The Members Magazine | Winter 2015

Chrysler

ASKING QUESTIONS

It is my true pleasure to write to you as the new Director of the Chrysler Museum of Art. I feel fortunate to have been selected for this duty after an extended search, and I recognize the responsibility that comes with leading an institution of this stature. With the staff and Trustees and volunteers and friends, I intend to make this great Museum even better. We aspire to be a leader among America’s art museums. To that end, I am holding an extended series of discussions: first with our Board of Trustees and staff, and then with community leaders, Members, and visitors. The information I gather from these discussions will become part of our planning process as we set goals for the Chrysler for the coming years.

Of course, we are starting from an enviable position with a world-class collection, a strong history of careful fiscal management, and an outstanding group of people. The building has never looked better (or functioned better) than it does today. We are free to all the people of our community. We have a growing endowment in an improving economy. The leaders of our region recognize the value of the Chrysler as an economic generator and as a key component of a full civic life. All of these factors suggest that the future will be bright for the Museum. We know, however, that there will be challenges and uncertainties that will affect all museums, so we will chart a course with clear goals that are true to our ideals—and with confidence that we are prepared to meet those challenges.

The questions that I have been asking are open-ended. There are no wrong answers. I want to learn what people really think about the Chrysler Museum of Art. Where have we been successful and where have we encountered obstacles? What could be changed and where should our priorities be? What are our strengths and weaknesses as an institution? How will we engage with key issues of our time, such as education, environmental change, and the rapid expansion of technology? I welcome your ideas and your support as the Chrysler Museum of Art embarks on a new journey. I hope you will send your comments, critiques, or kudos to museum@chrysler.org.

Erik H. NeilDirector

Learn more about Erik’s plans for the Chrysler Museum in our story on pages 12–15.

board of trustees 2014–2015 Lewis W. Webb III, Esq., ChairThomas L. Stokes, Jr., Vice ChairLelia Graham Webb, Secretary

Yvonne T. AllmondDudley B. Anderson, M.D., F.A.C.P.Tony Atwater, Ph.D.Shirley C. BaldwinCarolyn K. BarryKathleen BroderickDeborah H. ButlerRobert W. CarterSusan R. ColpittsElizabeth P. FraimEdith G. GrandyJames A. HixonMarc JacobsonLinda H. KaufmanPamela C. KloeppelHarry T. LesterOriana M. McKinnonPeter M. Meredith, Jr.Richard D. RobertsC. Arthur Rutter IIIBob SasserLisa B. SmithRichard WaitzerJoseph T. WaldoWayne F. Wilbanks

chrysler magazineBrian Wells, Director of Development and

CommunicationsCheryl Little, Editor/Publications ManagerEd Pollard, Museum PhotographerJane Cleary, Graphics ManagerMegan Frost, Development Officer

Chrysler Magazine is a quarterly publication produced for and mailed to Chrysler Museum Members as a benefit of their generous support.

Update or verify your membership information at http://reservations.chrysler.org or contact Database Manager Fleater Allen at:

Chrysler Museum of ArtOne Memorial Place | Norfolk, VA 23510(757) 333-6287 | fallen@chrysler.org.

© 2014 by The Chrysler Museum of Art, all rights reserved

on the coverThomas Cole (American, 1801–1848)The Voyage of Life: Youth (detail), 1840Oil on canvas, 52 1/2 x 78 1/2 in.Museum Purchase, 55.106Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, N.Y.

dIrEcTOr’S NOTE Inside Front Cover

fEATUrEd ExhIbITION 3 Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life

IN ThE GAllErIES 6 Exhibitions

9 Charlotte’s Web: Who Are You Wearing?

10 Collection Connections: Face to Face—Marcelle and Pierre Monnin

chrySlEr NEwS 12 A New Chrysler Tour with

Our New Director

16 Listening to American Art

17 At the Glass Studio: Visiting Artist Series 2015

mEmbEr ExclUSIvES

18 Worn to Be Wild Members’ Preview Party

19 Major Donor Dinner The Honorable Society of Former Trustees

20 Upcoming Member Events A Legacy of Beauty: Connie and Marc Jacobson

lAST lOOK 21 Celebrating Smokey Bear

Larry Clark (American, b. 1943) Untitled, from the series Tulsa, 1971 Gelatin silver print, printed 1980 Gift of Robert W. Pleasant

Chrysler The Members Magazine | Winter 2014–2015

2 | winter 2015

featured exhibition | 3

Thomas Cole’s VoYaGe oF lIFe

Decades before the publication of Huck Finn’s adventures

on the mighty Mississippi, thousands of Americans

undertook an epic river journey through Thomas Cole’s

Voyage of Life. This series of four paintings, created between 1839

and 1840, remains one of the greatest achievements in the history

of American art. Now these monumental canvases—Childhood,

Youth, Manhood, and Old Age—are at the Chrysler Museum for a

stunning celebration of nature, imagination, and spirit.

The Voyage of Life is on loan, along with related studies and

early prints, from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute,

Museum of Art, in Utica, N.Y. Cole re-painted the popular series

in 1842, and the second version now hangs in the National

Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. His original formulation,

however, has left Utica only twice since its purchase by the

Munson-Williams-Proctor in 1955. This historic third tour

includes museums in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Memphis, in

addition to the Chrysler.

“We’ve placed these extraordinary paintings right in the heart of

our American galleries so that they can be in conversation with

our own remarkable collection,” says Alex Mann, Brock Curator

of American Art. “Visitors follow the same art historical timeline,

from John Singleton Copley to Winslow Homer, with a grand

surprise in between. Our Meredith Gallery has never looked

more stunning!”Thomas Cole (American, 1801–1848)The Voyage of Life: Childhood (detail), 1839–40Oil on canvas, 52 x 78 in.Museum Purchase, 55.105Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, N.Y.

4 | winter 2015

The Hudson River and BeyondThomas Cole (1801–1848) is one of founding fathers of American art, best remembered for inventing the

Hudson River School of landscape painting. After trekking amid the hills and lakes of

upstate New York, Cole launched his career by capturing on canvas the brilliant

fall colors of the Catskill Mountains. Regular steamboat service between New York City and Albany (in operation since 1807) gave him easy access to this gorgeous scenery. Cole

also benefitted from the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. His most generous

patrons were bankers and merchants who owed their wealth to the canal and the

subsequent explosion of boat trade around New York.

Cole later traveled beyond the Hudson River region, painting views

of Pennsylvania, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and Italy. He also dreamed up idealized landscape

compositions and used these as settings for biblical and literary

scenes. The Chrysler’s own Cole painting, The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds (1833–34), is a perfect example of his skill at storytelling within a beautiful, imaginary landscape. Cole, a lifelong Episcopalian, hoped that such religious subjects would inspire and educate his viewers. “I am not a mere leaf painter,” he wrote in his diary in 1838. “I have higher conceptions.”

In The Voyage of Life, Cole tackled an even more complex subject, summarizing the ups and downs of human existence in four grand scenes. “Cole saw this series as a poem,” Mann explains. “He dabbled in poetry writing, but art was his real genius. Think of his light and shadows as adjectives, shapes as rhymes, color as punctuation. That’s how Cole understood these elements, and that’s why it took him almost two years to make—no, to invent—this series.”

An Assembly of AngelsBoth The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds and The Voyage of Life are milestones in Cole’s career, Mann says, and this exhibition marks the first time ever that

“his early ambitious masterpiece and his crowning achievement have ever been presented in the same building.” Visitors will spot dozens of similarities in the composition and figures in The Angel Appearing, the largest canvas that Cole ever painted, and Old Age, his final Voyage of Life painting. “Cole clearly copied himself,” says Mann. “The celestial vision in Old Age, with the heavens opening and angels descending, is an encore for Cole, repeated from the Chrysler’s massive masterwork. Scholars have written about this, and now we can study it firsthand.”

This reprisal of older ideas may result from Cole’s lack of confidence in painting the human figure.

“The Angel’s face has given me a great deal of trouble,” Cole wrote in 1840 to a friend. “Angels’ visits to me are really so few and far between that I forget their features,” he joked. Sketchbooks from Cole’s travels in Italy were a reference point for his later paintings and may be the link between these two projects. “These are the great bookends of his career,”says Mann, “but

Thomas Cole (American, 1801–1848)The Voyage of Life: Youth (detail), 1840Oil on canvas, 52 1/2 x 78 1/2 in.Museum Purchase, 55.106Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, N.Y.

Attributed to Boston & Sandwich Glass Co.American, 1826–1888 Whale-oil Lamp, ca. 1830Pressed glass and blown opal glass, 7 5/8 in.Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

featured exhibition | 5

Thomas Cole (American, 1801–1848)The Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1840Oil on canvas, 51 3/4 x 78 1/4 in. Museum Purchase, 55.108Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, N.Y.

of course Cole never expected The Voyage of Life to be his last major work. He was still basking in the critical triumph from this series when he caught pneumonia just a few years later and died at age 47.”

Shining New Light on an Old FavoriteIn Youth, the second picture in the series, a red-robed boy reaches up toward a magnificent castle in the clouds. This painting was the most popular of the four when Cole first unveiled The Voyage of Life, and the inspiration for its “aerial architecture,” as Cole described it, continues to intrigue many viewers. In the exhibition’s catalogue, Dr. Paul Schweizer, who coordinated the traveling show, explores its sources in depth. He suggests that Cole’s celestial castle blends classical edifices like the Pantheon with famous buildings from South Asia, particularly the Taj Mahal.

At the Chrysler, visitors will see another proposed source for Cole’s “air-built castle,” a potential link that has never been published. An 1830s glass whale oil lamp in the shape of a domed temple, discovered within the Chrysler’s glass collection, occupies a small case at the center of the exhibition. The juxtaposition with Youth makes the similarities obvious.

“Did Thomas Cole own a lamp like this?” asks curator Alex Mann. “We don’t know, but it’s possible,” he adds. “Even the most famous pictures have mysteries and unanswered questions. I’m excited that this exhibition allows our community to weigh in on a new hypothesis.”

This glass lamp, along with five of Thomas Cole’s greatest paintings and other related works, will be on view at the Chrysler Museum through January 18, 2015. Make these masterpieces in Gallery 211 a stop on your next sail through the Chrysler collection! n

Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life is on loan from the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, in Utica, N.Y., and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.

6 | winter 2015

Larry Clark: TulsaOn view through January 18 in the Frank Photography Galleries (g. 228)

Raw. Real. Relevant. As a witness with a camera (and sometimes a willing participant), Larry Clark and his controversial Tulsa series revolutionized the field of documentary photography in 1971. These 50 images, comprising the entire series, are full of grit and truth, and they capture the dark, violent, drug-addicted underside of Clark’s generation and his Midwestern hometown. Decades later, his photographs are no less powerful or troubling.

Celebrating Smokey Bear: Rudy Wendelin and the Creation of an IconNew on view through February 1 in the Focus Gallery (g. 229)

“Only you can prevent forest fires!” The Chrysler honors seven decades of wildfire prevention by America’s best-known bear with a display

of 19 original paintings by Rudy Wendelin. The artist for the U.S. Forest Service was the visionary behind the friendly firefighter with the ranger hat and shovel. This exhibition about the beloved bear is organized by the Virginia Department of Forestry, in honor of its 100th anniversary, and features a free keepsake booklet about Smokey.

Worn to Be Wild: The Black Leather JacketOn view through January 4 in the Norfolk Southern Special Exhibitions Gallery and the Waitzer Community Gallery (gs. 101–103)

Cool has come to the Chrysler with this blockbuster spotlighting one of America’s loudest sartorial statements: the black leather jacket. Trace its biker-boy and fly-boy infancy to its adolescent run as the unofficial uniform for film rebels and rockers to its adult heyday as an haute-couture and popular fashion accessory that is

quintessentially American. Snap a selfie on the Harley on your way home, and be sure to post your photos to #worntobewild.

Worn to Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket is presented by EMP Museum, Seattle, in partnership with the Harley-Davidson® Museum, Milwaukee.

The Art of Video GamesOpening the evening of February 13 (Members’ Preview Party) in the Norfolk Southern Special Exhibitions Gallery and the Waitzer Community Gallery (gs. 101–103)

Game on! The Chrysler celebrates the creativity, technology, and industry that put visual effects and virtual worlds at your fingertips (and thumbs) over the last four decades. This groundbreaking exhibition sets a high score, drawing millions to museums to ponder the impact of Pac-Man and to play the home-console games that became a global sensation. From Atari to Wii or Xbox, every generation of gamers and geeks will love this interactive experience. #TAOVG

For information on The Art of Video Games Members’ Preview Party, see page 20.

The Art of Video Games is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, with generous support from Entertainment Software Association Foundation, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Shelby and Frederick Gans, Mark Lamia, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, Rose Family Foundation, Betty and Lloyd Schermer, and Neil Young. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.

Exhibitionsin the museum galleries

Mass Effect 2, Microsoft XBox 360, 2010Casey Hudson, director; Mac Walters, Drew Karpyshyn, writers; Casey Hudson, producer© and ™ 2010 Electronic Arts, Inc.

in the galleries | 7

Collection Conversations: The Chrysler Museum of Art and the National Gallery of ArtOur yearlong series with the National Gallery of Art features exhibitions that highlight key modernists represented in both collections.

Fractured Lens: Picasso, Braque, and Cubism’s Influence On view through February 15 in the Roberts Wing | 20th-Century / Modern Art Gallery (g. 219)

Our first collaborative show started the cross-institutional conversation with a focus on the inventors of the Cubist movement and the contemporaries who followed their lead.

Henri Matisse: Harmonious ColorOpening February 24 in the Roberts Wing | 20th-Century / Modern Art Gallery (g. 219)

At once following and breaking from the classical French tradition in painting, this revolutionary figure in modern art wrote a new language of form and color.

Thomas Cole’s Voyage of LifeOn view through January 18 in the Brock Wing | Meredith Gallery | 19th-Century American Art (g. 211)

It’s the story of Everyman, beautifully told by one of the founding fathers of American art. Thomas Cole’s four monumental canvases trace the human journey through childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. These masterpieces, the original versions of the iconic series, mark the pinnacle of Cole’s illustrious

Clockwise from top:Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) Nude Woman, 1910 Oil on canvas, 73 3/4 x 24 in. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund 1972.46.1, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Jacques Lipchitz (French, 1891–1973)Seated Figure, 1916BronzeGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.© Estate of Jacques Lipchitz,courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York

8 | winter 2015

career and a landmark in Romantic landscape painting. The Chrysler’s own The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, Cole’s largest single painting, enriches this extraordinary exhibition.

Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life is on loan from the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, in Utica, N.Y., and is supported by an indemnity from the federal council on the Arts and Humanities.

Shooting Lincoln: Photography and the Sixteenth PresidentOpening February 10 in the Frank Photography Galleries (g. 228)

Come face to face with one of America’s greatest leaders, 150 years after his tragic death. Long before an assassin’s bullet struck Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, dozens of photographers had aimed their cameras at the President. This exhibition features rarely exhibited vintage images from the Chrysler’s David L. Hack Civil War Collection, including studio portraits,

battlefield scenes, and photos from the historic funeral procession that helped our nation grieve and heal.

Greta Pratt: Nineteen LincolnsOpening February 10 in the Frank Photography Galleries (g. 228)

An homage to honesty? Photographer and Old Dominion University professor Greta Pratt explores the role of historical images and myths in contemporary American identity. This series introduces us to re-enactors from The Association of Abraham Lincoln Presenters, capturing the unique persona beneath each black suit and stovepipe hat. Study the many faces of Abe and learn why Lincoln remains so recognizable and inspiring to these performers and their audiences.

In The Box: Saya Woolfalk Ongoing in The Box

The Box, our new-media gallery, becomes its own hybridization laboratory of visual, performing, and tactile arts with the Brooklyn-based artist’s immersive installation ChimaTEK (feat. DJ Spooky). Join the Empathics as a virtual DJ remixes their bodies and minds into new beings that are

Charlotte Potter (American, b. 1981) Charlotte’s Web (detail), 2012Blown, cased glass, cameo-carved; metal chainsMuseum purchase

American (1789–1823)Covered Urn Commemorating Caesar Augustus Rodney, 1821SilverGift of the Independence National Historical Park Project, conserved through the generosity of Allan L. Segal, in memory of Joan Sue Segal, and with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts

winter 2015 | 9

part-human, part-plant. Discover how Woolfalk’s trade show combines biology, genetics, and anthropology with needlework, sculpture, glass-blowing, and video to create a vibrant new world that defies race, cultural labels, and easy definition.

Charlotte’s WebOpening December 13 in the Glass Project Space (g. 118)

Modern social media meets the crafts of the past. Charlotte Potter, our Glass Studio Programming Director, explores the spaces between friends, real and virtual, in this favorite from the Chrysler Collection. Hand-carved cameos of the profile pictures of each of her 864 Facebook friends are “posted” to a gallery-turned-map displaying where they first met. Fine jewelry chains connect the pendants to each other and to the artist to form this web of personal cartography.

There’s more to “like” with the Chrysler Connections project. Read more about it below.

AT THe HISToRIC HouSeS

ongoing at the Moses Myers House323 E. Freemason St. | Norfolk

Moses Myers: Maritime MerchantThis permanent exhibition explores the business of nautical commerce through the life of Moses Myers, who constructed this 1792 dwelling, one of Norfolk’s oldest buildings.

Barton Myers: Norfolk VisionaryMayor Barton Myers transformed his city from a prosperous Coastal town into a thriving metropolis.

This display highlights the extraordinary life of this “first citizen of Norfolk.”

Adeline’s Portal by Beth LipmanThis spectral installation for an upstairs bedroom nook is the on-site creation of Beth Lipman, our Glass Studio’s first Resident Artist. Discover how the memories and objects that have filled the house over generations speak afresh through evocative colorless glass.

These Historic Houses exhibitions are supported by a generous gift from the late T. Parker Host, Jr.

ongoing at the Willoughby-Baylor House601 E. Freemason St. | Norfolk

Democratic Designs: American Folk Paintings from the Chrysler MuseumThe Federal-era house provides a perfect historical setting for this exhibition of highlights from the Chrysler’s fine collection of early American paintings. Explore the work of artists like Ammi Phillips, Edward Hicks, and Erastus Salisbury Field who had considerable talent, but limited access to professional training, in this inspiring display of native genius.

The Norfolk RoomsCelebrate our port city’s rich heritage of creativity and cultural achievements through a selection of paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver, and more. This permanent installation christens the recently reopened Norfolk History Museum.

Who Are You Wearing?

Charlotte’s Web is about facilitating connections between people and articulating the unknown spaces that define these relationships. This “friend”-filled network raises questions about how we create meaningful engagements in a world saturated with virtual experiences.

To further this exploration, we hope that visitors to the exhibition will participate in Chrysler Connections, an experimental web that will grow while the show is on view. Unlike Facebook and other Internet-based prostheses for face-to-face human connections, our project is designed to connect and engage those who actually visit Charlotte’s Web in real life.

The premise is simple. Have your photo taken in the exhibition gallery and post it as your new social media profile picture. The Museum will, in turn, put your visage on an inexpensive cameo portrait button. Since this button will not be created before you leave the show, pick up an existing button that you’d like to wear out in public. You might select the semblance of someone you already know or choose the portrait of an interesting stranger to wear. Either way, your button will picture someone else who has seen the show.

As you circulate in the community, wear the button you’ve selected and watch for others doing the same. On their pins, you may find faces you recognize—acquaintances, Museum staff, Walter Chrysler, or even your own. And as you locate others participating in Chrysler Connections, start a conversation. Discuss your thoughts about Charlotte’s Web or compare your experiences wearing the cameo adornments. Who knows? In the process maybe you’ll make a new friend.

Let us know about your encounters as they occur. Post your discoveries to your social media pages with #ChryslerConnections.

10 | winter 2015

Face to FaceMarcelle and Pierre Monnin

The Swiss couple has never been to the Chrysler, yet they’ve long been a part of

it. In 1975, Walter Chrysler, Jr. purchased one of Alfred Leslie’s newest paintings for his museum collection. By the time it went on view in Norfolk, the monumental double portrait of Marcelle and Pierre Monnin had been featured in two one-man-shows, reviewed in several arts columns, and seen by thousands.

Marcelle and Pierre have seen it only once since its completion. Their second viewing has been almost 40 years in the making.

As they turn the corner to Gallery 226 and see their younger selves on the facing wall, staring into the distance, they can’t help but smile. They pause for a moment more.

“Do you think it still looks like me?” Marcelle asks from the doorway.

“I was much taller then,” Pierre jokes as he approaches the soaring canvas.

Within minutes, they talk about 1975 as if it were yesterday.

A Wonderful TriangleA gallerist who saw the portrait in process described it as a “wonderful triangle,” Marcelle says. “That’s a surprising way to define it, but it’s true. Even though we don’t look at him, we look right in front of us, we made a triangle with Alfie,” Marcelle says. “We felt his influence.”

Alfred Leslie already was famous by 1974, when the Monnins met him. The Bronx-born artist had first made his mark in the 1950s as an abstract expressionist, but by the early 1960s had abandoned that

“dead-end” modernism to embrace a more hard-edged realism. Leslie returned to the studies and styles of the old masters—David, Rubens, Carravaggio—in hopes of forging a new excellence in contemporary painting. With larger-than-life scale, dramatic lighting, and careful detail, Leslie painted “no-nonsense” portraits meant to inspire viewers to care not only for his subjects, but for the people in their own lives.

They were introduced by mutual friends. Leslie, 47, was painter-in-residence at Amherst College. The Monnins, then in their 30s, had left their native Switzerland just months earlier. Pierre was teaching and working on his Ph.D. in Old English poetry at the University of Massachusetts. Marcelle was caring for their two preschool daughters at home. The Monnins were flattered when the artist asked if he could include them in a new portrait series of couples.

Lights, Ladder, and LifeAt the artist’s barn studio, Leslie placed two lights on the floor, one on either side, to convey a heroic seriousness. “It gave the feeling of fire on the ground,” Marcelle says.

“He painted directly in front of us. We were all in the same light.”

Leslie worked on the monumental canvas from a ladder so that he could keep his focus level on each portion of the portrait. Each of three sections—the faces, the torsos, and the legs—was painted straight on, slightly shifting the overall perspective. “Our heads look a little larger than they should,” Pierre says.

Their then-serious demeanor suited Leslie. “This was an age when we were really under pressure,” Pierre

says. “I was just finishing my dissertation and I had deadlines. We had already two daughters and actually our third child was stillborn just a month or two before we started. It took a toll.”

He feels his doppelganger’s pain. “You can tell there is some sadness there. In the midst of this very personal crisis, it was very difficult for me to have that conversation. Look at the way she is standing there with me—she’s the one with the strength. That’s how I felt.”

Marcelle smiles knowingly. The project was cathartic for both of them. “It took us out of it,” she says. The couple often took Rachel and Lorraine, 5 and 2, with them, and Leslie’s wife, Constance, would watch the girls along with their two children. As he painted, “sometimes Alfie would just want to be quiet, but usually we would talk about everyday things,” Marcelle recalls.

“We came to know them,” she says. “Those were great experiences.”

“Fortune and Fame”Though the couples became friends, Pierre says, they were paid for posing. “We were supposed to get one dollar per hour.”

“Each,” Marcelle quickly adds. “It was twice as expensive for him when we sat together,” which they usually did. The sittings took several months. “He worked very fast,” Pierre says, “but I can tell you, that portrait was a lot of hours.”

“And,” Pierre adds with a smirk, “Alfred said right away that he would double the amount he paid us if—if!—the painting sold.”

It did sell and very quickly. Walter Chrysler and two other collectors

collection connections | 11

purchased the new Leslie double portrait at the artist’s Allan Frumkin Gallery show in New York from June to November 1975.

Did the Monnins ever think about buying the 9' by 6' painting? “No, do you know how much he sold it for?” Pierre laughs. “$80,000!” they answer in the unison of a couple married 47 years.

Their painting illustrated a New York Times review in newspapers nationwide, and garnered more attention in the acclaimed 1976 Alfred Leslie retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

But the Monnins tracked its success from a continent away, through letters full of clippings from the Leslies and other friends. “We left the United States in ’75 when I had completed my dissertation, so we didn’t really know what happened so soon after it was completed,” Pierre says. But before they returned to Switzerland, they saw the finished painting in Leslie’s studio. “We were just standing there, looking at us standing there.”

They’re doing that again now, finally. It’s been a good first visit to the Museum—“so moving and memorable for us”—probably not their last. “Indeed,” the Monnins later write from home in Geneva,

“we strongly feel like coming back sometime.” It’s an encore reunion the Chrysler will welcome. n

Cheryl Little, Museum Editor with special thanks to Melanie Neil, Assistant Registrar

There’s more about the Monnins and Alfred Leslie’s portrait of them in our Chrysler Web Exclusive. Learn more about their visit at www.chrysler.org/facetoface

Photos by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer

Alfred Leslie (American, b. 1927)Marcelle and Pierre Monnin, 1975Oil on canvas, 108 x 72 in.Gift of David Hatch, Edna and Hugh Gordon Miller, and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.© Alfred Leslie

12 | winter 2015

erik H. Neil, the Chrysler’s

new Director, walked through

the Museum with community

volunteer and Museum

Trustee Lelia Graham Webb

in october. Their informal

conversation serves as an

introduction to erik as the

Museum and the community

welcome him aboard.

lGw: Welcome. That’s the most important place to begin. I hope your first month has been exciting.

EhN: Thank you. It’s certainly been busy, but busy in the best possible way. I’ve been meeting with people who really care about the Chrysler and it’s clear that I have inherited a healthy institution with every hope of success. Walking into a brand-new museum with gorgeous galleries and a building that has just been upgraded, it really allows me to think about the future. Where do we want to go? What do we want to do? What are the possibilities? We are really poised to do some strategic thinking and planning and then implement it. I feel very fortunate.

lGw: What is the first thing you noticed about the Chrysler?

EhN: Well, there’s no question I knew about the collection. But when I first visited the Museum, what struck me immediately were the Gallery Hosts.

lGw: They really are different. They aren’t your standard security guards. They know so much about the art, and they’re so friendly, so warm. There’s nothing that says stay away; it’s all come in and engage.

EhN: I saw that when they didn’t know who I was yet. I just watched them making the experience better for people—asking “How can I help you?” or “Would you like

A New Chrysler Tour With Our New Director

new director | 13

to know more about this?” That doesn’t happen in every museum. I don’t think everyone realizes how unusual what we do here is. That kind of welcome is rare.

lGw: So, here we are in Huber Court…and it’s beautiful, a great place to host a party or a wedding.

EhN: It’s also the front door to the Museum. Here is where we welcome people from all across our community, all demographics and all interests. They converge here. This type of space is something I’ve seen in larger communities—the public spaces of the museum become destinations in themselves. The Museum should be a place where you can stay awhile and have multiple experiences. I hope it means looking at great art and seeing an exhibition, but maybe you also do some shopping, hear some music, have something to eat.

lGw: I love that al fresco dining at Wisteria! And because the Chrysler is free, you can come to see one thing during your lunch hour, and then leave and come back the next day to see something else. There’s not that pressure to cover the entire Museum at once. We’ve all had the experience where we buy the tickets, then we exhaust ourselves seeing everything. Here you don’t have to do that.

EhN: Free admission is the cornerstone of the Chrysler, the foundation on which this community resource will rely. We are free—and now we have to go beyond that. We have to give them more reasons to come visit us, to become Members and frequent visitors. They can come take in a lecture, a performance, a talk by

an artist, or a family activity. But the fact that we are free means we are available for everybody in our community.

lGw: That’s one of the things I remember from the first time we met. You said it is not enough for the Chrysler just to be free.

EhN: It is not enough. We have to do more. We have to extend our hand out, to open our arms even more. We certainly can’t hide our lamp under a bushel, so one of the things that we will be trying to do is really get that message out—the Chrysler has something for you.

How we are going to do that, I’m not sure I know today, but some of that will be serving as a venue for groups in the community. Or reaching out to military service members, maybe through the USO, to say that we have some great activities scheduled for you and your family. For example, we’re hosting a free Veterans’ Glassblowing Day. We need to do more events like that. I am looking for a good corporate sponsor for these programs so we can really spread the word.

We need to find other ways to meet and engage the African American community, the LGBT community, lots of different communities. We can go to groups and let them know what can we offer, how can we partner, and what will be meaningful. I don’t expect that we will invent all these ideas, but we will make sure people know that the Chrysler is a welcoming place for them.

lGw: And that we are a gathering place for civic engagement. We can be that by being free.

Now, let’s go look at some art.

Erik and Lelia Graham begin with ancient glass in the Waitzer Galleries of Glass.

EhN: What I think is wonderful is that with these new glass galleries we can really tell the stories behind these pieces of art. We have to stop here. This is a killer bowl! What’s amazing, first of all, is that this 2,000-year-old piece of glass survived. Beyond that, the artist—his name is Ennion—felt he was important enough and this was fine enough work of art for him to want to put his name on it.

lGw: And now it’s going out on loan for nearly a year?

EhN: And that’s a good thing. It’s going to be in a major exhibition, first at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then at the Corning Museum of Glass. And that points to something else about the Chrysler as a whole. Even if the public sometimes doesn’t know, museums know that the Chrysler has a world-class collection. The objective proof of this is the fact that we receive loan requests every week from all over the world for works in our collection. Right now, we have our art on view at museums across the United States, and in England, France, and Australia. And we will continue to promote our collection and, I hope, find other ways that we can highlight its quality.

lGw: I’ve heard that you were something of a collector yourself.

EhN: Like many people in the museum world, I started collecting as a child: baseball cards, beer cans, bottle caps…. And they were all systemized at the time. I still collect 19th-century cartes de visite in a casual way. I think

14 | winter 2015

that understanding the value of objects—that objects and works of art have meaning beyond just the thing—is essential.

lGw: So here you’re a kid in a candy shop.

EhN: Yeah, look what I get to play with now!

lGw: One thing I appreciate about the expansion of the glass galleries is the ability to show live video from the Studio. I love that teaching and learning aspect.

EhN: The development of the Glass Studio tells you something about the future of the Chrysler. Museums started as wunderkammer, places of wonder, and there is something really spectacular about glass. You put sand in the fire and then it’s a glowing orb and then it becomes a piece of art. The Studio helps explain that art and offers experiences—I think that’s why it has really taken off. Whether it helps you understand chemistry or your own creativity, something dynamic is happening there.

lGw: And it’s certainly brought us an entirely new audience. So has Worn to Be Wild. Everyone I know who has seen it has adored it. Some friends have asked me, “Why did you get it at the Chrysler?” but almost everyone said, “I’m so glad you have it at the Chrysler!”

EhN: Exhibitions like Worn to Be Wild open up people’s ideas of what a museum is—and that includes everybody here who makes up the Chrysler. We live in a visual culture. I think that an exhibition on fashion, or our upcoming show on video games, are ways that museums can help us understand

our visual world, and celebrate it and appreciate it.

Exhibitions like these also appeal to wider audiences. Obviously, we hope that regular friends of the Chrysler will come and will come back, but we also hope that we will make new friends. People who come to see an exhibition like this might also go see our painting by Veronese or ancient Roman sculpture or the Egyptian sarcophagus. Maybe they wouldn’t come just to see those, but will take a look after they see the show that brought them in the door. Exhibitions broaden what we can offer.

lGw: You told me earlier that the new Chrysler is developing some exciting new technology. How will that change the usual visit to the Museum?

EhN: Going forward, technology is going to be ever more important in people’s experience in the Chrysler. Whether it will be through your smart phone or your tablet, through social media, through the website—and it will probably be through all of those things—technology gives us ways of providing much more extended content.

Today at the Chrysler, you can read an informative label to get an introduction to a work of art, or you might watch a short video or tap a touchscreen in the galleries to learn more. But in the future, maybe you click your handheld device and say, “I want to know more about this artist” and an app gives you a bio or a reading list. Or you have your headphones on and when you stop at certain works, an artist’s voice suddenly starts telling you about the piece or a curator gives

a personal perspective so you can really begin to learn more. Maybe a QR code lets you know that if you are interested in this piece, you may also enjoy these other works of art. There are so many possibilities.

lGw: That ability to go deeper is important. It makes the experience much more personal.

Lelia Graham and Erik walk around the upstairs galleries and come to a tableau of objects in the Waldo Gallery of the Brock Wing of American Art.

lGw: I can tell you exactly why I came to the Chrysler Museum for the first time. I have a huge affection for Gustave LeGray’s photography, and I came to see one of his images in the Chrysler Collection. That’s how I found out that you have a serious Civil War collection.

EhN: The quality of our Civil War collection is hard to compare because it is almost unique. We have many photographs that are extremely rare and we have a concentration of images that is unrivaled, so that is really exceptional. And it’s not all photographs. I really like this grouping—we have the white marble sculpture of the soldier and his daughter, we have this poignant battle scene painting by Leutze, and we have these almost documentary photographs of Civil War soldiers. All these different works, in different media, come together in one corner of one gallery to tell the story of the Civil War. It’s a great, dynamic display of how you can really use a good collection—and this goes back to what I said about how fantastic the collections are

new director | 15

here. They really encourage our curators to be creative.

Erik and Lelia Graham walk over to our first Collection Conversations series show in the Roberts Wing.

lGw: It seems these days that many of those huge, world-traveling blockbuster shows are being replaced by museums working together and combining resources to tell stories. I’m a huge fan of how we did that in this room. What can you tell me about this loan partnership with the National Gallery of Art?

EhN: Our relationship with the National Gallery is longstanding and it includes curators, Trustees, and visitors who appreciate both museums. Collaborations like this give us the chance to have different paintings from our collections talk to each other. It’s a chance to see our wonderful Picasso next to this earlier analytical Cubist work on the wall to my right, and to compare them to later works by other artists in this gallery.

lGw: It makes the community appreciate their own local collection so much more when they see it on view with masterpieces from other important museums. It lifts them up side by side.

EhN: What you said is absolutely correct. These focused exhibitions lower costs and pack an artistic punch. We will most certainly continue these kinds of relationships.

Erik and Lelia Graham move into the McKinnon Wing of Modern and Contemporary Art.

EhN: The Chrysler has been really very well known for historic painting, American and European, but thankfully Walter Chrysler also had a serious collection of 20th century art. This one is a standout to me: Roy Lichtenstein’s Live Ammo. I hope that in the coming years we will continue to acquire works by rising artists and bring in contemporary exhibitions that will open up new avenues for our visitors.

The public shows a growing interest in contemporary art, so we will have to lead the way and continue to investigate and present works that can be challenging, no question, difficult, even obscure. Audiences are flocking to contemporary exhibitions in other cities. There is every reason to believe we can see that here.

lGw: Talking about contemporary, you mentioned that The Art of the Video Games is coming this winter.

EhN: What I love about this exhibition is that it won’t be the first, or the last, in which we bring

new technology and new media to the Museum. As we talked about with things like new apps for our visitors, many artists are using computers in diverse ways to create works of art. Now that everyone is conversant and experienced with screens of all different sizes, not surprisingly artists are engaging there, too.

lGw: The video games exhibition will be interactive?

EhN: It will—and a little nostalgic, too. It goes from Space Invaders and Ms. Pac-Man to much more complex, contemporary games. It’s a mix of the familiar and the future.

It’s really an exciting time to be at the Chrysler—and I am excited to be here. The opportunities are myriad. In the coming years, I know that we will be exciting and different and new and bold here at the Chrysler Museum of Art.

lGw: The community is with you. We are ready! n

Photos by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer

16 | winter 2015

Have you ever visited the Glass Gallery and wondered what the Grand Harmonicon sounds like? Or have you thought about what kind of music inspired Gene Davis’ Shabazz? The Chrysler’s new interactive program, Listening to American Art, lets Museum visitors an opportunity to experience the sounds of several works from our American collection.

It’s a recent trend in American art to focus on the multisensory nature of many works, so the Chrysler decided to encourage visitors not just to look at the art, but to listen to the sounds that might have inspired the artists to create it. The program fits the Museum’s educational philosophy. “We want everything we do to draw our guests deeper into the work, not away from it,” Interpretation Manager Seth Feman says. “It’s important that they stay visually focused on the art itself

rather than on information about it.” With this in mind, Listening to American Art was born.

Gallery Hosts access the program on the Museum’s iPads. “It’s based on Aurasma, an augmented reality app that uses the art itself as a visual trigger to play an audio clip that helps you understand that work,” says Interactive Media Specialist Stacy Hasselbacher. “And the artwork is the only visual component. You continue to look at the painting or glass while the app plays sound or music related to it.”

The app is very simple to use—Gallery Hosts just turn it on and point their iPads at a selected work. The related audio plays automatically and a brief narration explains what the sound is. But the interpretation doesn’t end there.

“We hope visitors will enjoy the fullest experience: interacting with our staff and others, discussing why

certain sounds are linked to those works,” says Director of Education Anne Corso. “This program provides us with another great opportunity to fulfill our mission—to connect people and art in ways that delight and inspire.”

A dozen artworks are currently part of Listening to American Art. Most are upstairs in our American and contemporary art galleries; the one work downstairs is the glass Grand Harmonicon. Some of the choices are illustrate a musical instrument or performance, such as Robert Henri’s Gypsy with Guitar or Franz Kline’s Hot Jazz. Other titles reference a sound that is not explicitly depicted, as Winslow Homer’s Song of the Lark. Yet others share a very specific aural history that may not be familiar to Museum visitors, such as the brief from the popular radio show that plays to Robert Colescott’s Listening to Amos ’n’ Andy.

Praise for the project has been effusive and the Chrysler is using the same technology to develop other interactive programs akin to traditional audio tours. Guests will download an easy-to-use app to access more in-depth content on their own mobile devices. Our collection highlights, children’s, and conservation tours now in development will use different kinds of augmented reality, such as video or still images that overlay the art to show a painting before and after conservation treatment. The possibilities are endless and exciting, and an example of what to expect from the new Chrysler. n

Listening to American Art is generously funded by The Henry Luce Foundation.

Listening to American Art

Robert Colescott (American, 1925–2009)Listening to Amos ’n’ Andy, 1982Acrylic on canvasIn memory of Mary and Dudley Cooper from the family of Joel B. Cooper© Robert Colescott,courtesy Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

chrysler news | 17

The Chrysler Museum Glass Studio is proud to launch this year’s Visiting Artist Series with an internationally acclaimed guest who hails from both an hour away and worlds away. Emilio Santini lives in nearby Williamsburg, but was born on the island of Murano, Italy—a place well-known and greatly admired for its history of glassmaking. Like many families from this tiny part of Venice, the lineage of glassmakers in his family goes back hundreds of years, so his career path was nearly inevitable. As a young boy of 11, he worked with a master chandelier maker and later focused on goblet making—the form all glassmakers seek to master first. He took a break from glass to pursue studies in Italian literature and writing, but after college turned to flameworking (sometimes called lampworking). It was his father who helped him refine his skills at the lamp, teaching him to balance and adjust the molten glass until it was shaped exactly the way he desired.

Emilio’s story might have easily continued in Italy, comfortably situated in a glassmaking world with the support of tradition and an established community and marketplace had he not met Theresa Johansson. After the couple married they relocated to her hometown, Winston-Salem, N.C., where he found challenges rather than success. His career in production glassmaking was not easily translated to North Carolina and twice he returned to Italy. It was during his third stay in the United States that he finally made inroads into the American glass scene—meeting Glass Studio Movement pioneer Harvey Littleton,

connecting with the Peninsula Glass Guild, and, critically, landing a solo exhibition of his work. Emilio’s story, not unlike that of master glassblower Lino Tagliapietra, evolved into one about his transformation into an artist. Incredible skill and technique defines Venetian glassmakers, but it is often venturing out on their own that pushes the craftsman to work more creatively with the material.

Emilio now infuses his work in glass with his own sensibilities. His ready sense of humor is apparent in Urna, a glass sculpture in the Chrysler’s collection. This perfectly balanced and elegantly symmetrically urn is elongated to the point that is no longer a useful object. Look closer and you’ll see a series of black and white monkeys with interlocking arms and falling every which way. Perhaps this is Emilio’s way of showing off his incredible skill while letting us know he is thinking about playfulness and connectivity—and how mixing humor with serious talent can ultimately lead to success. n

Diane Wright, Barry Curator of Glass

Emilio Santini(Italian, b. 1955, working in the United States)

Urna, 1997Blown lampworked glass,

sandblast frosted with oil pastelGift of Scott Waitzer

The Visiting Artist Series 2015Emilio Santini

february 26–march 1

“Glass is basically the art of

constant adjustment.”

—Emilio Santini

18 | winter 2015

Member Events w o r n to b e w i l d members’ pre vie w par t y

More than 620 Members got their motors running over to the Museum on the night of October 2 as we debuted our big fall exhibition. Guests enjoyed a first look at the exhibition, a special lecture by organizing curator Jim Fricke, dancing to the revved-up music of The Bartones, and photo ops with loaner jackets and the Harley-Davidson Softtail Deluxe on display. Photos by Charlie Gunter for the Chrysler Museum of Art

chrysler news | 19

Thank You Events the ma jor donor dinner | honorable socie t y of former trustees dinner

William and Betsy Burnette, Mary Lyall and Harry Ramsey

Angelica Light, Joseph and Evelyn GreenDick Barry, Lemuel Lewis, Carolyn Barry

Ted and Susan Sherman, Patricia and Jefferson Brown

Billye Roy, Jeff Chernitzer, Alva Holland, McGregor Joyner

Tom Hubbard and Christine Hamlin Conrad and Anne Shumadine, Penny and Peter Meredith

Erik Neil, Oriana McKinnon, Harry Lester

Jerrauld and Lyn Jones

Julia Curtis and Linda Kaufman

October 16 marked the Museum’s annual evening to honor our most beneficent contributors, as well as Bill Hennessey’s 17 years of service to the Chrysler. More than 289 guests joined us for the event, which included tributes from friends and colleagues near and far for our retiring Director and the legacy he leaves to Hampton Roads. Photos courtesy of Glenn Bashaw, Images in Light Photography

The Museum welcomed back its leadership—old and new—on October 21. In support of the group’s official mission, Museum Conservator Mark Lewis presented an overview of conservation and art restoration projects completed during the Chrysler’s expansion. The special event also included a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Chrysler.

Photos by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer

20 | winter 2015

A Legacy of Beauty

Connie and Marc Jacobson have recently added the Chrysler to their estate plans, making a generous gift to the Museum. In gratitude for their philanthropy, the Museum is pleased to recognize their contributions to the Chrysler by renaming the rooms that house our Tiffany masterworks as The Marc and Connie Jacobson Gallery.

“We are fortunate to have a jewel such as the Chrysler Museum of Art in the community,” the Jacobsons say. “Our connection to the Chrysler for many years has been meaningful to us. We hope that perhaps our commitment will in some small way serve to enhance the cultural and artistic experience of those who visit the Museum.”

The Chrysler’s collection of Tiffany glass is peerless in its comprehensive nature and quality of works by the great American master. Adjoining galleries include masterworks in 19th-century English cameo glass and 20th-century European art glass, making this space within the Museum one of its most popular and beautiful. It is fitting that the one of the Chrysler’s premier locations should be named for in honor of such dedicated supporters. The Jacobsons’ generosity of spirit and support is invaluable to the Museum and constitutes a gift that will enrich our community in perpetuity.

If you would like information on making a planned gift or to inform the Museum of a bequest, contact Homer Babbitt in the Development Office at (757) 333-6298.

Photos by Ed Pollard, Museum Photographer

Marc and Connie Jacobson

evening with the DirectorThe evening of Tuesday, January 13

In thanks for your generosity, the Museum invites Members of our Masterpiece Society, Business Exhibition Council, and Director’s Circle to join us for this highlight of each new year. Enjoy an exclusive cocktail reception and an engaging exploration of art with our new Director, Erik Neil. Invitations for this exclusive upper-level membership event will arrive by mail.

New Members WelcomeThird Thursday, January 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet fellow newcomers to the Chrysler over light refreshments in the Gifford Room, then enjoy a highlights tour of the Museum. Stay afterwards for our eclectic mix of Third Thursday activities, which are always free for Members. RSVP with Megan Frost at (757) 333-6294 or mfrost@chrysler.org.

The Members’ Preview Party: The Art of Video GamesFriday, February 13 from 6–10 p.m.

It’s on like Donkey Kong! Our opening event for this interactive exhibition sets a new high score for multisensory experiences. Enjoy live music inspired by your favorite games, light refreshments, and a chance to challenge your children or friends at some vintage arcade-style games. So limber up those thumbs, master your joystick skills, and watch the mailbox for your invitation to fun. It’s free for Museum Members and children 17 and younger. Bring a friend for only $10!

Conversations with the CuratorsThe evening of Thursday, February 26

Come see the Chrysler up-close and behind the scenes. The Museum welcomes Members at our Patron level and above to participate as our guests in this perennially popular program. After cocktails, our curators and conservators will share their unique insights into the Chrysler Collection. Kindly RSVP when your mailed invitation arrives.

Upcoming Member Events

Last LookAs the famous firefighter turned 70, the Chrysler asked visitors to Celebrating Smokey Bear: Rudy Wendelin and the Creation of an Icon to let us know what they thought of the exhibition. Here are a few of our favorite images and impressions:

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Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m.Sunday from noon–5 p.m.Third Thursday til 10 p.m.

Wisteria is open during Museum hours.Free Parking | Wheelchair Accessible

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general admission is free and supported by Museum Members!

Join the Chrysler on site, on the phone at (757) 333-6298, or online at chrysler.org/membership.

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The Chrysler Museum of Art is partially supported by grants from the City of Norfolk, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endow-ment for the Arts, the Business Consortium for Arts Support, and the Edwin S. Webster Foundation.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2015The Present and Future: Art Glass in the 21st CenturyGlenn Adamson, DirectorThe Museum of Arts and Design, New York Glass art’s long history of aesthetic brilliance is now being matched by great ideas. Discover how today’s and tomorrow’s artists are finding both commercial success and critical acclaim.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015Techniques of ImpressionistsDavid BomfordDirector of Conservation, Museum of Fine Arts, HoustonIt seems effortless and spontaneous, but Impressionist art was rarely what it first appeared. Gain a conservator’s perspective on the science, materials, and intricate skills behind art in the making.

The Norfolk Society of Arts promotes and enhances the cultural life of the South Hampton Roads community through lectures, special events, and financial support to the Chrysler Museum of Art. For more information about membership in the society, please contact Edith Grandy at (757) 621-0861.