MAY 2012

OF THE INSTIT UTEF R I E N DS

Friends Annual

Meeting

Thursday, May 10

10:50 a.m.

Preceding the Friends

Lecture

All Friends members

are invited to attend for

a recap of the year’s

activities and to vote

on incoming executive

officers.

Americans have eagerly sought Rembrandt’s art for over a century, spending fortunes to acquire his peerless paintings, drawings and prints. America has played a crucial role in the notoriously difficult field of Rembrandt connoisseurship. Curators are now

faced with interpreting mountains of data and testing divergent opinions.

Join the Friends on May 10 when Tom Rassieur, John E. Andrus III Curator of Prints and Drawings, will explain how the high-stakes game of Rembrandt trading really works. His talk will provide the back-story to the upcoming exhibition,

“Rembrandt in America: Collecting and Connoisseurship,” to open at the MIA on June 24.

Tom Rassieur joined the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2009. In the 1990s, he devoted five years to the study of Rembrandt, until he was called to

the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he served for ten years, rising to become the first Pamela and Peter Voss Curator. In Boston, Rassieur curated or co-curated ten exhibitions, including

“Rembrandt’s Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher,” which premiered at the MFA in 2003, and subse-quently traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago. He also curated “Rembrandt’s Etchings: the Embrace of Darkness and Light,” which toured in Japan and the United States. His writings on Rembrandt’s creative process as an etcher formed the basis of the Rembrandt House Museum’s exhibition celebrating the artist’s 400th birthday. Rassieur has curated exhibitions and published art materials ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century, but his eye always turns back to Rembrandt. Rassieur holds an M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a B.A. from Princeton University.

A coffee reception, sponsored by the Rochester Friends, precedes the lecture at 10:15 a.m. in the Fountain Court.

FRIENDS LUNCHEON Following the lecture, a fabulous lunch of herb crusted chicken and lemon torte will be served in the Villa Rosa room. The cost for the luncheon is $25. Please make your reservations online at www.artsmia.org or with the Friends office at (612) 870-3045. R.S.V.P. by Friday, May 4.

THURSDAY, MAY 10 – PILLSBURY AUDITORIUM, 11 A.M. – TOM RASSIEUR

Rembrandt van Rijn, Lucretia, oil on canvas, 1666, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

“ Rembrandt in America: Collecting, Connoisseurship, Curating”

May 10 Member Tours: “Highlights of Dutch Art”Please join us for a docent-led tour planned exclusively for Friends members: “Highlights of Dutch Art” in anticipation of the acclaimed

“Rembrandt in America” exhibit coming to the MIA on June 24.

10 a.m. Please meet at 9:45 a.m. in the Third Avenue lobby.

1:30 p.m. Please meet at 1:15 p.m. outside the Villa Rosa Room on the third floor.

R.S.V.P. to New Member Liaison Ziya Tarapore at ziyatarapore@gmail.com or (952) 239-3442. Space is limited. Since this tour is a benefit for Friends members, we regret that we cannot accommodate non-member guests. Invite your friends to join the Friends!

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Spring has arrived; the grass is green, the birds are chirping, and Art in Bloom is here. Art in Bloom Co-Chairs Ann Birt and Betsey Whitbeck and their very capable committee of over 60 people have been working on this important event for the past year. It is not only going to be a spectacular occasion, but also a very successful fundraiser.

The proceeds from our fundraisers have been used in many different ways to support,

enhance and sustain the collection, programs and influence of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. In celebration of our nine-tieth anniversary, we announced to the Friends membership in January that we provided funds for the purchase of City Glow, the panoramic video which served as the finale of the “Edo Pop” exhibition. We also announced that we provided funds for the restoration of St. Paul the Hermit, an eighteenth-century marble sculpture. In addition to purchasing pieces of art and funding restoration projects this year, the Friends have also sponsored recent special exhibitions such as the “Louvre and the Masterpiece,” and “Edo Pop.”

The Friends also provide support to the museum through our four endowment funds:

Friends Endowment for Education (FEFE) provides approxi-mately $80,000 each year to the department of Learning and Innovation.

The Transportation Fund provides money for school buses bringing children to the museum for docent-led tours. These

A Letter from President Carolyn Dahlchildren attend schools that most likely could not otherwise afford a field trip school bus to the museum.

The Mary and Mark Fiterman Lecture Fund allows the Friends to bring in prominenth lecturers from around the world for our Friends monthly lecture series.

The Harris/Phelps Fund beautifies the MIA with floral arrange-ments year-round. It also provided funding for the Friends Christmas tree and the holiday decorating of the Fountain Court.

The Friends’ four endowment Funds have a market value of nearly $4.7 million dollars.

Five years ago, The Friends started the Children’s Fund to provide enriching opportunities for young people to experience and be inspired by the world of art. This year with Children’s Fund money, we are able to provide the opportunity for every second and third grade student in the Minneapolis Public Schools to attend a Visual Thinking Strategies tour at the museum. This is the fourth year that the Friends Children’s Fund has provided funding for this VTS program.

I greatly appreciate the support of our entire membership. You volunteer when asked, you serve on committees, and you support our fundraisers. We can all be very proud of the vital role that the Friends continue to play at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Happy Ninetieth!

Carolyn

Become a Patron of Art in Bloom! Benefactor Party is May 17Benefactor or Guarantor-level event patrons of Art in Bloom are invited to a special post-event celebration the evening of Thursday, May 17. Guests will drive by a long line of over fifty apple and pear trees along a driveway through a rolling meadow, ending at the welcoming home of Phyllis and Tom Colwell, who have generously opened their beautiful house to this special Friends event.

After taking in the striking outside vistas, go inside to view the wonderfully eclectic collection of Asian and modern art as you savor delicious appetizers and drinks, and join other supporters in convivial conversation.

The Friends extend a heartfelt thank you to Phyllis and Tom for their kindness in hosting the 2012 Art in Bloom Benefactor Party. For more information on patron levels and their benefits, visit www.artsmia.org/art-in-bloom or contact the Friends office.

Thank You, AIB 2012 Sponsors!Lead Sponsor: Abbot Downing (formerly Lowry Hill)

Extraordinary thanks to Margene Fox, our honorary chair, for her kind support.

Generous support provided by Accenture, Bachman’s, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Gabberts, General Mills Foundation, Martha Head, Bill Hodder, Lakewood Cemetery, Macy’s, Marbrook Foundation, and Mary and Doug Olson.

Additional support provided by Pauline Altermatt, Linda Boelter, Creative Kidstuff, Edina Eye Physicians & Surgeons, Jane Emison, The Bill and Katherine Fox Foundation, Sally Mathieu, Sheila Morgan, Nash Finch Company, Olson Law Firm, and Teresa Pfister.

Media Partner: myTalk 107.1

COLLECTION CONNECTION

Rembrandt’s World By Fran Megarry

We all know about Dutch tulips, but what do we know about Dutch golf? Really, did the Dutch play golf? Is the man in the shadows in this 1654 Rembrandt etching resting in the clubhouse and awaiting the results of the last player? Is it his version of the 19th hole? Getting to know Rembrandt’s world through his work, we discover the Dutch had new wealth in their Golden Age, and time to enjoy life.

Several chapters in Pieter van Afferden’s 1552 book, Tyrocinium Lingue Latinae, were devoted to golf phrases, which suggests that the Dutch did indeed play a variation of golf as early as 1297. All known sixteenth-century Dutch golf clubs were designed for short game variations, in consid-eration of the limited, highly-cultivated and heavily-grazed, densely-populated land mass that made up the Netherlands.

In Rembrandt’s etching The Golf Player, consider how Rembrandt’s cross hatching brings chiaroscuro (the dramatic use of light and shadow) to the work. We can also see that Rembrandt created divided images. Rembrandt juxtaposes opposites: relaxing in the club house versus the action of the golfer, and all perhaps in a thought bubble. Are there other possibilities for this etching? Does the reclining man in the shadows think of another day? Rembrandt’s work is certainly full of depth of meaning, and perhaps we can see a playful surprise in this etching.

The upcoming MIA exhibition “Rembrandt in America” starting June 24, will give us a rare view of portraits by Rembrandt. Rembrandt’s portraits bring us face to face with individual personalities and insight into the human condition. Additionally, a group of Rembrandt prints from the MIA collection will be on view in the exhibition.

To view this month’s Collection Connection feature or other Rembrandt prints not on display in the galleries, simply call the Prints and Drawing Resource Library at (612) 870-3105 to request a viewing. A closer look reveals that The Golf Player is full of surprises—much like the game itself.

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Golf Player, etching, 1654

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“Two mansions, together with the Cathedral of St. Paul, crown the hill where the stately Summit Avenue begins. James J. Hill built the first. Hill was not only St. Paul’s leading citizen; he was one of the handful of financial titans—Morgan, Carnegie, Harriman, Rockefeller—who ruled America’s Industrial Age. The home he built, the largest in the city, reflected his status not only in Minnesota, but in the world.

“His son, Louis Warren Hill, who inherited the mantel of his father, built the second.” –The Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill, by Biloine W. Young with Eileen R. McCormack

Join the Friends on a historic tour of Summit Hill on Wednesday, June 13. Begin with a tour of the James J. Hill house, then step next door to the Louis W. Hill home, now owned by Richard and Nancy Nicholson. After lunch at W.A. Frost, sail up Selby for a tour of the St. Paul Cathedral, which was envisioned and launched by Archbishop John Ireland, friend to the Hill family, and a regional and national force in his own right.

In all three of these buildings, the grand and the intimate intersect. Cumulatively, their stories, from the births of James J. Hill and John Ireland to the completion of the last chapel in the Cathedral, span a century. Their characters include popes and presidents, artisans and artists, leaders in finance, philanthropy and educa-tion, and the immigrant base from which both James J. Hill and John Ireland rose.

Come with us and enjoy an opportunity to explore a St. Paul hill rich with history, art, and architecture. Save the date for Wednesday, June 13, from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The bus tour will depart from and return to the MIA. The cost is $60 per person, which includes bus transportation, the Hill museum fee, and lunch. This is a Friends-only event and space is limited. Reserve by calling the Friends office at (612) 870-3045.

ART & ARCHITECTURE TOUR: JUNE 13

St. Paul’s Historic Summit Hill

Cathedral of St. Paul; Photo by Jeremy Noble

GIFTS TO THE FUNDSIn memory of Larry Mork

B.J. Dahlberg

Phyllis Colwell

Jean M. Holten

Renata Winsor

Donations to the Presidents FundIn memory of Ella Crosby

Renata Winsor

Donations to the Friends Fund for Education In memory of Lois Bick

Kris Veeneman

NEW MEMBERSMary Bachhuber

Susan DeMuth

Vicki Klaers

Susan Shernit

MAY AT THE INSTITUTEMay floral arrangements at the Visitor Information Desk are created by Bastian*Skoog. Please call the Friends office for more information on our florists.

Friends PresidentCarolyn Dahl

Newsletter EditorsMaria Eggemeyer Tracy Schaefer

Operations CoordinatorNicole Anderson

Friends Office(612) 870-3045

Friends Fax(612) 870-6315

Friends E-mailFriends@artsmia.org

Museum Shop(612) 870-3100

MIA Info(612) 870-3000

Friends Web Sitewww.artsmia.org/friends

Friendsof theInstitute

Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404

INSIDE THIS ISSUE May 10 LectureTom Rassieur on Rembrandt

Art & Architecture Tour:Historic Summit Hill

Letter from the President

Collection Connection

R Printed on recycled paper

ART IN BLOOM SHOPUnique items await you at the

Art in Bloom 2012 gift shop!

Beautify your garden with

whimsical sculptures, chimes

and statuary. Entertain lavishly

with summer picnic baskets and

colorful tableware. Dress up

with fun sun hats, spring jewelry,

summery scarves, beautiful

vests and tee-shirts. Express

your gratitude with eye-

catching, garden-related

hostess and Mother’s Day gifts.

Buy, enjoy, and support the

endeavors of the Friends.