar, 1938
Oil on canvas, 30 1/4” x 22 3/8” (76.8 x 56.8 cm)
Portrait of Fernand Léger.
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
Alvin Langdon Coburn (American, 1882–1966)
Henri Matisse, 1913
Photogravure, 11 7/8” x 9” (30 x 23 cm)
© 2021 The Universal Order
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
© 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Le Chant, 1938
Oil on canvas, 112 1/2” x 73 3/4” (285.8 x 187.3 cm)
View of Collioure and the Sea, 1911
Oil on canvas, 24 3/4” x 20 3/8” (62.9 x 51.8 cm)
Italian Woman, 1916
Oil on canvas
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901–1966)
Pair of Chenets, designed 1933, executed 1939
Gilt-bronze and iron, 13 1/4” x 11 1/2” x 18” each
Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund and the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors, in honor of Gary Tinterow
© 2021 Alberto Giacometti Estate / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris
Nelson A. Rockefeller’s apartment, New York.
© Ezra Stoller /Esto
The invasion of German troops in Paris, 1940.
Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
Nelson A. Rockefeller.
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Fernand Léger and Le Corbusier in front of the Zervos house, 1937
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Rockefeller Center, 1939, New York City.
Ivan Vdovin / Alamy Stock Photo
The United Nations General Assembly, October, 2012.
World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
On-screen text: Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
On-screen text: Jonathan Green (American, b. 1955), Folding Sheets, 1989, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 15.75 in.
Video: David Taylor, President and CEO of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
On-screen text: David Taylor, President & CEO, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
Audio— David Taylor: Hello, I’m David Taylor, President and CEO of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to share one of my favorite works from our collection…
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: …Folding Sheets, and tell you why I believe it’s a masterpiece.
Video: Exterior shot of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
Audio: The Gantt Center opened in October 2009 and was designed by Philip Freelon…
Video: Exterior shot of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Audio: …who was co-designer of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: Our new facility was built to feature the fine art and history exhibitions in our galleries, as well as the John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African American Art, the cornerstone of the Gantt Center’s permanent collection.
Video: The James Denmark painting Daily Gossip, c. 1975, and the Hale A. Woodruff painting Sentinel Gate, 1977
Audio: The Hewitt Collection includes the works of many important African American artists, a number of whom were personal friends…
Video: A photograph of John and Vivian Hewitt
Audio: ...of Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt.
Video: The John T. Biggers painting Twins of Morning, 1975, and the Romare Bearden painting Harlem Street Scene, c. 1973
Audio: In 1998, Bank of America acquired 58 works from the Hewitts and gifted this collection to the Afro-American Cultural Center…
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: …as we were called then.
Video: Two photographs of Jonathan Green
Audio: Jonathan Green was just beginning his career when the Hewitts began collecting his work, and he was among the youngest in the same social circle as many of the established artists in their collection.
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: At 15 and 3/4 inches by 20 inches, some might consider Green’s acrylic on canvas Folding Sheets small. However, I consider it to be a gem in our collection. Folding Sheets was painted in 1989, as one of a series of six works…
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Sharing the Chores, 1996
Audio: …that Green created depicting washing day from memories of his childhood growing up in the Gullah culture in South Carolina.
Video: A photograph of the exterior of a Gullah/Geechee-style cottage with a very large oak tree in front
Audio: Because their communities were isolated along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts…
Video: An illustration from 1790 showing a group of enslaved Black people
Audio: …these descendants of enslaved people…
Video: A photograph of Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine, the elected Head-of-State and Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Audio: …established a rich culture…
Video: A photograph of The Rev. Ben Williams, pastor of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, with two people standing on a riverbank
Audio: …with a distinct dialect…
Video: A photograph of a woman picking vegetables in a farm field
Audio: …farming practices…
Video: A photograph of a woman weaving a basket sitting on cabin steps with her two children
Audio: …and artistic traditions that are…
Video: A photograph of a group of women wearing white dresses dancing and holding their hands above their heads.
Audio: …directly tied to West Africa.
Video: Two photographs of Jonathan Green
Audio: Jonathan Green is considered one of the most important painters and printmakers of this southern experience.
Video: The Jonathan Green paintings The Visionary, 2009; Daughters of the South, 1993; and The Escorting of Ruth, 1988
Audio: His work, which is saturated with color, reflects a rich sense of history, place and his intimate knowledge of the Gullah people.
Video: A photograph of two large oak trees in front of a cottage-style house with a white picket fence
Audio: Green was born in 1955 and raised in Garden Corners, South Carolina.
Video: A photograph of Times Square in New York in the 1970s
Audio: He enjoyed frequent trips to New York City and…
Video: A photograph of an aerial view of downtown Manhattan and South Brooklyn
Audio: …at the age of 15, he and his family moved there…
Video: Exterior of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Audio: …where he then gained access to museums and galleries.
Video: A photograph of U.S. Air Force fighter jets landed at a hangar
Audio: He served two years in the Air Force, earning certification as an illustrator…
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: …and went on to study textile design at East Grand Forks Technical Institute in Minnesota.
Video: Two exterior photographs of The Art Institute of Chicago
Audio: He later enrolled at The Art Institute of Chicago and in 1982 earned his BFA in painting.
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: Green then studied independently in Europe, where the work of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, artists…
Video: The Claude Monet paintings Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil, 1880, and Study of a figure outdoors: woman with a sunshade turned to the right, 1886
Audio: …helped shape his style and artistic approach.
Video: The Elizabeth Catlett linoleum cuts Sharecropper, 1952; Harriet, 1975; and Malcolm X Speaks for Us, 1969
Audio: He also admired Elizabeth Catlett for her activism, and through his connection to the Hewitts…
Video: Jacob Lawrence at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1996, standing with two works by Jean Dubuffet: Joe Bousquet in Bed and Portrait of Henri Michaux, both from 1947
Audio: …met Jacob Lawrence, a master storyteller…
Video: The Jacob Lawrence drawing Playing Records, 1949, and lithograph Aspiration, 1988
Audio: …of the Black experience, who became a friend and mentor.
Video: The Jacob Lawrence paintings And the migrants kept coming, 1940–41; The trains were packed continually with migrants, 1940–41; and The trains were packed continually with migrants, 1940–41
Audio: The formal characteristics of Lawrence’s paintings, including geometric forms and vivid colors, and tendency to create works in series, is often reflected in Green’s work.
Video: The Jonathan Green painting The Reception, 1988
Audio: Instead of covering the entire United States as a subject matter, as Lawrence did, Green, a self-proclaimed regionalist, focuses on the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: This is what I see in Folding Sheets: There is a sense of intimacy and purpose. The pure white of the bedsheets and dresses fill the composition and contrast with the deep red/brown of the earth. You can also feel the breeze depicted in the movement of the dresses, which mimic the hanging sheets blowing in the wind. The wide-brimmed hats shield the women from the sun and also hide their faces, which is a characteristic of Green’s early work. Accents of blue along the waistband and piping near the hem of the dress of the woman in the foreground carry through the middle ground to the highlights of the other woman’s dress, through the sheets, and then to the sliver of blue sky just visible at the top of the painting. Remarkably, he accomplished all of this with a limited palette of indigo, white and shades of brown and black.
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: What makes this work a true masterpiece is Green’s deceptively simple depiction of two women folding sheets on a summer day as an embodiment of the Gullah culture.
Video: A photograph of two women weaving baskets
Audio: The women working together…
Video: A photograph of the backs of two women, one with her arm around the other, standing at an ocean shore
Audio: …suggests relationships, shared responsibility and community…
Video: A photograph of three women posing in matching dresses and bonnets, one holding a washboard
Audio: …which are indicative of African American culture…
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: …in general, in this time period, and in the Gullah culture specifically.
Video: The Jonathan Green lithograph Farm Woman, 2009
Audio: The wide-brimmed hats, a signature accessory in Green’s scenes…
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Fishing Women from Lobeco, 1994
Audio: …are emblematic of seagrass hats…
Video: A photograph of a girl weaving a basket
Audio: …and basket weaving, which are crafts…
Video: A photograph of coiled grass baskets on display
Audio: …which are crafts still practiced by the Gullah people today.
Video: The Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: This painting is a true celebration of a unique culture, time and place.
Video: David Taylor standing next to the Jonathan Green painting Folding Sheets, 1989
Audio: I want to thank you for taking time to watch today and to learn more about Folding Sheets by Jonathan Green. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with your friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and to ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Stephen L. Hayes (American, b. 1983) in collaboration with Percy King (American, b. 1977) and Jamila Brown(American, b. 1995)
Liberty, 2020
Mixed media
© Stephen L. Hayes
Romare Bearden (American, 1911–1988)
© 2021 Romare Bearden Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Circe Turns a Companion of Odysseus into a Swine, 1979
Screenprint, AP
Bank of America Collection
Odysseus Leaves Nausicaa, 1979
Screenprint, 80/125
Bank of America Collection
Harlem Street Scene, c. 1973
Offset lithograph
Jonathan Green (American, b. 1955)
© Jonathan Green
Folding Sheets, 1989
Acrylic on canvas
Sharing the Chores, 1996
Oil on canvas
The Visionary, 2009
Oil on canvas
Daughters of the South, 1993
Oil on canvas
The Escorting of Ruth, 1988
Oil on Masonite
The Reception, 1988
Oil on Masonite
Farm Woman, 2009
Lithograph, Arches paper
Fishing Women from Lobeco, 1994
Acrylic on canvas
The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
RidingMetaphor / Alamy Stock Photo
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Photo by Alan Karchmer
James Denmark (American, b. 1936)
Daily Gossip, c. 1975
Collage on Masonite panel
© James Denmark
Hale A. Woodruff (American, 1900–1980)
Sentinel Gate, 1977
Oil on canvas
© 2021 Estate of Hale Woodruff / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
John T. Biggers (American, 1924–2001)
Twins of Morning, 1975
Lithograph
© 2021 John T. Biggers Estate / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Estate Represented by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Moses Ficklin Cottage, Gullah/Geechee-style home, and an oak tree, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Dawna Moore Photography / Stockimo / Alamy Stock Photo
The Old Plantation, South Carolina, c. 1790
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
From Shadows of the Gullah Geechee by Pete Marovich / American Reportage
Images © 2021 Pete Marovich / American Reportage
Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine, a native of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, is an author, preservationist and performance artist. She is the elected Head-of-State and Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
The Rev. Ben Williams, pastor of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, leads members in prayer before a traditional Gullah/Geechee river baptism ceremony on Hilton Head Island, S.C., in August 2003.
Sara Reynolds Green picks vegetables in the Marshview Community Organic Farm on St. Helena Island in June 2014. Green’s mother was able to put three daughters through college back when the packing houses on the island were paying the local Gullah farmers for their produce.
Alma Washington and her sister, Rosalee Coaxum, sew sweetgrass baskets in their stand along U.S. Highway 17 in Mt. Pleasant in February 2013.
Every year, a ceremony is held in several places along the eastern coast of the U.S., like Sullivan’s Island near Charleston, S.C., in remembrance of the nearly two million Africans who perished in the Middle Passage of the transatlantic human trade.
African American mother weaving a tourist basket sitting on steps of cabin with her two children, South Carolina, 1930s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Descendants of enslaved Africans brought to Charleston in the Middle Passage dance to honor their relatives lost during a remembrance ceremony along the ocean front, June 10, 2017, in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina
Richard Ellis / Alamy Stock Photo
Southern live oak trees quercus virginiana and Spanish moss grace town of Rockville, in low country of South Carolina
Vespasian / Alamy Stock Photo
Times Square, looking north to Duffy Square, New York, 1970s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Aerial view of downtown Manhattan and South Brooklyn, 1970s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Exterior of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1960s
Allan Cash Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
U.S. Air Force pilots, assigned to the 169th Fighter Wing of the South Carolina Air National Guard
APFootage / Alamy Stock Photo
Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, located in Chicago’s Grant Park
igor kisselev / Alamy Stock Photo
The Art Institute of Chicago
david a eastley / Alamy Stock Photo
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil, 1880
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Chester Dale Collection
Study of a figure outdoors: woman with a sunshade turned to the right, 1886
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Elizabeth Catlett (American, 1915–2012)
© 2021 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Sharecropper, 1952, published 1968–70
Linoleum cut
Harriet, 1975
Linoleum cut
Malcolm X Speaks for Us, 1969
Linoleum cut
Jacob Lawrence at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1996, with two works by Jean Dubuffet: Joe Bousquet in Bed, left; and Portrait of Henri Michaux, both from 1947.
Sara Krulwich / The New York Times
Art: © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000)
© 2021 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Playing Records, 1949
India ink on paper
Aspiration, 1988
Lithograph on Arches paper, 26/200
Bank of America Collection
And the migrants kept coming, 1940–41
Casein tempera on hardboard
JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
The trains were packed continually with migrants, 1940–41
Casein tempera on hardboard
JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
The migrants arrived in great numbers, 1940–41
Casein tempera on hardboard
JJs / Alamy Stock Photo
Gullah folk singers pose during a cultural festival on Sapelo Island, Georgia
Richard Ellis / Alamy Stock Photo
Gullah girl weaving basket from sweetgrass, South Carolina, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Coiled Gullah sweetgrass baskets, South Carolina
dbimages / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
On-screen text: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
On-screen text: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692, Oil on oak panel, 35 5/16 x 28 15/16 inches
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
On-screen text: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Audio— Peggy Fogelman: Hello, I’m Peggy Fogelman, the Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, and tell you why I think it’s truly a masterpiece.
Video: A black-and-white photographic portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Audio: In 1903, Isabella Stewart Gardner opened the…
Video: An archival photograph of the museum under construction
Audio: …first American museum ever established by a woman.
Video: A portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Audio: She rejected traditional methods of displaying art according to time period or region…
Video: Interior shots of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Audio: and instead prioritized a sense of intimacy and emotion, inviting visitors to have their own personal responses to the works of art, as she herself did. She combined paintings, textiles, furniture and antiquities, and continually rearranged them as the collection grew…
Video: A shot of the museum’s courtyard
Audio: …housed in a new, Venetian-style Palazzo…
Video: An archival photograph of the museum exterior
Audio: …in Boston’s Fens, where she lived among her treasures.
Video: A black-and-white photographic portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Audio: As part of her will, she stipulated that artworks remain displayed as she left them…
Video: A shot of the museum’s courtyard
Audio: …and no items may be acquired or sold by the museum.
Video: A portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Audio: In 1896, Gardner bought the first work of art specifically purchased for the museum that she was building.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: It is this Self-Portrait, Age 23 by the celebrated Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn.
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: As a savvy collector, Gardner knew that Rembrandts were the blue-chip currency of the American Gilded Age art market.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: By the end of her life, she managed to acquire not just this work…
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
Audio: …but four Rembrandts…
Video: The Rembrandt paintings A Lady and a Gentleman in Black, 1633; and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, c. 1633
Audio: …for the collection.
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait became a cornerstone of her Dutch Room installation upon the opening of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1903, and it remains here today.
Video: Interior shots of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Audio: On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as police officers…
Video: The Édouard Manet painting Chez Tortoni; the Govaert Flinck painting Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638; and the Edgar Degas painting Study for the Programme de la Soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin), 1884
Audio: …stole 13 works of art from the Museum…
Video: The Rembrandt paintings Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, c. 1633; A Lady and a Gentleman in Black, 1633; and The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
Audio: …including three works by Rembrandt.
Video: Interior shots of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Audio: They cut the paintings from their frames. The thieves tried to steal Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait the very same way…
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: …but they couldn’t cut it out of its frame because it was painted on solid wood. This self-portrait was painted early in Rembrandt’s career before he could afford canvas, and wood was a common substitute.
Video: Close-up views of Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: Even in the age of the Instagram selfie, this portrait continues to amaze me. In this painting, Rembrandt is ambitious and young—he’s barely able to grow that fuzzy mustache that sits on his upper lip—and he holds our attention with his penetrating gaze. His face seems to glow from within, which is the effect of the artist’s emphatic contrasts of light and dark known as chiaroscuro. Rembrandt’s masterful brushwork shines through. By limiting his palette to greys and browns, he evokes a spectacular variety of tone and texture, which is a true hallmark of Rembrandt’s work. On a bright, sunny day, it almost seems like the spotlight on the artist’s shoulder and his cheek is coming from the natural light that streams into the gallery.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait in a Gorget, c. 1629
Audio: During his lifetime, Rembrandt completed more self-portraits…
Video: The Rembrandt painting A Young Rembrandt, c. 1628
Audio: …than any other painter in the entire history of European art.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, 1630
Audio: Even though he had already produced several by this early stage in his career…
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: …this one was the largest. You may not realize, but it’s painted on wood, rather than canvas.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: This choice allowed him to push the boundaries of oil paint…
Video: Close-up views of Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: …and achieve very precise details on the smooth surface of the wood panel. If you look closer at the billowing feather, you can see that he not only applied white paint in masterful strokes, but he actually dug into the paint surface with the back of his brush.
The technique creates a contrast in tone and surface texture that gives the image plausible three-dimensionality. Look closely too at the other materials he evokes: blue velvet under the brim of his cap; the gauzy silk scarf woven with gilded threads; and the gold chain he wears around his neck. This particular piece of jewelry was traditionally given by court patrons to their painters and was of special interest to the artist.
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: Despite painting members of the court, Rembrandt himself was not actually an official court painter, so he wasn’t actually eligible for such a gift. In a cheeky gesture, he “awards” this chain of accomplishment to himself, attesting to his self-confidence. In fact, we can think of this portrait as an early advertisement for the young painter’s incredible talent.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: He could show it to potential clients as a demonstration of his superlative ability to depict everything from sensuous fabrics to probing, intimate explorations of personality and expression.
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: One year after he painted this self-portrait, Rembrandt opened a local painting workshop with fellow artist Jan Lievens and was soon accepting students of his own.
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Artist in Oriental Costume, with a Poodle at His Feet, 1631
Audio: In 1629, Rembrandt’s work came to the attention of the royal court at The Hague, resulting in an enormous boost for his reputation and business.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Portrait of Haesje Jacobsdr van Cleyburg, 1634
Audio: He then moved to Amsterdam, flourishing as a painter…
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Girl in a Picture Frame, 1641
Audio: …celebrated for his innovative technique…
Video: A painting in the style of Rembrandt, Rembrandt (1606–1669) as a Young Man, c. 1630–35
Audio: and his numerous self-portraits,
Video: The Rembrandt painting Nicolaes Ruts, 1631
Audio: …portraits of his contemporaries…
Video: The Rembrandt painting Belshazzar’s Feast, c. 1636–8
Audio: and biblical scenes,
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Descent from the Cross by Torchlight, 1654
Audio: …not to mention his remarkable accomplishments as a printmaker.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, 1635
Audio: In fact, it was these more cheaply produced and easily distributed works on paper…
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, 1634
Audio: …that were key to his international fame.
Video: The Rembrandt painting The Night Watch, 1642
Audio: Though he never left the Dutch Republic in his lifetime, he became known throughout Europe.
Video: The Baldassare Franceschini (called Il Volterrano) painting Portrait of Cosimo III de' Medici in Grand Ducal Robes, 1676–77
Audio: Even the famed Grand Duke of Tuscany paid him a visit in 1667.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap, 1642
Audio: Sadly, Rembrandt’s personal life never matched the glory of his talent.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, 1650
Audio: He married and had several children,
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar, 1659
Audio: …only one of whom survived infancy, losing his wife shortly after the birth.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, 1669
Audio: He would go on to have lovers and another child out of wedlock, but he never remarried.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait with Two Circles, 1665–1669
Audio: Despite his success as a painter, Rembrandt’s penchant for collecting art and antiquities meant he lived far beyond his means, at one point losing his house and printing press as a result.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669
Audio: Though he continued to paint throughout his lifetime, he died penniless in 1669, and his remains were buried in an unmarked grave.
Video: The Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: Yet his accomplishments live on to this day through his paintings, prints and drawings—and especially through his self-portraits, like this one.
Video: Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, standing next to the Rembrandt painting Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait here at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you will never miss a single moment.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1692, oil on oak panel, 35 1/4” x 29” (89.7 x 73.5 cm) panel
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633, oil on canvas, 63” x 50 3/8” (160 x 128 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
A Lady and a Gentleman in Black, 1633, oil on canvas, 51 7/8” x 43” (131.6 x 109 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, c. 1633, etching, 1 3/4” x 2” (4.5 x 5 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Self-Portrait in a Gorget, c. 1629, oil on panel, 15” x 12 1/8” (38.2 x 31 cm)
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
A Young Rembrandt, c. 1628, oil on oak, 8 3/4” x 7 3/8” (22.4 x 18.5 cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Self-Portrait, 1630, oil on copper, 6 1/8” in x 7 3/8” (15.5 x 18.5 cm)
Nationalmuseum, Mauritshuis, The Hague
The Artist in Oriental Costume, with a Poodle at His Feet, 1631, oil on panel, 26 1/8” x 20 1/2” (66.5 x 52 cm)
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
Portrait of Haesje Jacobsdr van Cleyburg, 1634, oil on panel, 27” x 21” (68.6 cm x 53.4 cm)
Purchased with the support of the Stichting Jubileumfonds Rijksmuseum, the State of the Netherlands, the VerenigingRembrandt, the Rijksmuseum-Stichting, the Grote Loterij Nederland, the Stichting Klaver Vier, the Stichting Teleslag, the business community and private collectors.
The Girl in a Picture Frame, 1641, oil on panel, 41 1/2” x 30” (105.4 x 76.2 cm)
Collection Royal Castle, Warsaw
Nicolaes Ruts, 1631, oil on panel, 46” x 34 3/8” (116.8 x 87.1 cm)
Purchased by The Frick Collection, 1943
Belshazzar’s Feast, c. 1636–8, oil on canvas, 66” x 82 1/2” (167.6 x 209.2 cm)
National Gallery, London, bought with a contribution from the National Art Collections Fund, 1964.
The Descent from the Cross by Torchlight, 1654, etching and drypoint, sheet: 8 1/2” x 6 5/8” (21.6 x 16.8 cm) Image: 8 3/8” x 6 3/8” (21.3 x 16.2 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Mary B. Regan
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, www.lacma.org
Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, 1635, etching, sheet: 5 1/2” x 6 3/4” (14.1 x 17.1 cm), image: 5 3/8” x 7” (13.6 x 17.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Felix M. Warburg and his family, 1941
The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, 1634, etching and drypoint, sheet: 14 1/4” x 11 3/8” (36.2 x 28.9 cm), plate: 10 1/4” x 8 3/4” (26.1 x 22 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Sylmaris Collection, Gift of George Coe Graves, 1920
The Night Watch, 1642, oil on canvas, 12’ 5” x 14’ 10” (378 x 453 cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap, 1642, oil on canvas, 27 3/4” x 23 1/8” (70.4 x 58.7 cm)
Royal Collection of the United Kingdom
Self-Portrait, 1650, oil on canvas, 36 1/8” x 29 3/4” (91.9 x 75.4 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., the Widener Collection
Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar, 1659, oil on canvas, 33 1/4” x 25 7/8” (84.3 x 65.8 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Self-Portrait, 1669, oil on canvas, 25 3/4” x 23 3/4” (65.4 x 60.2 cm)
The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague
Self-Portrait with Two Circles, 1665–1669, oil on canvas, 45” x 37” (114.3 x 94 cm)
Kenwood House, London
Self-Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669, oil on canvas, 33 7/8” x 27 3/4” (86 x 70.5 cm)
National Gallery, London
Style of Rembrandt (Dutch, c. 1630–35)
Rembrandt (1606–1669) as a Young Man, c. 1630–35, oil on wood, 8 5/8” x 6 1/2” (21.9 x 16.5 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Evander B. Schley, 1952
Adolf de Meyer (American, b. France, 1868–1946)
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1906, platinum print
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888, oil on canvas, 74 7/8” x 31 1/2” (190 x 80 cm), framed
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Otto Rosenheim (British, b. Germany, 1871–1955)
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1906, gelatin silver print, 8” x 10” (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
© Estate of Otto Rosenheim
Dennis Miller Bunker (American, 1861–1890)
Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1898, oil canvas, 23 1/2” x 19 1/4” (59.7 x 48.9 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Study for the Programme de la Soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie
Ponsin), 1884, black chalk on paper, 9 7/8” x 12 3/8” (25.1 x 31.2 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675)
The Concert, c. 1663–1666, oil on canvas, 28 1/2” x 25 1/2” (72.5 x 64.7 cm)
incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)
Chez Tortoni, oil on canvas, 10” x 13” (25.4 x 33 cm)
Art Collection 4 / Alamy Stock Photo
Govaert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660)
Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638, oil on oak panel, 21 1/2” x 28” (54.6 x 71.1 cm)
Svintage Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Baldassare Franceschini (called Il Volterrano) (Italian, 1611–1689)
Portrait of Cosimo III de' Medici in Grand Ducal Robes, 1676–77, 76 3/8” x 49 1/4” (193.8 x 125 cm)
Royal Castle, Warsaw, bequest of Andrzej Stanisław Ciechanowiecki
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
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Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
On-screen text: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
On-screen text: Thomas Eakins (American, b. 1844), Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875, oil on canvas, 8 ft. x 6.5 ft.
Video: Timothy Rub, The George D. Weidner Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
On-screen text: Timothy Rub, The George D. Weidner Director & Chief Executive Officer, The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Audio— Timothy Rub: Hello, I'm Timothy Rub, Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment. Today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, the Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross…
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: … widely known as The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Thomas Eakins' monumental, 8 x 6½ foot 1875 portrait is a daring and ambitious work with a fascinating history. It was controversial when it was first exhibited in 1876, garnering both criticism and praise. But even then, it was seen as a masterpiece, and its reputation has only grown over the years, becoming an icon of American art and a symbol of the prominent role that Philadelphia has played in its development.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: This painting became part of the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2006, when it was purchased in partnership with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, supported by more than 3,600 donors who agreed that this work needed to stay in the city where it was made.
Video: An oil portrait of Thomas Eakins
Audio: Thomas Eakins was born in Philadelphia in 1844, the son of a writing master.
Video: An illustration of Central High School in Philadelphia, 1852
Audio: He attended the city's elite honors high school, Central High. After graduating in 1861…
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: ...he attended drawing classes…
Video: An illustration of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia
Audio: …at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts…
Video: An illustration of Tivoli Theater, Jefferson Medical College, 1752 and an illustration of the dissecting room at Jefferson Medical College
Audio: …as well as dissection classes and surgeries at Jefferson Medical College.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Thus beginning a lifelong fascination with the human body.
Video: A portrait of Samuel D. Gross
Audio: And that is where he first met Dr. Samuel Gross, the central hero of this painting.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Determined to become a painter, Eakins went…
Video: An 1866 map of Paris
Audio: … to Paris in 1866 and studied there at the prestigious…
Video: An illustration of École des Beaux-Arts
Audio: …École des Beaux-Arts under the great academic master…
Video: The Jean-Léon Gérôme painting Ave Caesar! Morituri te Salutant, 1859
Audio: …Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Video: A photographic portrait of Thomas Eakins
Audio: When Eakins returned to Philadelphia in the summer of 1870, he was committed to becoming a new "Old Master" for the United States.
Video: A series of illustrations related to the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, including buildings, scenes of crowds and a cartoon
Audio: Back in Philadelphia, his first great opportunity came with the announcement of the forthcoming Centennial Exposition to be held in Philadelphia in 1876, the first great World's Fair in this country that would celebrate both the 100th anniversary of its founding and a century of American progress.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: In the run-up to the Exposition, American artists were invited to submit their best work to an international exhibition of fine arts.
Video: A photographic portrait of Thomas Eakins
Audio: In response, Eakins began to plan a spectacular entry that would win him a reputation: a portrait of Dr. Samuel Gross.
Video: A photographic portrait of Samuel D. Gross
Audio: Gross was probably the most famous surgeon in the world at that time. Known as "The Emperor of American Surgery," he was the author of a textbook…
Video: The first page of the Samuel D. Gross textbook
Audio: …that had been translated into eight languages.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: And as the senior professor at Jefferson Medical College…
Video: An archival photograph of bandage-wrapped cadavers on tables in a classroom at the Jefferson Medical College
Audio: … the largest medical school in America, he had taught about a quarter of the practicing surgeons in the country.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: The surgery portrayed by Eakins showcases one of his most brilliant insights.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: A bone infection was at this time still life-threatening and required drastic treatment, most often the amputation of a limb.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Gross' study of recent discoveries about bone renewal made him realize that simply cleansing the site of the infection would allow the bone to heal itself. A relatively simple procedure would yield an immeasurably better outcome. While The Gross Clinic was shocking to many viewers in 1876…
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: …and to some even today, Eakins' work…
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: …Gross' remarkable medical innovations in a masterful, academic painting style.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Eakins' brilliant use of natural light —as in the work of his heroes…
Video: The Rembrandt painting Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632
Audio: …Rembrandt…
Video: The Velázquez painting Las Meninas, 1656
Audio: …and Velázquez…
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: …serves a powerful emotional purpose while remaining true to his commitment to realism.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: The light from the oculus above falls on Dr. Gross' forehead, emphasizing his intelligence, and it magically turns his hair into a halo, conveying the worshipful respect that he won from his students and his colleagues.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: With these artistic devices —light, composition and telling detail —Eakins demonstrates his own formidable professional skills, complementing those…
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: …of his subject. And in this, his first masterpiece, he argued convincingly that the heroism —and heroic figures — of modern American life were as worthy of being memorialized by painting as the great figures and events of the past. It also pointed the way to the future and foreshadowed many advances in medical science soon to come.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Some of these can be seen in Eakins' other great "clinic" painting…
Video: A black-and-white archival photograph of Thomas Eakins, The Agnew Clinic, 1889, on display
Audio: … his portrait of Dr. Hayes Agnew of the University of Pennsylvania.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting The Agnew Clinic, 1889
Audio: Painted in 1889, just thirteen years after The Gross Clinic, The Agnew Clinic depicts this celebrated surgeon and his assistants in clean white gowns using sterilized instruments, thus heralding the advent of antiseptic medicine, one of the great innovations of that time.
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Eakins hoped that The Gross Clinic would be a resounding success but was sorely disappointed in the response to this painting, which was rejected by the jury of the art exhibition, evidently because it was too frightening.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Disappointingly, it was installed…
Video: An archival photograph of The Gross Clinic on display in a hospital room
Audio: …among a display of medical instruments and illustrations in a model U.S. Army field hospital.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: Eakins sold the painting to Jefferson Medical College for a pittance —about enough to pay for the cost of the frame —where it was seen and admired by physicians and their students but rarely, if ever, by the public.
Video: A poster for and a ticket to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Audio: Years later, on the occasion of the country's next World's Fair, in 1893…
Video: A photograph of crowds at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Audio: …Eakins borrowed The Gross Clinic and sent it with a group of his paintings to the art exhibition…
Video: An illustration of the grounds at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Audio: … at the Exposition in Chicago.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: By this time, the courage, vision and artistic mastery of his work were recognized, and he won a medal.
Video: A photographic portrait of Thomas Eakins
Audio: From this point forward, the reputation of the artist and the painting would grow. Today, the greatest painting by Philadelphia's greatest painter is proudly displayed…
Video: The Thomas Eakins painting The Agnew Clinic, 1889
Audio: …at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Video: Timothy Rub standing in front of the Thomas Eakins painting Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875
Oil on canvas
8’ x 6 1/2’ (243.8 x 198.1 cm)
An illustration of Central High School in Philadelphia, 1852
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of Tivoli Theater, Jefferson Medical College, 1752
History and Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of the dissecting room at Jefferson Medical College
Alpha Stock / Alamy Stock Photo
A portrait of Samuel D. Gross
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
The Environs of Paris, 1866
Published By J.H. Colton & Co.
The History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of École des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Created by Andrew, Best and Leloir, published in Le Magasin pittoresque, Paris, 1838
Old Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
Self Portrait, c. 1880
Platinum print
6 1/8” x 4” (15.7 x 10 cm)
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of Judges Hall at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
The Illustrated London News
Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy Stock Photo
Crowds coming into the main entrance to the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
Hand-colored woodcut of a nineteenth century illustration
North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
The Stride of a Century, c. 1876
A cartoon celebrating the centennial of the United States. The figure of Brother Jonathan, a precursor of Uncle Sam, straddles the towers of the main building at the Philadelphia World’s Fair of 1876.
Lithograph
Published by Currier & Ives, c. 1876
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of President Ulysses S. Grant opening the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Machinery Hall at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Engraving
Old Paper Studios / Alamy Stock Photo
A photographic portrait of Samuel D. Gross
The History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Thomas Eakins, The Agnew Clinic, 1889, on display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
The Agnew Clinic, 1889
Oil on canvas
84 1/4” x 120 1/4” (213.9 x 305.4 cm)
Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Poster for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Ticket to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo
A photograph of crowds at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
An illustration of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
(This image is a digitally improved reproduction of the original from 1895.)
Historical image collection by Bildagentur-online / Alamy Stock Photo
Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916)
Self Portrait, 1889–94
Platinum print
agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
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© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
May 10th–June 21st, 2021
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Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Pérez Art Museum Miami
On-screen text: Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
On-screen text: Frank Stella (b. 1936), Protractor, Variation I, 1969, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 96” x 192 1/2” x 3”
Video: Franklin Sirmans, Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
On-screen text: Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)
Audio— Franklin Sirmans: Hello, I am Franklin Sirmans, Director of the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum Miami. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment.
Video: Interior shots of the Pérez Art Museum Miami ending with a view of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, Frank Stella’s Protractor, Variation I…
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Pérez Art Museum Miami
Audio: Pérez Art Museum began operating as an institution in Downtown Miami in 1984 and began collecting in 1994. Since 2013, we have been located on Biscayne Bay in our unique and innovatively designed building by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: Protractor, Variation I is a monumental acrylic and graphite painting on canvas…
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of and facing the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …that spans sixteen feet wide by eight feet tall and…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …as its name suggests, it’s a work in a series by the great American painter…
Video: Frank Stella posing in front of one of his other Protractor, Variation works
Audio: …Frank Stella.
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: The painting was bequeathed to the Pérez by Jan Cowles in 2018…
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …an important patron of the museum. She had it displayed in her Park Avenue apartment for almost fifty years. Frank Stella was born in 1936 and…
Video: A black-and-white photograph showing a family on a riverbank feeding ducks
Audio: …grew up in Malden, Massachusetts.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: He spent his formative teenage years at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. There, he was surrounded by modern abstract painting at the on-campus…
Video: The building exterior of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy Andover
Audio: …Addison Gallery of American Art, the first museum in America…
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …to exhibit the work of Bauhaus…
Video: The Josef Albers painting Homage to the Square, 1958
Audio: …artist Josef Albers.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: While there, he also…
Video: The Hans Hofmann paintings Composition in Blue, c. 1945; Color Intervals at Provincetown, 1943; and Exaltment, 1947
Audio: …encountered the art of Hans Hofmann, who, like Albers, was deeply concerned with color and abstraction. These two artists as espoused by the Gallery became hallmarks of Stella’s engagement with modern art.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: After graduating from Phillip’s Academy, Stella attended Princeton University. He began attending exhibitions at New York galleries and museums. He emulated the preeminent Abstract Expressionist painters of the moment…
Video: The Jackson Pollock painting Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950
Audio: …such as Jackson Pollock…
Video: The Franz Kline painting Nijinsky, 1950
Audio: …and Franz Kline…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Abstract Composition, c. 1950s
Audio: …working his own way through what was…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Your Lips are Blue, 1958
Audio: …being created, by imitation.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: By 1958, while still at Princeton, he was on his way to redefining art history…
Video: The Frank Stella paintings Tomlinson Court Park I, 1959; Die Fahne hoch!, 1959; and The Marriage of Reason and Squalor (second version), 1959
Audio: …with a series of paintings that were wholly his own.
Video: Black-and-white archival photographs and video footage of Frank Stella painting and working in his studio
Audio: Rather than replicating the gestures and movements as painted by his predecessors, Stella went the opposite direction and began to explore the properties and materials he used—the color of the paint, the flatness of the canvas. He presented the painting as an object rather than something that represented a scene, an action or emotion and became one of the preeminent painters of the Minimalist movement.
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: Protractor, Variation I was made in 1969. He arrived at this colorful painting after he had already exhausted other styles and ways of making abstract paintings. Stella has constantly probed the liminal space where painting meets sculpture…
Video: Black-and-white archival video footage of Frank Stella in his studio
Audio: …in terms of form and dimension. Two other works from our collection by Stella also explore this territory…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Chodorów II, 1971
Audio: …Chodorów II, 1971…
Video: The Frank Stella painting The Quadrant, 1988
Audio: …and The Quadrant, from 1988.
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: Stella is an astounding innovator. He never settled comfortably in one place. He moves rapidly from irregular and regular shaped paintings into multiple forms that eventually lead…
Video: A color photograph of Frank Stella posing with some of his works in his studio
Audio: …to relief paintings that had pluridimensionality.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: This particular work is exemplary of Stella’s practice…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …from 1967 to 1971, a period defined by his Protractor paintings and arguably the prolific artist’s most important and well-known…
Video: The Frank Stella paintings Hagamatana II, 1967, and Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation I), 1970
Audio: …series of works. It is one of 27 different variations…
Video: Black-and-white archival video footage of Frank Stella creating one of his Protractor paintings
Audio: …using the tool of math students everywhere.
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: The rhythmic bands of color in Protractor, Variation I form a latticework that is complex and yet derived from the simplicity of the protractor. This is not the abstraction of the Expressionists: The paint is applied perfectly, manicured and clean.
Video: Black-and-white archival photograph of Frank Stella in his studio
Audio: In 1969, Stella said, “My main interest has been to make what is popularly called decorative painting…
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …truly viable in unequivocal abstract terms.”
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: The scale of this work gives it an architectural function. Perhaps it is unsurprising that…
Video: The Frank Stella paintings Flin-Flon IV, 1970 and Harran II, 1967
Audio: …the Protractors, a group of nearly 100 paintings, in three distinct motifs…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …are the largest series of paintings Stella made to date.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: The Roman numeral I in the title identifies the work as part of a specific design group designating its surface patterning; in this case…
Video: The Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: …the semicircle of the protractor resting firmly on its rectilinear base. This half circle—rather than the full circle—is the primary unit of all the formats. Yet, no matter how complex these interweavings become, their color and hard edges between bands of color give them a clarity of thought and composition that is remarkable.
Video: Franklin Sirmans standing in front of the Frank Stella painting Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Protractor, Variation I by Frank Stella. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment!
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Yinka Shonibare (British, b. 1962)
Venus de Arles (Venus of Arles), 2018
Fiberglass, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern, bespoke hand-colored globe and steel
54 1/4” x 24” x 24” (137.8 x 61 x 61 cm)
© 2021 Yinka Shonibare CBE. All Rights Reserved, DACS/ ARS, NY 2021
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Protractor, Variation I, 1969
Acrylic and graphite on canvas
96” x 192 1/2” x 3” (243.8 x 489 x 7.62 cm)
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, bequest of Jan Cowles
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frank Stella poses in front of one of his works at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 6, 2012
Photo: MATTHIAS LEITZKE
Image: dpa picture alliance archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Feeding the Ducks, Fellsmere Reservoir, Malden, Mass.
Detroit Publishing Company postcards 10000 Series. Date Issued: 1898–1931
Image: agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy Andover in Andover, Massachusetts
Image: Auk Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Josef Albers (German, 1888–1976)
Homage to the Square, 1958
Acrylic on Masonite
National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome
© The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2021
Image: NICK FIELDING / Alamy Stock Photo
Hans Hofmann (American, b. Germany, 1880–1966)
Composition in Blue, c. 1945
Screenprint, tempera on wove paper
17” x 14 1/8” (43.1 x 35.8 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, gift of Maud and Patrick Morgan, 1987.192
With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Hans Hofmann (American, b. Germany, 1880–1966)
Color Intervals at Provincetown, 1943
Ink and crayon on wove paper
11” x 14” (27.9 x 35.6 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, museum purchase, 1948.13
With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Hans Hofmann (American, b. Germany, 1880–1966)
Exaltment, 1947
Oil on canvas
59 3/4” x 47 3/4” (151.7 x 121.2 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, museum purchase, 1960.6
With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Jackson Pollock (American, 1912–1956)
Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950
Oil, enamel and aluminum on canvas
87” x 118” (221 x 299.7 cm)
© 2021 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: B Christopher / Alamy Stock Photo
Franz Kline (American, 1910–1962)
Nijinsky, 1950
Oil on canvas
45 1/2” x 34 7/8” (115.6 × 88.6 cm)
© 2021 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Abstract Composition, c. 1950s
Oil on Homasote panel
31 3/4” x 12” (80.6 cm x 30.4 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, gift of A. Bernard Ackerman, M.D. (PA 1954), a classmate of Frank Stella at both Phillips Academy and Princeton University, 2003.45
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Your Lips are Blue, 1958
Oil on canvas
90” x 72” (228.6 x 182.9 cm)
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Art Resource, NY
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Tomlinson Court Park I, 1959
Matte black enamel paint on canvas
86 5/8” x 110 1/4” (220 x 280 cm)
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Malcolm Park editorial / Alamy Stock Photo
Page Break
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Die Fahne hoch!, 1959
Enamel on canvas
121 5/8” x 72 7/8” (308.9 x 184.9 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene M. Schwartz and purchase, with funds from the John I. H. Baur Purchase Fund; the Charles and Anita Blatt Fund; Peter M. Brant; B. H. Friedman; the Gilman Foundation, Inc.; Susan Morse Hilles; The Lauder Foundation
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Digital image: © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
The Marriage of Reason and Squalor (second version), 1959
Enamel on canvas
90 3/4” x 132 3/4” (230.5 x 337.2 cm)
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Art Resource, NY
Hollis Frampton (American, 1936–1984)
(028 painting Getty Tomb) [unpublished print], from The Secret World of Frank Stella
1958–1962 negative; printed 1991
Gelatin silver print
7 3/8” x 7 1/2” (18.7 x 18.8 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, gift of Marion Faller, Addison Art Drive, 1991.204.4
Copyright Estate of Hollis Frampton
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Hollis Frampton (American, 1936–1984)
#22 (017 Tomlinson Court Park), from The Secret World of Frank Stella, 1958–1962
Gelatin silver print
7 1/2” x 9 1/2” (18.9 x 24 cm)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, gift of Marion Faller, Addison Art Drive, 1990.34.22
Copyright Estate of Hollis Frampton
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Hollis Frampton (American, 1936–1984)
#42 (163 Cedar Street Tavern) from The Secret World of Frank Stella, 1958–1962
Gelatin silver print
9 1/2” x 7 1/2” (24.1 x 19 cm)
Gift of Marion Faller, Addison Art Drive. 1990.34.42
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, U.S.A.
Copyright Estate of Hollis Frampton
Image: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA / Art Resource, NY
Page Break
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Chodorów II, 1971
Acrylic, canvas, felt, and enamel on shaped canvas
108” x 106” (274.3 x 269.2 cm)
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, gift of Mimi and Bud Floback
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
The Quadrant, 1988
Mixed media on aluminum
100” x 83” x 45” (254 x 210.8 x 114.3 cm)
Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, gift of Jorge M. Pérez
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
American artist Frank Stella, painter and sculptor, poses in his studio in New York, October 29, 1991
Luc Novovitch / Alamy Stock Photo
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Hagamatana II, 1967
Polymer and fluorescent polymer paint on canvas
120 1/4” x 180 3/8” x 3” (305.4 x 458 x 7.5 cm)
Museu Coleção Berardo, Portugal
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: M. Sobreira / Alamy Stock Photo
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation I), 1970
Acrylic on canvas on shaped stretcher
10’ x 50’ (304.8 x 1524 cm)
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: EThamPhoto / Alamy Stock Photo
Malcolm Lubliner (American, b. 1933)
Portrait of Frank Stella in his studio, 1969
© 2021 Malcolm Lubliner
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Flin-Flon IV, 1970
Acrylic on canvas
108” x 108” (274.5 x 274.5 cm)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photo: Christian Bahier / Philippe Migeat
Image: © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Page Break
Frank Stella (American, b. 1936)
Harran II, 1967
Polymer and fluorescent polymer paint on canvas
10’ x 20’ (304.8 x 609.6 cm)
Gift, Mr. Irving Blum, 1982
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
© 2021 Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation / Art Resource, NY
USA: Artists: Episode #5: The New Abstraction: Frank Stella and Larry Poons
Video clips copyright and courtesy THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC and The WNET Group*.
*All video footage in the Frank Stella video remains the sole property of WNET. No portion of this production, in part or in whole, can be reused or reproduced, without prior permission.
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
On-screen text: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Video: The Damascus Room at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
On-screen text: Damascus Room, Syrian, dated A.H. 1119 / A.D. 1707
Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; wood (cypress, poplar and mulberry), mother-of-pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster ceramic tiles, iron and brass
Video: Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, standing outside the Damascus Room
On-screen text: Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Audio— Max Hollein: Hi. I am Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite works from our collection, the Damascus Room, and tell you what inspires me and why I believe it is truly a masterpiece.
To me, one of the most incredible things about The Met is that, walking through the galleries, you can feel transported to different times and places all over the world—perhaps nowhere more...
Video: A Roman fresco of a bedroom
Audio: ...than in the Museum’s period rooms, which range from an ancient Roman bedroom…
Video: The Frank Lloyd Wright Room, 1912–1914
Audio: …to a twentieth-century living room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Minnesota.
Video: Max Hollein standing outside the Damascus Room
Audio: So I am standing here outside the Damascus Room, which dates to 1707 from Syria, an important province of the vast Ottoman Empire.
Video: Close-up views of the Damascus Room
Audio: Not only is it an architectural jewel, but it is strikingly well preserved and among the earliest surviving rooms of its type. This space was designed as a reception room, and one can easily imagine that it was part of a monumental house of a powerful, affluent family. The complex construction provided an elegant atmosphere for welcoming guests into this remarkably large setting, with its harmoniously balanced proportions and refined decoration. Common for such reception rooms, called qaʿas, of its time, the space is divided into two areas: a raised square seating area, or tazar; and a small antechamber, or ‘ataba, with a door on the side.
Video: A Syrian courtyard
Audio: This door connects the room with a large courtyard that commonly dominates Syrian houses…
Video: Close-up views of the Damascus Room
Audio: …and around which spaces and rooms are articulated.
Video: Max Hollein standing outside the Damascus Room
Audio: The opening from which visitors view the room today in the museum would originally have been a wall with a cupboard.
Video: Close-up views of the Damascus Room
Audio: The floors are paved in colorful marble and other stones, while the wooden paneling and ceilings of the room are elaborately decorated. These areas are worked in luxurious gesso relief, called ‘ajami, incorporating reflective gold and tin leaf, transparent colored glazes and bright egg tempera paints, now darkened over time, to create a variety of surface effects. Poetic Arabic inscriptions along floral motifs are finely applied on the wood. And near the ceiling, polychrome glass set in stucco form floral-patterned windows, which delightfully filter the light. The art resides in the fineness of the details, decoration or calligraphy, and the complexity of the patterns, considered a high art form and characteristic of Islamic art.
The opulent decorative repertoire and expensive materials suggest that the Damascus Room was designed for the home of a powerful merchant, to host his visitors or other important male guests. Luxurious objects, such as Eastern ware or fancy Chinese porcelain, would be displayed in the built-in shelves—all aimed to impress the guests with Near Eastern hospitality. Imagine you are among the audience, seated on the low cushions. You taste delicious appetizers served in small bowls and presented on a large round tray; you sip from a glass of rose water, while listening to a musical performance. The air is imbued with incense or other enchanting perfume, and the sound of the water resonates in the room. The flowers on the wall recreate a virtual garden, blossoming all year long. The Arabic poetry decoration recalls the Gardens of Paradise and invokes blessings for the owner and the Prophet Muhammad. This luxurious chamber thus becomes a metaphor for a heaven on earth, a place where all the senses would engage and a welcome reprieve from the hectic city.
Video: Max Hollein standing outside the Damascus Room
Audio: Damascus was a bustling metropolis with a rich antique past that stood out…
Video: An archival black-and-white illustration of a panoramic view of Damascus City
Audio: …as a prosperous commercial center on the Silk Road and the route to Mecca.
Video: Max Hollein standing outside the Damascus Room
Audio: This room reflects that cultural heritage. Records indicate that it came from a private house in the area southwest of the famous Great Mosque in Damascus…
Video: Image of a colorful mosaic of a mosque
Audio: …known for its splendid mosaics.
Video: A black-and-white image of a damaged building in Damascus after French bombing, c. 1925
Audio: In 1925, part of this neighborhood was destroyed in a French aerial bombardment aimed at suppressing a Syrian resistance movement.
Video: A black-and-white image of Damascus after French bombing, c. 1925
Audio: The room was probably salvaged from the wreckage of the airstrike or from a later campaign to widen the narrow streets.
Video: Close-up views of the Damascus Room
Audio: By the early 1930s, the room had been removed from its original setting and was sold to an Armenian-American dealer, who brought it to New York. He added the fountain in the lower antechamber, which is a couple of centuries older from the Mamluk period. Made of opus sectile finely cut mosaic stonework, it reflects the spirit of such reception rooms, and particularly the ones in noble residences, which include a similar fountain. Period rooms like this one have a unique power to evoke the spirit of an era and the people who once created and inhabited these spaces. I hope you will have a chance to visit The Met and experience your own journey through time.
Video: Max Hollein standing outside the Damascus Room
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about The Met’s Damascus Room. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the unique installation with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Damascus Room, A.H. 1119 / A.D. 1707
Syrian
Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; wood (cypress, poplar and mulberry), mother-of-pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster ceramic tiles, iron and brass
Overall: 22’ 5/8” × 16’ 8 1/2” × 26’ 4 5/8” (671.6 × 509.2 × 804.2 cm)
Gift of the Hagop Kevorkian Fund, 1970
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cubiculum (bedroom) from the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, c. 50–40 B.C.
Roman
Fresco
8’ 8 1/2” × 10’ 11 1/2” × 19’ 1 7/8” (265.4 × 334 × 583.9 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1903
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Frank Lloyd Wright (American, 1867–1959)
Frank Lloyd Wright Room, 1912–1914
Living room from the Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Little house in Wayzata, Minnesota
Installed in the American Wing (Gallery 745) of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Emily Crane Chadbourne Bequest, 1972
© 2021 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Artists Rights Society.
Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Source: Art Resource, NY
Damascus Room images: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Umayyad Mosque or Grand Mosque of Damascus. Syria.
Image: Dallet-Alba / Alamy Stock Photo
Panoramic of Damascus City
Engraving published in L’Univers Arabia in 1841
Image: Old Books Images / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Denver Art Museum
On-screen text: Denver Art Museum
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
On-screen text: Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, 10th Century, Chinese, Polychromed wood
Video: Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum,
standing next to the sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease
On-screen text: Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director, Denver Art Museum
Audio—Christoph Heinrich: Hello, I’m Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum. Welcome to the Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, the Bodhisattva of Compassion Seated in Royal Ease, also called Guanyin Posa,and I would like to tell you why I think this is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: This tenth-century sculpture is carved from two pieces of wood, quite likely boxwood, a common material used during this time, and fitted together perfectly. It stands about 17 inches tall, and it was once beautifully painted, and if you look carefully you can still see traces of color. In Buddhist teachings, bodhisattvas are wise and compassionate, and they are beings who are capable of enlightenment but postpone it in order to help ordinary people along the Buddhist path. Given its age, this sculpture remains in remarkably good condition. As I mentioned, traces of pigment remain, indicating that its original appearance would have been brightly painted – draped fabric, necklace, and crown….
Video: Image of a piece of cinnabar (vermilion)
Audio: ….in red cinnabar….
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: ….details like the belt and some swaths of the fabric in green….
Video: Image of a piece of the mineral malachite
Audio: ….possibly the mineral malachite.
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: Guanyin’s arms and upper torso were probably white, and details in black pigment. Trace amounts of gold show us that gilt elements added reflective brightness and vibrancy. While most of the color is lost, its elegance and beauty persist.
Video: Close-up of a late tenth–eleventh century Chinese scroll with an ink and color depiction of a palace banquet
Audio: We can only imagine the wonder it might have inspired in devotees who approached the Guanyin for merciful blessings.
Video: A colorful map of China in 908 CE that shows the Five Dynasties
Audio: This masterpiece was made in China during the Five Dynasties period, when China was split into small kingdoms that were engaged in constant conflict.
Video: A faded Chinese mural depicting two Buddhist donors
Audio: Buddhism had come to China around the first century of the Common Era or earlier, likely via Buddhist monks and pilgrims….
Video: A black-and-white map illustrating the Silk Road from Damascus to Khan Fou
Audio: ….traveling with merchant caravans alongside the Silk Road trade routes.
Video: A faded Chinese mural depicting musicians and a dancer
Audio: It became a major cultural force in China, mingling with local belief systems to develop a distinctly Chinese form of Buddhism, flourishing over the centuries,….
Video: The exterior of a Chinese temple
Audio: ….and leading to the creation of many temples….
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: ….furnished with sculptures like this one.
Video: The sculpture Attendant Bodhisattva, tenth–eleventh century
Audio: The popular Chinese form of Buddhism emphasized bodhisattvas as an accessible source of help and guidance.
Video: A sculpture of Guanyin seated
Audio: Guanyin, whose name means “the one who always hears,” was particularly beloved.
Video: A sculpture of Guanyin standing
Audio: Guanyin is usually depicted elegantly dressed and sumptuously ornamented, a style influenced by earlier representations in India.
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Video: Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum,
standing next to the sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease
Audio: Sitting serenely on a lotus throne in the posture of royal ease, Guanyin gazes downward, as if listening attentively to the devotees who pray for release from their suffering.
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: The figure and the throne were carved separately from different sections of solid wood, fitting together perfectly to display this beloved bodhisattva. Among all the known examples of Guanyin from this period, this one is certainly among the finest. The unknown maker of this sculpture was exceptionally skilled at imbuing the work with sensitivity and with grace.
Video: A mural depicting Buddhist monasteries
Audio: And it was likely one of the skilled specialist artisans whose works were displayed in temples and shrines for the devotion of Chinese Buddhists.
Video: The sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease, tenth century
Audio: Seeing the Guanyin, I’m reminded that there is a timelessness to the notion of compassion for oneself and for others. It remains as relevant today as it did when this symbol of mercy was made, over 1,000 years ago.
Video: Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum,
standing next to the sculpture Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Guanyin. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with those you know. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Bodhisattva of Compassion (Guanyin) Seated in Royal Ease
Chinese, tenth century
Polychromed wood
17” x 9” x 8” (43.1 x 22.8 x 20.3 cm)
Walter C. Mead Collection
Denver Museum of Art
Guanyin
Chinese (Shanxin), twelfth century
Painted and gilded wood
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
PRISMA ARCHIVO / Alamy Stock Photo
Image of a piece of cinnabar (vermilion)
JENYA / Alamy Stock Photo
Image of a piece of the mineral malachite
Ivan Vdovin / Alamy Stock Photo
Unknown
Chinese, active late tenth–eleventh century
Palace banquet
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Ex coll.: C. C. Wang Family, Gift of Oscar L. Tang Family, 2010
Map of China in 908 CE
Credit: Pavo Xie
Mural from Cave 98 at Mogao Caves, Gansu, China
Buddhist donors
Five Dynasties to early Northern Sung dynasty
Tenth century
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Map illustrating the Silk Road from Damascus to Khan Fou
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Mural from Yulin Cave 12n at Mogao Caves, Gansu, China
Musicians and dancer
Five Dynasties to early Northern Sung dynasty
Tenth century
ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
The Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple, China
Credit: Xin
China, Five Dynasties (907–960 CE) or Liao dynasty (907–1125 CE)
Attendant Bodhisattva, tenth–eleventh century
Willow with gesso and pigment; single woodblock construction
59” high (149.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Alfonso Vicente / Alamy Stock Photo
Guanyin (standing figure)
Pictures Now / Alamy Stock Photo
Mural from Cave 61 at Mogao Caves, Gansu, China
Tang Buddhist monasteries of Mount Wutai, Shanxi province
Five Dynasties to early Northern Sung dynasty
Tenth century
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Seattle Asian Art Museum
On-screen text: Seattle Asian Art Museum
Video: The Katsushika Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
On-screen text: Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849), Five Beautiful Women, 1804–1810, ink and color on silk, 18” x 71”
Video: Amada Cruz, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum, standing in front of the Katsushika Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
On-screen text: Amada Cruz, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO, Seattle Art Museum
Audio—Amada Cruz: Hello, I am Amada Cruz, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, Five Beautiful Women by Katsushika Hokusai, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece. Before we begin our discussion, I would like to tell you a little more about our newly renovated and expanded Seattle Asian Art Museum, one of the few museums in North America exclusively dedicated to Asian art.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Audio: This beautiful 1933 Art Deco building was SAM’s original home, and in 1994, after a new museum building opened in downtown Seattle, this facility reopened as the museum’s center for Asian art and cultural activities. In 2020, we reopened this gem after a major renovation, and now each gallery presents artworks from ancient to contemporary, and from across Asia, including Japan, China, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Himalaya and the Middle East. The museum’s Asian art holdings are among the finest in the United States, and its Japanese collection is one of the top ten outside of Japan.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: As part of our collection, we are honored to have one of Katsushika Hokusai’s masterpieces….
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: …. Five Beautiful Women. It’s painted on fine silk with vibrant colors, and it’s about 18 inches wide and 71 inches tall.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Hokusai is a household name in Japan and also widely known worldwide.
Video: The Hokusai painting Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave, c. 1830–1832
Audio: For many of us, the name Hokusai brings to mind the iconic prints of the Great Wave….
Video: The Hokusai painting South Wind, Clear Day, also known as Red Fuji, c. 1830–1832
Audio: ….or Red Fuji, of which SAM fortunately has fine impressions in its collection thanks to Seattle collectors Mary and Allan Kollar.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: This painting was acquired in 1956 from the highly regarded Japanese dealer Mayuyama, who supplied top-notch Japanese art to museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art and, of course, the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Born in 1760, Hokusai entered the art world at the age of 19 and enjoyed a prolific career that spanned 70 years. He produced an estimated tens of thousands of woodblock prints and was no doubt a master of the Pop art of his time, ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Soon after his death in 1849, many of the prints found their way to Europe, where….
Video: The Claude Monet painting The Japanese Footbridge, 1899
Audio: ….Impressionists such as Claude Monet were fascinated by his work.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Hokusai’s creative energy and genius can also be found in his paintings. Unlike prints, his paintings were not produced in multiples and thus in a less greater number, but they are marvelous, such as the one we have here. Hokusai painted Five Beautiful Women around 1810, about two decades before he created….
Video: The Hokusai painting Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave, c. 1830–1832
Audio: …. the famed Great Wave.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Here, he ingeniously composed five women of different social backgrounds in an intriguing hierarchy, differentiated by their clothing.
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: At the top is a woman from a high-ranking warrior family. She wears a kimono decorated with an iris design and a lavish obi sash and is poised with a writing brush and paper in hand. The next is a young woman from a wealthy merchant family in a shibori tie-dyed kimono, engaged in flower arrangement. The third woman in a black kimono with floral designs and a butterfly-shaped hat is a lady-in-waiting in the residence of a shogun or daimyo, a Japanese feudal lord. Beneath her reclines a high-class courtesan, identified by her front-tied obi that bears a peacock feather pattern. At the bottom is a middle-aged woman in a simple, brown kimono with a checkered obi sash. She is reclining on the floor, reading a book. Her somber-colored robes and plucked eyebrows lead some scholars to suggest she is a widow.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: All the remarkable detailing of the garment patterns we see here is a trademark of deluxe ukiyo-e painting. Painted on silk with expensive pigments….
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: …. this painting is among the finest works that Hokusai made for his wealthiest clients. It is a pivotal work of the popular genre, beautiful women.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: In fact, the gallery we are in right now is titled Are We What We Wear?
Video: A display of hanging kimonos
Audio: The array of garments and accessories here prompts us to think about clothing and the relationships to our identity.
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Hokusai’s painting does this so eloquently and beautifully.
Video: Image of a sheet of the 1974 “famous works of art” commemorative stamps, that which includes Hokusai‘s Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Along with seven other paintings by masters such as Raphael and Goya, Five Beautiful Women appeared on the 1974 “famous works of art” commemorative stamps illustrating the theme of “Letters mingle souls” to mark the centennial of the Universal Postal Union.
Video: Amada Cruz standing in front of the Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Hokusai’s Five Beautiful Women. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the piece with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Video: The Hokusai painting Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Jung Yeondoo (South Korean, b. 1969)
Bewitched #2 Seoul, 2001
C-print
62 5/8” × 51 9/16” (159.1 × 131 cm)
Seattle Art Museum, Purchased with funds from the Estate of Rosa Ayer
Courtesy of the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Five Beautiful Women, c. 1810
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
71” × 18 1/4” (180.3 × 46.4 cm)
Seattle Art Museum, Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund
Photograph of Seattle Asian Art Museum exterior
© 2021 Tim Griffith
Do Ho Suh (Korean, b. 1962)
Some/One, 2001
Stainless steel military dog-tags, nickel-plated copper sheets, steel structure, glass fiber reinforced resin and rubber sheets
Diameter at base: 24’ 4” (741.7 cm); Height: 81” (205.7 cm)
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Barney A. Ebsworth
© 2021 Do Ho Suh. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London.
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave, c. 1830–1832
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
10 3/16” × 14 15/16” (25.7 × 37.9 cm)
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
South Wind, Clear Day, also known as Red Fuji, c. 1830–1832
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
9 7/8” × 14 3/4” (24.9 × 36.2 cm)
Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2010.15
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
The Japanese Footbridge, 1899
Oil on canvas
32” × 40” (81.3 × 101.6 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Victoria Nebeker Coberly, in memory of her son John W. Mudd, and Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
March 15th–April 26th, 2021
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
On-screen text: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
On-screen text: Caravaggio (Italian, 1571–1610), Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 1604–1605, Oil on canvas
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
On-screen text: Julián Zugazagoitia, Director, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Audio— Julián Zugazagoitia: Hello. I am Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art here in Kansas City, Missouri. Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite works in our collection, Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness by Caravaggio, and tell you why it moves me so deeply and why it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Painted in Rome, at the end of Caravaggio's career, Saint John the Baptist represents Caravaggio's mature style.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Audio: It differs from his early work, where the theatricality of highly dynamic multi-figure scenes establish him….
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Musicians, 1597
Audio: ….as an innovator artist, very different from his classic predecessors, whether of the Renaissance or the more immediate Mannerist.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: His sense of intense contrast of light, his use of everyday people as models and his realism launch what we call now the Baroque era.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: This later painting, while retaining all of Caravaggio's attributes, it's indeed more subdued and representative of his later work.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: It is characterized by its monumental size, the compositional stability, the limited use of colors, the restrained gesture of the figure, and his signature dramatic chiaroscuro, the technique depicting contrasting light to place emphasis in certain areas of the scene….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….giving his characters both a historic and theatrical dimension, like we can see here.
Video: The Diego Velázquez painting An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618
Audio: This innovation was widely used by many of his followers.
Video: The Orazio Borgianni painting Christ among the Doctors, c. 1609
Audio: Although no one really trained directly under Caravaggio, there were many who followed his technique….
Video: The Gerard van Honthorst painting The Dissolute Student, 1625
Audio: ….and this chiaroscuro, and they were known as the Caravaggisti.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: This particular treatment of Saint John the Baptist would have also been very innovative and surprising at the time he painted it, as it represents the saint as a melancholic, brooding adolescent.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: The painter's careful attention to realistic details, like the dirt on the toenails….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….conveys the humanistic side of the saint, especially his doubting, to which viewers could immediately relate, while revealing also Caravaggio's insistence upon using live models he would pick up from the streets of Rome and bring back to his studio. This conception of Saint John the Baptist was remarkable also. The saint had hardly ever been depicted….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….as an isolated figure, without the usual attributes.
Video: The Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) painting Saint John the Baptist, c. 1540–1542
Audio: Normally you would have seen him older, perhaps with a beard, or covered with a lambskin.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Here, you see the lambskin, but just very subtly, as an indicator of who he is.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: The purpose of this painting was private devotion….
Video: The Bernardo Rebaudo painting Portrait of Ottavio Costa, n.d.
Audio: ….as it was commissioned by Ottavio Costa, a banker to the Popes….
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….as the altarpiece for their small oratory in the Costa fiefdom of Conscente on the Italian Riviera.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: It is one of only seven paintings by Caravaggio in the United States, and considered by many among his best.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Deposition, c. 1600–1604
Audio: Today, Caravaggio's name resonates widely and is very well known….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, c. 1595–1596
Audio: ….and is considered a defining artist of the Baroque. But this recognition has had its ups and downs throughout the centuries.
Video: An illustration of Caravaggio from Crabb’s Historical Dictionary, published 1825
Audio: And perhaps this has to do with the very intense and complex personal story of him.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Born in Milan in 1571, Caravaggio was orphaned by the plague at age 11 and taken by a painter who studied….
Video: An illustration of Caravaggio
Audio: ….under Titian, where he began his apprenticeship. He was a young, troubled man, violent person. He was involved with gangs and prone to fights and incessant conflict.
Video: The Ottavio Leoni chalk drawing Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1621
Audio: After wounding a police officer in 1592, a penniless 21-year-old Caravaggio fled to Rome to escape retaliation and justice.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: In Rome, his youthful, innovative talent was quickly recognized, and his career flourished.
Video: The Caravaggio painting The Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599–1600
Audio: The church and patrons sought out his realistic, intimate, biblical scenes that provoke connection and contemplation.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint Jerome, 1605–1606
Audio: I think he impressed his patrons then, and continues to touch us today, because he showed suffering so intimately well. Undoubtedly, he could depict what he had both suffered and inflicted.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: His criminal behavior continued, but his wealthy patrons, so inspired by his work, continually bailed him out. Such was the case….
Video: The Étienne Baudet etching Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, late seventeenth century
Audio: ….until 1606, when he committed a murder and violent assault, and neither his patrons nor his talent could protect him anymore.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: At the very peak of his career, at the age of 34, Caravaggio was forced to flee Rome. He spent the rest of his life as a fugitive, traveling from Naples to Malta to Sicily, before dying, likely of illness, at age 38 in 1610.
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Our painting today can be dated actually at around the last years in Rome, around 1604, thanks to scientific research that was conducted in 2017. In preparation for an important retrospective, the Nelson-Atkins staff and scientists carried out technical studies of the painting to gain a better understanding of Caravaggio's working process.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: Exciting details were uncovered about how the painting was structured and constructed. For example, there's some incised lines that were used to just guide him in placing the figure….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….an infrared revealed of the paint strokes associated with early stages of the composition.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: We also found evidence that Caravaggio thought about including….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….a different type of leaf in the background instead of the oak leaves we see today.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: As a result of these collaborative studies, Caravaggio experts were able to narrow the date of the Nelson-Atkins painting to around 1604, six years prior to his demise. One can only imagine and speculate what his art production would have been like, had he lived for many, many more years. And in a way, the serenity that we witness in this depiction of Saint John the Baptist can really be interpreted today like the calm in the middle of a storm….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: …. calm that invites us to reflect and brings hope.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: I want to thank you for taking time to watch and learn more about Saint John the Baptist and invite you to visit the Nelson-Atkins in person or online….
Video: The Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: ….and to find more fascinating aspects about this painting and our vast encyclopedic collections.
Video: Julián Zugazagoitia standing in front of the Caravaggio painting Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
Audio: I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the works with your family and friends. And please visit the Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss an inspired moment brought by these magnificent works of art. Thank you.
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, 1604
Oil on canvas
68” × 52” (172.7 × 132.1 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Supper at Emmaus, 1601
Oil and tempera on canvas
56” × 77 1/4” (141 × 196.2 cm)
Presented by the Hon. George Vernon, 1839
National Gallery, London
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Musicians, 1597
Oil on canvas
36 1/4” × 46 5/8” (92.1 × 118.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1952
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599–1660)
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618
Oil on canvas
39 1/2” × 47” (100.5 × 119.5 cm)
Purchased with the aid of the Art Fund and a Treasury Grant 1955
National Galleries of Scotland
Orazio Borgianni (Italian, 1574–1616)
Christ among the Doctors, c. 1609
Oil on canvas
30 3/4” × 41 1/8” (78.2 × 104.6 cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656)
The Dissolute Student, 1625
Oil on canvas
49 1/4” × 61 3/8” (125 × 156 cm)
Sammlung, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, 1488/90–1576)
Saint John the Baptist, c. 1540–1542
Oil on canvas
79” × 46 7/8” (201 × 119 cm)
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Rome
Bernardo Rebaudo (Italian, b. 1573, death date unknown)
Portrait of Ottavio Costa, n.d.
Image courtesy Vides Ut Alta, Wikimedia Commons
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Deposition, c. 1600–1604
Oil on canvas
118” × 80” (300 × 203 cm)
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, c. 1595–1596
Oil on canvas
37” × 51” (94 × 130 cm)
The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
Illustration of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio from Crabb’s Historical Dictionary, published 1825
Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
Illustration of Caravaggio
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Ottavio Leoni (Italian, 1578–1630)
Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, c. 1621
Chalk on paper
Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
The Calling of Saint Matthew, c. 1599–1600
Oil on canvas
134” × 126 3/4” (340 × 322 cm)
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, 1571–1610)
Saint Jerome, 1605–1606
45 5/8” × 60 1/4” (116 × 153 cm)
Galleria Borghese, Rome
Étienne Baudet (French, c. 1636–1711)
Portrait of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, late seventeenth century, from the engraving by Ottavio Leoni
Etching on paper
6 5/8” × 5” (16.7 × 12.7 cm)
The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior shots of the Heard Museum
On-screen text: Heard Museum, Phoenix
Video: The Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
On-screen text: Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994), Earth Song, 1978, Alabama marble
Video: David Roche, the Dickey Family Director and CEO of the Heard Museum, standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
On-screen text: David Roche, Dickey Family Director and CEO, Heard Museum
Audio— David Roche: Hello, I'm David Roche, the Dickey Family Director and CEO of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment. Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection, Earth Song by Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: Earth Song arrived at the Heard in 1984, when it was generously gifted to the museum by the artist. This 48 ½ x 24 x 24 inch sculpture was carved in 1979 from Alabama Marble. It has graced the museum's entrance since its donation and greets all who visit the museum.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: It is now our signature work, an ambassador of our collection and mission. It is so emblematic of the Heard Museum that our member magazine is named after it.
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Heard Museum
Audio: The Heard is one of the oldest museums in Arizona, founded in 1929 by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard. The Heards understood the importance, beauty and creativity of the Indigenous cultures in the Southwest and wanted to share their appreciation with the public. The museum's collection contains more than 44,000 objects of Indigenous manufacture, and our library and archives house hundreds of thousands of artist files and documents that do not exist anywhere else. Our exhibitions and collections highlight the extraordinary breadth and variety of American Indian art, from objects made by North America's original inhabitants thousands of years ago, to cutting-edge works of contemporary art created within the last year.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: Allan Houser is a legendary figure in the world of contemporary Native American art.
Video: Allan Houser standing in front of his sculpture As Long as the Waters Flow at the Oklahoma State Capitol
Audio: Often referred to as the grandfather of contemporary Native American sculpture….
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser sculpting
Audio: ….he was born Allan Capron Haozous on June 30, 1914.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: Haozous, in the Apache language, describes the sound and sensation of pulling a plant from the earth at the point in which the earth gives way.
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser
Audio: The son of Blossom and Sam Haozous, he was the first member of his family to be born into freedom….
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: ….after the Chiricahua Apache peoples were held as prisoners of war by the U.S. Government for 27 years.
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser as a child
Audio: Houser was an inquisitive child who loved exploring the outdoors and drawing.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: In 1934, he saw a notice at the Indian Office in Anadarko, Oklahoma, inviting applicants to join the Painting School at the Santa Fe Indian School. Much to his father's chagrin, he applied and was accepted.
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser
Audio: Houser began his formal art training at the school's newly formed studio class, later known as "The Studio,"….
Video: An archival photograph of Dorothy Dunn
Audio: ….taught by a young Chicago Art Institute graduate named Dorothy Dunn.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: He attended the Indian School from 1934 to 1938, during which time he changed his name from Haozous to Houser, having been suggested to do so by school administrators.
Video: The Allan Houser painting Fancy Dancer, 1954
Audio: Houser and the students of The Studio became known for their distinct painting style of pastel colors that were outlined to create a flat and two-dimensional quality. This style of painting later became known as "Traditional Indian Painting."
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser and Anna Marie Houser
Audio: In 1939, Houser married Anna Marie Gallegos.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: During this time, Houser befriended students and faculty at the Pasadena Art Center, where he was exposed to the work of world-renowned modernist sculptors such as….
Video: The Jean Arp sculpture Giant Pip, 1937
Audio: ….Jean Arp….
Video: The Constantin Brancusi sculpture Sleeping Muse, 1910
Audio: ….Constantin Brancusi….
Video: The Henry Moore sculpture Mother and Child, 1930
Audio: ….Henry Moore….
Video: The Isamu Noguchi sculpture Mitosis, 1962
Audio: ….Isamu Noguchi….
Video: The Barbara Hepworth sculpture The Family of Man, 1970
Audio: ….and Barbara Hepworth.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: This exposure laid the foundation for what would later become Allan Houser's own take on modernist sculpture. Houser was at the height of his painting career, but it was at this moment he began to experiment with three-dimensional media. He first experimented with wood carvings, later working in stone and bronze.
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser standing in front of his sculpture Comrade in Mourning, 1948
Audio: In 1948, he was commissioned to create his first monumental piece for Haskell Indian College in Lawrence, Kansas, entitled Comrade in Mourning.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: Houser went on to have a highly successful career as an artist.
Video: An archival photograph of the IAIA Art Department faculty, 1962
Audio: He was a member of the 1962 inaugural faculty at the Institute of American Indian Art,
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser teaching students
Audio: ….where he taught painting and sculpture to hundreds of students, many of whom –….
Video: The Doug Hyde sculpture Navajo Water Girl, c. 1990s
Audio: ….like the renowned Nez Perce, Assiniboine, Chippewa sculptor Doug Hyde – went on to establish their own successful practices.
Video: The Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: In Earth Song, you can see the influences of Mexican muralists….
Video: The Diego Rivera painting The Flower Vendor (Girl with Lilies), 1941
Audio: ….such as Diego Rivera….
Video: The Henry Moore sculpture Mother and Child: Block Seat, 1983–84
Audio: ….as well as the British artist Henry Moore….
Video: The Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: ….both of whom influenced Houser's distinctive sculptural style. It depicts an Apache man singing a song of respect, a prayer to Mother Earth. He is seen beating a water drum with a pounder, which measures the rhythm of his prayer as he sings to thank the Earth for sustaining all living forms. The model of Earth Song was San Carlos Apache artist Delmar Boni, a good friend of Houser's. Houser's subjects are grounded in a respect for his Apache culture and for all Indigenous people, while his themes are based on stories he heard as a child about the lifeways….
Video: An archival photograph of Allan Houser sculpting
Audio: ….of the Apache people before the arrival of the Europeans.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: In 1997, Earth Song was included in the exhibition series, Twentieth Century American Sculpture at The White House.
Video: Art conservators working on the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: And in 2015, Earth Song was one of eight sculptures in the museum's collection that benefited from a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project….
Video: The Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: ….and we are so grateful for that support that enabled us to safeguard this important work.
Video: David Roche standing in front of the Allan Houser sculpture Earth Song, 1978
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Earth Song by Allan Houser. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
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On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994)
Unconquered II, 1994
Bronze, applied patina
Height: 10’ (304.8 cm)
Heard Museum Collection
On loan from the private collection of Tia
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1962)
Window to the Past, 1999
Bronze, ed. 7/8
32” × 26” × 34” (81.3 × 66 × 86.4 cm)
Heard Museum Collection
Gift of David and Sara Lieberman, 4481-1
© 2021 Roxanne Swentzell
Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994)
Gift of the Earth, 1991
Bronze, 10/12
21” × 24” × 23” (53.3 × 61 × 58.4 cm)
Heard Museum Collection
Bequest of Ann B. Ritt, 4690-31
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994)
Earth Song, 1978
Alabama marble
48 1/2” × 24” × 24” (123.2 × 61 × 61 cm)
Heard Museum Collection
Gift of Gallery Wall
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Tony Jojola (Isleta, b. 1958)
Rosemary Lonewolf (Santa Clara, b. 1953)
Indigenous Evolution, 2005
Glass and micaceous clay
8’ × 30’ (243.8 × 914.4 cm)
Heard Museum Collection
© 2021 Tony Jojola
© 2021 Rosemary Lonewolf
Eric-Paul Riege (Diné, b. 1994)
jaatłoh4Ye'iitsoh no. 1-6, 2020
Muslin, mixed fabrics, polyester fill, faux fur, synthetic hair, artist’s hair, churro wool and churro yarn
Collection of the artist
© 2021 Eric-Paul Riege
Ian Kuali’i (Kanaka Maoli, b. 1977)
Monument/Pillar, 2020
Hand-cut paper
Collection of the artist
© 2021 Ian Kuali’i
Allan Houser at the public dedication of As Long as the Waters Flow at the Oklahoma State Capitol in 1989
Courtesy of the Allan Houser Foundation archives
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Allan Houser working on the wax original of Navajo Runner, c. 1976
Courtesy of the Allan Houser Foundation archives
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Harold Kellogg, Allan Houser, Chiricahua Apache artist, New Mexico, 1939
Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Negative No. 077509
Allan Houser with brother Alfred and cousin Mildred Imach (Cleghorn)
Courtesy of the Allan Houser Foundation archives
Ina Sizer Cassidy, Allan Houser (Apache) painting Breaking Camp during Wartime mural in the Indian Arts and Crafts Room of the United States Department of the Interior building, 1938
Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA), Negative No. 016855
Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1914–1994)
Fancy Dancer, 1954
Casein on Masonite
65” × 46” (165.1 × 116.8 cm)
A-167; BIA Collection Property Transfer (lntermountain Indian School), 1985
Image courtesy of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
Allan and Anna Marie Houser, c. 1985
Jean Arp (French, 1886–1966)
Giant Pip, 1937
Bronze
63 7/8” × 49 1/4” × 30 3/8” (162.2 × 125 × 77 cm)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Image: Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo
Constantin Brancusi (French, b. Romania, 1876–1957)
Sleeping Muse, 1910
Bronze
6 3/4” × 9 1/2” × 6” (17.1 × 24.1 × 15.2 cm)
© Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (ARS) 2021
Image: © 2021 CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Henry Moore (English, 1898–1986)
Mother and Child, 1930
Ham Hill stone
Height: 31” (78.7 cm)
© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2021 / www.henry-moore.org
Image: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo
Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988)
Mitosis, 1962
Bronze
14 1/2” × 22 1/4” × 16 1/2” (36.8 × 56.5 × 41.8 cm)
© 2021 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by Scala/Art Resource, NY
Barbara Hepworth (English, 1903–1975)
The Family of Man, 1970
Bronze
Snape Maltings, Suffolk, England
Barbara Hepworth © 2021 Bowness
Image: Robert Bird / Alamy Stock Photo
Allan Houser with Comrade in Mourning, 1948
Courtesy of the Allan Houser Foundation archives
© 2021 Chiinde LLC, a Houser/Haozous family corporation
IAIA Art Department faculty, 1962
RG 03-IAIA Photographic Materials, Image courtesy of IAIA Archives, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Allan Houser teaching sculpture at IAIA, c. 1972
RG 03-IAIA Photographic Materials, Image courtesy of IAIA Archives, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Doug Hyde (Nez Perce/Assiniboine/Chippewa, b. 1946)
Navajo Water Girl, c. 1990s
Limestone
66 1/2” × 24” × 27” (168.9 × 61 × 68.4 cm)
© 2021 Doug Hyde
Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957)
The Flower Vendor (Girl with Lilies), 1941
Oil on Masonite
48” × 48” (121.9 × 121.9 cm)
© 2021 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image: Archivart / Alamy Stock Photo
Henry Moore (English, 1898–1986)
Mother and Child: Block Seat, 1983–84
Bronze
Height: 96” (244 cm)
© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2021 / www.henry-moore.org
Image: DBURKE / Alamy Stock Photo
Allan Houser sculpting, 1991
2000-017-B12-F10-4, Lee Marmon Collection, Special Collections and Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico Libraries.
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Art Institute of Chicago
On-screen text: Art Institute of Chicago
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
On-screen text: Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859–1891), A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884, 1884–1886, Oil on canvas, 81 3/4 x 121 1/4 inches
Video: James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
On-screen text: James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director, The Art Institute of Chicago
Audio— James Rondeau: Hello, I’m James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection….
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Georges Seurat has created a scene of leisure set on a small section of an elongated island in the Seine River just beyond Paris's city limits.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Seurat's canvas is filled with figures, including three dogs, eight boats, forty-eight people and, oddly, one monkey, who gather on a Sunday afternoon to enjoy and parade around in nature.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte was painted in 1884 and is generally considered to be Seurat's masterpiece and certainly one of the greatest paintings of the nineteenth century.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Like many of his Impressionist contemporaries such as Claude Monet, Seurat embraced the subject matter of modern life. Seurat, however, went beyond their prevailing concerns for translating in paint the qualities of light in the city or in nature. Seurat, inspired by recently published research in optical and color theory, developed his own "scientific" style called Pointillism, from the French word for "point" or "dot." Tackling the issues of color, light and form, Seurat's method juxtaposed tiny dabs of color, often complementary colors, to create hues that he believed, through optical blending, were more intense and luminous.
Video: A poster and catalog for the 8th Exposition, written in French
Audio: In 1886, Seurat debuted the painting at the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition. He was only twenty-six years old.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: It shocked the Paris art world when it was first shown. "Bedlam," "scandal," "hilarity" were among the epithets used by critics to describe what is now considered to be the artist's greatest work.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Recognized for its unusual technique, simplified figure types and enormous scale, this monumental work is a manifesto of a new style of painting that broke with Impressionism and would open the door for a more expansive European Modernism employed by the likes….
Video: The Vincent van Gogh painting Garden at Arles, July 1888
Audio: ….of Vincent van Gogh….
Video: The Paul Cézanne painting Mont Sainte-Victoire and Château Noir, c. 1904–1906
Audio: ….Paul Cézanne….
Video: The Pablo Picasso painting The Flower Seller, 1901
Audio: ….and Pablo Picasso.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: This picture was only rarely seen in the three decades following the artist's death in 1891.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: When Art Institute trustee Frederic Clay Bartlett purchased the painting in 1924, he wrote to then museum director Robert Harshe, exclaiming that he had attained, and I quote, "almost by a miracle the finest picture in France," close quote. So the picture was placed on loan here at the Art Institute and gifted to the museum in 1926.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: For nearly a century, this innovative and enigmatic painting has continued to intrigue, elude….
Video: Museum visitors looking at the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….and inspire — drawing millions of visitors to see it.
Video: A photographic portrait of Georges Seurat
Audio: Georges Seurat was born in Paris in December 1859 into a family that supported him throughout his life as an artist.
Video: A painted portrait of Georges Seurat
Audio: He studied at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, receiving a classical training in the arts.
Video: A drawing of Georges Seurat
Audio: After a year and a half, Seurat quit school. Following one year of military service, he returned to painting.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: It is extraordinary to think that just four years after abandoning art school, Seurat was poised to begin….
Video: A Georges Seurat drawing for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….the two-year period of intensive preparation that culminated in this landmark achievement.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: The flickering color creates a sense of vibrancy that belies the actual stillness of the scene. Of all the figures, only one girl in an orange dress appears to be in active motion. The other figures seem almost frozen in place. Seurat sought to evoke a sense of permanence in his depiction of the figures by recalling the art of the past….
Video: An Egyptian sculptural frieze and a Greek sculptural frieze
Audio: ….especially Egyptian and Greek sculptural friezes….
Video: The fresco The School of Athens by Raphael
Audio: ….and even Italian Renaissance frescoes.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: As he explained to the French poet Gustave Kahn, and here I quote Seurat, "I want to make modern people, in their essential traits, move about as they do on those friezes, and place them on canvases organized by harmonies of color," close quote.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Two or three years after it was exhibited in 1886, Seurat restretched the canvas. To make the experience of the painting even more intense, he surrounded the canvas with a frame of hand-painted dashes and dots, which he, in turn, enclosed with a pure white wood frame, similar to the one with which the painting is exhibited today.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Unlike many of his fellow Impressionists, drawing was also a foundational part of his process.
Video: A Georges Seurat drawing for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: During the years 1884 and 1885, Seurat was hard at work on La Grande Jatte.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: The genesis of this large canvas, seven feet by ten feet, involved approximately twenty-eight drawings, twenty-four oil panels and three larger canvases. Within the Art Institute's collection, we have drawings related to two of the foreground figures.
Video: Georges Seurat drawings for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: In drawing, for example, Seurat developed the expressive contours of the seated female figure holding a parasol that would ultimately occupy the center of the finished painting. He also worked through the proportions and the stance of the Woman Walking with a Parasol.
Video: A Georges Seurat painting study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: A small oil on a thin, wood panel in our collection is one of the twenty-four painted studies the artist made.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: These panels show the enormous changes to the composition as he worked out the placement of the figures.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: For example, the now-iconic man in a top hat and a woman oddly walking a monkey….
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….were not included in the early sketch. Instead, the artist depicted two….
Video: A Georges Seurat painting study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….seated, elderly figures assuming the central right placement, with a bustled female figure approaching them.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: A 2004 exhibition at the Art Institute devoted to the making of La Grande Jatte shared numerous discoveries by painting conservators, showing how Seurat transferred and altered figures from studies to the final canvas and elucidated the exact nature of his pigments and….
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….brushwork. Color scientists also examined how some of the pigments have changed over time on the surface, such as the yellow of the sunlit grass, which has darkened over time.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: This painting has inspired many, not only in painting, but in music and theater, notably the epic and iconic Broadway musical….
Video: Two actors performing in the play Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim
Audio: ….Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim.
Video: Characters from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off looking at the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: The painting's become a cultural touchstone, appearing in movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off….
Video: A parody image of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884 featuring characters from The Office
Audio: ….and referenced in television programs….
Video: Parody images of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: ….and, of course, now even in memes.
Video: Museum visitors looking at the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: The experience of seeing this painting, live and in person, has captured the imagination of millions of visitors, resulting in the countless references to it during the almost 100 years since it came to Chicago.
Video: James Rondeau standing in front of the Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the piece with friends and family. And, please, visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a single moment.
Video: The Georges Seurat painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859–1891)
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte–1884
1884–1886
Oil on canvas
81 3/4” x 121 1/4” (207.5 x 308.1 cm)
The Art Institute of Chicago
Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
Garden at Arles, July 1888
Oil on canvas
Framed: 32 5/8” x 40 1/8” (82.8 x 102 cm)
Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906)
Mont Sainte-Victoire and Château Noir, c. 1904–1906
Oil on canvas
26” x 32 1/4” (66.2 x 82.1 cm)
PAINTING / Alamy Stock Photo
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
The Flower Seller, 1901
Oil on millboard
13 1/4” x 20 1/2” (33.7 x 52.1 cm)
Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo
© 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Actors perform during the dress rehearsal for Sunday in the Park with George, by Stephen Sondheim, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, April 12, 2013. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes / Alamy Stock Photo
The movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, written and directed by John Hughes. Shown, Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye gazing at Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in the Art Institute of Chicago. Initial theatrical release June 11, 1986. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
The movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, written and directed by John Hughes. Shown from left: Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye, Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson and Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller in the Art Institute of Chicago. Initial theatrical release June 11, 1986. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
The Office (US) © Universal Television LLC. All Rights Reserved.
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Carnegie Museum of Art
On-screen text: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
On-screen text: Joan Mitchell (American, 1925-1922), Low Water, 1969, oil on canvas
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
On-screen text: Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art
Audio— Eric Crosby: Hello. My name is Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I’d like to share one of my very favorite works from our collection, Low Water, by American artist Joan Mitchell. Let’s take a look at this masterpiece together.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Low Water is a major oil painting that Mitchell created in 1969. This work, among other large-scale paintings by Mitchell, was first exhibited….
Video: Cover of the Pittsburgh International, 1970, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute booklet
Audio: ….in the 1970 Carnegie International, our museum’s signature survey of contemporary art.
Video: Record card showing a listing of Joan Mitchell paintings that includes Low Water, 1969
Audio: Leon Arkus, then the Director of the museum, had the foresight to acquire this piece….
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: …. and since then, it has been featured in several important exhibitions, including the artist’s major retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2002.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell in her studio
Audio: Born in Chicago in 1925, Joan Mitchell is best known for these large, abstract works, although she also made smaller paintings, and works on paper, and prints.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell
Audio: She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in the late 1940s began traveling to France, as part of a fellowship, returning often in the following decades.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell sitting at a café with a group of people
Audio: Despite a reputation for being somewhat isolated, and even a bit temperamental, Mitchell claimed to love trees and dogs more than people.
Video: A hand-written letter by Joan Mitchell
Audio: She was, in fact, very sociable and generous, especially to other artists, who she often hosted at her home in France.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Her career took off soon after graduating, when she exhibited work in the 1951 landmark….
Video: 9th Street exhibition poster
Audio: ….Ninth Street Show in New York, alongside such artists as Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler and Jackson Pollock.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: While she was technically a Second Generation Abstract Expressionist, known for dynamic canvases like this one, she flinched at the terminology, suggesting, “Abstract Expressionism was Old Hat” by the time she was on the scene.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Low Water is a particularly important painting, as it marks a shift in Mitchell’s style.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Her larger works, made in France, offer up a much more expansive sense of space, and a resplendent spectrum of color.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Here we see Mitchell starting to use rectangular blocks of color, in varying sizes, a motif that persisted throughout the 1970s. Mitchell would activate these swaths….
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: …. by allowing them to bump up against each other, and supplementing them with dynamic brushwork and dripping fields of paint.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Her palette also became much more sophisticated at this time, including lavenders, oranges, greens, blues, purples and yellows that literally jump off the canvas.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: The immediacy of Mitchell’s brushwork lends a sense of intimacy to the painting. It naturally draws you in, at first physically and then emotionally as you explore its variations of color and form. There’s something actually quite musical about the way Mitchell guides your eye across the surface of her painting.
Video: An archival photograph of La Tour, Joan Mitchell’s property in Vétheuil, 1967
Audio: It just so happens that Mitchell worked and resided in the same location as the French painter….
Video: The Claude Monet painting The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil, 1881
Audio: …. Claude Monet, who lived there from 1878 to 1881.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Though many are quick to draw connections between the two artists because of this fact, Mitchell rejected the comparison.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell
Audio: “I bought this house because I liked the view, not out of any love for Monet,” she told The New York Times, in 1991.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Despite her rejection of Monet, Mitchell’s style was very much influenced by her surroundings, and, in its embrace of color and beauty, echoes the work of her French countrymen…
Video: The Henri Matisse painting Landscape at Collioure, 1905
Audio: …. Henri Matisse….
Video: The Pierre Bonnard painting Sunlight, 1923
Audio: ….and Pierre Bonnard.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Mitchell herself once proclaimed, “Painting is French,” because of her immersion in this sensibility.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Although her paintings of the time were inspired by the natural environment, Mitchell did not paint outside but rather inside a studio on her property.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: The imaginary landscapes that she painted were very much an extension of her memory.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell in her studio
Audio: She would often cover the windows to keep out the natural light, allowing her to focus on the immediacy of the work at hand.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: While her brushwork is dynamic and gestural, she did not really consider herself to be an action painter. In fact, she painted slowly….
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: …. taking time to stop and look, and to allow the painting to direct her next move.
Video: An archival photograph of Joan Mitchell in her studio
Audio: Mitchell had a habit of not naming her paintings until they were finished.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Even in May of 1970 as Leon Arkus prepared for the International, he expressed some frustration with the difficulty in discussing Mitchell’s works ‘cause they still had no titles.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: He said, “It is rather hard to carry colors in one’s mind.”
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Low Water, as it was eventually named, evokes this wondrous feeling, I think, of….
Video: A photograph of a tide pool
Audio: …. staring down into a tide pool teeming with life.
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: In a rare moment of revealing her influence….
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: …. Mitchell claims simply, “The painting is like a river.”
Video: Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, standing in front of the Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Low Water by Joan Mitchell. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with those you know. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and make sure that you never miss a moment. Thank you.
Video: The Joan Mitchell painting Low Water, 1969
Audio: Music playing
Graphic: Bank of America logo
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Sol LeWitt (American, 1928–2007)
Wall Drawing #450, A wall is divided vertically into four equal parts. All one-, two-, three-, and four-part combinations of four colors, 1985
Lascaux acrylic wash
354” × 864” (899.2 × 2194.6 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Gift of Richard M. Scaife to honor Margaret R. Battle
© 2021 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Kenneth Snelson (American, 1927–2016)
Forest Devil, 1977
Stainless steel tubes and aircraft cable
216” × 384” × 426” (548.6 × 975.4 × 1082 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Gift of the Women's Committee
© Kenneth Snelson
René Magritte (Belgian, 1898–1967)
L’esprit de famille, 1963
Oil on canvas
21 5/16” × 25 5/8” (54.1 × 65.1 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Scaife
© 2021 C. Herscovici / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Thomas Schütte (German, b. 1954)
Zombie VIII, 2008
Bronze
29 1/2” × 33 1/2” × 41 5/16” (74.9 × 85.1 × 104.9 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: The Henry L. Hillman Fund
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Asger Jorn (Danish, 1914–1973)
Incredible Energy, 1957
Oil on canvas
57 9/16” × 45 3/16” (146.2 × 114.8 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Patrons Art Fund
© 2021 Donation Jorn, Silkeborg / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VISDA
Richard Long (British, b. 1945)
Elterwater Stone Ring, 1985
113 stones
Overall: 110 1/4” (280 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Edward N. Haskell
© 2021 Richard Long. All Rights Reserved, DACS, London / ARS, NY
Martin Puryear (American, b. 1941)
Untitled, 1970
Ponderosa pine
32 7/8” × 13” × 12” (83.5 × 33 × 30.5 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Gift of John Hudson
© 2021 Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery
Cy Gavin (American, b. 1985)
Untitled (Gibbet Island), 2019
Acrylic, pink Bermuda sand, aquarelle pencil, chalk, and oil on canvas
92” × 92” × 1 3/4” (233.7 × 233.7 × 4.5 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Purchase, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Scaife, by exchange
© 2021 Cy Gavin
Ruth Root (American, b. 1967)
Untitled, 2003
Enamel on aluminum
46 1/2” × 60” × 1/16” (118.1 × 152.4 × 0.2 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: A. W. Mellon Acquisition Endowment Fund
© 2021 Ruth Root
Rachel Harrison (American, b. 1966)
Utopia, 2002
Wood, polystyrene, cement, acrylic, wheels, porcelain figurine, and pyrite
80” × 40” × 38 1/2” (203.2 × 101.6 × 97.8 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Oxford Development Fund
© 2021 Rachel Harrison Courtesy the artist and Greene Naftali, New York
Zao Wou‑Ki (French, 1921–2013)
Black Crowd, 1954
Oil on canvas
Frame: 46 5/8” × 36 1/8” × 1 1/4” (118.4 × 91.8 × 3.2 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Gift of G. David Thompson
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zurich
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901–1966)
Walking Man I, 1960
Bronze
71 3/4” × 38” × 10 1/2” (182.3 × 96.5 × 3.8 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Patrons Art Fund
© 2021 Alberto Giacometti Estate / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris
Mark Rothko (American, 1903–1970)
Yellow and Blue (Yellow, Blue on Orange), 1955
Oil on canvas
102 1/4” × 66 11/16” × 1 3/8” (259.7 × 169.4 × 3.5 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh: Fellows Fund, Women’s Committee Acquisition Fund, and Patrons Art Fund
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Joan Mitchell (American, 1925–1992)
Low Water, 1969
Oil on canvas
112” × 79” (284.5 × 200.7 cm)
© 2021 Estate of Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell painting in her studio at 60 St. Marks Place, New York City, 1957
Photograph by Rudy Burckhardt, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives. © 2021 Estate of Rudy Burckhardt / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Joan Mitchell in her 10 rue Frémicourt apartment, Paris, c. 1960
Photographer unknown, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives.
Joan Mitchell, Patricia Matisse, May Zao, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and Zao Wou-Ki at
Chez Margot, Golfe-Juan, 1962
Photographer unknown, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives.
Franz Kline (American, 1910–1962)
9th Street Exhibition poster, 1951
JMFA004: Joan Mitchell Exhibition Records, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives.
© 2021 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
La Tour, Joan Mitchell’s property in Vétheuil, 1967
Photographer unknown, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives.
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil, 1881
Oil on canvas
59 5/8” x 47 5/8” (151.5 x 121 cm)
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Joan Mitchell in Vétheuil, 1972
Photograph by Nancy Crampton, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives. © 2021 Nancy Crampton
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Landscape at Collioure, 1905
Oil on canvas
15 1/4” x 18 3/8” (38.8 x 46.6 cm)
Gift and Bequest of Mrs. Bertram Smith
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
© 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947)
Sunlight, 1923
Oil on canvas
24 7/8” x 24 1/2” (63.2 x 62.2 cm)
Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
Collection on loan at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Photo: Ian Dagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Portrait of American-born painter Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) in her studio, Paris, France, September 1956. (Photo by Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
Joan Mitchell in her Vétheuil studio, 1972
Photograph by Nancy Crampton, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives. © 2021 Nancy Crampton
Giant green anemones in a tide pool on Cobble Beach below Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Oregon
Julie Huser / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Opinions or ideas expressed are not necessarily those of Bank of America or its affiliates.
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
January 18th–March 1st, 2021
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
On-screen text: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
On-screen text: Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929), Pumpkin, 2016, Fiberglass-reinforced plastic with urethane paint, 96 7/16” x 102 3/8”
Video: Melissa Chiu, Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
On-screen text: Melissa Chiu, Director, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Audio— Melissa Chiu: Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment. We're at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, a part of the Smithsonian Institution and our national museum of modern art. I am Melissa Chiu, Director of the Hirshhorn, and I'm delighted to share one of my favorite masterpieces in our collection.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: You are among the first to see Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin in its indoor setting.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: This pumpkin is eight feet tall and wide.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: As you can see, Kusama has covered her artwork in her signature polka dots, and the resulting effect is exactly as she intended: a dazzling kaleidoscope environment.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Today, Yayoi Kusama is the most famous living woman artist in the world. This was not always the case.
Video: An archival photograph of Yayoi Kusama
Audio: She was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan. As a child, she wanted to become an artist.
Video: A photograph of Yayoi Kusama in her studio
Audio: Kusama still works in her Tokyo studio every day.
Video: Yayoi Kusama sitting next to a Pumpkin sculpture
Audio: In her autobiography, Infinity Net, she explains why pumpkins are a lifelong object of fascination.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Kusama writes, she is "enchanted by their charming form, generous unpretentiousness and solid spiritual balance."
Video: Three different Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin sculptures installed outdoors
Audio She recollects how, as a child, she accompanied her grandfather to a nursery, where she saw a pumpkin the size of a man's head. When she reached down to pick it, she recalls that it spoke to her. As a teen, she won a prize for painting pumpkins at a local art exhibition.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Later, as a young artist, Yayoi Kusama spent two years in Kyoto making paintings, many depicting pumpkins.
Video: Two archival photographs of Yayoi Kusama
Audio: In 1957, Yayoi Kusama left Japan. She traveled to the United States at the encouragement of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. She moved to New York City in 1958, where she experimented, often on a monumental scale.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: In America, she created "net paintings," "accumulation sculptures," "mirror rooms" and "happenings."
Video: An archival photograph of Yayoi Kusama
Audio: But formal success eluded her, and her health declined.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: When Yayoi Kusama returned to Japan in 1973, she returned to her pumpkin motif.
Video: An archival photograph of Yayoi Kusama
Audio: Yayoi Kusama represented Japan at the 1993 Venice Biennale, where she exhibited an "infinity mirror room."
Video: A Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin sculpture installed outdoors
Audio: In 1994, the artist installed a large pumpkin sculpture at the end of a pier in Naoshima, Japan, her very first permanent outdoor installation.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Our pumpkin is similar, but its size, shape and pattern are unique.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Pumpkin embodies Kusama's lifelong investigation into themes of nature and fantasy; corporeal and infinite; life and death.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Yayoi Kusama is one of the most important artists working today, driven by a vision that is at once intensely personal and undeniably universal. I consider Pumpkin to be a masterpiece, and I'm not alone.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama installation Infinity Mirror Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016
Audio: In 2017, the Hirshhorn introduced a new generation to the artist. Our exhibition, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, broke attendance records here and at five additional North American art museums.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Perhaps you were one of the 800,000 visitors to experience it. Or made one of the 330 million impressions on social media.
Video: Wall text for the exhibition One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection followed by Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture “Pumpkin”, 2016
Audio: Our new exhibition, One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection, establishes our museum as a permanent, free resource….
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: ….for art lovers to experience Kusama's transformative practice.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin.
Video: The Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with friends and family.
Video: Melissa Chiu standing next to the Yayoi Kusama sculpture Pumpkin, 2016
Audio: Please visit the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C., and visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music playing
Graphic: Bank of America logo
On-screen text:
Henry Moore (British, 1898–1986)
Three-Way Piece No. 3: Vertebrae (Working Model), 1968/cast early 1969
Bronze
40 3/4” x 93” x 48” (103.6 x 236.1 x 122 cm) including base
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981
© 2021 The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2021 / www.henry-moore.org
Installation view of Lee Ufan: Open Dimension, 2019, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
© 2021 Lee Ufan
Tony Cragg (British, b. 1949)
Subcommittee, 1991
Steel
100 1/2” x 74 1/4” x 64 1/2”, approx. 6,000 lbs. (255.3 x 188.6 x 163.8 cm, 2721.6 kg)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation and Museum Purchase, 1992
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Dan Graham (American, b. 1942)
For Gordon Bunshaft, 2006/fabricated 2007–2008
Two-way mirror, stainless steel, wood and stone
92 1/8” x 196 1/4” x 196 1/8” (234 x 498.4 x 498.1 cm)
Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest and Purchase Funds, 2008
© 2021 Dan Graham
Mark di Suvero (American, b. China, 1933)
Are Years What? (For Marianne Moore), 1967
Steel, paint and wire
480” × 480” × 360”, 18,725 lb. (1219.2 × 1219.2 × 914.4 cm, 8493.6 kg)
Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund and Gift of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, by exchange, 1999
Courtesy of the Artist, Spacetime C.C. and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Jeff Koons (American, b. 1955)
Kiepenkerl, 1987
Stainless steel
72 3/4” × 31/2” × 32 1/4”, 550 lbs. (184.8 × 80 × 81.9 cm, 249.5 kg)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund and Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, 1998
© 2021 Jeff Koons
Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929)
Pumpkin, 2016
Fiberglass-reinforced plastic with urethane paint
96 7/16” x 102 3/8” (247.5 x 260 cm)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts.
Yayoi Kusama working in her studio, New York, c. 1958–59
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Photo by Ken Van Sickle
Yayoi Kusama in her studio, 2017
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, David Zwirner.
Yayoi Kusama with Pumpkin at Aichi Triennale, 2010
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, David Zwirner.
Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Japan
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Jayne Lloyd / Alamy Stock Photo
Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama at the Frieze Art Fair 2014, Regents Park, London, United Kingdom
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Simon Balson / Alamy Stock Photo
Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama displayed at the entrance of the Forever Museum of Contemporary Art (FMOCA) in Gion, Kyoto, Japan
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Wiskerke / Alamy Stock Photo
Yayoi Kusama working in her studio, New York, 1961
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Yayoi Kusama working in her studio, New York, c. 1960–61
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Portrait of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama as she poses in a plaid outfit of her own design at a “nude fashion” event, New York, New York, July 30, 1969
Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images
Portrait of artist and writer Yayoi Kusama, Venice, Italy, 1992
Photo by Chris Felver/Getty Images
Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Japan.
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA
Chris Willson / Alamy Stock Photo
Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929)
Infinity Mirror Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016
Wood, mirrors, plastic, acrylic and LEDs. Collection of the artist.
© 2021 YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro.
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Opinions or ideas expressed are not necessarily those of Bank of America or its affiliates.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Detroit Institute of Arts
On-screen text: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Video: Entrance to the hall where the Detroit Industry Murals are located, showing a partial view of the murals
On-screen text: Diego Rivera (Mexican 1886 – 1957), Detroit Industry Murals, 1932-33, fresco
Video: Inside the hall where the Detroit Industry Murals are painted on the walls. The Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Salvador Salort-Pons stands in the foreground.
On-screen text: Salvador Salort-Pons, Director, Detroit Institute of Arts
Audio— Salvador Salort-Pons: Hello, I’m Salvador Salort-Pons, I am the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite works from our collection—
Video: A close-up view of a mural section
Audio: —the Detroit Industry Murals created by Diego Rivera and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of Detroit Industry Murals followed by archival footage of Diego Rivera painting
Audio: In 1931, DIA director William Valentiner, and Edsel Ford, president of Ford Motor Company, invited the celebrated Mexican artist Diego Rivera to “beautify the Museum and give fame to its hall.” Rivera’s recent retrospective at the newly opened Museum of Modern Art in New York created a sensation. The exhibition—and practically the artist’s every move—were followed by the press.
Video: Archival footage of a courtyard with scaffolding and a fountain, followed by footage of William Valentiner and Diego Rivera
Audio: The hall that Valentiner described was this grand space — at the time, an open-air courtyard with a fountain at the center. The director hoped for murals to line the space, which were bare when he requested Rivera’s talents.
Video: Archival footage of Diego Rivera creating the murals
Audio: One of the most famous artists in the world by 1932, Rivera believed that public art — including murals like these — could shape society, politics and national identity. Born in Mexico in 1886, Rivera first studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and then went to Europe, where he absorbed the lessons of Cubism while retaining his deep devotion to his Mexican identity and the Indigenous culture of his homeland. Rivera, along with his compatriots José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros — known together as Los Tres Grandes — pioneered Mexican Muralist Renaissance, which celebrated the cultural history of Mexico along with the communist ideals of its recent Revolution.
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of the Detroit Industry Murals
Audio: Rivera often presented workers as the heroes of his murals, who engage in physically demanding labor with integrity and nobility.
Video: Archival footage of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera on scaffolding and Rivera is painting part of a mural
Audio: Rivera arrived in Detroit in April 1932 with his wife Frida Kahlo, who was at the beginning of her career.
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of the Detroit Industry Murals
Audio: The initial contract was for $10,000 — equivalent at about $190,000 today. The commission was later doubled.
Video: Archival footage of various industries and workers
Audio: The DIA requested that Rivera depict industries that had made Detroit famous.
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of the Detroit Industry Murals interspersed with archival footage of Diego Rivera creating the murals and current footage of the completed murals
Audio: Rivera spent eleven months in Detroit. He toured automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical factories; sketching businesses and workers and devising the masterpiece now known as the Detroit Industry Murals. Rivera was a great admirer of innovation in the United States, so the artist used all four walls of this space to both celebrate and question the place of industry in society — its promise and products, its danger and damages. He was fascinated by the factories he toured, but Rivera’s strong political beliefs — specifically, his affiliation with communism — also made him a critic of what he saw as the ills of capitalism. He declared himself “a spy in disguise” who could subvert from the inside with his art.
Video: Footage of the murals
Audio: Across these two monumental walls — specifically, these lower sections, each 45 feet long — Rivera presented the process of car production at Ford’s vast River Rouge plant in Dearborn. Workers smelting the steel in blast furnaces, building the powerful engines, constructing the gleaming car bodies — all powered by Henry Ford’s transformative assembly line and the diverse, multiracial workforce at River Rouge.
Rivera depicts the motorized line, the machinery and the synchronized workers throughout the murals, giving a sense of how enormous and complex the process was. A spectacular sight, the plant has even drawn a crowd in the background of the south wall. Engineers from Dearborn were amazed that Rivera “fused together, in a few feet, sequences of operations which are actually performed in a distance of at least two miles, and every inch of the work—
Video: Archival footage of machinery
Audio: —is technically correct.”
Video: Footage of the murals
Audio: Other scenes here contrast the wonders and dangers of science — from the life-saving development of vaccines to the threat of chemical weapons; the construction of ships and planes that could also serve the military; the managers who surveil their employees, looking for any misstep; the harvesting of rubber that provided the material for tires, but left the landscape empty.
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of the Detroit Industry Murals interspersed with footage of the murals
Audio: In the top sections of the long walls of the mural, Rivera complemented the scenes of industry with black, white, red and yellow female figures also associated with nature and fertility, consistent with Aztec beliefs that divided the world into four quadrants and four elements.
Here the four natural resources that they clutch represent the key materials for producing steel: coal, iron, lime and sand. Other hands rise from the earth bringing forth these resources — a tribute to the bounty of the land that Rivera saw in North and South America. As you exit the court, you see the master engineer overlooking plans and his counterpart, the worker.
Throughout the mural, Rivera included many personalities he had encountered during his time in Detroit. Edsel Ford and William Valentiner, the museum’s director, are pictured in the lower right corner of the south wall. Rivera’s own team of painters are portrayed as the workers who work on the assembly line on the north wall.
Video: Archival footage of Diego Rivera creating the murals
Audio: The Detroit Industry Murals proved influential in their own time—
Video: Salvador Salort-Pons standing in front of the Detroit Industry Murals interspersed with footage of the murals
Audio: —and today, we consider them the Sistine Chapel of America.
I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about the Detroit Industry Murals by Diego Rivera. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment!
Audio: Music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859 – 1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957)
Detroit Industry murals, 1932–1933
Frescos
© 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: The exterior of The Studio Museum in Harlem’s former building followed by an architectural rendering of the Museum’s future building
On-screen text: The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Video: The William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
On-screen text: William T. Williams (American, b. 1942), Trane, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 108 x 84 inches
Video: Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
On-screen text: Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem
Audio— Thelma Golden: Hello, I’m Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. The Studio Museum is located on 125th Street in the heart of Harlem, New York.
Video: Architectural rendering of The Studio Museum in Harlem’s future building
Audio: The Museum is currently in construction on a new building that will rise on the footprint of our former home.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite works from our collection, Trane by William T. Williams, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Audio: Music plays off and on throughout
Video: The William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969 followed by an archival photograph of The Studio Museum in Harlem’s former building exterior with a small group of people in front
Audio: This monumental, acrylic-on-canvas painting stands at approximately 9 x 6 1/2 feet, and was created in 1969, just one year after The Studio Museum opened to the public.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: It was gifted to the Museum in 1981 by Charles Cowles, a noted collector, art dealer, and publisher. Mr. Cowles’ gift also included an additional four works on paper by Williams, as well as works by Sam Gilliam and Benny Andrews.
Video: The Sam Gilliam artwork Mars I, 1974
On-screen text: Sam Gilliam (American, b. 1933), Mars I, 1974 , Acrylic on rice paper, The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Charles Cowles, New York 1981.2.1
Video: The Benny Andrews artwork The Police, 1972
On-screen text: Benny Andrews (American, 1930–2006), The Police, 1972, Pen and ink on paper, two-sided drawing, The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Charles Cowles, New York 1981.2.7
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: Williams, Gilliam, and Andrews were integral to the founding of the Museum and continue to be a part of its legacy and programming today.
Video: Archival photograph of William T. Williams in his studio followed by close-ups of his painting Trane, 1969
Audio: William T. Williams was born in 1942 in Cross Creek, North Carolina. As a teenager, he moved with his family to New York City where his artistic talent was recognized and encouraged by the head of a local community center who offered him a small studio space. Williams attended what is now called the High School of Art and Design and went on to receive a BFA from the Pratt Institute in 1966. He went on to complete an MFA at the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1968.
Video: Archival photographs of William T. Williams
Audio: After completing his studies, Williams returned to New York City. He began his formal career in New York at a time when new American art movements were flourishing, including color field painting, Pop art, and minimalism. Williams quickly gained attention and success.
Video: The William T. Williams painting Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F. Part II, 1969.
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F. Part II, 1969, Acrylic and metallic paint on canvas
Audio: The Museum of Modern Art, New York purchased his painting Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F. Part II in 1969.
Video: Archival photograph of William T. Williams
Audio: Williams is well versed in the history of art and abstraction, and his work both acknowledges and challenges that of his predecessors.
Video: The William T. Williams painting Harlem Angels, 1968
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Harlem Angels, 1968, Acrylic on canvas
Audio: It is characterized by bold compositions and use of color, and the shapes and geometries Williams associates with childhood memories.
Video: The William T. Williams painting Mercer’s Stop, 1971
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Mercer’s Stop, 1971, Acrylic on canvas
Video: The William T. Williams painting Palm Cafe, 1970
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Palm Cafe, 1970, Acrylic on paper
Audio: His practice draws on the rich history of abstraction in all forms of African-American culture, in particular, from the unique forms of abstraction in music, especially in jazz, as well as the geometric patterns of the quilts he saw in the South.
Video: Archival photographs of William T. Williams in his studio
Audio: Williams takes a rigorous, formal approach to painting, creating his paintings in series and producing meticulous prints, drawings and watercolors alongside them to explore color and brushwork.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: Throughout his career, Williams has been at the forefront of his medium, pushing and pulling the material and conceptual capacity of paint to evoke the world around him.
Video: The photograph John & Alice Coltrane, 1966 by Chuck Stewart shown next to the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: The title of this painting, Trane, references John Coltrane, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists and composers and an icon of American culture.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Video: An archival photograph of an installation of the series Diamond in a Box by William T. Williams.
Audio: Painted early in Williams’ career, Trane belongs to his first mature series, known as the Diamond in a Box paintings.
Video: The William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: This work features a central diamond within a rectangular canvas—a compositional motif the artist has referred to as a “stabilizing force”—referencing the challenging social and political context in which this work was made. Vibrant bands of discordant colors radiate from and intersect with the center. The forms repeat and multiply, and when viewed in series, the lines and shapes create a visual rhythm akin to a jazz composition.
Video: The William T. Williams painting Trane Meets Jug, 1970–71
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Trane Meets Jug, 1970–71, Acrylic on canvas
Video: The William T. Williams painting Truckin, 1969
On-screen text: William T. Williams, Truckin, 1969, Acrylic on canvas
Audio: The influence of jazz is apparent in Williams’ work, not only for its compositional structure, but also as a medium emblematic of the experimental and expressive innovations of African-American culture.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: Williams has an expansive understanding of, and a commitment to, art and community. He was active in the tumultuous 1960s, a decade that defined civil rights activism in the United States.
Video: An archival photograph of storefronts next to the former exterior of The Studio Museum in Harlem
Audio: Williams was deeply connected to both the Studio Museum and Harlem during this period.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969
Audio: He developed two proposals as a graduate student at Yale that were intended to bridge the divide between artists and the communities they lived and worked in. The first formed the basis for the Studio Museum’s Artist-in-Residence program, for which Williams was instrumental in the early years of, and remains a core part of the Museum’s mission to this day.
Video: A photograph of four men, including William T. Williams, standing in front of a mural
Audio: The second proposal became the muralist collective Smokehouse Associates, which brought public art to Harlem between 1968 and 1970.
Video: Thelma Golden standing in front of the William T. Williams painting Trane, 1969 interspersed with close-ups of the painting
Audio: In a career spanning over fifty years, Williams has shown his work in over 100 museums and galleries worldwide. He has remained true to a core set of guiding principles that have allowed him to experiment and evolve his practice, consistently challenging the limits of abstraction and its capacity to speak to the world around us.
Trane exemplifies Williams’ groundbreaking approach to color, form, and subject, capturing the social upheaval of a nation not through explicit figuration but through complex, rigorous abstraction. A masterpiece that bridges the personal and the political, Trane exemplifies the artist’s storied career and his continued practice of radically reshaping the field of abstraction.
I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about Trane by William T. Williams. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you will never miss a moment!
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859 – 1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Trane, 1969
Acrylic on canvas
108” x 84” (274.3 x 213.4 cm)
The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Charles Cowles, New York 1981.2.2
© William T. Williams
William T. Williams in his 654 Broadway studio, c. 1968–69
© Irene Stern; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams in his 654 Broadway studio, c.1968-69
© Irene Stern; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams in his 654 Broadway studio, 1987
© Peter Bellamy; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Sam Gilliam (American, b. 1933)
Mars I, 1974
Acrylic on rice paper
21” × 25 1/2” × 5/8” (53.34 x 64.77 x 1.58 cm)
The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Charles Cowles, New York 1981.2.1
© 2021 Sam Gilliam / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Benny Andrews (American, 1930–2006)
The Police, 1972
Pen and ink on paper, two-sided drawing
18” × 12” (45.72 x 30.48 cm)
The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Charles Cowles, New York 1981.2.7
© 2021 Estate of Benny Andrews / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Elbert Jackson L.A.M.F. Part II, 1969
Acrylic and metallic paint on canvas
93 1/4” x 109 7/8” (292.7 x 279.1 cm)
Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Carter Burden, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Jakobson and purchase (1009.1969)
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams with a painting from his Shimmer Series, 1983
© Fern Logan; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Harlem Angels, 1968
Acrylic on canvas
121” x 40 1/2” (307.3 x 102.9 cm)
Signed
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Mercer’s Stop, 1971
Acrylic on canvas
108” x 84” (274.3 x 213.4 cm)
Signed
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Palm Cafe, 1970
Acrylic on paper
55 1/2” x 44 1/2” (141 x 113 cm)
49” x 38 1/2” (124.5 x 97.8 cm) sight size
Signed
Inscribed lower center in margin: Studio Museum (Trane) Work Drawing One of Two
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams in his Connecticut studio, July 18, 2020
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams in his Connecticut studio, 2018
Photographer Grant Delin; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Chuck Stewart (American, 1927–2017)
John & Alice Coltrane, 1966
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
© 2021 Copyrighted and registered photographs by Chuck Stewart Photography, LLC / All rights reserved.
Installation view of William T. Williams’ groundbreaking first solo exhibition at Reese Palley Gallery in New York City, on view March 6–30, 1971. The exhibition consisted of large geometric abstractions from the artist’s first mature series, Diamond in a Box.
Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Trane Meets Jug, 1970–71
Acrylic on canvas
108” x 84” (274.3 x 213.4 cm)
Signed
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
William T. Williams (American, b. 1942)
Truckin, 1969
Acrylic on canvas
84 1/2” x 60 1/2” (214.6 × 153.7 cm)
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (2014.130.2)
© William T. Williams; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Smokehouse Associates founders Melvin Edwards, Billy Rose, Guy Ciarcia and William T. Williams
Photographer Robert Colton, New York, NY; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
On-screen text: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Video: The Mark Bradford artwork 150 Portrait Tone, 2017
On-screen text: Mark Bradford (American, b.1961), 150 Portrait Tone, 2017, mixed media on canvas
Video: Michael Govan standing in front of the artwork Mark Bradford, 150 Portrait Tone, 2017
Audio: Music plays off and on throughout
On-screen text: Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, LACMA
Audio—Michael Govan:
Hi. I'm Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Welcome to Bank of America's Masterpiece Moment.
Today, I'd like to talk about a contemporary masterpiece from our collection—with a timely message—an artwork titled 150 Portrait Tone by Mark Bradford.
This monumental, mixed media on canvas work was specially created for LACMA in 2017 and it stands 20 by 25½ feet in our Resnick Pavilion.
The idea for this commission came after I visited Mark's studio and viewed his large-scale studies for a series of paintings he was making for the U.S. Embassy in London. As we discussed exhibiting the Embassy studies at LACMA, we also talked about the possibility of a new artwork.
Later, Mark threw out the idea that resulted in this mural size painting. At first, he proposed to make the painting directly on the wall but working inside the museum, at our entrance, proved too logistically challenging.
Mark's technique involves paper, glue, paint, cutting, sanding and jet blasting with water. Instead, the painting was made in three large sections in Mark's studio and then stretched and installed here by LACMA's skilled team of art preparators.
Mark Bradford is a quintessential born and raised Los Angeles artist. Throughout his early life, his mother ran a hair salon. And upon graduating from high school, Mark received his hairstylist license and worked on and off at his mother's salon. It wasn't until he was in his 30s that he attended and graduated California Institute of the Arts, also known as CalArts, with an undergraduate and then a master's degree in 1997.
His work spans painting, sculpture, film, and multimedia installations. The many subjects of Mark's art include communities, migrant populations, history, race, gender, and popular culture.
In addition to being an artist, he also operates his own public art exhibition space and an adjacent program to support foster youth in his native South Los Angeles neighborhood, which he’s helping to preserve.
Mark believes deeply in the power of art to inspire and shape lives. And he's received too many honors to count, including the MacArthur Genius Award and the U.S. State Medal of the Arts, as well as representing our nation at the International 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. His art has been shown around the world.
150 Portrait Tone is based on the July 2016 murder of Philando Castile by a police officer in St. Paul, Minnesota. Castile was driving, and when pulled over for a broken taillight, he was fatally shot.
Part of the incident was live streamed by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was sitting next to him, horrified, with her four-year-old daughter in the back seat.
The title of the painting, 150 Portrait Tone, refers to the name of the pink acrylic "skin tone" color that's used throughout the painting, but also makes a commentary on the vestiges of racism and racist labels that persist all around and are deeply etched into our culture. The tone of a human portrait isn't only pink. Years ago, Crayola removed the name "flesh" from their peach-hued crayon, recognizing our diversity.
Like many of Mark's works, this mural-size composition contains both abstraction and graphic symbolism. This new painting feels old in some ways, with layers of manipulated paper and paint rendering this text almost illegible in places.
For me, the dark form in the background evokes the horrific shooting, perhaps Castile's twisted arm and the dark-red bloodstain spread across his white shirt, both prominent in the live stream feed.
Much of Reynolds's voiceover dialogue is inscribed over the entire surface of the painting. The artist was moved by the power of her words and the different audiences Reynolds addressed simultaneously.
"Stay with me," she says to her boyfriend, but I think the artist is also using that phrase at the top left of the painting to talk to us, and to ask us to pay attention.
Reynolds addresses the officer: "Please, officer, don't tell me that you just did this." She addresses the Lord: "Lord, please, Jesus, don't tell me that he's gone."
And she addresses us, the unknown audience, on the other side of her live stream: "Please don't tell me he just went like that."
This far-reaching artistic statement reminds me of another of my favorite works of art.
Video: The painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso
Audio: Pablo Picasso's Guernica, painted in 1937 to protest the bombing of Guernica and the loss of so many innocent lives.
Video: The painting The Third of May by Francisco Goya
Audio: Or Francisco Goya's 19th-century masterpiece, The Third of May, documenting the massacre of Spanish freedom fighters.
Video: Michael Govan standing in front of Mark Bradford’s 150 Portrait Tone, 2017
Audio: Mark Bradford is similarly crying out about the widespread injustice of so much police brutality against Black Americans. This work fits into an extraordinary tradition of art calling for justice.
I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and to learn more about 150 Portrait Tone by Mark Bradford. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859 – 1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Chris Burden (American, 1946 – 2015)
Urban Light, 2008
Sculpture
Two-hundred and two restored cast iron antique street lamps
© 2020 Chris Burden / licensed by The Chris Burden Estate and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Robert Irwin (American, b. 1928)
Miracle Mile, 2013
Installation Art
Lightwork
© 2020 Robert Irwin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Vera Lutter (German, b. 1960)
Installation images from Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera
LACMA
Images: © 2020 Vera Lutter / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Mark Bradford (American, b. 1961)
150 Portrait Tone, 2017 (detail)
Mixed media on canvas
240” x 310” (609.6 x 787.4 cm)
© 2020 Mark Bradford
Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Joshua White
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Spanish, 1881 – 1973)
Guernica, 1937
Oil on canvas
© 2020 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Additional Camera: Isiah Donté Lee
Additional footage courtesy the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
The power of the arts
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Learn more about our commitment to the arts by visiting the Bank of America Arts & Culture website.
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2022 featured museums
We’re proud to partner with some of the finest museums around the world to explore the masterpieces on display within their walls.
Art Institute of Chicago
Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art
British Museum
Brooklyn Museum
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
de Young – Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
High Museum of Art
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Kimbell Art Museum
Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi
Louvre
McNay Art Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
Museo Nacional de Arte
National Museum of Asian Art
Neue Galerie NY
Newfields Indianapolis Art Museum
North Carolina Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art
Saint Louis Art Museum
The Barnes Foundation
The Getty Center
Tokyo National Museum
Masthead Image: The Art Institute of Chicago. Michigan Avenue Entrance. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The power of the arts image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Raymond Deleon / Alamy Stock Photo
Specific video credits: All video clips from The New Abstraction: Frank Stella and Larry Poons included in the Protractor, Variation I Masterpiece Moment video remain the sole property of WNET. No portion of this production, in part or in whole, can be reused or reproduced, without prior permission.
Specific video credits: Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954). Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938. Oil on Masonite, 16 x 12 inches (40.7 x 30.5cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966 (1966:9.10). © Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York