Download - Rose opening art spread 10/27

Rose will welcome back art lovers

The museum vault, opened wide

Coinciding with tomorrow’s exhi-bition opening celebration is the re-cent release of The Rose Art Museumat Brandeis, a catalog of the mu-seum’s most illustrious holdings inthe permanent collection. The book,which became available on Oct. 1, isthe result of a two-year process of re-viewing the collection, writing origi-nal essays and short descriptions ofthe work and preparing it for press.Ann Tanenbaum ’66, a member of theRose Board of Overseers and a for-mer employee of Abrams Books, thepublishing company that handled thebook’s release, helped bring the proj-ect from idea to fruition.

“The idea came to me because ofmy lifetime career in book publish-ing and in thinking about being anoverseer of the Rose and how impor-tant the collection is. … It seemed likea perfect circle to talk to them aboutpublishing a book [and] to talk toHarry Abrams about publishing abook on the collection of the mu-seum,” said Tanenbaum. “I knewthat this would be wonderful public-ity for the museum and for Brandeisand would also spread the word of thegreat collection and be an invaluabledevelopment mechanism as well, andof course be a magnificent book.”

Over the past two years, Tanen-baum, as well as former Rose directorMichael Rush, Rose Director RoyDawes, former Assistant CuratorAdelina Jedrzejczak and Profs. PeterKalb (FA) and Nancy Scott (FA), aswell as other art historians andalumni have contributed to the effortby choosing and refining the list ofworks to be included in the book,writing essays and catalog entriesand preparing the book for printing.Said Dawes, “Adelina was really thedriving force, and she was the pointperson for all of this. … Along withMichael Rush, we were making deci-sions as to what was going to be in thecatalog, and so we came up with alarge list of sort of the ‘best of’ the col-lection and we whittled that down toa reasonable number [of works].”

The catalog was almost finished bythe time of the Jan. 26 Board ofTrustees decision to authorize thesale of works from the collection. Yetthe catalog’s appearance now, whilethe museum’s collection remains insomething of a limbo state due to on-going legal proceedings between theUniversity and a group of Rose bene-factors, presents something of a par-adox. “When after Jan. 26 Abramscontacted me because they were con-cerned about whether or not wewanted to continue with the project.… I consulted with the president andothers about [whether we] shouldcontinue with this, and everyonesaid, ‘Absolutely.’ We had a lot of peo-ple who had already done a lot ofwork in terms of writing essays, theselection of the art that would go intothe catalog. … It was a big project,and we thought it’s an exciting proj-ect, so we decided to go ahead withit,” said Provost Marty Krauss.

Most of the people interviewed forthis article saw the Rose catalog as apositive expression of the museum’sbrilliant collection during this un-certain time. Kim Rorschach ’78, whocontributed written work for the cat-alog, said “Since the January deba-cle, I’d say the role of the catalog hasexpanded. It will still serve to makethe collection known to a broaderpublic, which will be very impressedby the quality and breadth of the col-lection. The catalog will also demon-strate the tremendous educational,scholarly and artistic value of the col-lection, and readers will draw theirown conclusions about the wisdom ofthe University’s January decision tosell it.” Rorschach, who has held theoffice of curator and director at twouniversity art museums and is cur-rently director at the Nasher Mu-seum at Duke University, continued:“I cannot predict how others willreact, but it seems to me a very goodand hopeful sign that the Universityhas moved forward with publication,and a positive response will hopefullydiscourage the University from fur-ther thoughts of selling the collectionfor general budget relief.”

The catalog’s contributors uni-

formly praised the work of their col-leagues in creating the final product.“Regardless of what happens with thefuture of the Rose and its beloved col-lection, this magnificent book will re-main as a testimony to the wisdom,generosity and sense of adventure ofall those connected to the creation ofthis unique collection,” said Rush.

“I am so honored and proud to be apart of such an important publica-tion,” said Helene Lowenfels ’05. “Imust give thanks to my beloved pro-fessor, Nancy Scott, who suggested tothe former Rose curator that I partic-ipate in the project. … The Rose gra-ciously provided me with archivalinformation about how the piecescame to the museum, what exhibi-tions they had been included in oncampus and where they hang today.Having spent so much of my time asan undergraduate at the museum, theentire experience was very meaning-ful for me.”

“University art museums providea key component of a liberal educa-tion, as they did for me, and can alsoprovide formative job training forstudents in art history and relatedfields as well as a great site for inter-disciplinary learning and interac-tion,” said Rorschach. “Myexperiences at the Rose were invalu-able and indeed made me who I amtoday.”

WORKS ON PAPER: ‘The Rose Art Mu-seum at Brandeis’ came out Oct 1.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SCOTT EDMISTON

THE SPIRIT OF THE ’60s: Handlers hang ‘Rodado’ by James Brooks (1961) beside Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Second Time Painting’ (1961). The Rose acquired these works in 1962 with money from the Gevirtz-Mnuchin Fund.JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

GEOMETRY: Ellsworth Kelly’s ‘Blue/White,’ (above left) featured prominently in 2008’s ‘Arp to Reinhardt: RoseGeometries,’ curated by Jedrzejczak as well. Pablo Picasso’s ‘Reclining Nude’ (below left) appeared in the‘Saints and Sinners’ exhibit last year. Said Jedrzejczak, “There are definitely some things [in the show] that havenot been seen.” In addition to Kelly and Picasso, the show will feature “Rauschenberg, De Kooning—some of theworld’s best examples of art by those artists. But then there are other works by artists like James Brooks andOscar Hjorn, who are not maybe as appreciated and they're amazing.”

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Coinciding this month withthe release of The Rose Art Mu-seum at Brandeis, a catalog ofthe museum’s choicest holdings,Director Roy Dawes and formerRose Assistant Curator AdelinaJedrzejczak have put together ashow of works from the mu-seum’s permanent collection.The exhibition marks the firsttime the museum has presentedworks solely from the museum’sown collection in all three of themuseum’s galleries.

Usually, the museum hosts afall, a spring and a summer ex-hibition each year. However,since the Board of Trustees’ con-troversial decision this January,the museum has been less able toorganize exhibitions with artistsand receive works on loan fromother museums. The show,which opens tomorrow, will re-main on view until May 23, 2010.

Dawes and Jedrzejcak choseworks from the collection thatwould show the breadth anddepth of the collection as well asprovide an educational resourcefor students. “That’s somethingthat we were very conscious of;... doing a service for the stu-

dents and the general public tobe able to see a lot of art ... andhave the chance to come backand explore. Some of thesepieces are some of them are theones that [Profs.] Nancy Scott(FA) and Peter Kalb (FA) alwaysasked to see in the vault, andnow they have a chance to comeout,” said Jedrzejczak. The showpurports to have an unprece-dented number of works on dis-play this year. Said Dawes,“Adelina and I were thinkingthat it’s going to take folks tocome by at least two to three vis-its to begin to absorb the amountof work [on display], which is agood thing, because it’s going tobe up for the rest of the schoolyear. Our last day will be com-mencement.”

Jedrzejczak continued, “Idon’t think there’s ever been atime when so much artwork hasbeen shown in this museum. ...What Roy and I are doing ... isthis sort of exuberant feeling ofcelebrating the collection andseeing what’s here and obvi-ously considering the educa-tional value of it but also thevisual pleasure, and that’s some-thing that I’m interested in as acurator—for the exhibition tolook great.”

Show is perhapsmost extensive ever

A CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY: According to Jedrzejczak, the exhibition is organized “based on the thematical differentiations [from the catalogue], the exception being the downstairsgallery, which will be photography and the photgraphy is ... from all different periods, so it starts with the early Walker Evans and ends with [works] from the last few years.”


MIXED MEDIA: Above, ‘Stave’ by Jenny Holzer (2008) incorporates text from governmentdocuments. Said Jedrzejczak, “The Foster Gallery is Abstract Expressionism to start offand branches into pop art, photorealism, minimalism. ... We’re showing video work aswell.” Below, ‘Stave’ is reflected in a mirror of ‘Double Red Bathroom’ by Jim Dine (1962).


THE JUSTICE ● TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2009 2120 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2009 ● THE JUSTICE

By ANDREA FINEMANJUSTICE EDITOR

SUN GOING UP: A Rose worker prepares to hang ‘Rising’ by Adolph Gottlieb,which was purchased by former Rose Art Museum director Sam Hunter.


By ANDREA FINEMANJUSTICE EDITOR

